Christian Life Resources and Politics (Part 7)

Christian Life Resources website has an article on April 14 entitled "Obama Cuts Women's Health Care, Funds Planned Parenthood".  Once again, CLR has adopted the Republican spin on a political and legislative issue.  In addition, the article contains a falsehood that I am sure they are aware of but still allowed to be printed.  Using a falsehood to promote a worthy cause is not worthy of CLR.

My purpose is not to defend Planned Parenthood.  Rather, I just want CLR to live up to standards worthy of a Christian organization (and one that claims affiliation with my church body).

• The article says that President Obama is "holding steadfast to the funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business."  This statement is untrue.  It is against the law to use tax dollars for abortion.  To say otherwise is partaking in partisan Republican spin.
• Singling out a specific organization for defunding is very unusual.  One Michigan conservative Representative voted against the measure for that very reason.  I didn't see his name mentioned in the article.  Oh, I forgot...he's a Republican.
• Many worthwhile programs were cut, due in large part to the slash and burn mentality of the Republican majority in the House.  Yet the only politician presented in a negative light is President Obama.  Once again, CLR is happy to go out of its way to criticize the Democratic president without mentioning the Republicans that voted on the package.  If CLR wants the money restored for Community Health Centers, maybe an article should appear encouraging the House leadership to propose it.

Christian Life Resources claims no partisan affiliation.  But articles like this suggest that it relies on the Republican Party and the Republican blogosphere for its talking points.

Boycott

Here are a couple of "low-impact" boycotts I am going to try to follow for myself.

1. The Golf Channel.  I like watching the Golf Channel's coverage of the European and US tours.  The problem is that I constantly have to see commercials featuring Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh.  Sheesh...isn't there anywhere I can go to hide from these guys?  Enough already.  I haven't watched for a few weeks now and I intend to keep it that way until those two guys are gone.
2. Amazon.com.   We have bought a fair amount of stuff from Amazon.  They have the internet business model down pat.  Prices and service are the best.  But their stance on collecting sales tax is no longer supportable.  They should be able to collect them like every other retailer.  It's part of doing business in this country and is not really a burdensome thing.  The excuses they give are phony.  So I intend to stop shopping there until they start paying sales tax like they should.

I know that neither the Golf Channel nor Amazon will care.  But it makes me feel better.

Ryan's Stale Ideas

Rep. Ryan's proposals are heralded as bold new initiatives, even by normally reasonable commentators like David Brooks.  His idea is essentially that the way to save America is to lower the standard of living of the poor, the middle class, and the elderly by widening the income disparity in the country even more than it already is.  This is not to say that his ideas might not carry the day, just that there is nothing bold or new about these theories. They've been around forever.  The idea that lower marginal tax rates for the wealthy produces more jobs and balances budgets has always been tenuous (if not outright untrue).  It's more a religious belief among these folks than something based on empirical evidence.

So puh-lease....Ryan may get his way, but let's not talk as if he has invented some new exciting idea. It's just more of the same stale right-wing stuff.