Although, I am not a big fan of Mother Jones (I have my reasons), they hit the nail on the head with this article about the asshats using military pay as a bargaining chip:
The very same GOP congressmen crying "save the troops" are the ones who've been playing politics with the livelihoods of our (largely underpaid) serving men and women: For more than a week, they've had a bill, proposed by one of their own, that would keep soldiers' paychecks flowing in a shutdown. And they've sat on it.
Yes, you read that correctly. THE GOP SAT ON A BILL ENSURING MILITARY PAY!!!
To appropriate such funds as may be necessary to ensure that members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components thereof, continue to receive pay and allowances for active service performed when a funding gap caused by the failure to enact interim or full-year appropriations for the Armed Forces occurs, which results in the furlough of non-emergency personnel and the curtailment of Government activities and services.If Mother Jones is not your cup of tea either, this Associated Press article concerning the possible goverment shutdown is more palatable. There are some good quotes but the crux of the matter is that the GOP wants to defund Planned Parenthood so federal money can't be used to fund abortions. GUESS WHAT??!!?? It's already against the law to use federal money to fund abortions. Throwing military pay into the fray was just a dickbag move to push Democrats into a corner & force them to choose between women's health or military pay. Nice, GOP. Good move. Any way you look at it, someone is pissed on. Would you rather be a misogynist or anti-American? How does one choose between the two...
I digress, instead of doing the right thing, they chose to keep military families, many who live paycheck to paycheck, many who are separated from their families, on edge as to whether or not they would be able to pay their bills this month. Way to support the troops, you frickin' hypocrites. No, the yellow ribbon on your car & the American flag on your lapel doesn't mean crap when you choose to put our soldiers, sailors & airmen on the line.
This makes me sick. SICK!!! I don't care how you feel about Planned Parenthood, abortion, birth control, modern medicine, the wars that we are currently involved in - people's livelihoods should not be used as bargaining chips. The men & women who risk their very lives for this country should never be used as pawns in a political pissing match under any circumstances.
You woke up some sleeping lions &, more importantly, many lionesses. We protect our families and you'd do well to remember that because we surely will when the next election seasons rolls around.
I can't even get my thoughts together enough to rant about how women, in general, are being used through this political posturing bullshit. I'll have to save that for another post.