Dodging the Question

 

 

I am growing increasingly sick of vote whoring, influence peddling politicians lecturing the American people on morality and decency.  Our system of politics is riddled with corruption; indeed, legalized corruption is the favorite occupation of politicians from Washington, D.C. to Puget Sound and from the Great Lakes to the Texas-Mexican border.  Since Antonin Scalia and his band of Rightwing clowns on the Supreme Court, that would be Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Kennedy, decided that corporations are people and have the First Amendment Right to express political opinions with money, the Founders’ idea of a government of the people, by the people and for the people has been eroded to the point of near meaninglessness.  Thus we have a veritable hothouse of money eating plants serving in the United States Congress.

By way of example, I give you Marsha Blackburn of the Tennessee 7^th.  In hearing her incessant chatter – as one often does on cable news programs – I am continually struck by her limited brainpower and her apparent dependence upon repeating Republican talking points in a chant like fashion to forestall any objection to her prefabricated ideas.  To wit:  Ms. Blackburn appeared on CNN with Carol Costello and insisted that one impetus for Darryl Issa’s trumpeted up and expensive hearings on the Affordable Care Act rollout is based upon a suspected violation of HIPAA.  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA is designed to protect patient medical information under a guarantee of privacy or confidentiality.  Ethical medical practitioners have always respected confidentiality in dealing with patient information; not so some insurance companies, unethical doctors and nurses and some hospitals.  The only question, only I say, on the ACA application that can be considered medical or medically related is, “Do you smoke?”  That question will be found on any insurance application no matter who is offering the insurance or what is being insured.

To spite Ms. Costello’s repeated attempts to get Blackburn to specify what medical information is at risk and where the ACA computer signup can be seen to be violating HIPAA, the Congresswoman just kept repeating her talking points.  Once in a while she would throw in a pseudo professional sounding computer term by way of making herself appear knowledgeable only to prove that she was simply coached by a moderately skilled techie. 

Ms. Blackburn’s concern for privacy is belied by her rabid prolife stance.  She appears to be unaware of or insensate to the fact that her sisters’ right to reproductive freedom under Roe v. Wade is grounded in the implied right to privacy inherent in the 14^th and in part the 9^th Amendments. She also is willing to set privacy aside, indeed HIPAA regulations, while advocating that employers should have the right to deny female employees access to birth control.  Marsha Blackburn appears to be in lockstep with her Republican and Tea Party colleagues in picking and choosing the parts of the law and the Constitution they will honor.  Much the same way as they select the parts of the Bible that will work best for their political advancement.  Thus, as they scream about being Christians they ignore Christ’s central tenets of love, peace and charity so they might wallowing in the fear, threat and retribution of the Old Testament.

Marsha Blackburn is but one rightwing hypocrite and misogynist who women must put on their “Time to Go” list in ’14.  This amounts to a crusade for all forward thinking people who would have their children, male and female, live healthy and free.