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| If John Boehner and Company manage to shut down the government over planned parenthood, he'll really have something to cry about. |
Republicans Threatening Shutdown Over Planned Parenthood
Ryan Grimm - Huffington Post 4-7-2011
The United States government is on the verge of shutting down over a dispute about subsidized pap smears. The White House and Senate Democrats have publicly capitulated to ever increasing GOP demands for spending cuts, but the negotiations over whether to shut down the government no longer hinge on money but instead are focused on so-called riders: Provisions in a budget that restrict the federal government from spending money on certain projects or entities.
Riders are used by members of Congress to make social policy without going through the regular congressional committee process, or they are used to benefit business interests by specifically blocking the government from spending money to write or enforce certain regulations.
At a late-night White House meeting between the president and key congressional leaders, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) made clear that House Republicans would not approve funding for the government if any money were allowed to flow to Planned Parenthood through legislation known as Title X. “This comes down to women's health issues related to Title X,” a person in the meeting told HuffPost.
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I have been following the 2011 budget battle with keen interest, wondering how far John Boehner would let the Tea Party fringe control the Republican party. Apparently all the way to a government shutdown over birth control pills for middle income and poor women. It is incomprehensible to me that Boehner & Co would deprive our active military--the real warriors--of their pay checks so some right wing culture warriors can determine which women will and will not get access to reproductive health care. If this isn't big government intrusion, I don't what is. If this doesn't threaten national security, I don't what does. If this isn't all about diverting people from other cuts in this budget, I don't why the fuss.
If the Tea Party was supposed to save America from big government, it surely isn't going to happen this way. The Republican idea of big intrusive government is suspiciously beginning to appear as if that applies to government the right doesn't control. In all honesty I truly can not believe what I'm seeing and hearing. I can only conclude the Republican party thinks government is nothing more than some kind of game that really doesn't effect any real people. It's like they think their playing Sim City or something.
If all the this isn't bad enough there's still Donald Trump. This morning I watched The Donald spout his birther conspiracy theories on three different networks. I kept trying to compute the too real fact this idiocy has propelled him to number two in Republican presidential polls. I keep saying to myself. "Seriously, this cannot be happening." And yet it is. One of the reasons I think it is happening is because middle class and poor White people still look in the mirror and see themselves as potential Donald Trumps. They do not see themselves as the equally poor and financially strapped Black or Hispanic person down the street. Wiley ole Donald Trump, the American version of Italy's Berlusconi, is banking on that White delusion and like Berlusconi, will cater to any conservative religious body he can find to support him in that catering. Unlike Berlusconi, I doubt The Donald will get the Vatican seal of approval. He'll have to settle for Chaput and most of the rest of the USCCB. In the meantime Trump can watch the Republican party self destruct over Planned Parenthood while he 'investigates' Obama's birth conspiracy. At least Glen Beck is losing his FOX megaphone.
Right now it is truly embarrassing to be an American. I feel awful for our military personnel and their families who now have the added stress of wondering whether the clowns they work for will actually pay them. How sad is that?
Riders are used by members of Congress to make social policy without going through the regular congressional committee process, or they are used to benefit business interests by specifically blocking the government from spending money to write or enforce certain regulations.
At a late-night White House meeting between the president and key congressional leaders, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) made clear that House Republicans would not approve funding for the government if any money were allowed to flow to Planned Parenthood through legislation known as Title X. “This comes down to women's health issues related to Title X,” a person in the meeting told HuffPost.
******************************************
I have been following the 2011 budget battle with keen interest, wondering how far John Boehner would let the Tea Party fringe control the Republican party. Apparently all the way to a government shutdown over birth control pills for middle income and poor women. It is incomprehensible to me that Boehner & Co would deprive our active military--the real warriors--of their pay checks so some right wing culture warriors can determine which women will and will not get access to reproductive health care. If this isn't big government intrusion, I don't what is. If this doesn't threaten national security, I don't what does. If this isn't all about diverting people from other cuts in this budget, I don't why the fuss.
If the Tea Party was supposed to save America from big government, it surely isn't going to happen this way. The Republican idea of big intrusive government is suspiciously beginning to appear as if that applies to government the right doesn't control. In all honesty I truly can not believe what I'm seeing and hearing. I can only conclude the Republican party thinks government is nothing more than some kind of game that really doesn't effect any real people. It's like they think their playing Sim City or something.
If all the this isn't bad enough there's still Donald Trump. This morning I watched The Donald spout his birther conspiracy theories on three different networks. I kept trying to compute the too real fact this idiocy has propelled him to number two in Republican presidential polls. I keep saying to myself. "Seriously, this cannot be happening." And yet it is. One of the reasons I think it is happening is because middle class and poor White people still look in the mirror and see themselves as potential Donald Trumps. They do not see themselves as the equally poor and financially strapped Black or Hispanic person down the street. Wiley ole Donald Trump, the American version of Italy's Berlusconi, is banking on that White delusion and like Berlusconi, will cater to any conservative religious body he can find to support him in that catering. Unlike Berlusconi, I doubt The Donald will get the Vatican seal of approval. He'll have to settle for Chaput and most of the rest of the USCCB. In the meantime Trump can watch the Republican party self destruct over Planned Parenthood while he 'investigates' Obama's birth conspiracy. At least Glen Beck is losing his FOX megaphone.
Right now it is truly embarrassing to be an American. I feel awful for our military personnel and their families who now have the added stress of wondering whether the clowns they work for will actually pay them. How sad is that?
