Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I have no idea who is behind notRandy_Forbes, the new Twitter stream that mocks Republican Congressman Randy Forbes, but so far, I’m tickled by what I see there. The following two messages stand out so far:

- celebrating my judeo-christian heritage this weekend by feeding the homeless and giving away all my money. Syke! Im playing beer pong!

- I just caught my wife looking at pics of Rep Chris Lee

Fred Karger wants the Republicans to remember Willie Horton and the smoking lobby. Karger wants Democrats to see a nice gay man. He thinks that will get him elected President.

Is he right? Can these disparate pieces fit together?

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.

Who is more intelligent: U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, or a turnip?

That’s the Twitter poll being taken right now. If you follow the account, you’re voting that a turnip is smarter than Michele Bachmann.

90 people have made that vote so far. Which side do you come down on? Does Michele Bachmann edge out the root vegetable?

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.

Congressman Charlie Dent likes to adopt an anti-Europe posture when he’s talking in front of right wing voters in the 15th district of Pennsylvania. He frequently warns that Democrats are trying to lead America into a “European-style Welfare state”, adding the comment about Europe in order to cast Democrats as somehow unAmerican in character.

It turns out that Charles Dent has some rather strong European political connections himself, though. Just last Thursday, Congressman Dent had a special fundraising event arranged for him at 201 C Street, the home of an influential lobbyist. That lobbyist, David D. O’Brien, is the head of his own firm, which represents several European interests, including the embassies of European nations and Wartsila Defense, a company owned by a Scandinavian technology company.

Representative Dent may insult Europe with his words, but he’s happy to have cash slapped in his hand at parties arranged for him by the agents of European power elites.

I wish that Congressman Ted Poe had stopped to consider his words more carefully before he spoke this week in an angry speech denouncing Islam. Poe said of the Cordoba House, a Muslim community center with Christian, Jewish and Muslim worship spaces and a memorial to the victims of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001:

“That piece of land in New York City took on a whole new meaning. Ground Zero is no longer just a location in New York. It is a symbol of America as powerful as the stars and stripes. It is hallowed ground of the victims who were victimized because of hate.”

A hallowed ground of hate? Is that really what Ted Poe wants to establish in New York City? Does he really mean to say that hate has the power to make ground religiously sacred?

Congressman Ted Poe is suggesting that we give terrorists the power to create religious shrines in the United States through their violent acts. I can’t think of a better way than that to encourage more terrorism in the future.

The following voice, urging a pullout from Afghanistan next year, came from the U.S. Congress this week: “We’re wearing out our military. Madam Speaker, I hope the President will keep his word and have a timetable to get our troops out of Afghanistan.”

The voice was that of Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican.