The Virginia Town that Brought the Wounded Soldiers Back Home

by Nomad

This may not be a big story but it's worth telling. When the residents of one Virginia town heard the call for help, they didn't think twice.
For two dozen injured soldiers, the symbolism of the moment must have meant a lot.

Something kind of special happened the other day when the town of Colonial Beach, Virginia (population 3,542) decided to honor 24 injured soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A local radio DJ who goes by the name of  Ripley was the prime mover behind the idea of throwing a "Welcome Home Celebration" for injured servicemen, women, their caretakers and guests. The Yellow Ribbon Fund, an organization hich supports injured vets and their families, also pitched in.  

Ripley explained:

"After speaking with two of our station advertisers, one a restaurant and the other a Harley-Davidson Dealer, they threw their entire support for this event,"

Despite a lot of logistical planning, the unexpected happened. On the way to the ceremony, the bus carrying the wounded servicemen broke down on Route 205 just inside the Westmoreland County line.

What might have been a big disappointment for the soldiers and their families was suddenly turned around by the swift response of the townspeople. 

According to an article in The Journal, residents of the town arrived in a envoy of cars, vans and SUVs to rescue the two dozen stranded servicemen. 

Voter ID Laws in Texas and a Surprising Fact about Black Voter Turnout

by Nomad

No wonder there has been such a strong push of policies like Voter ID laws. 

Back in 2012, writer Jonathan Chait, in a New York magazine article entitled "2012 or Never," noted the phenomena of the incredible shrinking white electorate:

"Every year the nonwhite proportion of the electorate grows by about half a percentage point -- meaning that in every presidential election, the minority share of the vote increases by 2 percent, a huge amount in a closely divided country."

He adds:

"By 2020 nonwhite voters should rise from a quarter of the 2008 electorate to one third. In 30 years, "nonwhites will outnumber whites."

In controversial ruling, a federal judge struck down Wisconsin's Voter ID law. This requirement had, said U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a “disproportionate impact” on African American and Latino voters. 

According to a Washington Post article, eight states, mostly in the South, have similar laws as the Wisconsin law. And 31 states have voter ID laws, of one kind or another. Stricter requirement are scheduled to come into effect in the future. 

A few days ago, the spotlight turned to Texas, In Corpus Christi, U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos will review a challenge to the state's laws from both U.S. Justice Department and civil rights groups. 

The Republican-dominated Legislature in 2011 passed a strict Voter ID law which, for some people, made it easier to by a hand gun than to vote. Hundreds of thousands of Texan voters will be affected. The target? Students, minorities, the poor and the elderly- anybody who may not possess the proper ID required by law.

The Real Story about Gov. Jindal's Attack on the Hyphenated American

by Nomad

Governor Bobby Jindal recently raised a few eyebrows with some of his ideas on minorities. Some said that he was implying that ethnic minorities could make everyone a lot happier if they gave up their hyphens and became Americans. Full stop. 

However, many on the Left seem to have missed what the true purpose behind the remarks.

Recently in an op-ed piece for Politico, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal gave his ideas on the dangers of excessive emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism. The liberal press quickly jumped on Jindal's remarks, interpreting them as his desire for all minorities to be white as Wonder Bread. It was a bit unfair since he isn't actually saying that. 

In fact, his words deserve a little more attention..rather than a hasty dismissal. If only to understand more fully why the ideas he expressed were so wrong.

The Threat of the Hyphen

In the article, Jindal offers a few interesting points, though most on the left would find hard to agree with. He says, for example, that minorities should pay less attention to their separateness and just try harder to become like the rest of us: American. He writes that today "we seem to act as if that melting pot is passé, an antiquated notion."

Yet we still place far too much emphasis on our “separateness,” our heritage, ethnic background, skin color, etc. We live in the age of hyphenated Americans: Asian-Americans, Italian-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Indian-Americans, and Native Americans, to name just a few.

Jindal also leaves out a very important minority in his list. Jewish-Americans? It is an understandable omission for a Republican. Let's see Jindal speaking before B'nai B'rith, telling the Jewish audience that they need to drop their Jewish heritage and see what happens. They would, with justification, be outraged. Still, it would be a lovely way for Bobby Jindal to immolate his political aspirations.

Incidentally the term "melting pot" was coined by Israel Zangwill, a child of Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia. Although he, like Jindal, felt all races and cultures could come together to make the American identity, he was also an early Zionist, an proponent for the creation of a state for Jews and for Jews alone. 
So even he, like Jindal, had some contradictory ideas.

Quoting Exodus: Religious Liberty, Incitement and the Free Speech Hypocrisy

by Nomad

Two seemingly-unrelated situations involving free speech, come together in this post to expose America's first amendment hypocrisy.

Most of us know that free speech is not absolute. But why should some forms of free speech be restricted except when it comes from religious leaders? Why only Christian leaders? Why is hate speech allowed to hide behind the shield of religious liberty?

Often you'll see news stories and you think, there has to be more to this. If you take it a face value then the whole thing is just too stupid / ridiculous / scary to be believed. Or, at least, you don't want to believe it could happen in the US. Here's an example of what I mean.

The Evans Case

According to a local news channel, a 31-year-old Muhlenberg County, Kentucky man posted heavy metal song lyrics on his Facebook account on August 24th and three days later, James Evans was charged with "terroristic threatening.”

On Wednesday last week Evans was finally released on bail after spending a full eight days in jail. He has been told the case would be deferred for six months and he would have to undergo a mental evaluation.

The article quotes Mike Drake, the Muhlenberg County school resource officer, explaining that multiple agencies received calls concerned about the post. Other than that, the county attorney and the school resource officer for the Muhlenberg county schools have declined to comment about the Evans case.

The Starkville Enclave: How a Mississippi Town is Defying Failed GOP Policy

by Nomad

When it comes to searching for good news, Mississippi is probably the last place anybody would think to look. Mississippi has been called- for so many reasons- America's Third World.
However, even in failed state, there are pockets of positive news. You just have to know where to look.

The Showcase of Conservative Policy in Action

Nobody will argue with one thing about Mississippi. The Magnolia State is probably the most conservative state in the country. For decades now it is and has been almost totally under the near absolute control of Republican, from the governor to the chamber of the state legislatures. It is the closet thing America has to a one-party system.

And like a lot of one-party nations, the results are appalling. 

Mississippi should have been a conservative showcase.,, if Republican policy actually worked It should have been the one place where conservatives could have held as a model of success  in order to exalt their brand. 

Yet, of  all of the states, Mississippi is a testament to the failure of conservative policy. 

Need evidence?

In general, the South has long been crippled by the sort of poverty that is handed down from generation to generation. Nine of the top 10 poorest states are found in the South. Some have tried to make the case that the South has never recovered from the Civil War. 

That's possible, but then that was an awfully long ago. Europe was rebuilt in less than a generation, Japan and Russia were both devastated following a war but quickly managed to rise from the ashes. Besides, as every  narrow minded conservative would tell you, you shouldn't constantly blame the past for the present lack of initiative, right? Whose fault is it if you haven't become a success? Right? (Wasn't it conservative Michele Bachmann who said that all cultures were not equal? She wasn't talking about the Southern culture. of course.) 

But, even by the South's own low standards, the situation in Mississippi is a cryin' shame.

Economically of all states, Mississippi  comes in dead last in terms of per capita income. The primary reasons are pretty basic, a lack of  secure employment, decent wages, and healthcare.  

Poorest Area of the Poorest State

The Mississippi Delta region is the poorest area of the poorest state and it is the kind of poverty that should have compassionate legislators working overtime. Unfortunately not so in Mississippi.

Christopher Masingill, joint head of the Delta Regional Authority, a development agency. puts it this way: “You can’t out-poor the Delta." Masingill points out that the people of the Mississippi Delta have a lower life expectancy than in Tanzania; other areas do not yet have proper sanitation. 
And like a Third World, the people of the region have given up hope and many are concentrating their efforts not in building but leaving. 

Since 1940, the region’s population has fallen by almost half. Ask any Third Worlder why they risk (and often losing) their lives coming to Europe or America. It will be the same as answer from those leaving the Delta. It's hopeless to keep trying where there is no opportunity. The system has been built to keep people down.