In 1989, I bought a Miami Herald cartoon from Jim Morin. The short character on the left was a little African-American kid who had a list of "Budget Cuts," including "Education," "Child Care," "Dropout Prevention," and "Prenatal Care for Poor." On the right was a larger character wearing a name tag that said "Gov Bob [Maritnez]," holding a sign that said "Protect the Unborn," and thumbing the little kid away, with a caption that said "Get Lost!! You've Already Been Born." 1989 was 34 years ago, but the dynamic, and the message, are the same.
Here's a spin that's so twisted that it would only be fair to call it a twist: Okla. lawmaker says Bible endorses corporal punishment of disabled children (msn.com)
So, in Oklahoma, they oppose abortion, but once you're born, it's open season on you, and they love capital punishment. And kids? Have at 'em! You can knock 'em around anywhere you like, including in school. Who cares if they're intellectually impaired, and "probably don't understand why they're receiving corporal punishment?" The purpose of this is not for the kids' betterment. It's to provide an outlet for sadistic and enraged teachers. It's easier than shooting fish in a barrel, because you don't need a barrel full of fish.
And in the red state of Oklahoma, they do not, contrary to what they would otherwise like to allege, leave matters like rearing children to the families. No, the school system wants to take a "whack" at it themselves.
This level of gymnastics of the state legislature had to overcome what the legislator who introduced the bill thought was bipartisan support, and school board "rules" that were technically not "laws" (against committing battery against school students).
The legislator who introduced this bill for consideration cited a call from a US Marshal who complained that his autistic daughter got spanked three times in a day for not doing her math correctly. Never mind the United Nations, which considers corporal punishment of children to be a human rights violation, or the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, which believe beating on children at school actually causes academic, emotional, and behavioral problems. We're not talking science here. We're talking one of the bibles, although it's left unclear which one. "'God's' word," other legislators said, "is higher than all the so-called experts." They offered a few "quotes" of "god's" words, to make clear what "god" thinks. Or thought. Or is said in varying places to have opined.
The legislator who introduced this bill is himself a "minister," and he doesn't fully disagree with the idea of committing battery on children in school. He was just proposing to restrict battery on the "disabled" ones. And as a "minister," he knows all about the bible(s). The Old Testament, for example, has, according to this minister, "about 4000 laws." Well, it's 613, but there's no need to quibble with a real expert, like a minister. And this minister said what might be the most important thing about this matter: "Why don't we follow all the Old Testament laws? [Doesn't he know that the New Testament dismissed almost all of them?] There's about 4000 of them, and one of them is to not allow [we'll overlook the split infinitive: you know, we're talking Oklahoma here] wives to wear jewelry, or [to] stone your child if they're disobedient. Why don't we do that? Because we pick and choose what we want to follow."
Truer words, it is said, were never spoken, by anyone. It's an extremely rare person who takes religion seriously, even if they claim to believe in it, and even if they claim to honor it. It's a badge. It's cultural. It's a fun jumping off point for most people. If anyone thinks I'm not a believer, they should talk to the alleged believers. Like that "minister." At least I admit there's no such thing as "god," and religion is fake.
Well, the imagined "bipartisan support" this Oklahoma legislator was expecting, just to protect "disabled" kids, fell apart in a hurry, and his proposed bill didn't pass. To be fair to the Oklahoma legislature, there were more votes in favor (45) of the bill than votes against it (43), but it needed 51 to pass. So, if you have young'uns, and you move to Oklahoma, just know you're not the only one disciplining them. And if you don't think children should be hit, or you don't like the discipline they get in school, that's your problem.
Then there’s that moron Gov. Sarah HuckSanders (no offense meant to morons) who signed a new law rolling back child labor laws in Arkansas. My dream team for 2024 is Biden (because we don’t have a choice) and Cheney … to bring this country back together and towards center while kicking the morons to the curb. Give conservatives a way to be part of the solution of the shitshow they brought to us and to the world.
ReplyDeleteMac, BTW.
DeleteThanks for the BTW. I knew it wasn't Luigi, but I was at a loss until then. Are you listed as "Anonymous" because you don't have a google account or gmail?
DeleteAs for Cheney, I find the current views of her frankly comical. Liz Cheney is 100% dyed-in-the-wool far right. She's from the reddest state in the Union. She voted "with" Trump very nearly 100% of the time, and "against" Dems very nearly 100% of the time. She made one vote that disappointed Trump, and was in line with Dems, and ever since that one vote Reps think she's their enemy, and Dems think she's their friend. Neither could be further from the truth.
I still don't understand "conservatives," or what it now means to be "conservative." I have said this many times. No one explains it to me. If "conservatives" said they don't like paying taxes, because they'd rather keep the money themselves, and they wanted small government, because they want to do whatever they want, and they don't want anyone to have any say about it, I'd understand. I'd think they were selfish, greedy, antisocial, and childish, but I'd understand. But once they claim to be "fiscally responsible" (there's no one in the world more fiscally irresponsible than American conservatives), and they want government that is so massive and oppressive that it controls how every ELSE lives their lives, and they throw in this completely irrelevant religious stuff, and these "Originalists" want to ignore the separation of church and state clause of the Constitution, and totally misinterpret the "Second Amendment," because they can't be bothered to read what it says, then I just don't understand their agenda. I don't know who these people are, or what they really want.
And I forgot to mention, Eisenhower was a Republican. He was a beloved one. He supervised probably the highest tax rates this country has ever seen, and he accomplished one of our greatest and most massive infrastructure projects: the interstate highway system.
DeleteAnd todays Reps/cons like to call themselves "the party of Lincoln." It's true that the party that nominated Lincoln, and of which he was a member, was the "Republican Party." But he had to take this country to a terrible war, because part of the country wanted to secede, so it could continue to own and mistreat African-Americans. And today, there are Reps/cons who want to secede, again. Nothing I know leads me to think Lincoln would approve.
Who are these people?