Saved by the shutdown?

MoonHowler

zoo closed

Washingtonpost: (Ezra Kline)

The case was nicely made by Alec Philips of Goldman Sachs. “If a shutdown occurs, we would be surprised if congressional Republicans would want to risk another difficult situation only a couple of weeks later,” he wrote. “The upshot is that while a shutdown would be unnecessarily disruptive, it might actually ease passage of a debt limit increase.”

The idea was that if House Republicans got their shutdown Oct.1, they would be feeling enough political pain by Oct. 17 that they wouldn’t dare add to it by breaching the debt ceiling. And that’s exactly what happened.

Ezra Kline predicted this phenomena a week or so ago.  It has come to pass.   The Congressional Republicans are now feeling the heat with a 24% approval rating.  The tea party(ies) are feeling even worse pain with an only 21% approval rating.  It doesn’t look like they are going to be primarying anyone.

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Virginia governor’s race analysis: Beware of unintended consequences

MoonHowler

There are some interesting facts in this video. The most dangerous thing to either candidate is that each man’s respective base grow complacent and stay home.

With less than a month until the election, the heat is on for the heart and soul of the Old Dominion. I never like calling an election. I feel it jinxes things up. However, it might be a subtle reminder to those who want to play a little ‘war on women’ that there can be deadly electoral paybacks.

What the women don’t take care of, the shutdown will.  Unfortunately for Cuccinelli, the antics of his party have bled over into his campaign.  That actually seems a little unfair.  The banana republicans should have thought of that before trying to ignore rule of law.  Their attempt to play hardball to get their own way definitely has had unintended consequences.  The Cooch just might be one of those consequences.

Greece v. Golloway: How long before Greece comes to PWC?

MoonHowler

Why does Greece, New York keep popping up?  It seems to me that when government opens its meetings with prayer, regardless of what kind of prayer, it has endorsed religion for however long that prayer lasts.   Isn’t that what the Supreme Court has ruled against?

I don’t think its fair to ask Christians to give up mentioning Jesus at public meetings.  I don’t think Muslims should be expected to forego Mohammad.  I also don’t think non-Christians should be forced to pray to Someone who is not a deity in their faith.

This all begs the question why we have public prayer at meetings.  How about praying at home or on the ride over?   How about not forcing religion on those who want to do public business?  Enduring someone else’s religion should not be a prerequisite for doing business with state, local or federal government.

Some GOP house members scrambling for fallback strategy

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Key GOP figures on Wednesday sent their clearest signals that they are abandoning their bid to immediately stop the federal health-care law — the issue that forced the government to shut down — and are scrambling for a fallback strategy.

Republican Party leaders, activists and donors now widely acknowledge that the effort to kill President Obama’s signature initiative by hitting the brakes on the government has been a failure. The law has largely disappeared from their calculus as they look for a way out of the impasse over the shutdown and for a way to avoid a possible default on U.S. debt.

Instead, they are regrouping for a longer battle over the health-care law. They also are trying to refocus the upcoming debt-ceiling showdown on fiscal issues, including entitlements and tax reform.

The strategy to defund the Affordable Care Act “needed a Plan B, and its authors, if they had one, didn’t share what it was,” said Heather R. Higgins, head of the Independent Women’s Forum and founder of a coalition of conservative groups seeking repeal of the health-care law.

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FCHC sues the State of Virginia: May the force be with them!

MoonHowler

A challenge to Virginia’s strident anti abortion regulations moved forward today.
Rosemary Codding is the director of Falls Church Healthcare Center. In the above video, Rosemary is shown accepting an award from NARAL for her continuing efforts in the field of reproductive rights. That night she announced that FCHC filed a petition in circuit court in Arlington to set aside the onerous TRAP laws that will close most clinics in Virginia. Today, an Arlington County circuit court judge ruled that FCHC could move forward with its suit challenging the new TRAP laws.

Washingtonpost.com:

The Falls Church Medical Center is seeking to overturn an April decision by the Virginia Board of Health that applies strict, hospital-style building codes to the clinics. Among other things, the rules mandate the width of hallways and doorways as well as the number of parking spaces. Some providers have said costly renovations needed to comply would put them out of business.

Attorneys for the medical center argued in court that abortion clinics have been treated differently than other outpatient medical facilities. Solicitor General Earle Duncan Getchell Jr. defended the regulations, saying that the Board of Health simply followed the General Assembly’s directive and the law.

Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Kendrick denied a request by the state to dismiss the case. He predicted that the contentious lawsuit will eventually go to the state appeals court.

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