Ireland Does What U.S. Can't Seem to Do

Ireland has voted "resoundingly" to allow gay marriage, the first national vote on this issue in the world. They amended their Constitution to permit marriage equality and they did it with a popular mandate, stated Leo Varadkar, a gay Cabinet minister. In the county of Dublin the Irish capital looks to have voted around 70 percent in favor of gay marriage with no districts outside the capital reporting a no majority. The vote nationally was 62.1% in favor. Ireland is certainly as religious a country as is America so how do we equate that with the fact that it is religious conservatives in this country that are holding back gay marriage equality here? Constitutional scholars debate whether or not the U.S. Constitution should reflect the legal values of foreign nations. The Supreme Court looked abroad in "deciding who – such as juveniles — should be exempt from the death penalty." The big question now is whether SCOTUS will let Ireland's landmark decision affect its verdict on gay marriage in the U.S. coming soon.

Findings: Bullying Leads to Future Health Problems

For a subject that has quieted down for a while, there is new evidence that those who are "bullied by their peers actually suffer from worse long-term mental health effects than children who are maltreated by adults." It makes sense to me. Your parents are supposed to be on your back to make you a better person. Your friends, or acquaintances, are supposed to treat you like one of them. When they resort to bullying the bullied kid probably doesn't understand why his or her coequal is doing this. A study from The Lancet Psychiatry came up with the conclusion and the findings were a surprise. Their scientific discovery showed that since the children spent more time with other kids than their parents, the negative results are more pronounced. Additional results showed kids mistreated by adults were more likely to be bullied. The researchers compare bullying to the victim to being a caged animal with nowhere to escape, with the repetitive nature of the act being the most harmful part. The answer, they say, is to stop it in the schools where most of it originates. If parents suspect bullying, they should talk to their kids immediately, then contact school officials.

Why Do We Continue to Bury Our Heads in the Sand Over Racism?

This country has never gotten over this idea that there is a genetic difference between the racial colors of blacks and whites that makes them different. Some studies in the past have suggested that whites are naturally smarter than blacks so it must be genetic? Not so. Genes are a segment of the DNA and all humans, black, white, brown, yellow, whatever have the same DNA. So if you can't blame it on heredity but does the environment we grow up in come to mind? Bingo. Fifty-three years ago James Baldwin said he would never forgive his country or countrymen for destroying hundreds of thousands of lives, not really knowing what they had done, and not wanting to know. Today, I believe those who so criticize and condemn blacks realize what they are doing and many are proud of it.

I grew up in the South in the 1950s and 1960s so I experienced the whole nine yards. I didn't understand why then and I don't understand why now. Tim Wise, who writes on this issue a lot, quoted Baldwin's words, above, commenting, "and in the wake of the Baltimore uprising that began last week, they are words worth remembering." He brings up a point voiced by many black Americans, 'How can we possibly know what they go through when we have never lived it?' There is no way any white American can put his or herself in the shoes of a black man or black woman...or Hispanic, or American Indian, or Asian. But what's the problem anyway? Years ago in the South there was the fear that if a black family moved in beside you your property value would go down. Most of the time that was imaginary, or if it did happen it was only temporary.

Today we live side by side with property values unaffected but there is still an unmistakable tension of hate between the races.

How to Dump the Rich for the Poor

There is a new Progressives report out that details how "to dismantle, reverse and fix how the laws and policies governing the American economy are rigged to benefit the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations." The poster boys should be the Koch Bros. A conclusion is “The American economy no longer works for most Americans…" then it tells what is causing this followed by policy changes to fix the problem. You can read the full report here. The study refutes those who say "government has shackled the free enterprise system and hobbled business" and that the "risk takers and job creators deserve the wealth." Their findings are based on the fact that the 1 percent are just getting wealthier while workers' wages remain stagnant. The 37 ways are all spelled out in the article which you should read but here are some highlights:

• End “too big to fail” by imposing additional capital surcharges on systemically risky financial institutions and breaking up firms that cannot produce credible living wills.
• Restructure CEO pay by closing the performance-pay tax loophole and increasing transparency on the size of compensation packages relative to performance and median worker pay and on the dilution as a result of grants of stock options.
• Provide health care cost controls by allowing government bargaining.
• Raise taxes on capital gains and dividends.
• Reform monetary policy to give higher priority to full employment.
• Raise the nationwide minimum wage and increase the salary threshold for overtime pay.
• Reform immigration law to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers.
• Invest in young children through child benefits, early education, and universal pre-K.

The 37 points demonstrate what this group of Progressives thinks will improve the working man and woman's financial future in the U.S. What do you think?

When the Cards are Stacked Against you OBAMACARE Comes Through

The GOP has been trying to repeal OBAMACARE since it was first passed into law. But the number of uninsured Americans has dropped by 16.4 million since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the rate of uninsured Americans decreased by 35 percent, the largest drop in 40 years. The Atlantic adds, if people have good information they make good choices. And this is just what lifelong Republican Luis Lang is doing after failing to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, previously priding himself on covering his own medical bills. Lang commented that, "thanks in part to a flood of media attention that led him to learn more about health care policy, he doesn’t identify with the GOP anymore." This was all prompted by thousands of dollars in medical bills he couldn't afford to pay. He did try to navigate the AFC website with its numerous technical glitches with no success. Lang said, “I put the blame on everyone — Republican and Democrat. But I do mainly blame Republicans for their pigheadedness. They’re blocking policies that could help everyone."

Tennessee Hillbilly Proves GOP Abortion Hypocrisy

It's okay for my dumb constituents but not for me. That's how Tenn. Republican Representative Scott DesJarlais characterized his position on abortion. This yokel was one of 242 in his party to vote for a proposed 20-week abortion ban that has become one of the top priorities for the current GOP-controlled Congress. But ThinkProgress reports that DesJarlais "has advocated for at least three legal abortions in his personal life." He supported his ex-wife’s decision to legally end two pregnancies and then pressured his 24-year-old mistress to abort her pregnancy she claims was his child. A researcher reported that many will oppose abortion for years then terminate their own unwanted pregnancy. One of his subjects once told him, “Most pro-life women oppose abortion with four exceptions: rape, incest, the life of the mother, and me.” But Scott DesJarlais is simply a con artist posing as a U.S. Representative. Pathetic!

Bernie Sanders Says...Hillary Clinton Does

On May 6, Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in Congress to break up the nation's biggest banks. On May 19, in Cedar Falls, IA, Hillary Clinton said she wants one thing to be crystal clear: she is not afraid to stand up to Wall Street. Sanders makes his case that if they are too big to fail and they do, they will bring the American economy down with it and we've already bailed these monsters out once. Here's a quote from Huff Post:

"There are 45 million people living in poverty and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth. Half of the American people have less than $10,000 in savings and have no idea how they will retire with dignity. Real unemployment is not 5.5 percent - it's close to 11 percent."

Hillary said on CNN,  "It's not the big banks that need relief from Washington -- it's small banks and small businesses. We should be doing more to rein in risky behavior on Wall Street and 'Too Big to Fail.'" But Alternet recently reported, "Bill Clinton did not become president without sharing the friendships, associations, and ideologies of the elite banking sect, nor will Hillary Clinton."

Either Bernie Sanders is bringing Hillary Clinton more to the left or Clinton is simply appeasing potential Progressive voters to win the primary. However, in the case of Bernie sanders' candidacy we know where he will stand when elected. He has maintained this same position for all of his congressional tenure.