The Radical has been working overtime pitting citizens against each other. Citizens that have more in common with each other than they do with any of the "GOOPHER" candidates running under the disgraceful tent of the GOP. Seamus' abusive owner would those of us to are informed to believe he is the man of the people. If he abused Seamus to the point of running away up in Canada what can he possibility understand of the lower income people whose votes he hopes to wrest away from...well...ANYBODY!Claiming a victory in Michigan he plays down that were only a few districts that carried him: the richest districts. Santorum, vying for the new movie remake of THE OMEN carried the lower and middle class districts in Michigan. Using a Rev. Al story it appears Santorum got the gigantic pieces of pie! Delegates were split equally between Mitt the Magician who magically outsourced jobs at much cheaper rates, broke unions and whose wizardry to have Detroit go bankrupt went Ppfft in the face of the so called novice magic maker, Barack Obama. He who shall never again by named by me is this political cycle's Voldemort all appearing preened for success until the nonsense spills out of his mouth, of course ruining his magic moment. While at Daytona our villain admitted not being as great a fan as many and garbled his spell by adding his friends own the teams. A BP-esque way of calling everyone else "Little People". But as I wax the pen of whimsy there truly something serious going on here. In many states, legislatures have already passed state voting laws making state issued IDs the only pass into the voting booth. In Texas, to be fair, a gun permit is also acceptable.
States Rights. If this state by state movement weren't so threatening I would laugh at the desperate measures the GOOPHERS are utilizing because they must really know it is not likely a Republican will win a Presidential election. But goes even further than this. Republican legislatures have now closed hundreds of polling places in their states citing this will not prove inconvenient as it will only require another five minute walk and a little longer wait on line. They do not seem to care that it is highly noticeable and suspicious that these closings are taking place in minority districts that tend to vote democratic. They are giving us transparency alright. Loud and clear.
States Rights. This is a phrase that sends shudders down my spine! As a student of history I know that after the Civil War, President Johnson a rebel sympathizer turned away giving implied consent to what would become an indentured servitude class, despite being outlawed, called peonage. this made it possible for a white man to walk up to any Black man or woman and say "You owe me money". Well justice being as it was back then and, if the Goophers have their way we will all be reduced to this in time. But what happened is state by state these laws were passed making it possible for a Black person to be imprisoned under conditions that in many cases were worse than slavery because as the prisoners were leased out for hard labor, there was no need to even feed them!
Of course there was a conspiracy among the rich White ANGRY men, such as we are witnessing today to ensure prisons terms were far longer than the alleged debt.
Am I nuts to believe I am seeing history being repeated here? Am I nuts that the more States' Rights legislation is being bargained for, bought and instilled the rights of Americans are being trampled down to the days when the Good Ol' (WHITE AND ANGRY OF COURSE) boys club ruled over everything like a fifedom?
If there is war fare going on here it is NOT to the wealthy but to the poor, minorities, liberal voters consisting of rabble rousing vitriol designed to reach the least open minded and educated of us all. Yet, like in Civil War Times Santorium sneers at college education in a disparaging way. I guess it's the modern times' version of it being against the law for slaves to read. He would have it be a disgrace to be a person who THINKS!
To my dismay my doomsday conspiricist nature was right when long, long ago I saw a plot. A plot to destroy a rising class of educated thinkers from the ranks of our society in favor of fans who will cheer the loss of even their rights so long as no one else has them and jeer those among us who see the imminent danger being posed to us. Under the guise of so called success, under the shroud of coming from a poor family, under the guise of the bully pulpit These are the true Barbarians only they have been inside our gates for a very, very long time.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
This Post Modern Reconstruction Era
If you have not seen it you MUST watch the PBS special, SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME. As I watched this incredibly informative program about life after the Emancipation Proclamation I saw saw frightening similarities between then and now.
To briefly recap, after Lincoln's assassination the new President (Johnson) was allied with southern interests. Being an economy based on free labor run by a small number of aristocrats (sound familiar?) and with a majority of poor whites who were also uneducated and poverty stricken, free Black people were feared as competitors for work aka survival.
In 1864 slavery was outlawed by The 13th Amendment was issued as a temporary act which read, "Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
In 1868 to further ensure equality the 14th Amendment was passed stating (Section 1)
that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
In 1870 the 15th Amendment was passed stating the prime objective in Section 1 as being, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Basically what happened thereafter was a backlash in the south that resulted in the placement of congressional leaders that passed laws EMPOWERING INDIVIDUAL STATES to govern according to their own laws (Sound familiar?) The result, as brilliantly illustrated in this documentary, was laws that made (for example) loitering being defined as being unemployed with loitering being a crime punishable by imprisonment. Of course there were other laws such as the Pig Laws that made stealing a pig punishable by eight years in prison! the south then found a way to get back cheap labor by sentencing man, many more Black men than white men so they could be hired out to hard labor for the newly growing Industrial Economy.
With the push for States' Rights being bandied about in a frighteningly serious manner and with ignorance not only being catered to but lauded as a virtue can we not see where this is going?
Fast forward to our present. The elite one per cent is doing the very same thing to circumvent rights such as federal laws to which states must comply. States' Rights, if put in place could over ride federal law and cancel the Civil rights Acts, Women's Voting rights and even freedom of religion! this sounds far fetched some may say but, is it really?
With misinformation being bandied about that many people are not minimally educated enough to know States' Rights might appeal to a particular religious or philosophical point of view.
Now consider this: Have the ninety-nine per cent, over time, becomes slaves by another name?
To briefly recap, after Lincoln's assassination the new President (Johnson) was allied with southern interests. Being an economy based on free labor run by a small number of aristocrats (sound familiar?) and with a majority of poor whites who were also uneducated and poverty stricken, free Black people were feared as competitors for work aka survival.
In 1864 slavery was outlawed by The 13th Amendment was issued as a temporary act which read, "Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
In 1868 to further ensure equality the 14th Amendment was passed stating (Section 1)
that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
In 1870 the 15th Amendment was passed stating the prime objective in Section 1 as being, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Basically what happened thereafter was a backlash in the south that resulted in the placement of congressional leaders that passed laws EMPOWERING INDIVIDUAL STATES to govern according to their own laws (Sound familiar?) The result, as brilliantly illustrated in this documentary, was laws that made (for example) loitering being defined as being unemployed with loitering being a crime punishable by imprisonment. Of course there were other laws such as the Pig Laws that made stealing a pig punishable by eight years in prison! the south then found a way to get back cheap labor by sentencing man, many more Black men than white men so they could be hired out to hard labor for the newly growing Industrial Economy.
With the push for States' Rights being bandied about in a frighteningly serious manner and with ignorance not only being catered to but lauded as a virtue can we not see where this is going?
Fast forward to our present. The elite one per cent is doing the very same thing to circumvent rights such as federal laws to which states must comply. States' Rights, if put in place could over ride federal law and cancel the Civil rights Acts, Women's Voting rights and even freedom of religion! this sounds far fetched some may say but, is it really?
With misinformation being bandied about that many people are not minimally educated enough to know States' Rights might appeal to a particular religious or philosophical point of view.
Now consider this: Have the ninety-nine per cent, over time, becomes slaves by another name?
Friday, February 17, 2012
When Hell Freisses Over!
So some people think Santorum supporter Freiss's aspirin remark was just a joke?
There is something rotten here and those that toss misogyny around as if it will change anything within the mind of majority Americans (including a majority of Republicans)in actuality know better. These ANGRY WHITE KNOW! Why else is money being tossed in the ring to the extent that it will continue to be? Super Pacs I don't believe really care what the morality issue is here. They only care about who will pander to their interests. So these morality plays are just to get the unwitting/racist/misogynistic/narrow minded and poorly informed people on board. Cloaked under the cape of religion, Witch Hunts are afoot. Again. And, again against women!
But this really behooves the compounding issues. From personhood laws, to voter ID laws geared to eliminating millions of democratic leaning voters to Seamus's abusive owner saying there are safety nets and charitable organizations--blah, blah, BLAH the underlying issue is all about rights. It's about the right of women to make decisions about her body. It's about the have nots having the power to vote for THEIR INTERESTS. It's about putting state mandates about Gay Marriage in the manure pile where it belongs because Gay Marriage is a CIVIL RIGHT. End of story. In fact all these issues are about CIVIL RIGHTS. States' Rights means a state can have laws contrary to Federal law! It means some states could make it illegal for Black, women and Gays to even have the vote! It's about freedom. Freedom for women to make decisions about their bodies, the freedom to not have one's rights to vote undermined and the freedom to be an equal member of this country whether you are a minority, a woman or Gay!
Sadly, there are some that are falling for the smoke and mirrors ploy but polls are very encouraging in that most Americans simply do not agree. As the GOP keeps talking the President Obama and democrats are gaining ground. It should be a major sweep except for the fact that the GOP is gaining points as it gets, state by state voter ID laws that just might PREVENT a majority of these Americans, state by state, to even have the opportunity to vote. I hear RIGGED offstage....
There is something rotten here and those that toss misogyny around as if it will change anything within the mind of majority Americans (including a majority of Republicans)in actuality know better. These ANGRY WHITE KNOW! Why else is money being tossed in the ring to the extent that it will continue to be? Super Pacs I don't believe really care what the morality issue is here. They only care about who will pander to their interests. So these morality plays are just to get the unwitting/racist/misogynistic/narrow minded and poorly informed people on board. Cloaked under the cape of religion, Witch Hunts are afoot. Again. And, again against women!
But this really behooves the compounding issues. From personhood laws, to voter ID laws geared to eliminating millions of democratic leaning voters to Seamus's abusive owner saying there are safety nets and charitable organizations--blah, blah, BLAH the underlying issue is all about rights. It's about the right of women to make decisions about her body. It's about the have nots having the power to vote for THEIR INTERESTS. It's about putting state mandates about Gay Marriage in the manure pile where it belongs because Gay Marriage is a CIVIL RIGHT. End of story. In fact all these issues are about CIVIL RIGHTS. States' Rights means a state can have laws contrary to Federal law! It means some states could make it illegal for Black, women and Gays to even have the vote! It's about freedom. Freedom for women to make decisions about their bodies, the freedom to not have one's rights to vote undermined and the freedom to be an equal member of this country whether you are a minority, a woman or Gay!
Sadly, there are some that are falling for the smoke and mirrors ploy but polls are very encouraging in that most Americans simply do not agree. As the GOP keeps talking the President Obama and democrats are gaining ground. It should be a major sweep except for the fact that the GOP is gaining points as it gets, state by state voter ID laws that just might PREVENT a majority of these Americans, state by state, to even have the opportunity to vote. I hear RIGGED offstage....
Friday, February 10, 2012
Right versus THE RIGHT
Despite my having issues with late term"ish" abortions it is a slippery slope to curb abortion rights in any way. All women will lose and with this "personhood" campaign going around we can now see how it inevitably even looped full circle to making President's Obama's new birth control policy a hot button religious liberty issue.
Aside from the benefits to women's health this policy presents it is mind boggling how little (it seems) the right wing subscribers know about American history. I am speaking about the general extreme right population that seems to accept that somehow the founding Fathers wanted to protect religious over liberty of the individual. It is perhaps a sad statement on education standards that I remember separation of Church and State being designed to prevent the discriminatory practices against Protestantism in Europe as well as the these practices being adopted by the very group that was discriminated against (Puritans.)
Perhaps I don't get it. As a lapsed “Cafeteria Catholic” most of my peers and family members gave no credence to Pontifical decrees. I believe in religious freedom. Staunchly as I myself belong to a “non-traditional” belief system but I cannot fathom why Catholic founded institutions, hospitals and agencies cannot simply allow for individual choice. I find it interesting though that Viagra is covered but oral contraceptives that serve a multitude of purposes one of which might be contraception should not.
In the attempt to rewind the clock to back alley abortions and when women were kept in their places the face of the angry WHITE man is showing itself.
Aside from the benefits to women's health this policy presents it is mind boggling how little (it seems) the right wing subscribers know about American history. I am speaking about the general extreme right population that seems to accept that somehow the founding Fathers wanted to protect religious over liberty of the individual. It is perhaps a sad statement on education standards that I remember separation of Church and State being designed to prevent the discriminatory practices against Protestantism in Europe as well as the these practices being adopted by the very group that was discriminated against (Puritans.)
Perhaps I don't get it. As a lapsed “Cafeteria Catholic” most of my peers and family members gave no credence to Pontifical decrees. I believe in religious freedom. Staunchly as I myself belong to a “non-traditional” belief system but I cannot fathom why Catholic founded institutions, hospitals and agencies cannot simply allow for individual choice. I find it interesting though that Viagra is covered but oral contraceptives that serve a multitude of purposes one of which might be contraception should not.
In the attempt to rewind the clock to back alley abortions and when women were kept in their places the face of the angry WHITE man is showing itself.
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