The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Since late last year, at least a dozen states have passed anti-abortion legislation, making it more difficult for women to have much choice on what to do with their bodies post-pregnancy, if any choice at all. This all came to a head this past week in Alabama, where abortion became illegal in just about every circumstance, with the lone exception of the mother's health being placed in jeopardy due to a pregnancy. Abortion is illegal in cases of rape, incest, and doctors whom perform the procedure could face up to 99 years in prison. The bill was passed by the final tally of 25-6. All 25 "aye" votes were made by white Republican men. This comes on the heels of such legislation being passed in: Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee, with Missouri passing a similar bill just after Alabama did. In these 12 states, there were a total of 350 "ayes," compared to just 109 "nays" (76.3% passin...

What seems to be the far-right's favorite line when debating gun control? "Read the Constitution!" Given that, I find it ironically humorous that the Missouri Senate's General Laws Committee, dominated by the Republican Party, last week voted 5-1 in favor of a bill which would make it a crime for federal law enforcement to enforce this country's gun laws. The bill states that the punishment for such "crimes" would be up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000. It would also call on school personnel to be armed, as well as for lowering the age to obtain a concealed weapons permit from 21 to 19. Yet the Constitution states that federal laws "shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the country notwithstanding." In other words, perhaps the Missouri Senate General Laws Committee should heed their own argument - "Read the Con...

The mantra makers vs. takers has been increasing in its usage and effectiveness in recent years. The image of a person on welfare has gone from that of a single mother working multiple low-paying jobs and still not being able to fully support she and her kids to one of a person laying on the couch, watching game-shows, while smoking weed. This image distortion has led to states either pursuing or successfully proposing and enacting laws to drug-test people on welfare. They claimed that this distorted image of those on welfare was an accurate one, that we'd prevent many drug users from receiving our taxpayer money, and would save a great deal of money in the process. Upon further inspection, these claims and predictions haven't rung true. Florida was the first state to enact such a law. How is it doing? Not great... Before Judge Mary S. Scriven of the Federal District Court decried the law as being unconstitutional, 4,086 such drug-tests were documented. Of those 4,086 potenti...