Republicans are using women's right to sexual health as a flimsy excuse to shutdown the government

[liberal N proud]

I am not big on Opinion articles, I believe that I should form my own opinion based on the facts but the above line and this opinion article from NY Times nails it:

The G.O.P.’s Obsession With Planned Parenthood

Congressional Republicans are again playing brinkmanship with the budget — some are even threatening to shut down the government — in order to score ideological and political points. On Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, introduced a bill to keep the government running for a few months past the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30 — as long as Democrats agree to cut off money for Planned Parenthood.

There is no way the bill will survive Democratic objections, so by early next week Mr. McConnell is expected to introduce another temporary spending bill without the objectionable provision. But in the meantime he will have drawn public attention to his party’s political campaign against Planned Parenthood.

The latest phase of this campaign began in July with deceptive videos by anti-abortion activists. The videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal-tissue donation, which is legal and critical for medical research. Republicans say the videos are evidence that Planned Parenthood illegally profits by selling aborted fetuses and should therefore be stripped of federal money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/opinion/the-gops-obsession-with-planned-parenthood.html?emc=edit_th_20150924&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45299538&_r=0

[pampango]

1. Years ago the right pushed the government shutdown to "balance the budget" then

it was to repeal Obamacare. Now it is to defund Planned Parenthood.

Somehow threatening to not pay the government's bills (the bills do not go away if you don't pay them, in my personal experience ) has become the accepted way for conservatives to go after policies, programs and organizations that they don't like rather than passing new laws.

Republicans can always introduce a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, have it voted on and either win or lose the vote. The board of a company can't vote not to pay the company's bills just because they don't like one thing the company so doing. Well I guess they could do that but the ramifications would be severe and there would soon be a new board or no company.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Republicans, esp. the House version, need to show *something* big

to their constituents back home. They're always looking for dragons to slay, if only symbolically because they have nothing else to justify their tenure at the Capitol. They don't build roads or bridges. They don't put more Americans back to work. They don't clean the environment. All they seem to do is raise money for the next election and this year, Planned Parenthood proves that they're pro-life and sufficiently Christian.