Liberal Courage Saves the Day

We all have a lot of fun throwing rhetorical rocks at the Kentucky General Assembly, which 99 percent of the time deserves all the rotten tomatoes and verbal calumny we can hurl at them.

But every once in a while, the handful of Members with Integrity, aka Liberals with Backbone, step forward to stop attempts by the New Feudalists to return us to the 14th century.

Today, take a few moments to thank the Democratic members of the House Health and Welfare Committee, who stopped the horrific forced ultrasound, Shame the Sluts anti-choice abomination.

Have you hugged your Reginald Meeks today? If not, you should. Or at least send him a very nice thank-you note! And hey, while you're at it, thank "hatchet-man" Tom Burch, too. The mandatory ultrasound bill will not leave the House Health & Welfare Committee this session. Of course, I am sure we can all eagerly await its return next year, as anti-choicers are nothing if not persistent showboaters. While all of the panel's Democratic members are deserving of our sincere gratitude, this is why I single out Representatives Meeks and Burch:

Meanwhile, proponents blamed committee chairman Tom Burch, D-Louisville, for the bill’s demise.

"He did it by actively lobbying to bring the bill to his committee where he knew he could kill it,” said David Edmunds of The Family Foundation of Kentucky. Edmunds noted that House Democratic leadership last year sent the bill to the Judiciary Committee, where then-chair Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, “killed it.” “It appears this leadership has a new hatchet man in Tom Burch,” he said. Burch said he simply gave the bill a hearing and it did not garner enough votes to get out of committee.

Rep. Reginald Meeks, D-Louisville, said he was torn by the vote, noting that another lawmaker had threatened to hold one of his bills hostage in another committee if he didn’t support the proposal. Meeks said he was not going to be held hostage and voted against the bill. He did not identify the other legislator.

SNIP

ex post facto: Gary Tapp swears it was all just one big misunderstanding and that says Rep. Meeks is a liar. Sorry, Gary. When you go on record as a despicable bigot, you don't get to say other people are liars.

Thanks and kudos, too, to Terri of Barefoot and Progressive, who courageously addressed the heart-rending, stomach-churning truth behind the forced ultrasound bill, and kept it at the forefront of the progressive priority list.