Shawn typically gets pretty frustrated when I start talking about political issues...not because we disagree, but because I tend to get pretty "heated" about the topic. However, this is my blog and I can say what I want...no one can tell me to be quiet :)
You would have to be living in Siberia under a rock not to have heard at least something about the recent budget standoff in the federal government that almost culminated in a full government shutdown. Luckily, a "temporary deal" was reached a the last minute to keep the government up and running. What was causing the lack of cooperation? Several things, but one of the main issues was Planned Parenthood.
Before I talk more about the federal government, I would like to take a moment to discuss what Planned Parenthood has meant to me (and I am sure to many other women). When I was in college, I had the luxury of using the University Health Clinic for my women's health needs. I was able to visit the clinic for my yearly pap smear, breast exam, and any other testing I needed (such as yeast infections, urinary tract infections, etc), while the facility also provided low cost STD testing, should that be a need. This facility also made available free contraceptives in the form of condoms and also provided very low cost birth control to the students at the university. Most universities (I don't know if all do) provide this type of service while you are a student. However, students at community college and fresh college graduates do not have this luxury, and until now (thanks to Obama's Health Care Reform) were unable to be covered by their parents medical insurance. So what do these women do for women's health needs? They visit Planned Parenthood. When I gradated from college, I was uninsured. I had to purchase private medical insurance for myself (which I did through Blue Cross & Blue Shield). This insurance was very expensive (almost $200/mo - which is A LOT for someone right out of college without good job and no benefits) and DID NOT INCLUDE coverage for women's health. It had a HUGE deductible and was completely worthless for my needs, but if I were to break my leg or fall off the roof I would be covered. For this reason, I utilized Planned Parenthood for several years. Planned Parenthood made it possible for me to keep up with all my women's healthcare needs, which I would not have been able to do without otherwise.
Now...the budget dispute over Planned Parenthood, wasn't really about the budget. It was about abortion. The Republican's want to take away federal funding from Planned Parenthood because they provide legal abortion services to women. What the Republican's were forgetting to mention is that Planned Parenthood is unable to use their federal funding for abortion services, so taking away the funding would really be taking away the basic women's health services that I mentioned earlier from college students, un-insured, and other low-income women all over the country. The Republican's were so busy trying to encourage people to get behind them in their quest to take away the funding that they started throwing out all kinds of "facts" about Planned Parenthood's abortion policies. Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) both had bits this week pointing out one of these "facts" that was presented by Congressman John Kyl (R) of Arizona. Although the clips are quite funny...the what the Congressman did IS NOT FUNNY AT ALL.
I am shocked every time I see things like this. How can these people sleep at night knowing that they are blantantly telling lies to the American people? How can this be legal? I am sure that both sides lie...I am not going to pretend that democrats don't lie as well. All policitican's lie to some extent...not that I believe that it is good, or even acceptable, but it happens. But to lie so dramatically...just making up statistics (3% and 90% are PRETTY DIFFERENT) and then after that lie is out there backtracking and stating that you were just trying to make a point and you didn't intend it to be taken as fact? What kind of bull is that?? This is the kind of stuff that causes such anger and separation between the parties because extreme right wing and the extreme left wing take these types of things that are said (even when they are totally lies) and believe them, then spread the information around as fact and perpetuate a system at two extremes that seems unable to meet in the middle on anything. If these types of lies weren't perpetuated I believe that we would have more cooperation in Washington and across the country between liberals and conservatives. I would love to see that. We would be able to get so much more done for so many people.
