Among the many things Congress has on its to-do list this week is a flood-insurance bill, which is being pushed fairly aggressively by the leadership in both parties. It reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance for five years, before it expires next month, and it's been widely expected that the bill would pass fairly easily.
It has, however, run into a little trouble. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is demanding an amendment to the flood-insurance bill: the Life at Conception Act, which would define life as beginning at conception. Paul's language states that "Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being."
What does Rand Paul's take on reproductive rights have to do with flood insurance? Nothing, but Paul doesn't much care.
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called this "ridiculous" and said he wouldn't allow a vote on Paul's amendment.
Of course, in the larger context, it's hard not to marvel at the Republicans' laser-like focus on jobs, jobs, jobs culture-war legislation. This is precisely what GOP candidates promised voters in the 2010 midterms, right?
Update: Rand Paul, an alleged libertarian, also want to use federal power to change abortion laws in the District of Columbia, even if the people of D.C. disagree.
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Being a Kentuckian this is just to-o embarassing. Paul is simply (his own) board certified nuts.
I share the same shame.
It could be worse. I'm from Texas.
I'm trying to get Washington state to annex Louisville.
NO! It was bad enough when perennial presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was shopping in Washington for an open Congressional seat. WE DON'T NEED KENTUCKY'S LUNATICS!
This is does not fit with the goal of "less government" that's supposed to be so important.
When the GOP says "less government" they mean "less government" for the little people - education, health-care, medicare, medicaid, no infrastructure.
In this case, Paul is just being faithful to the hypocrisy that is the GOTP's claim to fame - disenfranchising women, again!
Hey Rand, do you still not understand why WE'RE saying it is a WAR ON WOMEN?!
Well, I think we all know the litmus test for the term "Small Government"....if it fits in a woman's vagina it is small enough, hence they have to put everything in that category....
Infrastructure bill? Lets see...can we put some probe requirement in to it? Yes? OK, lets do it!
Flood insurance bill? Lets see...can we fit a fetus somewhere there? Yes? OK, lets do it!
It isn't just Jobs. It's almost any pressing concern, from transportation and other infrastructure, to reasonable tax policy, to energy policy, to things like the flood insurance program and disaster relief.
Republicans seem disinterested in solving almost any problem that truly affects most Americans. That's why it's so important for the Dems to regain the House and hold the Senate.
Because they're united and well organized, Republicans are good at being the minority party. Let's give them another opportunity to be just that. Especially since they really suck at being in control.
"Of course, in the larger context, it's hard not to marvel at the Republicans' laser-like focus on jobs, jobs, jobs culture-war legislation. This is precisely what GOP candidates promised voters in the 2010 midterms, right?"
And why aren't the Democrats blasting the hell out of the Republicans to soften them up? I'll never understand the political impotence of Democrats. Ever.
Thank you. I think Obama should have a press conference a couple of times a week. What is he doing? Fund raising I guess. It's hard to imagine that people want to go back to a Bush presidency.
Unless: people in this country really do want austerity, lower taxes, and the satisfaction of knowing that the government isn't carrying freeloaders. I'm reading a lot of comments in my local paper to this effect, and I live in San Francisco. People really believe the government overspends. Plus there's the vague idea that Obama did a bait and switch on his policies. That's my observation today.
Every lie told by Romney, and the misleading political ads (the Obama has been bad for the economy) should have light shed on it every time.
Democrats have a messaging problem! And that whole "librul media bias" in which the corporate owned news only regurgitates the propaganda from the reich has created a bubble where many people (unfortunately) live. It's going to take all of US that still have common sense, human decency, and can think past tomorrow to awaken our neighbors/friends/& family - use little words - to explain exactly why voting GOP is soooo wrong for US!
Here's a link to our President's weekly addresses:
http://www.hulu.com/obamas-weekly-addresses
I think obama is getting the word out , I do not see much support from our dem reps tho , it would be good to call or write them and tell them to get out there and give them hell , I did it to mine this week , I will do it again next week , tell them we have their backs , and ask if we can help , tell them to fight for the dem platform for gods sakes
The poll they showed on nbc nightly tonight said obamas poll numbers looked good on the subject of healthcare of all things , go figure
2 days ago I could access the Republican Party 2010 National Platform. Somehow today it is unavailable. Hmmm. But there is still this: http://republicanjobcreation.com/ The point is that although Republicans like Rand Paul were elected on a platform that put jobs as the party's highest priority, this is what they have legislated. Must have fooled a lot of voters about what mattered to them.
Anything is acceptable in doing god's work!
Twisted and creepy ain't it? Just wait for the theocracy to spread state by state.
God is watching. And She is NOT happy!
Is there anything contradictory about a male libertarian male wanting to restrict female rights?
Women couldn't vote in 1789, and that's when Ayn Rand Paul thinks he's living.
I guess.
Or we could just take the truth at face value: Rand Paul's a hypocritical cowardly dick who knows he can't get his way on something like this on its own. So he attempts to attach it to unrelated legislation that he knows the Senate wants to pass. Yeah, I think that's closer to an honest characterization.
I disagree, though only in the particulars, not in the perspective. He's a hypocritical self serving dick, who doesn't want anything accomplished under this administration. This is an attempt to kill the important flood insurance bill by amending it so that it either won't get passed, or, if passed with this amendment, will be vetoed by POTUS. It's sinister, rather than stupid or cowardly.
Poison pill, good name for it. Lacing bills with poison and holding U.S. credit rating histage. Murder and kidnapping in metaphor, Pretty accurate description of GOP these days.
This is what you get when legislators are frightened of the word "vagina." Now Rand Paul thinks everything is a euphemism.
Consider why all the Paulies are working to hard to take over the local cells of the Republican Party now. It's like how the Goldwater people stayed in control of local parties after his defeat, and were able to name the next GOP candidate, the only "mainstream Republican" to campaign for Goldwater: Richard M. Nixon.
What they're doing now is setting in place the local organization for the Rand Paul for President campaign in 2016.
If you think this guy isn't running for President already, then you must live on Mars.
Scary. Rand Paul makes George W. look like a flippin' genius.
Have to agree with you on Rand in 2016. Scares the ever living sh!t out of me, but we can count on the likes of Rand Paul, Paul Ryan and Chris Christie to make a strong run in 2016. That is if Willard isn't already prez. Not a good sign for the country.
This is what it has come down to? Yes, this is what it has come down to.
Aqua Buddha is pleased at this nonsequitor offering.
This has nothing to do with Rand Paul caring about when life starts or protecting anyone under the constitution. This is election year politics at is worst. Add a ridiculous amendment to this bill that he knows Democrats will NOT agree to. When the National Flood Insurance program does not get refunded the Republicans can use it against the President and the Democrats. I am so sick of this crap! Seriously they all need to go!
That's a clown amendment, bro.
...no space left; my head's exploding.
A good place for a New Rule (apologies to Bill Maher). Amendments need to have a relationship to the parent bill.
But it does have a 'relationship' with the bill!
Remember how many children were conceived in stuck elevators during that famous blackout on the East Coast?
I mean, your house is flooded, what else is there to do?
What we need to end the debate on abortion are answers to the following questions. What is the cost to society of women having abortions? What is the cost to society when women decide to bring a child into society? We need to look at those costs and get our emotions out of the debate. I love puppies and kittens but we can't keep reproducing them if we don't have homes for them. Just like people should not keep reproducing if they can not provide for there offspring.
It's more than those costs.
1. What is the cost of forcing women to become mothers when they don't want to?
2. What's the cost of forcing a man to become a father when he doesn't want to, especially when his woman doesn't want to become a mother?
3. What's the cost of encouraging through guilt, or forcing by law, a too young or too poor woman to become a mother when she shouldn't?
4. The cost of forcing rape or incest victims to bear children because of some "personhood" illusion is unthinkable!
I'd like to add
5. The cost of a woman's life, when the fetus is more important to the state.
They are beyond nuts to down right scary. The only "less regulation" you will see from the GOP along with their crazy Tea Party buddies like Rand Paul will be for "big business and the wealthy". As for the everyday American, they will impose heavier restrictions by forcing "their own personal agenda (religious or non-religious) values down our throats....all the while killing the environment, food safety along with jobs (including pay & benefits).
And to Their stupidity and personal agenda.... contraceptives prevent conception, so why are they also trying to do away with contraceptives??? They will pay for viagra, but not birth control? Half the planet is starving now !
You have to recognize that the real agenda of "personhood" is to force extreme christian sexual morality (it's sinful unless sanctioned by marriage) in the 21st century United States. They constrict access to contraception, then magnify the danger of serious unwanted consequences from intercourse. But by describing their actions as "personhood," or "right to life" (instead of anti-choice), they convince themselves, and many others, that they're caring and compassionate, rather than ruthless and obsessed.
Not to mention that the "right to life guaranteed by the Constitution" as Paul reportedly wrote in his amendment, isn't guaranteed by the Constitution. It's in the Declaration of Independence.
Indeed. In fact, the right to life mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is endowed by the Creator, and not by any human agency at all. The point of mentioning it in the Declaration was to establish that humans have certain rights that do not depend on human institutions, and so can be asserted against even the rules and laws of their government.
my 'favorite' part about this is that Sen. Rubio spent a good portion of his 30 min interview with Jon Stewart last night whining about how Republicans are 'forced' to filibuster because the mean 'ole Sen Reid won't allow votes on their worthwhile amendments...
please, for the love of god, let the Daily Show's writers get ahold of this for tonight's show.
I wonder what "right to life" Senator Paul believes is in the Constitution. I just checked, being unable to remember such a clause, and I'm not seeing it. There are some amendments that obliquely refer to the right not to have one's life taken away without compensation, but no clearly defined "right to life". Could the esteemed Senator be perhaps thinking of the Declaration of Independence? An entirely *different* document?
and why would someone from Nevada have any say in what happens to women in DC. GO HOME Rand Paul!
Rand Paul is from Kentucky. Harry Reid is from Nevada.
Afraid of it? Seems they can't keep their minds off or their hands out of it. He needs to be paying attention to all these murdered babies - he needs to take responsibility for those fetuses he saves and make sure they are fed, loved, nurtured, educated and not exposed to the horrible abuses and torture and neglect up to and including murder of babies I see crossing the tv everyday -
Ah, but that's the point. They love the little children in utero. Once they're born, however, the love ends. And sadly, many unwanted children end up in "the system". Which, btw, the Republicants don't want to pay for.
If Attorney General Eric Holder is found in contempt by congress do he have the right to summons members of the Bush Administration to testify before the Congress? Are we still living in a country where you're innocient until proven guilty and you have a right to defense? I would call everyone involved over the years to testify before congress. They wanted a witch hunt.......give them witches and warlocks.
There he goes again! 'Ol Grand Mall(Rand Paul), pulling another pesky rabbit trick to hold hostage the federal government's business just to create his religious beliefs into law. Son to the father of TEA party, of confrontational tactics, who have said they wanted smaller government, now building up the religious powers to placate the fringe segment of the TEA-Republican parties.
This is how the TEA segment works on slowing down or shutting down governmental workings because they want their own issues or religious beliefs enacted. It really smacks of double standards on what the TEA segment wants and what they want. The TEA party doesn't like Romney and some say they won't vote for him, but do they have a choice? Not any more!
Back to Grand Mall,(Seizure) who just wants to create the biggest issue he can at the expense of these who require "Flood Insurance." And then there is Sen. Roy Blunt, who added a contraception amendment to the Transportation bill. These twoTactical Egotistical Activist(TEA) must be removed from office as soon as possible. They are not doing the job they are supposed to do for everyone in their state.
Reid is RIGHT! Isn't it time to revise the rules of the Senate so these stick-up men, I mean Republicans, can't take hostages any more?