Contraception-No Longer a Senate Issue
Roy Blunt, a senator from Missouri, has given up on the contraception limiting amendment he proposed. In a 51-48 vote, his “contraception destroys religious freedom” as I like to call it, needed 60 votes to pass. Thankfully, he is not going to pursue his crazy any further. Instead, his hopes now lay with a similar bill in the House of Representatives.
Side note: I’m sure most people already know the game that congressmen play. It’s rather insidious at times. If you look at the PDF of the amendment, you will notice the title of the original bill -Surface Transportation Act. There is no connection between road repair and contraception. Only a shady person tacking on an amendment that does not belong there in the first place. Now, Americans get to suffer because another bill that would’ve helped our roads gets shot down.
Aren’t there any rules to limit the amendments to the scope of the original bill?
Congratulations, Cardinal Keith O’Brien!
Thank you for making my work easy today! Cardinal Keith, the head of Catholics in Scotland, garners the asshat of the week award by likening gay marriage to government sanctioned slavery (and abortion). In a move that harkens back o a much darker time, Cardinal Keith throws out a whammie that gobsmacks the words out of me:
Imagine for a moment that the Government had decided to legalize slavery but assured us that ‘no one will be forced to keep a slave’. Would such worthless assurances calm our fury? Would they justify dismantling a fundamental human right? Or would they simply amount to weasel words masking a great wrong? I think it’s a very, very good example of what might happen on our own country in the present time.
I know I am quote-heavy today, but this guy is giving pearls here! Cardinal Keith goes on to say:
I think if the UK does go for same sex marriage it is indeed shaming our country. We’re taking standards which are not just our own but standards from the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations where marriage is defined as a relationship between man and woman and turning that on its head. We are trying to redefine something which has been known and revered for centuries and making it something rather different. This is changing the whole notion of what marriage and what a family is. It affects children who are born, who have a right to a mother and father.
The natural law teaching of what marriage is is quite simple. It is natural for a man and woman to be together for the procreation and education of children and for their own mutual love. I think that it is time now to call a halt to what you might call progress. I do not call what is happening nowadays progress. I would say that countries where this is legal are indeed violating human rights.
Ben Summerskill, a spokesman for the gay-rights group Stonewall, had a few choice words for the Cardinal. Ben said Cardinal Keith’s statements are “insensitive beyond words”. Ben continues with the feel-good quote of the day:
The increasingly shrill tone of what Cardinal Keith O’Brien is saying suggests that he believes he is losing the argument. I’m surprised that the Cardinal is now portraying himself as being in the vanguard of protecting children.
I completely agree. Cardinal Keith’s words lead me to think the Catholics know that (positive) change is coming… and the leaders do not know how to get their followers to listen. Therefore, Cardinal Keith is only left with reacting like a petulant child – screaming out to anyone that will listen.
I hope to see each and every one of you at the Northwest Free-thought Convention close to Seattle,
Washington in a few weeks!
~Wesley
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I’m so glad that Blunt backed down. Fortunately the Senate has the filibuster. Also, no, “riders” as they’re known do not have to have anything to do with the bill they’re attached to. They’re a backhanded way for sleazy politicians to tack on unpopular legislation to popular bills when their in committee in hopes that people will either not notice or accept it as being insignificant compared to the rest of the bill. You’d be amazed at the riders that get passed with the defense appropriation bills each year.
As far as the Cardinal’s comments, there’s some flaws in his logic that I feel the need to address in another post in hopes it gets more visibility than this comment.
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