The Politics Of Defunding Planned Parenthood

Father Marcel Guarnizo, formerly of my parish before he was dismissed for upholding the Church's teachings on worthy reception of Holy Communion, wrote an article detailing his opinion of what the GOP in Congress should do in the wake of the Planned Parenthood videos.  To be specific, he is touching upon the matter of the funding of Planned Parenthood within the federal budget.  As I read the article, Father states that there is no moral impediment to passing a budget that includes Planned Parenthood funding, for 1) they don't have the votes in the Senate, 2) they don't have the votes to override Obama's veto and 3) they have tried before.  While I can see his point, I'm not sure I'd be ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I'd like to focus on two points made under the sub-heading "Material versus Formal Cooperation".  The first one may seem minor, but not from a Constitutional standpoint.  He seems to speak of the members of Congress "signing a federal budget".  No one in Congress signs anything; rather, it creates legislation to be enacted.  The signing of that legislation is left to the President to sign it into law or veto it.  Second, Father states that "a law exists in place forbidding federal dollars from being used for abortions".  While that's true, the concept of fungibility renders that fact irrelevant.

From my days as treasurer of a non-profit, I can speak of fungibility from first-hand experience.  Most np’s have a pool of funds used for general operating purposes (called gen-op for short) with no restrictions on how those monies can be spent.  A hypothetical np might have 5 areas in which they use these funds, and of course funds run rather thin in all areas.  Along comes a donor who will donate, but only to Area A and no other area.  Fine and dandy.  The donor-restricted funds are put into the budget for Area A, and gen-op funds originally slated for Area A can be used elsewhere.  That is fungibility and explains how our tax dollars WILL be used for abortion should the federal budget fund Planned Parenthood.

Let's also consider the fact that while there have been failed attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, a vote now would be the first vote taken in the wake of the revelations provided by the Center for Medical Progress.  My opinion is that the GOP leadership in both houses should force floor votes and be prepared to use legitimate procedural means to forestall Democratic attempts to stymie votes.  That does mean that the leadership would have to develop some backbones, for over these past few years they have shown themselves to be quite feckless (actually worse than that, and I'll deal with that topic later in the next paragraph).  In bringing the matter of PP funding to the floor for a vote, each and every Representative and Senator will go on record for his/her vote in the wake of the horrific scandal of Planned Parenthood's sale of the babies whom it routinely murders.  Let any votes for Planned Parenthood be used by pro-life candidates as prima facae evidence why those Congresspeople should not win their next elections.  Should the bill reach the White House for Obama's veto, let that be a campaign issue as well.

As I read Father's article, it seems he wrote this before Boehner announced his resignation as Speaker of the House.  Over the past few years, his wielding of the gavel has been an abysmal disappointment and I daresay betrayal for while he played the groveling coward before the Democrats in Congress, he was actually quite ruthless towards the tea-party members of his own party.  To add insult to injury, it is reported that Boehner will use his final days as speaker to collude with Pelosi in ramming into the budget everything desired by the Obama cartel: Planned Parenthood funding, Iran deal, etc.

I'm also not entirely certain that conservatives in Congress are all that powerless.  If that were so, Boehner would have felt no impetus to resign.  But now comes the news that GOP officials in high places are suggesting that Senate Leader Mitch McConnell also resign.  This comes from Roger Villere, chairman of the Louisiana GOP.  He sees that many conservatives are no longer content with the measly little crumbs that the RINOs throw at us and that we don't intend to have our concerns and values treated like so many pawns in a chess game.

If we can do this sort of cage-rattling within the echelons of RINO leadership, we can give the PP defunding another attempt.  Dan Bongino wrote his own piece explaining why he too believes that there is a moral imperative to put up more of a fight than the one we are currently offering at this time.  If a reasonable budget without the Planned Parenthood funding is put before Obama's desk and he vetoes it, the onus of obstructionism is on him.  And by the way, if the Dems should snark on the GOP for "shutting down the government", one might wonder what they'd think about this stunt from one of their own who is considered "presidential material".

Obama Says He Can Do Whatever He Wants

He made that quip at Monticello two days ago, while showing the sights to France's president Hollande.  Before we get all outraged about this arrogance, we might be able to see his point.  He has no real opposition in Congress.  Any illusions to the contrary have been soundly obliterated these past few days as a result of the debt ceiling vote.  Let's face it; the RINO leadership, starting with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, showed themselves to be spineless, sniveling wimps.

This past Tuesday, Boehner allowed the debt ceiling vote to proceed in the House.  He attached no requirements for spending cuts whatsoever.  Moreover, he joined in the vote for the passage of that reckless measure.  Typically the Speaker of the House does not cast a vote - but he did, to ensure its passage.  The measure passed, with 28 Republicans voting for it.  Here is the list of the GOP who voted for it.  I am most disappointed that Chris Smith of New Jersey saw fit to lower himself on Tuesday.

It then went to the Senate.  Ted Cruz attempted a filibuster, but Mitch McConnell cut Cruz off at the knees.  He then went on to vote against it: as though that duplicity will go unnoticed.

So now we understand that Obama's quip, while arrogant, is not without basis.  As long as the RINO establishment is allowed to reign, there will be no true "checks and balances" as was envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Planned Parenthood Funding Stays

So many people thought that Boehner got such a great deal by compelling the Senate to vote on the defunding of Planned Parenthood.  They thought it just might pass!

Aww, c'mon!!  Get real!!  If Boeher lacked the guts to keep the PP defunding on the table, why on earth would anyone think that Dingy Harry would let that measure go to the Senate floor unless he knew it would fail?  And fail it did.  Here's the roll call on that vote.

"But Planned Parenthood does so much gooooddd!", I'm told.  You know what?  Maybe there's a point here.  Let's look at some of their educational endeavors, their benevolent attempts to reach out to young people.

Right Change On Boehner's Blunder

Boehner's Blunder is what happened last weekend.  Click here if you can't see embedded video.

Shame On The House Of Representatives!

The House voted last evening on the stopgap measure to keep the government afloat while the final budget is in negotiation - without the Pence Amendment!!!   Yes, that means that Planned Parenthood, at least for the time being, still has their sticky fingers in our pockets, using our tax dollars to murder babies.  It appears that our so-called "intrepid" leadership rolled over and played dead right on the spot.  Moreover, the measure lacked the language to defund the Obamacare abortion provisions.

However, kudos are due to Michele Bachmann, who voted against this measure on account of the betrayal contained therein.  (I believe this is the roll call; if that's not the vote, please advise and I'll correct)  I quote from Lifesite News: “Abortion is the watershed issue of our time. We shouldn’t have one red cent go for Planned Parenthood,” declared the Congresswoman, who said she was ready to fight “eyeball-to-eyeball” over the Pence amendment. “At some point you have to have a knock down, drag down fight. This is it.”  Her last sentence is dead-on correct!

Ladies and gentlemen, if the Republicans roll over and play dead on this one without so much as a whimper, I frankly haven't much faith that they'll hold out when it really counts.  I truly hope I'm proven to be incorrect on this.  To that end, I urge us all to demand that Speaker Boehner appoint to that joint committee those individuals who will not budge when it comes to funding baby-murder.  Michele Bachmann would be a great choice.

For more information, consult http://exposeplannedparenthood.net/
I wrote an open letter to the Speaker this past Monday.  Here's another one.

A Beautiful Sight!

Click here if you can't see embedded video.



I've got to hand it to Pelosi; her speach whilst handing the gavel was very gracious.  I do hope that Boehner learns to control the tear ducts; that really is unbecoming of him.  At any rate, our eyes are on this new crew.

Important note as of January 9th.  The above is the original post as of January 5th, to which I add the following addendum for clarification.  The video above is the actual handing over of the gavel.  There is an altered version of this clip, popularized by Jimmy Kimmel Live, changed to depict John Boehner committing assault and battery upon Nancy Pelosi.  For reasons that I cannot fathom, some think this to be a humorous video.  I beg to differ.  At best, the Kimmel clip is a sophomoric hack job.  Let me be very clear.  Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House, did untold damage to this nation and I'm glad she is now relegated to a position that is less harmful to the nation.  However, she is a human being, made in the image and likeness of God.  As such, we are bound to pray for her and for her repentance, lest she pass away in a state of mortal sin.  As Christians, we are not at liberty to wish her harm nor to chortle at depictions of violence upon her person.  I believe that to be a lack of charity.  I also think the lack of charity in this video extends to John Boehner as well, for it shows him committing a vicious crime.  Since this was originally shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, I've no reason to believe that a pro-life person created that trash; I hope I'm not proven wrong on this.