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What is an abortion?  We can start with the definition of a natural “spontaneous abortion” or miscarriage.

According to MedicineNet.com:  “Miscarriage: Inadvertent loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is viable. A considerable proportion of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Also known as spontaneous abortion.”

A spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage, is a common occurrence in pregnancy. For unknown reasons, the fetus fails to develop after a fertilized egg implants in the womb. This medical term, “spontaneous abortion,” defines the death of a fertilized egg that is IMPLANTED in the uterus and is a developing fetus.

A fertilized egg cannot develop unless it is implanted, it just passes out of the body once a month and is a part of a woman’s menses.  Many, many times fertilized eggs pass out of a woman’s body without implantation.  The passing of the fertilized eggs has never been met with mourning or funerals because these eggs are not spontaneous abortions, not fetuses — much less human beings.

Is the Hobby Lobby decision by the Supreme Court just a minor tweek to the Affordable Care Act, as Justice Alito alleges?  Is it a moral victory for the religious right and the pro-life activists?  Is it a strike for religious freedom, as conservatives across the nation assert?

The left condemns the decision as a blow to the ACA and to women’s reproductive rights.  Many see a slippery slope for enacting more exceptions to our healthcare system, which would undermine Obamacare and endanger American lives.  What if, using the same criteria that the Supremes used to justify the decision, a corporation chooses to deny insurance payments for other medical needs because it is against the religious convictions of that corporation — such as vaccinations or psychiatric care?  Yes, a slippery slope is a possibility.

But, though all these concerns are legitimate and alarming, we have a different thought.  While the right is claiming a victory for “religious freedom” it is clear on the face of it that the American people have no more religious freedoms today than before the decision.  This decision by the High Court does not expand religious freedom to any American — just to elite corporations.

The 5 to 4 conclusion by the Supreme Court clears a path for corporations to claim religious exemptions from laws that everyone else has to follow.  Once again, the Supreme Court has upheld the rights of corporations over the rights of individuals — corporate bosses now may tell their employees what contraceptives will be available to them.   An article in The New Republic offers a good read for understanding the march of the Robert’s Court in trampling the rights of individuals to favor the rights of corporations.

The conservative defense of the Hobby Lobby case as a blow for religious freedom is a smoke screen to cover for the explosion of power by corporations, and also represents a wedge in the door for a growing movement of a religiously run nation.  And, not just any religion — but a fundamentalist Christian religion.  Does anyone really believe that “a deeply held religious belief” of a corporation owned by a Muslim or Hindu family would have been upheld?  By the way, Hobby Lobby has always covered all contraceptives in their insurance plans prior to Obamacare … evidently their religious convictions didn’t kick in until this president implemented healthcare reform.

And according to The Atlantic, following this disastrous court decision, there are now 14 organizations that have sent a letter to the President, “demanding exemptions from a pending executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons” because not discriminating against the LGBT community is against their religion!  With this decision opening the door to evading laws by claiming “a deeply held religious belief,” we have to ask:  Is there a flood of confusion and mass exemptions of many laws coming through that door?

The slippery slope we fear is that this Supreme Court decision introduces a potential slide into an entanglement of church and state.  We fear a descent for our nation into a country that permits a corporation, or the state, to impose ITS religious principles on the people.

When a corporation or the state is empowered to impose religious beliefs on employees, that is not religious freedom — it is a blow against freedom!

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The GOP is deliberately trying to tank the economy. We’ve held off making this declaration, but sadly the GOP’s accumulated actions all finally add up to this realization — The GOP doesn’t want the economy to recover under a Democratic President.  And we can’t continue to give the GOP a pass on their multiple attempts to slow the growth of the American economy.  For the past 5 years we’ve repeatedly excused their actions because we held out the hope that, “They just have differing opinions on what to do to spur growth in the economy.”

But, the facts just don’t seem to support continuing that hope.  Taken as a whole, the Republican/Teapublican positions and legislation have seriously hampered an economic recovery, and as long as they continue to thwart logical, historically-proven methods for growth, our nation’s economy is going to be held back.

It’s time to move the economic debate away from the short term fixation of deficit obsession versus stimulus spending, and on to a bigger discussion about how government can help spur long term growth and begin to address the widening chasm of income inequality.

Here’s a list of positions that are almost universally acknowledged by economists on the left and right, to spur economic growth, yet are opposed by the GOP :

• Investment in Infrastructure: “Businesses depend on our transportation systems, on our power grids, on our communications networks,” President Obama said. “And rebuilding them creates good-paying jobs right now that can’t be outsourced.”  And rebuilding and expanding our infrastructure lays the groundwork for future business growth.

• Unemployment Checks: Cutting off unemployment checks for the long term unemployed is estimated to eliminate 240,000 jobs, according to the National Employment Law Project — because the money won’t be available to be spent in stores, economic growth and job creation will contract.

• Government Hiring, not Firing: Reducing government employment, particularly during recessions, adds workers to the unemployment rolls. In addition, fewer workers means  fewer paychecks, which dampens consumption and further spreads through the economy, magnifying the effects of the recession.  The Conservative Washington Times newspaper further explains why cutting government jobs, both federal and state governments, harms the economy.  A boost in government hiring normally occurs during a recession — including under George W. Bush.

• Eliminate Austerity Programs: Austerity cuts, cuts, cuts government spending: Austerity has been a total failure in Europe as a response to this Great Recession. Those countries that initially tried austerity programs, have moved away from them because they were causing their economies to contract.  Conservatives want to continue cuts in education, medical research and infrastructure in order to give even more tax cuts to the rich and huge corporations, in the hopes that it trickles down to the rest of us — which is the totally discredited “Trickle-Down” economic theory that the GOP still clings to.

• Raise the Minimum Wage: A new study by the Economic Policy Institute tells us that a $10.10 minimum wage would actually create new jobs.

• Address Income Inequality: Raise taxes on the top income earners to fund growth programs, and create  breaks like the ACA for the middle class, so they can better save for retirement.  President Barack Obama, July 24, 2013 said the following:
  

  “This growing inequality isn’t just morally wrong; it’s bad economics. When middle-class families have less to spend, businesses have fewer customers. When wealth concentrates at the very top, it can inflate unstable bubbles that threaten the economy. When the rungs on the ladder of opportunity grow farther apart, it undermines the very essence of this country.”

• Reform Immigration: An immigration overhaul will bring workers out of the shadows and into the mainstream workforce, where their labors and taxes can help pay retirement costs that threaten to bust the long-term federal budget—and ruin retirement for middle-class couples.  According to the New York Times, immigration reform “would improve the budget picture (see this helpful chart) and stimulate economic growth. The immediate effects are good and the more lasting effects even better.”

• Fund jobs training: Employers who want to hire often complain that the jobless don’t have the jobs skills that are needed.  When the jobless get new training they are ready to join the workforce and contribute to the country and the economy.

• Eliminate the sequester cuts: The Gross Domestic Product declined 1.3% in the fourth quarter last year due to the government’s sequester cuts — defense spending alone dropped by an annual rate of over 22% that same quarter.  The economy contracted because of the drastic cuts in government spending, and these cuts are estimated to cost our country over 240,000 jobs.

• Fund Americorp and Peace Corps: These programs should be expanded, in order to provide opportunities to young people (who may be having difficulties finding a job) to have meaningful work to do in the service of others, to gain experiences which will enhance their resumes as well as to grow and mature.
• Invest in technology, research, innovation, and energy: The private sector has gained immeasurably from government spending on research.  Many products and sectors of the economy have been developed in government labs — with the Internet at the top of the list!
• Grow manufacturing in USA: Clearly, we need to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, as well as support the development of new industries.  Many companies are rethinking their decisions to move their factories out of the country — quality control is an important factor.
• Control inflation in college costs: The future economy is dependent on our nation educating our workforce.  With college tuition spiraling out of control, an advanced education is more and more out of reach for the middle class.  An uneducated workforce will doom our economy to a second rate existance.

The GOP claims that the deficit is the major drag on the economy, and that they must cut discretionary spending now in order to bring the deficit down.  Both parts of this assertion are wrong.  The major drag on the economy is the dysfunction coming out of Washington, due to the GOP gridlock and their commitment to deny the President any opportunity to implement his jobs plans.

The budget deficit will shrink again this year to $642 billion, down from a high of $1.4 trillion in 2009.  Relative to the size of the economy, the deficit this year, at 4% of GDP, will be less than half as large as the shortfall in 2009 at 13% of GDP.  By comparison, the deficit averaged 3.1% of GDP over the past 40 years.

Clearly, the deficit is rapidly coming into the normal or average category for federal deficits, and will be below the 40 year average by an entire percentage point by 2015 — from a 3.1% normal range, to 2.1% of GDP.  The president recognizes that the deficit is coming under control as the economy is recovering — while the GOP describes the deficit as a catastrophic danger.  And, the GOP asserts that in order to avoid that danger the country must slash our current budgets by gutting our social safety net today.

The deficit is coming under control.  The deficit was not caused by government spending on our social safety net.  It was  caused by the Wall Street economic disaster in 2008, by two unfunded wars, an unfunded prescription drug plan, and unfunded massive tax cuts — all under the leadership of George W. Bush.

Our economic woes are real; the GOP prescription for healing them are not.  It’s official — the GOP is deliberately tanking the economy.

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The Grand Old Party just can’t seem to get out of it’s own way.  And it’s not as if they don’t know what they need to do to regain the trust of the American electorate, they do!  Following the Romney 2012 loss, the Republican Party conducted a study that they called an “Autopsy” on just where the party stands and where they need to go to improve their image with the American people.  And, “Autopsy” may just be the exact right word.

Party leaders conceded that what the GOP needs to do is reach out to minorities, women, and to reach across the isle in a pragmatic way to help govern the country.  But Tea Party Republicans are having none of that.  The consequences of their ideological extremism is that the GOP brand is now in big trouble, according to an article in The Daily Beast.

The  extremist wing of the GOP is seriously threatening the Party’s viability.  Their secessionist impulse is a political loser — it looks like desperation and a throw-back to ugly days-gone-by.  “Wearing a tri-cornered hat on the Washington Mall is one thing; unfurling a Confederate Flag in front of Obama’s White House is something very different and disgraceful.”

The GOP has lost minority support, and yet their attempts at outreach in those communities are discredited when they simultaneously have bigoted representatives of their party going public with outrageous racial insults.  They want the Hispanic vote, but refuse to consider any legislation to reconcile that community’s needs with their own racial fears.

While chasing the women’s vote, at the same time the Party denies women their Constitutional rights of choice, and tries to outlaw even some forms of birth control.  Republicans are losing women right and left. Because there are more eligible women voters than men and because they are more likely to vote than men, Republicans are once again facing a losing proposition.

The final straw may be that the GOP is rapidly losing even the support of businesses … big and small.  One small businessman says of the GOP’s Government Shutdown and Debt Ceiling Crisis, “It’s as if House Republicans are playing suicide bomber with the U.S. economy, as a businessman, it defies all reason and logic.”  And big business, represented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is frantically trying to intervene in the GOP self-destruction.

“Right now, the Republican brand is looking toxic,” says The Daily Beast.  “Among seniors and independents, the GOP’s unfavorability rating has swelled to more than 60 percent. To put this in context, just last November Mitt Romney won nearly two-thirds of voters 65 years old and up, and half of the independents.”

Where does it all end?  Predictions are all over the place, but one thing’s for sure right now:  The GOP just can’t get out of its own way, and it’s more bad news for the GOP.

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In what can only be described as an incredibly exciting moment in our history, the governors of 8 states  have just announced that they have agreed to standardize their efforts to put 3.3 million zero emissions cars on the roads by 2025.

“This is not just an agreement, but a serious and profoundly important commitment,” said California Governor Jerry Brown. “From coast to coast, we’re charging ahead to get millions of the world’s cleanest vehicles on our roads.”

In an effort to help the environment and boost the economy, the governors of  California, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont also predict that their combined efforts will save drivers on fuel costs over time — electricity costs about two-thirds less than gasoline, and is expected to save drivers close to $6,000 in fuel costs over the lifetime of their car.

New government standards in these 8 states will start with similar building codes to make it easier to build charging stations for these cars, and they will offer financial incentives to promote zero-emission vehicles.  They will also provide favorable electricity rates for home charging systems, buy clean cars for government fleets, and will develop common standards for roadway signs and charging networks.

There are some things that government can do that capitalists alone cannot do, and this is one very important action that will make a consequential and earth-shaking difference!

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President Obama is often accused of not demonstrating leadership.  He is said to be aloof by not reaching out  to the Republicans in Congress and inviting them the White House to schmooze.  You see, according to the GOP meme, “He just isn’t up to the job of being president.”  So, of course, the fact that politics isn’t working in D.C. is all President Obama’s fault … right?

Because the Republicans in Washington are not following Obama’s leadership might just possibly be due to GOP determination to undermine this president at every single turn.  When we explore the actual facts we learn that the president has invited Republicans many, many times to meet with him, and even to socialize, at the White House.

He began his presidency in 2009 by inviting Congress to watch a football game at the White House.  John McCain, and most of the rest of them declined.  McCain said he was just too busy and had other plans.

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell refused to take a phone call from President Obama right after the election.  They were too busy to take a phone call from the president of the United States of America!  They refuse to attend State Dinners which honor visiting world leaders.  Again, just too busy!  John Boehner did actually play golf with the president on one occasion, and after that …  we saw zero improvement in cooperation with the president.

So, I’m not totally convinced that the GOP would consider Obama a great leader if he just invited them to the White House more often.  I cannot imagine what kind of schmoozing would convince the wingers to follow his lead.  Can you?

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“Waste, Fraud, and Abuse” has long been a battle-cry for the Grand Old Party when describing government.  So now may be the time to turn that phrase on them.

GOP Waste = $24 Billion wasted in the cost to our economy in the last three weeks of government shutdown and debt-ceiling brinksmanship.

GOP Fraud = A false premise told to the country that the shutdown/brinksmanship would defund/delay Obamacare, when the Affordable Care Act is primarily funded through mandatory funding not discretionary funding.  Obamacare cannot be de-funded, and won’t be delayed unless the president and Democrats themselves  decide to delay elements of the law in order to make it more effective.

GOP Abuse = Actual harm done to the economy with a cut of 0.6% off 4th Q GDP growth, the credibility of the United States of America questioned internationally, and jobs growth lost with falling consumer confidence causing businesses to pull back on hiring.

Cable TV seems to be primarily discussing the harm that the GOP has inflicted on themselves politically.  We are hoping that the facts of the actual damage done to the United States of America will be highlighted as well.

The extremists in the GOP are willing to do damage to the nation in order to try to advance their own agenda, even in the face of the reality that their goals are not achievable through threats and hostage-taking.  If they are honorable people, and just didn’t understand the ramifications of their actions … then we will soon know that.

If they didn’t mean to inflict pain on the country, then they won’t repeat these brinksmanship actions.  If they do it again after the first of the year, when both the Continuing Resolution on the budget and raising the Debt-Ceiling will again be up for decisions  … then we will know that they just plain want to harm the economy in order to try to harm the president.

Then we’ll know that they hate the president more than they love our country.

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THREE OUT OF FOUR AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF THE GOP’s HANDLING OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!

The Grand Old Party seems to be on a path to party self-destruction.  Oh, they may hang on for a decade or more but eventually the Republican Party is either going to move back to the political center, where the American people actually are in their thinking, or they will be taken over by their fringe-wingers and cease to be serious players in American politics.

The Huffington Post lays out the current state of GOP reality in a terrific article that spells out America’s bad mood and growing lack of confidence in the Republican Party.  According to an ABC/Washington Post poll released Monday the American people are horrified with the performance of one of the nation’s two major parties.  And this spells big trouble for the GOP.

The Democratic Party is more and more in line with the center of American political thought, while the GOP continues to bleed national support.  Esquire explains in, 13 Things That Define the New American Center that the American center holds the majority.  There are major areas of agreement in the center of our politics: Same Sex Marriage; Abortion Rights; Separation of Church and State; support for Background Checks for Guns; and Increasing the Minimum Wage.

And now, at the cost of $300 million a day, the GOP shuts down our government (with truly weak and confusing reasons) and threatens to throw our nation into defaulting on our debt.  Default will mean having our credit rating downgraded again — it was last downgraded when the GOP threatened default in 2011 — and will result in spiking interest rates for the American people and businesses.  Economists overwhelmingly predict that an American default on our debt will plunge our nation  back into recession.

It’s hard to know just where this current crisis is going to land us.  The American people are basically optimists, and most of us (including Wall Street!) continue to believe that what we’re currently seeing is gamesmanship being played out in Washington, and that it will stop in time to avoid too much damage to the country.  But, maybe not.

It has become pretty clear that the GOP has no intention of permitting our economy to grow in a healthy way.  They have put up roadblocks at every turn.  They have insisted on economic austerity, long after even Europe has abandoned the misguided idea as a failure; they refuse to fund investments in our future economy such as infrastructure and education; they continue to defend the discredited theory of Trickle-Down economics by insisting that we cannot ask the super wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes.

But we’re now in an even lower place politically, when the majority of lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans both, do not want default or shutdown … but appear helpless to stop the minority of Tea-Publicans in the House of Representatives from plunging the nation into dangerous territory.

American Democracy cannot survive when a small minority of House members, acting as domestic terrorists along with their special interests on the right, can halt progress in our nation by threatening the nation with devastation if they don’t get laws overturned that they don’t like.  That is not Democracy.

Maybe it is time for the President to give history a real legacy for his presidency.  If the GOP’s determination to institutionalize Congressional gridlock cannot be broken to allow for economic recovery, then perhaps the President needs to instead define his place in history as the President who saved our Democracy — by standing up to the bullies in the House and affirming that America will not be ruled by a minority of rabid extremists.

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We have been off-line for some time due to technical difficulties.  We will be resuming our commentary shortly, if there is an American government left standing.