Being the Change I Wish to See

This article is part 11 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 10 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda
• Part 5: State Dept Must Make US Policy Clear
• Part 6: Richard Cohen and debunking gay cure
• Part 7: Evangelicals were for it before they were against it
• Part 8: Rick Warren forced to oppose Ugandan bill
• Part 9: Condemn the bill to Uganda’s President
• Part 10: The Family finally condemns bill

Short update video (3 min.).

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Rachel Maddow reports the following in this video:

Last week, the State Department‘s top diplomat in Africa told reporters he had been in touch with Uganda‘s president to express the U.S. government‘s opposition to the bill.

According to new reporting in “D.C. Agenda”…Uganda‘s president has told the U.S. State Department that he‘s going to veto the bill.

After “D.C. Agenda” first reported this, we confirmed it today [Dec. 22, 2009] with the State Department. State says the Ugandan president has committed to the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, both in person and in a follow-up phone conversation that he, the Ugandan president, will stop the bill.

Meanwhile, according to “D.C. Agenda,” the next U.S. step is to try to get the Ugandan president to make that commitment in public, to get him to speak out against the bill in public, rather than just giving assurances in private.

Take a lesson here about being persistent. By continuing to report on this story for weeks, Rachel Maddow has put this issue front and center in the media. I believe she has played a large role in turning this issue around and preventing this legislation from becoming law in Uganda, though it isn’t over yet.

This is an important issue not because it’s a gay rights issue, it’s important because it’s a human rights tragedy that came about because of interference in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals and the cure-the-gays quacktivist industry.

Sunlight really can be the best disinfectant.

Technorati Tags: Bart Stupak, Chris Smith, Chuck Grassley, Frank Wolf, James Inhofe, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, Joseph Cao, kill-the-gays bill, Museveni, Rachel Maddow, Richard Cohen, Rick Warren, The Family, The Rachel Maddow Show, Trent Franks, Uganda

written by joubess \\ tags: Bart Stupak, Chris Smith, Chuck Grassley, Frank Wolf, James Inhofe, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, Joseph Cao, kill-the-gays bill, Museveni, Rachel Maddow, Richard Cohen, Rick Warren, The Family, The Rachel Maddow Show, Trent Franks, Uganda

Not the mainstream polls taken recently. I just heard a piece on NPR where McConnell kept saying that the American people don’t want health reform, and if Democrats pass it, reform will hurt their election chances in November. Not true.

According to a March 10, 2010 Benenson Strategy Group report, a large majority of Americans want reform, and if anything, they believe reform doesn’t go far enough.

He also said that “forcing” the bill through reconciliation is unprecedented and it denies the “majority” in the Senate the right to vote on the bill. Last time I checked, 59 out of 100 votes is a big majority. If McConnell has such a problem with reconciliation, why did he vote yea on reconciliation bills 13 times in the past? There have been 21 reconciliation bills over about the past 30 years. Sixteen were Republican bills. It’s not an unprecedented procedure at all.

Me thinks he dost protest too much. I believe the Republicans are obstructing, lying and posturing so much because they realize if health care reform passes, their asses are grass in the coming November mid-term election, and Democrats and Independents are the lawn mower.

One GOP talking point is that the Democrats will be in big trouble and lose their majorities in the House and/or Senate. Why would they give this legislation so much time and energy? Since when did the GOP care how the Democrats will do in an upcoming election as long as it’s worse than GOP candidates? It’s because they are terrified at how much passing health reform will boost Democrats in the mid-term election. If they believed their own rhetoric, they would get out of the way and let health reform pass, and reap the benefits of extremely poor Democratic policy.

Another talking point is health care reform will increase the budget deficit substantially. Also not true. According to the CBO, it will decrease the budget deficit substantially:

This bill isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I would like to see a lot of changes, and I believe over time, all the fixes, including a public option or single-payer system, will become part of the legislation. The problems will be fixed as needed in the future just like Medicare has been amended since it first passed. One thing is certain. Doing nothing is not an option.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: budget reconciliation, federal budget, health care reform, public opinion on health care reform, Senate health reform bill of 2009

written by joubess \\ tags: budget reconciliation, federal budget, health care reform, public opinion on health care reform, Senate health reform bill of 2009