Day: May 7, 2012

The Dangers Of Proposed Amendment One In North Carolina Constitution: Denial Of Equal Rights Returning To The South!

Ronald 3 Comments

There is great fear that the majority of voters in North Carolina tomorrow will institutionalize discrimination, prejudice, and hate in the state constitution with the expected passage of Amendment One, endorsed by Franklin Graham, and his distinguished father, the Reverend Billy Graham, who should be totally ashamed of themselves!

North Carolina and other Southern states used to deny racial intermarriage, and institutionalized hate, prejudice and discrimination in the state constitutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

One would think we are beyond this in the 21st century, and that we should not allow the ignorance of people to become law!

It is shameful to let people VOTE on basic human rights, including gay rights and gay marriage rights.

When it comes to personal human rights, there should NOT be any vote, as those personal human rights should be guaranteed in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

If we had a vote on whether women should be denied the right to vote; blacks should be segregated; job discrimination against Jews, Catholics, and others should be reinstituted; workers should be denied collective bargaining; and many other social advancements that people gave their “blood, sweat and tears” for, it is possible that the masses would vote to deny basic rights.

But that is not what a democracy is, to allow prejudice, hate, and discrimination to rule the day!

We have come too far in our national history to allow this to happen, and to sit idly by!

If North Carolina adopts Amendment One, we all should hold our heads in shame and weep!

The Difference Between John McCain And Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum And Other Republican Presidential Contenders Of 2012

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Mitt Romney demonstrated no guts or courage today when a woman in a crowd in Ohio said that Barack Obama has committed treason, and Romney said nothing.

Rick Santorum had a woman make derogatory comments about Barack Obama, claiming he had no right to be President, and Santorum said nothing

Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and other Republicans running for President in 2012 all had similar events occur, weirdly each time with women, and said nothing.

But in 2008, John McCain courageously spoke up when another woman made similar statements of disrespect for Barack Obama, told her she was wrong, and that Obama was a good man, just someone McCain disagreed with on issues and ideas.

John McCain was then applauded for what he said and did, and the opposite reaction of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and others to the same situation in 2012, particularly with Barack Obama being President now, not just a nominee, makes John McCain look even better!

But think about it: would Bob Dole, the 1996 Presidential nominee, have reacted the same way as McCain? Would Richard Lugar, likely to lose his Senate seat this year because of his decency and statesmanship, have reacted the same way as McCain? Would other “decent” mainstream Republicans of the past, such as Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Jack Kemp of New York, and even present Senators Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine, and Scott Brown of Massachusetts react the same way as McCain? The answer in all cases is YES!

This demonstrates how extremist the top leadership of the Republican Party in Congress and the Presidential race has become, and Mitt Romney needs to be roundly condemned for his refusal to react promptly to that woman today! It is clear that Mitt Romney does not have the character and decency to be our President!

Joe Biden, Arne Duncan And Gay Marriage: The Successors To Hubert Humphrey, Harry Truman And Civil Rights!

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In 1948, we had President Harry Truman running for a full term as President, and under constant attack by the Republicans, who controlled both houses of Congress. We also had Mayor Hubert Humphrey, later Senator, Vice President, and Presidential nominee, who had the courage to fight for a civil rights plank at the Democratic National Convention of that year. This put the Democratic party and Harry Truman ahead of the Republicans in that regard, and it was the Democratic Party which fought within itself, against the Southern Democratic segregationists, and finally brought about civil rights legislation in the 1960s.

Now, we have a Democratic President, Barack Obama, facing a hostile House of Representatives controlled by the opposition Republicans, and we have the controversial issue of gay marriage, as well as promotion of full rights in every way for gay men and lesbians. And we have a courageous, principled Vice President, Joe Biden, and a gutsy Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who have now aggressively promoted the issue of gay marriage as a human rights issue, and there is a push on to get President Obama to take the next step in what he has himself called his “evolution”, and publicly endorse gay marriage. And there is a movement now to make it a plank in the Democratic Party platform that will be adopted at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, this September.

This will, of course, make it a clear cut issue with the opposition Republicans, but it is time to mount the fight for equality, just as Humphrey and Truman did it two thirds of a century ago.

In the long run of history, Humphrey and Truman look like statesmen for promoting what they believed, as Biden, Duncan, and ultimately, Barack Obama, will look in the future writing of American history in the 21st century!

The Imminent Loss Of A True Statesman From The US Senate: Richard Lugar Of Indiana

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With 24 hours to go, it seems imminent that Indiana Senator Richard Lugar is about to lose his Republican primary for a seventh term to a Tea Party right wing extremist.

If this happens, as expected, it will be a true tragedy not only for Lugar, but also for Indiana, and for the wish for bipartisanship and principle in the US Senate.

Lugar has been in the Senate for 36 years, after serving as Mayor of Indianapolis, and while he is a strong conservative, he has never resorted to reckless statements or crazy viewpoints, always keeping his dignity and image as a person willing to cross the aisle and work with opposition Democrats.

The fact that he cooperated with a new Senator, Barack Obama, in 2005-2006, on working to avoid the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons on a world wide basis, now is being held against him.

The fact that he has occasionally supported the President on a few issues, not many, was enough to make people angry in his right wing Republican state.

The National Rifle Association is against him; Lugar has supported the DREAM Act on immigration; and he supported the two Supreme Court nominees of Barack Obama.

Lugar was twice Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and twice Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and if the Republicans won the Senate in 2012 and Lugar won, he would be Senate President Pro Tempore, third in line of succession to be President of the United States.

Of course, Lugar’s age, 80, could be used against him, but he is a very vigorous, energetic 80, and is seen by many as a brilliant statesman in his major area of interest, foreign policy.

But the GOP of 2012 is sadly controlled too much by the Tea Party and other right wingers, and the only good thing that might come out of a defeat of Richard Lugar is the takeover of the seat by a Democrat, Congressman Joe Donnelly, which would give his party a chance at keeping the Senate majority, a much endangered majority!