Saturday, February 25, 2012

Politics And Strange Bedfellows

This post has been brewing for quite a while.  But this week, the Republicans seem to have outdone themselves.


Rick Santorun has come out against public schools.  Now it is generally accepted that the public school system is the foundation of our democracy.  But this serious candidate for the presidency says there should be no government involvement in schools, federal or state.  He wants no "government run schools". 


I don't remember the government running my school.  We did a lot of hard work trying to do that ourselves.  We just tried to get help paying for it.


In Virginia the state legislature was ready to mandate that a woman must undergo an ultrasound to determine the age of the fetus before having an abortion.  Turns out that in order to do this it usually requires a vaginal probe.  No problem.  We'll just make women be probed.  Opposition called it "rape".  After creating a national uproar, and much fodder for late night comedy, the bill seems to finally be dead.  


So too the bill in the same legislature to declare "personhood" on a fertilized egg.  This would outlaw many types of contraception.  The governor was all for these bills until it seemed to be hurting his chances to be named a vice presidential candidate. It seems he was losing the women's vote?


Here in Washington State the legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill a week or so ago.  Good!  But before it can take effect it will most likely be subjected to a referendum calling for a vote of the people.  Then the  homophobe  Super PACs will be pouring money into the state in another ugly campaign to deny civil rights to some of our citizens.  


There is good news on the national level on same-sex marriage.  A second federal judge has ruled against DOMA - the Defence Of Marriage Act, stating that "government denial of all federal benefits to same-sex married couples is an irrational and unconstitutional act of discrimination".


In Indiana a state representative refused to support a proclamation honoring the Girl Scouts, and instead berated them as "radicalized to promote abortion and homosexuality".  He said the organization had been "subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values".


He went on to say their "role models are feminists, lesbians or communists"  and linked them to that most demonic of organizations, Planned Parenthood.


The Republican Speaker of the House, a man of some obvious intelligence, reacted by munching on thin mints and passing them out on the floor of the House.  


I'll be getting my delivery of cookies from Girl Scout granddaughter Irene this weekend, and I intend to savor them with added gusto.  I hope you all buy a box too.


Contraception seems to be the hot topic these days.  The audience booed when it was raised at the Republican debate this week, but the candidates jumped on it.  Gingrich explained how President Obama supported "infanticide".  No, I can't tell you how.  It was much too convoluted, as straying from the truth usually is.  Romney chimed in that the President was carrying out a full on "attack on religious freedom", stemming from the health care act that requires coverage of contraception.


Rick Santorun believes that contraception is "harmful to women".  He says "birth control enables sex outside of marriage."  That is "not healthy for our country".  Of course he didn't speak to the use of contraceptives inside of marriage, but I do believe more than a few folks find it helpful in managing the size of their families, sort of planned parenthood.


Title X, a federally funded family planning program that provides contraception service for low income women, was also debated in the Republicans campaigns.  Romney said he would eliminate funding for Title X.  He blasted Santorum for apparently voting for it before he would vote against it.  Ron Paul, who would just eliminate most government agencies, just shakes his head.


At least Ron Paul has sense enough to stay out of our sex lives.  Those other guys apparently want to be our bedfellows.

14 comments:

  1. I plan to vote for Obama. He seems to be the one most closely aligned with my values and core beliefs.

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  2. Both parties have a problem with sexual addiction. President Clinton and candidate John Edwards apparently suffered from it.

    The difference seems to be they weren't watching other people's sex lives. In fact they didn't even do a good job watching their own.

    What irritates me so about the Republicans is their piety. I really doubt the Bible thumpers can find scripture supporting their actions. Who died and made them God?

    What do gay people do that's different from heterosexuals except for what goes on in their bedrooms. They work, attend church (if they can find one that will accept them), work on community projects, buy groceries, have the neighbors over for cook outs, mow their lawns etc. Do you think they spend energy fantasizing about what their heterosexual neighbors are doing in their bedrooms? I doubt it. Then why are Republican Bible thumpers so worked up over this? Sometimes I wonder if their obsessive fantasies about sex will prevent them from doing their jobs. It's truly amazing.

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  3. I, too, find it frightening that the debates are rehashing rights that we settled years ago. Birth control? Who are these idiots who want to turn the clock back on that? I reassure myself that they don't stand a chance of winning, and then I worry that maybe they do.

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  4. Thank you, Linda! You said it perfectly for all of us. I've been grinding my teeth on this issue for some time and you've voiced my frustration for me.

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  5. Most of the Republican candidates are not good candidates for a huge part of the population. Ron Paul seems to me to be the only one who doesn't have to 'think about' his answers and doesn't have the agenda to sell. I don't think he has a chance, though and for the record...I support Obama's 2nd term.
    Politics is so broken.

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  6. It is gratifying to see such sane comments. I read an article the other day that said the majority of seniors support the Republican positions. As a retired Catholic female, I most assuredly do not!

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  7. Thank you, Linda. You are preaching to the choir here, it seems. I am so pleased to see that many of our shared blogging friends are on the same page as us.

    It is frightening, simply frightening to think that these people might actually become persons in positions to legislate us further than they already do.

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  8. My daughter and I had this same conversation today. Self-rightousness seems to create some pretty crazy politics. My gosh, this is not the 1950's. Why are we having these discussions on contraception? Don't get me started about Romney and the President's attack on religious freedom. These two guys make me worry that we are the ones who would lose religious freedoms if they were elected. I prefer not to have a theocracy in place.

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  9. What a great post Linda. I'm going to be reading it through again.

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  10. Well..this gets my blood going but I agree with you..but where did this crap come from that Obama is attacking religion...sigh..I hope Santorum is the candidate..that will do in the moderates and make it easier for Obama..

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  11. The Girl Scouts are offering birth control badges now?? Did I miss something?
    Seriously, you have articulated a very sensible point of view here.

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  12. Linda, yeah when Santorum made that comment about education I could have flipped the TV wishing it were actually standing in it...I just don't understand the mentaility of all these people in politics...they certainly are out of touch with reality and have an aire of entitlement!

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  13. You voiced well what many of us are thinking. My hope is that the majority of the voting public will not be like lemmings and follow the GOP off the right wing cliff.

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  14. Every day brings another example of the "Grand Old Party" becoming the home of wing nuts. Rick Santorum now thinks there shouldn't be a total separation of church and state. Being Roman Catholic he doesn't believe in contraceptives, so the rest of us shouldn't either. He home-schooled his kids so we should abolish public schools.

    His type of "my way is the only way" mind set is so anti-American it is terrifying he hasn't been carted off to never-never land. Instead he has a chance of representing tens of millions of fellow citizens in a general election.

    Isn't the "my way is the only way" mindset what we have spent the last ten years, thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars, fighting in various spots in the Mid East? Doesn't anyone see the terrifying irony of fighting against that type of thinking while suddenly endorsing our version of it at home?

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