Southern States

Commemoration Of The Selma To Montgomery March 48 Years Ago: Bloody Sunday Cannot Be Forgotten

Ronald 22 Comments

On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for voting rights for African Americans, was the location of brutal police action at the Edmund Pettus Bridge against the peaceful civil rights demonstrators.

John Lewis, now a long term Congressman from Georgia, incurred a cracked skull that day, and today, he and Al Sharpton and many other people of all races converged on the site to commemorate the horrible events of that day 48 years ago, which had the effect of galvanizing action by Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson within four months, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Joining them today was Vice President Joe Biden, giving his usual inspiring speech, and making clear that the Voting Rights Act is now, now under potential threat of having the crucial Section 5 declared unconstitutional by a conservative Republican majority chosen by Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. The Court may be ready to show they have either forgotten history, or choose to ignore the history of that day, and trust that the Southern states, which have worked to make voting more difficult in 2012 and earlier, can be trusted to avoid undermining the basic right to vote for all citizens, which is supposedly guaranteed by the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments,

This is a day to recall and to commit to prayer and statesmanship, hoping that the Supreme Court will do the right thing, and retain Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, since Congress has constantly renewed it, and ignore the call of states rights, which has been constantly tied to bigotry and discrimination!

Supreme Court Bitterly Divided Over Possible Curbing Of Voting Rights Act: A Repeat Of The Compromise Of 1877 Abandonment Of African Americans!

Ronald 6 Comments

It is clear that the Supreme Court is bitterly divided over the Voting Rights Act, which is hanging in the balance after the oral arguments this week, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan strongly challenging Justice Antonin Scalia, who said the act was a “racial entitlement”, which demonstrates that Scalia has no understanding of the history of the denial of voting rights, and the need to continue to monitor what those states that have discriminated are now doing.

The Republican Party abandoned African Americans on this day in 1877, when they agreed to the Compromise of 1877, making their candidate for President, Rutherford B. Hayes President, despite the clear cut lead of Democrat Samuel Tilden in popular votes. Part of the deal was for the GOP to stop being the party that had advanced civil rights through two laws during Reconstruction, the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and the passage of three amendments to the Constitution.

The southern states went ahead and continued a policy of discrimination for the next ninety years on voting, and imposing Jim Crow segregation, and the GOP, the majority party until 1932, did nothing about it, due to the deal set up in the Compromise of 1877.

After ninety years, finally, voting rights, supposedly guaranteed under the 15th Amendment, but not enforced, were restored under the Voting Rights Act, but not before civil rights marchers were beaten up, such as Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, and others slaughtered in the name of promoting civil rights in the South.

But along comes Antonin Scalia, who conveniently forgets that even Jews, and also Italians such as himself, were lynched in the South in the near century in which African Americans were denied their basic rights, including voting.

And he wants the Court to become “activist”, when that is precisely what conservatives claim they hate about the Supreme Court. And so therefore, to hell with the overwhelming vote of the Congress to extend the Voting Rights act in 2006, and let’s wipe out all progress and return us to the states “deciding” if any group can vote, instead of “guaranteeing” the right to vote, the basic element of democracy!

So just as the Compromise of 1877 brought us a President who had NOT won the popular vote, and followed through on taking the GOP out of its civil rights activism, so now, two appointments of another President, George W. Bush, not elected by popular vote, and instead put in by a partisan Republican Court including Scalia, shall repeat history and deny Africans Americans the guarantee of the right to vote granted in the 15th Amendment in 1870!

40 Years Of Roe V Wade: Abortion Controversy Remains Red Hot!

Ronald 6 Comments

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision, declared the right of women to an abortion, with three Richard Nixon appointments to the Court–author of the decision Harry Blackmun, and Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Lewis Powell—joining two Eisenhower appointees—Potter Stewart and William Brennan—one Johnson appointee, Thurgood Marshall—and one Roosevelt appointee, William O. Douglas—in the majority.

Only Associate Justice Byron White, appointed by Kennedy; and William Rehnquist, appointed by Nixon, were in the minority.

Forty years later, the pro life and pro choice movements are still locked in constant combat, but with public opinion polls showing 54 percent want abortion rights retained all of the time or most of the time, with 44 percent against. And 70 percent in a poll do not want to see Roe V Wade overturned.

But meanwhile, Republican state legislatures in the past two years have passed a total of over 130 laws restricting the rights of abortion, and curbing the number of abortion providers.

Four states have made it almost impossible for women to obtain an abortion—Mississippi, Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

So the federal allowance for abortion may exist, but in the South and Great Plains areas of the nation, it is becoming nearly impossible for abortions to be obtained, no matter whether it is because of rape, incest, life of the mother, or just any other reason, whether seemingly justifiable or not.

Abortion is an emotional issue, and one that most people would say needs to remain legal and safe but also RARE, and should not be used as a method of birth control, or because of reckless personal behavior. It is not an issue that will disappear anytime soon, but for now, the odds of reversing Roe V. Wade on the national level are remote, as Barack Obama will not appoint a Supreme Court Justice who gives any hint of wishing to overturn what many call the most controversial decision of the latter half of the 20th century.

The Sixty Percent Plus States In The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 8 Comments

An analysis of the results of the 2012 Presidential Election, now that all of the votes have been tabulated, shows that eight states voted for Mitt Romney by sixty percent or more, and that seven states and the District of Columbia voted for Barack Obama by sixty percent or more.

The “best” Romney states are in order:

Utah—72.62 percent
Wyoming—68.64 percent
Oklahoma—66.77 percent
Idaho—64.09 percent
West Virginia—62.27 percent
Arkansas—60.57 percent
Alabama—60.55 percent
Kentucky—60.49 percent

The “best” Obama states are in order:

District of Columbia—90.91 percent
Hawaii—70.55 percent
Vermont—66.57 percent
New York—63.32 percent
Rhode Island—62.70 percent
Maryland—61.97 percent
Massachusetts—60.65 percent
California—60.24 percent

Note that the District of Columbia and the seven highest voting states have the highest incomes and educational achievements, with three of them being New England States, three of them Middle Atlantic locations, and two being the Pacific Coast.

On the other hand, the Romney states are among the lowest in incomes and educational accomplishments, including three being Mountain states, two being Southern states, and three being Border states (Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky).

This makes clear that poorer “Red” states are simply not using their intelligence, as voting Republican does not benefit them at all, while the “Blue” states are wealthier and understand the benefits of support of the Democratic Party!

Eight Poor, Backward States Reject Expansion Of Medicaid For Their Poor, Sick, Disabled And Elderly Citizens: Reprehensible!

Ronald Leave a comment

Eight states, among the poorest in the nation, and mostly in the South, have now seen their Governors and Republican legislatures reject an expansion of the Medicaid program, which is so desperately needed by their poor, sick, disabled, and elderly citizens, an absolutely reprehensible development!

The states are Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Maine.

2.8 million people will suffer, with half of them being in Texas. So this means that Governors ranging from Rick Perry, Nikki Haley, Paul LePage to Bobby Jindal, all except LePage having shown interest in running for President, have taken a hard stand against those less fortunate!

It is unbelievable that in 21st century America that we could have such backward leaders of states, who show contempt for their own citizens, and yet are likely to be reelected by an ignorant, uncaring population, and in states where, with the exception of Maine, the population claims to be “religious” and “good Christians”, but defy the message of their faith, to care for the poor and disadvantaged!

The Right Wing Starts A Move To Impeach Barack Obama: Further Proof That There Is A Lunatic Fringe Which Refuses To Accept The Choice Of The American People For Their President!

Ronald 2 Comments

The lunatic right wing is going off the deep end, into total insanity!

First, there has been a movement to have states secede from the Union, and if these mostly Southern States were to leave, it would solve a lot of the national debt and deficit problem, as the North and West and Upper Midwest, heavily “blue” areas, and also the most prosperous, would no longer have to worry about supporting the poor, backward, socially regressive “red” states who take a large portion of federal dollars to keep themselves going,, since their state governments are so atrociously inferior and inadequate!

These “red” states are becoming the laughing stock of civilized, intelligent, educated people, and they are sore losers! So if they cannot win at the ballot box, they want to take their marbles and go home, in this case to some other mystical “wonderful nation” that speaks English and will not be as “leftist” as our government supposedly is, which it is, most certainly not! And they would discover that no such nation exists, as we are the most backward nation in social reform on this earth among developed nations!

But now, some right wing whackos, joined in encouragement by Fox News Channel, is moving to impeach President Barack Obama on “high crimes and misdemeanors”, except they cannot figure out on what these crimes and misdemeanors are, other than claiming that the President is not a citizen, and has a fake birth certificate, a continuation of the “birther” movement!

These nutty extremists are so pitiful in their prejudice, their stupidity, their ignorance of the world of reality and the Constitution, and get this! Even if somehow, the smaller majority Republican House of Representatives were to draw up articles of impeachment, there is absolutely no chance in hell that two thirds of the Senate would agree to remove Obama from office, with a 55-45 Democratic majority in the upper chamber.

The whole purpose of this impeachment movement would be to besmirch the reputation of Barack Obama , which would fail, much like what happened to President Bill Clinton in 1998-1999.

And the ultimate irony is that IF Obama were to be removed, he would be replaced in the Presidency by Vice President Joe Biden, a reality that would drive the whacky right wing to become even more insane!

Fox News Channel and the whacky right wing should “get a life”!

The Huffington Post Projection On The Election Today: Obama 277, Romney 191, And Five States In Play!

Ronald 6 Comments

According to the Huffington Post, this evening (October 25), the Electoral College total is Barack Obama 277, and Mitt Romney 191, with five states and 70 electoral votes in play!

According to the Huffington Post estimates, Obama is winning the “swing” states of the Midwest (Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin), along with Nevada.

The five states in play are the Southern states (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida), and also New Hampshire and Colorado.

But even if Romney wins all five states, with 70 electoral votes, he would only have 261, nine short of the number needed to win, with Obama having seven more than the number needed, 270.

It seems a good judgment that the Midwest is lost to Mitt Romney, based on early voting, and Romney’s refusal to back the auto industry survival ultimately will cost him the election, despite the overwhelming list of mistakes and blunders made by the Republican nominee for President.

There will be plenty of time after November 6 to analyze why Mitt Romney is another Presidential “loser”!

The Ultimate “Firewall” For Barack Obama: The Midwest

Ronald Leave a comment

This author has commented before about the fact that the Midwest, an area of declining electoral votes and representation in Congress, because of the rapid migration from the “Frost Belt” to the “Sun Belt”, remains an area that has had a dramatic effect on American politics and Presidential elections.

Ohio and Missouri have been the ultimately accurate states to predict elections, with Missouri only voting with the loser twice—1956 and 2008—and Ohio, also only twice with the loser—1944 and 1960—since 1900.

And now, with Obama clearly winning Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois, and seemingly ahead in Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin, the President could afford to lose the three Southern states he won in 2008—Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina—and still win the Electoral College.

With 237 electoral votes in Obama’s camp, and only needing 33 more, Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin would give him 34, raising his total to 271, exactly what George W. Bush won in 2008, against Al Gore, who won the national popular vote by more than 500,000 votes.

With some observers seeing a popular vote surge to Mitt Romney, we could be witnessing a scenario of the same situation as in 2000- –the winner of the electoral vote NOT winning the popular vote, which would make it the fifth time in history, and the second time in 12 years, that such a situation occurred.

The difference is that this time the Democrat will have benefited, while the last time, the Republican benefited.

In a way, if that happened, it would be “justice” for Al Gore supporters and Democrats!

However, it would also lead to growing demands to change the Constitution and get rid of the Electoral College, with the reality being that the likelihood of such a change is near zero!

A Republican President, Race, And Great Courage And Principle: Little Rock, Arkansas In 1957!

Ronald Leave a comment

55 years ago today, we had a courageous, principled Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, do what was right–intervene with federal troops in Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect nine black students at Little Rock Central High School, who were being spat upon and threatened by racist men and women, who did not want to allow racial integration. This was a leading moment in the civil rights movement!

Eisenhower was berated in the South for what he did, and states rights advocates called him a Communist for his intervention, but he knew that racial discrimination was something that had to be dealt with by the federal government, and it was a very important step in Presidential leadership, and was utilized also by President John F. Kennedy at the University of Mississippi in 1962 and the University of Alabama in 1963.

Here we are more than a half century later, and we cannot count on the Republican Party of 2012 taking the same or equivalent stand, as now the Republicans’ strongest base of support is among southern working class whites, the children and grandchildren of the bigots of fifty five years ago.

It is hoped that the younger generations look at things differently, but the indications are clear that those who felt the way they did about race back then, now have been succeeded by descendants who choose to back the Republican Party, and are horrified that now we have an African American President, Barack Obama!

Southern White Evangelical Christians Uncomfortable With Mitt Romney

Ronald Leave a comment

Southern white evangelical Christians might be unhappy with President Barack Obama, but as many observers have pointed out earlier, including this blogger, Mitt Romney’s challenge to thrill the above named group is causing unease among them.

The reasons: Romney is just too damn wealthy for people who struggle every day to get by, and his Mormon faith troubles them.

This may all be unfair and unjust, but again, it was predictable that these issues would surface as time went by, and now they have.

It does not mean that Barack Obama will win the South, but he already carried Virginia, North Carolina and Florida in 2008, and is still ahead at this time in both Virginia and Florida, while behind in North Carolina.

The interesting point is that Romney might be able, by default, with his opponent being African American, to carry the rest of the South, but the percentage he would need to give him a chance at the three states that Obama won, is slipping away from him due to these two factors.

And with the growing Hispanic-Latino influence in the South, it is clear that Virginia, North Carolina and Florida will become more “blue” over time, and that Georgia and Texas will eventually turn “blue” in future Presidential elections!