Jeb sums it all up

 

Seems that that Jeb Bush isn't much, if any, better that brother George at making oops statements.  W mangled the English language, but John Ellis Bush is already "misspeaking" his way into dicey areas.

First, he said Americans need to work longer hours.  Not make more, work longer.  What he meant was that more of us need to work full time, so we make more & qualify for benefits...  but that wasn't close to what he said.  But now he's waded into deeper waters, misspeaking his way into not only defunding Planned Parenthood, but cutting other federally-funded women's health services.  Youch!

 

From the 08/04/15 New York Times, Jeb Bush Causes a Stir on Women's Health Issues

It was a casual aside from Jeb Bush, but it could haunt him throughout a campaign in which women’s votes — and issues — may prove pivotal.

During an interview on Tuesday with religious conservatives, Mr. Bush suggested that the federal government had overfunded women’s health.

“I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues,” Mr. Bush said at a Southern Baptist Convention event in Nashville.

For perspective, the federal government spends about $1 trillion a year on health care.

Amid a storm of Democratic mockery, Mr. Bush backtracked within a few hours, saying he had misspoken.

Women's Health Issues


Now, Gov. Bush is "not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues."  Any Democratic strategist would consider those words gifts from the political gods!  It's clear Jeb meant the funding currently going to Planned Parenthood, but it's soooooooooo not what he said.    

Two words - Hyde Amendment
A further comment made at the same event -  "Abortion should not funded by the government—any government in my mind." - makes it seem he's unaware of the Hyde Amendment that expressly forbids any federal dollars being spent on abortion services.  By any organization.  Anywhere in these United States.  There are exceptions, it's true - for incest, rape, if the life of the mother is endanger.  I don't know where Gov. Bush stands on allowing those extreme exceptions. 

National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993
Leave us not forget the reason he gave (same event) for defunding Planned Parenthood... "It just troubles me that you would sell body parts. It just makes no sense to me. That is not a compassionate situation.  Congress has every right to investigate these abuses because [Planned Parenthood] receives $500 million dollars from the federal government.”  

First off, it's makes no sense to him to use fetal tissue, obtained through a legal abortion & with written approval, for scientific research?  Seriously?  As Sen. John McCain said, " My abhorrence for the practice of abortion is unquestionable. Yet my abhorrence” for Parkinson’s and juvenile diabetes “and the suffering they cause is just as strong.”  But to Jeb Bush, sentiments like John McCain's aren't representative of  "a compassionate situation." 

It's time for John Ellis to have a one-on-one with his older brother.  Perhaps W could explain to Jeb that the Congress approved use of fetal "body parts" for scientific research back in 1992 (Mitch McConnell, like John McCain, was one of 30 GOP senators voting YEA), that although he (W) narrowed funding for embryonic stem cell research, he (43) did NOT halt, did NOT even narrow funding for fetal tissue research, nor did he rescind approval for organizations like (but not limited to) Planned Parenthood to be reimbursed costs for the procurement & shipping of fetal tissue.  

Surrogate Issue
Jeb joins the growing chorus of voices chiming in to make it pretty darn clear the current push to defund Planned Parenthood - for purely emotional, not rational let alone legal, reasons - is a surrogate for overturning Roe v. Wade.  Can imagine Jeb just as easily, from the depths of his greatest beliefs as both a conservative & a Catholic, saying, "Abortion should not be legalized by the government—any government in my mind."  

So many people, so neatly summing up the depth of passion around the outcry to defund Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE  08/05/15  5:00 p.m.  EST

It just gets worse & worse for Jeb with this women's health issues brouhaha he stirred up when misspoke.  Or maybe he didn't misspeak after all.  

According to the Jeb! website:

Gov. Jeb Bush issued the following statement regarding his comments on federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

“With regards to women’s health funding broadly, I misspoke, as there are countless community health centers, rural clinics, and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded. They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don’t have the access they need.

But he didn't stop while he was ahead.  Gov. Bush tweeted - "In line with my FL record – we absolutely must defund PP and redirect those funds to other women’s health orgs."

Yeah - if only!  Per The St. Petersburg Times (Jan 2003)... 

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida lost $124,000 last year from its family planning division. Bush diverted the funds to abstinence-only educational programs. 

 

Governor Bush - redirecting funds from Planned Parenthood to abstinence-only educational programs is so painfully NOT redirecting funds to the women's health organizations.  And I agree - community health centers & rural health clinics DO need to be fully funded because they do "provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don't have the access they need."

So - why didn't you??

Hillary's greatest challenge

Being Hillary.  She's all ambition & no like-ability.  And her actual government experience/results - pretty piddly.  She's been a corporate water carrier since her Arkasas days, didn't exactly set the bar for FLOTUS accomplishments, is flat Mid-Western bor-ing.

Phooey on GOP debate line up - this is REAL news!

 

Too distressed to do anything but post the joint announcement that appeared on their Facebook page:

“After careful thought, thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, Miss Piggy made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship. We will continue to work together on television (“The Muppets”/Tuesdays 8pm this fall on ABC) and in all media now known or hereafter devised, in perpetuity, throughout the universe. However, our personal lives are now distinct and separate, and we will be seeing other people, pigs, frogs, et al. This is our only comment on this private matter. Thank you for your understanding.”

Happier days...  (sob)

see also....
http://www.eonline.com/news/683062/miss-piggy-and-kermit-the-frog-have-broken-up
http://www.people.com/article/kermit-miss-piggy-break-up-speculation
http://www.today.com/popculture/kermit-miss-piggy-call-it-quits-after-40-years-muppet-t36616
http://time.com/3984109/kermit-miss-piggy-break-up/
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/08/04/miss-piggy-and-kermit-the-frog-split/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/columnist/2015/08/04/abcs-muppets-gives-more-power---pig/31110127/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-miss-piggy-and-kermit-break-up-but-keep-it-together-for-work-20150804-story.html

Joe S. sums it up

On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren had testy words for politicians out for Planned Parenthood's Hyde hide - "The Republican scheme to defund Planned Parenthood is not some surprised response to a highly edited video.  Nope, it's just one more piece of deliberate, methodical, orchestrated right-wing attack on women's rights."

This a.m., Joe Scarborough was having none of it  - "You can be against the funding of Planned Parenthood without being against the support of women's health. Nice try, Elizabeth Warren.... For Elizabeth Warren to try to conflate the right of a woman to choose with the horrors and the callousness and the grotesqueness of what was discussed over lunch [in the video] is really unfortunate.

When his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, pointed out, "Just to be clear here, she's talking about the issue of defunding Planned Parenthood and its services. She not talking about what's going on in these videos,"  he didn't buy that either.

"There are troubling things on those tapes, and everybody needs to open their eyes and see that instead of reflexively talking about right-wing attacks on a women's right to choose. Please, stop insulting our intelligence, Elizabeth Warren. Stop."


Joe is another conservative doing a darn good job summing up the right's reasoning to defund Planned Parenthood - because of the horrors, the callousness, the grotesqueness "of what was discussed over lunch."  In videos even the producers cop to editing for shock value.  He sums up their run-'em-out-of-town reasoning in his impossible-to-dispute claim that "there are troubling things on those tapes."  There are - and the producers acknowledge they're being edited for maximum shock value.  

I don't think Elizabeth Warren is insulting Joe Scarborough's intelligence, nor the intelligence of anyone clamoring to defund Planned Parenthood based on the videos.  She seems pretty spot on. Because defunding the organization won't make a smidgen of difference to providing abortion services - check out the Hyde Amendment.  But it will play havoc with the other women's & reproductive health care that make up 95% of its services.

  

Bobby J. sums it up

08/13/15 update - seems that in Bobby Jindal's Louisiana, Planned Parenthood provides only female & reproductive health services. 


“In recent weeks, it has been shocking to see reports of the alleged activities taking place at Planned Parenthood facilities across the country. Planned Parenthood does not represent the values of the people of Louisiana and shows a fundamental disrespect for human life.  It has become clear that this is not an organization that is worthy of receiving public assistance from the state.”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, announcing the state is terminating its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.

 

Based on alleged activities, its failure to represent the values of the people of Louisiana & a fundamental disrespect for handling fetal tissue  human life, and because the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana are unworthy of receiving public assistance from the state.  

Yep, that just about sums up the effectiveness of defunding the reviled organization.  Leaves Planned Parenthood's ability to provide abortions in Louisiana totally intact - the Hyde Amendment already bans any federal $$ - while it guts their ability to provide non-abortion related care covered under Medicaid, the care that accounts for 95% of provided services. 

 

Of special interest - at least to me - was Gov. Jindal's statement that, “In recent weeks, multiple videos have surfaced showing Planned Parenthood ... employees describing how they actively engage in illegal partial birth abortion procedures and conduct these abortions in a manner that leaves body parts intact so that they can later be sold on the open market."

Two points - if Planned Parenthood was doing partial birth abortions, it would be headline news across the country.  And he doesn't mention that the "multiple videos" are from the same source, are openly heavily edited to maximize shock value.

My question - was it mere happenstance that Gov. Jindal made this particular announcement just before the final polls deciding who makes the cut for Thursday's first GOP Presidential debate?  

 

I'm not sure how Gov. Jindal ranks today in the polls, but I know how Louisiana ranks among states...

• #1 for HIV cases in people ages 13 to 24
• 2nd for gonorrhea 
• 4th for chlamydia infections
• 8th highest teen birth rate
• and New Orleans consistently lands in the top 5 cities nationwide for STDs

An unexpected tack

Make that an unexpected, yet nimble bait & switch.  And a very slippery slope.

Yesterday, Marty Moss-Coane's Radio Times featured a discussion about Planned Parenthood.  It was startling to hear defund advocate Molly Hemingway say it doesn't matter if the  organization profits from fetal tissue donation - the reason for defunding is the basically the videos' ick factor.   

One person commented about the discussion, "Abortion is unconscionable, immoral & selfish.  Hitler would have loved to have lived in present times to have fetal tissue available for research.  The angle of the slippery slope just went up."  For this listener, the controversy around defunding Planned Parenthood seems to serve as a surrogate for abortion.  How many people feel the same? 

Now, I personally don't even believe in any contraception that could possibly destroy a fertilized egg.  But abortion is currently legal in these United States.  There are remains of an aborted baby.  Does Stericycle cart them off, or are they donated to scientific research?

And the ENTIRE outrage over the videos, the very reason for us watching them, was the charge that Planned Parenthood financially benefited from abortions performed in its clinics.  Now, they forces against the organizations have adjusted their sails & taken a different tack - it's not a question of anything illegal, but of something that is disgusting beyond description.  And it is.  It is beyond description - much like the idiom, "Laws are like sausaged - better not to see them made."  Because the process is nauseating gross disgusting.

They went after Planned Parenthood for something that is illegal - making money from fetal tissue.  Now, a different tack - okay, so they're not making money, but the videos are too gross to be okay.

Sen. Joni Ernst makes no mention of anything illegal when she cries -  “These videos are hard for anyone to defend and hit at the moral fabric of our society.  Planned Parenthood is harvesting the body parts of unborn babies.”

Notice, not a word about money.  It's shifted to the undeniable ick factor.  

This is called bait & switch.  Engage the eyeballs & hearts of the nation by calling out Planned Parenthood for making a purported profit off of human tragedy, then flip the accusation to it being immoral.  Now, that is a very slippery slope!   Because if the ick factor of harvesting body parts of unborn babies is grounds for defunding Planned Parenthood, it's certainly grounds for overturning Roe v. Wade.  

Now, that is a slippery slope!