Thursday, July 2, 2015

the Supremes and the flag of distraction


The Supreme Court handed down several good decisions for a change including marriage equality and the Right Wing has gone nuts. They seem to think that because they don't agree, they don't have to abide by the law. They still seem to think that they invented marriage and that their religious restrictions should apply to everybody whether those other people agree with it or not. And so of course they are claiming the eternal war on Christians, claiming that now homosexuality will be taught to kindergarteners, claiming a secret memo from the Justice Department that shows the intent to legalize 12 other heinous behaviors among some of the more absurd accusations. Oh, and that their god will rain down terrible punishment on this country because of this even though their god has not rained down terrible punishment on other countries that recognize same sex marriage. I have to wonder why people worship a god that allows genocide, slavery, child porn and predation, hunger, oppression but gets pissed off when two consenting adults of the same sex mingle their genitals.

The Supreme Court also ruled the Affordable Care Act constitutional (again) but I sincerely doubt that the Republican controlled congress will now stop trying to repeal it and leave millions of people without recourse for healthcare again. They also upheld the independent redistricting commission that put the kibosh on gerrymandering by politicians in Arizona and hopefully it will spread to all the states so it hasn't been a great week for Republicans.

Many Republican politicians did come out against the Confederate Battle Flag after the newest terrorist attack and murder of 9 black people while they were praying in their church by a white supremacist instead of having the conversation we need to have about the uncontrolled access to guns in this country and the racists are up in arms about it. It's not racist, they say, it's our heritage, they say. Meanwhile black churches are being torched all across the South and the KKK is holding rallies. As an American whose forebears have been here since the mid-1600s and who lived in Virginia, then Kentucky, then Texas and some of whom owned slaves and who fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, if the Civil War was about states' rights then it was about states' rights to OWN slaves. The 'heritage' that that flag represents is of white supremacy and subjugation of blacks either through actual slavery or through segregation and oppression. On second thought, we need to have this conversation about the rampant racism in this country as well.

I could have written a whole post on each of these topics but happily for me, and probably lucky for you, I have been busy with grandkid visit 3.




15 comments:

  1. This post is succinct and to the point. It lays everything out in such a clear-eyed way. Thank you for this. Amen.

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  2. Glad your grandkid is keeping you mellow!! You could have posted a real rant. ;-)

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  3. Change is THE salient characteristic of the Universe. Defending the status quo is always a losing battle.

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  4. I must throw in my personal antipathy to my R friends who now can purchase health insurance, are using it, and blame to president for the cost of what they used to rant about not being able to afford.
    As I mentioned to my granddaughters today, when I nearly T-boned some fool who did a U turn if front of me: well, it takes all kinds. I cannot see these ACA, voter, lover haters doing much more than imploding eventually. They better hope we don't T-bone them and keep on going.

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  5. I laughed at the opposition to all. Slavery was used by a real small percentage, yet still exists in many countries. Sad when we all don't have freedom to be as we want.

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  6. I live in SC and I always ask why people want to fly a losing flag...seems they forgot that the South LOST the WAR! Its only a small % of the population that wants to keep the flag up on the state house grounds...but they get all the attention on the news.

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  7. I heard Mike Huckabee ranting about how the SCOTUS decision amounts to "tyranny" (yawn) and that things should be left up to the states and popular vote, in which case, we would still have slave states, never mind arguing about a flag.

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  8. Conservatives want everyone to follow court decisions that go their way, but they want people to disregard court rulings when they disagree with the decisions.

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  9. Who would want to be aligned with a party that opposes justice and equality of treatment under the law? (Apparently, plenty of people, sadly).

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  10. Nothing will stop the malcontents. Great post!

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  11. Thanks for reporting what some people are saying in response to those rulings. I don't hear all that debate here in the UK and I only read the New York Times, where commenters aren't likely to toe the right-wing line. :)

    You are right about the gun problem, but I'm also glad to see that the Confederate flag's time may finally be coming to an end! Even though I grew up in the South and had relatives who fought for the confederacy, I've always been mystified by this weird clinging to the Confederate flag. I mean, people, the South LOST. Get over it! (But then, wasn't it William Faulkner who said something like "The past is never dead. It's not even the past.")

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  12. Oh lady, you said it so well. I am always amazed at how utterly ugly our legislators are. I also am always touched by words of wisdom and like minded souls who see beyond the end of their noses. Here's to the far sighted and warm hearted.
    Hope your visit with #3 is joyous and Happy 4th of July. Oma Linda

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  13. I will never understand the state of cognitive dissonance in which so many individuals and groups choose to live in. It makes no sense; justice for all is not the same as happiness only for those who do what we say. When people are being burned alive, human beings should start putting lives before cloth. It makes no sense... and it makes me so sad... and terribly angry.

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  14. You nailed it. The most extreme right-wing nuts are doing a disservice by making debate impossible. When this country had two reasonable, responsible political parties and intelligent, educated politicians on both sides we had better government because we could debate policies and make decisions that made the country a better place. We all lose when we don't have an ongoing intelligent discussion.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.