Bah

On Sept. 15, 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, in the deadliest act of the civil rights era.

On June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers was murdered.

On June 21, 1964 Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner were murdered.

Where were we?

I'm still not "reconciled" to these events and feel much like I do in other personal periods of grief. I cannot forget and probably will never forgive so I just avoid going to that part of the country, even though it has changed some. In fact, because I feel that I am living in a "rogue nation", I am moving to Spain as soon as possible.

Love.

A different 9/11

An earlier tragedy on September 11 still tears me up.

I wonder if some future "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" concerning American captors at Guantanamo will reveal some awful events that now are swept up in Bro. Cheney's "waterboarding isn't torture" assertions. I wonder if he will say, like his South African counterpart Jimmy Kruger, who in a speech touching on Steve Biko's murder that it "left him cold"?

Love.

Who's Human?

As I examined the failures of the U.S. Constitution's being amended with an "Equal Rights Amendment" (ERA) I realized that "piecemeal" elaborations of Human Rights via legislation like those passed to end discrimination for various diversities ("race"/ethnicity/gender/"disability") might be better served by a "Human Rights Amendment" (HRA).

The ERA was successfully opposed by women's groups.

The possibility of a HRA is problematic because we are torn by at least two distinct definitions of "human": Until it can breathe and pulse on its own, a fetus is just an elaborate part of a woman's body and survives with her permission; As soon as it is conceived, the fetus has all the protections of law that all humans enjoy.

Although we might find some solace in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, it is clear  that "United Nations" was organized by and for the continuing dominance over humans by nation-states. However it does sidestep defining who's human. I wonder if it could be adopted today?

Love.

ERA - at last!

In a statement for Labor Day release several prominent officials will issue a proclamation calling for immediate ratification of the long-dormant Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which provides for women to compensation equal to that of men in all occupations. Among the signatories are:

First Lady Michelle Obama: "I will now be able to tell my daughters that they will not be forced into economic second-class citizenship.

Former Governor Sarah Palin: "I urge all governors to join in this bi-partisan effort to secure this long-overdue Amendment"

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: "This finally secures the full rights of women promised by the 19th Amendment which gave us the right to vote. "

Economic Adviser Lawrence Summers: "I take this opportunity to lay to rest charges of mysogyny levelled against me as I fully support the Equal Rights Amendment."

This effort to amend the constitution has fallen short of the required ratification by the states but times have changed and several commentators have lauded it as an important boost for the economy and for U.S. reputation as a leader in the field of human rights.