Some Things Never Change

After a week of traveling, conferences, and a small bit of vacation, we returned to piles of e-mail, snail mail, old newspapers (many of which we'd already read online) - and a few story lines in the news that you might also have missed.

The May monthly jobs numbers came in lower than expected, but the private sector still had job gains, for the twenty-seventh month in a row under President Obama. However, the Republican policies of austerity continued to rob the economy of jobs from the public sector - meaning government. Meanwhile, the GOP continued to blame Obama for the jobs problem - even though the Republicans in Congress still have done NOTHING with the multiple versions of jobs bills President Obama sent them LAST YEAR. Many are speculating that the Republicans are purposely trying to sabotage the economy for their own political gain - speculation that may very well be true.

Mitt Romney and his campaign attempted a political stunt with protestors - but were blown out in the media cycle by former Senator John Edwards being acquitted of campaign finance violations (although the man is still a cad). Mitt Romney wouldn't repudiate Donald Trump and his insane birtherism - and Mitt also couldn't stop lying about Obama, Solyndra, or many other things. Meanwhile, an energy company Mr. Romney used Massachusetts taxpayer dollars to subsidize went bankrupt - meaning any critique Romney has of Obama on Solyndra has no validity.

Overseas, the Queen of England and the U.K. began celebrating 60 years of her reign, while a plane crashed in Nigeria. Syria's leader killed more of his people, and tried to blame the massacre on someone else, while Egyptians have returned to protest their current military-led government in Tarhir Square.

Meanwhile, back home, the state of Florida is being slapped - hard - by the Department of Justice, on its illegal voter purge, while the bigots in Nebraska look like they'll be forcing Lincolnites to vote on the rights of their fellow citizens.

Of all the stories you may have missed this last week, it's those last two that really stick with us the most, in the wrong way.

In Florida, the Republican Governor and his cronies have been attempting to purge the state's voter rolls of horrible people like a 91 year old WWII veteran, or a 40-year small businesswoman - not to mention an overabundance of blacks, hispanics, and Democratic voters. The Dept. of Justice stepped in at the end of last week and told Florida's governor to stop - or else.

In Nebraska, after Lincoln's City Council voted 5-0 to enact a "fairness ordinance" that would protect LGBT citizens, the area's bigots managed to gather enough signatures on a petition to put the issue on the fall ballot. While the petition itself may not be legal, according the city's lawyer, Lincoln's mayor has decided to follow through with the wishes of a small but vocal group of citizens anyway, by putting the idea on the fall ballot anyway.

The idea that the rights of other human beings should be put to a vote of the general population is, to many people, insane. If you put up a vote today in many parts of the United States, blacks and other minorities might be thrown back into slavery - and women would likely be relegated to second class status as well. The idea that a person - especially an American - should not have the same civil rights as his/her fellow citizens because of sexual orientation is as despicable to any sane person as the ideas of re-instituting slavery or re-subjugating women would be. The idea that only the votes of rich white men should be counted are equally offensive.

This fall's elections, across the nation, will be a CHOICE, not a referendum, and the choices are VERY clear this year.

You will get the choice between moving forward past the mistakes of the past, or pitting us versus them - American against American - going backward and repeating the same social and economic ideas that have failed many times previously.

We hope that whenever you go to the polls, you remember history - and choose to go forward.