by Sunnyjane
Is it just me, or is global warming also responsible for the dramatic rise in stupidity and hatred in white right-wingers? A fanciful question, of course, because I don't believe I've seen an overabundance of our darker-skinned brothers and sisters leaning that far to the right, but you get my drift.
This last week has provided a glut of post topics (all of which have been discussed at length both in the blogosphere and the mainstream media), but I thought it might be interesting to examine in one lump what might well be regarded as the Whackiest Week That Was in American history.
So let's do that, shall we?
A Nation of Arrogant Squatters and Land Robbers
Oh aye, we are, you know. Many of our lily-white-complexioned ancestors simply sailed west across the Atlantic and claimed the eastern part of this country for England. Then they proceeded to push the Native Americans further west and began the methodical destruction of the abundant natural resources they discovered. But that's another story altogether.
They came for various reasons: the Puritans to avoid religious persecution, the Highland Scots of North Carolina to avoid English prosecution after the Jacobite Rising, and the Jamestown settlers so that three-hundred and fifty years later they could put up a theme park. No, seriously.
And while life in the United States today is far from hunky-dory, immigrants still want to come. Eleven million Latinos who are already here are working hard and becoming a vital part of our society without benefit of citizenship. Thus, we need to reform our immigration laws. Now.
The U. S. Senate passed -- by a wide margin of 68/32 -- an immigration reform bill that will, among other things, provide a pathway to citizenship. The House of Representatives, which has steadfastly refused to offer up a bill on immigration, now says, Huh uh, we're not gonna pass the Senate bill; we'll do our own bill! And, of course, the House bill will not, according to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, provide a pathway to citizenship, but rather a pathway to legalization. [Translation: We might let you work toward a green card.]
While Michele Bachmann is under the deluded impression that the future of America looks like a white baby, the truth is we have become a glorious nation of multiple shades and hues that reflect the various nationalities in this country. White people love to talk about minorities, when in fact, they are fast becoming the minority. [Memo to Bachmann and her bigoted followers: Face it and get over it.]
Repeal of DOMA May Cause Right-Wing Hair Loss
Clearly, eighty-three year old Pat Robertson is one of the most irritating, homophobic, racist, misogynistic Christians the citizens of this country have had to endure. After the decision on DOMA was announced, he actually asked a guest about Justice Anthony Kennedy's staff: Let me ask you about Anthony Kennedy. Does he
have some clerks that happen to be gays? Kudos to the rather startled guest, who said he had no idea what sexual orientation the justice's clerks were.
But over in the land of Robertson's legislative kindred spirits there was much angst and dire warnings. Louie Gohmert is ominously predicting that allowing gays and lesbians to marry will lead to bigamy and polygamy, while Michele Bachmann (yes, again) says that Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted. In a later press conference, Bachmann called the Court's decision an affront to the Constitution... Must we remind Ms. Bachmann one...more...time that this country is governed by the man-made laws of the Constitution of the United States, and not what she perceives as God's law?
Surely Nancy Pelosi's Who cares? when asked what she thought of Bachmann's condemnation of the ruling on gay
marriage has to rank right up there with President Obama's Please proceed, Governor during one of the 2012 debates with Mitt Romney. Soooo satisfying.
The Unconscionable Death of the Voting Rights Act
Chief Justice John Roberts successfully set the voting rights of minorities, the elderly, the poor, and the young back fifty years when he gutted Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. By ruling that the 1965 Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced unless Congress comes up with a new
way of determining which states and localities require federal monitoring of
elections, Roberts willfully gave GOP governors untethered license to do anything they damn well please to keep certain demographics in the country from voting.
The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy. In the 2012 election, that right was challenged in a way we have not seen since the civil rights and voting rights movements of the 1960s. Legislatures in primarily Republican-governed states decided that the freedom to vote must be restricted, and they erected unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to registration and voting.
There was nothing remotely covert about the Republicans' plans to repress citizens' ability to cast their votes on November 6. From Pennsylvania, where the state's House Majority Leader told committee meeting attendees, Voter ID [laws], which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done! to Florida where Gov. Rick Scott reduced early voting days from fourteen to eight, Republican plans to prevent people from voting were put into place.
It will happen again, and we'll get a good taste of it in 2014 because the GOP controlled House of Representatives will never pass effective legislation to prevent it from happening.
End Note
This last week has provided a glut of post topics (all of which have been discussed at length both in the blogosphere and the mainstream media), but I thought it might be interesting to examine in one lump what might well be regarded as the Whackiest Week That Was in American history.
So let's do that, shall we?
A Nation of Arrogant Squatters and Land Robbers
Oh aye, we are, you know. Many of our lily-white-complexioned ancestors simply sailed west across the Atlantic and claimed the eastern part of this country for England. Then they proceeded to push the Native Americans further west and began the methodical destruction of the abundant natural resources they discovered. But that's another story altogether.
They came for various reasons: the Puritans to avoid religious persecution, the Highland Scots of North Carolina to avoid English prosecution after the Jacobite Rising, and the Jamestown settlers so that three-hundred and fifty years later they could put up a theme park. No, seriously.
And while life in the United States today is far from hunky-dory, immigrants still want to come. Eleven million Latinos who are already here are working hard and becoming a vital part of our society without benefit of citizenship. Thus, we need to reform our immigration laws. Now.
The U. S. Senate passed -- by a wide margin of 68/32 -- an immigration reform bill that will, among other things, provide a pathway to citizenship. The House of Representatives, which has steadfastly refused to offer up a bill on immigration, now says, Huh uh, we're not gonna pass the Senate bill; we'll do our own bill! And, of course, the House bill will not, according to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, provide a pathway to citizenship, but rather a pathway to legalization. [Translation: We might let you work toward a green card.]
While Michele Bachmann is under the deluded impression that the future of America looks like a white baby, the truth is we have become a glorious nation of multiple shades and hues that reflect the various nationalities in this country. White people love to talk about minorities, when in fact, they are fast becoming the minority. [Memo to Bachmann and her bigoted followers: Face it and get over it.]
Repeal of DOMA May Cause Right-Wing Hair Loss
 |
| The New Yorker Cover, Moment of Joy, by Jack Hunter |
But over in the land of Robertson's legislative kindred spirits there was much angst and dire warnings. Louie Gohmert is ominously predicting that allowing gays and lesbians to marry will lead to bigamy and polygamy, while Michele Bachmann (yes, again) says that Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted. In a later press conference, Bachmann called the Court's decision an affront to the Constitution... Must we remind Ms. Bachmann one...more...time that this country is governed by the man-made laws of the Constitution of the United States, and not what she perceives as God's law?
 |
| Prop 8 Plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier: We do! |
The Unconscionable Death of the Voting Rights Act
 |
| Rep. John Lewis: I didn’t think that when President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act that I would live to see five members of the United States Supreme Court undo what he did with those pens. |
The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy. In the 2012 election, that right was challenged in a way we have not seen since the civil rights and voting rights movements of the 1960s. Legislatures in primarily Republican-governed states decided that the freedom to vote must be restricted, and they erected unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to registration and voting.
There was nothing remotely covert about the Republicans' plans to repress citizens' ability to cast their votes on November 6. From Pennsylvania, where the state's House Majority Leader told committee meeting attendees, Voter ID [laws], which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done! to Florida where Gov. Rick Scott reduced early voting days from fourteen to eight, Republican plans to prevent people from voting were put into place.
It will happen again, and we'll get a good taste of it in 2014 because the GOP controlled House of Representatives will never pass effective legislation to prevent it from happening.
End Note
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