So last week the House of Representatives (Who they really represent is a distinction that it is important to clarify) passed a bill, authored by a man named Stupak. The man, a Democratic politician from Michigan, a state with possibly the highest unemployment in the country, wrote this bill that ensures no government health plan, or government health "insurance" plan, or any plan paid for with government subsidies, would cover abortions except in the cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother.
The Wall Street Journal explains that the main issue here is that abortions will remain legal but taxpayer dollars will not be used to pay for them. * "Part of the conversation" according to the Wall Street Journal, were Catholic Bishops: "..taxpayer money should not be used to subsidize abortions." says one Bishop, a William Murphy of Rockville NY. Murphy is the chairman of the US Bishops, a right bunch if there ever was one. The bishop has no problem with taxpayer money being used to slaughter Iraqi's or to bomb wedding guests in Afghanistan it seems. Isn't it amazing that all, or most of the experts on this subject of abortion are men, and as far as the catholic church goes, men who have not had relations with women; young boys perhaps, but women, no.
What's problematic for the Democratic Party is that the bill was passed with the help of 64 votes from Democrats; it passed 220 to 215. Now, the liberals are, to put it bluntly, filling their pants with excrement. Abortion rights groups, and, lets be realistic here, women in general, are pressuring the liberals in the party to stand up and say something.
What are these Democrats saying? The vote has stirred such opposition that the moderate Democrats that voted for it are now trying desperately to back off. They are now expecting us to believe that the reason they voted for such an odious bill was that they expected it to be, "stripped out later, either in the senate or in a conference committee." They didn't really "mean it" is what they are now saying. What spineless opportunists these people are.
The increasing attacks on the rights of women will strengthen the movement to defend them. Lynne Woolsey, a Democrat from California has raised the issue of the catholic church's tax exempt status and has criticized the Bishops for their lobbying efforts. A recent post on this blog mentioned that those that belong to the catholic church should leave it; it is undoubtedly one of the most destructive institutions in human history.
There are struggles breaking out everywhere, from truckers in LA, to students in the universities. The capitalist class in the US are overconfident. The collaboration of the trade Union leaders with the bosses agenda has contributed to this mood of overconfidence. But the trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds that they have given to their banker friends has not gone unnoticed. There is tremendous anger in US society and a strong and healthy hatred of the rich and this anger is starting to assert itself. The attacks on education, on workers, the bail outs and the corruption; this has all helped to stir the working class and particularly the youth in to action.
But we may yet see the most militant opposition develop around the assault on the gains made by women over the last 30 years, particularly with regard to reproductive rights; this will intensify the crisis within the catholic church as it reveals more openly what a corrupt and rotten institution it is; just like the capitalist system it supports. In many ways, the Bishops are cut off from the real mood that exists in society among the women who are their victims; the Bishops too are a might bit overconfident.
*Abortion Upends Health-Bill Alliance: WSJ 11-13-09
No comments:
Post a Comment