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Never let it be said that our state legislators ever pass up an opportunity to grandstand and show off their hypocisy on any given day.....
During the recent Kentucky Extraordinary Session (normally just called Special Session), a resolution (NOT A BILL) was introduced and adopted via voice vote reaffirming their support of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and the Civil Rights Act, as well as the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. This was in response to US Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) stating that he believed that the federal government overreached in portions of it in prohibiting private businesses from serving (or NOT serving) whomever they want. Make no mistake about it, I do NOT share his viewpoint in this situation. The Civil Rights Act was needed, and has been a good thing in attempts to eliminate or discourage racial discrimination. Further, discrimination on the basis of age, gender, and ethnicity are prohibited. Again, a good thing...
Where's the hypocrisy I speak of? Glad you asked. In that same interview, Rand Paul also went on to say that he also believed the ADA was an overreach as well, and posed a completely WRONG and impossible scenario, implying that if a business didn't install a $100,000 elevator to accommodate a person in a wheelchair instead of offering them a job or office on the first floor, they would be "shut down" (his words). Of course, this in incorrect, but few people are paying attention to this. The ill-advised, the ignorant, and those too stupid to read (or care to read) further and educate themselves are staking out positions on either side (with him or against him). The hypocrisy lies in the fact that this is being COMPLETELY ignored in most media, since playing the race card is the sexy thing to do.
The fact that the resolution was introduced and adopted (by an African American State Senator, no less) without ANY mention of also repudiating his remarks on the ADA is a smack in the face. This is the very same state senate body that, after the state House passed a bill requiring a STUDY ONLY into increasing access to captioned movies in Kentucky, then buried that same bill ONE STEP shy of passing the Senate. So apparently, in Kentucky, it is repugnant and disgusting to discriminate against those of a certain race, or gender, or age, but hey, the deaf and other disabled persons? Why, it costs too much to accommodate them, folks, so push 'em off to the side and forget about them.
I'm sickened and disgusted by a state legislature that, given SIXTY DAYS to draft and pass a state biennial budget, fiddled while Kentucky burned. State workers worried about layoffs, state agencies cut budgets to the bone, and so forth and so on. For 60 days, the legislators hemmed and hawed, passing the buck because of upcoming elections and fearful of casting a vote that would cost them their jobs potentially. Re-elections or re-nominations firmly secured, they then came back in special session (at an extra cost of $63,000 PER DAY), and passed a state budget in 5 days, and a state transportation budget in 6 days. The difference? Close to the beginning of the original legislative session, the proposed budget was something like $17.3 billion dollars. The final budget was something like $17.1 billion dollars, a $200 million dollar difference. We spent an additional $378,000 dollars to save $200 million that could have been done during the normal 60 day session? Pitiful, just pitiful. And on top of all of that, they have the nerve to show preference for repudiating one form of discrimination but not others? And one legislator had the nerve to complain when asked about working on a Saturday to pass the transportation bill by saying "I guess that's our punishment for not getting it done in regular session?" Really? PUNISHMENT? Well, let's see... He got paid, he worked ONE SATURDAY, and it is punishment? Oh, those ivory tower types have lost ALL TOUCH with reality.
Quick, someone put a picture of a spine on a milk carton, because the state legislature has apparently had theirs go missing in Kentucky.
Eddie
During the recent Kentucky Extraordinary Session (normally just called Special Session), a resolution (NOT A BILL) was introduced and adopted via voice vote reaffirming their support of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and the Civil Rights Act, as well as the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. This was in response to US Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) stating that he believed that the federal government overreached in portions of it in prohibiting private businesses from serving (or NOT serving) whomever they want. Make no mistake about it, I do NOT share his viewpoint in this situation. The Civil Rights Act was needed, and has been a good thing in attempts to eliminate or discourage racial discrimination. Further, discrimination on the basis of age, gender, and ethnicity are prohibited. Again, a good thing...
Where's the hypocrisy I speak of? Glad you asked. In that same interview, Rand Paul also went on to say that he also believed the ADA was an overreach as well, and posed a completely WRONG and impossible scenario, implying that if a business didn't install a $100,000 elevator to accommodate a person in a wheelchair instead of offering them a job or office on the first floor, they would be "shut down" (his words). Of course, this in incorrect, but few people are paying attention to this. The ill-advised, the ignorant, and those too stupid to read (or care to read) further and educate themselves are staking out positions on either side (with him or against him). The hypocrisy lies in the fact that this is being COMPLETELY ignored in most media, since playing the race card is the sexy thing to do.
The fact that the resolution was introduced and adopted (by an African American State Senator, no less) without ANY mention of also repudiating his remarks on the ADA is a smack in the face. This is the very same state senate body that, after the state House passed a bill requiring a STUDY ONLY into increasing access to captioned movies in Kentucky, then buried that same bill ONE STEP shy of passing the Senate. So apparently, in Kentucky, it is repugnant and disgusting to discriminate against those of a certain race, or gender, or age, but hey, the deaf and other disabled persons? Why, it costs too much to accommodate them, folks, so push 'em off to the side and forget about them.
I'm sickened and disgusted by a state legislature that, given SIXTY DAYS to draft and pass a state biennial budget, fiddled while Kentucky burned. State workers worried about layoffs, state agencies cut budgets to the bone, and so forth and so on. For 60 days, the legislators hemmed and hawed, passing the buck because of upcoming elections and fearful of casting a vote that would cost them their jobs potentially. Re-elections or re-nominations firmly secured, they then came back in special session (at an extra cost of $63,000 PER DAY), and passed a state budget in 5 days, and a state transportation budget in 6 days. The difference? Close to the beginning of the original legislative session, the proposed budget was something like $17.3 billion dollars. The final budget was something like $17.1 billion dollars, a $200 million dollar difference. We spent an additional $378,000 dollars to save $200 million that could have been done during the normal 60 day session? Pitiful, just pitiful. And on top of all of that, they have the nerve to show preference for repudiating one form of discrimination but not others? And one legislator had the nerve to complain when asked about working on a Saturday to pass the transportation bill by saying "I guess that's our punishment for not getting it done in regular session?" Really? PUNISHMENT? Well, let's see... He got paid, he worked ONE SATURDAY, and it is punishment? Oh, those ivory tower types have lost ALL TOUCH with reality.
Quick, someone put a picture of a spine on a milk carton, because the state legislature has apparently had theirs go missing in Kentucky.
Eddie
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