Ladies Of Uncommon Courage

To say that abortion is a divisive issue would be a gross understatement. Abortion clinics have been bombed, doctors performing abortions have been killed, and women seeking abortions have been threatened. So it is not just the embarrassment of revealing an intimate detail of their lives or the possible political consequences of doing so that congress members Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, and Pramila Jayapal risked when they bared their souls to tell us about the abortions they had. And yet those courageous women willingly suffered that embarrassment and took those risks because they quite correctly believe that a woman should have control over her body and her reproductive system.

I like to think that I am compassionate and empathetic, but I know that there is no way I or any other man can really understand what a woman who chooses to terminate a pregnancy is going through. What I do know is that it is something a woman never forgets. To state the obvious, the physical, mental, and emotional health of women is important. So while I may not be able to fully understand what women feel, I do listen. I also try to be supportive, particularly when they are making decisions that only they can or should make.

Now is the time to listen to those courageous congresswomen! Now is the time to support the cause that they and their sisters champion! Celebrate the courage of those congresswomen by writing your member of congress and your senators to tell them that the protections of Roe v. Wade must be guaranteed by legislation. While it is her body and her choice, the right to an abortion is a health issue and a quality life issue that has an impact on males as well as females. This is too important to stand on the side lines, gentlemen!

They're Stark Raving Mad!

Last weekend, after Gavin Newsom defeated the attempted Republican recall, I was back at the Democratic club's booth at the farmers market. During the weeks leading up to the recall election the magalomaniacs were bellicose, obnoxious, and often in my face. So I expected magalomaniacs, dyspeptic from an over indulgence of sour grapes, to come spew their bile at me. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they came nowhere near me. I was also pleased by the number of people congratulating us and expressing their pleasure over the failure of the recall. But the celebration was short lived as reality set in. An agitated lady came up to us. She was pointing in the general direction of the Republicans, and she said: “They're insane, those people down there are insane. They're stark raving mad!” She told us that she had been accosted by a harpy who was screaming inane conspiracy theories and insisting that Trump had actually won the presidential election. The assessment of the those Republicans being insane was spot on. Unfortunately, it is evident to me that the entire Republican Party has gone stark raving mad!

I am sorry but insanity is the only plausible explanation for the self destructive actions of the Republican Party. How else do you explain why they are encouraging their followers to die of stupid by not getting vaccinated and by opposing the wearing of masks. I am not being hyperbolic here. Taking the vaccines and other measures to get the pandemic under control is literally a matter of life and death. Not being content with this deadly idiocy, the Republicans are also threatening to destroy our economy, and that is not an exaggeration either.

It is bad enough that the Republicans are threatening to shut down the government by filibustering the budget bill, but they are going way beyond that. Moscow Mitch is saying that he and other Republicans will prevent us from raising then debt ceiling again. Lets take a look at the debt ceiling.  At best it was and is a sop to the dumb asses. The debt ceiling dates back to WWI and was supposed to make it easier to finance the war through the sale of bonds by removing the requirement for congress to approve each issuance of the bonds to be sold. The problem with the debt ceiling, however, is that it does not serve its intended purpose. Rather than preventing us from incurring the “dreaded” debts it gives the economic terrorists, who falsely claim to be conservatives, a convenient way to repudiate our debts and thereby blow up the world's economy! The last time the Republicans used the debt ceiling as a weapon against the Democrats the credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, downgraded the credit rating of the United States, stripping the world's largest economy of its prized AAA status.  This was a wake up call. The consequences of destroying the full faith and credit of the United States are so dire that even the Koch brothers told Ted Cruz we had to raise the debt ceiling the last time he threatened to oppose raising it.

Does Mitch McConnell have dementia? Has he forgotten that the financial backers of the Republican Party stand to lose billions of dollars if Moscow Mitch carries through on his insane threat? I know I keep saying this regardless of the fact that the Republicans have been ignoring the will of the majority for decades with no consequences, but there has to come a time when the people say enough. The Republicans are literally killing people, and they are taking away the right to vote. They are a real and very grave threat to our democracy and our economy. They are opposing the will of the majority by trying once more to overturn Roe v. Wade. They are opposing all measures to deal with climate change, and they oppose economic policies that more than 60% of the voters favor. How much further can the Republicans go before the voters grant them their death wish? Clearly it is essential for us to get rid of the damn filibuster so that we can protect the economy and the democracy of this nation. If the corporate Democrats, such as Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, refuse to do what needs to be done, then they must pay a high price for not protecting this country from the lunatics!