REINS on the Presidency

Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced a bunch of awful thing, including trying to push through an ACA repeal and defunding of Planned Parenthood. But one thing flew a bit under the radar in all of that. He cited the REINS Act, a bill which passed the House back over the summer.

The goal of the REINS Act is explicit and problematic: to completely hobble the executive branch before Obama leaves office and cut the power of Cabinet offices. It's a complete power grab by Congress. The Act would require all major regulations put forward by Cabinet departments to require congressional approval (whereas Congress can currently reject regulations with a vote). This means things like the Title X protections for Planned Parenthood or education reforms would all require Congressional signoff - making them virtually impossible.

This is a problem. Make no mistake - this is not a well-intentioned checks-and-balances test by Congress. It is a political power grab against the first black President and its intention is to strip away the powers of executive branches run by an opposing party - a direct threat to our constitutional democracy. Be warned.

On Global News and International Security

I don't mean to sound unpatriotic.  I mean, I make a lot of comments about dumb Americans, but really, I just find most people to be dumb.  I am, in fact, quite proud of the country I live in.  But the people who are surprised that Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who helped the United States track Bin Laden to the compound in Pakistan where he was later killed (Hey, good job, Seal Team 6...no really, though, that was bad-ass) was tried and convicted of treason are....kind of naive, really.

I'm all for what he did, but just because he did the right thing doesn't mean there aren't legal consequences.  He reported internal affairs to an outside intelligence source.  That's treason.  And the 33 years in prison he would serve as a result?  Pretty light compared to the punishment for treason in most countries, which is death.

Doing the right thing in spite of its legality is something you still have to consider.  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail focuses on the idea that we have a moral obligation to break immoral laws.  But we also have a responsibility to accept the punishment that comes with it.  That punishment is what makes civil disobedience different from outright criminal behavior.

I think Dr. Afridi did exactly the right thing -- he helped us catch and eliminate a dangerous criminal and a threat to international security.  But what he did was still a crime against his country, and they have a right to prosecute him for that.  If the same thing happened in the U.S., they'd have just as much a right to do the same thing.  I'd like to think we'd have the fairness and good judgment to overlook or downgrade the crime in the face of what was accomplished as a result, but when a country's security and sovereignty within their borders is threatened, they have the right to try the people responsible for treason and to go after them as they see fit.

Just my two cents on a big global news story.

Tiredly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On the LGBT Suicides and On Harrassment

I'm sure you've heard about it. Recently, the LGBT community and its allies have been up in arms about the group of 7 recent suicides that were the result of bullying and harrassment that they faced because of their sexuality. As well it should be. When people like Billy Lucas and Tyler Clementi are pushed to suicide by the harrassment they face at the hands of their peers, the community SHOULD be riled up.

I love the fact that people have been so responsive about this problem. Richmond held a candlelight vigil last Wednesday night. There have been huge surges in public service annoucements (including a beautiful project on YouTube called It Gets Better, which features prominent gay figures from both on and off of YouTube letting kids who are facing harrassment and confusion now know that it does get easier). Thousands of people plan to wear purple in honor of the lives that have been lost and in solidarity with those facing similar problems still. I am proud to know that my friends and family have been public about their concern for the problem.

But here's my issue, and the reason I'm posting. This is not, first and foremost, a gay rights issue. Yes, the LGBT community has jumped on this problem because it's clearly a crisis. But when a large number of kids are killed or driven to suicide because of bullying and harrassment they face, for any reason, the crisis is bigger than any one community. This is an issue that comes down to a very basic fact: for all the anti-bullying programs in schools, all the information about cyberbullying, all the discussions of fairness, tolerance, and respect, people are still capable of being so horrible to one another that death seems like a better option than continuing to deal with it.

This should not be a gay rights cause. This should be the cause of every parent, friend, sibling, teacher, and colleague of someone who ever faced harrassment that made their life hard to deal with. Yes, Billy Lucas committed suicide because he was harrassed for being gay. The fact of the matter is that bullying-related suicides are unfortunately common and, if anything, the focus on the gay suicides recently has dwarfed the importance and the tragedy of a lot of other suicides which stemmed from harrassment. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the boys who took their own lives because they were harrassed for their sexuality...and to those of every other harrassment-related suicide. Your loss is something I cannot even fathom, and I hope it never has to happen to anyone again.

--Rachel

Just a Random Update / On When You Shouldn't Be Surprised

Wow. It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Sorry, my darling readers! I have been trying to do better, but clearly I've been failing a little. The last five days have been part of a much-needed chance to relax known as Fall Break. Prior to said relaxation, there were about two consecutive Hell Weeks of a rather absurd amount of work and a mid-term that I felt certain I was going to fail, so the break was definitely appreciated.

What can I say about life recently?

Well, first of all, I've been shown the best possible site to check the weather, which I now use religiously. Seriously, check out http://www.thefuckingweather.com/. It makes my day.

I feel like all of my recent posts have been really UR-centric, which I guess makes sense because it's really my whole life now, but I also feel like it makes my blog insanely boring to read. I really hope I'll find other things to talk about.

A friend and I were having a conversation in the dining hall the other day, because we were watching CNN and a story about a lion in a circus mauling a man. We both seemed to agree that there really isn't a reason this should be news. Lions are fierce, ferocious, wild animals. You really shouldn't be surprised that one (even one raised in captivity) would attack someone. COME ON. They're predators. That's what they do. They attack things. Maybe you should be surprised if someone got mauled by a sloth. I mean, that would be unexpected. They're lazy and they're herbivores, so if one went insane and mauled somebody, THAT would be news. But don't be surprised when bloodthirsty predators decide to be bloodthirsty and predatory. That's dumb.

Carnivorously yours,
Rachel Leigh