WOW!
I'd run out and buy a lottery ticket but I've already hit the liberal blogger trifecta: the Republican Party, the Catholic Church and Rush Limbaugh. If we could work in Sarah Palin, I could retire.
Yes, I know you're sick to death of women's health and contraception, of sluts and Santorum, of birth control pills and Georgetown health insurance but honestly, would you rather be talking about gas prices? Hell, even the double-digit IQ crowd that listens to Rush would rather agitate over how many birth control pills prostitutes need as opposed to God-fearing Christian girls.
In order to properly understand what happened to sane intelligent discourse it's important to understand a few facts. (Facts being those things which are harder to find than condoms in the Santorum bedside table.):
Health Insurance and the government- Twenty eight states in America currently mandate that employers cover birth control pills as part of comprehensive healthcare. Many of those states make no provision for religious institutions whether they be churches or church-run businesses like hospitals or universities. So almost half the states already have birth-control mandated and as far as I know Bishop Fishhat of the Roman Catholic Church hasn't said a word. So why bring it up now? Why is the provision more odious when it's national? (BTW, these state laws have been signed by such notables as "Governor" Mitt Romney and Rev. "Governor" Mike Huckabee.)
Women's health vs the First Amendment - Freedom of Religion as stated in the Constitution covers the establishment of a state religion and the "free exercise" of anyone's faith. I fail to see how a government mandate to provide health insurance coverage for contraception in any way violates the Constitution. Catholics are still free to practice their faith without interference. Government has been sensitive to church prohibitions and exempted them from the law when employees of the church itself are affected. When ancillary businesses such as hospitals are concerned however, churches are expected to obey the law. How does this violate a Catholic's right to practice?
Barack Obama and the War on Religion - I suspect that no one was more surprised than Barack Obama to learn that he had declared war on religion or war on the Catholic Church (You have to hand it to Newt. When he says "War on the Catholic Church" you can actually see Joan of Arc on Pennsylvania Ave.) Having been castigated for spending twenty years at the feet of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the President expected attacks on his patriotism not his faith.
Nevertheless Congress, anxious to do anything to divert the country's attention from its complete and total ineptitude, lept to action. Rep. Darrell Issa of California empaneled a committee and elicited testimony from "experts"...all men, all white, all older than that condom high schools kids carry in their wallet. Honestly, the panel looks like the reunion photo from the graduating class of a Presbyterian seminary circa 1958. It took a Democrat to permit the testimony of one woman, a law student, to present the argument for the other half of the population. And thus we get...
Rush Limbaugh and his appalling lack of grace and information - It's difficult to believe that the level of discourse in America has sunk so low that anyone would listen to or comment on a cancer like Limbaugh. His listening army of salesmen and retirees routinely spend three hours a day wallowing in every form of racist, misogynistic, reactionary bile a twisted soul can conceive. Unbounded by good taste, courtesy, or the slightest nod toward justice or fair play, Limbaugh has attacked anyone and everyone with innuendo, half truths and distortion. This is slime in its purest form.
However, this is a country founded on free speech. He gets to be a pig and we defend his rights. He's welcome to verbally abuse entertainers, politicians and public personalities for the amusement of his drones and the delight of his advertisers. Fame carries some peril (ask Sarah Palin). His right to be a turd however does not extend to ad homonym attacks on private citizens. The birth-control related testimony of Sandra Fluke before a Congressional Committee does not make her a public person. Attacking her as a "slut" and a "prostitute" is beyond disgraceful; it's libelous. It's also buffoonish. To expound on a woman's contraceptive needs is boorish. To do so with no actual knowledge is comic. Limbaugh's assertion that Ms. Fluke's sexual cravenness necessitates multiple contraceptive applications would be clownish if not so hurtful. Tragically, this incident and ten more like it won't end Rush Limbaugh. Boycotts have been suggested but the only boycott that may prove effective would be if women withheld sex from every husband who listens to that asshat. Not that Rush's audience gets laid all that much anyway!
Regardless of how this comes out, women will have access to contraception because, no matter what they say in public, men, fathers, lovers, adulterers and especially priests, do not welcome unintended blessed events. One might even expect to find a little round dispenser squirrelled away in the medicine cabinet of the Rick Santorum Little Red Home Schoolhouse in Great Falls, VA. After all, what student of military history doesn't remember the old World War I song "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ortho Novum"?
No comments:
Post a Comment