NEWS: GOP Congress Fiddles with Abortion Rather than Funding Goverment

POLITICS: GOP Congress Fiddles with Abortion Rather than Funding Goverment

Now that they're on their way out the door (with a Democratic boot up their asses) the GOP congress has a chance to really show its legislative priorities, since there's no issue of reelection any more. And what exactly are they championing? The "fetal pain abortion bill," an attempt to legislate science claiming that 20-week-old fetuses are capable of perceiving pain, all the while neglecting nine overdue spending bills.

Forget the fact that the bill is based on bad science, it plays well politically, and tha'ts all that matters in this case.



As mentioned, despite the push to get this approved, there are currently nine spending bills sitting around, waiting to be approved since before the last congressional recess with no action being taken on them. What are the consequences of that? Worse than you might think.

So low income housing, veterans' health and school lunches are getting the shaft. It's just a continuation of the trend that Republicans seem to only care about people until they're born. If anyone needed a refresher as to why the American people rejected the Republican party this past election, they need look no further.

sigh

I thought that 2nd trimester abortions were illegal.

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/after_12_weeks.html

"Despite the claims of some anti-abortion activists, women have access to abortion in the third trimester only in extreme circumstances. Fewer than 2% of abortions are performed 21 weeks or after, and they are extremely rare after 26 weeks of pregnancy. Very few abortions are provided in the third trimester, and they are generally limited to cases of severe fetal abnormalities or situations when the life or health of the pregnant woman is seriously threatened."
- (website listed above)

I think if people knew more about abortion they might be on their toes a little bit more about when to get one and what to look for and such. I personally don't want to have kids yet and if I had a gf and she got pregnant, I would support or even suggest her getting one. I don't see anything wrong with that bill, as long as it mentions the fact that most abortions in this day are performed before 20 weeks. If they want someone to hand out a ProLife ad disguised as an informative pamphlet that's different. Just telling someone that information by itself might scare someone off who may benefit significantly from not having a baby at the time of their pregnancy.

Thank you! So it seems that this legislature is *mostly* useless anyway.

calling a bill that's 98% useless "mostly useless" is something of an understatement.

also, it's good to see that somebody finally understands that the unborn are more important than the impoverished, the young and the wounded. values indeed.

In reality, I meant entirely useless, but even from a conservative standpoint it's mostly useless. But yes, mostly doesn't encompass 98% very well.

Seems about right.

from a conservative point, practicality and priorities are mostly useless. and they're pretty good at churning out those unnecessary bills at an excruciatingly slow pace. the colossal failure of the outgoing republican majority is quite an interesting achievement.

FYI: "Government" is misspelled in the thread title.

You know, it was bad enough when you California Republicans gave us President Reagan and Gov. Schwartzeneggar.

Do we really need this guy running House Appropriations?

They are leaving the spending bills undone on purpose. They are doing it so that the Dems have to focus on that when they come in, instead of the 100 days agenda.

We keep hearing about how happy we should be that Americans have finally awakened and the Democrats have planted their boots up Republican asses. Not so fast...

This country is still split right down the middle. I think if fewer than 100,000 votes across a handful of different states had swung the other way, the senate would still be in the hands of what one writer called "the Knights of the fetal citizen."

We've still got a long way to go.

In "Letter to a Christian Nation," Sam Harris said this: "one can reasonably wonder whether most aborted fetuses suffer their destruction on any level. One cannot reasonably wonder this about the millions of men, women, and children who must endure the torments of war, famine, political torture, or mental illness. At this very moment, millions of sentient people are suffering unimaginable physical and mental afflictions, in circumstances where the compassion of God is nowhere to be seen, and the compassion of human beings is often hobbled by preposterous ideas about sin and salvation. If you are worried about human suffering, abortion should rank very low on your list of concerns."

But you see, for the mindless idiots for whom "fetal pain" is a big issue, that issue serves to help them cope with the broadness of human suffering by focusing on some minute immaterial aspect of it so that they can feel like they are "doing something" about the suffering in the world.

Solving the worlds problems takes positive energy, hard work and a commitment to addressing the inequities in our society - it is much easier to pass mindless legislation and shout at women as they enter reproductive health facilities.

There is also this: for the "born again" amongst us, action to help the suffering of the world boils down to getting them to "accept Jesus Christ as their, blah, blah, blah." The "lord" then takes care of the rest, since, although they may suffer in this world, they will have a cushy place in Sony Heavenworld.

The fact that this also constitutes the easy way out, never occurs to these dolts, since introspection is anathema.

I like the subtle and smart use of "fiddled" in the title.