It’s in the Constitution. You can’t ratify a treaty without the consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Presently, that means that you need 67 votes. It also means that you can’t have more than 33 senators opposed to ratification. They had a vote in the Senate today on something called the motion to proceed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wanted to begin debate on a treaty called the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It’s basically an international treaty that recognizes the rights of disabled people and it is based in large part on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
You would hope that we could at least debate ratifying a treaty like this, and it turned out that we could. The Senate requires 60 votes to pass the motion to proceed and Harry Reid got 61 votes. The problem is that 36 senators voted against even having a debate about the merits of ratifying the bill, and that is three more than opponents will need to defeat it.
Some Republican say they oppose ratifying treaties during a lameduck session of Congress, but that makes little sense because the Democratic majority will be stronger next year. Some Republicans say they are opposed because they don’t want to surrender our sovereignty to the United Nations, but the treaty wouldn’t surrender any U.S. sovereignty.
The Republicans voted overwhelmingly to invade Iraq and create tens of thousands of disabled Americans as a result. And it turns out that they don’t like disabled people any better than gays, blacks, Latinos, or single women in law school who use contraception.
Bravo.
Big empty tent party.
Oh, come on. We all know Republicans are champions of people with disabilities. Sarah Palin told us so.
I wonder how many of those Republicans who are so concerned about US sovereignty are planning to vote in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Most, I’m sure, along with most Democrats, that’s why it wasn’t featured in any campaign. It’s AG’s Permagov in action.
How else does one demonstrate their extreme machismo if they can’t go around kicking cripples? It also increases penis size.
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I’m glad to see some humor in this post and thread, because it’s increasingly clear we’ll need to keep a sense of humor and perspective to deal with the Republican Party in the next several years.
Along with a sense of humor and perspective, we’ll need to keep working to defeat them as many times as necessary for them to come to their senses. (In the case of the New Deal that meant winning 5 presidential elections in a row, followed by the most popular general of WW II who ran pledging to keep the New Deal together. And even then, it was another 40 years before Republicans won back the House.)
I hate to dash cold water on this cheery thread, which certainly has me smiling, but they have the House now and are holding it with a vengeance. Holding the House along with control of the MSM pretty much means they are going to have their way for two more years after which they will run on, “Obama and the Democrats made your life worse!”
Not necessarily. Which is why it’s important for Democrats and progressives to keep our heads down and keep organizing for as many short and long-term victories as we can: the “fiscal cliff”, the debt ceiling, immigration reform, etc.
Basically, Republicans won’t change until the costs of acting the way they do now exceed the benefits. Given that a huge part of their base is resentful, reactionary white folks—and that a bunch of congressional Republicans have safe seats because their base makes up most of their electorate—it’s going to take a few years, at least.
oh this one’s going to earn Pat Toomey a phone call. What a piece of fucking shit,
Oh, I think you need to write about that one afterwards. 🙂
Yes, and some groups get kicked, but ask: “Please Sir, can I have another?” Don’t believe me? It’s happening right here in PA:
http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Corbett-honored-by-disability-group-while-angry-disability-
rights-activists-to-protest-outside.html
this is who they are.
this cannot be a shock to anyone.
When Republicans want to kick cripples, they shouldn’t hide behind a motion to proceed. They should have to have a recorded vote.
It isn’t about cripples, it’s about obstruction. If there’s any filibuster at all–and I advocate stripping the whole thing–it should be limited to the vote on passage. And the debate should continue.
Some Republicans oppose ratifying treaties, period, because it “limits the sovereignty of the United States”.
“It’s basically an international treaty that recognizes the rights of disabled people and it is based in large part on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.”
Then why do we need the treaty?
What’s this fight really about?
It is always admirable to agitate for human decency.