Hello John,   
      
    JM>> It was a press conference, a photo op No more than that.   
      
    LL>> The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee is a congressional   
    LL>> committee, not a press conference.  When an individual testifies before   
    LL>> a congressional committee, it is called a hearing or congressional   
    LL>> hearing, not a press conference.   
      
   JM>Many of us knew that the Republicans would self-destruct and hand JM>Obama   
   a huge advantage if they started their usual obsessing over   
   JM>abortion. The surprise, though, was that the Republicans would do   
   JM>pretty much the same thing over contraception.   
      
   Thank you, Darrell Issa.   
   Thank you, Rush Limbaugh.   
   Thank you, Mitt Romney.   
   Thank you, Rick Santorum.   
   Thank you, Newt Gingrich.   
   Thank you, Ron Paul.   
   Thank you, Sean Hannity.   
   Thank you, Sarah Palin.   
      
   JM>The first ploy is to get Obama to mandate that the Catholic Church   
   JM<>birth control to employees of many Catholic institutions.   
      
   Republican politicians have been promoting abstinence as being   
   their choice of birth control.  Yet teenagers continue to get pregnant.   
   Why is that?  The reality is that the issue of contaception was settled   
   back in the 1960s.  Women today do not want to go back to the Dark Ages,   
   where women were expected to be (and remain) barefoot and pregnant.   
      
   JM>Who DIDN'T KNOW this would incense the GOP.   
      
   Women do not like others telling them what to do with their bodies.   
   The decision to make a baby, or terminate a pregnancy, should be   
   between a woman and her doctor.  Not a dictate from politicians.   
      
   JM>Obama overplays his hand a bit here, so he has to retreat to simply   
   JM>demanding that the insurance companies provide the contraceptives ---   
   JM>free.   
      
   The cost of birth control is far too high for those of modest means   
   to be able to afford.  And some women depend on birth control as a   
   means to avoid medical complications, such as the woman Sandra Fluke   
   mentioned in her testimony to a congressional committee.   
      
   JM>The bonus here was that the ploy would take the Democrats a step   
   JM>closer to their long-term goal of destroying the profitability of   
   JM>private health insurance products.   
      
   I am all in favor of doing away with our disgusting "healthcare for   
   profit" system, as doing so would mean access to quality healthcare for   
   everyone in this once-great country of ours.   
      
   JM>Once that contraception battle dies down, the Democrats come up with   
   JM>Sandra Fluke.  She was tailor-made for this task.   
      
   Oh, absolutely.  Which is why she was the only one invited to testify.   
      
   JM>If some research is to be believed she is a long-time activist   
   JM>dedicated to women's health issues and she may have actually chosen   
   JM>Georgetown because it is a Jesuit (Catholic) institution - a perfect   
   JM>platform for birth control activism.   
      
   All law school students are activists???  That is a definite new one.   
   In any event, everyone should be dedicated to women's health issues.   
   Not just law students, Catholics, and Democrats.  Wouldn't you agree?   
      
   JM>Now the Democrats can't quite get Fluke before an actual Senate or   
   JM>House committee to testify.   
      
   The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee invited her.   
      
   JM>She simply doesn't have either the credentials or a compelling   
   JM>story to tell.   
      
   She made a helluva presentation in her testimony to the House   
   Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.  As such, I can understand   
   why Republicans did not want to allow her to testify before Republican-   
   controlled committees, or for her testimony to be televised on C-SPAN.   
      
   JM>Who, after all, gives a flip about whether or not a woman paying   
   JM>over $50,000 a year for law school can afford the pill or a few   
   JM>condoms now and then.   
      
   There was nothing in her testimony about her needs/wants.  It was   
   all about others.  Do read the transcript.  The full transcript.  Or   
   at least watch her testimony.  You can find it on YouTube.   
      
   JM>So the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi,  having failed   
   JM>to get Fluke before a committee,   
      
   The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee is a congressional   
   committee.   
      
   JM>throw together a little Democrat garden party and invite Fluke to   
   JM>sit before them and spin her tail of woe.   
      
   Not only did Democrats and Sandra Fluke celebrate, but so did women   
   all over this country.  Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh and his ilk continue   
   their war on women, to the detriment of Republicans everywhere.   
      
   JM>(misspelling intentional).   
      
   Women are split 50/50 as to whether folks such as Rush Limbaugh   
   should shut up or keep spouting off.  On one hand, they find what   
   he says to be offensive.  On the other hand, they find what he   
   says to be so offensive that voters everywhere will vote for   
   Democrats rather than Republicans.   
      
   So maybe it would be better for Republicans to stick their   
   tail between their legs and run away from Rush now, rather than   
   later.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)