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I am more and more dismayed -- no, disgusted and horrified -- that the GOP and its Religious Right/Tea Party element has proved so effectively that it is utterly opposed to anything even close to resembling an agenda of simple, basic decency, much less the Name of Christ they bandy about so freely.<br><br>My God. It's 2012 and we have a plausible presidential candidate talking about making birth control illegal by state fiat, and the mighty forces of the Christ-bearers in society are so amassed against letting two men or two women solemnize and legalize their relationships that they can't see any real threat to human beings, nor any real offense to the character of the Savior they seem to claim and then just as easily ignore when actually following Him would cost political capital. The Religious Right is storing its political treasures here on earth, where moths, Palins, and thieves destroy them. They get what they deserve. Sadly, they have the earthly power to take millions down with them.<br><br>Thanks again, Deco.<br><br><font style="" color="#8064a2"><font style="font-size:12pt" size="3"><font style="" face="Verdana">Keely<br>www.keely-prevailingwinds.com<br></font></font></font><br><br><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:37:20 -0800<br>From: art.deco.studios@gmail.com<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>Subject: [Vision2020] Republicans Retreat on Domestic Violence<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif" alt="The New York Times" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" hspace="0"></a></div><br></div>
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<div class="ecxtimestamp">February 9, 2012</div>
<h1>Republicans Retreat on Domestic Violence</h1>
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<span class="ecxemInfo"></span>Even in the ultrapolarized atmosphere of Capitol Hill, it should be
possible to secure broad bipartisan agreement on reauthorizing the
Violence Against Women Act, the 1994 law at the center of the nation’s
efforts to combat domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. The
law’s renewal has strong backing from law enforcement and groups that
work with victims, and earlier reauthorizations of the law, in 2000 and
2005, passed Congress with strong support from both sides of the aisle.
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<span class="ecxemInfo"></span> Yet not a single Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in
favor last week when the committee approved a well-crafted <a title="The Leahy bill (PDF)." href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-ViolenceAgainstWomenReauthorizationAct.pdf" target="_blank">reauthorization bill</a>
introduced by its chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, and Senator Michael
Crapo, a Republican of Idaho, who is not on the committee. <BR>
<span class="ecxemInfo"></span>The bill includes smart improvements aimed, for example, at encouraging
effective enforcement of protective orders and reducing the national
backlog of untested rape kits. The Republican opposition seems driven
largely by an antigay, anti-immigrant agenda. The main sticking points
seemed to be language in the bill to ensure that victims are not denied
services because they are gay or transgender and a provision that would
modestly expand the availability of special visas for undocumented
immigrants who are victims of domestic violence — a necessary step to
encourage those victims to come forward. <BR>
<span class="ecxemInfo"></span>Senator Charles Grassley, the committee’s ranking Republican, offered a
substitute bill that not only cut out those improvements but called for a
huge reduction in authorized financing, and elimination of the Justice
Department office devoted to administering the law and coordinating the
nation’s response to domestic violence and sexual assaults. His measure
was defeated along party lines.<span class="ecxemInfo"></span><BR><br><span class="ecxemInfo"></span> Mustering the 60 votes needed to get the bill through the full Senate
will not be easy, even though previous reauthorizations were approved by
unanimous consent. Recalcitrant Republicans should be made to explain
to voters why they refuse to get behind the federal fight against
domestic violence and sexual assaults. <BR>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
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