This weekend, we turned our clocks one hour ahead in the ridiculous tradition known as Daylight Savings Time. But if we take into account the history we noted this weekend and the lack of progress in the 50 years since John Lewis and others were beaten bloody on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, then we actually turned back the clock instead of springing forward.
After the entire GOP Congressional leadership decided to skip the Selma activities this weekend, Kevin McCarthy must have had an attack of the guilts, as he ultimately did attend. But shame on him for his initial prevarication, and shame on the rest of them, period.
Shame on Senator Tim Scott, the first African-American Republican senator from the South since Reconstruction, who told Bob Schieffer he wouldn’t vote to restore the voting rights act.
Shame on all of us for forgetting the fifth victim of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. Since 1963, she has been struggling with her injuries, and we haven’t done a thing to help her.
President Obama delivered an epic speech Saturday on the site where Bloody Sunday happened 50 years ago. He called out Congress and the 100 members who were there, telling them to go back and get 400 more of their colleagues to reinstate the Voting Rights Act.
And he called out the many citizens who don’t vote, despite the horrors so many had to endure to ensure that right.
Yes, I expect President Obama to deliver a great speech. I didn’t expect a speech this great, and this important. So if you missed it, watch it now. And lets demand that the president for the next two years back up that soaring rhetoric with equally impressive actions.
That demand begins with the demand that he back off his demand for “Fast Track Authority” to pass the truly heinous Trans-Pacific Partnership so-called “Free Trade” agreement that’s been in the works since before his presidency began.
Dave Johnson of the Campaign for America’s Future (and his own Seeing the Forest blog) joined me to bring us up to speed with the latest on the TPP, including the fact that there was robust debate in the Senate about it, but not one mainstream media outlet deemed it important enough to cover.
Arghh! Somehow, I think it’s not coincidence that my conversation with Dave this morning was interrupted numerous times by mysterious technical difficulties before his Comcast phone line went completely dead. As much as I’m not a conspiracy theorist, sometimes the weird shit is just too weird…
I’ll be back tomorrow to talk with the attorney who got a Not Guilty verdict in a Florida medical marijuana case, and whatever else the day brings, radio or not….
I think you missed the point of the post. That’s said, I’d be fine with keeping DST. It’s the switching back and forth I hate.
DST is a change in the standard time with the purpose of making better use of daylight and conserving energy.
For us in the North this is Great. Most prefer having the daylight in the evening rather than in the morning when most of us are still in bed. Plus saving energy is good thing, isn’t it?