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Move over, Hester: Speaker Mikey's in town...

Remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan society in his novel, The Scarlet Letter?  Poor Hester Prynne violated the laws of the church, which meant that she broke society’s laws, too.  At the beginning of the novel, the reader joins Hester as she leaves the safety of the town prison and makes her way back into the society that jailed her.  Reading the book for the first time in the 11th grade, I had a hard time understanding how, in a free society, the religion of one group could also form its judicial system.  That makes the laws of God the same thing as the laws of man.   Separation of church and state was also an 11th grade U.S. history lesson, so we students figured no more Hesters could be jailed for breaking the laws of her religion .  Or so we thought.  We fought a war 250 years ago to separate the colonies from a king who was not only ruler of the government but leader of the church.  A quick walk through British history shows what a mess that ideal leads to:  remember Henry VIII

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is my HERO !

 

In the last 2 weeks Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives Democrats have passed a number of bills detailed below:


HR 8373 - Right to Contraception Act - this bill that protects an individual's ability to access contraceptives, engage in contraception, and protects a health care provider's ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception.


HR 8404 - Respect for Marriage Act - this bill protects same-sex and interracial marriages.


HR 8296 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2022 - Prohibits federal, state, and local governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services


HR 8297 - Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022 - this bill that prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person's ability to access out-of-state abortion services.


HR 6538 - Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022 - this bill that requires a designated officer of the Department of Justice act as the national coordinator of an Active Shooter Alert Communications Network regarding an emergency involving an active shooter.


Of course, the grand majority of House Republicans voted NO to these bills (including Ben Cline voting NO) and their extreme positions opposing common sense legislation (and supported by a large majority of Americans) are now on record.  Unfortunately, these bills will likely not advance in the Senate.  


Pointing at the Republicans, Nancy Pelosi also said the following:


“Let us be clear: Those that oppose this legislation are only

revealing their dark desire to punish and control America’s most

intimate and personal decisions. . . .What is this about? They are

against birth control, but they are for controlling women. This is

about servitude.”


“I ask those who oppose contraception, again, do you even know what’s

going on in your own families? Why don’t you ask? Do we need a session

of the birds and bees to talk about why this is important?”



Don’t mess with Nancy !


Thanks to the Jennifer Rubin opinion piece in the Washington Post for the quotes and supporting information.



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