The past couple of weeks we have been treated to a traveling minstrel show know as the Tea Party Express, featuring half-term governor and fully failed VP candidate in the 2008 election Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, J.D. Hayworth and a cast of loony wannabees; courtesy of the Republican Party, although each has disavowed the other.
We’ve seen, or rather heard of the hundreds of protests attended by many dozens of people protesting everything from open carry laws to the nations’ slow but inexorable march towards ‘socialism.
We have seen or heard the commotion caused by the passing of SB1070, in the Arizona Legislature that seems to bestow powers to local and state law enforcement to stop and ask for papers proving one’s legality to be at that particular geographic locale. The Governor can sign, veto, or just allow the bill to become law by her inaction.
The bill has a provision that allows citizens to sue localities if they feel they have not been aggressive enough in the enforcement of said bill.
The title of the bill, “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” is similar in name to other Orwellian right wing obfuscations such as, clean coal, clean air and others that strain the imagination.
This bottom line effect is to empower local and state law enforcement agencies to stop and question anyone they deem has “a reasonable suspicion” of not being in the U.S. legally. The definition of ‘reasonable suspicion’ is so vague that one can rightly suspect that anyone having a taquito for lunch may be stopped and asked “where are your papers”…and…well, you get the idea.
I don’t think Governor Brewer will sign this bill, however, I don’t believe she’ll veto it either, right wing politics being what they are in Arizona, she will take the easy way out allow the bill to become law in 90 days…here’s hoping I’m wrong
On to Senate Bill 6 passed by the both houses in Florida and vetoed by Republican Governor Charlie Crist; among the more draconian affects this bill would have eliminated tenure for teachers and based their pay on outcomes, or more to the point what percentage of students in heir care scored on the various standardized tests being given throughout the K-12 system. It would not have factored in students with disabilities, learning or otherwise.
Anyone with just a smattering of common sense knows that some people don’t test well; you could well have ended up with a student who has done great work in the class room, great attendance, but tested bad on those three days of tests….
I don’t know what motivated Charlie Crist to veto this bill; it could have been any number of reasons, his sputtering primary run at the senate, his desire to free himself from imploding Republican Party, I just don’t know. Whatever his reasons may have been, he did the right thing.
Charlie Crist does not ask me for advice, but for what it’s worth, he’s a popular governor, he’s from the left coast of Florida, St. Pete to be exact, and that alone carries an element of cool that cannot be measured. He should drop out of the Senate primary, and leave the race; I suspect that there would be many a Democrat and Independents who would view this move in a positive manner.
And now to the fun part of this rant.
There have been several so- called “Open Carry” rallies around the country, protesting the alleged confiscation of weapons and other sundry and ridiculous moves by the ‘gummint’ against “real Americans”…the half term governor of Alaska and utterly failed 2008 VP candidate, Sarah Palin has been criss-crossing the country on the Tea Bag Express sending shivers up the spine of the ‘real americans’, warning them that at some point in the future the government will come in the dead of night and take your weapons from you; she screeches, “…don’t retreat, reload…”
She claims ‘they’ want to kill granny with their death panels, and that Jesus, was and is the leader of this Christian Nation, and if you don’t share her belief, well then, I guess you won’t be one of the cool kids.
She claims that ‘they’ will subvert the 2nd amendment, and several groups have formed around the country with the stated purpose to defend their perceived right to carry weapons openly wherever they go.
Gun Owners of America and the Oath Keepers are two of the most visible groups running around scared that the sky is falling. I don’t remember a single ‘open carry’ during the nightmare that was the Bush fiasco. I don’t remember a single ‘open carry’ rally when the Patriot Act was passed in the middle of the night by the Republican controlled Congress, that among other things, allowed no-knock home invasions by the police, ‘sneak and peeks’ allowing the government to go into your home and then get a warrant.
I wonder what would be the reaction if Black and Brown folks started attending some of these Tea Bag and Open Carry rallies with their legally purchased weapons strapped to their hips, what would be the reaction if Black and Brown folks carried their rifles and shotguns to political rallies as some anti-Obama protesters have done during the campaign.
Wait, I really don’t have to wonder, look at the political persecution that haunted Black Panthers after they staged their protests on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento; let’s not forget Wounded Knee, the Brown Berets, and the Young Lords Party in New York.
Well, as Vonnegut used to say…and so it goes…!
