Archive for May, 2012
The Justice Department Throws Down The Gauntlet To Florida Governor Rick Scott: Stop Illegal Purging Of Voter Rolls!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on May 31, 2012
The Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder has finally taken action, throwing down the gauntlet to Florida Governor Rick Scott to cease and desist from illegal purging of the voter rolls in the Sunshine State, including the elderly, Latinos and Hispanics, African Americans, and others, including college students.
A 91 year old man, who has voted consistently for 70 years and served in World War II, was told he could not vote. Others who have had the right are being denied it with threatening letters, putting them under unnecessary stress about a basic American right, the right to vote.
Florida is right now breaking the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which included Florida because of its past discrimination against African Americans, and their long history of racial segregation and racial violence.
Scott is lawless, reckless, defiant, abusive, and a disgrace to all law abiding Floridians! Having evaded prison for Medicare fraud, he is arrogant and aggressive in setting out to fix the 2012 Presidential Election in the same fashion of denying the right to vote, as occurred in the Presidential Election of 2000, leading to the disastrous eight years of George W. Bush!
It is good to see that the Obama Administration is not going to allow prejudice, corruption, scandal, and discrimination to interfere with the right to vote!
In many ways, this situation sadly reminds us of Alabama Governor George Wallace and Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, two racists who disgraced their states and the nation during the 1960s, with their attacks on civil rights. What Rick Scott is doing will doom his name in history, but then it must be said that it is doubtful that Scott even cares what damage and harm he is doing to his reputation, since he is such a despicable human being!
If only the recall method was allowed in Florida as it is in many other states, including Wisconsin, which will determine the fate of another “Bully” Governor, Scott Walker, next Tuesday!
Labor Unions: The Unsung Creator And Persistent Supporter Of The Middle Class In America!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on May 30, 2012
We live in an era where labor unions have been under attack since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the “Bully” Governors elected in 2010 have been mounting a major effort against labor unions, trying to set back labor conditions to what they were in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.
Many Americans, who should know better, tend to agree with the conservative and Republican propaganda against labor unions, whether public or private. The Republican Party has always been against labor rights, and that is why labor is strongly Democratic on election days throughout the past century, as their greatest triumphs have come under Democratic Presidents and Congresses.
But the lack of care and respect for labor unions is because many do not realize how important they have been to the rise of the middle class in America, particularly after World War II.
What have labor unions done for us, even those who have never been members of unions?
In no special order, the benefits include:
Weekends or Five Day Work Week
Lunch Breaks
Paid Vacation
Family Medical Leave
Sick Leave
Social Security
Minimum Wage
Civil Rights Laws barring work discrimination
8 hour work day
Overtime Pay
Child Labor Laws
Occupational Safety and Health Act
40 hour work week
Workers Compensation
Unemployment Compensation
Pensions
Employer Health Care Insurance
Collective Bargaining Rights For Workers
Sexual Harassment Laws
Americans With Disabilities Act
Holiday Pay
Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
Pregnancy and Paternal Leave
Military Leave
Right Of Workers To Strike
Age and Gender Discrimination Banned
There are even more points than the long list above, but realize corporations and businesses did not give these rights and privileges out the goodness of their heart, and fought “tooth and nail” against all of them, but with progressive and liberal reform over a long period of time, these benefits were finally won!
If the conservative agenda and Mitt Romney win out, we will see a further deterioration of labor rights, as already is occurring in states governed by Republican Governors and legislatures. And if Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin wins the recall election scheduled for next Tuesday, June 5, it will be a major blow to the labor movement and a danger sign for November!
This is NOT political propaganda! These are the unvarnished facts and truth! We would, literally, go back a century and more, to the harsh economic conditions of the Gilded Age!
Some Facts And Figures Appropriate For Memorial Day
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on May 28, 2012
As we honor veterans of all of our wars, with survivors from World War II on to the present on Memorial Day, it is worth some time to reflect on what war means.
So therefore, the following statistics gathered about the effects of war on America:
4,488 have died in the Iraq War, and 1, 973 in Afghanistan, for a grand total of 6,461 men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their nation. And about 35,000 veterans of both wars have been wounded, with about 20 percent of this total severely wounded!
24 Presidents have served in the military, out of 43 total, a little less than 60 percent.
29 presently serving US Senators and 21 percent of members of the US House of Representatives (about 92) have served in the military.
Only 3.3 percent of the American population, about 10 million people, have served in the military.
27-30 veterans are interred in Arlington National Cemetery every day.
124, 909 American veterans, both men and women, are interred in foreign soil.
Finally, 67,000 veterans are homeless and on the streets on any given night, and this is the greatest injustice imaginable!
Not one veteran should be homeless or jobless as a result of his service to his country, and much more needs to be done to help these people who gave of themselves to their country, returned, and have not been able to fulfill the American dream!