Disabled people

51st Anniversary Of March On Washington, And We Are Moving Backwards!

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Last year, the nation celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for justice, civil rights, and advancement of the nation economically and socially, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s speech the highlight of the event, attended by a crowd of all races and nationalities.

Now, a year later, we have a massive problem of outrageous law enforcement abuse in St. Louis, New York City, Los Angeles, and every day, more evidence of police officers killing, rather than wounding or tasering many suspects or citizens, a tremendous over reaction!

Racism has never disappeared, but now we have police departments with equipment used in the Iraq and Afghanistan War, and acting more like the Gestapo, being very trigger happy!

There is no need for military style equipment to be given to communities in America, as we are not a military or police dictatorship, and journalists and citizens should not be abused with tear gas, rubber bullets, or weapons being pointed at them menacingly, and having foul language used toward them.

Additionally, there have been cases of mentally ill people, disabled people, being seen as a threat when they are not, and immediately, the reaction is “Shoot to kill”, and multiple bullets to vital areas, and often by multiple police officers, making the events a massacre!

We are a government of, by and for the people, not of, by and for the police! The police deserve respect, but not obedience when they are committing crimes as police officers, and they need to be brought under control!

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

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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?

The Arizona Anti Gay Law: Unconstitutional And Reprehensible!

Ronald 55 Comments

Arizona has made quite a name for itself in recent years, being the infamous state that passed the toughest anti immigration bill, SB 1070, in 2010, causing an uproar, and eventually having several major provisions of the law being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, while keeping some parts of the controversial law, and hurting Arizona tourism and public image irrevocably.

Now Governor Jan Brewer has until Tuesday to decide whether to sign a new anti gay law, that allows all public services to be denied gay and lesbian people, if the people providing the services choose not to deal with them on religious grounds. Business owners could declare their opposition to homosexuality, and refuse to give service to such customers.

Such a law is unconstitutional and reprehensible, as one’s religious beliefs do not and should not include the right to discriminate against anyone!

If such a law was to be upheld, it would, effectively, make gays and lesbians second class citizens, a sexual “apartheid”, a group that would be denied public services on the basis of someone claiming to be a “good” Christian, when there is absolutely no way that the teachings of Jesus Christ could be interpreted as promoting hate and prejudice against ANYONE!

If this could be allowed, then why not refuse services to Jews, African Americans, Latinos, disabled people, women, the elderly, etc? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be upended, precisely 50 years after its passage!

Anyone can be anti gay, or anti African American, or anti Jewish, or anti Latino, etc in their THOUGHTS, as no one can control that, but NO ONE should EVER be able to use religious orthodoxy to discriminate, mistreat, condemn in their public activities regarding such people!

If one wishes to work with the public, one MUST serve ALL Of the public, whether one likes it or not!

Otherwise, imagine the tow truck driver who will not give service to a driver who has a flat tire; or the pharmacist who will not give service to a customer for a prescription; or the nurse who will not give medical services in a hospital to a customer on religious grounds; or the gas station attendant who will not allow a person to buy gasoline; or any business owner in any type of store dealing with the public who refuses service, including the much discussed cake maker who will not bake a cake for a gay couple (but could also be a Jewish couple, or a interracial couple)!

Realize also that many “straight” people could be wrongfully tagged as being gay or lesbian. There are people who may seem effeminate in gesture or voice who are NOT gay or lesbian. There are people who may dress a certain way that makes some people think they are gay or lesbian. There could two men or two women, with or without kids, who some might think are gay and lesbian, but are not. The fact that a majority of gay men and women do not “act” gay or lesbian (whatever that prejudicial feeling is supposed to be), makes the whole idea of discrimination even more outrageous and despicable!

This is not the Russian Federation, nor Nigeria, nor Uganda, all nations where right wing evangelicals have campaigned to pass anti gay laws! It is the United States of America, and we cannot tolerate ANY such prejudice or mistreatment in the United States!

Any professional, as in medicine, for instance, who would refuse to serve anyone on the basis of religion, should have his or her license to practice taken away, as he or she is violating the Hippocratic Oath to serve all people!

This is a time to crack down and make clear that there will be NO tolerance of any prejudice or discrimination by anyone, that it will lead to legal action, prosecution, and punishment within the limits of the law!

There is no room for bigotry in American, based on so called religious principles, in America in the year 2014 and beyond! It is time to crack down once and for all!

The Despicable Arrogance Of Mitt Romney And His Wealthy Boca Raton Supporters!

Ronald 2 Comments

Let this author start off by pointing out that he lives in Boca Raton, Florida, in the same zip code as the wealthy Republicans who live in gated communities, but lives in a “normal” middle class home without gates to keep out others!

He is personally embarrassed by the obscene gaudiness and arrogant attitude of multimillionaires who live in gated communities, and think they are better than the rest of us!

These are the people who mistreat the workers in supermarkets, drug stores, and all other local businesses, because, somehow they think their wealth makes them “entitled” to treat others not as fortunate as them, in an insulting, rude, demanding manner!

It is people like this who could sit in the home of a “privileged character” who could demand $50,000 campaign contribution from each participant, the average income of a family of four in America, and twice what many families earn in annual income!

They could sit there and listen to Mitt Romney say he did not care about 47 percent of the population, and the nerve of that 47 percent to think they were “entitled” to food, housing, and health care, and not one spoke up in opposition! Remember that the “47 percent” include veterans, senior citizens, single mothers and children, college students, minorities, and disabled people!

How low and disgraceful could any human being go in not giving a damn about their fellow human beings, and only be interested in the constant acquisition of wealth at the expense of others losing their jobs, their health care, and their homes!

How can these wealthy people look in the mirror each day and not feel that this is not the message of Jesus or Moses, to look down on fellow human beings, and just go ahead and exploit others for material gain without any conscience?

What has happened to America that wealthy people like these in Boca Raton, Florida, have so little concern about others, and can back a candidate who exudes selfishness, greed, and materialism in the most ugly fashion?

These wealthy people who met at a Boca Raton mansion should be ashamed of themselves, and if they claim, as many probably do, to be “religious”, they should meet the judgment of their deity in the afterlife with a strong punishment for their misbehavior on earth!

They have forgotten that the way one treats the “little people” in life, the ones who earn low income but do service for all of us in different ways, is the best judgment of one’s character, and on that test, all these Boca Raton millionaires fail miserably!