Guess who is not satisfied with the Senate Health care bill. The Catholic Bishops group is calling it not just a bad bill but one of the worst they have seen. Guess they will be stepping in to make it better, just like did when they aided in getting the Stupak amendment passed at the last minute. Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life spokesman for the nation's Catholic bishops doesn't mince words today an interview about the new Harry Reid health care bill in the Senate that contains...

Maybe it is a good thing this happened, this idiotic religion-based amendment that was pushed by the Catholic Bishops and allowed by our Democratic majority. I remember pre-Roe times all too clearly. There was not only a deep shame to getting pregnant pre-marriage....there was no legal way to do anything about it. Oh, and there were not the effective means of birth control, either. So pardon me if I wonder why women are so compliant as our party is willing to take away their rights. F...

We really are on the slippery slope by not recognizing anything besides death of the mother as a viable reason for a late-term abortion. It is like we went back to the dark ages the last few years. We have let religion set the course that will determine a woman's choice....not science, not medicine...religion. And insurance companies. From MS Magazine: This story could probably be told many times over. “Our medical experts have determined that your life was not in danger and you could...

Marco Rubio is Jeb's crony, running as the dream of the teabaggers. He goes and speaks at their rallies. He is getting all kinds of attention from the extreme right wing. His opponent for Senator from Florida, Governor Charlie Crist, just does not know how to handle it. Instead of letting his moderate side show, he is trying to move to the right of Marco....and that is just not possible. Howard Troxler does a good job of pointing out the ridiculous nature of Crist's attempts to out Rubio Ru...

Those are the words of Sharon Lerner in a very interesting article about why there is no requirement in the health care reform to have birth control paid for, to have pelvic exams paid for, to have STDs covered by insurance. Lerner is the author of “The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation,” due out in this spring. She is a journalist who has covered women's issues and health for years. Her written work has appeared in The Village Voice, where she was a columnist, as well as The...

He must be speaking of those of us who feel the Stupak amendment went too far. Rev. Wallis is in love with the term "secular fundamentalist", and he uses it in this apparent defense of Stupak's amendment. This article by him sounds like we are supposed to just quit fussing and In other words those who are speaking loudly need to be cautious lest he refer to us again as "secular fundamentalists. As hard as it is, the best hope for going forward is to bring the two sides back to the table ...

Arne said he was drawing a line in the sand on Meet The Press today. I could only think how ironic that the first "line in the sand" drawn by this administration is on the issue of education....with Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton getting equal billing for their views. The party refused to draw a line in the sand on From MTP in June with Axelrod: Gregory pushes the issue, says why no ultimatum from the president, asks why he doesn't say the bill must have it or he won't sign it. Axelrod's an...

His speech on September 12, 1960. Read it and compare his views with the assault on women's rights this last week. On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on the issue of his religion. At the time, many Protestants questioned whether Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith would allow him to make important national decisions as president independent of the church. Kennedy addressed tho...

This website is openly admitting that their church is trying to control the health care reform process, and they commend two good Catholics. Bart Stupak, Democrat and Chris Smith, Republican. They admit the amendment was "forced" to a floor vote by "the heroic perseverance of the US Bishops and the hard work of faithful Catholics in the Democratic Party like Bart Stupak and faithful Catholics in the Republican Party like Chris Smith." Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to recall that rel...

I do. We were alarmed last year about it, but now 64 Democrats vote for an amendment that has no exception for the health of a woman. Does that mean they agreed with McCain? (Link) Video at the link. "Clearly, in all his debate prep, no one thought to coach McCain not to go to the third rail of the abortion issue. Boy, was that an oversight. Because not only did McCain go there, he jumped right on to it. In trying to paint Obama as being for the great Republican bugaboo of late term abort...

There was a discussion in the Washington Post a couple of days ago about the Stupak amendment. One of the comments there by an Ob-Gyn really caught my attention. Ignoring the health of the mother is nothing new, in fact many Democrats voted on a late term abortion ban in 2003 that only considered the mother's life, NOT her health. More on that below. From the Washington Post: Rochester, NY: I am an obstetrician/gynecologist, and the Stupak amendment worries me. Its premise is that abort...

After watching that period show from an era I remember well, I very much appreciated her comparison of the last episode or two to the weird actions of our Democratic congress this week. From Judith Warner at the New York Times: “Has Congress become like an episode of ‘Mad Men’?” California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez asked this week, after the House of Representatives approved a version of health care reform that contained what some pro-choice advocates are calling the toughest restrictions ...

Public schools are suffering funding setbacks because of the economy, because funding per pupil is taken from them and given to charter schools. It is like a two-fold attack on the public schools amid good benefits for charters. From the Seattle Education Blog here are some of the ways charter schools get this funding. The blog has the one link, but there are various sections with different headings. I can't find how to link individually to each. This is one of the most pertinent statements ...

of the separation of church and state. I did not see her show today, and the video is not up at You Tube yet. But I did find the transcript up at the right wing site Newsbusters. I am reluctantly posting the link because it is the only place I have found the partial transcript of Dr. Nancy's interview with Terry O'Neill of NOW. I have been feeling lost, waiting for Democratic males who have traditionally been supportive of women's rights to say something...anything. To speak up about the St...

Just goes to show you, doesn't it. No matter how hard you try, you just can't please everyone. When you try too hard and compromise with extremists....they just move the goalposts and complain that they are not satisfied. It is amazing why they consider it a "defeat". It is because it is not extreme enough, and it allows abortions in cases of rape and incest. A Catholic pro-life activist is criticizing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and others who have declared passage of the S...

"We will never put ideology above women’s health." "The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right." (Link)

on the issue of the Stupak amendment. Women's rights groups enraged over the Stupak amendment included in the House health care bill passed Saturday got some time with Obama administration officials today, but the president's aides also will be huddling with faith groups as the negotiations continue. As we reported earlier, the head of the National Organization for Women went to the White House to voice her dismay over the last-minute deal to vote on the amendment. White House Chief of Staf...

Those were the words of David Axelrod in June of this year on Meet the Press. He was asked about the public option by David Gregory. MR. GREGORY: Well, let's be clear what we're talking about as well. You're talking about a public sponsored, a government sponsored healthcare plan that can exist side by side with private insurance plans, and that allows Americans without insurance to make a choice between a private and a public plan. It's interesting. In the press conference this week, the pr...

Damn, all those fussy women folks. :eyes:

I have been reading the posts here that are defending the Stupak amendment. I see the technical analyses saying we are over reacting, that we need calmer heads, that we are not reading it correctly. Last night Rachel Maddow (Video) She understood that it was not about abortion. It was about a trend within the Democratic party to please the religious right movement. The conservative Democrats wanted to please not only the Catholic bishops with whom Nancy Pelosi met on Friday night before th...

 
Not to be missed. This attempt to curtail abortion even further than the Hyde amendment...she and Jeff Sharlet left no doubt the roots to push this Stupak amendment went very deep into the party and The Fellowship. Sharlet thinks Pitt is mostly behind it as a long time member of The Family. He said no one ever said Stupak was the "brightest bulb on the porch." Thinks they used him to push it forward.

The New York Times covered this yesterday. Both sides credited a forceful lobbying effort by Roman Catholic bishops with the success of the provision, inserted in the bill under pressure from conservative Democrats. The provision would apply only to insurance policies purchased with the federal subsidies that the health legislation would create to help low- and middle-income people, and to policies sold by a government-run insurance plan that would be created by the legislation. Abortion r...

Pro-choice lawmakers and organization leaders are firing back after the House passed its landmark health care reform legislation late Saturday night. The bill included what's known as the Stupak-Pitts amendment, language offered by Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) that prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion services in any health exchange be it public or private. Currently, most private insurers cover abortion related services but that practice will cease if Stupak...

 
or many Democratic women will sit on their hands. Maddow: "The Stupak amendment . . . is the biggest restriction on abortion funding since the Hyde Amendment, it's the biggest restriction on abortion access in this country in a generation, if it took a Democratic President 60% majorities in the House and Senate are Democrats to get that I think you can expect Democratic women to sit on their hands at least, if not revolt if that doesn't get taken out in conference." More from the Ministry...

"Those ten Democrats? Boren, Bright, Childers, Davis (AL), Griffith, Marshall, Melancon, Minnick, Loretta Sanchez, Taylor Loretta Sanchez? Really? That's a head scratcher, as is the full list of 15 members who voted against the final rule. It's the 10 above, plus these five: Jason Altmire, Brian Baird, Frank Kratovil, Heath Shuler, and Ike Skelton So we pretty much know the 15 who are going to vote against their party, their President, their constituents. They get every damned thing ...

Because of the limits placed on the exchanges, most of the participants will have some form of premium credit or affordable subsidy. That means most will be ineligible for abortion coverage. The idea that people are going to go out and purchase separate "abortion plans" is both cruel and laughable. If this amendment passes, it will mean that virtually all women with insurance through the exchange who find themselves in the unwanted and unexpected position of needing to terminate a pregnancy wi...

(Link) "Today, the Democratic party is letting women know, once again, that we are a single-issue special interest. And our rights can be compromised away to appease Catholic Bishops, Blue Dog Democrats, and the oh-so-delicate sensibilities of anti-choice taxpayers who don't want to see their tax dollars spent on women's health. And much to my horror, it seems that a few members of our own community think that's perfectly acceptable. Have to pass the bill, after all, no matter who is sacrifi...

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(Link) "DETROIT — In July, DPS financial manager Robert Bobb announced the hiring of four educational management companies to run seventeen public high schools as part of the restructuring of Detroit’s school district. At least one of those companies has a well-documented track record replete with academic performance failures and contract terminations. The management companies — EdWorks of Cincinnati, Edison Learning of New York, Model Secondary Schools of Bellevue, Washington and Institute f...

This is the charter school system that has received 11 million dollars this year from Arne Duncan's Race to the Top stimulus money. More on the email sent by Dennis Bakke, the CEO below, but first a look at all the money they are getting. From Schools Matter: Sylvia Smith, the Journal Gazette's Washington editor, has been doing a little digging of her own. Dennis Bakke, who has the lead role in the investigative piece reported below by Soderland and Stockman is getting fabulously wealthy f...