Ok, so I’m a late sleeper, I do most of my “thinking” in the wee hours of the morning – I’m made that way. But the phrase “while you were sleeping” has another connotation – it’s the stuff that happens when you’re not paying attention…while you were busy living your life…or while other issues clogged the airwaves and claimed your attention. In today’s world, you have to read between the lines for it’s the things they don’t tell you that are the most dangerous. It’s called the art of distraction, and the Republican Party is very good at it.

Don’t look for the truth on TV…there are no unbiased sources anymore. Corporate America has infiltrated every media outlet known, even the Internet, and this blog is no exception – I am biased because I am pissed! We have been screwed by those we chose to protect us in every meaning of the word…on both sides of the Congressional aisle.

The Republican War on Women ~

A favorite tool of distraction is the GOP’s War on Women – mostly waged during a campaign season, but useful anytime to deflect our focus from sensitive issues that the great unwashed cannot properly appreciate. It’s for our own good, you see.

Last Thursday, the Senate rejected an amendment from Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri that would allow employers and insurers to deny coverage for contraceptives and other health care services if they found them to be morally or religiously objectionable. Who are they kidding? This is an easy out for any employer who has no concern for his employees but just wants to cut his own costs.  All they have to say is: “I object on moral grounds” and they don’t have to pay.

The Blunt amendment would open up a Pandora’s Box with its overly broad and ambiguous language and exceptions that could lead to children being denied immunizations, companies opposing mental health services, health plans denying HIV screenings, and the rejection of maternity care for single mothers. Let’s repeat that – The Blunt Amendment would have allowed exemptions for any employer that felt a moral or conscientious objection to it  – for religious reasons or not – could also deny other preventive services besides birth control, such as colonoscopy screenings, mammograms, flu shots and regular pediatric visits.

And you can bet that the Catholic Church would almost have to discriminate against those who are divorced, homosexual, voluntarily sterilized, or believe in the occult.  What FAIR and BALANCED employer wouldn’t?  How long before lifestyle becomes a perfectly reasonable provision for hiring, firing, and promotions? People have already been fired over their Facebook posts!

The Blunt Amendment is not just a war on women it is an attack on the First Amendment since it forces the views of some on those who do not share those views or who want to choose for themselves. I see it as a back door effort to return control of healthcare to insurance companies who base their decisions not on the patient’s health, but on their bottom line.

This is such a bad political move for Republicans, who are already in a precarious position that I can’t help but wonder, what is the real motive behind this Right Wing War on Women?

They may have lost this battle but they are still in the war. They will be back. They have no intention relinquishing their attack on every aspect of American civil liberties.  This is yet another attempt at social control.