Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Today In "Not a Dime's Worth of Difference" News



The five Supreme Court justices appointed by Republican presidents just told minority voters in  the South to go piss up a rope.

The mostly nakedly self-loathing of the Republican Majority explained his reasoning this way:
Finally, while the University admits that racial discrimination in admissions is not ideal, it asserts that it is a temporary necessity because of the enduring race consciousness of our society. Yet again, the University echoes the hollow justifications advanced by the segregationists...The University's arguments today are no more persuasive than they were 60 years ago. ... There is no principled distinction between the University's assertion that diversity yields educational benefits and the segregationists' assertion that segregation yielded those same benefits...It is also noteworthy that, in our desegregation cases, we rejected arguments that are virtually identical to those advanced by the University today. The University asserts, for instance, that the diversity obtained through its discriminatory admissions program prepares its students to become leaders in a diverse society. ... The segregationists likewise defended segregation on the ground that it provided more leadership opportunities for blacks. ... Indeed, no court today would accept the suggestion that segregation is permissible because historically black colleges produced Booker T. Washington, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other prominent leaders. Likewise, the University's racial discrimination cannot be justified on the ground that it will produce better leaders.
Fresh from this latest victory in the Culture War, Republican members of Congress are expected to celebrate in the traditional fashion: cracking open a case of wildly ignorant, inappropriate rape comments, comparing school kids in LA to Hitler Youth (Glenn Beck, today), staging a dozen more symbolic votes telling women and people who need health care to go piss up a rope, after which Charles Darwin will be burned in effigy.

At the state-level, of course, wherever Republican are in control they are now dispensing  with any fig-leaf of subtlety and sanity whatsoever and just let their Handmaid's Tale freak flags fly: 
Gov. Rick Perry really wants to end safe, legal abortion in the state of Texas. So much so, in fact, that he’s called a special session of the legislature to get that done. Sure, there were other legitimate reasons to call the special session, which Ross Ramsey of The Texas Tribune calls “the emergency rooms of legislation” that really should only be used for emergencies. There are transportation and redistricting issues. But apparently Perry and Texas Republicans believe that killing off most safe, legal abortions in the state—the kind that have been going on for 40 years, since the Texas-based Roe v. Wade case was decided—is suddenly an emergency that must be handled during the special session. The time to get that massive black market for abortion up and running in Texas apparently has to happen right this minute.
UPDATE:

Some people may see these ruthless rollbacks of the Enlightenment at the hands of bellicose Randite Christopaths as a disaster for women, minorities, the poor, the elderly, the frail, the sick, the middle class, etc.

On the other hand, those of a more Libertarian persuasion who are unaffected by such trifles may well see the rise of these same theocratic predators as their dream come true.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

While this is bad, here is how I see it.

The issue was that in the last few elections not all places that required pre-clearance actively tried to fuck over voters, and many places that did not require pre-clearance actually did fuck over voters. This is not to say that requiring pre-clearance is bad, just that the current metrics for it are woefully outdated. Ideally pre-clearance and federal approval should be required for all federal elections.

Now, while I don't expect the current congress do this, the initiative is at least there for liberals to do it now rather than sitting their laughing about the former CSA and ignoring the fuckering going on in other areas. There is a fire to do something now and to push. And this does seem like something the Democrats can push on. And if the past elections have prove anything, once you start screwing around here people get pissed.

So yeah, it's a set back but it might just spark a movement to fix a greater issue that he current VRA did not fixed, pre-clearance everywhere. And it might just get lazy Dems and the purer than thou off their asses to do something.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Ideally pre-clearance and federal approval should be required for all federal elections.

Agreed, but I wouldn't limit it to federal elections. An awful lot of shenanigans can happen at the local level; just look at what the Republican cock-knockers are doing up here in Wisconsin.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

At the state-level, of course, wherever Republican are in control they are now dispensing with any fig-leaf of subtlety and sanity whatsoever and just let their Handmaid's Tale freak flags fly:

Scott Walker has promised to sign the bill mandating invasive ultrasounds in Wisconsin also.

Which also includes provisions that will close at least 25% of the clinics providing abortions in the state.

Don't fool yourself. It CAN happen in your states also.

Anonymous said...

The hostile takeover of the fascist right continues thanks to the five Supreme Republicans.

Anonymous said...

Damn straight! Bout time we got this oppressive federal regime out the bizness of votin in these thar states. Let the fair hand of marketplace democracy sort her out!
...and oh yeah...Stand with Rand!!
Keep God in our schools..but...Social Darwinism forever at the booth...!

Spit....!

Hamfast Ruddyneck said...

So there's a quarter's worth of difference. Meh.

Anonymous said...

That title of yours is full of more straw than Ray Bolger's costume in the Wizard of Oz.