On October 3, I wrote about the American Civil Liberties Union, and their upcoming visit to Charleston County Democratic Women. Then along came Hurricane Matthew, and the meeting was postponed. And then, along came the presidential election, and the world truly shifted. So that the rescheduled presentation by the ACLU at CCDW seems even more relevant than it was two short months ago.
It is obvious that during the upcoming administration, the only people whose rights will not be violated are those of the Trump family. Now, don't get me wrong, Mike Pence is the religious right's version of Dick Cheney, and he deserves whatever he gets. But I am betting he has had to compromise every day since he has accepted that unholy deal for power.
There is already a line of supplicants who have or are in the process of being humiliated by Trump. In true godfather fashion, he publicly banished Chris Christie as a favor to the hideous Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. He has forced Rudy Giuliani to scrape and bow while keeping him in the wings waiting for the announcement regarding his choice for secretary of state. And the media is all over the rumor that Mitt Romney will have to publicly apologized to Trump for his (truly justified) attacks during the campaign.
But those are his friends, those with political power and status, ethically questionable though it may be.
Trump loves to push the powerful around. But he also has a special place for the rest of us. Donald Trump likes us to be there to work for him, to flatter him, to need him, to be at his mercy. He doesn't see us as individuals, not even the ones who stood out at his rallies: "Look at my African-American over there." Of course he usually has a hard time distinguishing all but our dominant characteristics, so at another rally he called another black supporter a "thug" and had him thrown out.
Donald Trump will go after pretty much all of us in the end. We once, just a couple of months ago, could talk about groups that are getting discriminated against and vilified. In this new America, there is not anyone outside of the Trump family that is not at risk. I have been losing sleep over the thought of mass deportations and internment camps, journalists and Hillary Clinton being imprisoned for being considered threats. I have worried about workers who will lose their admittedly shaky claim to wages and benefits, and those who have been covered by Obamacare, as well as the poor who have relied on what little Medicaid had to offer. I have thought about the increased risk that union leaders and peaceful protesters will now face. I have worried about those whose skin is darker, who already feared walking down the street or wearing a hijab, those whose sexual identities make them vulnerable to bullying and violence.
Last night, though, I lost sleep because I heard that Paul Ryan is salivating at the thought of putting social security and medicare on the chopping block.
So, we are all truly in this mess together.
Yes, there are more of us. But the others have power, and money, and too often even the law and lawyers on their side. Before Trump, cops killed innocent people with impunity, and resented having their actions called into question, even if more often than not, they were not made to pay. And Trump has bragged that he will be "the law and order president."
What we need right now are the organizations who have stood by us in the past, and fought for us. Groups like the ACLU.
On Thursday, Executive Director Shaundra Scott and Legal Director Susan Dunn will be the speakers at the Charleston County Democratic Women monthly meeting. It will be held at the Riverview Holiday Inn at 6:00. The cost of the dinner buffet is $20. If you can, please donate to both the ACLU and Charleston County Democratic Women. These organizations will continue to exist and be strong as long as we stand behind them.
I am looking forward to this meeting, even more than I was in October. I hope to see you there.
(RSVP to Jan Leonard janleonard08@gmail.com, or at the Charleston County Democratic Women Facebook page, under events.)
Showing posts with label Charleston County Democratic Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charleston County Democratic Women. Show all posts
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Monday, October 3, 2016
When the "Silent Majority" Pushes You Around
It occurs to me that the title of this blog sounds like it could have come from Ghostbusters. Maybe that is appropriate. With all the bullshit that is coming from the tiny mouth of Donald Trump and his deplorables, this country needs more than ever a group to help us fight back.
Enter the ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union was once a valued part of our democracy. My father, who came to this country from Italy in the late '40's, and who knew what was going on from newspapers and the evening news, understood the value of the ACLU. Just as he understood how being a union member was essential to being able to support himself and a family.
But those pointy-headed elites -- I'm talking about the republican intellectual -- joined forces in the 50's and worked to change the very definition of the terms of our democracy. They found words to undermine the meaning of freedom, in fact, began to use words like freedom to mean something entirely different than, well, freedom. They twisted the truth and invented falsehoods, preying on fear and lack of education and sophistication, convincing Americans that their enemy was not the corporation, but people who were not like them, whether that difference was race, religion, political beliefs, sexual values. Unions took their money, not corporations who paid less than a living wage. The government didn't provide needed services, but controlled their lives through taxation.
And the ACLU was the evil scourge of communism, threatening our American values and our Christian way of life.
In fact, I just googled "attacks on aclu" and the first three citations were by those bastions of liberty: the Washington Examiner, Breitbart and the Daily Caller, falsely accusing the ACLU of blaming the Christian right and the GOP for the Orlando shooting in June.
Too many of us these days have no clue what the ACLU is really up to. They don't have the deep pockets of their opponents, and the reigning right-wing government leadership is encouraged to keep it that way. But these days they continue to tirelessly fight the kind of bigotry that is running rampant in political campaigns and in state as well as national legislatures.
Voting rights, freedom of speech (not the kind that can be bought), women's reproductive freedom, these are only some of the battles being fought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Here in South Carolina, the team is small but truly impressive.
And on Thursday, October 6, when Charleston County Democratic Women hold their monthly meeting, the Executive Director of South Carolina ACLU, Shaundra Scott, and Legal Director, Susan Dunn, will be talking to us about some of the issues they are currently addressing.
Charleston County Democratic Women meets the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Riverview Holiday Inn. The buffet dinner is $20. Everybody is welcome, but if you have not yet joined, membership is $25, and of course, donations are always welcome.
You can RSVP on Facebook at Charleston County Democratic Women, under "Events." It promises to be another informative and energizing meeting. I hope to see you there.
Enter the ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union was once a valued part of our democracy. My father, who came to this country from Italy in the late '40's, and who knew what was going on from newspapers and the evening news, understood the value of the ACLU. Just as he understood how being a union member was essential to being able to support himself and a family.
But those pointy-headed elites -- I'm talking about the republican intellectual -- joined forces in the 50's and worked to change the very definition of the terms of our democracy. They found words to undermine the meaning of freedom, in fact, began to use words like freedom to mean something entirely different than, well, freedom. They twisted the truth and invented falsehoods, preying on fear and lack of education and sophistication, convincing Americans that their enemy was not the corporation, but people who were not like them, whether that difference was race, religion, political beliefs, sexual values. Unions took their money, not corporations who paid less than a living wage. The government didn't provide needed services, but controlled their lives through taxation.
And the ACLU was the evil scourge of communism, threatening our American values and our Christian way of life.
In fact, I just googled "attacks on aclu" and the first three citations were by those bastions of liberty: the Washington Examiner, Breitbart and the Daily Caller, falsely accusing the ACLU of blaming the Christian right and the GOP for the Orlando shooting in June.
Too many of us these days have no clue what the ACLU is really up to. They don't have the deep pockets of their opponents, and the reigning right-wing government leadership is encouraged to keep it that way. But these days they continue to tirelessly fight the kind of bigotry that is running rampant in political campaigns and in state as well as national legislatures.
Voting rights, freedom of speech (not the kind that can be bought), women's reproductive freedom, these are only some of the battles being fought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Here in South Carolina, the team is small but truly impressive.
And on Thursday, October 6, when Charleston County Democratic Women hold their monthly meeting, the Executive Director of South Carolina ACLU, Shaundra Scott, and Legal Director, Susan Dunn, will be talking to us about some of the issues they are currently addressing.
Charleston County Democratic Women meets the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Riverview Holiday Inn. The buffet dinner is $20. Everybody is welcome, but if you have not yet joined, membership is $25, and of course, donations are always welcome.
You can RSVP on Facebook at Charleston County Democratic Women, under "Events." It promises to be another informative and energizing meeting. I hope to see you there.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
What to Do about the Women
In South Carolina, women don't fare very well. Whether it is health care, employment, violence, education, reproductive rights... you know what I mean. And in spite of all the anti-abortion verbiage about protecting women, pregnant women, babies and children remain vulnerable.
On Thursday, September 1, Charleston County Democratic Women will hold its first meeting after the summer hiatus. The featured speaker will be Jane Perdue of the Center for Women, founded in 1990, and which mission is "Dedicated to empowering and enriching women in their private and public lives."
The end goal is to increase the presence of women professionally and in elected office. But to get there, so many things have to change. Our daughters need to be healthy, well-fed and well educated. They need to live in homes and walk through neighborhoods that are safe. As they grow older, they need to have the same opportunities for higher education, employment and economic growth as men, and all those criteria need to cut across race as well.
In South Carolina, preterm birth rate is 4th highest in the nation; while the infant mortality rate has declined, there is a dramatic racial divide. With the state's continued refusal to expand Medicaid, women and children continue to experience the harmful results. Last year, attacks on Planned Parenthood threatened to shut down a valuable source of women's health care. Control of our reproductive health means control of emotional and economic well-being. South Carolina ranks #1 in violence against women. We are still debating whether or not to allow our schools to provide medically accurate sex education to students.
What all the above means is that here in South Carolina, girls and women are faced with constant hurdles to living a good life.
The Center for Women addresses each of these issues with education and advocacy.
The year of our first woman president should be the year we move the girls and women of South Carolina into the 21st century.
Please go to the Charleston County Democratic Women Facebook page and say you will attend this important meeting on Thursday, September 1, at the Holiday Inn. Men are welcome, because what improves the lives of women improves all our lives. Registration is at 6, the buffet dinner is $20.00. And please take the opportunity to become a member.
I look forward to seeing you there.
On Thursday, September 1, Charleston County Democratic Women will hold its first meeting after the summer hiatus. The featured speaker will be Jane Perdue of the Center for Women, founded in 1990, and which mission is "Dedicated to empowering and enriching women in their private and public lives."
The end goal is to increase the presence of women professionally and in elected office. But to get there, so many things have to change. Our daughters need to be healthy, well-fed and well educated. They need to live in homes and walk through neighborhoods that are safe. As they grow older, they need to have the same opportunities for higher education, employment and economic growth as men, and all those criteria need to cut across race as well.
In South Carolina, preterm birth rate is 4th highest in the nation; while the infant mortality rate has declined, there is a dramatic racial divide. With the state's continued refusal to expand Medicaid, women and children continue to experience the harmful results. Last year, attacks on Planned Parenthood threatened to shut down a valuable source of women's health care. Control of our reproductive health means control of emotional and economic well-being. South Carolina ranks #1 in violence against women. We are still debating whether or not to allow our schools to provide medically accurate sex education to students.
What all the above means is that here in South Carolina, girls and women are faced with constant hurdles to living a good life.
The Center for Women addresses each of these issues with education and advocacy.
The year of our first woman president should be the year we move the girls and women of South Carolina into the 21st century.
Please go to the Charleston County Democratic Women Facebook page and say you will attend this important meeting on Thursday, September 1, at the Holiday Inn. Men are welcome, because what improves the lives of women improves all our lives. Registration is at 6, the buffet dinner is $20.00. And please take the opportunity to become a member.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
It All Comes Back to Politics
On Thursday, Charleston County Democratic Women hosted three young women who spoke about their greatest concerns. The talks were informative and inspiring. And most interesting was that they in fact, intertwined.
Savannah Frierson spoke to issues of racism, and how they are reinforced in our politics and our lives. She brought up the drinking water in Flint, and in fact, problems with drinking water on our own Wadmalaw Island. Environmental problems hit the poor and rural areas first. Monica Tanouye spoke about the environment, not as a "tree hugger," but as someone who sees our environment as a resource that we need to maintain, in order to maintain our lives on earth and in our communities. Finally, Ali Titus spoke passionately about obesity and the blame-the-victim mentality that is so prevalent in our society. She pointed out that the same big corporations that made fortunes selling foods that lead to obesity also share in huge profits from the health problems and dieting regimens caused by obesity.
 |
| Savannah Frierson, Ali Titus, Monica Tanouye |
As the women spoke, and for these days afterwards, I have been thinking about how all these issues relate to one: capitalism as political power, and political power run amok.
With all the Tea Party talk about reducing the deficit, big agra continues to profit from huge government subsidies: subsidies to grow sugar and corn, the latter used not as a healthy vegetable but as corn syrup. Meanwhile, our local farmers struggle against the extreme weather conditions of global climate change with little aid that only comes when those extremes cannot be ignored, as with our October floods. This means healthy produce grown locally is far more expensive than McDonald's or a bag of cookies. Note that here in South Carolina food stamps cannot be used at many farms or farmers markets.
With all the light shone on Flint's water crisis, it has become more than apparent that decisions were made to cut corners in a town where the poverty rate is the second highest in the country. It was easy to do this because Michigan has an "emergency manager" law that allows the governor to appoint someone to run the city, bypassing voters' choices. And as we all know, the main function of government these days is to cut costs, and it is especially easy to do so when the people are too poor to fight back.
It's all politics, and politics has gotten so convoluted that the good guys have to run the same cons as the bad guys.
Take Wadmalaw Island, where I live. As Savannah spoke Thursday night, someone near me mumbled that that wasn't true that Wadmalaw had bad water. In fact, it is not true for me, because I live in a development that is only about 25 years old. A couple of years ago, based on my low income, I even qualified for a new well, which was dug last week. I know that there were also people who qualified that had bad wells that were fifty years old.
But suppose you don't qualify? Suppose you work hard enough to fall just above the federal poverty line? The assumption is that you can pay that $6,000 for the new well. And whatever other problems there are that need to be corrected for the water to be potable. Impossible for so many.
And yet, I am fortunate that I qualified for that federal grant. I imagine I can thank Democrats like US Representative Jim Clyburn, the late Senator Clementa Pinckney and Representative Robert L. Brown. I imagine County Councilwoman Anna Johnson pulled some strings as well. There has to be a reason, in fact, that while South Carolina skinflints in the Statehouse refuse to raise the gas tax to repair bad roads, the two main roads on Wadmalaw have been repaved twice in the seventeen years I have lived here.
But for republican strongholds, politics is all about money and influence. And for wealthy donors, politicians will spend whatever of our tax dollars it takes to keep them happy. If the air or water gets bad where they are, if a hurricane blows their home away, they move to higher ground, build a bigger newer home with the insurance money.
Meanwhile, the working poor get made promises of more jobs while being sidetracked with messages of refugee and immigrant invasions. The poor, a high percentage minority, are victimized by government decisions to cut what little aid they get, and by inadequate services. When you aren't allowed time off from work, or you don't have a car, when getting to a supermarket is a hurtle, not only do you not get out to vote, you don't really see that it makes a difference.
For those who are living in the shaky middle class, they live with financial insecurity that makes them vulnerable to the fearmongers that convince them that the EPA, immigrants and unions will cost them their livelihood. Financial insecurity for the right wing is political gold.
I would like very much to invite our three speakers back. I would like for them to maybe be a panel that addresses political solutions to the huge problems that they posed to us. I would like to keep this conversation going.
And I want to thank them for opening it up for us.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Young Democratic Women Speaking Out
The most important question Democrats should be asking these days is not "How do we get young people out to vote?" The question we should be asking is, "What issues concern you and what should your representatives be doing to address those issues?"
Well meaning politicians on the Democratic side are so intent on telling voters what they will do for them, they forget to ask if what they want to do is in fact what we want. And especially so for young voters. This is a shame, because it turns out they have a lot to say.
On Thursday, March 3, Charleston County Democratic Women will host three young women from our community, who will address just that issue. It promises to be a great meeting, and I hope to see you there.
Well meaning politicians on the Democratic side are so intent on telling voters what they will do for them, they forget to ask if what they want to do is in fact what we want. And especially so for young voters. This is a shame, because it turns out they have a lot to say.
On Thursday, March 3, Charleston County Democratic Women will host three young women from our community, who will address just that issue. It promises to be a great meeting, and I hope to see you there.
Let’s Hear It!
From Our Future
March 3, 2016 * 6:00 PM
Holiday Inn Riverview
Savannah Frierson - Author and Administrative Assistant at the Avery Research Center, Ali Titus - Program Officer at the Coastal Community Foundation, and Monica Tanouye - Communications and Diversity Officer at the Coastal Community Foundation will talk about their perceptions of the political process, what they hope to see in the future and the ways they believe we can successfully work together for positive change in our community.
Join us to learn and add to the discussion in the Q&A following their presentations.
Please RSVP to janleonard08@gmail.com
We encourage the participation of young Democrats in our meetings and the political process in our county, state and nation. We enjoy hosting our young members or members-to-be.
If you are a young adult or student of any age in search of a sponsor for the buffet dinner, please contact Jan Leonard (janleonard08@gmail.com) by March 1, 2016, for more information.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Charleston's Democratic Women
As you may know, Charleston County Democratic Women has been around a long time, fighting for the rights of all South Carolinians. They are working to make us more aware of the ongoing battles at the Statehouse for women's rights as well as healthcare, education, a living wage and the right to live free of racism and gun violence. Membership and donations support like-minded candidates, so that we can change the pathetic record of rabid right-wing radicalism in our legislature.
The next meeting of CCDW is this Thursday, February 4, at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Riverview. The featured speaker is Will Moredock, author and columnist. Will has been reporting on the weird, wacky and often offensive twists and turns of our state government for well over a decade. His latest book is a collection of articles from 2002 to 2012 entitled Living in Fear: Race, Politics and the Republican Party in South Carolina.
Will has spoken passionately for women's rights, and is an advocate for reproductive rights, which, since the secretly recorded and heavily edited Planned Parenthood video, are even more under attack by state and federal legislators than they had been in previous years. Our state legislature currently has twenty or more bills pending that would curb the rights of women to pursue legal abortions in South Carolina, and even restrict the ability to donate fetal tissue to research.
But the attack is not just against women. It is against African Americans, the LGBT community, college students, workers. Families, children, the poor, all are under fire from a legislature with the mantra of no taxes. Small government is cited in denying Medicaid to the uninsured but doesn't apply at all when it is women's right to medical privacy that is being considered. Bad state government is the reason South Carolina ranks 45th in financial security.
CCDW is planning on keeping us all informed about what is going on in Columbia, and in spearheading some grass roots actions in order to fight all those bad bills, and promote the good ones.
I hope you will be there on Thursday. We can fight the insanity if we work together.
The next meeting of CCDW is this Thursday, February 4, at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Riverview. The featured speaker is Will Moredock, author and columnist. Will has been reporting on the weird, wacky and often offensive twists and turns of our state government for well over a decade. His latest book is a collection of articles from 2002 to 2012 entitled Living in Fear: Race, Politics and the Republican Party in South Carolina.
Will has spoken passionately for women's rights, and is an advocate for reproductive rights, which, since the secretly recorded and heavily edited Planned Parenthood video, are even more under attack by state and federal legislators than they had been in previous years. Our state legislature currently has twenty or more bills pending that would curb the rights of women to pursue legal abortions in South Carolina, and even restrict the ability to donate fetal tissue to research.
But the attack is not just against women. It is against African Americans, the LGBT community, college students, workers. Families, children, the poor, all are under fire from a legislature with the mantra of no taxes. Small government is cited in denying Medicaid to the uninsured but doesn't apply at all when it is women's right to medical privacy that is being considered. Bad state government is the reason South Carolina ranks 45th in financial security.
CCDW is planning on keeping us all informed about what is going on in Columbia, and in spearheading some grass roots actions in order to fight all those bad bills, and promote the good ones.
I hope you will be there on Thursday. We can fight the insanity if we work together.
CCDW
Charleston County Democratic Women
February Meeting
Thursday, February 4, 6:00 PM to Socialize
Program Starts at 6:30!
Holiday Inn Riverview in Charleston
Optional Buffet Dinner is $20
Our Featured Speaker will be Charleston Author
Will Moredock
Living in Fear is a selection of his writings with a focus on the way that racial fear has shaped the politics and culture of our state. Also included in this collection is Will’s 7,000 word essay on the origin and future of these fears.
A South Carolina native and Charleston resident, Will is a veteran journalist with stints at The State Newspaper in Columbia and Creative and Loafing in Charlotte. From 2002 till 2012, he wrote a weekly column on South Carolina politics and culture for Charleston City Paper.
His work has appeared in newspapers around the country including the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Charlotte Observer. He is also the author Banana Republic Revisited: 75 Years of Madness, Mayhem and Minigolf in Myrtle Beach and The Storm – A Story for Children.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Democratic Women
With terrorist groups using Donald Trump's hate speeches to encourage terrorism, I would like to suggest a little diversion from the terrifying idea that he or any one of those idiots could be our next president. It is truly too soon after the Dubya years to contemplate.
Instead, let's take a peek at our own SC State Legislature, and the schemes and pranks they have up their sleeves for the coming legislative session.
We do have heroes stepping up to file a bunch of gun control bills (oops, I mean "gun safety"), and a particularly brilliant and much-needed erectile dysfunction bill, the usual nuts and bolts are spewing the usual old-white-christian-male nonsense. I wish December saw them spending more time celebrating the joy of Christmas and less time ruminating on how to take away the rights of all us residents of Whoville.
We have a bill that will protect pastors from the ever present threat that they will be forced to perform a marriage ceremony on a gay couple. There's the one that keeps popping up that would make absolutely sure that our judges will not practice Sharia Law in our South Carolina Courts. And one that will protect us from being overrun by refugees; once they have food and a roof over their heads, I imagine the fear is that the next step will be to establish their own little governments.
Then we have one that would require every school district to display the words "In God We Trust" in every single school in the state. Since they'll be spending the tax dollars on plaques instead of educational materials, maybe our pols figure a miracle is the only way our kids are going to get educated.
Of course, the real red meat for our right wingnuts is women's reproductive rights. How can Lee Bright focus on decorating that tree with little mangers when he is imagining all the infinitesimal little tiny babies in all the women and girls that might not be born? And his buddy in all things despicable, Kevin Bryant, can't hardly say his prayers for imagining what goes on in a woman's body when she has an abortion. Let's not forget Wendy Nanney who represents all the women who want to control women, and her fact-free "pain capable" anti-abortion bill which is likely to start the session right where it left off in June, attempting to force its way into passage.
As half-time of the two-year legislative sport approached, Kevin Bryant tossed out a bill that would ban "dismemberment abortions." And chomping at the bit, during the prefile period, a whole plethora of lunatics signed on to the comedically entitled "Defunding the Abortion Industry and Advancing Women's Health Act." Thanks to the Americans United for Life this bill is spreading around the states like ebola. So as well as pretending the goal of killing Planned Parenthood is to save "babies," the anti-abortion movement has now taken the absolute galling stand of claiming they are protecting women's health.
Well, here's my point.
We need to fight these idiots. They are very small, bitter people who are incapable of seeing the irony or the falsehood of any of this legislation. The same legislators who would like to force women to bring a pregnancy to term work just as hard to make sure that she does not have adequate health care. In the case of working to kill Planned Parenthood, they also want to make sure that women of limited means don't have access to birth control. Many of them will fight to prevent medically accurate sex ed.
Gee, it's almost as though the radical right wing wants to punish girls and women for having sex by making them bear children. And then make them work a low paying job with inadequate child care. And then blame them -- and the kids -- when they have problems.
Family values just don't get screwier than that.
Here in Charleston County, we have a group of Democratic women that are fighting for sanity in our legislature. They support representatives that will work for us, that will fight to protect us from the rabid and rage-filled radicals of the right. And this year they have a goal of joining forces with us to advocate for us in Columbia.
Charleston County Democratic Women (CCDW) meets once a month, on the first Thursday, at the Charleston - Riverview Holiday Inn. You don't have to be a member to enjoy the $20 buffet dinner and the speakers, and you don't have to be a woman. You do have to support the goals that will make lives better for women, which in fact, will improve all our lives.
Membership is $20 annually, and January is membership renewing time. While the cost of the meeting pays only for the dinner, membership goes toward supporting the candidates that will move us forward in South Carolina. Better education for our children, freedom from reproductive tyranny for women and families.
On Thursday, January 7, the speaker will be Dr. Donna Johnson, first female Chair of the MUSC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She will talk about why South Carolina gets an "F" in women's care. And what we can do about it.
Start the year off right by supporting Charleston County Democratic Women, and by joining in the effort to make legislative changes that will in fact advance women's health, and improve the lives of all of us.
You can find Charleston County Democratic Women on Facebook, and get more information about Thursday's meeting.
I hope to see you there.
Instead, let's take a peek at our own SC State Legislature, and the schemes and pranks they have up their sleeves for the coming legislative session.
We do have heroes stepping up to file a bunch of gun control bills (oops, I mean "gun safety"), and a particularly brilliant and much-needed erectile dysfunction bill, the usual nuts and bolts are spewing the usual old-white-christian-male nonsense. I wish December saw them spending more time celebrating the joy of Christmas and less time ruminating on how to take away the rights of all us residents of Whoville.
We have a bill that will protect pastors from the ever present threat that they will be forced to perform a marriage ceremony on a gay couple. There's the one that keeps popping up that would make absolutely sure that our judges will not practice Sharia Law in our South Carolina Courts. And one that will protect us from being overrun by refugees; once they have food and a roof over their heads, I imagine the fear is that the next step will be to establish their own little governments.
Then we have one that would require every school district to display the words "In God We Trust" in every single school in the state. Since they'll be spending the tax dollars on plaques instead of educational materials, maybe our pols figure a miracle is the only way our kids are going to get educated.
Of course, the real red meat for our right wingnuts is women's reproductive rights. How can Lee Bright focus on decorating that tree with little mangers when he is imagining all the infinitesimal little tiny babies in all the women and girls that might not be born? And his buddy in all things despicable, Kevin Bryant, can't hardly say his prayers for imagining what goes on in a woman's body when she has an abortion. Let's not forget Wendy Nanney who represents all the women who want to control women, and her fact-free "pain capable" anti-abortion bill which is likely to start the session right where it left off in June, attempting to force its way into passage.
As half-time of the two-year legislative sport approached, Kevin Bryant tossed out a bill that would ban "dismemberment abortions." And chomping at the bit, during the prefile period, a whole plethora of lunatics signed on to the comedically entitled "Defunding the Abortion Industry and Advancing Women's Health Act." Thanks to the Americans United for Life this bill is spreading around the states like ebola. So as well as pretending the goal of killing Planned Parenthood is to save "babies," the anti-abortion movement has now taken the absolute galling stand of claiming they are protecting women's health.
Well, here's my point.
We need to fight these idiots. They are very small, bitter people who are incapable of seeing the irony or the falsehood of any of this legislation. The same legislators who would like to force women to bring a pregnancy to term work just as hard to make sure that she does not have adequate health care. In the case of working to kill Planned Parenthood, they also want to make sure that women of limited means don't have access to birth control. Many of them will fight to prevent medically accurate sex ed.
Gee, it's almost as though the radical right wing wants to punish girls and women for having sex by making them bear children. And then make them work a low paying job with inadequate child care. And then blame them -- and the kids -- when they have problems.
Family values just don't get screwier than that.
Here in Charleston County, we have a group of Democratic women that are fighting for sanity in our legislature. They support representatives that will work for us, that will fight to protect us from the rabid and rage-filled radicals of the right. And this year they have a goal of joining forces with us to advocate for us in Columbia.
Charleston County Democratic Women (CCDW) meets once a month, on the first Thursday, at the Charleston - Riverview Holiday Inn. You don't have to be a member to enjoy the $20 buffet dinner and the speakers, and you don't have to be a woman. You do have to support the goals that will make lives better for women, which in fact, will improve all our lives.
Membership is $20 annually, and January is membership renewing time. While the cost of the meeting pays only for the dinner, membership goes toward supporting the candidates that will move us forward in South Carolina. Better education for our children, freedom from reproductive tyranny for women and families.
On Thursday, January 7, the speaker will be Dr. Donna Johnson, first female Chair of the MUSC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She will talk about why South Carolina gets an "F" in women's care. And what we can do about it.
Start the year off right by supporting Charleston County Democratic Women, and by joining in the effort to make legislative changes that will in fact advance women's health, and improve the lives of all of us.
You can find Charleston County Democratic Women on Facebook, and get more information about Thursday's meeting.
I hope to see you there.
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