God, Gays, and Guns... and, the Role of Government

Remember Bobby Jindal's response to president Obama's first State of the Union address?  Why do we spend millions of taxpayer money to monitor volcanoes, he asked, and that there's nothing Americans can't do on their own!  Then a volcano erupted... I'm sure you've heard of the recent oily mess off the coast of several states whose voters think Jindal's view of an impotent state is right on the money.

The conservatives keep saying that the marketplace can take care of the bad actors in it. Yeah, right. They say that bad, unsafe practices will be punished by the consumers and the court system. Of course, this doesn't happen because we know it hasn't! Bad practices, including illegalities aren't necessarily bad for business. Especially BIG business. Wall Street gambles, screws up, and what happens? Too big to fail comes to my mind. 

The people in charge of making decisions are rewarded with huge bonuses and golden parachutes. Their companies are "too big to fail" we're told. Often the end result is: privatizing the profit and socializing the risk. Capitalism for most of the people, socialism for the rich.

The government should be the expression of the public will and it should act in the interest of the people not the few elites. Guess what? The conservative rhetoric has managed to disorient too many Americans who believe "government takeover" means less freedom! Obviously, government is not the solution to everything. Nor, that the government cannot be abusive. Yes, it can. 

Yet, in an advanced democracy the government's role is to empower and protect. Who really needs this? The marketplace can't do this. Equality of opportunity, safety (workplace and individual), and consumer protection have not come because private business saw it fit to do so.  It came through collective action and government passing laws often in the face of visceral opposition from the big business interests and their political ally--the US Republican Party (20th century on).

Who should protect the public interest in the month-long ecological & economic disaster of the BP oil leak? Guess whose interests are served when the government regulators are absent. Or, that the law (passed with the help of lobbyists) limits the oil industry's liabilities to a few million dollars?  And, why did the oil industry got huge tax breaks (while the government failed to collect royalties for it) while it was making record profits?

The T-baggers are angry at government in general--and some of their anger is justified--but their anger is only matched by their misunderstandings & misconceptions. We need better government that serves the commonwealth, not the interests of those who have lots and want more.

By the way, who's going to protect me from the gun-totting tots who want to walk around and go into coffee shops, restaurants and bars professing their Second Amendment rights? I thought we left behind the Old West lawless frontier, and we decided that a civil society has found other means to protect itself than having everyone carry guns everywhere.

Yeah, God, Gays, and Guns...  {who said this?...}

God Forbid...

"As a Christian and as a public servant, I have never wavered in my belief that this world and everything in it is a masterpiece created by the hands of God. As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school textbooks."  Republican gubernatorial candidate in Alabama

In the race for governor of Alabama, one Republican is accusing another for supporting the theory of evolution! Alabama will most likely elect one of these 2 idiots as its next governor, who in collaboration with the other ignoramuses in the state legislature will make sure students will get their best education...  

I'm happy that the Olympian Gods will get their recognition as Zeus will be restored to his glory of being the god of gods!  What? Not that creationism theory? Why not?

I see something positive from this race in Alabama, that conservatives openly define themselves as creationists and that liberals are for the theory of evolution and the scientific method.  It may take a few more years for the good people of Alabama to reach the 21st century, but I hope that our country is moving away (albeit too slowly) from the nuttery of the conservatives. 

Unfortunately, the US Republican party is being reactionary and seems to becoming even more conservative. This is either because it's shrinking political base is more conservative or that the wingnuts have taken over the party. 

Ah, no "mavericks" in the GOP any more...  Sarah Palin for 2012! I'm rooting for her.

UPDATE (5/12/2010): Wait, it gets better. The Republican party in Maine has been taken over by...    Well, judge for yourself. Here's from the newly adopted platform (as reported by the blog, Maine Politics):

>>An overwhelming majority of delegates to the Maine Republican convention tonight voted to scrap the the proposed party platform and replace it with a document created by a group of Tea Party activists.

The official platform for the Republican Party of Maine is now a mix of right-wing fringe policies, libertarian buzzwords and outright conspiracy theories.

The document calls for the elimination of the Department of Education and the Federal Reserve, demands an investigation of "collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth," suggests the adoption of "Austrian Economics," declares that "'Freedom of Religion' does not mean 'freedom from religion'" (which I guess makes atheism illegal), insists that "healthcare is not a right," calls for the abrogation of the "UN Treaty on Rights of the Child" and the "Law Of The Sea Treaty" and declares that we must resist "efforts to create a one world government."<<<

Honoring Mothers By Raising the Status of Women

Sunday, May 09, 2010, is Mother's Day. Everywhere in the world a mother is giving birth right now, some by choice, some by virtue of being kept as chattel. In Africa there's a good chance the mother is infected with HIV/AIDS. It's not here fault, because it's her husband that most likely infected her. And, she's told by her religious leaders that condoms are worst than disease itself.

In Niger, a mother has an average of 8 children, and in much in the poorest countries women spend most of their lives being pregnant and/or caring for little children. In parts of Alabama and Mississippi infant mortality is higher than in Iran. More than one million little children go to bed hungry every night in the US.

Celebrating motherhood has to be more than the activities of one day in the year. We all had mothers, so  it would be nice if we could make their lives better. Take a look at the UN Millennium Development Goals and you'll see that every step we take to fulfilling those goals is a meaningful improvement in the lives of mothers--poverty & hunger, education, gender equality, combat HIV/AIDS, maternal health, etc.

Honoring motherhood begins with treating women better.

The following is from my last year's post, but I think it's worth repeating:

Motherhood cannot be separated from the  condition of women in the world today.
UK's The  Independent has a great article about that condition. The British government  in cooperation with human rights groups have found some very disturbing  facts:

• Two-thirds of the world's 800 million illiterate adults are women as girls  are not seen as worth the investment, or are busy collecting water or firewood  or doing other domestic chores.
• Two million girls aged from five to 15 join the commercial sex market every  year.
• Domestic violence kills and injures more people in the developing world than  war, cancer or traffic accidents.
• Seventy per cent of the world's poorest people are women.
• Violence against women causes more deaths and disabilities among women aged  15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.
• Women produce half the world's food, but own less than two per cent of the  land.
• Of the more than one billion people living in extreme poverty, 70 per cent  are women.
• Almost a third of the world's women are homeless or live in inadequate  housing.
• Half of all murdered women are killed by their current or former husbands or  partners.
• Every minute a woman dies as a result of pregnancy complications.
• Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, yet earn only a tenth of  its income.
• One woman in three will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise  abused in her lifetime.
• 43 million girls are not able to go to school.
• In 2007, one million HIV-positive women died of AIDS-related illnesses  because they could not get the drugs they needed.
• Human Rights Watch, in reports on 15 countries including Afghanistan,  Brazil, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Togo and South Africa, has identified  violence against schoolgirls, child domestic workers and those in conflict with  the law as on the rise.
• Women across the developing world are the victims of systematic abuse.