TERRE HAUTE —
I really didn’t expect to be gone nearly six months, but then, that’s par for the course these days: What I expect to happen and what actually occurs are often about 180 degrees apart.
For example, I had expected a roundup of items to be my first column back after my hiatus. But some ferocious straight winds late last month shoved their way to the front of the line, and I couldn’t see much beyond the destruction they left behind. (Nature always bats last.)
Something else I didn’t expect was Mitch Daniels dropping out of the race for president. He’d been all but anointed The Great GOP Hope by some of the most enthusiastic, true conservative pundits in the country. (I say “true conservative” to distinguish between folks who believe in moving slowly and thoughtfully, conserving traditions of government and private enterprise, and folks who want to throw out the baby with the hot tea water, which is not conservative, but radical.)
I am not the governor’s biggest fan, but he was one of the most reasonable Republican politicians on the national menu. I looked forward to him debating his fellow party members — Hello, Michele Bachmann — and then President Obama in 2012. I also looked forward to the national media presence a Daniels’ candidacy would have brought to Indiana. Why should Iowa and New Hampshire get all that hotel and restaurant revenue?
Alas, Daniels disappointed many and quit. His stated reason must have given pause to seasoned GOP strategists who’d been so hot on him. Reiterating his desire and qualifications for the job, he said he was nonetheless bowing to the wishes of his wife and four daughters: “Our family constitution gives a veto to the women’s caucus, and there is no override provision.” In other words, “I really want to do this, I am really ready to do it and I really think I could win, but my wife and kids won’t let me.” That is an admirable stance if you are running for Father of the Year, but for a man who maintains that he has what it takes to pilot the United States, well …
More curious were the Hoosier pundits who heaped scorn on their media colleagues for daring to report on marital problems Mitch and Cheri Daniels experienced a few years back. The journalistic grousing was as irritating as it was naive.
Talk to the Obamas about fair coverage of their personal lives. Talk to Newt Gingrich and the three Mrs. Gingriches. Talk to Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford and former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. It might be a shame (or it might not), but in politics, the personal is political and vice versa. So it has been for a long time. As Harry Truman cautioned more than six decades ago, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
I just wish the Daniels women had exercised their female caucus veto to help stop Indiana and its governor from committing HEA 1210, the anti-woman amendment to an anti-woman bill that has (1) made it harder than ever for poor females to access decent health care here and (2) picked an expensive court fight with the U.S. government.
In April, the predominantly male, “conservative” majority in the General Assembly voted to deny federal — repeat, federal — funding to the primary health care provider for 9,300 Hoosier women on Medicaid: Planned Parenthood. (Legislators insist their target wasn’t exclusively Planned Parenthood, but that’s a public relations lie.) Gov. Daniels signed the measure into law. Other “conservative” legislatures have followed suit, despite a similar move having failed in Congress.
Someday, the issue will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt advanced the case late Friday by granting a preliminary injunction to stop implementation of the de-funding until a permanent injunction hearing takes place.
In the long meantime, however, the lives of real women are affected in a seriously negative way. Medicaid patients have been told to pay for the services they receive at Planned Parenthood or “go elsewhere,” as if that were as simple as switching from Kroger to Marsh. Before Pratt’s ruling, all 28 Planned Parenthood of Indiana offices were shuttered because of a forced day-without-pay for employees.
One more time:
n No federal money pays for abortions, in any state, ever.
n About 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s entire annual output of services involves abortion, the other 97 percent involves such services as Pap smears, breast exams, contraceptives (which prevent pregnancies and abortions) and diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Of the 28 Hoosier Planned Parenthood offices, four provide abortions.
n According to the author of HEA 1210, state Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, “The fundamental issue is that when we take tax dollars and fund any entity that performs abortions, we’re forcing taxpayers to support a practice that many feel is objectionable.” Really? So why are hospitals that provide abortions exempt from the Medicaid de-funding? And what about the many millions of taxpayers who find safe, legal abortion much less objectionable than unsafe, illegal abortion?
n Indiana’s request in May to cut Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid loop was denied by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In fact, the head of HHS’ Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services said the state’s new measure risks federal funding for about 1 million Hoosier Medicaid recipients.
n In her ruling, Judge Pratt, said the de-funding is a violation of federal law. She referred to potential Medicaid losses that “could total well over $5 billion dollars annually” for Hoosiers. Denying the injunction, she added, “could pit the federal government against the State of Indiana in a high-stakes political impasse. And if dogma trumps pragmatism and neither side budges, Indiana's most vulnerable citizens could end up paying the price as the collateral damage of a partisan battle.”
n The Social Security Act, which includes Medicaid, states: “Any individual eligible for medical assistance … may obtain such assistance from any institution, agency, community pharmacy, or person, qualified to perform the service or services required.”
n Abortion is still legal in this country, and every legitimate poll that uses straightforward questions finds that the majority of Americans still supports legal abortion with some restrictions.
Last item: A final few words about the aforementioned Anthony Weiner. Between his initial “I was hacked” denials and his June 16 resignation, Weiner fought hard to keep his congressional seat. Just one day after Weiner admitted he actually had emailed those close-up shots of his family jewels, a House colleague, Rep. Edolphus Towns, explained, “He was embarrassed. He is trying to pick up the pieces and move on.”
Admirable first idea, unfortunate second. Picking up the pieces after you have crashed your marriage and career to the floor is a good thing. Trying to “move on” only hours after the crash is childish, bone-headed and futile.
We are an impatient culture, to be sure, but some boo-boos require more than a couple of minutes in the penalty box. Sending sexually explicit photos of one’s self to several women one has never met, when one is a married U.S. Congressman, then lying about those actions, is precisely such a boo-boo. At least South Carolina Gov. Mark “I was hiking the Appalachian Trail” Sanford, knew that. “Forgiveness is not an immediate process,” he said, “it is in fact a process that takes time and I’ll be in that process for quite some weeks and months and I suspect years ahead.”
Another indication of Weiner’s poor grasp on, um, reality was noted by a friend of mine via e-mail. She said she had conducted a straw poll and “a high percentage of women are NOT interested or turned on to receive a photo of a man’s ‘junk.’ Women would prefer a picture of a kitten, puppy or chocolate! Someone needs to educate these Martians.”
Stephanie Salter can be reached by email at SalterOpinion@gmail.com.
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Tribune-Star columnist Stephanie Salter.
Discussion
STEPHANIE SALTER: Back in the saddle — with the usual burr under it
- Stephanie Salter
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The more things change, the more they … change
What the late, great Pittsburgh Pirates slugger knew, so knew the ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, the Buddha and Andy Warhol.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Making room for the least among us — and their kin
Christmas. Quiet time. Down time. Not exactly the kind of day most folks tend to contemplate their fellow Americans behind bars. And yet, the United States leads the world in percentage of population in jail or prison, far ahead of second-place Russia. About 2.3 million people — nearly one in 100 adults — are incarcerated in this country.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Carols for the worn, weary and wigged out
For those who are agog and aglow with “the season” — you who start bouncing and humming in Toys R Us at the intro guitar notes of “Jingle Bell Rock” — better search elsewhere for a soul mate.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Times change. Things disappear. Toilet paper here to stay
You may have seen an email going around with “Nine Things That Will Disappear in Our Lifetime.”
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STEPHANIE SALTER: What I learned on election day
When I identified myself as a volunteer for the non-incumbent mayoral candidate, the woman on the other end of the line cut me off. “Save your breath, dear,” she said.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Of politics, protests, coupons and e-wishes
It’s roundup time again, that periodic hunting down and herding together of items that have but one thing in common: They grabbed me.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: ‘Understandable’ not the same as ‘wise’
Because I’m not running for office and don’t plan to, I figure I am free to publicly question the designation of some 30 stretches of city streets as “memorial ways” for police and firefighters killed on the job.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Where have all the protest songs gone?
A telling moment came during the annual Eugene V. Debs award banquet late last month, when the career protest singer and songwriter, Anne Feeney, implored a huge Hulman Center audience to join her for the refrain of “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
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STEPHANIE SALTER: It’s business as usual, but what does it cost to stay angry?
As painful and profoundly sad as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 has been, I found the actual day a balm.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The unfortunate bottom line … St. Ann’s will close
Ever since word came down that St. Ann Church and Parish have less than a year to live, there’s been much invoking of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The Economy: One complex, thorny, bedeviling issue
No matter how much time and energy I spend trying to understand the Hydra we blithely call “The Economy,” I often worry that its mystery will forever elude me.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Thinking, now and then, about now and then
I am lying, poolside, in a plastic chaise lounge, listening to pop music and watching water droplets dry on my skin.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Thousands of things she would have missed
For several years, until she received an official information packet in the mail, my mother planned to donate her body to medical research.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Marriage? There’s an app for that ... but it’s tricky
As I watched all the happy people celebrating passage of New York’s same-sex marriage law, I couldn’t help but project to a time when Indiana adopts a similar statute.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Back in the saddle — with the usual burr under it
I really didn’t expect to be gone nearly six months, but then, that’s par for the course these days: What I expect to happen and what actually occurs are often about 180 degrees apart.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: On the other hand … we’ll have a lot fewer leaves to rake
Editor’s Note: Former Tribune-Star Assistant Editor Stephanie Salter’s column resumes today in freelance form and will appear on this page every other Sunday.
TERRE HAUTE — My neighbor, Andy, had just lowered the bamboo blinds on his front porch when we heard a mournful sound. -
Memorable victories
This was about as much fun as a doubleheader split could get for Rose-Hulman’s baseball team.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Another batch of my status-quo-defending misinformation on schools
The day after state schools chief Tony Bennett responded to my three-column education series, a longtime friend and veteran teacher called.
“I just read the superintendent’s rebuttal in the Tribune-Star,” my friend said. “All I can conclude from it is that you are a dumbass. Welcome to the club. Anybody who doesn’t buy into his vision of education reform is considered a dumbass.” -
Stephanie Salter: One person’s roundup of significant folks lost in 2010
Every late December, as I comb through lists of notable deaths, I swear I will never repeat the process. It takes days of Internet research, mostly because I get distracted by looking up people about whom I know nothing.
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Stephanie Salter: I've got some really good news for some of you guys
Of all the sentences I’ve imagined writing in my long, moss-covered newspaper career, this is not one of them: I am quitting my job to get married.
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Stephanie Salter: A little history of mandated intermingling among U.S. troops
Back in July 1948, when President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, predictions for its effect on the U.S. military were dire. Sen. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. of Georgia echoed the sentiments of millions of Americans in an address from the Senate floor.
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Stephanie Salter: Another wronged woman becomes the nation’s paper doll
A few hours after the death of Elizabeth Edwards last week, the creepy, contemporary American ritual of vicarious grieving began in cyberspace.
“You are with your son now. Rest in peace.” -
Stephanie Salter: You’ve heard from me — now, listen to the teachers
As e-mail from Indiana teachers and principals continues to pour into my box, the portrait of this beleaguered group grows more poignant each day.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: Have you heard Indiana’s schools are failing? It’s a lie
In Gov. Mitch Daniels’ recent state budget PowerPoint, he put up a comparison chart: The percentage of Indiana public school students who’ve attained an advanced level of math achievement versus “the world.” Hoosiers lag behind the national average, trailing such states as Massachusetts, Oregon and New York, and such nations as Poland and Latvia.
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Stephanie Salter: Bashing teachers in the name of education reform
As I read the Tribune-Star’s recent Page 1 news packages about the governor’s push for education reform, I kept seeing faces.
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Stephanie Salter: After the turkey and before the pie, a round of giving thanks
As my colleague Alicia Morgan wrote last week, there is no downside to taking time out now and then to list and truly appreciate our blessings.
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STEPHANIE SALTER: A story of just one corporate lobby ‘investing in advocacy’
For those of you who know in your marrow that the president’s attempt to overhaul the U.S. health care system proves his socialist agenda, take the day off. What reporter Drew Armstrong of Bloomberg News shared this past week will be of no interest to you.
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Stephanie Salter: Inside today’s grab bag …: Stamps, bands and GOP $$$
It’s time for another roundup of items, little ideas that can’t grow big enough for a whole column, but just won’t go away from my field of focus.
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Stephanie Salter: Can’t make a decision? Consult strangers on the ’Net
A day after I heard screenwriter and director Nora Ephron talking on NPR about that moment in the aging process when you realize you are no longer cut out to be au courant, that moment arrived for me.
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Stephanie Salter: The years may pass, but a friend will always ride shotgun
I should have known there would be a first-aid kit. Susan provided for every contingency.
How like her to have tucked a 106-piece, American Medical Association-approved kit under the passenger seat of her Honda Accord. How like me not to have discovered it until I was deep cleaning the car to get it ready to sell. - More Stephanie Salter Headlines
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STEPHANIE SALTER: The more things change, the more they … change
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Even Fla. Police Shocked by Face-Mauling Attack
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Romney Campaigns Ahead of Claiming Nomination
Obama Honors Medal of Freedom Recipients
Obama Honors Fallen Troops at Arlington Cemetery
Police Probe Similarities in 2 Disappearances
White House: No Military Intervention in Syria
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
Man in Crane at Texas College Says He's Armed
Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Panetta: Asia the 'Project' for New Navy Grads
Raw Video: Deadly Explosion at Minn. Paper Mill
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Voter Voices: Texas Primary Key Day for Romney
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Couple doesn’t let tropical storm ruin their big day
Tori Bares Baby Bump in Monokini
Letterman on Family Life Post-Scandal
Evans: Serena in shock
Pregnant Reese Wears LBD
Volcano covers Colombian cities in ash
Meet the Crew and Good Ship 'Prometheus'
Los Angeles Bar Bans Bachelorettes
Hamster Plays Dead
Beyonce Shows Off 60 Pound Weight Loss at Concert
Drunk Women Breaking Into Houses: A New Trend?
LeAnn Rimes Rocks Short Shorts
Gordon Ramsay Carried Off Field
Man Dies Getting Lap Dance
Kim Kardashian Claims Items Stolen from Her Luggage
Bear cools off in Calif. family's pool
Ep. 3: Chopped Desserts
Air Force dad surprises family at baseball game
