I've been wanting to do a post on Senator Ted Cruz and his crackpot father Rafael Cruz for some time. Mother Jones has done it for me here in an article by David Corn. I'm still going to add my two cents, though!
I used to think that those Americans who are religious are perfectly fine to have their own thoughts about God and religion, and I still do... as long as they leave religion out of public policy. Yes, it's a shame that so much money goes to churches (tax free to the churches, tax deductible to the giver, and that means the rest of us pay more taxes because of it) -- as well as buying everything from Bibles to crosses to Christian music. I say it's a shame because I think of all the good that could be done with that money if we could get past religion in this country. Could we cure cancer? Make sure no one ever goes to bed hungry? It boggles the mind to think about.
But in recent years the conservative evangelicals in this country, aided by Fox News and right-wing radio hosts, have twisted religion into a political force. When you want to insert religion into laws and public policy, then I have a big problem with it.
Ted Cruz and his fundamentalist father are much scarier than most people, even those who voted for Ted, realize. Ted and Rafael Cruz are Dominionists. Google "Christian Reconstruction" or "Dominionism" sometime. If it doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should. Whether you are religious or not, these people are trying to turn the United States into an extremely fundamentalist Christian nation. Taking away women's rights, the rights of minorities, making sure the wealth flows only to the very top (and even to just certain "kings" of the hard Christian right, including Ted - I'm not joking, he literally was "anointed" by several pastors, as noted in the Mother Jones article)... this is all a part of their grand plan to rule in the "end times," which they believe we are now in.
Among Rafael Cruz's more incendiary remarks (and an outright lie) is that the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, requires seniors to get suicide counseling. No, I'm not kidding. You and I might think that this old kook is just a crackpot that needs some serious psychological counseling, but the thing is, there are people who believe this crap!
It might be easy to just shrug your shoulders are say that people like this won't make much headway. But Ted Cruz is a United States Senator. With presidential aspirations. Not to mention the GOP war on women that continues unabated, with many states cutting women's rights to control their reproductive choices. Voter ID laws have hit young people, women and minorities particularly hard, as those groups tend to vote Democratic. There are many school districts who want to teach creationism in science classes. Fox News is watched by a lot of people; Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mike Savage and other extreme far-right radio hosts are listened to by a lot of people, and they are all aiding and abetting in the attempt to paint this country as "Christian." Unfortunately, in some areas of the country it's working.
Let's get one thing straight - the United States is NOT a "Christian nation." A two-second Google search will give you all the ammunition you need to prove it. But I'll give you a quick way to prove it once and for all -- go here to the online searchable version of the Constitution, and search on the word "Christian." You will get NO results. Nor will you find any of the following words: God, Jesus, Christ or Christianity. If this country was meant to be a Christian nation, those words would be all over that document. A nation founded on religion is a theocracy, and we don't live in one.
To those people who want to live in a Christian nation, I suggest you pack your bags and get the hell out of my country. Because the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Which also means freedom from religion, if you so choose. If you don't like it, you're free to move. That includes you, Senator Cruz, and your father.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Shutdown Showdown
Correction 10/4: The staff of Congress is being furloughed. Some of the Congresspeople and Senators are actually answering their own phones, giving tours, etc. Good for them!!
So let me get this straight... The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Some of its provisions have been in effect for years. The state medical exchanges opened as of the beginning of this month and millions of people are looking to sign up. The constitutionality of this law has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. The Republicans have tried and failed more than 40 times to pass a bill repealing ACA (colloquially known as Obamacare).
So they decide they're willing to shut down the entire federal government in a pathetic and desperate attempt to defund a law that was passed years ago, which has already been funded, and which they don't have the votes to repeal.
To be fair, there are a few grown-ups amongst the Republicans who recognize the futility of this, and are mad as hell at its instigator, narcissist Senator Ted Cruz.
I would not count Speaker of the House John Boehner amongst the grown-ups. He has enough votes between the Democrats and the Republicans to pass a clean bill (i.e., one without the defunding of ACA), but he won't allow it to come up for a vote. Why? Because he's going by the so-called "Hastert Rule," which is the idea that the Speaker should have a majority of the majority party voting for a bill before bringing it up for a vote. But here's the rub... today Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker for whom the law was named, said there never was such a "rule." He advocated bringing a bill up if a simple majority would vote for it. Oops.
Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz should do the country a big favor and resign from Congress immediately. Their asinine idea to try to defund a law that was duly passed, signed into law and affirmed by SCOTUS, after having tried over 40 times to repeal it, is nothing short of an attempt by some members of the Republican party to circumvent the Constitution and hijack this country by sheer blackmail. They are pathetic excuses for congressmen and do not deserve the honor of serving in that institution.
As far as the shutdown goes, the very first thing that should happen in a government shutdown is that every member of Congress should be required to give up not only their paychecks, but their staff should be given paid furloughs. No congressperson or senator should have a driver or a car to shuttle them around. No assistant to go get their coffee. No one to read their bills for them. Period.
The second thing that should happen is that federal workers who are furloughed should be given back pay. Then, federal parks should remain open with the rangers receiving their full pay. Essential things like medical trials should be continued.
There's no sense in the American people suffering because we have some idiots sitting in Congress who are doing everything in their power to keep people who don't have health care from receiving it.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) had this to say: "We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." Disrespect? Really. Like the Republicans haven't disrespected this President ever since he was elected! Rep. Stuzman, I am going to call 'em like I see 'em, and I say you're an ass. You don't deserve to "get" anything for this shameful attempt to blackmail our President into dumping a law that's already in effect just because you don't like it or him. You and your Republican colleagues need to get off your butts and get back to work. Go do your job, pass a damn budget bill like you've been elected to do, or get the hell out of Congress and let someone more worthy of your seat do it instead.
President Obama should stand his ground and not give the Republicans one damn thing. What they have done is unconscionable, and the GOP will pay for it in future elections.
I can just imagine what other developed countries think of us. They manage to have single-payer health care for all at a much lower cost than the patchwork mess that is our private, for-profit insurance model that until now has left millions of Americans without even basic health care. I'm sure they think Americans are just idiots. Right now, I'm agreeing that some of us certainly are, and they're sitting on Capitol Hill.
So let me get this straight... The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Some of its provisions have been in effect for years. The state medical exchanges opened as of the beginning of this month and millions of people are looking to sign up. The constitutionality of this law has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. The Republicans have tried and failed more than 40 times to pass a bill repealing ACA (colloquially known as Obamacare).
So they decide they're willing to shut down the entire federal government in a pathetic and desperate attempt to defund a law that was passed years ago, which has already been funded, and which they don't have the votes to repeal.
To be fair, there are a few grown-ups amongst the Republicans who recognize the futility of this, and are mad as hell at its instigator, narcissist Senator Ted Cruz.
I would not count Speaker of the House John Boehner amongst the grown-ups. He has enough votes between the Democrats and the Republicans to pass a clean bill (i.e., one without the defunding of ACA), but he won't allow it to come up for a vote. Why? Because he's going by the so-called "Hastert Rule," which is the idea that the Speaker should have a majority of the majority party voting for a bill before bringing it up for a vote. But here's the rub... today Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker for whom the law was named, said there never was such a "rule." He advocated bringing a bill up if a simple majority would vote for it. Oops.
Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz should do the country a big favor and resign from Congress immediately. Their asinine idea to try to defund a law that was duly passed, signed into law and affirmed by SCOTUS, after having tried over 40 times to repeal it, is nothing short of an attempt by some members of the Republican party to circumvent the Constitution and hijack this country by sheer blackmail. They are pathetic excuses for congressmen and do not deserve the honor of serving in that institution.
As far as the shutdown goes, the very first thing that should happen in a government shutdown is that every member of Congress should be required to give up not only their paychecks, but their staff should be given paid furloughs. No congressperson or senator should have a driver or a car to shuttle them around. No assistant to go get their coffee. No one to read their bills for them. Period.
The second thing that should happen is that federal workers who are furloughed should be given back pay. Then, federal parks should remain open with the rangers receiving their full pay. Essential things like medical trials should be continued.
There's no sense in the American people suffering because we have some idiots sitting in Congress who are doing everything in their power to keep people who don't have health care from receiving it.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) had this to say: "We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." Disrespect? Really. Like the Republicans haven't disrespected this President ever since he was elected! Rep. Stuzman, I am going to call 'em like I see 'em, and I say you're an ass. You don't deserve to "get" anything for this shameful attempt to blackmail our President into dumping a law that's already in effect just because you don't like it or him. You and your Republican colleagues need to get off your butts and get back to work. Go do your job, pass a damn budget bill like you've been elected to do, or get the hell out of Congress and let someone more worthy of your seat do it instead.
President Obama should stand his ground and not give the Republicans one damn thing. What they have done is unconscionable, and the GOP will pay for it in future elections.
I can just imagine what other developed countries think of us. They manage to have single-payer health care for all at a much lower cost than the patchwork mess that is our private, for-profit insurance model that until now has left millions of Americans without even basic health care. I'm sure they think Americans are just idiots. Right now, I'm agreeing that some of us certainly are, and they're sitting on Capitol Hill.
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