Expanded Birth Control Access Equal To Tragedies Of 9/11 And Pearl Harbor.

This is a story that should piss off everyone, no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on.  In a speech on the House floor last Wednesday (8/1/12), Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) had this to say about the expansion of birth control access for women:

“I know in your mind you can think of the times America was attacked.  One is December 7 — that is Pearl Harbor Day. Another was September 11 — that was the day of the terrorist attack.  I want you to remember August 1, 2012 — the attack on our religious freedom. That is a date that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.”

August 1st was the day that marked the beginning of implementation for the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate.  It was also, apparently, the day that 5,379* Americans died in the on-going War For Religious Freedom.

Why did the news not cover this horrifying tragedy?  Because Kelly is full of shit.  I want to be very clear on something, here.  A United States Representative in the Legislative Branch compared women getting birth control to the tragedy of 9/11, and the horrific assault on Pearl Harbor. 

Instead of backing down on his comments, Kelly said that the birth control mandate is “an undeniable and unprecedented attack on Americans’ First Amendment rights.”

Actually, sir, telling women that they can't receive birth control due to the religious feelings of others is the real attack on our First Amendment rights.  If you don't want it, don't take it.  And what does Mike Kelly have to worry about, anyway?  Is someone force feeding him the birth control pill?

Shut the fuck up, Kelly.  You are insulting our intelligence and you're insulting the victims of those tragedies (and their families) by making such a shitty comparison.  Nobody wants to hear it. 

I liked you better when I was unaware of your existence. 


*Total death count for 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined.

Pat Robertson is God's Weatherman.

I was originally going to do the Koch Brothers today in an attempt to go straight down the list over at Addicting Info, but the recent east-coast quake unearthed some hateful religious sediment that I couldn't ignore.

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a televangelist and hardcore evangelical preacher that can be seen on his show The 700 Club.  He is also quite well known for being pure human garbage.  Just to refresh your memory, this is the guy that co-blamed the September 11th attack on "pagans, abortionists, gays, lesbians, and feminists" and said that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment against the U.S. for our abortion policies.    

What really bothers me about Pat Robertson is that, despite his claims, he is not a Christian.  He just runs his show and says this awful bullshit for money.  Infamous quotes aside, Pat Robertson has more skeletons in his closet than could possibly fit.  

The Zadroga Bill v.2.0.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I'm no fan of the current legislative branch.  It reminds me more of a group of kindergartners than it does a government body.  From what I learned in high school, the Senate and the House is supposedly full of elected adults.  I believed that was true until about 2009.  Now I'm convinced that we have more than six hundred children making laws and shouting at each other.  I am a firm advocate of replacing each member of Congress with a cat.  Despite the animal's six hour day, they would still get more done than the current elected body, and with less fighting to boot.  Plus, it would probably be easier to get six hundred cats (a very independent animal, mind you) to agree on something.  

Cat jokes aside, I thought that passing the Zadroga Bill would be a no-brainer.  It was a simple piece of legislation, after all.  For those of you that don't know, the Zadroga Bill gives workers at the wreckage of the World Trade Center (firemen, policemen, etc.) health coverage.  A disturbingly high amount of rescuers now have harmful diseases and illnesses caused by the volatile carcinogens that they inhaled at ground zero.