Thursday, September 13, 2012

(Update) 26 Senators and 109 Representatives…


UPDATE: I mentioned that Missouri was fixin to go to court after the General Assembly passed Senator Lamping’s rancid birth control refusal bill.


Well, I was right.

This Missourian thanks the Greater Kansas City Coalition of Labor Union Women and Michele Newby, president of the coalition and a firefighter in Kansas City, for filing suit Wednesday to challenge the birth control refusal bill!

Someone ought to keep track of how much money Missouri is going to spend defending Senator Lamping’s legislative pander to the Missouri Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pause…consider…continue.

Lamping’s birth control refusal law empowers government to take rights from workers and step all up in folk’s bedrooms.  Lamping’s Law basically has government deciding that anyone who takes birth control forfeits their rights to their employer.

AND the damn thing is going to cost the state some serious cash.

If it walks like it and talks like it, we should call it what it is…an expensive, ill advised, intellectually lazy, big government, theocratic shake-down.

_______________________________________________

Let’s jump right on in, shall we?

I went to bed mad as hell…

….and woke up wishing that Missourians could feel the full weight of what the Missouri Assembly just did.

The Missouri Assembly had their veto session Wednesday, September 12.  They took up Senator Lamping’s Birth Control Refusal bill SB749.

The Senate took less time to override Governor Nixon’s veto than they spent unveiling a portrait earlier in the day.

The House cut off debate lest they hear just how trifling this rancid bill is and then the peer pressure began.

But wait…let me back up.

Before debate was cut off, (and that was so cowardly weak I can’t even tell you) several Representatives stood up to speak out against overriding the veto.  I listened live and recognized the voices of a few.  Then a woman started speaking and I couldn’t tell who it was.  I took to Twitter because some people were live tweeting the debate and…well, suffice it say I was SHOCKED that Representative Linda Black (D-107) was speaking out in favor of sustaining the veto.

Rep. Black, who is solidly opposed to abortion rights, spoke in favor of sustaining the veto because she is solidly opposed to abortion.  Black, unlike the majority under the dome, acknowledged the fact that restricting access to birth control results in more unplanned pregnancies and thus more abortions. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – folks who are opposed to abortion who then turn around and try to deny access to birth control can not, do not, and will not make a lick of sense… not that most folk working under the dome in Jefferson City fret about making sense or doing the right thing.

I disagree with Rep. Black on abortion…but she sure as hell has the courage of her convictions and shamed the cowards when she stood up yesterday.

109 of her colleagues voted yes and the veto was overturned.

SB749 will now be law, so supporters can cease bullshitting to the masses about what they just did. 

Any employer…any employer…any damned employer in the state of Missouri will now be able to provide an insurance package devoid of contraception or sterilization coverage because that employer has some sort of moral objection.

The law is certain to be challenged in court by insurance companies who opposed the hell out of it.

That’s what I woke up pondering and regretting.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the way to address the rot in Jefferson City is for the masses to feel the ache.

In this case, the thousands of Missourians who use birth control and take insurance coverage for granted need to have that coverage revoked.  They need to hear their employer explain his or her religious objection during their annual plan meeting…and then they need to get royally fucked over each month for 12 consecutive months until the next plan meeting.

But they won’t…because Missouri is fixin’ to go to court.  We just haven’t been served papers yet.

26 Senators.

109 Representatives.

Hit the lights.

Take a fucking bow.

Blink.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

KC makes other news:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/cities/american-cities-fight-imaginary-8216beast-heavy-traffic/5241

NancyP said...

Yep, Misery has issues with reality. Remember Rush "Slut-gate" Limbaugh - he's pretty representative of opinion outside of the urban or college-town counties.

Handsome Nick B said...

I've always wondered why a talking point on this isn't whether an employer who is a Jehovah's Witness should be able to disallow blood transfusions in their employees coverage because it contravenes their religious beliefs. I guess it wouldn't make much difference to some, but I think it casts the issue of giving an employer's moral beliefs precedence over their employees in much clearer light.

The Gumdrop Stage of Grief ...

So many of you have shared condolences and support after the death of my beloved brother Bill from COVID-19. I wish I could thank you indiv...