Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I like the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Really, I do. I can prove it – I’ve clicked “Like” on the Facebook page for the Fourth Amendment.

What, is that not enough?

Luckily, I’m doing more. I work with Irregular Times, for one thing, and for years we’ve been writing about laws like the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, begun under George W. Bush and have been continued under Barack Obama, that violate the guarantee the Fourth Amendment’s protection from unreasonable search and seizure. We also have designed the lawn sign of the 4th Amendment that you see here.

I happen to know that this yard sign has had at least a little impact on discussion of Fourth Amendment issues. For one thing, this photograph of our Fourth Amendment yard sign is being used as the profile photo of the Fourth Amendment Facebook page I like.

One particularly current thing we’re doing at Irregular Times to show that we like the 4th Amendment to the Constitution is that we’re initiating a protest against the Patriot Act in Washington D.C. this coming Saturday, March 12, at noon, in front of the U.S. Capitol. As you’ll see in the link in this paragraph, there’s a Facebook page for that too.

The question in my mind is whether all the people who have indicated that they “like” this protest will actually show up. We’ll see how much Facebook social networking is really worth.

From MotherJones.com, The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape

For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to “forcible rape.” This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion. (Smith’s spokesman did not respond to a call and an email requesting comment.)

Given that the bill also would forbid the use of tax benefits to pay for abortions, that 13-year-old’s parents wouldn’t be allowed to use money from a tax-exempt health savings account (HSA) to pay for the procedure. They also wouldn’t be able to deduct the cost of the abortion or the cost of any insurance that paid for it as a medical expense.

So what they’re saying is that girls and women who are either drugged up or under the threat of force or coerced would be ineligible for a government assisted abortion. A woman could be surrounded by fifteen guys and repetedly threatened with violence while being gang banged on the pinball machine and still not be able to get help terminating a resulting pregnancy. There is also a wonderful little tidbit in the article pointing out that there is no federally mandated term “forcible rape” and very few local laws use that term. So, taking this bill to it’s extremes, a woman could be ineligible for an assisted abortion unless she was shot or stabbed during the encounter. The language is just that vague and it doesn’t offer a definition for “forcible rape.”

Thank you, Republicans, I’m sure your constituents feel much better knowing you’re there to stand up for justice and common decency. Oh, and by the way? You SUCK.

To start out the 112th Congress, Rep. Steve Scalise introduced H.R. 61, the Coach Act of 2011. If passed, the Coach Act would prohibit federal government employees from being reimbursed for anything more than the coach class value of their airplane travel when they travel on official business, except in the case of necessity, such as for high-security situations or travel for disabled employees.

H.R. 61 strikes me as a reasonable way to cut some government cost without cutting back government services and without putting anybody in a situation of more discomfort than the average American citizen who travels by air must bear. The 8 cosponsors of Rep. Scalise’s bill in the House of Representatives are:

Jason Chaffetz [UT-3]
Mike Coffman [CO-6]
Nan Hayworth [NY-19]
Duncan Hunter [CA-52]
Robert Latta [OH-5]
Tom McClintock [CA-4]
Stevan Pearce [NM-2]
Rob Wittman [VA-1]

But curiously, the following 10 members of Congress had signed on as initial cosponsors of the Coach Act in January 2011, but withdrew en masse a week and a half later:

Cynthia Lummis [WY-at large]
Jeff Duncan [SC-3]
Tom Graves [GA-9]
Brian Bilbray [CA-50]
Patrick McHenry [NC-10]
Tom Cole [OK-4]
John Kline [MN-2]
Bob Gibbs [OH-18]
Doug Lamborn [CO-5]
Trent Franks [AZ-2]

There has been no communication from these Republicans to explain why they withdrew their support from this bill.

Notably, there has been no communication from any Democrats in the House to explain why they haven’t supported the measure in the first place.

With regards to all the tax cut coverage, right now I’m more interested in DADT.

Right now I’m watching CNN and it seems the Senate is now voting on a stand-alone bill regarding DADT. No news on what the result is yet.

The motion passed, 65-31, DADT is repealed. Now Obama has to sign it (due next week) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has to certify it.

Basically, this is a repost of a thread I started on another forum. I know I should have some grand thing to say after my long absence, but…I’m not sure how I could have said it differently.

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To say I didn’t see this coming would be a lie. I saw it…because the Republicans have been doing this since Obama took office. But still, this reeks of a surprising amount of petulance as well as a willingness to fuck over the whole country just to get their way.

Republicans Want to Extend Their Tax Cuts, Will Hold Breath Until They Get Their Way

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans threatened Wednesday to block virtually all legislation until expiring tax cuts are extended and a bill is passed to fund the federal government, vastly complicating Democratic attempts to leave their own stamp on the final days of the post-election Congress.

“While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike,” all 42 GOP senators wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The 42 signatures are more than enough to block action on almost any item he wishes to advance.

The threat does not apply to a new arms control treaty with Russia that is pending, since it would be debated under rules that differ from those that apply to routine legislation. President Barack Obama has made ratification of the pact a top priority.

But it does threaten Democratic attempts to lift the Pentagon’s ban on openly gay members of the military, and a separate item to give legal status to young illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the military. The tax and spending bills are likely to be the last to pass before Congress adjourns for the year.

Just a few minutes ago, the House of Representatives debated H. Res. 1446, a resolution praising the community of Tracy, California, for existing as a city for 100 years. Forty minutes of debate was ordered at 12:17, but debate ended at 12:22, 90 percent of the time for debate left unfilled.

Who in Congress could fail to have an opinion on such very, extremely important legislation? Why, if that resolution isn’t passed, just think of what that will mean for the city of Tracy! It’s not like one of those superficial issues, like the war in Afghanistan, climate change, or the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, after all.

Priorities!

Today, Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert blurted out the following statement about health care reform: “If you make 133 percent of the poverty level or less, under that wonderful bill, you’ll get forced into Medicaid, like it or not, even if you’ve got an employer who is willing to provide you health care. Oh, by the way, if you’re above 133 percent of the poverty level and you can’t afford the great health insurance policy that is dictated by this Zeus of a Congress and President, then bad news.”

A Zeus of a Congress? What is a Zeus of a Congress?

Is a Sergeant-At-Arms armed with a lightning bolt?

There’s a powerful bill in the U.S. House of Representatives right now that deals with the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling crisis in a clear, direct way. H.R. 5248, the No New Drilling Act, looks at the damage caused by the gigantic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and proposes a restoration of the moratorium on the expansion of offshore drilling.

U.S. Representative Danny Davis has not signed on as as a cosponsor to the No New Drilling Act. Why? He’s been busy.

Busy doing what? Busy supporting another piece of legislation: H. Res. 1297.

What would H. Res. 1297 do? It would recognize the importance of American Craft Beer Week.

The resolution, supported by Congressman Davis, notes the serious contributions of American craft beers, observing that, “American craft brewers increase awareness of the differences in the flavor, aroma, color, alcohol content, body, and other complex variables of beer.”

Come on, Representative Davis. If you have time to sit in your office, noting the differences in the complex variables of beer, you have time to sign your name to H.R. 5248, and take on the serious offshore drilling crisis. Please – cosponsor the No New Drilling Act.

On the same show of Face the Nation where U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann claimed that some parts of the private economy are not parts of the private economy, Senator Jim DeMint appeared to inform the world that the health care reform legislation just passed by congressional Democrats “mocks Americans”.

How does health care reform mock Americans? I just so happened to walk by the dressing room for recently passed legislation at the Library of Congress the other day, and overheard the following comments:

“Those Americans are so healthy now, they think their shit don’t stink!”

“Anyone can be healthy. It takes style to get sick!”

“Americans these days are a bunch of scaredy cats, needing reliable medical insurance. Oooh, watch out! Cancer’s gonna get you!”

“Is baby feeling sick and sniffly? Go to the doctor, baby!”

“Oh poor me! I have muscular dystrophy! I need medicine!”

See? Jim DeMint was telling the truth. Health care reform does indeed mock Americans, and our obsession with being healthy. Isn’t it just humiliating?