I Give Up!

I give up. I really do.  The folly of Representative Todd Akin's views on rape and abortion is one reason.  He made the mistake of opening his mouth.  But was that the end of it? No.  Representative Steve King, in defending Akin,  extended the issue to include statutory rape and incest.  In his vast well of knowledge he said he didn't know anyone who had become pregnant from statutory rape or incest but he'd be open to learning more.  I  don't know anyone either but I have no doubt what-so-ever that it happens!

How can these people legislate on issues where they have such scant knowledge?  Aren't these the very people who are so sure exactly when life begins? How can they be so precise on one while being so ignorant of the other.

I understand this is where their stand on abortion comes from.  If life begins the moment sperm meets egg and killing said life is criminal than abortion for any reason would be criminal.  But it's not criminal.  It's still legal in all 50 states.

There's one big problem with this thinking.  Not everyone agrees.  While many hold this belief, it is not a scientific fact.  It is opinion.  Conception versus birth.

I do believe some things should not be legislated and this is one of them.  I've ranted about government intrusion in my life for a very long time.  I will also rant about religious intrusion in my life.  I may choose to surround myself by like minded people on social issues.  There is some comfort in that, confirmation that others believe as I do.  I will not try to force those who do not agree to do so. Nor condemn other opinions and beliefs as being wrong or criminal.  There are too many variables and complexities.

I find it disturbingly ironic that those who bemoan the government taking over more and more of our freedoms don't recognize the parallels among themselves when they try to do the same with their social/religious beliefs.

For me it boils down to very simple truths.  If I choose not to pass on the gene pool of a rapist it should be my right.  If I don't care to breast feed my baby it should be my right.  Should I want to drink a large sugar laden soda it should be my right.

It should not be the right of some ill informed politician to be making those decisions for me.

I cannot see in either party a platform I can come close to supporting.  Don't tell me the Republican platform doesn't reflect Romney's views, just the party's.  What's the point of having it if it isn't going to be adhered to by those elected?

In the same vein,  what's the point of having laws if the President is able to bypass them by executive order without the country having recourse?

I don't know what to think any more.  Nothing seems to make any sense.  Listening to the falsehoods and nastiness and ignorance is exhausting. There was a time I thought we could do better and I was heartened.  But I no longer do.  How many more out there are like me?  Ready to turn away in disappointment and disgust? Ready to just give up?

Tea Party - Hijacked Movement

Hitch your political wagon to the Tea Party and you're assured a place in infamy.  This post is based on observation from reading various publications without reference to fact or figures.  After all, it's how most of us get our news these days anyway.  Even Obama's spokesperson thinks we get it from programs like Entertainment Tonight. How I hope she is wrong!

I do admire that a group of citizens fed up with out of control spending was able to cobble together a movement that is known as the Tea Party. There lack of cohesive leadership, however, has been detrimental to their cause and most certainly the Republican party.  Candidates who otherwise would not have had a chance to be elected were savvy enough to latch on to the Tea Party mantra thereby garnering their support.  Too many of them have been losers and good people have been turned out of office or kept in office because of them.  Sharron Angle losing to Harry Reid was probably the worst.  There was Christine O'Donnell who was odd to say the least. There are others. They all wear the Christian Conservative badge.  Now we're saddled with Todd Akin who seems to think the most important election of our time revolves around his being forgiven for a statement for which he obviously is not sorry. He is a Tea Partier.

If the Tea Party wants to maintain influence without a formal organization they're barking up the wrong tree.  They're going to have to vet candidates who claim to sympathize with them or we will continue to have a divided Republican party with moderates on one side and nut cases and obstructionists on the other and a Tea Party losing it's steam.

Granted, and I've said it often, a lot of the old war horses should be turned out to pasture but be sure it's for the right reason.  Willingness to work with the few Democrats who are also willing is not it.

Romney is a weak candidate.  I'd hoped he'd learned from his last run what he did wrong and make an effort to make corrections but that doesn't seem like it is to be.  When the VP candidate is more popular than the presidential candidate you've got a problem.  It's deja vu all over again!  McCain/Palin.  At least this time the VP candidate has some substance whether or not you agree with his positions.

Meanwhile,  as I often say, Syria continues to be a blood bath, our soldiers continue to be killed in Afghanistan and Iran is getting ever closer to a nuclear bomb.  Can we afford to turn a blind eye to the Akins of our political world hoping they'll miraculously 'get it' before it's too late?  I'd say the Tea Party has a part to play in this.  The ball is in their court. Tell Mr. Akin he must go.

Cavemen In Congress

 Picture the caveman dragging a woman by her hair with one hand and wielding his club with the other.  How often have you see that caricature?  Don't you wish that's all it was?  A caricature? Don't you wish we didn't have any such caricatures in Congress?

But we do.  This time it's Representative Todd Akin, Republican from Missouri.  He's anti-abortion.  No matter the circumstances which might have caused a pregnancy - like rape.  After all, he tells us, he understands from doctors that pregnancy resulting from rape is really rare and that if it's a 'legitimate' rape a woman's body can sense it and halt the pregnancy.

I'm not going to get into the breast beating about the horrors of rape and how demeaning this is to women.  Enough others are handling that.  What I wonder is how a grown man, regardless of his occupation, can be so ill informed this day and age!  What's worse is that he actually seems to believe it!  Whew!

I'll be generous and assume he misunderstood the doctors with whom he spoke.  If I weren't being generous I'd assume he spoke to no one, what's more a doctor, because this is what he wants to believe for what ever reason. Apparently it doesn't have to be based on fact, but then politicians have trouble with facts all the time.

He even supported rewording circumstances for federally funded programs to provide abortions only for  cases of  'forcible' rape versus 'ordinary' (my word) rape such as statutory rape.  I don't blame women for being upset.  I don't blame every one who is upset for being upset.  And I fully support every one who is calling for him to step down from the senatorial race against Claire McCaskill.  He should step down from office, period.

What apalls me most though is that he is a congressman in the first place.  He helps make the laws we live with.  I've often complained that too many in congress are totally ignorant of the subject matter and blind to the potential unintended consequences of the legislation they write and pass.

There is no better example of ignorance than this.  Yet he resists stepping down.  He is either monumentally stupid, monumentally arrogant or both. This affront to intellect has no party boundaries.  Both sides have members of an equal level.  It's just that Akin is the most recent to put his foot in it.  Don't accept the apology.  He doesn't mean it.

Don't reward him with any more time in office.  He doesn't deserve it.  And we can't afford him or any more like him.