GOP downgrades jobless for a definition of rape

LET'S SEE. We are about three weeks into the new Congress and, true to their word, the Republicans in the House are diligently upholding the public trust by...what? New programs to create jobs? Naw. If you've heard of any, let me know. Instead, they have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the meaning of rape. Well, a least that was their idea until a heavy wave of criticism from women's groups forced those pregnancy-proof white guys to back off and...what? Not sure. But the new batch of eager Tea Party-burnished GOP freshmen have two years to figure it out before the next election.

We shouldn't be expecting more from the them in their year of religious and political captivity.

Health care reform exuberance is also in play. For example, there was a report in the Plain Dealer's PolitiFact of how our new Republican congressman from the Canton area, Jim Renacci, responded at a public forum when he was questioned by a concerned citizen about his support of repealing the health care reform law.

No problem for him, Renacci said. It was a campaign pledge that he intended to uphold. He also said there was no way that Congress would keep its hands off the cost of Medicare, which he predicted would be reduced by a half-trillion dollars! What he didn't say was that blockbuster would be spread over the next 10 years. PolitiFact corrected him in the story.

As for rape and abortion , issues that a former conservative icon Ronald Reagan , as well as the Bushes, gave no more than lip service, have now taken center stage for the new conservative class. Abortion was at the heart of many who opposed ObamaCare on grounds that it was unconstitutional (without really knowing why). The debate, aided and abetted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and and other conservative Christians, is likely to consume a lot of Congress's time this year and maybe for the next 50 years. Meantime, they haven't gotten to a mess of other things that should move to the front of the bus. Wall Street corruption, gun control, insurance, pharmaceuticals, public employe unions, the environment and immigration.

Well,it's true you can't do everything. Unfortunately, the jobs this crowd has created are upgrades for their own employment.