Why Jocelyn Floyd is bad for Illinois

Jocelyn Floyd's op ed October 4, "Why same-sex marriage would be bad for Illinois" is one of the strangest, most incoherently argued and mean spirited pieces I've ever read in the Trib. It deserves a response.

The author, Jocelyn Floyd, is listed as "special council for the Thomas More Society", which is a not-for- profit public interest law firm working to restore respect for life, religious liberty and marriage. Dig a little deeper and you find that it does not respect life, religious liberty or marriage. What it does do, according to the religious gospel of attorney Floyd, is demand that our freedom loving, secular nation, follow in lock step, the Society's extreme religious notion of what constitutes respect for marriage even though it treats an unprotected minority as second class citizens.

Much of the civilized world including 15 states and the District of Columbia in good ol America, recognize same sex marriage. Those enlightened countries include: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, Uruguay.  They do so for the simple reason that every citizen deserves the human and moral right to marry the lover of their choice. However, the rights of gays don't ever enter into Floyd's worldview. She makes preposterous claims, based on a nursery rhyme, no less, that marriage must only be between and man and a woman when her silly ditty makes no such claim. If fact her nursery rhyme supports gay marriage by stating simply and eloquently, "First comes love, then comes marriage". If she was truly honest Floyd would have added, "except if you have the same genitals". Her ludicrous claim that every child has a right to be raised by "his mother and his father", is belied by the fact that a sizeable minority if not a majority of all Illinois babies are born out of wedlock and half of Floyd's imaginary wondrous heterosexual marriages end in divorce. It may be true that children raised by unmarried gay couples enjoy a richer, more nurturing childhood than those innumerable kids of straight parents who have split up and never lived together.  

Thomas More Society folks like Jocelyn Floyd are ideological dinosaurs. Their promotion of mindless bigotry as long passed as the majority view in Illinois, in America and the world. Some remnants of its harm linger on such as Illinois' soon to be scrapped gay marriage ban. However, if Floyd and her cohorts feel uncomfortable that their gay neighbors living together can soon say "I do", maybe they should move to a place where religious bigotry concerning gays will last till the next century. Iran and North Korea come to mind.

A Tale Of Two Houses

 President Obama has had a Democratically controlled Senate for all four years, eight months of his presidency but for only the first two years in the House. Let's see how his agenda, our agenda actually, faired during those 56 months.

In the first two years (the 111th Congress) here's what a Democratic controlled House accomplished in conjunction with a Democratic Senate:

...•WALL STREET REFORM
•CREDIT CARD REFORM
•STUDENT LOAD REFORM
•ACA - PROVIDING HEALTH CARE FOR 40 MILLION WITHOUT
•FAIR PAY FOR WOMEN ACT
•STUDENT LOAN REFORM
•911 FIRST RESPONDERS RELIEF
•END OF "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"
•CASH FOR CLUNKERS
•MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT
•HIRING INCENTIVES TO STIMULATE EMPLOYMENT
•VETERANS OMNIBUS HEALTH SERVICES ACT
•FISCAL STIMULUS BILL
•MORGAGE RELIEF ACT
•HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT
•EXPANDED NATIONAL SERVICE ACT
•RATIFIED START TREATY WITH RUSSIA ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS
•FIXED SENTENCING DISPARITY BETWEEN POWDER AND CRACK COCAINE
•EXPANDED THE GI BILL

On the other side of the political ledger, here is what the Republican controlled House accomplished in the 112th and 113th Congress which includes eight more months of House control that the Democrats:

•APRIL, 2011: THREATEND GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
•JULY, 2011: CREATED PHONEY DEBT CEILING CRISIS CAUSING US CREDIT
DOWNGRADE
•SEPTEMBER, 2011: AGAIN THREATENED GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
•APRIL, 2012: AGAIN THREATENED GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
•DECEMBER, 2012: MARCHED US TO THE FISCAL CLIFF
•JANUARY, 2013: THREATENED ANOTHER PHONEY DEBT CEILING CRISIS
•SEPTEMBER, 2013: SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT - NOW IN ITS FOURTH DAY

In case you think the GOP record was an unintended fluke, consider that GOP Tea Party extremists were championing shutdown even before the 2010 election which gave them House control, and Speaker Boehner boasted: "We won't be judged by the laws we pass, but by the laws we repeal".

You can make you own judgment about the respective records of the Democratic and GOP House majorities, but as for me, I think the worst political job in America right now is GOP House 2014 Campaign Strategist.

Congressman Roskam, Michael Corleone and the government shutdown

I'm used to my Congressman Peter Roskam, as House GOP Chief Deputy Whip, being fairly circumspect in his House leadership role of promoting the GOP's fanatical Tea Party fact...ion's campaign of destroying Obama administration programs to rebuild our economy and provide basic health insurance to the 40 million without. He usually leaves the fiery rhetoric to blatant GOP extremists like Representative Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), who was caught on tape bragging about shutting down the government to derail Obama even before the 2010 election which gave us the "Shut it down" crowd. Suburban Chicago firebrand Congressman Joe Walsh told cable news, "Most people in my district say, Shut it down", not realizing they meant to shut Joe Walsh down in his 2012 re-election bid. Ron Paul (R-TX) opined "I don't thing a shutdown would hurt one bit". Mike Pence (R-IN) brayed, "I say shut it down".

Apparently, the normally reserved Chief Deputy Whip has been caught up in the Tea Party hysteria which showed them leaving their shutdown strategy meeting smiling, saying "everything's great", and showing thumbs up. BuzzFeed, a news website founded by Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti, offered this bit of astute political analysis from Congressman Roskam as the shutdown began Monday night:

“This is just like The Godfather. You know the scene where Michael Corleone is learning how to kill the crooked New York cop? The guy teaching him, Clemenza, comforts him and says ‘This thing’s gotta happen every few years or so. It helps to get rid of the bad blood.’ That is what arguing over all this is like.”

That's right, the Roskam lead Tea Party has to shutdown the government, to help them, in Roskam's words, "get rid of the bad blood". But go to Roskam's website, www.roskam.house.gov, and you get this bit of hilarious sophistry:

"I have been a strong proponent of keeping the government open and operating. I have been listening to my constituents and the American people, who unambiguously believe their government has a responsibility to provide essential services, from defense and homeland security, to overseeing the banking system, operating the national power grid, and administering safety net programs. This week, I joined my colleagues in the House in passing a bill to fully fund the government".

I called Congressman Roskam's Washington D.C. office to get clarification on his dueling quotes. The nice young man who answered assured me the Congressman does not condone the violent imagery he referenced to BuzzFeed, but was simply expressing solidarity with his shutdown brethren. I, too, am sure that Congressman Roskam would never approve the assassination of a New York Police Captain, albeit a corrupt one, referenced in his Godfather quote. But the deceit he practices on his constituency concerning his true obsession to derail the Obama administration while pretending to be a champion of responsible government would make Michael Corleone proud.

Music Pick: Louis and Ella

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) and Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) made three albums together in the mid 1950's that rank among the finest jazz pairings ever. In this August 16, 1956, feature, Under a Blanket of Blue, Louis shows why he's considered a vocal equal to the superb Ella, or any other singing great for that matter, gravelly voice and all. He actually excelled at and preferred easy going romantic ballads to hot barnburners. He caresses the opening verse and then plays understated trumpet underneath Ella's pristine voice and phrasing in the second verse. Every one of their several dozen songs on these three albums is worth hearing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Nh77B9DpsI

The lasting story of October 1, 2013

As distressing as the blaring headlines of the GOP inspired government shutdown over their failure to stop Obamacare are, the inspiring story I will always remember about October 1, 2013, is this:

Beginning today, October 1, 2013, individuals and employees of small businesses, pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, will be able to access health insurance coverage through a private health insurance market – the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Just like their dead ender,Tea Party versions of 1935 and 1965, who trumpeted doom and gloom about the advent of  Social Security and Medicare, the fanatics grabbing the headlines today will soon be forgotten, relegated to the scrapheap of history as America continues its slow evolution to becoming a more just, fair and humane society.

Roskam should channel TR instead of The Grinch Who Stole Obamacare

My Congressman Peter Roskam (GOP, IL 6th) joined all 213 other House Republicans voting Saturday to delay full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which sets the stage for a GOP inspired shutdown of the federal government Tuesday. This 43rd vote of Roskam against the ACA ranks among the most pernicious he has taken among the hundreds to prevent any progress in creating jobs and providing critical, affordable health care for the 40 millions abandoned by the GOP. It's been 101 years since GOP icon Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to promote national health care back in 1912, when he ran for a third term on the Progressive Party ticket. Interestingly, TR, one of the four giants staring out atop Mt. Rushmore, bolted from the GOP after serving two presidential terms between 1901 and 1909, because they abandoned his progressivism which earned him that timeless perch.

Roskam spreads all the usual GOP and Tea Party lies about the ACA without ever uttering a peep of compassion for those aforementioned 40 million who have already begun to get the first rush of relief from a previously heartless society where the rich keep getting richer on the backs of the jobless and working poor.

A hundred years from now when the ACA has long and fully joined Social Security and Medicare as the three hallmarks of a just and supportive society, September 28, 2013, may stand as the low water mark of Roskam's ceaseless efforts to turn back the tide of history in furtherance of his true constituency - the heartless and insatiably greedy rich. Former history teacher Roskam should go back and study TR's 1912 platform which had this to say about health and social welfare:

"The supreme duty of the Nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in State and Nation for ... the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use."

Instead of another $25,653 free trip for him and his family to an exotic land sponsored by a local university or, in violation of US law, a foreign government, Congressman Roskam should take a thrifty, self paid trip to South Dakota. He should visit Mt. Rushmore and stare up at the iconic figure of Teddy Roosevelt surveying the land he gave every once of his indomitable spirit and heart to improve with progressive reforms. If TR could look down and spot the Congressman, you could imagine a tear forming in one eye. If so it would be in pain and sorrow that his party could have strayed so far from the ideals he cherished and championed. It's said that if a man tries hard enough he can move a mountain. This is one time when it would be more appropriate if a mountain could move a man.