Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House’s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization.
“I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “I ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House’s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization.
“I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “I ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.”
I think Lisa Murkowski is flirting with me. Well perhaps she is simply flirting with every reasonable, well informed voter in the state.
Things are going to get bad in Alaska, as well as in the rest of the country, and it would be very comforting to have TWO Senators who could be expected to do the right thing when the shit meets the whirling blade of the fan.
I am still not sure how long we can rely on Murkowski to remain the voice of sanity on the Republican side of the Senate, but at least for today I am damn proud that she represents my state.
Good for her! When I was in college, my friends and I all used Planned Parenthood. They had a sliding scale fee system, and epmpathetic, quality doctors and nurses. And when a friend of mine got pregnant, PP discussed ALL the options with her (including adoption). I'm sure if there was no PP, many young and not-so-young women would have no health care at all.
ReplyDeleteShe has to know she was elected by anybody but the crazies in Alaska and I hope she stays true to those that gave her her victory.
ReplyDeleteWay OT but I just heard a report on the radio about Iditarod ( who said that the TEMPERATURES were higher than normal during the day which was making travel during the day a little more difficult. Now, I hate when climate change deniers use random weather -- like snow in Oklahoma -- as a reason to point out the fallacy of the theory and i understand that weather is random and global warming actually causes changes in the CLIMATE but I thought it was interesting that in Alaska in March the temperature is too high for dogs to do what they love to do.
ReplyDeleteO/T UNBELIEVABLE!!
ReplyDeleteSatellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami
Move the slider to compare satellite images, taken by GeoEye, from before and after the disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/
2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-
japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html
Dunn Book coming out in mid May. Just got word from Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI think Murkowski will flex her muscles on some issues because she'll remember the way McConnell and the others backed Joe Miller last year. This is something I'd advise her not to ever forget. I'm glad she's breaking ranks with her party on PP and is remembering that men have no idea what being a woman is all about when it comes to giving birth, pregnancy, and birth control.
ReplyDeleteAfter the GOP stabbed her in the back, I was hoping she'd grow some spine and vote her own way instead of lock step with the old farts. I hope she continues to fly in the face of the greedy old party and do what is right for those who voted her into office.
ReplyDeleteOne would hope that Murkowski will continue to honor those who made history via the write in vote. She KNOWS it wasn't the right wing repubs that took her to this victory.
ReplyDeleteIt is time for elected representatives to actually represent their constituents, rather than pandering to the party or the corpora-terrorists (Koch bros, Murdoch, etc.) that pay to get them elected.
Planned parenthood is the best and often the only health care options for millions of women - poor and middle class women, who seem to have dropped off the radar in favor of never ending wars of imperialism.
You know, I feel the same way, and I wrote to tell her how proud I was of her. I think that's the first time I ever liked a Republican...well, former Republican...,senator. I hope she continues to vote her conscience.
ReplyDeleteYea! It's pretty sad, however, that we should feel such a great lift of spirit over something that should be so painfully obvious. (It's actually pretty pathetic, considering how Republicorps keep spewing the *exceptionalism of America* BS ...)
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things I agree with Sen. Murkowski on. It makes sense in a state with one of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates.
ReplyDeleteThe stupid Republicans stand against abortion, but then they stand against the best way to prevent it, contraception. That's like being against beards, but also wanting to outlaw razors.
Rick
Lisa said she would represent the interests of Alaskans. I guess she meant it. Pesky Maverick.
ReplyDeleteLisa for the 2012 GOP ticket. Go Lisa!!
ReplyDeleteGood for her!
ReplyDeleteOf course she did! She is going to show the rest of them how it is going to be. After all they backed that freak Miller and Lisa SUCCESSFULLY won a write-in history making campaign and now she can tell those old fuckers how it is going to be!!!
ReplyDeleteI am so proud she is my senator. I donate to PP yearly and it is an important organization.
can't believe it! hope this starts a trend with her.
ReplyDeleteGood for her.
ReplyDeleteWanting more impoverished undernourished babies and stressed impoverished mothers is just vile.
I am glad for the good people of your state, Gryphen, that this Republican is using the good common sense that people like Palin only pretend they have.
ReplyDeleteIf these stupid Republican members of Congress had their way, funds for things like birth control, breast exams, and cervical cancer screening would be outlawed. They and their equally brain-dead lemmings who keep voting for them keep echoing the discredited nonsense that they don't want taxpayers' money funding abortions, when in fact PP has not received federal funding for abortions since the mid-1970's.
PP receives abortion fundings from
private donors.
Apparently, it escapes them that they would be paying taxes toward the resulting welfare that would support many of the children resulting from unwanted pregnancies. They would also be paying taxes toward the resulting medical emergencies resulting from illegal abortions and the increased deaths from breast and cervical cancers.
Scott Brown of Wisconsin, in all his infinite wisdom, is trying to get PP defunded in his state. I hope in 2012, people remember the coordinated overreach of the Republicans enabled by the Tea Partiers and vote accordingly.
This move is like Walker's move. He proved that killing unions is not about the budget, when he pulled ti from the budget bill.
ReplyDeleteCrippling organizations that make prenatal care for pregnant women is not about God loving the fetus, it is about hating and control and crippling women and to hell with the fetus.
That is what we need to throw back at them.
Why are they taking away health care for the unborn.
Lisa Murkowski realizes that (a) Planned Parenthood provides an important service, (b) that the community at large realizes this and supports PP, and that (c) it's easy to write a letter and ask for this to be reconsidered and the Repugs won't bother doing as she asks- so why not write the letter and try to garner the votes?
ReplyDeleteIvyfree
Maybe Miller did Alaska a favor by making Murkowski run as an Independent. Now she can represent her state and not the Republican party line.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gryphen for being our male feminist and giving women a forum to speak !
ReplyDeleteHundreds of us went to our state capital,Austin to lobby and march for Planned Parenthood last Tuesday.
We had appointments with our
Texas officials.The only ones that would even talk to us were the Democrats.The Republicans know what an important organization this is but instead of educating their constituents they encourage fear and misinformation to get elected.
Planned Parenthood serves so many women with their health care needs all women and especially women that would otherwise have no where to go or end up burdening the tax payed community hospitals with many locations to serve low income women without insurance
They save the states many dollars in Medicaid and take NO funds,Federal or State for abortion.
How can a man ever decide the personal complicated needs of each woman's body. I Trust women to make our decisions on what to do with our bodies and make sure we all have good safe informed care.We are your sisters,daughters,mothers and wives.Please respect our choices.
Thanks to your Senator Lisa Murkowski for not caving.
I hope I live long enough to see every news outlet stop using the phrase "abortion clinic" in favor of "women's healthcare facility". Gotta keep fanning those flames.
ReplyDeleteGood on ya, Senator Lisa Murkowski!
ReplyDeleteJust think how close we were to having lying Joe Miller run the show. Now that is a scary thought.
And, don't forget how she voted with Dems in December, 2010, after the Repugs screwed her over.
ReplyDeletehttp://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/murkowski-on-voting-with-dems-no-biggie.php
Lisa Murkowski doesn't owe anything to any Republican person or group. She is thus free to represent her constituents, and speak for them.
ReplyDeleteI can see people picketing Planned Parenthood here in Soldotna from my window. Having been gang raped which resulted in a pregnancy I was very disturbed by this. I walked right over to walk by and loudly announce my intentions of going into the clinic for an abortion. The clinic was unfortunately closed, so I just told them my story. Then they told me that if I knew of a woman who was gang raped and pregnant they would pay her medical bills and adopt the baby. I said, "Yea right." Then I quoted Joycelyn Elders,"They love little babies as long as they're in someone else's uterus."
ReplyDeleteHere's something I really appreciate about Lisa Murkowski and ties in with the above post about the Alaskan militia terrorists. She is the only politician I am aware of who has released an ad with the deliberate intention of showing how fucking scary these people are:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL73qsXeW2U&feature=player_embedded
Everyone else is afraid to touch this issue, couching it as "oh, they just love their second amendment rights," but the truth is, these people are dictator wannabes. The only freedom they are interested in is crushing the freedom of everyone else, preferably with force.
I could honestly see Lisa Murkowski as a credible candidate for President in 2016. She is one of the few last Republican US Senators who is actually sane.
ReplyDelete@ Celia Harrison. Whenever I hear someone say "oh, just put the baby up for adoption" I'm reminded of Lisa Steinberg's horrible short life at the hands of her adoptive parents. I cannot believe that, when that story broke, not a single woman shuddered and wondered if that little girl was the baby she put up for adoption.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good sign. Conservatives from all over are making darting little forays into reasonableness to test the waters. What do you make of Beck's site taking on James O'Keefe?
ReplyDelete