Religious Extremists in House Hold up Budget over Planned Parenthood Funding
Posted: April 8, 2011 Filed under: Women's Rights | Tags: Federal Funding, Planned Parenthood Funding 18 CommentsWill Obama and the Democrats Cave to the Xtian Taliban sitting in Congress?
Democratic officials familiar with the negotiations said that proposed restrictions on money for Planned Parenthood remained the chief sticking point, and that attempts to resolve the disagreement through alternatives like allowing a separate floor vote on the issue had not been successful. Democrats said they were told by the Republicans that the votes of anti-abortion social conservatives would be needed to move any budget measure through the House.
But Reid called it a battle over ideology.
“The debate has nothing to do with the number — it has everything to do with women’s health,” he said, referring to funding of Planned Parenthood during a Friday news conference. “That’s the only issue that was left undone when we left the White House last night.”
Jeff Zients of the Office of Management and Budget, who is overseeing preparations for a possible shutdown, said both the economy and public confidence in the federal government could suffer — even if a shutdown only lasted through the weekend.
“When I think about the scale of the number of operations that will be shut down and then would have to be reopened, I think the impact on the economy even for a short period of time could be relatively significant,” Zients told reporters Thursday.
Call your senators and representatives and tell them not to cave to Religious Extremists.
More from Think Progress:
Three Anti-Abortion Republicans Tell House GOP To Drop Planned Parenthood Rider To Avoid Shutdown
While many Republicans are committed to holding up the budget over a social issue, at least three anti-choice Republicans are recognizing the absurdity of such an obstacle. Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and — surprisingly — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) have signaled a willingness drop the policy rider to reach an agreement and avoid a shutdown:
– Toomey on MSNBC: “I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes that we can, but move on, because there are other, bigger battles that we are fighting,” he said yesterday.
– Coburn on MSNBC: “And my recommendation to my friends in the House is, you know, it’s highly unlikely that many riders are going to get passed with a Democrat president and a Democrat Senate, so why don’t you take the spending and let’s get on to the budget,” he said Wednesday.
– Bachmann on CNN: “I think that we should have a clean bill that makes sure that the paychecks get to the troops on time,” she told CNN’s John King yesterday.
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“Public confidence in the federal government?”
Who the hell has any now?
I sure don’t. I’m figuring the White House will want to cave in to avoid everything. I’m writing every senator and congressman begging them not to cave in. They caved on tax cuts to the rich, they caved on that stupid health care bill too. I mean how far fetched is it to stop women from getting abortion riders on their privately bought insurance in the name of the Hyde Amendment? They have to know they won’t have us if they cave.
Whether or not I have faith is nobody’s business but my own.
But to live under the tenets of “fundies” who say they know what is best for me is the greatest violation of any form of freedom that would deny me the right to choose what I profess.
Exactly. They’re turning this country into something akin to the Taliban Afghanistan. People can be as religious as they want to be as long as it doesn’t invade my life or that of my children or any other citizen that chooses something else.
Add this to the list of what the chauvinist pigs really want:
I have a thought:
Now that Glenn Beck has been banished from overloading the dinner hour why not ask “god” to fill that time slot and get his take on just what it is he expects from us?
Right from the horse’s mouth and we won’t have to worry, question, or debate just what the hell we are expected to live up to as we climb the ladder to the Hereafter.
It will reduce the second guessing and interpretation of his will that these monsters decree. During commercial breaks we can tweet any questions and hire Ryan Seacrest to screen calls.
As it is now we are merely left to ponder the latest pronouncements sent out by clerics, hucksters, and politicians.
I may be onto something here!
Yup. We should just leave empty seats for all those folks right there. Let them all show up and say something. They were, afterall, so talkative 1000s of years ago. We could even supply a few bushes to burn or other props. Maybe Zeus would like a few lightening bolts?
Greta Christina: “Why should religion, alone among all other ideas, be entitled to a free ride… free from criticism and questioning and the uncomfortable reminder that not everyone in the world agrees with it?”
This is another one of my pet peeves. For some reason, you can’t criticize the craziness of people’s religion. I mean if your friend was speaking to an imaginary friend and called it big bird, you’d want them to see a shrink. Substitute some religious thing in there and it’s suddenly off the mental illness list. There’s some really bad things about some religions and it should be okay to tell people that if they believe in some thing that’s it’s preferred they keep it to themselves. Criticism of religion isn’t an act of disrespect any more than criticizing a bad hairdo or a bad outfit and at least the bad outfit doesn’t hold people hostage to superstition. I have no problem with people having ‘faith’ as long as they keep in places where the rest of us don’t have to endure it.
Exactly, it is treated like a big “taboo” yet they run around instilling much of it into law.
Fine if it offer comfort. But when you begin to question the hypocrisy of those who practice it you run into the most vitriolic rhetoric.
Why am I supposed to believe that there is a man in the sky who will fill my home with snakes and reign plagues upon me if I choose to think otherwise?
Why am I supposed to consider rape a “blessing” or war a necessary evil?
Mention religion and the feint hearted depart casting the very same stones in their path as the Old Testament provides.
The “sin” is in dismissing your fellow man for not believing the brain rot they choose to uphold.
Keep your damn faith and belief to yourself. Don’t force your hypocritical righteousness on me or anyone else.
I have been pissed off about the war against women in this country…now I am actually frightened that these GOP assholes are really going to get their way.
I am too. A lot of these Democratic senators are on TV saying this is a sham and a shame, but if they cave in, that’s just one more nail in the Democratic Party’s coffin as far as I’m concerned. They better stop these radicals now because they’ve spent years letting them turn women into chattel and breeders again.
At least the White House canceled its Indianapolis fundraising trip. The dems and the prez better stand up for planned parenthood if 3 million women depend on this for basic gyn care.
Crying Baby Boehner’s holding a presser still saying it’s about the ‘spending’ or we can’t create jobs.
Such, BS!!!
The religious fanatics are the foot soldiers for the Republican party. The thinking people in the party don’t like them, but they need them. I was reading about the election fraud in WI yesterday, and came across an article about Mike Connell, Karl Rove’s IT expert who helped fix the elections in 2000, 02, 04, etc, who was mysteriously killed in a plane crash just before he was to give testimony about his roll in the elections. What struck me in reading about him is that he was fanatically anti-abortion, and apparently felt justified in fixing elections because he was saving babies by getting Republicans elected. It was a real lightbulb moment for me as I realized that the Republican party uses these crazed zealots to do their dirty work because the zealots are nuts enough to think it’s okay to fix elections or murder doctors if one is saving babies. Now, the party must throw them a bone, or the foot soldiers won’t fix more elections for them.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve dealt with them before. I’ve never met a group of people willing to do violence and harm in my life. It’s amazing how they’ve managed to warp the conversation so much that people believe their propaganda. They think their narrow interpretations of one religion should run medicine, other people’s lives, and the governments of all of us. I hope the Democrats keep making this clear that they do cave in to most of what they want and it’s still not extreme enough for them.
If The GOP keeps pushing this ‘purity/religious’ button, they will lose any and all Independent support. And neither Dems or Repubs can win without the Indies. A growing element of the Tea Party contingent is simply a rebirth of the Religious Right with people like DeMint, the High Priest, trying to push their radical Christian views down the throats of the country. They’ve infiltrated our military [I listened to a startling, really scary review of this several months ago on NPR] and would like to roll back history to something more suitable to their questionable values.
Dark Ages, anyone?
Boehner is trying to play and placate these people, who would blithly close the government over Planned Parenthood funding. They want to lower the standards on the social issues now, so they can go into full attack mode once the bigger battles come up.
There is a point, a moment when you can not compromise and have any honor left. This is one of those moments.
These are the worst spoiled brats that have ever been whelped. When are their mothers going to spank them?
Legal, Safe and Rare
A fourteen-trillion deficit
Is nothing at to sneer,
But in these times of hope and change
We think we’ve been austere.
Another one-point-five-trillion
And then we’ll start to pare:
We want to keep our budget cuts
All legal, safe and rare.
We know the voters turned us out
The last election day,
And gave the House to radicals,
Hell-bent on foul play.
But voters took a different tack
And did the Senate spare,
So we just treat Republicans
As legal, safe and rare.
Though consequences are to flow
Beyond the ballot box,
In truth we don’t much give a damn
For populi’s clear vox.
So let those new House members
Pass all the bills they dare;
Their chances in the Upper House
Are legal, safe and rare.
And if the House’s budget cuts
Are aimed at NPR,
We’ll brand the cuts extremist hate;
We’ll paint the cuts bizarre.
And if Planned Parenthood should fall
Into the budget snare,
Abortion’s kept, we’ll say, by us
As legal, safe and rare.
Here’s hoping never comes the day
The public starts to seek,
The truth behind our fresh facade
And media technique.
For if they do we run the risk
They may become aware:
Few words can mask the truth as well
As legal, safe and rare.