WASHINGTON — Senator John F. Kerry made an impassioned but ultimately futile plea for ratifying a treaty aimed at advancing the rights of the blind and disabled across the globe, urging Congress to do for the world what has already been accomplished in the United States to protect Americans with disabilities.
In the end, Kerry and other supporters fell five votes short of the 66 needed for ratification of the international pact known as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — hailed by advocates as a human rights effort to transform how nations across the world treat those with long-term physical, mental, and intellectual impairments, particularly children who face a future of bleakness because of their disabilities.
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What do republicans care about blind and disabled? Are they going to make them any money? No!! It is the survival of the fittest. The new dollar bill should change its sloagn from " in god we trust" to " greed is good"
What in the world are the republicans thinking? They deserved to lose last month and they should lose even more following this terrible vote.
This is just an embarrassment! Disabilities are not partisan. To make them so is just another example of how out of touch with reality the right wingnuts are. Thanks to Scott Brown and John McCain for breaking with the party, but of course that was meaningless because you both knew what the final score would be. Looks good on the resume but irrelevent in the real world.
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It is so appalling that there were not enough Republicans who could bring themselves to vote for the international rights of disabled persons. If they can't join with Democrats on this one there isn't much hope for further cooperation. Golda Mier once said, "We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us." I believe that bi-partisanship will only happen when the ultra conservatives love America more than they hate President Obama.
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This bill was doomed as soon as they put the letters "UN" in its title. "Threat to US sovereignty" is one of those line in the sand issues for far-rightists, and they pretty much hate the UN and all that they think it stands for. The other part of this issue, the so-called abortion rights section, is another item that impedes progress every day in the USA. When you've got a coalition of veterans, disabled, former presidents of both parties, and various eminences grises, and they can't ensure passage of a particular bill, then we're in bigger trouble than anyone realizes. Oh, and how did McConnell vote on this bill? Anyone know?
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Disability knows no distinction of race, religion, party, national origin or class. It is a democratic affliction. It strikes across the broad range of humanity. That Senator Bob Dole, a man greviously wounded in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944/45, a man who has lived with the pain of those terrible wounds every day of his long, distinguished life could be forced to sit and watch the members of what used to be the party of Lincoln vote thus; is to realize how far the G. O. P. has become unmoored from its glory days and simple humanity.
The UN always sounds conserned and generous for the worlds problems that it offers to solve and create a better and peaceful world. Be ware of the silver tongues of the UN leadership as they are interested in your gold , possessing your rights and freedom plus control and total power over your American life style.Another form of divide and conquer of the masses for the benefit of Governments leaders.Beware ....if it sounds to be too good to be true it is........