If the Democrats force Obamacare through using gimmicks like the House “deeming” the Senate bill to be “passed” without an actual up or down vote, or the Senate resorting to reconciliation to facilitate the government takeover of one-fifth of the U.S. economy, I can’t help but think that is going to piss off enough people that there will be open revolt.

Perhaps that revolt will take place at the ballot box in November. Perhaps, before that, we’ll have a repeat of last August’s Congressional recess where the people came out in droves and demanded to be heard.

Am I wrong about this? Is it politically savvy to cram the biggest entitlement program ever down the throats of Americans? Especially since we’re going to have to start paying for this now, but won’t see the benefits of it for three years?

I just don’t get this. I understand wanting to help people who struggle to afford healthcare. But, perhaps we should focus on helping our neighbors who have healthcare crises or contributing to efficient charities who do. Why can’t we start with implementing policies that would create more competition and more affordable insurance, like letting people buy insurance policies across state lines? Do the tort reform thing. Why does it have to be all or nothing, and why does all have to happen right now?

So, are the Democrats committing the political suicide I think they are?

I saw an article a while back that dealt with what is now HF 2453, a bill that would allow certain inheritance rights for children that were conceived by artificial means after one parent’s death. This would mean that such children would also be able to receive Social Security benefits, and potentially other state aid.

I have to say that I have very mixed feelings about this bill. On one hand, I’m all for people having babies. Who can argue with that?

Of course, no one is saying that assisted reproductive procedure should be denied to people in this position (so long as the deceased parent clearly agreed to and authorized the use of their genetic materials while still alive). Although, to be very honest, I do have some personal moral qualms about some artificial conception techniques themselves, and also about the idea of bringing a child into the world who has no chance of ever knowing (or receiving support from) one of its parents.

This bill does provide some safeguards along those lines by requiring proof that the deceased parent did in fact approve of the surviving parent pursuing pregnancy.

While I don’t necessarily have a problem with people in this situation seeking to have a child, I do have a problem with the surviving parent expecting the Social Security and other potential state benefits that a child with a deceased parent typically receives. Not to mention the fact that children of single parents are far more likely to need things like food stamps, free school lunches, etc.

It just seems kind of irresponsible to me to knowingly and intentionally bring a child into a situation like this and expect other people to pay for it.

If you want to conceive and raise a child by yourself, I think you should be able to pay to raise the child yourself. If you can’t do that, maybe you shouldn’t be having a child by yourself in the first place.

And if you have enough foresight to have your sperm frozen so you can have children posthumously, perhaps you should also look into life insurance or other methods of supporting those children so others won’t have to.

This bill is still alive and kickin’ in the Statehouse. So, if you have strong feelings about it, make sure you let your local representatives know.

There were some pretty horrific examples of parenthood in Iowa news last week.

Today, let’s look at the parents of that Southeast Polk High School basketball player who hired a lawyer to sue the school when their precious, perfect little boy was found by police at a beer party. Being at a beer party, whether a student is drinking or not, is a violation of the Southeast Polk code of conduct, which student athletes must agree to abide by. Due to this rule violation, the school wanted to suspend the rule breaker… gasp… right before the Iowa High School Boys Basketball State Tournament.

Rather than punish their boy wonder for an incredible lapse in judgment for an obvious violation of school rules, these parents went whining to the courts that their poor little boy was being picked on.

At first, the court agreed with these obnoxious parents and granted a temporary injunction mandating that Mr. I-was-there-but-I-wasn’t-drinking-yeah-right should get to play basketball. A few days later, the same judge changed his mind, saying that not playing basketball was not going to cause this kid “irreparable harm.” Thank goodness someone came to his senses.

Too bad it wasn’t the parents. I am so sick of parent who have the attitude that their kid can do no wrong. How many teachers have I heard say that parents will just flat out deny that their child did something that the teacher saw happen with their own eyes. All because junior claims he’s innocent and has his parents hoodwinked into thinking he’s an angel.

And if the parents aren’t in complete denial, then they just downplay what their kid did, or defend the kid in spite of obvious wrongdoing, which is what happened with Mr. SE Polk.

What happened to the days when the punishment a kid would face for being bad was much worse at home than anything the school could dish out? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating child abuse, but age appropriate spanking and/or real (not just threatened) deprivation of rights was, and still is, totally appropriate.

The people in this story who deserve to be disciplined most are these parents. Think of the lessons they are teaching this kid.

1) It’s okay to be at an underage beer party.
2) It’s okay to lie to police (‘cause nobody believes that you were so tired you fell asleep at a high school beer party.)
3) It’s okay to break school rules.
4) You don’t have to have any consequences for your actions (even the consequences you’ve agree to in writing.)
5) Mommy and Daddy will actually help you get away with being a stereotypical egocentric, jock-itch infested Neanderthal who thinks he’s above the law.

Seriously, why can’t we give the parents here a good spanking or take away their rights for their outright stupidity. If it were up to me, I’d start with a vasectomy appointment. They don’t need to be screwing up any more kids with an entitlement complex that the rest of us are going to have to (best case scenario) tolerate or (worst case scenario) pay to incarcerate in the future.

Come on, people! And we wonder why the evening news sports segment is often mistaken for the crime blotter.

P.S. Kudos to the Southeast Polk school administrators who stuck to their guns to hold this kid accountable for his conduct.

The Des Moines police officer who is charged with an attempted sexual assault while on duty is now appealing the city’s decision to terminate his employment. Former DMPD officer Maynard Richardson accumulated six department policy violations during his relatively short tenure and was already suspended on one occasion months before the recent assault accusations came to light.

But, having no shame, Maynard and his media whore attorney Alfredo Parrish decided to hold a press conference to talk about how Maynard was wrongfully terminated, and they should have maybe had him do counseling or given him a temporary suspension.

Um, when someone is entrusted with the safety of the citizens of a city, and he violates that trust by attempting to assault a woman who he was called to protect from a domestic violence situation, he deserve a little more than counseling or a suspension.

I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty and all that. But that’s the standard for a criminal conviction. The standard for getting fired is not anywhere near proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Obviously, the police department administrators have a lot of information that we don’t have yet, and I highly doubt they would fire an officer without plenty of proof that this guy was a bad apple. If they did, they’d get sued. Just ask Alfredo Parrish. I’m sure he’d be first in line to cry foul.

If “they should have given me counseling” is the best you can come up with the Johnny Cochran wannbe as your attorney, you’ve got problems.

I’m guessing the DMPD is more than happy to be rid of this guy… before it turned into something even worse.

Anybody remember Creston?

The verdict is in.

It’s what a huge number of Iowans have been waiting to find out… whether Mark Becker would be found guilty of murder for killing Aplington Parkersburg Coach Ed Thomas, or whether he would be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jury came back with a conviction for first degree murder.

I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this, but ultimately, I think the jury made the right decision. Of course this young man had mental problems. That was obvious. But the legal standard for insanity is pretty high. According to my lawyer friends, Becker pretty much would have had to have believed that he was shooting a deer, not a person, for him to be legally insane.

While he wrongfully believed Thomas was a bad, even an evil person, it was still clear that Becker knew he was shooting his former coach, a human being, and that doing so was against the law.

I totally agree that Becker needs help. He needs to be on medication. Unfortunately, that’s the biggest problem with treating mentally ill people. They often don’t want to take their prescribed medication, or if they do take their meds and start to feel better, they often think they can stop taking their meds, and then they get worse again.

The good news is that, in prison, Mark Becker will have to take his medication, and he probably will improve. The bad news is that he won’t be free to enjoy that improvement.

I do believe the public will be safer with this outcome, and that’s a good thing. That doesn’t make any of this any easier. One amazing man is still gone. Two loving families are still forever changed.

Yet, the strength and grace both of these families continue to show is amazing. And it’s clear where that strength and grace come from.

Perhaps Mark Becker’s mom, Joan Becker, said it best. “God is with us, God is going to continue to give us strength to move forward and heal. And we are going to continue to give glory to God.”

I need a little break from politics, so, since I have given you fair warning that I do comment on pop culture, that’s where I’m going today.

Olympics Over

I have to say I’m a little sad the Olympics are over. Yep, I’m one of those people. Every four years, I suddenly become engrossed with sports like curling and bobsledding and Nordic Combined. I even watched an entire hockey game for the first time since… well, ever.

My brief observations:

-Evan Lysacek totally deserved to win the men’s figure skating gold over spastic Russian dude.

-Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that the media wouldn’t have been nearly so enthralled with skier Lindsey Vonn if she was just a whiny, vapid snow bunny who hadn’t taken her clothes off for Sports Illustrated?

-Apolo Anton Ohno is a classy guy.

-The American men’s hockey team needed to not look like their dog just died as they were receiving Olympic silver medals. Some people would kill for one of those. It’s not like you lost to a bunch of communists, just a bunch of socialists. Happy, go-lucky, super-friendly arctic socialists.

-The American four man bobsled driver (Steve Holcomb) gives hope to short, pudgy, half-blind dudes everywhere.

The Bachelor

This falls into the category of oh-no-he-didn’t! What a loser. Way to pick the most immature, narcissistic, trashy girl available. They say nice guys always finish last. Well, I got news for you boys. Nice girls often finish last, too. Especially when the competition is surgically enhanced and spray tanned.

Obama Excuses

So, did you really think I could totally ignore politics? I heard on the radio yesterday that Barry is blaming his “marginally high” cholesterol on the fact that he just has so much good food available to him as president.

According to White House smartass, I mean, spokesman, Robert Gibbs, President Obama just can’t resist temptation when he has a kitchen staff and a pastry chef at his disposal.

Gibbs forgot to mention that Obama also can’t resist spending our government into oblivion when he has our tax dollars at his disposal.

Here’s hoping you aren’t stupid enough to still be giving to your local NEA-affiliated labor union your hard-earned dollars.

You know, I thought that the National Education Association was supposed to be a group concerned with education. Okay, I gave up on that pipedream a long time ago when I figured out that they are more concerned with protecting bad (and sometimes even abusive) teachers than they are concerned about actually teaching children reading, writing, and math.

This was just reaffirmed for me this week when I kept hearing radio ads pushing for Obama’s healthcare plan… over… and over… and over again. All bought and paid for by the NEA.

HEY TEACHERS: THIS IS WHAT YOUR UNION DUES ARE PAYING FOR!

Nothing that helps you or the education of your students. Just a political agenda… a liberal political agenda.

The thing that is most upsetting about this is how misleading the these ads are. They make it sound as if a lack of healthcare is interfering with education in public schools. They ignore the hundreds of millions of dollars that we are already spending on providing healthcare to poor kids. And they ignore the fact that bad schools, bad curriculum, and yes, bad teachers are more the blame for poor education in public schools than heathcare is.

Obamacare isn’t about providing healthcare to poor kids. It’s about making everyone else pay for healthcare for adults who are too irresponsible to get it for themselves.

If you are a dues-paying member of the NEA (or your local affiliate thereof), you need to get your money back.

I heard a very interesting little news blurb on the radio yesterday about Harry Reid claiming that Congress had to pass the jobs bill to stop domestic violence because unemployed men “tend to become abusers.”

There are a lot of things wrong with this statement.

First, let’s not confuse the issue. As a woman, I’m offended that Harry Reid is trying to use the issue of domestic violence to guilt and pressure other members of congress into voting for his stupid bill and to try to scare average Americans into supporting said stupid bill. Domestic violence is a serious issue, and its victims should not be used as political pawns for the liberal Democrat agenda.

Second, let’s not imply that all unemployed men are perpetrators of domestic violence or even potential perpetrators of domestic violence. If I were an unemployed man, or just a man in general, I’m offended by the insinuation.

In my experience, there are men who are will to cross the line of beating their wives/girlfriends and there are those who wouldn’t even consider it. There’s not much in between. While I don’t doubt that some wife beating asshole who happens to lose his job is going to take it out on his wife, he was going to take it out on his wife anyways… he’d just find some reason, any reason. Now he’s just home more often to beat her more often.

However, as I said, most men would not cross that line. The consideration would never even cross their minds.

As for the other aforementioned assholes, criminal law is a function of state government, so if Nevada is having a problem with domestic violence, perhaps Harry should be lobbying his state legislature to do more about this issue, like giving perpetrators more than just a slap on the wrist.

You know, I hear Harry might have some free time on his hand after November. I expect a person who cares so very much about this issue to get involved, maybe even run for the Nevada state legislature to do something about this very real problem.

I’m depressed.

Seriously, could you read the news yesterday and not be depressed?

First, there was more on the Mark Becker murder trial. Whether the guy who killed famed Aplington Parkersburg football Coach Ed Thomas was legally insane or not, it’s obvious that he was and is highly disturbed, and the effect that this has had not only on the Becker and Thomas families, but on the entire community and state of Iowa, is just so completely sad.

Then there was the update on the 12-year-old kid who killed his stepdad and wounded his stepsister. Apparently, they found some incriminating drawings and/or writings in his junior high school locker… including a photo of a girl with her face scratched out. Anything to do with that story is completely awful.

It’s so strange that two tragedies of this magnitude are playing themselves out in our “safe” little bubble known as Iowa at the same time.

This just shows that big bad things can happen anywhere. We need to burst our own little bubbles and be aware of the struggles happening within our own communities and not be afraid to step in, especially if doing so could save lives.

We need to pray for healing for these hurting families… and pray that these things won’t ever happen again.

Some pastors in the UK made headlines last week for some sermons they gave regarding marriage and divorce. They basically said that the high divorce rate we all face is due to the fact that wives no longer submit to their husbands.

Shocking, isn’t it.

I know, I didn’t realize there was still any clergy in the UK either.

Anyhoo, as for these ministers’ claims, I think they are being a little too simplistic. I don’t think you can point to any one thing and say that is the reason for today’s exceedingly high divorce rate.

Do a lot of women have problems respecting their husbands? Sure. But I think the breakdown of a marriage always involves two people. Sadly, it seems that these pastors forgot the part about God commanding men to loves their wives sacrificially, as Christ loved the church.

It’s kinda hard to respect a selfish man who acts in his own best interests, and not in the best interests of his family. Husbands who insist on viewing porn, having affairs, gambling away the family’s resources, and drinking to excess are all behaviors that are extremely self serving and not deserving of respect, but, unfortunately, they are very common.

Of course, it’s hard for a man to love a woman who doesn’t respect him, too. Women shouldn’t make a habit of talking down to or belittling their husbands for no other reason than mimicking their dysfunctional friends or the dysfunctional relationships they see on television.

That’s why marriage is a two way street, both in success and failure.