Machiavelli’d Be Proud of Them

By Ed Klein

Republican Ted Cruze and several of his accomplices say they’d like to eliminate minimum wage laws. Other Republican intellects complain that people are taking advantage of unemployment insurance because it pays more than minimum wages. It really hasn’t occurred to them, has it, that by cutting or eliminating the minimum wage, millions of people would be forced to apply for unemployment funds. That doesn’t surprise me, considering some of the other brilliant ideas the Republicans are entertaining.

Their obsession about killing the Affordable Care Act has taken on colossal proportions. Mario Rubio has stated that shutting down the government to accomplish that is perfectly OK. Apparently there is nothing that wouldn’t do in their mad frenzy to discredit the President. Even if it meant denying millions of people medical insurance, which for many could very well amount to a death sentence. We have yet to hear what the Republicans offer as an alternative. I guess we can assume they have nothing in mind.

You’ve heard, of course, that another item of Republican sophistry is to get rid of Social Security. I supposed that’s their way of helping to cut expenses. But again, what or how to replace it? Perhaps as some suggest, we could let the churches and other charitable agencies handle it. How do you think that would work? And now some of that crowd wants to impeach the President. If they do shut the government down, they’ll blame it on him. The logic behind that? Because he won’t give up on his Affordable Care Act, he’s forcing them to do the unthinkable.

Maybe they’ll return to consciousness some day and realize that wreckage doesn’t really leave behind any sense of achievement. As a result, we’ll be left with nothing but a country where the rich are in control and the rest of us have nothing.

I’m Not a Feminist … But

By Dolores M. Klein

How many times have we heard this? As I became active in The Women’s Movement I would often say, “I’m a feminist with a small “f.” It was Linda Ellerby who said some years ago that Feminism was today’s “F” word.

Definition: FEMINISM – Organized activity on behalf of women’s rights. There has been such organized activity in the Peoria area for over 40 years.

First, P.O.W.E.R., Peoria Organization for Women’s Rights. On September 6, 1973, the Peoria Chapter of the National Organization for Women was convened, the first outside of Chicago. Barbara Van Auken served as the first President.

Betty Friedan and a group of Progressives had gone to WASHINGTON, D.C. to insist on implementation of Title 9 for women. She took the advice that women needed an organization such as the N.A.A.C.P. She founded NOW in 1966.

Down through the ages women have thirsted for autonomy over their own lives for achieving their God-given potential. When asked why she remained active in the Women’s Movement, Maya Angelou replied that it was “the debt she owed to her creator.”

The Center for the Prevention of Abused developed from the NOW RAPE CRISIS LINE, which had developed into WOMENSTRENGTH.

A listing of Peoria’s achievements in 40 years is to be found on the NOW website.

I believe that if you “scratch” any woman and most empathetic men, you will find a Feminist.

[Editor’s note: It’s been very frustrating to watch and listen to all the stupidity going on in Congress right now. What’s even harder is keeping my mouth shut since I’m not only the editor but also the owner of this newspaper. I’ve never felt I should share my viewpoints. However, the bully mentality going on in Congress is so beyond politics – it appears to be more about absolute hatred by fanatics. So, I’m “borrowing” a piece written by Robert Reich, an American political economist, professor, author and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. You can check him out at his blog: http://robertreich.org/, which is where I found this posting by him. By the time this issue is in print, we will know whether or not Congress chose to shut down the government. It is my hope that Americans will remember this effort to hijack our constitution and vote accordingly at future elections. Debbie Adlof, editor/owner Community Word]

The House Republicans’ Dangerous New Constitutional Doctrine: Repealing Laws by De-Funding Them

Yesterday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Newt Gingrich and I debated whether House Republicans in should be able to repeal a law — in this case, the Affordable Care Act — by de-funding it. Here’s the essence:

GINGRICH: Under our constitutional system, going all the way back to Magna Carta in 1215, the people’s house is allowed to say to the king we ain’t giving you money.

REICH: Sorry, under our constitutional system you’re not allowed to risk the entire system of government to get your way.

Had we had more time I would have explained to the former Speaker something he surely already knows: The Affordable Care Act was duly enacted by a majority of both houses of Congress, signed into law by the President, and even upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Constitution of the United States does not allow a majority of the House of Representatives to repeal the law of the land by de-funding it (and threatening to close the entire government, or default on the nation’s full faith and credit, if the Senate and the President don’t come around).

If that were permissible, no law on the books would be safe. A majority of the House could get rid of unemployment insurance, federal aid to education, Social Security, Medicare, or any other law they didn’t like merely by deciding not to fund them.

I believe the Affordable Care Act will prove to be enormously popular with the American public once it’s fully implemented — which is exactly why the Republicans are so intent on bulldozing it before then. If they were sincere about their objections, they’d let Americans try it out — and then, if it didn’t work, decide to repeal it.

The constitutional process for repealing a law — such as Congress and President Clinton did with the old Glass-Steagall Act — is for both houses to enact a new bill that repeals the old, which must then be signed by the President. If the President vetoes it, then the repeal can only go into effect if the veto is overridden by two-thirds of the House and the Senate.

The Republicans who are now running the House of Representatives are pushing a dangerous new constitutional doctrine. They must be stopped. There should be no compromising with fanatics.

September 23, 2013