Burn it down. Modern GOP Domestic Policy.

               Really, guys? You actually think this is a viable policy?

In the 2012 Presidential election the Affordable Care Act and President Obama's Domestic policies were front and center. Mitt Romney had his ass handed to him. It seemed that the American Electorate had rejected the GOP's regressive vision of The United States.One would think that there would be the realization that elections have consequences. Well, one would be wrong.

Due to extreme gerrymandering (Ohio is a prime example) many State Governments wound up with extremest legislatures.Also the US House maintained a slimmer Republican majority and grew to be more far right Tea Party dominated. That is what happens when you have ironclad safe seats. Just look at the House Districts in Ohio. There is a District that stretches along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. At time it appears to be about six inches wide along the Lake in places.

Anyway, these Republicans saw the election results differently than rational people. They represent the true Americans. The election was lost because Mitt was not a REAL conservative. It was stolen by a coalition of community activists, Union thugs, liberal mainstream media, minorities looking for freebies and socialist Democrats. Because Mitt was not conservative enough the true American Majority of American conservatives stayed home allowing the Kenyan to stage his coup.

Starting in January we saw a two pronged attack on modern America. States under the control of reactionary, theocratic activists went after voting rights and women's reproductive health. The US House went after anything supported by the President. They continued to feel voting no on everything was leadership. They also went after Obamacare. After all it is socialism and a sign of the end times. They also continued to fixate on non-existent scandals making Benghazi the new Beetlejuice along the way.

The House embarked on Broadway try outs of their political theatrical production called Repeal. After more than forty performances they decided to open on Broadway. Of course, as is the tradition, there were script tweaks and some new production numbers added.

The backers of the show decided not to replace the director, Speaker John Boehner, they just ignored him. Although it was unusual the script consultant, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is starring in a related production being staged in the Senate Theater.

Cruz, rewrote the script, giving himself a predominate off stage House Theater role.  The new plot line is rather than just stage Quixotic repeal votes let's hold the Nation hostage.  A Sopranos spin off. A decision was made to bypass the stage and go direct to a feature production.

Like most of the entertainment industry they are ignoring the last time a show like this opened in 1995. It was quickly cancelled amidst devastating reviews. With the popularity of sequels, TV shows moved to the big screen and reboots original ideas are not pandemic, so let's reboot.

Thus the GOP has decided to reboot the failed '95 shutdown franchise. They hope with a new director, producers, screenwriting team, bigger budget, promotion and cast this can be a game-changer.

This flick has decided to rely on a lot of improv in the script.  Every time the Director Boehner tried a new scenario he is bombarded by off script performances that alter the story arc. Now we have the action packed budget thriller, "Shut It Down" On opening it was savaged by friendly critics and even cast members. It also received glowing reviews from other critics and many cast members said how proud they were of their work. This blockbuster is doing good box office, in spite of ending with a cliff hanger. In a couple weeks we'll see the sequel, "Default". It has the same cast, crew and production team.

As the House blockbuster was opened, the Senate produced DVD extras with Ted Cruz. This acted as an extended trailer and a bridge between projects. Like the films the reviews were mixed but ratings were good on cable.

So let's sit back and hope the ending to these blockbusters actually make sense. A happy ending is so needed. It would be nice to see this reboot crash and burn. I see no emmys or Oscars coming for this. It won't play in Peoria.

Descent into madness. Ted Cruz, The Republicans and the ACA

               I believe Albert Einstein, a smart guy, once stated the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. The House of Representatives voted 41 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Each time they knew it would not pass the Senate. Or if by a miracle it did it would be vetoed before the ink on the bill dried. In spite of that they held 41 votes to repeal. Did they actually expect a different result or was it cynical political theater or a combination of both? And dies it really make a difference?

Along comes the junior Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. By all reports, this is a smart guy. It does appear though he may suffer from the smart guy syndrome. "I'm the smartest guy in the room. I am sure I know better how a couple hundred year old institution should be run. It doesn't matter I've only been here less than a year but trust me. I know what we should do and how to do it. You experienced politicians take is wrong. I am right."

Since he is a smart guy he knows what buttons to push to inflame the Tea Party into a frenzy. OBAMACARE!! DEFUND!! Let's hold the country hostage. Trust me, the Dems will blink and defund the President's signature accomplishment. No problem. And is it a bad thing to shut down the Government? Naw. After a summer of beating this drum the Crazy Caucus of the House signed on. The fact that the Heritage Foundation is running ads, holding rallies in favor of defunding the ACA at all costs helped. Carrot and stick. Sarah Palin and other groups weighed in implying primary challenges on no votes. The prospect of an actual campaign scares incumbents to death.

Now hard as it is to believe there are still some political realists in the GOP. You know things are weird when Karl Rove is a voice of reason. There are conservative Republicans in the Senate who realize extortion is not a good move.Some actually remember what happened in '95. The GOP shut down the Government. They suffered major losses in the House, though still maintained a majority, and an embattled Democratic President was resoundingly reelected. Oops.

Now Ted Cruz is toying with a Presidential bid in 2016. Were I a cynic, I would think he is simply building a mailing list and raising cash for political groups that buy his rhetoric. I'm pretty sure he wants these groups on board should he tilt at windmills in a POTUS bid.

This Quixotic fight has exposed divisions in the Republican Party. It seems the Establishment has been turned on by their creation. When you embolden zealots and put them in positions of power you invite disaster. By their nature true believers are hard to control. Once you aim them at a target they go all tunnel vision and will not stop until their goals are reached. If they have to burn down the House to stop something they vehemently oppose, they'll turn a flame thrower on a fuel tanker to accomplish their objective. And then block the firetrucks.

Things are hostile between the factions we are seeing the acrimony leak out into the public arena. Senator Cruz has called the Senate GOP Caucus,"The Surrender Caucus" which will only endear him to them.  You have Senator John McCain saying this defund/shutdown plan isn't rational. Karl Rove said Cruz launched this strategy without telling the party. They only find out his plans when he goes public. Senator after Senator has called Cruz's plan ill advised which is the nice way to say bat shit crazy.

Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) has gone after Cruz and his cohorts. "The political babble of a few has become has become the mainstream of Republican political thought." He goes on to say they're playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded revolver. Also you never take a hostage you can't shoot. Which it seems they have, Senator Gregg.

Senator Rand Paul has backed off recently after being gung-ho on the extortion plan. He says he supports it but it won't succeed. Last week Cruz said the same thing as he also told the House to stand firm. This set off a fire storm in the House as Members said, rightly so, Cruz was hanging them out to dry. That got the Senator from Texas's attention. He vowed a filibuster to delay action by the Senate. He is also calling for the Majority Leader to suspend rules to make it easier to delay action. That'll happen. So what he wants to do is filibusterer a Republican bill to prevent a Republican bill from being considered. The Surrender Caucus recognizes this is absurdity. There may not be the support there Senator Cruz is counting on.

For when the CR gets stripped of the defund language and is sent back to the House Cruz announced Plan B.  The House should pass small spending resolutions and attach ACA defunding to them one at a time. Starting with military spending. He wants to have this done over and over till the Senate caves and force a veto. So, Senator Cruz wants the House to hold the military hostage while we have troops in harm's way. Because it's the patriotic thing to do. Now, should they decline to participate in this scenario I expect to see a lot of Primary battles. The Heritage Foundation, Freedom works, Sarah Palin and others will use a sane vote as a cudgel to gin up the rabid base in an attempt to push the Party even further right. Purity tests will be the norm.

This civil war is being played down in public. Mostly. Chris Wallace received opposition research from Republicans to, wait for it, hammer Ted Cruz. So, I am stocking up on popcorn and sitting back. This is going to get interesting.

Cut the break-lines! Hit the gas!! There's a cliff ahead! GOP policy?

This is written early morning on the day the Continuing Resolution comes up for a vote in the House Of Representatives.

On Thursday the House voted to cut SNAP by 40 billion dollars over 10 years. The House ignored a veto threat from President Obama. Surprising no one the arguments were this is a burden on working middle class families A polite way to say those on SNAP are lazy and picking your pocket?. If the tax code didn't coddle the wealthiest the burden wouldn't be as great. Had the House not obstructed the recovery there would be less need for SNAP. Compassionate Christians that they are the House decided cutting food aid is a political winner. That is why is was separated from the Farm Bill. That way SNAP can be gutted while maintaining the massive farm subsidies for corporate farms which are collected by many House Members. It is good they take so much vacation time as they do incredible harm during the limited time they are in session.

Since returning from recess the House has held two symbolic votes to repeal the ACA. This brings the total to 41.Today, Friday the 20th day of September they plan vote 42. They're ready to hit on 20. Any gambler that plays Blackjack will tell you that's a loser.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH-08), is between a rock and a hard place. As a politician he knows the chances of defunding or repealing the ACA. He has allowed more than forty meaningless votes to repeal to placate the reactionary, rabid right members of his Caucus. These votes let them go home and rail to the base they are stymied in repeal by the Socialist Senate and the Muslim Kenyan will veto it anyway. It's a fundraising tool and a way to ensure there will be no attack from the right come primary season

Egged on by a few Senators who are positioning themselves for a Presidential bid in 2016 more than 80 House Members demanded that a vote on the Continuing Resolution have a provision to defund the ACA. The leadership in the House and inside the beltway knew this is a loser. The idea the Democratic Senate and a Democratic President would sign on to this is, to say it kindly, fucking crazy.

The Democrats in the Senate have the votes to strip the defunding language, pass the CR and send it back to the House.At the moment Boehner and Cantor seem to have no plan B. The Caucus sees plan B as a shut down of the Federal Government. Always a good move.

So, why now?

On October first, enrollment in the State Insurance Exchanges starts. Much of the law kicks in in 2014. This is seen as the last chance to stop it. The right realizes time is running out. Under time constraints and pressure bad decisions are routinely made. The decisions are even worse when they are ideologically driven. You are willing to do anything when God is on your side.

The political pressure being brought from the reactionary right is intense. The most far right leaning groups are being vocal. During the recess these groups ran ads on Republican Districts as a reminder of possible consequences. We've seen Sarah Palin weigh in and imply there would be Primary Challenges on those who vote no on defunding.

These groups include The Club For Growth, Heritage Action the action arm of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks to name a few. Heritage Action held rallies in several cities across America in an attempt to gin up the base. The assorted groups are pouring money into ads and outreach to whip the fringe into a frenzy. The ire is directed at Republicans who aren't vocal about wanting to be a lemming.

These groups and the Rabid Right Members of the House see the previous votes as what they are, A sham. The push now is to do anything to stop the implementation of the ACA. Since many see the Government as the problem shutting it down is actually a good thing to them.The action is directed at those who fail the purity tests. Those who have caved to keep the Nation working. Some see any cooperation as heresy. So any GOP member that exhibits any political sanity will be metaphorically burned at the stake.

They do realize the future of the Republican Party is at stake. The far right see this as an opportunity. A chance to purge the Party of non believers. They see this as the last best chance to reshape the GOP into the reactionary force they actually believe America craves. This is their Fort Sumter against the Establishment GOP who they view as sell outs and no better than the Democrats.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Minority leader of the Senate, is facing a Primary challenge from the right. He is taking flack from The Heritage Foundation and others for not coming out for defunding.

Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) mentioned there weren't the votes in the Senate to defund. He did this after months of declaring this as a goal and a glorious last stand for freedom. He called on the House to stand firm.  He was immediately slammed by House Members as surrendering without a fight. The House doe not want to go all Kamikaze all alone. They want the Senate GOP to crash and burn also.

Many of these people see the shutdown in '95 as a moral victory. Usual Right Wing revisionism as far as history is concerned. The truth is there were huge losses in the House in '96. A Democratic President was convincingly reelected. Speaker Gingrich was replaced in a Palace Coup. Yeah, it all worked out so very well.

You know there is division and things are bad when Karl Rove is a voice of reason. He and others are saying this is a massive mistake. They say the best thing to do is take the Senate then repeal. In the poisonous atmosphere on the Hill these pleas for reason are falling on deaf ears.

The very policy of extortion as political strategy has led them here to the abyss. The previous impasses resulted in limited compromise. This disappointed the the far right who were willing to disobey a Constitutional mandate to protect the full faith and credit of The United States.  They have decided no more compromise of any kind. They will burn down the country to get there way.

The most likely scenario is when the CR with the defunding  passes the House today the Senate will face a filibuster. That will cause a minor delay until the more sane GOP Senators jump ship and vote for cloture. The defunding language will be stripped and the resolution will be sent back to the House. Boehner and Cantor will have a choice. Shut the Government down until the voters storm the chamber with torches, pitchforks, tat and feathers. Or, more likely, pass it using a coalition of still sane Republicans and Democrats.

I am sure Boehner also knows he will face a mutiny that will likely cost him his position as Speaker. To avoid this he may try damage control by doing it over with the Spending Limit. That too is doomed to failure.

In the coming days we will see who the real patriots are. Claiming yourself as one as you work to attempt to stage a coup isn't the way. Good people will stand up and get us past this extortion. Only to do it again. Perhaps next time with one of the inmates running the asylum.

American Exceptionalism. How the Right is destroying it.

              Our numbering system uses Arabic Numerals. Algebra is an Arabic word, as is algorithm. 2/3 of the named stars have Arabic names. Why?

From 800 C.E. til around 1100 C.E. the Islamic Caliphate was centered in the great city of Baghdad. This city was the crossroads of civilization after the collapse of the classical Roman Empire and the decline of the Eastern Empire. It brought together China, Persia, North Africa and Europe in an intellectual stew.

The collapse of Rome left Europe in disarray. With the lack of traditional nation states far too much power was ceded to the Church. They controlled education. The tomes that were salvaged from Rome were transcribed by monks. In Europe the Catholic Church was the gatekeeper of education and existent knowledge for all practical purposes.

With their dogmatic views the conditions in Europe were not conducive to unfettered research.The major advancements in Europe were related to the construction of Cathedrals and other religious edifices. Architecture, engineering and related mathematics.

Baghdad however saw the mixing of ideas and cultures. The classical knowledge and ideas from the Greco-Roman era. Ideas and knowledge from India and China. Muslims, Jews and Christians mingled freely exchanging insights.

The result was an explosion of scientific knowledge and preservation of the earlier scientific gains threatened by the collapse of Rome.

Astronomy flourished hence the Arabic star names. Mathematics was expanded. Algebra and the adoption of the Arabic numerals.Those replaced the use of the cumbersome Roman numerals eventually in the West. The use of zero as a mathematical concept was refined.

Books from all over the world were translated into Arabic. Knowledge was saved, shared and preserved for the future.

Science, arts and literature flourished for around three hundred years then stopped.

Why?

The rise of Islamic fundamental thought where knowledge was seen as the work of evil put an end to the intellectual dominance of the Caliphate. It showed scientific thought and discovery can not exist in an atmosphere of fundamental rejection of human knowledge as evil and ungodly. This fundamentalism effectively killed progress and innovation in the Arab world. A thousand years later it still hasn't recovered. Who knows what advancements were sacrificed on the alter of a point of view that sees everything in religious terms.

Now we hear a lot about American Exceptionalism from conservatives. The irony is they may be killing what they are extolling.

American exceptionalism isn't a myth. The explosive emergence of The United States onto the world stage was fostered and fueled by intellectual freedom. A refusal to take "I can't understand this" as a limit to progress. Americans have always sought answers.

Freed from religious hegemony and the resulting intellectual shackles by the Enlightenment, America was born. The men who founded this great nation were steeped in the intellectual, philosophical and scientific revolutionary thought of their time. Secular Humanism was replacing Dogmatic Religion as the driving force in human advancement.

When faced by a problem in science answers were sought and the default position of "Known only to God" was rejected and a solution was found.

Americans took European ideas and made them distinctly ours. From the founding of this nation Americans rose to the front of the wave of modern science. We blazed the paths that severed our bonds to the Earth as we learned to fly. We took the British Industrial Revolution and showed the world what it could be.

Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries took scientific advancement in stride seeing it as a birthright.
Science and technology made the United States the Arsenal Of Democracy during the Second World War. It enabled the defeat of the Nazis and the Japanese Empire in years rather than decades.

The American dominance in science is seen in the Nobel prizes accumulated. There are a lot of elements that have uniquely American names. We opened up the Solar System. Americans expanded the size and scope of the Universe. We've explored the building blocks of reality. Only Americans have walked on another celestial body.

Science gave us hope for the future. History taught us about our past. Intellectual freedom made us what we are today. Both disciplines were seen to be neutral as fact based education should be.
So why do modern conservatives feel that science and history is a la carte? Pick and choose what's true. One from column A and one from column B?

The only reason I can see that makes any sense is the unholy marriage between social conservatives and what once was fringe Evangelical churches. There has been a disturbing growth in the literalist, Fundamentalist, Evangelical Christian worldview.

Due to opportunistic political decisions made in the 70's, 80's and 90's the Christian Right and the willfully ignorant have gained positions of power. They control school boards. They are in State Legislatures and Congress. Think Tanks are pushing anti-science and history agendas. PAC's, Churches and other organizations back up these policies with money. There are people seen as so-called experts extolling these views in the media as rational positions. They are aided by cynical outlets promoting a reactionary agenda.
I realize many hold these positions as a matter of true belief. Zealots are extremely resistant to differing points of view. Many reject it as blasphemy.

Others hold these views as a bedrock political position and compromise is seen as weakness.
Many though have adopted these beliefs as simple political expediency. Simply taking money and support to hold power.

Combined, these movements are deadly to America's future.
Most of a persons core beliefs are formed in childhood. This is how America's future is threatened.
Since our manufacturing base has been decimated by shortsighted corporate and Government policies our economic future rests on technological advances and innovation. This is not possible without a scientifically literate population. Policies that are being adopted preclude that future.

How?

It's a cascading effect. When a cornerstone of scientific thought is denied, other scientific truths must also be denied.

The two most reviled scientific principles are Climate Change and evolution.

Evolution. Where to start?

Intelligent design is being touted as a legitimate scientific alternative. This is simply creationism dressed up in a gown and mortarboard to avoid church/state issues.

First off, Intelligent Design does not hold up to the basic scientific process.

The rap against evolution is it's "only" a theory. Well, so is gravity and I don't see them jumping off tall buildings to test it. The basic premise of Intelligent Design is not measurable in a lab or the field like the well
tested theory of Evolution.

Evolution is the bedrock of modern biology and medicine. You want to see evolution? Antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Intelligent Design does not explain our sharing a majority of our genome with the great apes. It also doesn't explain shared genes with lifeforms that aren't mammals.As a scientific position Intelligent Design is a nice fairy tale.

There is a school of thought in Creationism that because something wasn't witnessed it didn't happen. This applies to evolution and the creation of the Universe. That is as ludicrous as it sounds.

Creationism also has spawned the "Young Earth" movement. This embraces the idea Earth and the Universe is only 6,000 years old. This rejects multiple sciences.

Astronomy has determined the age of the universe by measuring the Doppler shift in light from distant objects.This is applied physics. This is explained by young earthers like this. We know the speed of light here. Since we haven't visited other stars to measure we don't know the speed of light for that star. Thus, it invalidates the idea the Universe is around 15 billion years old. A variation on if you did not witness it it didn't happen.

Geology is rejected along the same lines when pegging the Earth's age as 4.5 billion years old. We can't know for sure decay rates have always been constant.
Since we didn't witness how fossils are made we can't know their age. Thus Adam rode a Dinosaur like Alley Oop.

So, basically all science and history is rejected if it contradicts the idea that anything is more than six thousand years old. The Bible as text book.

If all this accumulated scientific knowledge is flawed the technology the world runs on couldn't exist.
As this view spreads into our educational system America will slide into irrelevancy. Discovery and innovation will move to more enlightened environments. As will the intellectually curious.Say good bye to a proud tradition of discovery.

The right is so worried about creeping Sharia Law(which doesn't exist) they are blind to their own imposition of religious law here. One is reviled. One is revered.

Without innovation we are doomed as a civilized nation. Teaching Creationism is tantamount to intellectual child abuse.

We are about to recreate the fall of the Caliphate into superstition and divine law.

To survive we must reclaim American thought from extremists that wish to enforce Bronze Age views as all that's needed. There are those in power who call science lies from the pits of Hell. We need to reestablish the founders faith in rationalism or just hand off our future to whomever will take it.

If we fail, this great experiment is a failure.

We can't allow that.

The future is now. We need to save it.

Submitted For Your Approval: GOP in the Twilight Zone?

Rod Serling showed us what it is that that you only see out the corner of your eye.He showed us bleak and terrifying futures. He shined a light on the darkness in the heart of mankind. Were I not sure I would think he was showing us a most terrifying tomorrow. The Republican Party.
Buckle up. We're going to wander around in the Republican reality. I know it's scary.

Texas. Again.
In the Lone Star State there has been a spate of women being cavity searched on the side of the road after traffic stops. In most civilized States these searches are done at a Police station or a jail, not on the side of the road, in front of God and everyone. The Texas Department of Public Services and the Legislature has not seen fit to deal with this. It's only women, after all. Had they been home where they belonged this wouldn't have happened.   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/05/lawyers-illegal-body-cavity-searches-of-women-standard-policy-at-texas-traffic-stops/

Oh, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle. What will we do when you're not in Congress any more?
As usual Rep. Michelle Bachman(R-MN) feels there isn't enough Jesus in our foreign policy. She is standing with the Egyptian military lauding the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. She manages to call them terrorists. She conflates them with Al Qaeda and 9/11. Now I wonder if she's going to go all Tail-gunner Joe McCarthy again and demand a search of Federal Agencies for the Muslim Brotherhood deep infiltration?
She is also sure if the Republicans come to Jesus and pray hard enough a righteous God will smite Hillary's 2016 Presidential aspirations. She is the gift that keeps on giving.

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX). OK. That is usually enough for a head desk or face palm. What's he up to this time?
Well, even as a Measles outbreak sweeps an area of Texas just outside of FT.Worth and his district he had a chat with Allen West about vaccines. They both seem to agree that vaccines are a liberal plot to thin the herd of undesirables. Usually one would think those two would be on board with ridding us of undesirables. Well, they are sure people like them are the target. If only we could get them out of the gene pool. The problem is vaccinations tend to save lives. Oops. By the way, that Measles outbreak? It's among the flock of an Evangelical church the feels that prayer is better than vaccinations.
Gohmert also has compared the Egyptian military leaders to the founders of the United States because they went after that pesky Muslim Brotherhood.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Dear God, why is it always Texas? He feels if there is an American strike on Syria we will be acting as Al Qaeda's Air Force. The Syrian debate is distracting us from serious threats like Benghazi. Also, since Senator Cruz is such a staunch defender of the United Nations, he feels The President needs to take the Syrian issue back to the Security Council. Really, Ted? Careful. You're sounding like a Canadian.

Ohio. Again. Ohio is still trying to out crazy Texas and doing a bang up job.
In July Ohio slipped extremist abortion regulations into the State Budget as an end run around the citizenry's ability to oppose the regs as a Ballot measure. Governor John Kasich (R-OH) in a move to bolster his anti abortion street cred prior to a Presidential run in '16, declined to use the line item veto on these reprehensible regulations. He waived his pro life banner proudly and let them stand. He also dodges taking a stand on The Heartbeat Bill which is too extreme even for Ohio Right To Life. That bill has an excellent chance of passing in Ohio's Taliban Legislature.
The Ohio State Medical Board licenses and disciplines medical providers in the State. You would think appointments to the board would be rather straightforward. Appoint qualified medical professionals with no political ax to grind, right? Not in Ohio.
Kasich is loading the board with anti abortion advocates. That is more important than overseeing Ohio's medical environment.
The Governor has appointed to one of the consumer seats the head of Ohio Right To Life. To another of the consumer slots he appointed a former board member of Ohio Right To Life. These two will stay right on top of those budget regulations .
He also appointed a surgeon who is concerned that genetic counselors will advocate and perhaps trick Ohioan's into having an abortion. As a physician he seems to have no grasp that medical ethics require a Doctor to provide patients with factual information to make reasonable informed choices. Ohio is no longer a good place to be a woman.

A simple sampling. The modern Republican seems to be living in some alternate universe where facts, science and rational thought is non existent. Or a sin.
There are mid terms coming. We need to take back our country from theses theocratic, repressive people and restore rationality to the political process.
Get mad.
Get loud.
Confront the lies.
VOTE!!
Got it?

Neo-Isolationism and Syria.

            It has been a couple of years since The Arab Spring spread into Syria. Assad has been either more adept or brutal at holding on than either Qaddafi or Mubarak. President Obama, since the start of the uprisings has been rather consistent for an American politician. The reluctance to commit American military resources has drawn fire from both Dems and Republicans. However I feel his reluctance stems from a worldview that American military power should be used sparingly.
Some of the more moderate and hawkish Democrats have pushed The President to intervene in Syria. These Democrats find themselves surprisingly closer to the GOP Hawks than most in the party. I would credit this to a remnant of the Post Vietnam hangover.
Since the early Eighties many Dems have supported military actions, that in hindsight, may not have been prudent.. This has been a reaction to the massive loss sustained in '72 by Senator George McGovern and trying to show the Democratic party is not weak on defense. That is a tag they've been dealing with since they turned on LBJ over Vietnam and clashed with Nixon opposing  that tragic mistake of a war.
There are Republican members of Congress who have consistently criticized President Obama over Egypt, Libya and Syria. These Republicans have called for a more robust, intensive intervention in Syria. Things like covert and overt arming of selected rebel groups. They've called for an enforced no fly zone. Let's not think of the flack The P resident took over Libya and allowing NATO to take the lead.  They dislike it when we aren't in charge even though we were fulfilling treaty obligation like grown up countries do.
There seems to be, as a counterbalance, a growing isolationist movement both in Congress and the Nation itself.
On the public's part I would ascribe this to over a decade of constant military engagement. There is a bad taste left by the actions of the previous administration's run up to Iraq using ginned up lintel. That feeling is primarily in the Democratic and unaligned camps.
With the GOP voter it seems to be a strain of isolationism we last saw prior to Pearl Harbor and our involvement in WWII. The refusal of the United States to step up after the fall of the Colonial and Ottoman Empires following WWI left a power vacuum the Germans exploited. Republicans in Congress opposed  directly siding with the UK. This forced FDR to utilize sleight of hand to support the British and Soviet defensive actions against Nazi Germany.
This isolationism died when Japan struck Pearl Harbor.
After WWII the US took on the mantle of a super power to counter the other super power, Soviet Russia.
Over the next forty-five years we had our fingers in everything countering the Soviet and Chinese moves. Korea, Vietnam, Latin America and the Mideast. We propped up our Dictators to counter theirs. We stockpiled a massive nuclear arsenal to counter the ones held by the USSR and China.
We maintained a massive military presence in western Europe to discourage a Soviet invasion. We formed NATO and SEATO. We helped form The Organization Of American States. Containment was the goal and resulted in undeclared wars, sponsored coups and confrontation. This constantly kept us on the verge of a nuclear holocaust.. MAD, mutually assured destruction. We counted on fear of extinction to keep us safe.
The problem in this post cold war era isolationism is simply not an option. When your defense budget's larger than the next ten nations combined you are expected to act. For good or ill, despite all their protestations, western Europe looks to us for leadership. They pressure us into action then usually sit on their wallets and troops. Or make token shows of assistance.
As isolation calls grow we need to remember that if a power/leadership vacuum occurs it will be filled. Russia is resurgent after the chaos of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. They have the second largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. The Russians still have a massive inferiority complex that dates back centuries.
They have always pushed to be a power on the world stage. The Soviet era was rife with Russian machinations to counter or thwart American power and influence. The Cold War was a deadly dance of dominance. The western outlook and the Soviet outlook. The visions were very different. Following the collapse of the Soviet control of Eastern Europe the USSR imploded into anarchy and irrelevance.
Western Europe has only Germany to step up to possibly fill the vacuum. Since Germany was only a united nation for about Seventy years and started two world wars I would look upon a dominate Germany with suspicion.
When it comes to military capabilities and remaining influence only Russia and China have the means.
China is an enigma as they always have been. The Chinese foreign policy seems  predicated on economic influence and mainlining the status quo.
Like it or not during the twentieth century the United States has established itself as the world's enforcer.
The voices in Congress seem dissonant at times.
There are the Conservatives who have clamored for a very robust interventionist foreign policy. Now that The President they seem to despise has decided to act as if they are suddenly aghast at the idea of military action.
The libertarian leaning minority are saying we should't intervene because we can't be sure of the winners becoming allies and we know the Assad regime aren't. There is also the usual xenophobic rants the right is known for. The rebels don't protect Christians as Assad does. They are interjecting religion into American foreign policy. They are talking as if their ideas are reshaping the Republican Party. It is unlikely the Hawks have had a come to Jesus moment. It is far more likely the isolationist stance is being used as cover to attack President Obama politically.
From the Left I hear echoes of the anti Vietnam rhetoric.
This is a civil war we shouldn't intervene in. Any deaths in the action is unacceptable and morally wrong. We should not act because there is no clear and present danger to the US or our allies. War is always bad.
I made the same arguments when I was 18.
When you have these viewpoints coalescing in Committee hearings both side tend to over-analyze. The administration and Military representatives are grilled on every conceivable scenario. The constant what ifs are paralyzing. You can plan for contingencies but never account for all of them. Action entails risk.
The risk here is letting a risk averse Congress lecture on risk.
Far too many in the House are in gerrymandered safe districts at home. They can have an entire career and never take a substantive stand on anything. They rail at the world. They try to codify religious views. They do this knowing full well little of what they do can ever become law. They are now the dog who has caught the car.
Of course most of these Members of Congress hold their views as principle  and conscious. They have legitimate concerns they are trying to address. and there are those who are simply against supporting this President on any issue.
Now you also have people like me who have a strong aversion to military action. I have seen  unfounded wars and interventions. Grenada, Panama and Iraq come to mind, Then we have our stand against genocide in the Balkans. Our ignoring Darfur. Picking and choosing our interventions is a traditional American geopolitical action.
So now we are faced with a decision. Do we act on an ultimatum we put forth? Will not following through weaken our already limited ability to effect change? In the absence of solid global backing do we act unilaterally? Does a stand mean anything in a modern world where policy is driven by a 24/7 news cycle? Is there such a thing as negotiation anymore when every word, action and movement is analyzed for gain and loss?
My feeling is a limited strike is needed. Too long Assad has waged a war of attrition on his own people. Since Syria is allied with Iran it is in our strategic interest to at least get Assad's attention. Any reduction in his ability to wage chemical war is a plus. Arming the opposition is needed to put them on a viable footing to resist.
As the world's only remaining superpower we really have no choice but to act as we said we would. If we hope to influence anything we need to be a credible deterrent.That is why the partisan bickering in Congress could be disastrous. The Resolution passed by the Senate Committee is reasonable. Any filibusterer, as threatened by Rand Paul, does not serve the national interest. The time for Congress to act, actually do something, is here,
This screed may seem wandering, confused and conflicted . The reason is I am sorely conflicted but I realize things are never black and white. The answers always hide in those shades of gray.

Ohio: Right to work. Deja vu, all over again.

          Ohio. 1958. A right to work ballot measure was decided here.
Now, this was the Fifties, the heyday of Union power in America. Ohio was a manufacturing powerhouse. Right behind Michigan in auto production. The home of the tire and rubber industry. In Columbus Ohio you had North American Aviation, a major Defense Contractor employing about 16,000 people building military aircraft. My Father worked there. There was steel and about anything you could imagine.
The anti union Republicans felt they could get a ballot issue passed in a major State with a large unionized workforce. It seems a disconnect with reality is not a modern GOP phenomenon.
The ballot measure was crushed by a 63%-37% margin. Oooops.
The idea of right to work for less resurfaced occasionally over the following decades but gained zero traction.
Fast forward to 2010.
The Tea Party phenomenon and major rise of extremism in the Ohio GOP gave the State to the far right. They immediately pushed a regressive agenda targeting unions and women's reproductive rights.
The Ohio House passed a so called Heartbeat bill to effectively ban abortion after six weeks with no provisions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. It died in the State Senate. However they did pass a twenty week limit. This was done in a political circus which made Ohio a national laughingstock, again.
The House and Senate passed a union busting bill that stripped collective bargaining rights from Public Sector Unions. This was done during massive protests at the Statehouse. They were the largest I had seen there since the anti Vietnam war days. Since Law Enforcement unions were also targeted one did not see tear gas and clubs the State Police were so fond of using on anti-war protesters. Everyone knew the Private Sector was next.
The Republican majority was not completely in lock step on this bill. The Senate leader had to resort to political chicanery. A Republican Senator on the Committee, who had listened to all the testimony, was a No vote. To ensure it made it to the Floor, this Senator was removed and replaced, at the last minute with a sure yes vote.
Senate Bill 5 passed along party lines and was signed into law by Governor John Kasich.
Kasich, even before he signed the bill used it to fundraise, touting it as a victory for workers and taxpayers over unions killing city budgets.
Unions, Democrats and others opposed to the bill immediately moved to put a repeal referendum on the November 2012 ballot.
There was a fight by the GOP to break the repeal into three separate issues which they lost in a decision by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.
Nearly 1.3 million signatures were submitted, a record in Ohio.
In August of 2011 the Governor tried to start negotiations with We Are Ohio, the ballot measure sponsor to rework SB5 and pull the repeal attempt. The response from opponents was a heartfelt no. They reminded the Governor and Legislature the time for discussion was before the bill was passed and signed into law.It was pointed out opposing voices were run roughshod over during committee hrarings. The Governor and Legislature was told to repeal the bill and the ballot measure would be dropped. They refused while denying this was a move in response to very bad poll results.
Kasich stumped for Senate Bill 5. It was endorsed by Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, both 2012 GOP Presidential hopefuls. The attack on unions was also backed by Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. It also received positive support in the Right Wing Blogosphere and on Fox News.
On Election Day in 2011 the repeal passed 61%-39% mirroring the right to work rejection in 1958.
Always one to learn their lessons, the Right To Work crowd announced, within days of Issue 2 going down in flames, they would attempt to get a Right To Work measure on the 2012 ballot. Didn't happen.
They keep trying, saying they will try for the 2014 ballot. So far the drive has been an abysmal failure.
Now, with a rabid extremist majority in both Ohio's Houses it is rearing it's head again.
The Legislators have been told to cease and desist by the Kasich Administration until after the Governor's reelection campaign. Kasich, after 2011 does not want to have this adding to his labor woes. He knows there is a push after Issue 2 and his repressive anti-abortion budget regulations to defeat him. Kasich is dealing with a threatened Tea Party revolt and does not want to hyper energize the opposition of sane Ohioans by picking another fight with labor. He is trying to project a reasonable image as he readies a 2016 run at the White House.
So the best way to stop this is to hammer Kasich at the polls in 2014.
It will stop right to work in it's tracks and badly hamper his Presidential ambitions.
Kasich, one and done for Ohio's future.
Get on board.

Boredom will be the end of me (Updated)

               Boredom will end me yet. I've also said that about younger women, but boredom is a far more likely culprit.
So coffeed up, doughnut in hand, I watched Meet The Press this morning and saw Senator Rand Paul. It was something I wish I could unsee.
First he derided Secretary of State Kerry for being opposed to the Vietnam war and for strikes against Syria. A valid point if not delivered with supercilious, self righteous smugness. For someone who has never worn a uniform to lecture a decorated Naval Officer on the horror of war is the height of hubris.
Senator Paul then questioned the wisdom of aiding someone who wouldn't be an ally. He also praised   Assad for protecting Christians and condemned the rebellion for not doing the same. That plays into the idea in the region we only care about Christian lives. By basing a response to these atrocities on likelihood of an alliance or protection of one religion's adherents is reprehensible. He sat there with a straight face and looked as if these comments were reasonable and sage. I nearly topped off my coffee with a shot.
I thought I'd relax and peruse some news sites to see what's happening. Another in a long list of mistakes.
The President caught flack for playing golf, instead of being in the situation room 24/7 while Congress can't even cut short their vacation to return to DC to act on the Use Of Force Resolution. Sheesh.
I went to Twitter to talk to kindred souls and friends only to get trolled . This guy was still whining about no African American Conservatives being invited to speak at the March On Washington Fiftieth Anniversary.
First off, in my opinion, it is difficult to find a Black Conservative who doesn't subscribe to paranoid conspiracy fantasies. No one wants Allen West ranting from the lectern. He was busy at the RNC sponsored conservative celebration anyway rewriting the Legacy of Dr. King. To listen to them MLK was a Tea Party leader. This was like William Manchester writing "Death Of A President" while taking acid, drinking peyote tea and shooting smack, topping off with an eight ball of coke to take the edge off.
They then decried the lack of conservative or Republican voices at the Lincoln Memorial. A liberal lovefest.
Every member of Congress was invited. Not one Republican accepted. Period. Not. One. Given a chance to reach out to a diverse crowd and claim the historical legacy of GOP help in passing the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, they decided to stay away, pouting and bitching like the deviant little lizards they are. The spin that they weren't invited made the rounds. It was quickly exposed as a lie. All it took was a couple phone calls to the organizers. At least we found out just how big a lie has to be to have Bill O'Reilly the arrogant, serial asshat,apologize. Sheesh, again.
Christine"I am not a witch" O'Donnell may run for Senate in Delaware again. Really? She must not have embarrassed herself and the Republican Party enough the last time. Go for it Christine. Please.
Sarah Palin, good old Caribou Barbie(I'll take the hit for this) has come out in favor of defunding the evil Affordable Care Act.
As the loser of an issue of the current cycle, I only wonder what took so long. She says it will kill people by denying them health care. Right. Good to see she hasn't lost it and regained her sanity. Look for her to continue her habit of endorsing Tea Party challengers to GOP officeholders deemed not conservative enough. I am sure Sarah will wield this issue as a cudgel in future endorsement decisions. At least a Sarah Palin endorsement is usually a kiss of death.
Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul attended a conference hosted by Americans for Prosperity in Florida.
Senator Rubio got a perfunctory welcome in his home state and was heckled on his immigration stand. This does not bode well for a run in '16.
Ted"Let's hold America hostage over the ACA" Cruz received a standing ovation as he took the stage. He finished to chants of "Run Ted Run". He keeps saying any Government shutdown will be the Dems fault for not submitting to extortion. Has he been out in the Texas desert partaking of exotic hallucinogens? Toad licking, maybe? Run Ted Run. Please.
Speaker Boehner(R-OH) is opposed to shutting down the Government over ACA but all for holding us hostage over raising the Debt Limit. Either gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or default. The GOP feels portraying themselves as thugs and extortionists will endear them to the American public. They want to burn down the house to the cheers of the right. Are there any sane Republicans left?
I said to Hell with it. I closed my laptop, put season 2 of "Fringe" in the blu-ray player and tried to relax. I hope I make it to 2014 without my head exploding. Not likely.

                                                                  *Update*
I need to stay away from the internet.
Texas, if you don't know buys so many school textbooks they influence the entire publishing industry. Over the last few years they have decided to rewrite history to conform to their ideological standards. When I went to school I was taught the Slave trade was part of the molasses and rum trade for efficient use of ships. This way there was always a cargo.
Texas, in their wisdom, striking a blow in the culture war, tried to rename this trade as "Atlantic triangular Trade", thus removing the word Slave from the Slave trade.
They downplayed the historical standing of Thomas Jefferson due to his support of the Church/State separation.If you don't like it, pretend it didn't happen.
Rather than teach the Founders were highly influenced by the Enlightenment, rationalism and humanism they change reality.
The History texts will push the idea that assorted intellectual influences with biblical law and Moses' teachings were dominant.Thus they are laying a foundation for teaching the United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy.Which, by the way, is contrary to all we know about the ideas and beliefs of the men who founded this secular Nation. Texas seems to want to cast the Constitution not as a secular document but as a overtly Christian one.
Capitalism will be referred to as "The Free Enterprise System". It seems capitalism has negative connotations.
Tailgunner Joe McCarthy's little reign of terror looking for Commies under the bed, will be toned down.
Student will be asked to consider if The United nations threatens American Sovereignty.
Students will be taught the unintended consequences of Title IX, affirmative action and The Great Society.
Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority and the Heritage Foundation are taught in an important, positive light as more important than they are.
Forget George W. Bush's being handed the Presidency in 2000. It need not be mentioned.
No reason to mention the first African American President either.
We will need to teach about the Moral Majority, Contract With America and let's throw in the NRA for grins.
There was a touch of backlash so the Slave Trade is now, the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Everything else stood.
By the way over 1200 Historians and College Faculty members are not impressed with these texts.
Why is it ALWAYS Texas?
I need a drink.

The Civil Rights Act. As usual the GOP forgets their History

          August 28,1963. I was ten, pushing on eleven. Once more I saw history unfold through lens of CBS News and covered by Walter Cronkite. That network and his voice covered unprecedented social change with a calm elegance, treating the audience as thinking, intelligent people. The voice of news as I grew through the tragedies yet to unfold.

Of course I refer to the March On Washington and Reverend Martin Luther King's amazing "I Have A Dream" speech.

The most reliable estimates I have found put the crowd at 200-250,000 people.

There's no reason to repeat what I heard at home. My parents were products of their time. As were too many, north and south, who never tried to overcome the wrong they learned. To listen to their better angels seemed futile in the face of such hatred and anger.

That March in the summer of '63 was massive. It was peaceful. And many hoped once the coloreds blew off some steam everything would go back to normal. Progress at geologic speeds.

The rhetoric of the speeches was uplifting. King's voice wasn't the only one that day raised in hope. Raised in a cry for freedom and equality.

Earlier that summer President Kennedy called on Congress to act. After the violence in the South he decided the time had come to forever change America. Kennedy knew it was going to be a brutal political war and decided to wage it. He was going to need his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, the former Majority Leader of the Senate, to twist arms to ensure passage.

The mood of the nation was changing. We saw Bull Connor's deputies beat demonstrators to the ground. We saw the dogs loosed on men and women. We watched as fire hoses were turned on people only wanting the American Dream. Equality. As we watched in horror people were accepting Jim Crow was an evil chapter of American History far overdue to be closed.

Kennedy had the bill introduced in the House, a more liberal body ready to take on the issue. Unfortunately, Jack Kennedy never lived to see the bill pass. He was gunned down in Dallas on 11/22/1963. President Johnson was determined to pass the strongest possible bill.

The Bill passed the House on February 10,1964, 290 for, 130 against.

In the Senate it was filibustered on introduction.

Johnson was a consummate political deal maker and knew where the bodies were buried. Hell, he'd buried many of them. The President knew no amount of pressure, arm twisting or political favors would bring The Segregationist, Southern, Democratic Senators back into the fold. Another way had to be found to break the filibuster and force cloture. He turned to Everett Dirksen(R-IL), Senate Minority Leader.

Both men knew this would be tricky. They met often in The White House and charted a course of action over drinks. The Minority Leader knew he'd have problems using Republican votes to bypass a mutiny by a wing of a sitting President's party.

Dirksen had reservations on the bill, mostly doubts about constitutional issues. He also realized something had to be done.

Dirksen was an orator of the sort the Senate hasn't seen much of since the first half of the Twentieth Century.
I recall his low stentorian voice from appearances on TV. Like Johnson, he knew how to work the Senate.

He did so.

He offered a flurry of amendments, using them to gauge positions held by his colleagues. He seemed lukewarm at times, drawing out a better picture of the stances being taken. The President and the minority leader moved in May of 1964.

He presented the Republican version and immediately faced a mutiny of his own, led by Senator Hickenlooper (R-IN).

Senator Dirksen called a press conference.

Using his considerable speaking skills he lectured the press about the moral need for a Civil Rights Bill. He claimed and held the moral high ground as he revealed his unequivocal support of the bill. This amazing example of leadership quashed the revolt. Now it was simply a matter of keeping the Caucus in line till the vote.

On June 10,1964, Senator Everett Dirksen took the floor of the Senate and gave a quiet,moral argument to the Senate and the nation about an idea whose time had come. He was exhausted.

The eighty-three day filibuster was broken, clearing the way for passage of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964.
This would not have happened without the Senate Republicans and their leader working in concert with a Democratic President poised to crush the GOP presidential nominee. They did this for America. In an election year.

Needless to say this could not happen today. there is a different tenor in the strident rhetoric of the GOP. Rather than visionary, patriotic leadership, there is petty, partisan bickering passing as America's only hope to stop the tide of progress.

Can anyone see any way that landmark bill could be passed in this poisonous political climate? A climate where it seems to be a badge of honor to gut the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. Both bills were helped to passage by Senator Dirksen. Can anyone imagine Mitch McConnell showing that level of political courage?

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the March on Washington was this week. Rather than step forward, acknowledge their role and claim their place in History the GOP decided to not attend. It wasn't the usual crowd of wackos only that stayed away. it was all of them. Every. Single. One.

When they realized the optics a desperate attempt at spin was hurriedly put forth. The damned Liberals didn't invite them. That was quickly exposed as the lie it was.

So, when they had a chance to reach out to a diverse crowd the GOP passed on it.

When they had a chance to stand with America, they passed.

When they had a chance to show everyone how petty and out of touch they were, they jumped on it.
The party of stupid, indeed.



                 

Fear and Loathing in a new Millennium: I miss Hunter Thompson

          I discovered him in the pages of Rolling Stone.
 Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. His prose, viewpoint and voice changed in explosive ways the way I viewed the world, politics and writing in general.
To me he was an anarchist unleashed in print, striding the world as a larger than life figure. With laser like precision he lobbed firebombs at convention. He eviscerated celebrity and politicians with intellect, inspired joy and at times, brilliant insanity.
His coverage of the 1972 election cycle was presented in issues of Rolling Stone. The viewpoint was seemingly a drug and alcohol fueled frenzy that belied the prescient despair for America's political future. It is in my opinion the best first person account of the American political process ever penned. The visceral horror he showed us was only shades of what would eventually become the norm.
Those dispatches from the bitter battlefield of modern America was collected and published as "Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail". This book should be required reading for any Historian, Political Science major, pundit wannabe or a sane person trying to understand modern political insanity as it happened in real time.
Doctor Thompson presented as a proud, intellectually secure anarchist. He held all our institutions in disdain. Hunter was alternately, whimsical, vicious, bemused and bewildered by the social ruins he wandered through. Often as a provocateur rather than an observer.
Looking back Hunter Thompson and Richard Nixon were natural enemies. Like the cobra and the mongoose. Together they defined the American experience of 70's America.
Nixon showed us the venality of anything goes, end justifies the means and leave your opponents corpse rotting by the road school of American political life. He was a master media manipulator even as it turned on and devoured him. Nixon was the walking dead in the American nightmare. Throughout his life he was repeatedly destroyed politically and left for dead. He always rose, stronger and haunted us anew.
Nixon was destroyed when he lost his run for California Governor in 1962. He displayed a hint of his arrogant, vicious disdain for America as he lashed out. "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore", he promised. He lied.
From '62 to '68 Nixon travelled the US like the Ancient Mariner. A shade seeking salvation while doomed to wander aimlessly.
He attended Republican fundraisers in places most of us didn't realize existed. He collected political IOU's like we collected baseball cards. If it would give him an edge in his quest for the Presidency he would cut the ribbon at a new Pet Store. Again he was reinventing himself. The vicious, venal cold warrior was replaced by a visionary statesman.
After he was hounded from office, one step ahead of impeachment, he was a disgraced Republican pariah. No candidate would be caught dead anywhere near him. Rather than fade away he arose again as an elder statesman. The criminal bastard was treated as if his outlook on world and domestic issues even mattered.
At his funeral he was eulogized as an important personage in American History. That he was. The thug that singlehandedly nearly destroyed the Country. It seems this time they drove a stake through that evil demonic prick's heart. He hasn't risen from the dead like an American vampire as he was wont to do for decades.
For far too long I was a cable TV installer. Once I was hooking up cable for a woman here in Columbus. It was a rather upscale apartment complex of the type Central Ohio is rife with. She was moving in and in one room were framed photos of the Trickster. Autographed. I may have looked askance at them. Obviously she saw I despised the disgraced, not rotting in prison, former President. She looked me in the eyes and said,"You're one of those, aren't you?" i replied than indeed I was. She had helped on his memoirs. She asked me to leave when I asked if she planned to write more fiction.
Hunter Thompson went after Nixon like a terrier after a rat. He exposed to us the underbelly of a man obsessed with power at any cost, A man that would do anything to get it . And anything to keep it.
With Dick, as with everything else he did, Hunter said exactly what he felt about Nixon. He gave voice to a generation that learned to despise RMN. And he put Nixon into context of a nation in a death spiral.  Thompson was my Salinger. A worthy successor to Twain as a commentator on the foibles and phantoms of society. He pulled no punches. He was honest in his views. He was intellectually consistent. The prose was a epee in the hands of a master.
Thompson eviscerated the George W. Bush Presidency with the same glee and profanely, precise view he had of Nixon. He showed us that Bush/Cheney was the successor to the corruption Nixon wrote the playbook for. He exposed their hatred for American political convention. He told us how they took a prosperous nation at peace and turned us into a war waging debtor.
When Hunter took his life we lost a genius.
America lost a voice that transcended the petty noise that passes for commentary today. We need a hundred Thompsons today.
I'd settle for one.

Again the Ohio Gop is ready to ban Abortion in a heartbeat

                  Same old story. The same old song and dance.
In the last legislative Session the Ohio House of Representatives decided a major problem that faced the once moderate State of Ohio was Abortion. So they acted.
After passing their version of Senate Bill 5, gutting Public Sector Union rights and passing a draconian budget, they turned their attention to women. As attention was directed at trying to stop the union busting bill in the Senate the House went to work.
In 2010 the GOP gained control of both Ohio Houses. As I remember the election cycle in '10 was the GOP slamming Democrats for losing jobs in Ohio during the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. The litany was job,jobs, jobs, mirroring the National Party's strategy to retake the US House of Representatives.  If abortion was mentioned I don't recall it being a front and center promise by the Republicans.
Republican Rep Danny Bubp cited the 2010 Election as a vote for change which the Caucus sees as a green light to go after abortion rights in Ohio. Thus the Heartbeat Bill was introduced. The bill's primary purpose was to ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. That occurs at about six to seven weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant.
The bill was written as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade which permits abortion, as a woman's right, until fetal viability outside the womb, commonly seen as 24 weeks. Everyone knew the bill would not stand judicial scrutiny as to its constitutionality. Speaker of the Ohio House Bachelder   even said they were writing bills for the courts. After slashing the Ohio Budget to the bone saying education, safety nets and safety services were unaffordable at pre-2011 levels an expensive court fight was reasonable. Because, you know......FREEDOM.
The bill garnered forty-eight Republican co-sponsors. It contained no provision for rape, incest or the mental health of the mother. Janet Folger Porter the former legislative Director for Ohio Right To LIfe called the bill the most "protective" in the nation. Opponents called it the most restrictive.
This bill was called unconstitutional by Ohio Right To Life and they urged the House not to pass it. They saw no point in a protracted, expensive court fight on a loser of a law. They were also concerned a loss on this fight could roll back the restrictions Ohio had passed and were planning.They were ignored as the House opened a mortifying example of political theater. Ohio was about to take center stage in the National theater of the absurd.
In committee the GOP had fetal testimony via ultrasound to have the heartbeat heard and the fetus seen on a big screen. One woman who was nine weeks along, when they had trouble finding a heartbeat quipped if a vaginal probe was used there'd be no problem. This witty comment drew chuckles from the men on the committee. A classy bunch, these Republicans.
An attorney said many women who are raped want to carry that child to term as a form of victory over their rapist. This elicited gasps from women in the audience. Surprising since who knows how a woman feels about rape better than a man. He also mentioned had Romeo been able to detect Juliet's heartbeat he wouldn't have committed suicide and would have saved Juliet from that fate as well. When your reasons to push a bill are mostly fictional you may as well cite a play.
The only comment Ohio Governor John Kasich had was the bill may not be a good for attracting new businesses to Ohio.
The Heartbeat bill hearings and vote were the caliope for the political circus that was Ohio during 2011. It passed along a party line vote and went to the Senate. The Ohio GOP was in the process of being bitch slapped by voters over the Union busting bill and The Senate Majority Leader quashed the abortion bill in the Senate. It never made it out of committee before the session ended in 2012.
Since the Republicans controlled all the Statewide offices and both Houses of the Legislature they gerrymandered the State to within an inch of it's life. The result was a larger, veto proof, more extreme GOP Legislative majority.
When the new Legislative session began Ohio was under the gun for a new biennial budget. They prohibited Medicaid expansion. Also because it is an important budgetary issue, they passed extremely restrictive abortion regulations and redefined pregnancy in the budget. For good measure let's slide these provisions in at the last minute to prevent public hearings.
Many observers felt since these regulations were so restrictive Governor Kasich would use the line item veto to remove them. He got the budget on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend he reminded everyone within earshot of his pro life credentials. Every chance he got and the media gave him numerous chances. On Monday, surrounded by only men, he declined to veto those measures.
This was celebrated as a victory by the pro lifers. They were giddy with self righteous joy.
At this time Texas was hogging the headlines with their own abortion extravaganza so Ohio didn't receive the outrage it should have. Once more this is portrayed as a Southern attitude as Ohio tries to out crazy Texas. Which they have since Texas hasn't redefined the definition of when pregnancy starts. Yet. The North has proved this isn't a regional issue. It is a Republican Priority to appease the base.
Since to the Ohio GOP the provisions of the budget didn't restrict abortion enough they decided to revisit the issue. The Heartbeat Bill is on a comeback tour.
The anti-abortion group Faith2Action sponsored the presser to announce the CPR on the Heartbeat Bill. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar,along with seventeen of their nineteen children, attended and endorsed the bill. The circus is putting the big top back up.
One should expect the absurdities once more as the Republicans posture and proclaim their pro life credentials prior to the 2014 elections. Red meat galore will be thrown around the State House. Political theater masquerading as thoughtful debate in committee. After all being a Republican officeholder in Ohio make you a de facto OB/GYN and qualified to direct MD's in the proper, moral way to practice medicine.
Once more into the breech.
Our voices need to be raised.
The bill will pass the House. It may pass the Senate. I believe Kasich, as he positions himself for a run at the White House will sign it. There is no better way to prove you are a champion of marginalizing women than signing a bill that won't survive a court test. You tried but those activist judges thwarted the will of Ohioans.
We need to yell, NO! Reasonable Buckeyes need to make this an issue. Force the GOP to proudly show how they feel about women in this State.
We need to get out the vote and try to overcome the gerrymandered districts and take back the State from the Taliban.
Make it loud.
Make it local.
Make it Statewide.
Make it National.
Make Kasich a one term Governor.
Stop his Presidential hopes here and now.
JUST SAY NO.

Rand Paul:We all shrugged.

          The biggest problem I feel facing the Republican Party in 2016 is 2012.
Remember the Debates? Thoughtful, compassionate crowds in attendance. One booed an active duty, deployed service member for being Gay. Another booed Ron Paul as they cheered "let him die" concerning a hypothetical thirty year old stroke victim that was uninsured.
As it looks now the potential candidates will make the 2012 crew look thoughtful, reasoned and statesmen like.
Let's look at the Freshman Senator from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Dr. Rand Paul.
He is the son of Ron Paul, the darling of campus Libertarians(Mostly on his stance on legalizing Marijuana)
Rand was elected in 2010 during the Tea Party wave.
He immediately went on the Rachel Maddow show and stuck his foot in his mouth. He postulated that the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional because it forced businesses not to discriminate. It was a Federal Government intrusion into the ownership and use of private property. Newly elected Senator Paul felt the free market was better suited to ending segregation than Government fiat. He said that people who didn't agree with banning African Americans from public establishments would cease supporting those businesses. This would force free market adjustments ending the practice to maintain profitability. This was going so very well in the Sixties. If Woolworth's was still in business we could ask how that was working out. Those lunch counters were the picture of progressive America.
Senator Paul has made it a point to push his brand of Libertarianism into the workings of the Senate, a place where change is not a very welcome visitor.
Paul did an actual 13 hour talking filibuster(which made the GOP nervous in case it created a new precedent). It was sort of about the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director. He used this to also push his opposition to domestic use of drones on US citizens. As a politician he exaggerated the effect.
Rand Paul is an opponent of Foreign Aid and expounds an isolationist view of the American role in the world. This has caused clashes with more militarily aggressive Republican Senators like John McCain(R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham(R-SC). It has also attracted support from the Unicorn /Emo wing of the Left.
Senator Paul has been visiting the early primary States lately building support for a possible 2016 run. He is hoping to draw on and solidify his father's 2012 base and fundraising channels.Yes, I know it's early. Hell we just had an election last November. It appears the silly season of Republican Presidential hopefuls has started extremely early. This may have the benefit of an early self immolation of nascent GOP hopefuls.
Now he has joined the Senate reactionary push to shut down the Federal Government over defunding the Affordable Care Act. Like his Senatorial cohorts he feels the Democrats and The President will take the political heat for GOP extortion.
There are downsides to Rand Paul's chances.
Only one sitting Senator has been elected President since John Kennedy did it in 1960. That's right it was Senator Barack Obama. After a forty eight year hiatus it may not be extremely likely to happen again so soon.
Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Dem nominee. It is hers to win or lose. Her debate skills are well known. As an Opthamologist Senator Paul's debating skills are suspect. Smart money would be on him getting hammered by Hillary.
His anti immigration stance will likely hurt him with Hispanics. His free market civil rights stance may increase turnout in a general election by concerned African Americans.
His dislike of Social Security and Medicare as they currently exist may hurt his chances with Seniors. He is also not a fan of the safety net. That and his not viewing Women's issues as freedom issues won't help close the GOP's gender gap.
Senator Paul is being touted as a strong candidate by pundits right and left even though he has only won one election. This only helps candidates remaining in the background. Guy's like Governors John Kasich and Scott Walker.
Both are experienced Executives of large States. Both are honing their national images as pro life, union busters to appeal to the rabid right base.
The next three years wil be interesting. Like the Chinese curse interesting.

Ted Cruz: A basket full of crazy. Bless his heart.

                 I am sorely conflicted about Texas.
Some things I love about Tejas.
Friendly people abound.Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, ZZ Top and the music in general. South By Southwest is on my bucket list. Food, You know, texmex and BBQ. Mmmm. Their love of imbibing. Is Pearl still around? Texans also know how to party. The great State of Texas is also known to have a lot of stunningly beautiful women.
I've been to Texas and enjoyed myself immensely.
Now the flip side of the coin.
The politicians who garner national attention by saying stunningly stupid shit. Their extremist views on women, minorities and America in general. This isn't a recent development. Unfortunately, at the time, many in America thought if John Kennedy were to be assassinated, it would be in Texas.
For decades Texas was an extreme outlier in American politics. (has LBJ been disowned by Texas yet?) There were a lot of right wing wackos with money railing about commies under the bed, civil rights and not nuking the Ruskies or Chinese. Or both. The Hunts come to mind.
So Texas since Nixon unleashed the covertly racist, reactionary Republican "Southern Strategy"is not a surprise.
That election strategy has unleashed the worst of racial fears and attitudes, not just across the South, but throughout The United States as well.
Where Texas was once a political outlier they are now a leader of extremism. States like Ohio are in a competition to see who can out Texas, Texas.
Rick Perry embarrassed Texas throughout his 2012 run at the White House. As Governor he has drawn amazed disbelief of sane people for his policies. The man's explanations of said policies are confusing at best. He has raised a lot of money for Democrats nationally.
I could list the extreme Texan policies and politicians but I don't have days to devote to it. So, as an example, let's talk about Senator Ted Cruz.
Oh dear God, where to start?
Birthers seem to be OK with Ted Cruz. A white man, born in Canada. Sure, his mother was an American citizen. His father? A Cuban who fought with Castro. A Cuban who didn't bother to become an American citizen until less than a decade ago. Senator Cruz discovered recently he may have dual citizenship. Ooops. He renounced it this week. Just in case anyone thought he may be a Canadian Manchurian Candidate. He needed to reassure Texans he wasn't going to impose Hockey, Curling, Canadian Football, Gay Marriage and universal health care on them.
Obviously this man is eligible to run for President, unlike Our current President. That mixed race man, born in Hawaii to a mother who was an American citizen is blatantly ineligible.
After winning an expensive, even by Texas standards, primary runoff, Cruz has been anointed the intellectual leader of the Tea Party. I would say that is a dubious distinction. Somehow intellectual and Tea Party seems a contradiction in terms. Just sayin'. Though by all accounts he is said to be a very intelligent man. Princeton . Harvard Law. Like the President. Oops, again.
As a well educated attorney he seems to hold Constitutional beliefs not supported by precedent or Judicial cannon. Another case of a conservative saying I am right though everybody else and American history is wrong.  I wonder about his feelings on Marbury v. Madison?
As a matter of policy Senator Cruz(R-TX)has decided not to play nice with the Senate Republican Caucus.The Freshman Senator has broken ranks with the party repeatedly. He has declined to endorse Minority leader McConnell in his Primary in Kentucky. This could cause Senator Cruz problems should McConnell be reelected to the Senate and as Minority Leader in the next Senate. Or, God Forbid, Majority Leader.
Ted has staked out a position that defunding the ACA should be the Republican Party's stand in upcoming Continuing Funding Resolution talks. He says fund everything except the ACA. Pick a fight over this with the Democrats and the President. Republican leadership in both Houses see this as a loser. Shutting down the Federal Government didn't workout so well the last time.
Cruz has been ripped by other Republicans for pushing a shutdown to build his mailing lists and support for a 2016 run at the Presidency. His response? Calling the Senate Republicans the Surrender Caucus. A good idea to alienate people whose support you may need if you do run for POTUS.
Senator Cruz opposes abortion rights. He voted no on The Violence Against Women Act. He has said unemployment Compensation creates unemployment. Marriage Equality will end free speech. Funding birth control is an assault on our liberties.Ted felt the Newtown families were props as he opposed background checks.
A Harvard Law educated Attorney said that the only reason the President hasn't been impeached is a Democratic controlled Senate. Shh. Ignore there is no impeachable offense. He truly thinks that the public will give the Republicans a pass on shutting down the government over the ACA if Dems don't cave.
All in all, even for Tejas, this man is a special kind of crazy. He masks it well. He tries to appear reasonable as he says something beyond the pale.
With Cruz, Paul and the usual suspects lining up for a '16 run, they will make the '12 field look reasonable and thoughtful. It seems the GOP has bought the myth that had they run someone far right the would have beat a left/center Democrat.
Good luck with that idea. Go for it.

The Crazy Train is in the Station.

               OK I know it's 2013 I am also aware there is no Presidential election until 2016. However the speculation is rampant and the GOP hopefuls are starting to work to raise their national profiles. Part of this I feel is media driven, After all a 24/7 news cycle is hungry for topics to pretend are actual news.
I may as well have some fun too.
On the Democratic side it's rather quiet. The reason being the idea the Nomination is Hillary Clinton's to lose if she decides to run.
Now. the Republican side is quite different. Already you have potential candidates making moves, much earlier than usual. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are making the usual potential candidate noises.They're visiting the early Primary States. State Fairs, County GOP dinners and evangelical Christian conferences that normally don't surface into news coverage until the Primary season. These venues are attracting a slew of National Republican figures.
The search for support this early is usually done more quietly. Nixon ,while he was in the wilderness after losing in California, perfected this. He went anywhere. State GOP gatherings. Small county gatherings. He campaigned for anyone. Did fundraising. In '68 he'd accumulated a stack of IOU's which he cashed in for the nomination. The tradition continues.
It appears the Republicans have been listening to the pundits who say the reason they were unable to defeat Barack Obama was their candidate wasn't conservative enough. I've never understood that reasoning. John McCain and Mitt Romney both lost to a left/center Democratic candidate by convincing margins.So. someone more conservative could pulled more voters who were sitting out to overcome the lead and win? I find that idea dubious at best. So, if they decide to go off the edge this election cycle will be interesting.
The early hopefuls are very conservative.
Rand Paul, Freshman Senator from KY, feels the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional. Paul is Ok with shutting down the Government over ACA. He's an isolationist. That ideology peaked just after Pearl Harbor. He is also perhaps the most visible exponent of Libertarianism. See we tried that in the 18th Century and said Hell No, scraping it for Federalism.
Ted Cruz is the freshman Senator from Texas. Rabid abortion foe, proponent of shutting down the Government to defund ACA. He brags about not being a team player in the Senate. Now, that can only help as you may need local politicians while you run for President. Oh,he was born to a Cuban father(who fought with Castro) and an American born Mother. In Canada. He just renounced Canadian citizenship.(Dual Citizenship) I am still waiting for all the birthers to go batshit.
marco Rubio Freshman Senator from Florida. A fan of shutting down the Government over ACA. For immigration. Against immigration. He has no problem with wet foot/dry foot policy towards illegal immigrants from Cuba.His support of the Ryan budget may be hard to explain to the retirees in Florida.
John kasich the Governor of Ohio is being touted on Fox as the way to rebrand the GO. On the surface he seems reasonable. An illusion. He has presided over a failed attack on Unions. He's cut taxes on Ohio's wealthy. He has signed reprehensible, regressive abortion regulations. He flies his pro life flag for the National base. He's come out in favor of the Balanced Budget Amendment, a perennial conservative favorite. We'll forget his abysmal 2000 run.
Rick Santorum is lurking about. He was front and center in Iowa again. He was front and center in the Abortion debacle in Texas. If restoring 8th century feudal Catholic policies and the Inquisition is that popular on the right he could be viable. As the runner up in '12 he should be the traditional GOP front runner. Guess they're abandoning tradition.
Rick Perry. He'll run. He forgot why he lost in '12.
Bill Kristol thinks Sarah Palin should run for Senate in Alaska to rehab her image. Does she even realize her image needs rehabbed? All I can say is..please.
And old Mike Huckabee is staying visible perhaps hoping to become a king maker.
So let's sit back and watch. This will be interesting. I am a big fan of right wing political cannibalism. If the GOP bans CNN and NBC from debates, it will be even more interesting. If Fox is the lead in GOP debates it will showcase the extreme positions being passed of as sane.
So it is time to sit back and wait for the train wreck.
Remember though, there is a lot of money out there ready to be thrown around we can't be complacent
The GOP States will try to suppress the vote.
We need to control the message. Truth versus their lies, misrepresentations and paranoid fantasy.
We must hold the Senate.
We need to take the House.
We need to out work them.
We need to out organize.
Out vote them.
2016 starts today.
2014 started yesterday.

Ohio. Again. The Heartbeat is on a comeback tour.

          Ohio. Again. I am so tired of typing those two words. This State was once moderate and sane. In the Seventies and Eighties we had two Democratic Senators. John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. A decorated fighter pilot. An extremely effective and respected Senator. Senator Metzenbaum vied with Ted Kennedy as the most Liberal voice in the Senate. Now we have Sherrod Brown, a strong progressive voice and Rob Portman, George W. Bush's former Budget Director. This man has forgotten his history and is now somehow a Deficit Hawk.
After Republican control of Ohio for nineteen out of the last twenty-three years Ohio Republicans have, like the party Nationally, lurched blindly to the extreme right. This in a State that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both carried twice. There are those who feel Ohio was stolen in 2004 by George Bush with the aid of the extremist Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.
Following the 2010 Census GOP lawmakers met in secret to carve up Ohio into safe districts. They rented a hotel room in Columbus with taxpayer money and excluded Democrats from the process. Needless to say the public was also excluded. The result was basically election proofing the Ohio Legislature to maintain GOP control of both houses and the Congressional delegation till 2020.
These extremist Ohio House members passed the "Heartbeat Bill" in 2011. It would have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat was detected. Since that usually happens at approximately six weeks, before most women know they're pregnant, it would have effectively banned abortion in Ohio. The Ohio House had "Testimony" from a fetus via ultra sound. Ohio became a national laughingstock. Again. There was also testimony from so-called "Abortion Survivors".
This bill was extreme enough to split the anti-abortion movement in the State.
The bill's backers were open that this bill was designed to challenge Roe v.Wade. The phrase ending abortion in Ohio was thrown around a lot. Many leaders in Ohio's anti-abortion movement felt this was the right bill at the wrong time. They saw such a blatant rejection of established Constitutional law would be a loser in front of SCOTUS. The result would be overturning Ohio's existing restrictive laws. They were hoping for a GOP Presidential win and a more conservative court before having such a draconian law passed.
These concerns didn't deter the Ohio House. They passed the bill in 2011 and sent it to the Ohio Senate. There it languished in committee until it was quashed by the Senate Majority leader.
With the Gerrymandered map Ohio wound up with an even more extremist Legislature in 2012. Both Houses had enough Republicans to steamroller any Democratic opposition.
Following the GOP attack on Public Sector Unions in 2011, when they had their asses handed to them by Ohioans via a ballot measure The Ohio Legislature decided to go after women's reproductive healthcare and rights by using the budget process.
Planned Parenthood and responsible medical providers were moved to the back of the funding line simply for making abortion referrals as were Rape Crisis centers. After all a child of rape is a gift from God. The so-called Pregnancy Crisis Centers are front and center for State family planning funding. In other States these groups have been caught giving misleading information and lying outright about birth control. They only support abstinence for single women and the rhythm method for married women. So organizations that don't believe in birth control are the ones providing advice.
The Budget also redefined pregnancy. The AMA defines the beginning of pregnancy as the implantation of a fertilized egg to the uterine wall. The State of Ohio, in their superior wisdom, defines pregnancy as beginning at conception. This plays havoc with some forms of birth control.
This budget is an anti-woman repression template for the rest of the Reactionary State Legislatures. To see the lengths these people have gone to I recommend an excellent Ohio political site, Plunderbund.com .The budget coverage here has been supurb. The appalling regulations are laid out in detail as are the consequences.
This repressive attempt to relegate Ohio women to simply being a life support system for a fetus doesn't go far enough for these Legislators. They plan to reintroduce The Heartbeat Bill. After all Ohio can't be outdone by Texas for slut shaming and stripping women of their rights as American citizens.
The bill is designed to force a direct challenge to Roe v.Wade. None of the supporters deny this. However at this time it is simply a moot pander to the base. North Dakota already has a similar law. It has been blocked by a Federal Court as an unconstitutional attack on established law. The current SCOTUS is unlikely to over rule this court's opinion. This would also make the Ohio and Texas versions void as well.
Since Governor John Kasich of Ohio has Presidential ambitions and signed the extremist budget he would likely sign a Heartbeat Bill. It would solidify his position as an anti-choice crusader. Ohio doesn't seem to get sustained coverage of it's attack on women. The media prefers the idea this is simply a Southern aberration. Texas gets the press. Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas seem to get a pass. These States have passed awful laws on restricting women's access to safe abortion and family planning services. They are all Northern States. This shows this isn't a regional or Old Confederacy issue. I know this give scant comfort to women in the South but their Northern sisters are under a concerted attack also.
So sane women and men in Ohio and Nationally must be prepared to stand against this attempt to reestablish the time when women were trapped by biology in roles that kept them from fulfilling their potential as human beings.
Women are not walking incubators. They have an inalienable right to decide how their bodies will be used.
They are equal citizens with all the inherent rights that come with that.
The best way to remove women from the public and political arena is to keep them pregnant during most of their reproductive years, Keep them at home, too harried and busy to do anything else.
We can not allow this to happen.
Women across the country must stand with their sisters.
Men must stand with their wives,lovers, sisters, daughters, aunts and mothers.
Draw the line in the sand,. No farther.
Stop this war on women.
Through inaction comes defeat.
Through defeat comes slavery.
Act now. Raise your voice and an army of support.
Now. Time is running out.

Ohio joins up with Pregnancy Centers for Women's health. What??

          In  the rush to judgement over the abortion restrictions in Ohio we have lost sight of the deep, caring commitment the GOP legislators are showing to Ohio women. After all, these rules passed in Ohio's budget are for the health and safety of Ohio women. Just ask them.
Clinics that provide abortion services are required to have transfer agreements( A precaution in case of medical complications). These clinics are now forbidden from having transfer agreements with Public hospitals. Since most private hospitals in Ohio have religious affiliations clinics may have problems fulfilling this requirement. It is an excellent idea in a medical emergency,when time is a critical factor, to increase the distance a patient needs to be transported. After all any life saving procedure would be tantamount to an abortion and we can't have public money used to save a woman's life. We all know if she had not had sex she wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously it is the stance of the State of Ohio that sluts don't deserve compassion.
Another way to prove there is no war on women in Ohio is to defund Planned Parenthood. Or sorta defund.
What Ohio has done is change the funding priorities. Any family planning service provider, even if they don't offer abortion services, move to the back of the line for funding if they even make abortion referrals. This includes Rape Crisis Centers. Everyone knows children of rape are gifts from God. Since being a Republican legislator in Ohio makes you a de facto OB/GYN, you can decide if medically responsible treatment can even be mentioned. Once again, had the tramp not gotten knocked up there wouldn't be an issue.
So under these rules Christian anti-abortion, push for carrying to full term propaganda groups are funded. Planned Parenthood, not so much.Thus to ensure the health and safety of Ohio women, which is what these regulations are all about, contraception services will be provided by groups that don't believe in contraception. Natural methods are front and center. Rhythm and abstinence. Two methods that are proven to control a women's reproductive options.
Now, just because these groups have been caught lying in other States doesn't mean they will lie in Ohio. They won't tell women that condoms don't protect against STD's or pregnancy because they are naturally porous. They won't tell women that birth control causes mental health issues. They won't claim abortion can cause the formation of antibodies possibly forcing her immune system to reject a fetus causing a miscarry. Side effects not on the warning sheet are possible.
I am so very proud to live in a State that feels women need to be lied to, humiliated and considered too stupid to make important decisions concerning her health and future. Facts are stubborn things. They only get in the way of caring for women. Giving faith based groups public money to advance their anti-science agenda is needed. God knows women are willful creatures needing a strong hand to guide them. Now, let's go after other rights that are an affront to God. It's the new American way.