Found this 1-minute floor statement by Rep. Rush Holt at the website RH Reality Check (that's RH as in prescription, not for Holt's initials).
Holt reminds us the GOP-majority House is still short on jobs creation and once again indulging themselves in yet another version of their legislative assault on women's health rights, with the Orwellian-titled "Protect Life Act" (H.R. 358).
CREDO Action's pointed out the hypocrisy of the DCCC using H.R. 358 as a fundraising tool (calling it the "Let Women Die" Act, then giving money to 15 Dem candidates, 3 of whom in fact voted to "Let Women Die" - voting for H.R. 358.
In his continuous pandering to the right-wing mainstream of the Republican Party, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knows no bounds. Christie has appeared at anti-abortion rallies, and while he grudgingly accept the scientific fact that global climate change is man-made, his policies benefit big business rather than those citizens who breathe air and drink water.
Yet, critical examination shows that Christie’s approach promotes death, not life.
Take, for example, his proposal to eliminate Medicaid for New Jersey families earning less than $500 per month. If enacted, his legislation will put 23,000 people at the mercy of the for-profit insurance companies, which in reality means they will not receive medical care. I’m not an actuary, and I’m not comparing the governor to a terrorist, but I would not be surprised if this lack of preventative and remedial medical care results in more deaths than those perpetrated by Osama Bin Laden on 9/11. In Maryland, a 12-year-old boy died for the lack of an $80 procedure when his family lost Medicaid. How many stories like this will we have in New Jersey that won’t even be reported in the media?
But it's not just Christie's heartless attitude toward the poor that will cost lives. How many women will die because of their lack of access to pap smears and breast exams because Governor Christie thought an $800 million tax break for millionaires was more important than $7.5 million for women’s health? How many children will develop life-long lung diseases and suffer premature death because of the Governor’s foolish withdrawal from the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative? (As I’ve written before, Christie is not an effective manager, he is a quitter. Rather than negotiate changes to RGGI or the ARC tunnel, he just picks up his marbles and goes home, ignoring the consequences.)
The first “inalienable right” of the people, as codified in the Declaration of Independence’s “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is life itself. But the actions of the governor and his tea-party comrades are antithetical to the Declaration’s right to life. Instead of pouring money into discriminatory charter schools and giving tax breaks to the wealthy, the governor should re-examine his priorities as well as how he carries out his own personal beliefs and choose life.
Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, had other plans: He spent part of the break on a taxpayer-funded trip to Kenya, where he slammed the country's new constitution for allowing abortions in cases when the health of the mother is at risk.
Kenyan abortion restrictions go far beyond those in American law, and Kenya's new constitution, approved overwhelmingly last August, codifies a ban on abortions in the country. But that's not enough for Smith and US anti-abortion groups, who argue that the exception allowing for legal abortions to preserve the health of the mother "opens the door to abortion on demand."
Smith wasn't just meeting with Kenyan politicians and activists during his time in East Africa-he was actively politicking....
As reported by the fine folks at CrooksandLiars, watch Democrat Representatives Anthony Weiner (NY), Charles Dingell (MI), Jan Schakowski (IL) and our own Frank Pallone completely own Subcommittee Chair Joe Pitts, Joe "Poor, poor BP" Barton and many others on the lack of a constitutional basis for HR 358, The Protect Life Act, a.k.a. the House abortion bill. The fun starts at 34:45 or so, with Rep. Pallone's biting remarks coming at around 39:00 and then again at about 60:00.
Jeanette Friedman is journalist living in north Jersey. She's never talked publicly about her rape. - promoted by Rosi Cross posted at newjerseynewsroom
Soul or Pocketbook? You Decide.
It doesn't really matter that these men have removed the word "forcible" from this bill. It still changes the meaning of incest, still intimidates private health insurance companies, still pushes church over state and is designed to deprive women of their right to choose.
Thirty-seven years ago, this very week, there was a snowstorm swirling outside my kitchen window, but my sixth floor apartment was so hot and dry I cracked the window facing the fire escape before I went to bed. It was about 3 a.m., and I had just fallen asleep when I woke up to find a man cutting the wires to the phone on my bedside table. Next thing I knew, I was blindfolded with my bathrobe, and could feel the point of a knife pushing into the top of my scalp. I kept thinking that what was happening couldn't be happening, and remembered what my cop friends had taught me. "Don't fight back, give them what they want or they won't think twice about hurting or killing you."
So I did as I was told, and about half-an-hour later, wrapped in a blanket, I went pounding on my neighbors' doors, begging them to call the cops. One of my big kitchen knives was laying on the third step of the staircase.
I was not bruised or battered physically, but I demanded to be taken to a hospital for a rape kit. (I was the editor of my college paper and had access to information most women didn't have. It was 1973 and women were starting to learn how to take care of themselves because, generally, men proved unequal to the task. Mostly I wanted a massive dose of penicillin, just in case I'd caught something disgusting.)
The first question these police officers asked me was what I had done to encourage my attacker. I thought that only happened in movies! I was so furious, I shot back that at 3 a.m., as the snowstorm raged across the city, I had climbed out on the fire escape, and while swinging my panties in the air, had yelled
Anti-choice zealot Congressman Chris Smith (R-Robbinsville) has upped the ante in his crusade against a woman’s right to choose. Over the years, the congressman has never passed up an opportunity to attach an anti-abortion rider to legislation, but now he has taken advantage of the Republican/Tea Party majority in the House of Representatives by introducing a bill that would make it even more difficult for women to obtain legal abortions.
With the latest bit of grandstanding by our grandstanding Governor yesterday on the 38th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, there's been talk about the potential blowback against Christie in terms of him being viewed as a ideologue. In speaking at the New Jersey Right to Life rally yesterday, Christie really demonstrated not that he is an ideologue, but that he is a political opportunist and nothing more.
Put another way, Chris Christie is all about one thing: "Will this help Chris Christie's future political ambitions or not?"
Josh Marshall points us to Jon Runyan's bizarre response when asked which Supreme Court decisions in "the last 10-15 years" he strongly disagreed with: Runyan picked Dred Scott
Now, Runyan has been arguing that he is pro-choice, yet he is actually giving pro-life signals in this response. Or perhaps he's just ignorant of recent events, but I don't think so
Whenever I get my fill of whining about Government, I simply strap on my bitchboots, grab my videocamera and head to Trenton. Sometimes there's a juicy issue cooking that I want to follow. Like today.
John Adler has posted his appearance on Fox News Sunday to discuss health care reform. He appeared today with another "no" vote on the House bill, Jason Altmire (D-PA), who despite representing a district McCain won by 11 points, sounded considerably more positive about the possibility of voting "yes" this time instead of voting to "do nothing." Both Democrats say they've not made a final decision.
The highlights that in my opinion lead to a pretty clear conclusion:
Adler is again on Fox News.
Adler is still saying he needs to "read the bill first" which in this case, since the Senate bill has been available for months, means see the final deal for a reconciliation fix. But can any reconciliation deal truly be final before the House votes on the Senate bill?
Adler keeps talking about the needs of "my businesses" and cost containment, and not at all about the health needs of his residents. Indeed, if you visited from Mars, you would never imagine from the interview that he is elected by citizens rather than selected by business owners.
He wants to change the fee-for-service system, and isn't satisfied with the pilot projects in the bill. He wants to "mandate" that the "good pilot projects" (with good patient outcomes that save money) automatically go national. That's fine, but does it fit in reconciliation, and does a more radical program lose votes with more cautious members? As Wallace says, this was talked about for a year but didn't get traction. Also, usually reconciliation measures expire after ten years, so how could you wait to see how the pilot projects do and then mandate something for a year or two?
Adler is supposedly "pro-choice" but sits by silently as the "pro-lifers" openly hold the bill hostage. He's enabling them. If he cared in the slightest, he would at least say something, much less cancel out Stupak's switched vote personally.
Adler says he's had good recent conversations with the President and the Speaker, but she is "looking elsewhere" for yes votes.
Do you agree that adds up to a no? It infuriates me but that's what I see.
It's amazing to watch the Republicans twist and turn sometimes in order to get around the stands they take on issues. For the Burlington County GOP, it appears that abortion is only a litmus test when the candidate doesn't have alot of money:
In case Ocean County does not field a candidate and Runyan becomes the establishment-backed favorite, Murphy thinks being pro-choice will bring the former Eagles tackle down.
"If the scenario unfolds where Jon Runyan faces Justin Murphy for the nomination, I can guarantee you I will be the nominee," said Murphy. "I'm not trying to be a trash talker on that. I can tell you why in one word: abortion. If there is a choice between one pro-choice candidate and one pro-life candidate in this election, the base of the party will support me."
Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton argued that the abortion issue won't be a deal breaker with Republican primary voters.
The conservatives aren't going to like that answer. We're going to have to remember that abortion isn't a deal breaker on the right the next time they bring back the litmus test when the candidate isn't bringing a brinks truck to the campaign. They'll use life to incite and then try to selectively claim it's a non issue when the candidate can pay for a few extra mailers. Those are some principles. Somewhere George Gilmore is throwing things right now as he continues to hear Layton make declarations about what the party does and doesn't need.
Senator Bob Menendez shines as he joins Frank Lautenberg and other senators in opposing and defeating Ben Nelson's abortion amendment to the health care reform bill.
"This amendment would roll back the clock on a woman's right to choose," said Menendez. "It unfairly singles women out and takes away benefits they already have. It singles out our daughters and legislates limits on their reproductive health - their reproductive rights. If we were to do the same to men - if we were to single out men's reproductive health in this legislation - imagine the outcry. Imagine if men were denied access to procedures. Imagine if they were denied access to prescription drugs. But that is exactly what we are doing to our daughters with this amendment - rolling back the hands of time. I personally find that offensive, as do women across this country. The language of this bill has been carefully negotiated to ensure that we are preserving a woman's right to choose, but doing so without federal funding. To claim otherwise is hypocritical and misleading."
The roll call is here. Yea was effectively a vote to kill the amendment.
The healthcare debate has allowed Congressman Chris Smith to get a good deal of attention and he now has a new distinction according to catholics.org along with Congressman Bart Stupak for getting their amendment included in the health bill that passed:
It is men and women like Bart Stupak and Chris Smith who are the models of public service for all Catholics and other Christians.
By late Monday, Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado had collected more than 40 signatures from fellow members who vowed they would not vote for a combined House-Senate health care bill if it contains language "that restricts women's right to choose any further than current law."
It really is pretty amazing that while Congressman Smith pushed for this during the years that his party held the White House and controlled Congress, it took the Democrats taking control to have him get the results. It still remains to be seen whether the language of the Stupak amendment survives a conference committee, but it has made it this far.
Ah Congressman Chris Smith. He's doing his best to make sure he stays on the all abortion, all the time message. It's almost like he's having his own debate about heatlhcare and it comes complete with his own facts, statistics and theories. Here's the video and we'll look at the highlights following:Redtory thinks the Congressman's comments and conspiracy theories put the GOP touted death panels in the rear view mirror:
Never mind Sarah Palin's ridiculous "Death Panels" meme that was flogged to boredom by the mainstream media, sheesh, that's so last month's old news. The Democrats' wimpy, industry prostituted healthcare reforms now grinding through the congressional sausage factory have been re branded as the "Abortion Industry Bailout Bill of 2009" - a heinous piece of legislation according to Congressman Smith that will "cause hundreds of thousands of additional abortions per year" - apparently through a wickedly clever combination of marketing, public subsidies and government funding of mysterious "new venues" (for abortions).
Oh, you may think Rep. Smith is a crackpot, but he confidently asserts he's got "empirical evidence" on his side verifying that flaunting wads of cash in front of "vulnerable women" who feel they have absolutely "nowhere else to turn" has been proven to "tip the scales" in favour of incentivizing them to expeditiously liquidate their fetuses rather than turning to a local "pregnancy care center."
Smith has been totally over the top with his rhetoric throughout this debate. This video was just a continuation of the attacks he has offered over the past few months, which he used at the conservative Values Voters Summit recently:
Smith predicted that abortions could rise by as much as one-third because of the massive abortion subsidies and mandates found in HR 3200 and the Kennedy and Baucus bills.
"Never have I been more concerned about the promotion of abortion coming out of the White House," Smith said. "The unborn child and his or her mother are more at risk now than ever, since Roe v. Wade itself."
He added that Obama and his administration have been "demonstrably false and extraordinarily misleading" in talking about abortion and the health care bills.
This is becoming common place for Smith to attack and distort the healthcare debate. Smith also said in his video comments that what the Republicans are doing is "healthy disagreement" and the President should stop labeling it as bickering. So using rhetoric like "death panels" and "abortion bailouts" are healthy disagreements? Come on. He made sure to also hit the media mentioning all stations but Fox for not "fairly" covering all sides of the debate as he put it.
Check out this interview and exchange on CNN between the host Rick Sanchez and our very own Congressman Chris Smith. Sanchez came to the table very well prepared and informed on the bill to debate the specifics with Smith:
Obama misled Pope on his abortion agenda, congressman charges
I'm sorry, I missed the introduction of that agenda by the President. Smith is actually talking about the current healthcare debate going on in Congress. We'll let the headline go because the news service needed to get the remarks of Congressman Smith to give them the opportunity to come up with the headline.:
In remarks on the House floor last week, Congressman Chris Smith argued that President Obama purposely misled Pope Benedict XVI when he said that he "wants to reduce abortion" at their July 10 meeting.
Smith recalled the president's statement to the Pope and pointed out that Obama has repeated it several times to different audiences. And yet, Smith charged, Obama?s actions have not aligned with his words. "He says one thing and does precisely the opposite."
Smith is using the latest talking point for why we can't have healthcare reform, that is actually meant to promote more abortions and he made sure that people were clear in what he means:
Rep. Smith concluded his remarks by encouraging his fellow congressmen to vote against the health care bill and insisting that "[t]here will be children who will die if this legislation becomes law simply because the subsidies are there to effectuate their deaths."
As Congressman Chris Smith has said regarding the stealth abortion agenda, "This is the big one!"
So by the Congressman's logic, anyone who wants to get healthcare coverage to people is secretly trying to advance the "stealth abortion agenda." I really thought we were trying to get people healthcare coverage. I'm so naive. Thanks for educating me on that one Congressman Smith. These latest comments are actually a continuation of Smith's attacks on the President. But Smith still wasn't done. He sent this press release out the other day continuing the rhetoric and scare tactics warning against any compromise on healthcare at all:
"Just as Americans are beginning to more fully appreciate and more fully understand the colossal threat posed by Obamacare to the culture of life including a massive expansion of abortion and rationing for the sick and frail elderly, some in Congress are now trying to cobble together a phony "compromise" on abortion mandates, and abortion funding," the congressman began. "While we have yet to see the language, please beware."
See it doesn't really matter whether the President talks about the economy, healthcare or stem cell research, Smith turns it into an attack over abortion to fit his own agenda.
Promoted by Jason Springer: Chris Christie was in Cherry Hill today and Jay Lassiter, who dubbed himself the official welcome wagon head cheerleader was there to say hello.
Chris Christie and I crossed paths today at my local Jersey diner. Thankfully the encounter did not happen in the men's room.
P.S. Kim Guadagno was there too. She was pretty smooth with the crowd and and came off appealing. (just saying......)
"Mr. Obama is on his way to becoming the abortion president. Virtually everything he's done through executive order and through appointments and through other policies promote the killing of unborn children and the wounding of their mothers."
And in case the words aren't enough, here's the video:And this statement was after the murder of Dr. Tiller. How does this rhetoric promote their cause and advance the debate? So much for trying to find a common ground and reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. Chris Smith would rather lob rhetorical bombs apparently. Maybe it's just meant to stoke the flames of a certain segment of people. But if you're so pro-life and need to use rhetoric, why not condemn people trying to take the life of others because they don't agree with what they do, which is by the way legal under the law of the land.
