When Mitch Daniels said he wanted to end the culture wars, he meant start one:
Republican Governor Mitch Daniels released a statement Friday afternoon saying he will sign legislation stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood in Indiana, the first state to make such a move.
“We do around 500 pap tests a week,” Indiana Planned Parenthood President Betty Cockrum told TPM in an interview earlier on Friday. “We will be making phone calls to Medicaid patients all over the state and telling them, either you have to pay for that pap test out of pocket, or you need to find someone else who can take you as a Medicaid patient. We can’t do it anymore.”
There are 28 Planned Parenthood centers in the state. Almost 60 percent of patients seen last year were living under the poverty line.
We just had a two year long debate that started with the premise that we needed to expand access to health care. Republicans are now launching an effort to close existing, affordable health care clinics, state by state. Paul Ryan’s plan will throw millions of current Medicaid recipients off Medicaid. We’re going backwards.
The Republican health care plans are designed to make certain fewer people have access to affordable health care. Did the people who voted for these guys know that Repeal and Replace meant “repeal the existing health care system”? I don’t believe they did.
I love the Friday night release of his bold and principled statement, by the way. I think I prefer culture warriors who are out in the open about it.
Villago Delenda Est
Eventually, these “Culture Wars” are going to turn into shooting wars.
This stupidity has got to stop. There are more of us than there are of them, and a lot of us have military training.
Cermet
Who would ever care, really? Its just woman’s health anyway. Thugs – the shit sandwich that we will all have for dinner if people keep thinking Obama = no differance.
Omnes Omnibus
I wonder how Sully feels about this.
Studly Pantload, Vibrant Trollbot for Obama
Important distinctions. Ryan’s plan won’t throw millions off Medicaid – because there are still enough adults (i.e., Democrats [well, by and large]) in Washington to prevent this from happening.
We need be careful with our wording – not for the BJ audience, but for the mainstream that can be confused by what is and isn’t law (see, perceptions on whether the PPACA is still law or not). People need to know hope is not lost – so long as we keep Dems in power in all three of the elected branches of our federal gov’t. We can’t have people throwing up their hands and figuring they don’t still have a voice.
kay
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ah, this one breaks my heart. There are 28 Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana because they serve a need the for-profit industry wouldn’t or couldn’t meet.
500 PA tests A WEEK.
I cannot believe, in THIS county, that we’re closing brick and mortar, up and running clinics. It’s insanity.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@Omnes Omnibus: That Mitch Daniels is a brave, brave man standing up to all those dirty women with their smears and … what was the question again?
Ripley
Isn’t that theft? And how can a Gov. decide that an entity cannot have the funds that were federally legislated designated for their use?
Is Mitch Daniels really this stupid?
Davis X. Machina
Those sluts don’t shame themselves, people!
You go to culture war with the culture warriors you have, not the ones you wish you had.
kay
@Studly Pantload, Vibrant Trollbot for Obama:
I know it’s a budgetary plan and not legislation, but it is also the only health care plan that Republicans have put forth. You recall “repeal and replace”?
I take them at their word.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@kay: In all seriousness though, those Planned Parenthood clinics will likely stay open (they may have to scale back services for a while, which really sucks). Only one-third of PP’s budget comes from government funding and I’m hoping the foundations and other donors step up.
Villago Delenda Est
@kay:
Kay, the thing is, those clinics are improving the lives of women who need that health care. Oh, and incidentally, making it far more likely that when they DO have a planned pregnancy, the result will be a healthy new American.
Obviously, in the Randroid world of assholes like Mitch Daniels, this cannot stand.
Litlebritdifrnt
I suggest that every pro lifer adopts every child born after the passage of this law, I am assuming that once they have three or five of the little rugrats in their household hollering for food they will change their stance. It is the only way for them to get a fucking clue.
Studly Pantload, now with enhanced schmuckosity
@kay:
Oh, I take them at their word, too. And we need to trumpet this fact loud and often. But you get my point, I hope.
Frank W.
I have known and loved Republicans: my parents, other relatives, coworkers… I have come to loathe Republicanism. (That whole “Hate the sinner, love the sinner” dynamic, I suppose, though that is not a doctrine I’ve subscribed to….) These people are either wildly cruel and greedy or stupid and ill-informed (or perhaps a sickly mix of all of the above). Friday night… time for a beer or three to drown out this horseshit.
freelancer (itouch)
Kay, how many Walgreens are there in Ohio?
Southern Beale
And Rick Santorum can’t thnk of any reason why Planned Parenthood clinics would be located in predominantly minority neighborhoods except for a liberal genocide conspiracy!
slag
You’re thinking about this all wrong, kay. Just imagine how much money the state of Indiana will save once it gets rid of all its people. Fiscal conservatism at its finest.
Nellcote
Why can’t the feds fund PP directly instead of going through the states?
Omnes Omnibus
What exactly is doing this supposed to accomplish? Is it supposed to cause PP to divert money from abortions? Is it just dickishness? Anyone?
kay
@Studly Pantload, now with enhanced schmuckosity:
I do. I get very frustrated. This seems such a waste, to defund one of the few existing entities in our fucked up system that actually works.
How many times have Republicans pulled this particular scam? “I’m the moderate one who focuses on jobs!”
They never, ever are that person.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mitch Daniels is a fucking idiot. He could shoot to the top of the Republican polls by having Indiana launch an investigation into the Obama longform birth certificate forgery but he chooses to go after abortion. He’s not serious about being president.
Ted Williams' Frozen Head
Two shoeboxes of marijuana. This guy was a drug dealer. No two ways about it.
MikeJ
@Nellcote: Because the current statutory way of paying is to pay the states and the republicans control the house(and I won’t mention how many coward are in the senate.)
Davis X. Machina
@slag:
Jesus, don’t give them any ideas. Per capita goes up if you grow the numerator, or shrink the denominator.
Democrats are, or ought to be, the ‘Grow the Numerator’ people. The GOP, they’re the ‘Shrink the Denominator’ tribe.
gwangung
It’s Republican philosophy. They believe government can never do any good–and they’ll make the moves to insure that.
Just Some Fuckhead
@gwangung:
ensure
kdaug
Did you read this where Krugman distills the left/right divide to whether or not one accepts a social safety net?
The right wants a return to “nasty, brutish, and short”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: Eating right and taking a multivitamin should be enough.
Boudica
Can someone file a lawsuit and get a temporary injunction against this?
General Stuck
In case anyone wasn’t sure, this is one more action declaring political war on liberalism, or humanism, or Easter, or whatever, by the wingnuts in this country.
I didn’t know that a governor could cut off federal funds mandated to go toward PP. But if they can, they certainly will. The gloves are off, so I say we take them off too. If wingnuts don’t want to fund health care for reproductive health and well being of women, then put bigger and better strings attached to all federal dollars going to these assholes.
Something like PP is fairly low hanging ideological fruit for the right wing to pick on, mostly poor women. Make the fuckers bite the bullet on other funding for the safety net, roads, schools, all of it on the table. If you are going to single out poor women, then you will have to pay a political price and deny your state of all federal dollars.
Some of these red states get huge grants over and beyond what their share of federal tax revenue is, or, they are sucking up wealthy blue state dollars to subsidize their higher poverty rates due to things like right to work, anti union ethos, in favor of more profit for oligarchs, and a week middle class, and larger poverty level class.
They are such compromised con men, the only way to stop this kind of shit, is call their bluff. They won’t give up medicaid dollars, or road building funds, just so they can fuck over poor women to please their fundie base. they want culture war, give it to them, and all in for our side. Or not at all. They live off of liberal compassion to not fight back in kind, that we will pay their ransom demands because they threaten to do more harm to the poor. At some point, this has to stop, and the dem party has to say no more.
This really makes me mad.
Kristine
I think I’m going to go make a donation to PP. However crappy Illinois politics gets, I am glad we elected Quinn. If Brady had won, he would be right there in the thick of the anti-woman/anti-union battle with the rest of those bastards.
SoINeedAName
Just to be clear on Teapublican budget tactics: This is NOT “Class Warfare” … this is “Class Genocide”!
slag
@Davis X. Machina: Hey-There’s a reason they had to have God added to the dollar bill. It’s all about prioritizing.
MikeJ
@kdaug:
Funny that Hobbes said it but it more accurately describes Calvin.
kay
@General Stuck:
I just don’t think it’s a mainstream opinion in this country that we should seek to limit access to health care for young women. We don’t have enough access. Everyone understands that.
I think if it were presented to voters like that (which is, by the way, THE TRUTH: they’re getting basic health care at PP) voters would go our way.
I think conservatives would lose, and badly.
Mako
I am a fan of this. We should strip federal funds from everything and start over. In Indiana I would start with farm and mining subsidies.
Of course, all these minor squabbles only distract from real solutions.
General Stuck
@kay:
maybe. I just tend to think the stakes need to be raised beyond a relatively politically powerless class for it to get their attention. It is how the lizard brain calculates the risk for seeking whatever political prey it is focused on.
Roger Moore
@slag:
Getting rid of your population: you’re doin’ it wrong! Eliminating the #1 supplier of birth control is counterproductive if your goal is getting rid of all your people.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: I think they are going for a Malthusian solution.
JCT
@kay: I think unfortunately most people don’t know what PP really does. If they haven’t used their services themselves they just assume they do abortions. This is how the Right gets away with this horrible bullshit.
And I for one will contribute, but in the end, the assholes win because they have taken support away that women need and DESERVE.
It’s awful.
Roger Moore
@kdaug:
That’s “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The right doesn’t want to leave out the solitary (no unions for you!) and poor parts.
Martin
How is this not a bill of attainder? Anyone can accept Medicare except for Planned Parenthood?
James E. Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m sure I don’t care how he feels about anything, but I do expect to hear “bold,” “courageous,” and “adult conversation.”
danimal
I can’t help but believe that the GOP obsession with abortion legislation is going the get them slaughtered in 2012.
Let’s face it, a lot of pro-choice voters have been complacent, thinking that the issue was basically settled. The GOP didn’t campaign on the issue, in fact they were virtually silent. After the election, all the GOP energy went into stealth issues like union busting and pro-life that they minimized throughout 2010.
The wake-up call should now be ringing pretty loudly. I expect major blowback.
ETA: Fixed a date.
Malron aka eclecticbrotha
Sully could care less. He doesn’t have a uterus.
Elizabelle
I remember showing up to volunteer at the Dupont Circle (Wash. DC) house tour the morning after GHW Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
The ashen faces of the REPUBLICAN women, several of whom owned the houses on tour; others volunteers. Who didn’t believe nice George HW Bush would actually do something like this to them.
I think the Thomas nomination helped to doom GHWBush’s re-election; that maybe some people said it was taxes or that he didn’t know the price of milk.
But I remember those stunned, well groomed, attractive faces. Whispering among themselves and devastated.
They didn’t think he’d do that. To them.
Omnes Omnibus
@Malron aka eclecticbrotha: That is probably dead on.
Mnemosyne
So can the administration do what they did with the high-speed rail funds and make Indiana give that money back? Or at least the slice that was supposed to go to Planned Parenthood?
Petorado
I still have yet to see any Republican prove Alan Grayson’s point about their healthcare plan wrong.
Non-Existent Patricia
@Mnemosyne: I may have this wrong, but isn’t Medicaid funding given to the states as a block of money that its up to the states to administer? If that’s the case, doesn’t this legislation basically say that Medicaid will not pay for any medical services at Planned Parenthood? This especially sinister since there is a shortage of OB-GYN’s in this country (I mean, Jesus, Planned Parenthood is doing 500 a week).
ETA: My point about Medicaid funds being a block being that its different from the high speed rail because I don’t think a certain, specific portion of the money is mandated to be used for Planned Parenthood, whereas the high speed rail was specifically mandated for high speed rail.
rikyrah
Daniels is a punk ass bitch. period.
Silver
If you tell Sullivan that women don’t have pubic hair but just little beards by their vaginas, he might give a tiny fuck, for a second.
Malron aka eclecticbrotha
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it pretty much covers most of the conservative movement.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: He is quite misogynistic, he may have liked Palin better if she were man, I think.
ETA: Since he is willing to make excuses for Daniels and Christie, for example.
WereBear (itouch)
All Republican voters assume they are exempt from the cruelty they are willing to inflict on The Other.
When it comes right down to it, whether they realize it or not, they are in Room 101, screaming, “Do it to them, not me!”
Villago Delenda Est
My sister and I were discussing the entire “defund Planned Parenthood” thing, and she remarked that it was so stupid for anti-Abortion people to object to it, as one of the things PP does is provide contraceptives to teens to preclude them ever having abortions.
I then pointed out to here that “pro-life” people don’t really object to abortions. They object to those girls having sex, at all. Abortion is just the wedge to get to the contraception that they hate, because it prevents the punishment of pregnancy that the sluts deserve for their wantoness.
Sadly, she had to nod her head in agreement. The practical effects of defunding PP are of no consequence to broomstick up the ass sexual morality scolds.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
I’ve read elsewhere that this bit of legislation is illegal because states cannot pick and choose who gets federal Medicaid funds disbursed to them. Lawyers, is this true? Could Indiana temporarily lose all its Medicaid funding over this or is that a wrong interpretation?
Villago Delenda Est
The other thing PP does is the sort of preventative medicine that is cost effective as it precludes more expensive treatments down the road.
This makes tremendous economic sense. If you want to reduce medical costs, invest in prevention, not treatment after the fact.
But economic sense has nothing to do with wingtard views on the economy. They are simply too stupid, ignorant, or evil (or any combination of two of these things or all three) to comprehend this.
Which is why I get so frustrated and angry about the entire situation. Not just this, but all health care policy, energy policy, infrastructure policy, climate change…I could go on forever. This stuff is NOT rocket science…but it might as well be fucking calculus to these ignorant peckerwoods.
Cat Lady
@Silver:
Heh.
KyCole
Guess it’s time for another donation to Planned Parenthood. My first visit there was in Lafayette, Indiana as a poor college student. Rode my bike to get birth control.
opie_jeanne
@Ripley: That’s what I was thinking, that the funds were federally mandated.
Mnemosyne
@Non-Existent Patricia:
You’re probably right, but a girl can hope that the government of Indiana might feel some pain from this idiocy, not just the citizens.
evinfuilt
@schrodinger’s cat:
He likes, nay loves, Paul Ryan, and Ryan has showed as much intellectual aptitude as Palin. So yes, you’re correct.
hilts
DICK Armey loves Mitch Daniels
Mark S.
You know, maybe it’s because she hasn’t said anything for months, but Sarah doesn’t bother me as much as Trump or Ryan. I might even miss her a little.
[sniff]
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@hilts:
He’s in some kind of Midwestern seriousness coma?
Excessive sun-chapping.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
I thought he’d be too afraid of President Obama to do this, after the President railed so fiercely against these depraved Republicans on every television network and public forum and rallied the American People to fight tooth and claw and take to the streets in protest against their sociopathic agenda.
.
.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Mark S.: Yeah. You think that. And then you see the background to this cocksucker’s twitter acct. And then you remember.
kdaug
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): No, Sarah, you look through the scope, not at it.
Little Boots
if anyone ain’t reading doghouse riley about mitch daniels, well, goldarnit, do so!
Villago Delenda Est
The “job” being to hide the trillions pissed away into the MIC/Halliburton rathole through putting all that “off budget” so it doesn’t disturb the Congressional appropriations process too much.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@kdaug: I don’t know. That’s a giant, fancy lookin’ gun. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a lcd display.
Martin
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Her dad told her to hold the sight steady on the moose, but that was hard so she taped a little picture of a moose in there.
Little Boots
I love that Bush’s OMB director thinks he can be president. I love that. somebody’s taking the any bastard can grow up to be president thing way too seriously.
MeDrewNotYou
@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): I’d like an answer/legal opinions on this myself. I’m in IN and waiting for my Medicaid app to go through. I’ve got mental health problems, but fortunately found a program to help treat that, but seizures just cropped up a few months ago. I’ve been to the neurologist once, but there’s no way to afford all the tests I need out of pocket. She’s very understanding and patient while we wait for me to get coverage, but seizures with an unknown cause aren’t the funnest thing to live with.
On the ‘bright’ side, my sister who’s also on Medicaid probably won’t be hurt by this. She was outraged when she read about this, but fortunately her GP handles the kind of services PP provides.
kdaug
Meanwhile, in case any of y’all had lingering doubts.
PeakVT
Republicans in Indiana probably think they are pulling a neat little trick here by functionally banning abortion for poor women without actually banning it for middle class or rich women. Maybe they can get away with it in Indiana. I hope not.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Martin: Pfft! Shows what you know:
What kind of effeminate coastal elite hunts moose w/out her Black Hawk helicopter?
Oh yeah, and bill of attainder. Good question.
Martin
@kdaug: Heh. They learned that trick from CA Republicans.
Mark S.
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
Jesus she looks shaky holding a gun. I wouldn’t want to be in the same state.
Villago Delenda Est
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
I think it’s the height of sport to hover over your prey in a Blackhawk and then use the no single shot option at all M60 to take that moose or wolf down, although you might um damage the trophy a bit in the process. All those bullet holes…
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@kdaug: Wow. That is delicious. In a nauseating kind of way.
Little Boots
hope this works. I’m not really designed for this century.
Little Boots
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Villago Delenda Est: Totes. Have you ever stood next to a moose? They’re like, super-tall!
Plus I think they spit like camels so, you know, they’ve got a sporting chance there.
Little Boots
wait, try this link.
Little Boots
god I hate this world!
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Little Boots: You okay? What are you trying to FYWP do?
MeDrewNotYou
@MeDrewNotYou: I should clarify a little. You’re not my lawyer and I’m not asking for legal advice. I just want to know if the federal gov could pull state Medicaid funding over this. I know that the possibility is tiny, I ask more out of curiosity over the worst case scenario.
Little Boots
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
trying to get to provide a link to doghouse riley, who writes beautifully about Mitch Daniels. At this point, I think if you click on my name you get to his site, which is all kinds of wrong. oh well, it’s a start.
PeakVT
@Little Boots: So does god, I think.
Little Boots
@PeakVT:
just ask Alabama.
Okay, THAT’S all kinds of wrong, too.
Martin
Doghouse Riley
Little Boots
@Martin:
showoff!!
Rekster
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
Love that comment!
Martin
@Little Boots: We’ve all had those days. Thought you could use a hand.
timb
Never donated to Indiana Planned Parenthood before, but we looked up how much money a pelvic exam cost and started donating tonight. Thanks, Mitch, for helping me carry my civic weight.
Chad N Freude
@Omnes Omnibus: I know that I’m like three and a half hours late on this, but the answer to your question is: It’s a grandstand play to capitalize on the
factnot-intended-to-be-a-factual-statement that 90% of PP’s work is abortions. Daniels believes, rightly or wrongly, that this will make him a political hero nationally with — dare I say it — a shot at being President in 2012.Triassic Sands
If Trump decides to run, I’m not reaching for the popcorn — I’ll need something to vomit in.
Caz
What do you suppose the motive is for republicans who want to strip health care from poor people? Let’s agree that republicans want poor people to suffer and not have access to affordable health care. What’s the reason behind it?
This is a serious question. There has to be a motive to every crime, and I honestly can’t figure out what the alleged motive is.
It can’t be as simple as just sadism. There must be a deeper reason that involves some benefit republicans hope to gain from it.
I hear this allegation about them a lot, but I never really hear anyone articulate a motive.
I look forward to your response.
Jamey
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, but remember which faction is more heavily armed — and has been itching to pull the trigger.
Jamey
@Nellcote: Because then, the Confederacy will have died in vain?
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
@Caz:
Nihilism in the pursuit of power and the perception of elevated status. By appealing to the worst and most ingrained cultural defects on racial superiority that Caucasio-Americans have been conditioned from birth to believe, they hope to gain support for themselves and peel off support for anyone who may oppose their insatiable lust to run everything according to their whim.
The adverse economic and health impacts suffered by middle class and lower class Caucasio-Americans due to these minority crushing policies are considered as merely statistically predictable data points of collateral damage in the brains of the never-serving warriors of the Reich, er Right – and everybody knows you have to break some eggs to make an omelet.
This is just more of the conservative shit-fail parade in action.
penstemon
I think the motive is purely financial. If we don’t give money to those lazy, welfare-scamming soandsos, they’ll be more left for you, my deserving, hard-working Republican constituent. Or as it is usually phrased, “you’ll get to keep more of your money.”I’ve even heard some conservatives say it in a “more-than-sorrow” voice, “It’s too bad that you don’t have free healthcare anymore, poor person, and I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but you should have thought of that when you decided/God willed you to be poor. Otherwise, you would have gotten a job with benefits/set your own broken pelvis like I did.”
Davis X. Machina
The value of something is a combination of its intrinsic value and the opposite-of-value that comes from not having it.
Shit health insurance, at high prices and with exiguous coverage, will still continue to be provided by some firms, to some people. But it will be shit insurance.
How to make it less shitty, without having it be less shitty? By making sure that its comparand is no insurance at all.
The fact that the undeserving poor suffer, while dramaturgically satisfactory from a there-is-no-such-thing-as-an-economy-there-is-only-a-morality-play angle, is from a business point of view just lagniappe.
Wolfdaughter
@Caz:
I don’t think that all Republicans are motivated in the same way. But quite a few of them think (or are pandering to constituents who believe) that poor people deserve to be poor because they are lazy nogoodniks. The Republicans believe that if you cease all aid of any sort, the poor will finally find their bootstraps and will finally get to work instead of lazing around collecting welfare.
There are some people who do scam the welfare system. But many of the poor are actually working 2 or 3 part-time, minimum wage jobs just to keep afloat. And the amount of pay they get doesn’t allow coverage for any sort of illness, not to mention that if they take time off work to visit a doctor or PP or whatever, they lose pay. As far as I can tell, most Republicans don’t believe that such people exist.
The libertarian Republicans worship private enterprise and “the individual”. Both are good in some circumstances but not all. The social conservatives think most of us are lazy bums and therefore undeserving of any aid.