Motley Moose – Archive

The votes in the Senate came down 60-40, as expected. Not one, not a single Republican voted for health care reform, not even GOP “turncoat” Snowe. Despite all the concessions — all the revisions — not one Republican cast a vote in favor of the American people early this morning. That is why I will stand beside Barack Obama and his allies on this bill. Not because I like the bill personally. Certain aspects of it already horrify me, and I haven’t even read the thing yet. But I will stand beside it because it is, at this time, the best we can do — and because it is likely better than we will be able to do in a year’s time. The people hollering “Kill the bill!” are as unrealistic as the ones who thought Ron Paul had a shot at the White House. The last time health care reform died in Congress, we didn’t get another shot at it for over a decade. What makes anyone think it will be any different next time around?

And the only reason we’ve gotten so far this time?

Exhausted, actually.

It’s used against Democratic politicians by their opponents during elections, and now it’s being used against all of us in the health care debate. What’s worse, it is Democratic Senators and Representatives who are holding health care for ransom, their votes for reform contingent upon greater restrictions on my body and my rights. A few weeks ago, I watched the House vote to limit my reproductive freedom in such ways as were legally possible, and now I am watching the Senate haggle over my options as well. Why is this acceptable in our society? Why do I have to limit my choices and see my autonomy over my own body compromised because of the wishes of a bunch of stuffy old men? Why are my rights subject to their whims?

To start with, let me be clear: The oppression and general subjugation of women is not an exclusively Republican issue. The Stupak-Pitts amendment, which is an attack on women’s reproductive rights and was drafted by a Democrat from Michigan, makes that clear. Nor is the oppression and subjugation of women even an exclusively male issue. I don’t want to get into an argument about the “blame the victim” mindset, but the fact is, a lot of women adhere and/or contribute to the doctrine of male domination. Now, is that because they have been indoctrinated to do so? Sure. However, the same can be said of sexist men. Despite all the calls for political correctness and the efforts of feminists throughout the country and the world, everyone who has grown up in the United States has been influenced, in one way or another, by the pervasive and prevailing mindset of masculine domination. Some of us are more resistant to indoctrination than others, but few, if any, are entirely immune. We are all subject to the influences of gender stereotyping, no matter how careful our parents may have been to prevent it. Every day, we are inundated with indoctrinating images and ideas, through television, literature, music, and innumerable other mediums. What is most important isn’t that we are completely free of assumptions about the opposite sex, or even our own, but that we strive to understand the causes and effects of sexism and rail against it when we perceive it.

I think it’s a reasonably well accepted fact among educated individuals that Republicans aren’t known for believing in or supporting women’s rights. Whether it’s the traditional party policy of standing against a woman’s right to choose, conservative gubernatorial candidates joking that rape victims should “relax and enjoy it,” presidential nominees voting against equal pay legislation for women, or the unofficial GOP spokesperson Rush Limbaugh himself popularizing the term “feminazi” to describe women who refuse to live their lives barefoot and pregnant in front of the oven, Republicans have come up with plenty of creative ways to demean women and oppose gender equality.

Image from Republicans For Rape

see Sarah Palin pictures

A great story from The New Scientist. Apparently the more religious or ‘red’ the state, the more online porn they were likely to consume…

Though this does go down on Sundays apparently.

Obama is right, as usual. Bi-partisanship is worth pursuing. Universal Health Care (UHC) will never be passed unless we get some help from the Republicans. I, for one, really, really want this country to get a health plan that covers everyone. I imagine most of the people reading this diary want the same thing. If we want help from the Republicans then we must make UHC seem the right choice.

(Each of the following subjects deserves its own diary.)

Most of the arguments from the Right can be rightly called fears. The biggest fear is the fear of Socialism. We need to show that UHC is not socialism. In the first place, it is an insurance plan not nationalization of the health care system. Doctors will still be private employees, except at public facilities and the VA. Hospitals that are private businesses now will remain private. We will hopefully have more publicly-owned clinics, but that’s a different program.

(Harry Truman looks on as President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill)

This is not socialism in any way. We aren’t even proposing nationalizing the health insurance industry. Everyone will have the option of choosing a private plan or adding a supplemental one if they want to pay for it. The insurance companies will shrink, but they won’t go away.

This isn’t really worth a diary, but it was too good not to share.

SNL’s Valentine’s Day skit about the Republican caucus.

I just heard Representative David Dreier, Republican of California and Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, say that the $50 Million in the Stimulus Bill allotted to the National Endowment for the Arts was “not stimulative.”

I have to take issue here, and, as an example, I will point to my little village of Shepherdstown, West Virginia (at the last census with a population of 800). We’re about an hour and a half from Washington DC or an hour from Baltimore, and our local Shepherd University is the home of a wonderful arts event, The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) which will enter its nineteenth season this year.

Another day of WTF as everyone tries to figure out what this complete financial and political debacle means for their homes, their jobs, and their pensions.

A bit of historical insight from Howard Fineman which some of you might have missed in yesterday’s welter of bad economic news: Bailout Ushers in the Era of Obama