Hey, equality is cool and everything, but we all know what drives this website- mocking wingnuts. So please feel free to post links to the tears of the American Taliban as they weep for our newly gayified nation.
Archives for June 2013
Time to ask some questions
As mentioned two days ago, GOP reps face a tough dilemma between serving their constituents and hating the Affordable Care Act like it shot their dog. At the same time the pary as a whole needs the ACA to fail in every possible way, a lot of single Reps will have a hard time with re-election if people see them playing political games with the health and livelihood of individual constituents. I can think of several terrible Republicans at the Senate level, Jesse Helms and Rick Santorum being two, who stayed afloat not in small part due to a reputation for great constituent service.
There are three ways that a GOP Rep can go with this. Some of them will talk tough to the press but do their job like a grownup when real constituents call with real problems to address. Some other faction, most I would guess, will punt either by not answering or passing the caller off to HHS. Most of all we need to keep an eye out for the fabricators, liars and true believers whose staff genuinely believe the pap in the morning blast fax from Glenn Beck.
October is still some time off, so let’s start with questions that everyone should know. Say that I have a pre-existing condition and cannot get an individual market plan for any price. Can I buy one in October? How would I do that? The correct answers are yes and it depends on the state; in most cases we do not know the full details yet. If you feel like testing their bad faith, tell them you heard there will be death panels. I will not offer a script because you should really use your own words for this. Staffers’ interest often ratchets way down when they start hearing the same wording twice. Try being polite but a little slow and ask for clarification when possible.
Many thanks to readers for offering links to the excellent summary of the ACA from the Kaiser Family Foundation. You can find a lot of useful questions, no doubt including some that are relevant to your own situation, at their FAQ.
Does that sound good? Yes? Now make it happen. One call won’t change the world but a lot of calls to the right people at the right time can move mountains. Trust me on this.
Corey Robin Responds to His Critics
Corey Robin, whom some of you may remember from the book club devoted to his The Reactionary Mind, had a piece in The Nation recently that got a handful of libertarian academics extremely upset. Robin’s thesis is a touch complicated, so I’d recommend you read it for yourself rather than go by my quick-and-dirty summary. The short version: Robin makes a damn strong case that libertarians are inherently rightwing, despite their protestations to the contrary.
Anyway, Robin’s response to his critics is possibly even better and more clarifying than the original piece. If you’re only going to read one, give it a go. And next time a libertarian tells you they’re of neither the Left or the Right, try not to laugh.
Check my Logic on Prop 8
Here’s how I understand the Prop 8 ruling: The state declined to defend Prop 8 in court, so a bunch of anti-gay bigots took over. These petitioners lost in state court, so they took the case to Federal Court. Today’s ruling denied them standing in Federal Court, so the Federal appeal is dismissed. Since the Federal appeal was appealing a state court decision prohibiting the enforcement of Prop 8, Prop 8 will not be enforced. Therefore, gay marriage is not prohibited by the California constitution, and California courts have already ruled that gays can marry due to the equal protection clause of the California constitution, so gays can marry in California again. (Or, the 75% Democratic legislature can pass a bill allowing gay marriage, which Jerry Brown would certainly sign.)
In other words: states rights!
Lawyers, chime in on this one.
Update: According to the Wiki page for the Federal case, the correct chronology is that the State Supreme Court upheld Prop 8, and Federal Count reversed that holding. California declined to appeal that Federal Court ruling, so the anti-gay bigots took over the hard work of keeping the gays from ruining marriage for everyone. Today’s ruling by the Supremes shuts down those bigots, so the Federal ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional stands.
SCOTUS Open Thread
I’m still recovering from having a house full of relatives, so I haven’t been able to fly to Cuba to look for Snowden, and I don’t know what form of anal probe I’ll need to vote in the next election. It looks like the Supremes are going to tell us whether homosexuals are full persons or just 3/5 of a person in 50 minutes. Here’s a link to SCOTUSBlog’s live page.
Update: DOMA unconstitutional, 5-4.
Victory in Texas
Thank you, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Ft. Worth):
A bill that opponents claimed would virtually ban abortion in Texas failed to pass late Tuesday after lawmakers missed a deadline by just minutes.
[snip]Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, acting as Senate president, initially said the voting began just before midnight, NBCDFW.com reported, and several reports suggested that the bill had been passed and would go to Gov. Rick Perry.
But Dewhurst later announced that the vote had been held too late. At 3 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), he said that the session had expired and the bill could not be “signed in the presence of the Senate … and therefore cannot be enrolled.”
“It’s been fun, but see you soon,” he added.
Dewhurst’s taunting “see you soon” isn’t an idle threat: They’ll be back to ban abortion, and in comments to local reporters, Dewhurst signaled how they’ll characterize the opposition:
“An unruly mob, using Occupy Wall Street tactics, disrupted the Senate from protecting unborn babies,” he said.
Dewhurst hinted that Governor Rick “Goodhair” Perry will call another special session to get the bill passed.
The ongoing War on Women circus in Texas will continue as states that need to suppress voting to give Republicans a fighting chance will use the assist from the Republican faction of the SCOTUS to enact new measures to make it harder for minorities and young people to cast ballots. This can’t possibly backfire on the GOP, can it?
The Mess In Texas
Probably not going to get more definitive than this, until the lawyers show up for business hours. NBC News:
As the clock passed midnight Tuesday in Texas, a scene of remarkable chaos unfolded in the state Senate chamber as an eruption of cheering and chanting drowned out the legislative action, leaving it unclear whether a bill that would have shut down most of the state’s abortion clinics had passed.
Republican senators claimed the measure passed, the Austin American-Statesman and Dallas Morning News reported. But both outlets also reported that Democratic senators insisted the vote was not completed before midnight and was thus invalid…
The day began with Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis attempting a 13-hour filibuster to kill the bill. The only way Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate could have defeated the measure was by not letting it come to a vote before the session was to end at midnight (1 a.m. Wednesday ET)…
Late Tuesday night, Davis ran afoul of a three-strikes-and-you’re-out rule when Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, acting as Senate president, upheld an objection that she had strayed from the topic again, this time by discussing a 2011 law involving sonograms and abortions, which he ruled was non-germane to the abortion bill…
That opened the door for the Senate’s Republican majority to call for a straight up-or-down vote to end Davis’ remarks. A series of motions, appeals and parliamentary inquiries on that order followed.
As midnight neared, raucous cheering erupted from the gallery during a roll call vote. The cheering, witnessed on a live video stream of the session, halted Senate action for several minutes. And it remained unclear whether a vote on the bill was taken….
In a show of support for Davis, President Barack Obama tweeted Tuesday night: “Something special is happening in Austin tonight. #StandWithWendy”.
Video at the link, and (I’m sure) more posts to follow as things develop.
ETA: The Washington Post has some background on Sen. Wendy Davis.