Abortion

Republicans Claim To Be Pro Women’s Rights: Really?

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The Republican Party leadership in Congress loves to claim that the Democrats are wrong in calling them anti women, and campaigning against women.

But the facts belie Republican claims as shown as follows:

Both in Washington DC and in the states, Republican leadership is attacking women’s rights, women’s health, and women’s safety.

The House of Representatives passed a bill weakening the Violence Against Women Act two weeks ago.

Virginia passed legislation requiring women undergoing an abortion to undergo medically unnecessary and physically invasive sonograms.

Senate Republicans are blocking a measure to deal with wage discrimination against women.

On abortion, seven states have made it more difficult to get an abortion, by making the deadline for getting one much earlier, before knowledge of fetal abnormalities or health risks are available, Criminal penalties are also set up to intimidate doctors from performing abortions, making it more difficult to stay in business, and endangering the lives of women who often cannot gain an abortion even at the risk of their own lives.

Planned Parenthood has been systematically attacked, with funds cut for basic health care services for the poor, on the argument that the main activity of the group is abortion, when it is only about 3 percent of the funding of the organization, and is not its primary role in promoting women’s health.

The 1963 Equal Pay Act under President Kennedy is being fought bitterly, with the attempt to update the law to help women gain equality in pay for equal work being opposed by Republicans, and states such as Wisconsin are going backward on women’s rights to equal pay.

Domestic violence legislation is being fought by Republicans, who do not wish to include lesbians, native American women, and undocumented immigrant women who are in danger, and can no longer report abuse to law enforcement authorities, to go after the abusers.

How can anyone say that the GOP is NOT declaring “war” on women? One is judged by one’s actions, not words!

The Supreme Court And Public Opinion: Not The Job Of The Judiciary!

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A new poll, commissioned by the New York Times, shows that 38 percent want the 2010 Health Care law overturned entirely; 29 percent want the requirement that nearly all Americans obtain health insurance overturned; and only 26 percent want to keep the entire law in place.

At the same time, when it comes down to specifics, the American people support the law. 85 percent approve the requirement that health insurance companies cover those with existing medical conditions or illnesses; 68 percent support allowing children to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26; and 77 percent support offering discounts to reduce the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, called the “donut hole”.

At the same time, 48 percent say they find confusing how the law will affect them and their families, while 47 percent say they understand the law.

What does this tell us? It tells us that the American people, as a whole, have no clue as to what this law does, and this is partially the fault of the Obama Administration and the Democrats, but it is also the fault of the opposition Republicans, conservative talk radio, Fox News Channel, and the powerful corporate interests that want the law defeated, and really don’t care about the fact that 50 million Americans have no health care except the emergency room, if they end up there. And if they die because of lack of health care, so be it, is the attitude of these special interest groups.

And now there is discussion of the fact that the United States Supreme Court should overturn the law because of the uneducated and confused public opinion.

But that is NOT the job of the Supreme Court, to listen to public opinion, but instead to LEAD public opinion in the proper direction!

If the John Roberts led Supreme Court overturns the law, they will be condemned in history for having kept us the ONLY major industrial democracy in the world to refuse to cover all citizens on a question of life and death!

The Supreme Court is not designed to be popular, and neither are the circuit courts below them. Their job is to interpret the Constitution, and do what is right for the American people, whether popular or not..

If one had polled public opinion, and in some cases it was actually done, the following would not have occurred:

End of racial segregation in public schools in 1954
Provide for privacy rights for couples to use contraceptives in 1965
End of ban on interracial marriage in 1967
Allowance of abortion rights in 1973
Provision to advance women and minorities because of past discrimination in 1977
Giving of privacy rights to gays and lesbians, not just straight people in 2003

These are an issue of social justice and what is right morally, and the same situation applies to the issue of health care.

Popularity should NEVER be a factor in court decisions, and if the Court is unpopular, so be it!

That is why the courts are not elected, as the ignorance and emotion of the masses should never be a basis of constitutional interpretation or human rights.

The Supreme Court has made America a better place, precisely because it has done what the American people may not have appreciated at the time, but was a necessary action, over and over again!

Rick Santorum Reveals His True Self: Moral, Religious Zealot Out To Promote Social Controls!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has now thrown down the gauntlet, and only dimwitted Americans, or those who totally agree with him, could back him for President.

Santorum has now said he does not wish to deal with the issue of jobs, inflation, gasoline prices, and other economic issues!

Why? Because, according to him, the issue is morality, overcoming contraception, abortion, gay rights, and pornography!

Rick wants to control the social, private lives of all of us, and force Puritanical standards on all Americans, all through his devoutly Catholic religious beliefs, and with the backing of evangelical Christians who only care about Santorum’s “social agenda”!

Santorum comes the closest to being a theocrat of any modern Presidential candidate, with the closest to him being William Jennings Bryan, who ran as the Democratic nominee in 1896, 1900, and 1908. But even Bryan, although a convinced evangelical Christian, advocated political, social and economic reforms that became the Progressive movement, ushering in ideas that became part of the agenda of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt over time.

Santorum has no such desires, as he wants government out of our lives, EXCEPT for social and privacy areas.

Santorum wants to shape all of us in the name of his brand of morality and religious fanaticism!

This makes Santorum a very dangerous man, a totalitarian minded person, who would interfere with the personal rights of those who disagree with him, putting the heavy hand of government on the people, even though he condemns big government in theory.

Santorum makes other Republicans cringe, as well as Democrats, and every effort must be made to prevent his nomination, as one can never be certain if times get difficult in the next seven months, that this moral censor might not be elected President in November!

Rick Santorum And Barry Goldwater Would NOT Be Friends!

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Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the MOST right wing nominee for President we have ever had, and lost in a massive landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Barry Goldwater was an economic conservative, who was against the New Deal, wishing Robert Taft, the earlier conservative Republican leader, had become President, because he wished to repeal the New Deal, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower institutionalized the New Deal as the first Republican President since Herbert Hoover. Goldwater wished to make Social Security voluntary, rather than required as part of the tax collection, which it had been for a quarter century.

Barry Goldwater was also a foreign policy conservative, who believed in ultimate confrontation with the Soviet Union and any foreign enemy, including potential use of nuclear weapons.

Barry Goldwater appealed to states rights advocates, and although supportive of the broad concept of civil rights for African Americans, he criticized the civil rights movement and its leaders, and accepted the backing of Southern segregationists.

BUT with all of his faults, one thing Barry Goldwater was NOT–a social conservative a la former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Barry Goldwater was NOT a believer in the role of religion in government, and was a major critic in later years of the Christian Coalition, and the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and other evangelical Christian ministers.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was the business of government to interfere in private life of individuals and their families, so did not support the Pro Life Movement against abortion rights for women.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was anyone’s business to condemn or vilify people because of their sexual orientation, and so supported the rights of gay men and women.

Barry Goldwater believed that all Americans should be allowed to serve in the military, so was against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” interfering with the right of gay men and women to serve our nation, asserting that he did not care what one’s sexual orientation was, as long as he or she could “shoot straight!”

Barry Goldwater would have been mortified to see a candidate who condemned sexual relations except for procreation purposes, and to observe a candidate speak out against the use of contraception by couples for their family planning and the health and welfare of women.

It is clear that were Barry Goldwater alive and active today, he would repudiate Rick Santorum as a social totalitarian, an extremist, a dangerous man to give power to, as there is nothing worse than a “Puritan” trying to promote morality by force!

Conclusion: Barry Goldwater and Rick Santorum would NOT be friends!

Barry Goldwater came across as whacky, extreme, untrustworthy to be our President, and he often “shot from the lip”, getting himself into major troubles that could be exploited by Democrats and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. IF Rick Santorum ends up as the GOP nominee in 2012, the same weaknesses will get him in major troubles that could be exploited by the Democrats and President Barack Obama!

A Forecast Of The Future? Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Vs. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell

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Yesterday, the political website POLITICO sponsored a debate between Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell over the controversial social issues that have come to the forefront in the past few weeks.

Martin O’Malley came to the strong defense of President Barack Obama, and hailed the successes of the administration, while being critical of the Republicans, led by Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell, who became embroiled in a controversy over an invasive vaginal ultra sound bill to undermine abortions by women.

O’Malley at the same time defended the decision in Maryland to make that state the eighth state to legalize gay marriages.

Bob McDonnell was on the defensive, as he explained his change of heart on the invasive ultra sound bill, after much outrage by women and the news media and others who believe in the right of privacy and women’s rights.

As one watched this debate, one could imagine the scenario of a possible 2016 Presidential debate between the two men, governors of neighboring states, with totally opposite views, and both strong defenders of their viewpoints.

Martin O’Malley is already seen as a top tier Presidential candidate for 2016 in the Democratic Party, and Bob McDonnell has obvious ambitions on the Republican side, and has made it clear that he is interested in a Vice Presidential slot with Mitt Romney, if Romney were to choose him. That is the obvious, although denied, reason for his backing off on the invasive ultra sound bill that he seemed ready to sign.

O’Malley has showed evidence that he would be a hard, aggressive campaigner if he ran for President, as he has become one of the major defenders of President Obama’s record, and a critic of the governors of not only Virginia, but also Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, all hard line conservatives, who he accuses correctly of presiding over very poor employment growth, while Obama, by intervening in Michigan and other Midwestern states, has promoted a revival of the auto industry and the general economy, along with the general progress in decline of the unemployment rate.

Not only is Martin O’Malley demonstrating that a Catholic can have an open mind on issues such as abortion and gay marriage and labor rights, but also Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, is showing the same on these issues, and both are certainly to be considered front runners for the Presidential nomination in 2016.

Not all Catholic politicians allow their faith to dominate their politics, although Rick Santorum, particularly, and convert Newt Gingrich, both seem to feel that their religious views should be dictated to the population at large, even though we were founded as a nation on the concept of separation of church and state, which John F. Kennedy so clearly enunciated as the first Catholic President of the United States!

Rick Santorum On The Rampage: Attacking Public Education, The Environment, And Prenatal Care

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is on the rampage, ranting and raving like a maniac, and making many mainstream Republicans roll their eyes as they see the chances of their party disintegrating for November.

Santorum yesterday, while campaigning in Ohio, attacked public education, saying it is outmoded, and should not be controlled or operated by national or state governments, but instead privatized. The fact that we have had public schools since the 1820s is ignored, as he calls such an idea “antiquated” and “anachronistic”! He calls public schools “factories”, and says that local school boards and parents should control the educational system, even though the historical record does not show that to have been done very well in the past! The idea that parents, who in many cases have no knowledge or understanding of educational curriculum, should control what is taught, is as dangerous as to let patients tell doctors how to do their job, or clients to tall attorneys how to conduct cases in court! It is also a great way to distort history and science, teaching a distorted view of the past, and allowing religion to become part of science in relation to evolution and climate change, already being promoted in many states dominated by the Christian Right.

Santorum also attacked those he says are following a false theology, such as Barack Obama, who feel that the earth comes before human beings, and that radical environmentalists want to prevent mankind from utilizing the earth, and therefore endangering the future prosperity of America. Teddy Roosevelt would turn over in his grave at such an assertion!

Santorum also accused those who promote prenatal care, including amniocentesis, of setting out to abort disabled children, preventing their birth. There is no evidence of such a claim, but it is interesting that Rick Santorum, as with other Republicans, constantly calls for cuts in Medicaid, the major program to help the disabled with health care. So Santorum is totally hypocritical on this matter.

The man is displaying all of his instability, weirdness, craziness, and lunacy, which will destroy his ability to attract educated voters, women, independents, moderate Democrats, and those who believe that religion should not be part of government policy, who want separation of church and state.

The more he rants and raves, the more the Republican Party is on the road to total defeat in November, so keep it coming, Rick!

Rick Santorum The Frontrunner In The Presidential Race: A Nightmare Scenario!

Ronald 2 Comments

Imagine the impossible: After ELEVEN frontrunners in the Republican Presidential race, we finally have former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania as the present frontrunner.

This is a literal nightmare, as Santorum would take us back socially to the 1950s; economically to the Gilded Age or 1920s; and would send troops and bomb Iran on his first day in office.

Rick Santorum would try to outlaw contraceptives; outlaw all abortions under all circumstances; reverse “don’s ask, don’t tell” in the military; promote theocracy in America, with his fanatical religious convictions; set out to wipe out most of the New Deal and Great Society; promote the end of any regulation of corporations and banks; promote the interests of the oil industry at the expense of the environment; cut taxes on the wealthy much more than even the Bush tax cuts; and promote military intervention all over the world in the name of American “exceptionalism”!

And there is more, enough to make us wish for George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”, or the time of Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford or Richard Nixon!

This country would be so damaged and divided, more than ever before, and make us long for the “good old days” of earlier Presidents, who no matter how controversial they were, were never as extreme and fanatical as Rick Santorum would be.

Rick Santorum is a mental case, a danger to the stability and advancement of America, and those who wish he was the Republican nominee, thinking it would be easy for Barack Obama to defeat him, had better think twice and wish that he NOT be chosen, as one can never know for sure how those citizens among us who are emotional and ignorant and overtly “religious”, might not see Rick Santorum as their “Jesus Christ” who can save the country!

This potential for a Santorum Presidency is the most dangerous threat to our future since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, even surpassing the candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964, and we must hope that Mitt Romney is able to overcome this challenge, as no matter what one thinks of Mitt, at least we know he is sane and stable, and no threat to the future of the nation, were he to occupy the White House in 2013.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer: The Most Despicable Woman In Public Life!

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Controversy has surrounded other woman politicians, including Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, but neither, or any other woman, quite matches the level of despicable behavior of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.

Brewer, who never would have been Governor without the move of Janet Napolitano to become Barack Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, has proved to be the most outrageous in her behavior and policy making.

Brewer re-emerged in the news this week when she confronted President Obama on the tarmac at the Phoenix Airport and pointed her finger at him in an accusatory manner, a terrible moment of disrespect, worse than anything any Republican officeholder has done before. It is an escalation of the total lack of dignity and respect on the part of Republicans toward our President, never matched in American history! If such a lack of respect had been shown toward George W. Bush by a Democratic officeholder, we would never had heard the end of it, but conservatives applauded her rudeness!

Brewer is so concerned about illegal immigration in her state, without any concern for the loss of life of many refugees who die in the Mexican and Arizona desert. She claims that the Obama Administration has done nothing on illegal immigration, when Obama has increased the number of National Guard troops on the Arizona-Mexico border dramatically.

But even worse than her lack of respect for Obama, and her demagoguery on illegal immigration, is Brewer’s lack of concern about the loss of human life of Arizona residents who need life saving transplants, and are being denied those procedures under the Medicaid program, because the governor cannot find funds to cover it, despite the realization that she has the ability to find ways to raise the money if she really cared.

This is a woman who talks the anti abortion viewpoint, but has no concern about the loss of life of people who have life threatening conditions, and should be given what they need no matter what the cost, including if necessary, god forbid, a tax increase on the very wealthy, who would not miss the small amount of extra taxes, but would be able to feel good that they had helped others to survive and prosper after a transplant.

Instead, these wealthy people are only too willing to spend money, as Sheldon Adelson of Nevada is doing, to support their favorite candidate, in this case Newt Gingrich, to promote their own selfish agendas! In fact, if Sheldon Adelson can give Gingrich $10 million for his campaign, why can’t he personally pay for the transplants of these Arizona victims?

What kind of human being could sleep at night, knowing that by her refusal to do what needs to be done for sick people, most of them young or middle age, that she is condemning them to death, as has happened in a couple of cases of a group of what is now 96 survivors who, apparently do not matter, but if they were fetuses, they would matter!

Jan Brewer is a total disgrace in more ways than one, and an embarrassment who should be repudiated by all decent people! And Sheldon Adelson should “cough” up the money for these 96 Arizonans, in what would amount to a “drop of water” in the “ocean” of his wealth! And he could also take a tax deduction for charity if he did so!

The Multiple Problems Of Rick Santorum: Why He Would Be A Nightmare For America!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum comes across as handsome, personable, a good speaker, and willing to look people directly in the eye when he meets them.

But these strengths are outweighed by his many shortcomings, as witness:

Rick Santorum was extremely unpopular among his Republican colleagues in the US House of Representatives and US Senate, from John McCain to Jim DeMint, a wide range within a narrow based party.

Rick Santorum became the biggest promoter of “pork”, known as “earmarks”, and made all the right connections with business people so that he has enriched himself since his defeat in the Senate reelection contest of 2006, where he lost by the massive margin of 17 points, despite his 12 years of Senate seniority.

Rick Santorum has a confrontational, take no prisoners approach to his “enemies”, and has absolutist views on many issues, which means he would not unite the American people, and would cause a bigger rift, a bigger chasm, a bigger division, than has existed under Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. He does not have the personality or nature to compromise, or to promote unity. The political atmosphere would be far worse, much more poisonous in a Santorum Presidency, and antagonistic to his “enemies”, more anti media than anyone since Richard Nixon!

Rick Santorum believes in a muscular foreign policy, and would engage America in more overseas military adventures without any pause, which makes him very dangerous.

Rick Santorum has no concern for the poor or the struggling middle class, as he has demonstrated so often, since he believes that no one is responsible to pay more taxes to help the sick, the poor, the disadvantaged, and that we have no social responsibility to each other. He would be the most right wing candidate since Barry Goldwater, but worse than Goldwater, who was a libertarian in many ways, and would not approve of Santorum’s invocation of “Jesus”, and Santorum’s narrow view of Christianity. Santorum would have no problem going back to a theory of Social Darwinism, prevalent in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Rick Santorum believes there is no right to privacy including his opposition to abortion in all circumstances; his extreme condemnation of gay rights in all of its forms; his opposition even to contraception; and his desire to have divorce made more difficult, forcing unhappy couples to stay together as long as they have children under the age of 18. He also believes that consenting adults do not have the right to consensual sex in their own homes!

Rick Santorum claims to speak for the working class, because of his own blue collar family background, including his grandfather, who migrated from Italy and worked in the coal mines, but really he is personally quite wealthy, and only really has shown political concern for WHITE working class, which he is appealing to, and not concern for African Americans or Hispanics, with his statements and actions attacking any assistance or support of the advancements of these minority groups, which have been left behind.

Rick Santorum showed he was not a “compassionate” conservative as President George W. Bush claimed to be, when he said that “pre-existing” conditions involving health care should be given higher premium rates because their “habits” led to the pre-existing conditions, even when a mother saying her child had developed health issues and could not get insurance, questioned him this week at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. Santorum has no compassion or concern for anyone not wealthy, and this is supposed to be a “good Christian”? This is the true hypocrisy of Rick Santorum, promoting selfishness and greed, not what Jesus Christ promoted! And yet, Santorum claims he is the “JESUS” candidate! What an outrage!

Rick Santorum is dangerous to America, as he would promote a repeal of the New Deal and Great Society; would advocate military interventions overseas; would destroy the safety net that exists for those less fortunate and less healthy; and would promote government intrusion in the private lives of Americans, including their sexual behavior.

This is a prescription for a totalitarian government socially, but laissez faire economically, all in the name of JESUS! Just what the Founding Fathers worked so strongly against! We are NOT a theocracy, and the thought of it is enough to make one terrified!

With Ron Paul Having His “Surge” In Iowa, The Investigation Of His Record Begins!

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Texas Congressman Ron Paul has been very appealing to libertarians, and was in fact the Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party in 1988.

Having run as a Republican for President in 2008, the only repeat candidate along with Mitt Romney, Paul is presently first in some Iowa public opinion polls as the Iowa Caucuses of January 3 get closer.

So Paul is having a “surge”, as earlier Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich have had. Only Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman have not had a “surge’ as the search for the non Romney candidate continues.

So now that Ron Paul is being paid more attention, let us look at the facts about a man who has been around a long time, and has taken positions on all kinds of issues, meaning at least some will be seen in a positive light, depending on the person looking at Paul’s record. But there is plenty to be disturbed about!

But face the facts: There is no way that Ron Paul can be the GOP Presidential nominee, and if he looked as if he was going to be, there would be such a ganging up on him by the Republican Party, which despite its claims, is NOT a libertarian, isolationist party as Ron Paul basically is.

What is objectionable about Ron Paul, in no special order?

1. Ron Paul has in the past, in a newsletter he now disavows, but was under his name, stated racist, anti Semitic, and anti gay statements. While he is not the only Republican to make racist or anti gay statements, the fact that he said them in a newsletter many years ago makes him even more objectionable, since it is harder to refute.

2. Paul is for taking America out of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and all free trade agreements. He is perceived as an isolationist.

3. He is highly critical of Israel, the only Republican candidate to be so, and yet does not see Iran as a threat for the future with the development of nuclear weapons.

4. Paul is for wiping out most government agencies and their bureaucracies, including Education, Commerce, Homeland Security, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Energy. He also would love to eliminate the Federal Reserve Board. None of this is going to happen, no matter what criticisms there might be of these agencies.

5. Paul promotes letting states decide most matters dealt with by the national government, and thinks climate change is a hoax, and advocates stopping interference with religion’s influence in government, including the teaching of intelligent design over evolution.

6. He is a strong believer in pro-life without exceptions; against any government intervention in the environment; any regulation of guns; and any aspect of affirmative action.

7. Paul opposes any kind of amnesty for illegal aliens, any support of any kind for them, and birthright citizenship for their children born in the United States.

8. Paul believes only in excise or sales taxes, and the wiping out of the income tax, and refuses to support any spending programs that create new debts.

Also, a study by a political science journal, The American Journal of Political Science, came to the conclusion that, overall, Paul has the most conservative voting record of all 3,320 members of Congress from 1937 to 2002!

So the attacks on Ron Paul as outside the mainstream, even of the GOP, is rapidly growing!