Enemy of Entropy
Archive for Civil Rights
Oh, he was obviously such a terrorist!
Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border
Obviously, science fiction writers are scary people. And his reason for being in Nebraska in the first place (helping a friend move) was highly questionable, so it makes total sense that the border patrol would search his vehicle. Getting out of the car to ask a question was obviously a terrorist act, so the border batrol beat him, pepper sprayed him, and threw him in jail. After his wife paid his bail, they tossed him out in his shirt sleeves (obviously, his coat had to be impounded along with his car, computer, and other belongings as a threat to national security) in the middle of the night, after charging him with a felony, claiming that he struck a federal officer (both the author and the passenger in his car state that never happened). Now the man has to return from his home in Canada to face felony charges in Michigan.
Why make an exception for rape and incest?
I always look forward to Dr. Marty Klein’s Sexual Intelligence newsletters, so I was tickled to see one in my inbox today. But one of the headlines took me by surprise: End Rape & Incest Exceptions to Stupak Abortion Ban. Dr. Klein always has excellent analyses, and this one is no exception.
If you’re against reproductive choice for so-called “moral reasons” (as if anyone getting an abortion or supporting its legality isn’t “moral”), be consistent. If killing a fetus or even a fertilized egg wandering around a woman’s body is the same as killing a person (the position of every anti-choice activist), why should it matter how the fetus or fertilized egg got there? Why is a fetus’ right to live diminished because its father was a rapist or a sadist? After all, we don’t say the children of such men have fewer rights than other children.
Stupak is back! Time to call your legislators again!
Current Mood:
Angry
This time it’s in the Senate, folks. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, I’m talking about the Stupak-Pitts amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act that was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Democratic Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan and Republican Representative Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, along with a long list of Congresspersons. The bill tried to keep any federal funds from being used to pay for an abortion, but was also worded in such a way that it would have prohibited women from purchasing private coverage to cover abortions. That’s a ridiculous restriction on the reproductive freedom of every woman who needs health care, and an even further economic restriction on what private citizens can purchase with their own funds. Women would be losing coverage they have now!
The letter I sent to my Senators last month was, like everything I send to Senator Isakson, not read as far as I could tell, because his office just responded with a form letter babbling about his religious beliefs. That’s a bit better than Senator Chambliss’ office, at least, which doesn’t even do that much. Still, that form letter was something of a straw breaking this particular camel’s back, and it inspired me to write another letter back to Senator Isakson, one that he hasn’t responded to at all. I’m not terribly surprised, as I asked that he not respond at all if his only response was going to be another form letter. Still, writing it prepared me, to a certain extent, to respond to the alert going out about the renewed Stupak amendment, which is why I mention it here.
YAY!
Current Mood:
Esctatic
We were fairly sure of this right after I finally had my Social Security hearing last month based on the very positive statements from the judge, but I didn’t want to jinx anything. We got the official letter in the mail today, saying that the decision was “fully favorable!” SQUEE!
It will still take some time for that decision to bounce around the bureaucracy and get monthly payments started, much less get the back pay from the SSA. Because the onset date was years ago, I should be eligible for Medicare right away, but I’ll need to talk to the attorney about that on Monday.
I really needed some good news, so the timing is marvelous.
This process has been an insane endurance contest. The fact that the SSA has been absolutely obstructionist throughout (and I know my experience is far from unique!) is ridiculous. The system demands that people who are most in need of help are least likely to get it in any timely fashion, because it takes so much persistence, jargon, and inside knowledge to get anywhere. If you can do all those forms and gather all the records and so on by yourself, I don’t know that you should count as disabled! Even people with good support in other ways don’t always have someone willing, able, and persistent who can and will spend the hours and hours of time to push a claim through.
I started the filing process for one reason: I needed stable access to healthcare so that I could get well enough to go back to work. Five years down the line, I’m not at all sure that I will be able to return to work, because my health has deteriorated so much that it may not be possible to get back to an “abled” state. How many years of productive lives are being in the U.S. wasted for lack access to healthcare?
I get annoyed every time I hear a talking head refer to plans to “insure” everyone. That isn’t what we need! Plenty of people have health insurance and still don’t get the actual health care they need because they can’t afford the co-pays, or the insurer won’t cover a particular drug or therapy, or there are pre-existing condition problems, or…
We need health care. Not divided up by age (this for kids, that for seniors, something else for working age people, oh, right, the disabled here) by universal car, the same care for everyone, for the whole body, cradle to grave. (Who ever decided that eyes and teeth should be separated out, anyway? That’s stupid.)
I read an artcle about San Francisco’s health program last week – if I can find a link I’ll add it later. It does just what I described, from what that article says. I don’t know how much it costs to join, but apparently there’s a lot of outreach to people who are otherwise uninsured. There are no pre-existing conditions.
Does anyone know of programs like San Francisco’s elsewhere in the U.S.?
excitedWTF? Georgia Senate Threatens to Secede!
Current Mood: Angry
Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA
They really did, by a vote of 43 – 1. On April 1, but it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.
The resolution goes on to endorse the theory that states have the right to abridge constitutional freedoms of religion, press and speech. According to the resolution, it is up to the states to decide “how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged.â€
(snip)
Finally, the resolution states that if Congress, the president or federal courts take any action that exceeds their constitutional powers, the Constitution is rendered null and void and the United States of America is officially disbanded. As an example, the resolution specifically states that if the federal government enacts “prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition,†the country is disbanded.
You better believe that I’m writing to our state senator right away. Yes, this nonsense was slipped in on day 39 of the 40 day legislative session, but that is absolutely no excuse. Our representatives have no business voting for anything they haven’t thoroughly read, understood, and debated. That’s their job!
Yet another reason I don’t want to live in Georgia any more. I seriously think this is a backlash against our election of a black Democrat to the presidency. I’m looking at blue states now.
