Practicality Over Extreme Ideology

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer made the only realistic decision when she vetoed a broad resolution that would have allowed businesses in her state to use their religious beliefs as a pretext to discriminate against potential customers.  This shameful and reactionary bill had already been approved by Republican majorities in both legislative branches.   As a law, SB 1062 would definitely have impacted the LGBT community, and it wasn't clear how far it would have reached beyond that.   A leading gubernatorial candidate to succeed Brewer was pressed by CNN's Anderson Cooper about whether or not businesses could use the law also deny service to, for example, divorced people.   All he could say was that he didn't know of any businesses in Arizona that discriminate!    

As word got around and light began to shine on this right wing abomination, many Republican state legislators who originally backed the bill began running for cover, dodging media and even changing their position.    Pressure from business concerned about the law's impact on Arizona's economy proved to be the bill's undoing.   Don't think Arizona has been alone in attempting to send civil rights back to the 1950's.   Other states with similar bills in the works reacted to the negative publicity by pulling back their own discriminatory initiatives.   Labeling this a "religious freedom" bill is just a smokescreen, akin to calling Southern opposition to civil rights fifty years ago a "states rights" issue.   The right wing has proven themselves to be the more extreme side of America's political equation.   Some have even made Russian president Putin a hero and even praised Uganda for trampling on gay rights.   What in desperation will they pull next?   

No Thanks To Putin

The Sochi Winter Olympics are officially over.   NBC had great ratings of its coverage, but I didn't watch any of the events.   Social media and news "spoiler alerts" kept many, including me, sufficiently in the loop.   Russia under President Putin proved itself to be inadequate for many hosting tasks which are now legend.   International tensions have escalated after Putin moved against so-called "gay propaganda" and made that already persecuted group a scapegoat to deflect from Russia's massive corruption, support of Syria's Assad and jailing of political opponents.     All the trouble in the nearby Caucasus region and in several former Soviet republics did cast a shadow over this outrageously expensive yet hastily constructed resort on the Black Sea.   Thankfully no terror threats materialized.   

 

There were positives.   The USA scored impressively in total metal count.   Athletes from here in Connecticut made us all proud.   Even in this stressed environment, inspiring stories of individual achievement and teamwork managed to shine through.    Somehow they always do.

A Troubling Pattern

Griswold Dog Pound - from The Bulletin

We've been down this road before.   What's changed?    It seems like only yesterday, but it must have been over five years ago when folks were calling in to our morning radio show with reaction to the reports of poor conditions at the Griswold Dog Pound.   I don't know about you, but stories about poor treatment of animals really disgusts me.   News stories depicting neglect or abuse or even that Animal Planet channel show Animal Cops are especially hard to watch.   It reflects on how we treat the most helpless creatures and in this case the image of a community.  

 

Griswold's Animal Control Officer has not been getting rich with what the town has budgeted for his salary.   Meanwhile, the physical plant at the pound is clearly in need of updating.   On comes a TV news story showing neighbors who want to help out, only to be confronted by an overly defensive sister of the longtime Animal Control Officer.   She was tending to the four dogs there while he was away, and it was clear she was acting way above her pay grade in any public relations capacity.   These willing volunteers are rightly upset over conditions there while their offers to assist have been stymied by town officials.   There should be a proper screening process for prospective helpers, but is there any doubt that their hearts are basically in the right place?   The problems here are nothing new.   Pay the ACO more, replace him, get community help, get the facilities past the standards of the seventies, publicize adoptable pets more, bring strays to a regional shelter or do all of the above.   Beyond the disturbing details, the most outrageous part of this sad story is the fact that the town has known about this for years and still waited for it all the news (and the fan) yet again.  

It Was Fifty Years Ago Today

Were you around half a century ago?   America was steeped in the throes of Beatlemania and the first wave of the British Invasion on this day in 1964.   The Fab Four had just arrived in New York City February 7, 1964 and were preparing for their February 9th performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.  There was no doubt at the time we were witnesses to the greatest moments in rock n' roll history that week.   I remember thinking their sound was the most exciting music to hit the airwaves in my childhood memory.   Sure, rock n' roll had already been popularized, but the original impact of Elvis and other early pioneers of the genre happened when I was only a toddler.    Although I wasn't initially a fan of the Beatles' mop-top hair, I was an enthusiastic convert to their music right from the start.   

Their timing was perfect.   We had just gone through the Kennedy assassination and the loss of the chief symbol of youthful energy and idealism.   The Fab Four filled a void in so many ways.   Flash back to the music charts right before the Beatles' arrival and you get an idea of how stagnant rock n' roll had become.   Bobby Vinton had spent weeks at number one with an easy listening standard that failed to speak to kids raised on Elvis, Buddy Holly or Bill Haley & His Comets.   For every Four Seasons, Beach Boys or "Louie Louie" there was the Singing Nun or Pat Boone.   The Beatles provided a rock n' roll infusion we hadn't seen since 1956. 

America Deserves A Raise

$7.25 an hour was considered good money while the minimum hourly wage was $1.85 forty years ago.   $7.25 was already considered low income by 1994.    $7.25 will not come close to lifting anyone out of poverty as the national minimum wage today.   These are not just kids getting their first taste of the workplace getting this hourly rate.   Many of these low income workers are adults over 30 with families to support.   The government subsidizes many service industry and other employers because their underpaid employees have to make up the shortfall with a variety of government assistance.   That amounts to corporate welfare while conservatives espouse the unfounded idea that paying a living wage will discourage employers from hiring.   Does anyone really believe President Obama's proposed minimum of $10.10 an hour will break Walmart or McDonalds?

 

They are the same ideologues who say keeping extended unemployment benefits will allow job seekers to get lazy.   Where's the evidence of this?   While they're mounting a lobbying campaign against the first minimum wage increase in years and blocking emergency unemployment compensation, they have no problem cutting food stamps while buying into the right wing talk radio propaganda that accuses America's neediest of bleeding this country dry.   The Pope, our President and noted economists like Robert Reich and others warn how income disparity has approached alarming levels.   We can't afford to assume they're wrong.   History is full of what happens when a tiny percentage of society controls an outrageous chunk of its wealth.