Day: April 21, 2014

South Florida Wars On Homeless And Voters: Signs Of Heartless Attitude Toward Poor, And Minority Right To Vote

The Republican Party in the state of Florida has become as heartless and disgraceful in their treatment of the homeless, the poor, and minorities, as already demonstrated in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and elsewhere.

But now South Florida, where the author lives, has reached a new low!

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, center of Broward County, is now working to outlaw the homeless in their jurisdiction from having ANY personal items with them, including clothing, food, medicine, and personal items. These homeless are already degraded, but now they can have no personal possessions, an absolute outrage!

And Dade County is now setting up voting rules that will close all public restrooms on voting days, since many of them do not have adequate conditions for disabled people, so that means voters will have to wait on line for hours under restrictive rules for voting days and hours, and be unable to relieve themselves, thereby discouraging many voters from even getting on line.

What kind of community bars anyone from having personal posessions on their person or near them, and what kind of community cloes all restrooms as a method to cut voting numbers?

This is unconscionable, and the Department of Justice MUST intervene to stop both actions, and similar ones elsewhere in the nation!

How could anyone claim that the Department of Justice should not sue on these matters, as a violation of civil rights?

What kind of a nation are we becoming, when we take away all human dignity from the homeless, and have jurisdictions closing restrooms to prevent voting?

How can anyone justify this in the name of human decency and compassion and justice?

Republican “Retreads” Emerge, Demonstrating The Sad State Of Their Presidential Race For 2016!

The Republican Party has a long list of potential Presidential candidates for 2016, many of them “new,” including Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, and even Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush, who have never run before for President.

Then, they have the “retreads”, including Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum, those three being a sorry lot as alternatives.

All three are way out of the mainstream of American politics, with Rick Perry making a total fool of himself in 2012; Mike Huckabee, once seen as fairly “moderate” in 2008, having converted into a right wing extremist due to his Fox News Channel weekly show; and Rick Santorum, well just a total embarrassment to himself and everyone around him!

The Republican Party is a sorry lot, with lots of candidates on the bench, but none having the slightest chance to become President!

Instead, the GOP looks completely past former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (also former Ambassador to China and Singapore), the only solid, foreign policy experienced, sensible, mainstream candidate, who could attract support across the aisle, and make Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or any other Democratic nominee squirm, as he did for awhile in the Barack Obama campaign in 2012, with them considering Huntsman a real threat.

Huntsman is sitting on the sidelines, and considering an independent run on a “No Labels” campaign, and reminding people that the Republican Party of the pre Ronald Reagan era is the only hope for a revival of GOP fortunes, as the country has passed by the anti immigrant, anti gay, anti women, anti labor, anti environment mentality of the Tea Party Movement, which may be able to win gerrymandered Congressional seats, but cannot win the US Senate majority or the White House anytime soon!