Come on Congress, Do Useful Stuff

I usually try to stay away from being political in this blog. And, I should probably restrain myself this time as well, but I feel the urge to write on this one.

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved by a vote of 22-14, HR 1232, which would add to taxable income of an individual any Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account reimbursements for abortion-related expenses. There would be an exception for abortions necessitated by rape or incest. It would also not apply where the mother's life is in danger if the pregnancy continued.

Where do I stand on the abortion issue? It doesn't matter for the purpose of this discussion. My views on the matter are a personal decision. And, you know what, no matter how strong (or not) my convictions in this area, to the rest of the country, it probably doesn't matter.

There is a key reason for this. Last I checked, I do not sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. It's been a lot of years, but the Supreme Court has already ruled on the issue of abortion. It's now what the learned or wannabe learned among us call stare decisis. For those among us who prefer to read the English rather than the Latin, it means to stay with what has been decided. Now, there is nothing to say that the Supreme Court cannot hear a new case where it changes its collective mind, but frankly, this is pretty rare.

So, my message here to Congress is that we have a federal debt that now exceeds $14 trillion. We have troops deployed in combat in nations far from our shores. Unemployment is high. The cost of energy grows every day.

And, you elected buffoons waste your time on HR 1232. Shame on you, it's stare decisis.