Multi-tasking Thoughts and Prayers

Here's my theory about what happened.  All those holier-than-thou evangelical gun nuts got distracted by the Easter frenzy, and inadvertently misdirected their 'thoughts and prayers' to that beautiful kosher Sunday ham on the table in front of them, and forgot to use them to protect life ... and BAM! – or more like 'BLAM BLAM BLAM!!', another batch of innocents bites the dust.   

Seriously, I know these aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, but this is really not that tough.  If they can't stay focused through one simple holiday, maybe it's time to consider a new approach.  

Risking the Risk-Free Rate

Investors balance risk with expected return when deciding where to put their money; the greater the risk, the higher interest rate they demand.  

The baseline for this is the ‘risk-free’ rate, for investments which have zero risk of default. US Treasury investments are used in these calculations - they don’t pay much interest, but they don’t miss payments. 

Once again, some politicians are playing chicken with our nation’s finances for political ends.  A refusal to raise the debt ceiling risks a default on payments for money we have already borrowed.  Investors will continue to fund our debt, but even the threat of a default will lower our nation’s credit rating, making borrowing more expensive. 

It’s childish and dangerous - and exactly what we can expect from those running Congress for the next two years. 

McCarthy's Followership Post

This would be funny, if the end result of this farce wasn't destined to be a key component of our national government.  

Whether he gets enough votes today, tomorrow, or the next day, Kevin McCarthy will be beholden to some of the most ignorant, partisan members in Congress for his position - and will need to vet his every move through them for the duration of his tenure.  He will be 'Speaker', but not a leader. 

Since these individuals adamantly oppose any inter-party cooperation, this assures that the legislative wing of government will be stalemated.   

Pelosi's Legacy

A leader's legacy is rarely fully realized until time has passed since their leadership ended.

That being said, it seems clear that Nancy Pelosi will be remembered in history as one of the most effective House speakers in our history, on par with Joe Cannon, Sam Rayburn, Newt Gingrich - even going back to Henry Clay.

We may like or dislike any of these House speakers, but they knew how to promote their agendas; generally, we like the ones who share our agenda, and dislike those with whom we disagree.

There are still some who have not reconciled themselves to the reality of a woman wielding this much power, but that view is being relegated to the dustbin of history. When evaluated on less personal criteria, the long view will deem her tenure as among the most effective speakers in our nation's history. 

Exceptionalism and Guns

Our nation's exceptionalism is piled as high as a glutton's thanksgiving plate, constantly shedding innocents from the edges - sometimes one or two at a time, sometimes in large groups. 

And our leaders stand by idly—stupidly—offering only inert 'thoughts and prayers' to the grieving, as they gorge on desserts proffered by the guilty weapon mongers.

Ninth-Month Abortion

Some politicians who want to vilify opponents who support women's reproductive rights, have begun breathlessly accusing them of supporting "Abortion, right up to the moment of birth!"  

The national Republican Party has focus-group tested, and rolled out this hideous phrase nationwide—including in Washington's Third Congressional District—for use against candidates who hope to codify the protections formerly provided by Roe v. Wade, until the Supreme Court recently overturned it.  

Decisions around terminating a pregnancy are profoundly personal at any stage - vastly more so in the final months.  Women don't carry a pregnancy that far, then just change their minds. This catch-phrase, that Republicans toss around like a political football, cruelly targets and distorts those who had hoped to become parents, but now face this tragic choice deep into a pregnancy.    

Roe v. Wade never allowed so-called 'abortion on demand' in the latter stages of pregnancy.  These are invariably situations where a termination is deemed medically necessary by the woman, and her medical care-giver ... the ONLY people rightfully involved in the decision.  

The people promulgating this phrase, and the dehumanizing frivolousness it implies, don't care any more about the unborn than they do about the heartbroken expectant mother; they just know how to manipulate the fearful, to achieve their partisan ends.  They are worthy only of our scorn and disgust for employing such cruelty.  

—

Abortion and Privacy

Decisions around an unplanned pregnancy are incredibly personal.  They should be left to the woman, her doctor, her minister, other interested parties in her church, her employer, state, local, and national politicians, and other interested parties - including scout troops, altar societies, or others who might benefit from a legal bounty paid by some states for turning her and her healthcare provider in - if they make the 'wrong' decision.  

Unfortunately, if Democrats solidify their control of government, many of these people will be left out of these key decisions, leaving the poor, fallen woman to make this decision all on her own.  

Please, for her sake, vote Republican!  Because an unplanned pregnancy is everybody's business!