Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This caught my attention: "UN treaty on disability rights dies on altar of home school movement."
Say what now?
Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo explains in Senate Republicans Block Ratification Of U.N. Treaty On Rights For The Disabled, Citing Impact On Home-Schoolers:
The Senate Tuesday fell short of the two-thirds vote required to
ratify a United Nations treaty aimed at securing rights for disabled
people around the world, when the vast majority of Republican senators
voted against the treaty. The final vote was 61-38 vote. All the nay votes were Republican.
[Only eight Republicans voted yes: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John
Barrasso of Wyoming, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and
Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska and John McCain of Arizona.]
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities essentially
makes the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act a non-binding
international standard. It requires no change to U.S. law.
Originally signed by then-President George W. Bush in 2006 and
re-signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 shortly after he took
office, the treaty has been championed by former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS),
the one-time GOP presidential nominee who suffered a disability while
serving in the Army in World War II. Dole was on the Senate floor
Tuesday ahead of the ratification vote, in a wheelchair, accompanied by
his wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).
Longtime Republicans like Sens. John McCain (AZ), Dick Lugar (IN)
and John Barrasso (WY) voted for the treaty. But that didn’t stop the
party’s more conservative members from warning that it would violate
U.S. sovereignty and dictate to parents with home-schooled children.
These people are quite literally insane:
“I do oppose the CRPD because I think it does impinge upon our
sovereignty,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). “Unelected bureaucratic
bodies would implement the treaty and pass so-called recommendations
that would be forced upon the United Nations and the U.S. … This would
especially affect those parents who home-school their children. … The
unelected foreign bureaucrats, not parents, would decide what is in the
best interests of the disabled child, even in the home.”
Inhofe was joined by Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (SC), Mike Lee (UT),
Marco Rubio (FL) and most of the party’s leadership in quashing the
treaty. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), who is up for
re-election in 2014, voted against it.
“I and many of my constituents who home-school or send their children
to religious schools,” said Lee, “have justifiable doubt that a foreign
body based in Geneva, Switzerland, should be deciding what is best for a
child at home in Utah.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), a proponent of the treaty, was flummoxed by the opposition.
“I’ve heard some of my Republican colleagues talk many times about
making the rest of the world more like America,” he said. “I hate to
think that now, when we have an opportunity to do that, they will
retreat from the core conviction and oppose a treaty modeled on the
United States example [the Americans With Disabilities Act] which has no recourse in American courts and no
effect on American law.”
Former senator and presidential candidate Rick "man on dog" Santorum is now a columnist at wingnut Birther conspiracy central, World Net Daily. Rick Santorum joins World Net Daily as 'exclusive' columnist. Santorum published his first column on Monday, which argued against the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Why are we allowing public policy to be determined by religious zealots right out of the Dark Ages?
UPDATE: Lawrence O'Donnell's "Rewrite" of the Senate vote is a must-see commentary. As a former Senate staffer, O'Donnell is on the verge of tears as he describes the Senate's day of shame. The American Taliban and black helicopters conspiracy nuts failed their former Senate leader Bob Dole, with one word, no. "They failed their friend. They dishonored themselves, and they dishonored the United State Senate."
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Roll call vote: