MS SB2681- Not Just Against the Gays

The Mississippi legislature is in the process of enacting SB2681, a so-called Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This law is not just about shop owners being able to discriminate against homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, and bi-sexuals. It's an open assault on everyone's civil liberties.

 Look at the wording in this section:

 58         (c)"Exercise of religion" means the practice or
 59 observance of religion. "Exercise of religion" includes, but is
 60 not limited to, the ability to act or the refusal to act in a
 61 manner that is substantially motivated by one's sincerely held
 62 religious belief, whether or not the exercise is compulsory or
 63 central to a larger system of religious belief.

This is going back to the times when hospitals could refuse treatment of blacks.  This is going back to a time when businesses had signs hanging in their windows that Jews were not allowed.

The Founding Fathers knew what great harm religions could do.  I believe they wrote the 1st Amendment because the US was a haven for those who could not practice their religion freely in other countries.  Baptists, Quakers, Calvinists, and other Protestant sects flocked here.  So did Jews and other non-Christians.  They wanted people of faith to be able to worship as  they wanted without interference from the government.

This intended law can have dire consequences and to me is a danger to all.  This law can be used to discriminate against Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and others as long as the person doing the discriminating is acting on "the refusal to act in a manner that is substantially motivated by one's sincerely held religious belief".

My grandfather at the age of 10, with his family, immigrated to this country because of real persecution and not the made up persecution of Fox News .  As Jews living in Ukraine they were unable to hold certain jobs, land, etc.  They faced pogroms were their villages were burned to the ground, women were raped, and all could be killed.  It was especially bad around Easter.

They came to this country because they knew that there was freedom.  There was religious freedom and they didn't have to worry about government interference.  There was bigotry.  Jews were not allowed in certain places but it was not government sanctioned discrimination.

This proposed law would allow government sanctioned discrimination against the LGBT community, non-Christians, non-whites, atheists, and even against Christians.  It must be stopped if the US is truly to be the Land of the Free.

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.

ALEC: Their Corporate Sponsors are Abandoning Them

.... what about Mississippi state legislatures? Cottonmouth has a list.

The following are from the Coast:

Rep. Henry Zuber (R - Ocean Springs) - Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force

Rep. Jeffrey S. Guice (R - Ocean Springs) - Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force

Rep. Mark S. Formby (R - Picayune) - Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force

Sen. Thomas Gollott (R - Biloxi) - Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force

Sen. Michael Watson (R - Pascagoula) - Health and Human Services Task Force

What is ALEC? The American Legislative Exchange Council is responsible for the reprehensible flurry of legislation going on the states for the notorious "stand your ground" laws. They are also responsible for the slew of anti-immigration laws. Fortunately, Mississippi legislatures had more wisdom than their counter parts in Alabama and did not enact a similar law.

ALEC Exposed shows some of the very corporate friendly legislation that will curtail your rights as a consumer and as an employee. They also support suppression of voter's rights. Voter ID anyone?

The Gates Foundation was the latest financial supporter of ALEC to back away.

The foundation said it would not award another grant to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the face of criticism of the council's involvement in voting laws and in "stand your ground" gun laws such as one under scrutiny in the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida.

"At this point, we've decided that it's not the right environment to continue working with them," Gates Foundation spokesman Chris Williams told Reuters on Tuesday.

The "stand your ground" laws are onerous and deserve the attention they are getting now. Hopefully, the voter ID laws will receive the same scrutiny and the legislatures who are members of ALEC deserve our scrutiny as well.