Prejudice, bias (racism, sexism) against anything different: race, gender, and now homosexuality die hard---if at all.
It was 66 degrees and very humid this time 24 hours ago. While it is not the promised 40 (ksat) degrees it is a few degrees cooler (62) and only 18% humidity as the day rolls out. Okay. Not great---but okay.
See in the news that the "Dream Act" protesters at our esteemed ontological vacuum-senator kbh’s office were arrested that is typically what is done by the Euro Anglo majority to uppity minorities. Then again, when I was a boy that was the objective of a sit in…..
http://www.ksat.com/news/25955328/detail.html
See in the news that the "Dream Act" protesters at our esteemed ontological vacuum-senator kbh’s office were arrested that is typically what is done by the Euro Anglo majority to uppity minorities. Then again, when I was a boy that was the objective of a sit in…..
http://www.ksat.com/news/25955328/detail.html
More on that soon…
It was 1980 when new to the military I became aware that women were only just being accepted as “regular” members of the military. However, at that time women were still mostly working at what were then considered traditional “women’s jobs.” This was not quite two generations (32 years) after African-Americans had been “integrated” into the military (1948).
Flash forward another 32 years and this time it’s homosexuals’ turn to be protected by the Constitution---maybe.
It is amazing to me that five centuries after Euro Anglos stepped on the shores of the Western Hemisphere it took less time to decimate the native population and create urban sprawl than to provide civil rights to minorities.
Hispanics and African-Americans have been a presence in the Western Hemisphere for at least five centuries. However, it’s only been in the last four decades that they have experienced the most significant strides in civil rights and thus have only just begun to practice dreaming the American Dream.
For others the American Dream is just that a dream and little more. The laws of the nation apply to homosexuals as they do to us all. Homosexuals are not exempted for example from the penalties associated with our criminal laws or taxes. Selective laws are however, deemed to apply to all except homosexuals contrary to the equal protection clause of our Constitution.
Only 1.3% of the American population will ever wear the uniform. Ours is an all “volunteer” military. Though as crappy as the economy is the military is one of the few viable options for most Americans it’s still pretty much “volunteer.”
Public Policy shouldn’t be contrary to the best interests of the nation and its citizens but often it is. If that is a reflection of the public sentiment what is referred to as “democracy” then how minorities were ever able to attain any rights is a mystery.
More amazing is that those hateful, mean-spirited and selfish when it comes to ensuring the right afforded by the U.S. Constitution call themselves compassionate conservative Christians. Strange but not unexpected in Texas Red and increasingly U.S. Red.
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Seventy percent of the 400,000 active-duty and reserve troops surveyed in an upcoming Pentagon report said the effect of repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2010/11/22/131510182/november-22nd-show?sc=nl&cc=totn-20101122#two
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101130/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_gays_in_military
April 19, 2010
The very first bill that President Obama signed into law dealt with equal pay for women, but activists say it's done little to close the ongoing difference between what men and women earn.
The law -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act -- may have extended the amount of time victims have to file discrimination cases, but it hasn't changed this fact: Women, on average, earn only 77 cents to a man's dollar, and the disparity is greater for women of color.
April 19, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in a major case testing whether state colleges and universities can deny official status and subsidies to student groups that bar homosexuals and other groups from membership. The case could affect public colleges and universities across the country, and it puts the court in the middle of a long struggle by Christian activists who contend that their rights are violated on campus by secular rules.
follow-up
U.S. Supreme Court Affirms UC Hastings’ Policy in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, et al. Decision
CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY CHAPTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, HASTINGS COLLEGEOF THE LAW, AKA HASTINGS CHRISTIAN FELLOW-SHIP v. MARTINEZ ET AL.
Bill Moyers Journal – Marriage Trial
MarriageTrial.com
Pentagon study: Gays could serve with no harm
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Bill Moyers Essay: The Health Care Lobby | PBS (excellent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsIcS7egnyw&playnext=1&list=PL6767C55F00308CEB&index=28
