Joe Walsh has stood up for us, it's time we stand up for him - tell Planned Parenthood to buzz off

To date, I have no complaints about the job Rep. Joe Walsh, from here in the 8th Congressional District of Illinois, is doing. He voted against the budget deal and has shown that there was metal in his words from the campaign. That is a very unusual characteristic for a politician these days, so much so that, if Joe keeps it up, we'll have to stop calling him a politician and start thinking of him as a statesman.

There is, of course, a price to pay for standing up with that kind of character in Washington, D.C. I mean, if it was easy, everyone elected to office would do it. Efforts to appease voters with an eye to re-election is the basic motivating factor for many of the wrong-minded votes that are produced in our government.

Today, I woke up to hear a Planned Parenthood commercial telling people to call Joe Walsh and another representative and ask them why they voted to randomly shoot women on the streets. OK, that's not exactly what they said but, for all intents and purposes, they might have well tried to convince listeners that a vote against Planned Parenthood is a vote to eliminate women.

The problem is that, according to viable information I've heard, the idea that Planned Parenthood is primarily an organization that works to improve women's health is a red herring at best and, more likely, a flat out lie. And, even if it were true; even if most of their time was spent performing mammograms and similar procedures, if they performed even one abortion the portion of their funding that comes from our taxes makes those who feel abortion is murder unwilling accomplices in the crime.

I applaud Rep. Walsh for having the courage to stand up to the organized pressure of a Planned Parenthood to cast a vote that is long overdue. And I'm writing this because I believe, if Joe is willing to stand up as a statesman, the least I can do is support him in the process. I'm asking the rest of you to do the same. If you appreciate the manner in which Joe Walsh has lived up to his campaign promises then stand up for Joe. If we do it for him, more and more politicians may notice what happens when someone votes with character and more of those politicians may choose the path of statesman instead of wobbly kneed bums who say one thing to get elected and then do other things to stay elected.