Follow the History Lesson in Giving and Taking Rights Away

This morning I was listening to the story on the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell Supreme Court Case that will make it's arguments today in court. And as a human being, I adore what the Sister's are accomplishing at their homes, but am disgusted with what this, and the other cases they are encompassed with, are trying to do.

So let's start go with some history:

1) 1964:  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, you cannot discriminate in hiring based on age, sex, religion, national origin, race or color, disability or genetic status. This means that these places, such as the Little Sisters Home, cannot specifically hire based on their religious beliefs. Because of this, they should not be able to discriminate and force their religious beliefs on those they hire (in theory).

2) 1993: Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, the government (specifically the government) cannot substantially burden a person's exercise of religion. This is specific to the government, not to corporations (though at this time corporation are NOT considered persons, this is pre-Citizens United).

3) 2010: Citizens United v. FEC (Link 1 and Link 2). This created 2 problems and is argued as one of the most recent standing causes of corporations to be able to act as persons and be protected as such, even though they are not persons at all and are incorporated in order to protect the individuals persons who own them in the first place, ironically.

4) 2014: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which is really the precursor to today's case that is being argued that I will get to in a minute. This 5-4 decision to uphold Hobby Lobby's right as a for-profit religious corporation (how the hell does that work exactly? Even I am having problems finding actual evidence of how a corporation can be religious and for-profit. And a corporation that is all for making money seems to fly into the face of religious standings so that just baffles me but is a post for another day.)

This decision was made specifically off of the backs of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) but yet seems to fly into the face of the Civil Rights Act (CRA). When do corporate rights count as more important than individual rights? Especially when it comes to corporations? Over and over we can find reason in history to protect the individual from big business, and this seems to be another example of this. Why else do we have labor laws? Civil Right laws? Do you really think that big businesses were all for these things and didn't fight them?

5) 2016: Priest for Life v. Dept of H.&HS, Link 2. NPR's title highlights my problem with this beautifully. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate Religious Freedom?"

I hate to use a wiki link, but this lays it out pretty neatly in terms of the Contraceptive Mandate for the USA, including links. What it means, just as it is outlined in the NPR article, is that once the organization opts out of paying or covering birth control, individuals who work for them can still get birth control through the insurance, but paid for and organized by the government. No hand or dollar of the employer touches the birth control coverage, thus covering their disagreement with covering it. But this is apparently not enough, and as with Hobby Lobby, they are arguing that that shouldn't even exist.

The only worry that I have here is the precedent that the Hobby Lobby case created, though I have some suspicion that the case may be tied 4-4.


Wrapping it up:

Again, I make no bones that if a woman wants to be on birth control, she should have affordable access to it. And if you cannot discriminate in hiring practices, you should not be able to force your religious beliefs on your employees. In this case the government hands these organizations a comfortable out that they are just not comfortable ENOUGH with. I do believe that all of these acts and supreme court cases add up to be a continual attack on the citizens of the united states.

  I try to respect religious organizations, I truly do. And many of them do fantastic works, I will not deny it. But science trumps mysticism.

We could even flip this around and really scare the evangalists. What if these organizations were run by Scientologists who refused to pay for psychotropic medication? Or Jehovah Witnesses and refused to pay for blood transfusions? It's the same idea.

Stop shoving your stuff down everyone else's throats, accept the hand the government offered and move on. This is not a high road.

Bernie Takes Michigan

I have never made it a secret that I support Bernie as our next president, and have been a fan of his for a few years now. Being from upstate NY, stuff that happens in Vermont isn't all that far from me, so it's not a huge slide to hear about it.

  Having always considered myself more of a green party/independent kind of person, I still am registered as a Democrat for elections for this very reason. For when someone like Bernie Sanders runs for office.

  No, I have no illusions that if Democrats do not take back the majority of seats in both the House and Senate in DC, they will continue their Koch fueled goal to obstruct everything that interferes with their views of free market and protecting their assets, regardless of what it does to the economy longterm, the environment, or the people of the United States outside of their small circle view (for more information on this, check out Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer).

  But one thing I do have, that Trump followers do not seem to have, is hope. I have hope that we can turn it around and make this country a place where we take care of each other. Where college is affordable and available, where healthcare is universal, where trickle down theory stays in the history books (not in policy), where the rich pay taxes just like the rest of us (not get out of paying taxes due to loopholes as they donate to their favorite radical right not-for-profits). You can read more about Bernie on the issues here:  "On the Issues"

  The great thing about what happened in Michigan, is that it shows how misleading the polls can be. Do not let the polls keep you from getting out and voting or feeling as if your vote won't matter. If nothing else has been demonstrated this year thus far, it is that every single vote really does matter (even with the super delegates being pain in the asses).

  Keep your head up! #feelthebern


 

Trump, Hillary and Bernie.. What is going on?

I have not hidden my opinions on Trump (Hitler reborn), Hillary (too middle ground for me, but I will vote for her if she wins the Democratic nomination), and Bernie (the man I believe can turn this country around, if we take back democratic control of the Senate and House in a dramatic fashion).

Trump Fans??
Yesterday was super Tuesday, and Trump won most of the states and is still leading the Republican nomination. To my fellow citizens, why are you voting for him? Just because he speaks his mind? But his mind is hateful and fear-mongering! If you are afraid of terrorist attacks (which I understand, they scare me too) but do not support gun control, you frighten me more than "Muslim" terrorists.

source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34996604

 

I know you're afraid, I really get that. But let's sit back for a second and realize a few things.

1) Muslim's are people too who believe in God (Allah), as many of you do as well, and most of them are against terrorist attacks.

 

2) Having a gun does not mean that you are protected, and do you really want more people to be able to have guns on school campus' when regulation is so low and they could be planning to kill someone? What if your child is caught in the crossfire in college?

 

3) Mexican immigration is another hot topic in terms of what Trump keep's yelling. Where are his statistics that illegal immigrants are criminals? In 2007, when illegal immigration was MUCH higher from Mexico than it is now, the Immigration Policy Center found that Hispanic immigrants are incarcerated at lower rates than native-born Americans. And now Mexican immigration is much lower than it used to be, lower than Chinese immigration and on par with India.

 

Source: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-17/three-facts-that-can-refocus-u-s-immigration-debate

 

So why are you such a fan of someone who is spouting comments with absolutely NO basis in fact, meant to merely galvanize a frightened population that he seems to consider highly uneducated and easy to manipulate? Do you really want to be manipulated or do you want to do some research and think about the facts? This isn't a liberal idea, this is an equal rights, I should know all the facts before I make a decision grown-up kind of thing.

 

 

 

Hillary and Bernie

 

I have said it before, and I will say it again. If Hillary wins the primaries, I will vote for her. If Bernie wins the primaries, I will vote for him (and be thrilled). But I am a Bernie fan #feelthebern and all that. And I understand that some liberal websites have taken sides between the two of them, and that is fine. But what bothers me is when they take things that either have said and stretches it as far as they can to be able to say "look how horrible this is".

 

   Someone actually commented this in reply to my own comment on a motherjones.com post: "A vote for Hilary is a vote for Trump. Bernie supporters will not vote for Hilary." And all I can say in reply is WHAT? You would rather vote for Trump than Hillary? Really? Crazy-speak much? How can anyone make a jump from being a full supporter of Bernie to ever being able to vote for Trump? There is NO logic in that.

 

  It is understandable that these websites want Bernie or Hillary to win, respectively, but we can talk about it as adults and without mudslinging. There are enough differences in ideology alone to simply discuss it. And I am looking forward to being able to once again follow my favorite liberal pages on Facebook haha.

 

Finally

 

This race is really scaring me. I want us to have jobs, not cater to the rich, and keep social programs well funded (for once). If you are Christian, really look at what Jesus would do. Jesus defended a woman accused of prostitution, washed her feet. He only became violent when it came to money-changers in the temple.

 

Free markets do not work. The rich do not raise wages without being forced too. They do not create safe working situations without being forced to and with monitoring. The trickle down theory does not work. The rich are more likely to send jobs overseas than to create jobs here, and good jobs. We need to raise the pay for jobs that women typically take and are needed in this country, mental health and teaching (for example).

 

So much work needs to be done, but do you think that Republicans will do any of the previous paragraph? When have they supported these in the past 30 years?

 

Republicans need to realize that what is good for everyone is to have higher wages and more jobs. People will spend more, which will bring more revenue to the businesses and everyone is happy. Businesses do not need to get greedy and raise the prices of everything because they can, keep the prices low and sell more. We're Americans, we hoard, it will work :).

 

Go VOTE!