Showing posts with label women's rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women's rights. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Mississippi: So Depressing

Living in Mississippi can be a challenge. It is a very conservative state. One that elected Governor Phil Bryant who said this:
"Even if you believe in abortion, the hypocrisy of the left that now tried to kill this bill, that says that I should have never signed it, the true hypocrisy is that their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb."

No Mr. Bryant, we leftists do not have as our life's mission to kill children in the womb. Our life's mission is to guarantee that a woman has the right to make private medical decisions about her body. It is our life's goal that women have access to birth control so they can make private decisions about how many children they want. In short, it is keeping BIG GOVERNMENT out of a person's medical decisions.

He also supports a bill for school prayer. It sounds innocuous. Students leading prayers, what harm can there be in that? For one thing, the students are chosen by the administrators of the school and people of different faiths or no faiths will have to listen to largely Christian prayers at mandatory school assemblies. This bill seeks to sneak around the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment. Children can already pray in schools. This bill is unnecessary and will just cost taxpayers more money as will the abortion bill passed.

It is maddening sometimes talking to others about these issues. You mention the 2nd Amendment and that's got their attention. You mention those pesky other rights and it's crickets.

I think the mind-set of our legislature is reflected in Republican Senator Tony Smith who was able to get passed what is called the anti-Bloomberg bill. It proposes that restaurants do not need to list ingredients or calories and was in response to the 32 oz soda ban passed and then knocked down in New York city.

See he benefits greatly form this bill as he owns Stonewell's BBQ and catering. He proposed legislation that benefits him another way. He voted to require schools to have longer vacation times.

It's not any wonder that Mississippi ranks last in education and in so many other areas. But a lot of Mississippians keep voting for these people even though it's not in their best interest. Just shout the words "states rights" and "gun control" and you have the majority of votes. And the effect is depressing.

The following chart is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics :

The majority of the 1,300,000 workers in Mississippi make an average of $200 less a week than the national average of workers across the country. That works out to be $260,000,000 in less earnings. This a legacy of Governor Ross Barnett who made Mississippi a so-called "right to work" state in 1960. Our current governor and legislature continues the grand tradition.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Self-hating Jew?

Someone, an anonymous person from Littleton CO, has accused me of being a self-hating Jew because I support President Obama.

There are many reasons I support President Obama. He is not out to get Israel. He is not a Muslim. His policies on Israel are about the same as past presidents. Unlike some past presidents such as George W. Bush, he did not promise to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

All presidents from President Truman to President Obama have supported Israel. Some have offered better support than others. Both Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon both Republican, withheld timely help when Israel desperately needed it. Just look at the Yom Kippur War and contrast it with President Johnson's, a Democrat, response during the 1967 war.


I cannot support any of the current Republican candidates for president. Newt Gingrich has openly advocated jailing judges he disagrees with. Mitt Romney actually thinks that a corporation is a person. Santorum seems to want to establish a theocracy and do away with our representative democracy.

All of them seem to have a singular disregard for a actual, breathing persons individual rights. All of them seem to morbidly interested in women's reproductive rights than in looking at ways to help the unemployed. Some of them openly embrace endorsements from those that say homosexuals should be killed. Most of them show a contempt for science.

Here's a good example of Republicans in action:It's an anti-bullying law but states that a person with deeply held religious convictions can make a statement for those beliefs. The bill was aimed at gay kids who were being tormented. But it would have helped other kids who were being bullied. I guess it will be okay for those with deeply held religious beliefs to call Jewish children "christ killers" or kikes.

These Republican contenders all show a tendency toward fascism.

Just look at this:


1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

From Liberty Forum


The Republicans, to me, already have the first 13 points locked in. All across the nation, Republican controlled states are attempting mass voter suppression by various laws.

No, I'm not a self-hating Jew. I'm just one who remembers where great-great-great-great grandfather came from: Tulchin. I also remember a conversation I had with my Grandfather about the US. I told him we are so lucky to be living here and would never have to worry about being prosecuted because of religion. He said it could happen here and that we must be on guard. Read the above 14 points again.