What's Up With That? #3

I really do believe that Republicans hate women. 

It sounds crazy, and I've given it a lot of thought, but the evidence is becoming pretty strong.  In any and all situations they take every one's side except women. 

They mess with reproductive rights attempting to send us back to the bad old days siding with male church hierarchy, they vote against the Reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act siding with God knows who (rapists and abusers?), and now they block the Paycheck Fairness Act.  What the heck is their problem?  Did a woman scare them as a child?  Do they have mommy issues?

Republicans filibustered Democrats’ effort to pass a bill that would have opened up far more avenues for women to sue businesses when they suspect pay discrimination.  The legislation, known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, would shift burdens of proof toward businesses to defend their pay decisions, and would give women the right to sue for compensatory and punitive damages. It would allow women to file a class-action suit and would make them specifically have to opt out of the class.

All I can say to that is "Whoo hoo"!  It's about time.

Democrats fell more than a half-dozen votes shy of the 60 needed to head off the filibuster, but said they’ll force the Republicans to vote on it again in the walk-up to this year’s election.

Like I've said before,  I remember when my mom found out in the 1970's that the man who held her managerial job previously, received a salary twice as large as hers. She confronted her boss and he said,” Why do you think we hired a woman? We can pay you less.” She went to the State’s Attorney for justice and was patronized, and informed, “that’s how life is”.

That whole frustrating ordeal was a real wake up call to the inequities in the male female dynamic in the world.  She wasn't a feminist before, but she started to turn that direction.

I've known many women since who have suffered financial discrimination in the workplace, which is why companies don't want you sharing the details of your salary with your co-workers.  They don't want you to know you're being screwed.

Who 's side are they taking against women? Those poor sad corporations and businesses. My theory is that if corporations and businesses did what's right in the first place, they wouldn't have to worry about law suits. And yes, it was said during the Republican Primary contests, "Corporations are people", but evidently not female people.

What's Up With That #2

Here's another "What's Up With That" moment.  I shake my head in wonder.

Who in the world could be against the Senate Bill S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 .  Simply put, it was a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.  I mean really, who is FOR violence against women?

Apparently 31 Republican Senators are.

Here is the "Roll Call" of shame of the "Nays" from the April vote:

Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX) DeMint (R-SC) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lee (R-UT) Lugar (R-IN) McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS)

Paul (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rubio (R-FL) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Wicker (R-MS)

Could the "Party of NO" be so out of control that they'd actually take a position of insensitivity to violence against women just because the original bill was signed into law by a Democratic President?

I had a friend who was wearing a tee shirt from the what used to be "Women's Strength" in Peoria.  The shirt said "You can't beat a woman".  She was at some event downtown and a complete stranger walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "You wanna make a bet?"  Then he leered and walked away. 

Until that type of climate for women is gone, bills such as S. 1925 are necessary.

What's Up With That #1 Addendum

Before we leave the subject of the wealthy versus the shrinking middle class, I need to say one more thing.

After the last blog was published, I read yet another editorial in the PJS about Fat Cat Unions destroying the economy.  You know, those wealthy teachers and road workers who suck so much money out of state budgets.

I know what they mean.  I see those evil teachers, after having to take classes and in most cases get their Masters to keep their jobs, getting so rich off our tax dollars that they almost quit their second job.  You know, the one they have to take to make the mortgage on their middle class home.

(If you want to see what happens to non-union people in the teaching profession, go to a food pantry some time and see the day care workers and teacher's aids standing in line because they get paid so little they can't make ends meet.)

I see those road workers, after spending 12 hours a day in the broiling heat or freezing cold, hopping in their  BMW's and going home to their mansions.  Or, maybe it's a Chevy truck and a house in the suburbs.

Unions gave us five day work weeks, paid vacations, benefits and much more.  Without them, those things will go away, for management as well as union workers.  If you find that hard to believe, Caterpillar is a prime example.

Every time they take something away from union workers, they take it away from management.  If union workers lose some vacation days, so does management.  Lose health benefits, so does management.  And so it goes.  If they no longer have to provide union benefits because their are no unions, soon no one will have them, and the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom will become a chasm.

I suppose that will work out alright.

The wealthy can live in their mansions on the hilltop,and the peasants and serfs can live below, looking up at the rich and serving their every need.

What's Up With That? #1

Have you ever just sat down and thought, “What’s up with that?’  I do it more and more as I get older.  The world is a mysterious place that never ceases to amaze and boggle my mind.  I know why the phrase “WTF” is prevalent in today’s social media, it seems apropos for many situations.

Most of these WTF moments cause me to rant and rave in the privacy of my own home.  But, my husband is getting tired of listening to me, and ultimately, what’s the fun of a one man audience?

So, I’m going to share some of my “What’s up with that?” thoughts one at a time, and see if writing them down helps the fog to clear.

The first phenomenon I would like to ponder is the recent trend of people (many of them middle class or lower) falling over themselves to be apologists for the rich.  God forbid anyone makes a suggestion that the rich aren’t paying their fair share, or corporate heads are overpaid, or are screwing (I couldn’t think of a more polite word) their employees.  Don’t even think of mentioning corporations who don’t pay taxes, or getting rid of tax breaks for the rich.  Katie bar the door!  You’d be smashed into smithereens by masses of people stampeding over top of each other to stick up for those “poor rich folks”! 

I read the editorial page, and am amazed at the letters defending the wealthy top percent.  God love ‘em, I didn’t realize they needed the help.  However, I do understand that if some of their tax breaks disappear they might be forced to keep their third vehicle a year longer, or maybe have to do some of their own lawn work.  My heart goes out to them.  Maybe Willie Nelson could organize a rich-aid concert.   

A friend told me that she didn’t think the rich should pay more taxes because they were “job makers”.  Really?  They were in hog heaven during the Bush administration and how’d that work out?  Just where were those jobs they made?  Can anyone say India and China?  They sure as heck weren’t here!

Meanwhile as the old depression era song says, “The rich get rich and the poor get poorer”.  The income gap is bigger than ever before, and the middle class is shrinking.   Union jobs, aka good jobs, are disappearing and budgets, state and federal, are being balanced on the backs of the middle and lower class, while the rich just skate along fat and happy.  Just look at Wisconsin.  Their shrewd governor was able to convince a majority of the state that their problems came from those awful teachers and road workers.   Of course he just winked at the wealthy, while giving them the old secret handshake.  I can hear the CEO's now, their little mouths salivating while they rub their soft white hands, “Let’s move to Wisconsin, we can pay the non-union workers a pittance, and make record profits for ourselves.   Whoo hoo!  “Can anyone say bank account in the Cayman Islands, and a winter home in the Bahamas?

So, next time you feel like being an apologist for the rich, just remember, the rich have no intention of being an apologist for you.