The
Handmaidens Fail
 It
must be great, rollicking fun to be a House
Republican. Evidently the only requirement
apart from disagreeing publicly with everything
President Obama says, even if they happen to
agree with him, is to sit around all day and
formulate new bits of legislation that diminish
the rights of women.
Case in point is H.R. 3, the so-called
"No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act", which
just passed the House. It's basically just
some tweaking of the Hyde Amendment but could
be
more aptly
named
the "Die, Poor Women, Die!" bill.
Just to bring you up to speed, the Hyde Amendment
is a rider that's been attached to appropriation
bills since 1976. It was a pro-life answer
to Roe vs. Wade, designed to forbid
the use of federal funds, mainly via Medicare,
from being allocated for abortion services,
except in the
cases of rape, incest
or danger to the life of the mother. This,
as you might guess, represents but a tiny sliver
of abortion services overall but conservatives
have been trying to put the clamps on these
loopholes for decades. Thus, H.R. 3., which
offers the following exclusions:
(1)
Redefining Rape: It's been redefined by the
GOP as "forcible rape". That is,
unless you have
proof
you violently
resisted your attacker you're out of luck,
sister. The message here is either lay back
and enjoy it or get yourself killed
protecting your honor. Your choice.
But suppose you're drugged and raped? Sorry,
that's not the GOP's problem. That's yours.
You should have thought about that before you
went out and had a good, Constitutionally-protected
time.
And if you're an underage female and are raped
by an adult, well, then you're screwed twice
according
to
H.R. 3.
(2) Tax Increases:
Think you can hide abortion coverage in your health insurance plan? Think again.
You're going to pay a lot more for the privilege,
you slut. This is basically a tax increase
for being a woman.
(3) Rape Audits: If you use health care that
gets tax credits and your abortion falls outside
the "rape/incest/life of the mother" clause
you can expect a visit from the IRS Nookie
Police.
Yes, the
GOP wants the IRS to get all up in your business,
and I do mean "business".
(4) Screw Local Control: In Washington D.C.,
local communities use their own monies to provide
abortion services, so this marvel of a bill
magically redefines the D.C. local government
as the federal government, meaning they can't
use
their own money to do whatever they want. I
seem to recall a political party that championed
local control. Now which one was that? Hmmmm.
This bill has absolutely no chance of passing
either the Senate or the President's veto pen,
so why did they bother? Two reasons... either
they think this bill will ensure them the
votes they need for re-election or they're
totally
self-deluded
monsters who live in a bubble of luxury paid
for by corporate oligarchs and have nothing
else to offer their base except hatefulness
and tax breaks.
The only thing worse than this bill was the
sixteen House Democrats who voted for it. I
fully realize there exists the possibility
that they played a little
politics
and voted "aye" to soothe a conservative base
but they're
still
major-league
weasels. Here's the list:
Altmire, Boren, Costello, Critz, Cuellar, Donally,
Holden, Kaptur, Kildee, Lipinski, Matheson,
McIntyre, Peterson, Rahall, Ross, Shuler
Don't vote for any of 'em.
=Lefty=
------------
 February
10, 2011: "We're going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs." -
John Boehner.
So far the list of GOP accomplishments for 2011 is:
(1) Attempted curtailing of abortion rights.
(2) Attempted defunding of Planned Parenthood.
(3) Attempted defunding of NPR.
(4) Investigating Muslims.
(5) Declaring English as America's Official Language.
(6) Reaffirming "In God We Trust". Yawn.
(7) Challenging AARP's tax-exempt status.
(8) Approved defunct funding for failed
religious schools.
(9) Attempt to destroy Medicaid.
(10) Attempt to destroy Planned Parenthood
(11) Shutting down the government
(12) Attempt to destroy the EPA.
(13) Attempting to eliminate financial
counseling.
(14) Passed a House budget that gives $4 trillion in tax cuts to the
rich.
(15) Spend $500,000 to discriminate against gays.
(16) Continued
toadying for the rich.
(17) Pretending the deficit is to blame for slow
job growth.
(18) De-funded SETI.
(ARGH!!!!!!!)
(19) Tried to kill Chrysler two years ago... which is now going to
pay
back all its government loans.
(20) The Judicial
Branch of the GOP, the Supreme Court, votes
5-4 to deny
consumer class-action suits.
(21) Redefining
rape. Yes, redefining rape.
(22) Pushing for spending
caps tied to GDP.
Bad idea.
Nope. No job creation here. Seriously. Not a fucking employment
sausage. Move along. Move along.
I'll keep adding to this list until the Republican
House does something to create jobs. I unhappily
predict this is gonna be one lonnnnng list. After
all, you don't get rid of a sitting president
by helping the economy.
------------
 And
what manner of lie is Fox News spewing today? Why, they're giving
George Bush all
the credit for bin Laden's assassination, even though
Bush shut down the hunt for bin Laden back in 2006.
Click here to help Drop
Fox from your cable system.
|
