Two Christian SC Senators Block Third Grader’s State Fossil Proposal Because Jesus

 

The American Taliban (fundamentalists) are no different than their counterparts in the Middle East.  I believe that using one’s personal beliefs in place of science, knowledge and common sense has no place in our laws, let alone our governmental institutions from schools across America to the Capitol of the United States.

Crooks & Liars

Sometimes, you begin reading about something and think, “Aww, how cute!” Other times, what should be a touching story of a child’s proposal to make the Woolly Mammoth South Carolina’s official state fossil passing the state House and Senate with overwhelming support, going to the Governor’s desk, and being signed into law becomes something entirely different because of a couple of Christofascists in suits who feel the need to inject God into everything.

This is one of those times. Earlier this year eight-year-old Olivia McConnell wrote her state representatives to suggest that since South Carolina doesn’t currently have a state fossil, it should be given one! Olivia decided that she needed a legitimate reason to suggest this besides liking fossils, so she came up with three:

1. One of the first discoveries of a vertebrae fossil in North America was on an S.C. plantation when slaves dug up wooly mammoth teeth from a swamp in 1725.

2. All but seven states have an official state fossil.

3. “Fossils tell us about our past.”

She sent the letter to Representative Robert Ridgeway(D) and Sen. Kevin Johnson(D), asking them to sponsor a bill officially making the woolly mammoth the official state fossil.

“We can’t just say we need a sate fossil because I like fossils,” the third grader told The State. “That wouldn’t make sense.” She ended the letter “Please work on this for me” before signing, “Your friend, Olivia.”

“Why not? It can’t hurt anything,” Ridgeway said. “But the benefit to this is to the children and young people of South Carolina, letting them realize that they do have a say-so in what happens in South Carolina and, No. 2, it gives them experience and information about the governmental process and legislative process in South Carolina.”

Ridgeway and Johnson both filed bills- H.4482 and S.854-to make the mammoth the official state fossil. The bill would amend the 1976 code on state emblems to include the Columbian Mammoth as the state’s first official fossil.

Whereas, giant mammoths used to roam South Carolina; andWhereas, scientists have identified the fossils of about six hundred and fifty species of vertebrates in South Carolina to date; and

Whereas, it has been recognized that fossilized mammoth teeth were discovered in a swamp in South Carolina in 1725; and

Whereas, this discovery has been credited as the first scientific identification of a North American vertebrate fossil. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 9, Chapter 1, Title 1 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

“Section 1-1-712A. The Columbian Mammoth is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina.”

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

“It makes me feel really good,” she said. “It’s exciting,” Olivia said after hearing that the lawmakers are taking her request seriously.

Unfortunately, many parties have a turd floating in the punch bowl, and this is one of them–two turds, to be exact. They look like this:

Two South Carolina fossils…

The bill passed the House with overwhelming support but encountered some difficulties when Senator Mike Fair(R-Turd) objected to the bill for “religious reasons.”

Fair, who has compared the President to Osama Bin Laden, helped to block funding for a rape crisis center,  called climate change a hoax, and blocked evolution from the state’s science standards, saying “I don’t have a problem with teaching theories. I don’t think it should be taught as fact,” stood up for  Biblical representation in the state fossil–after all, what’s science without Jesus?

Bryant proposed an amendment to the bill to include a passage from Genesis explaining the Biblical creation of life–because why not?

“I think it’s a good idea to designate the mammoth as the state fossil, I don’t have a problem with that. I just felt like it’d be a good thing to acknowledge the creator of the fossils,” Bryant told the Daily Beast.

Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell blocked the proposed amendment because it introduced a new subject. He has since amended the amendment to describe the Columbian Mammoth as “created on the Sixth Day with the beasts of the field.”

In response to the Lt. Governor’s ruling Senator Mike Fair placed an objection to the bill, which has been put  on hold until they can take what was a simple thing that would benefit children across South Carolina and make one little girl very happy–and figure out how to please the Creationists.

Ted Cruz Hints At Presidential Bid With “Yes We Can” Ad (VIDEO)

Thanks Ted for the email showing what a tool Ted Cruz is…

Liberals Unite

Tea Party darling Ted Cruz has put out this new video and it appears this is his way of hinting that he will be the first official conservative to get into the 2016 GOP clown car.

It’s no secret he is loved by the dwindling and out-of-touch with reality Tea Party and he’ll definitely put on a great show.

It’s a little early to be campaigning and maybe Cruz should have waited to come up with his own  campaign slogan instead of swiping Obama’s “Yes We Can.”

His platform is completely unsurprising: Defund Obamacare – blah blah blah. YOU CAN’T HAVE MY GUN, blah blah blah. Abolish the IRS, blah blah blah.

You can tell he is serious because his voice goes up several octaves and he clenches his fists when he’s making a point. He almost growls when he speaks.

Constitution…First Amendment…Guns…Grrrr…Grrr.

Oh, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

 

 

Florida Man Unleashes Road Rage, Universe Responds Appropriately

Instant Karma…

The Huffington Post

If this video were a food, its instructions would read, “Instant karma. Just add water and mix with included road rage.”

After a minute of nonstop tailgating by a huge truck, the woman in this video, identified only as “Florida Driver,” is passed by the vehicle, whose driver flips her the bird and yells an unintelligible insult.

“I couldn’t move over because there were trucks in the right lane,” Florida Driver writes in the video description, “and I sure as heck wasn’t going to speed on a rainy day with the roads being as slick as they were.”

The videographer, who says she was driving in Tampa, writes that she never mouthed off at the guy, didn’t brake check him, and — except for holding up her phone — was paying attention to the road.

Shortly after flipping the bird, the driver of the truck loses control of his vehicle, spins across a median and through oncoming traffic (though no one was hit). He comes to a rest only after taking out a light pole.

According to Florida Driver, “He initially fled the scene of the accident, but thanks to this video he has been caught and charged.”

In a release obtained by The Huffington Post, Florida Highway Patrol confirmed the driver, identified as Jeffrey Travis White, was later charged with leaving the scene of a traffic crash.

“Using information contained in the video provided by the witness, State Troopers located White at his Tampa residence and arrested him for Leaving the Scene of a Traffic Crash, Careless Driving and failing to wear his seatbelt,” the FHP release notes.

Looks like the only injury was to this guy’s pride. And probably his insurance premium.

Republicans Must Turn Over Emails On North Carolina Voting Law, Federal Judge Rules

 

The Huffington Post

State Republicans hand over key e-mails

Any race-related emails that North Carolina Republicans may have sent in connection with the voter restrictions they passed last summer could soon be public, thanks to a ruling by a federal judge.

Before the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, simply demonstrating a discriminatory impact could be enough to overturn a discriminatory law. Now, in order to have North Carolina’s voting law struck down, civil rights groups and the Justice Department have to demonstrate that state lawmakers deliberately engaged in racial discrimination against voters.

The sweeping law requires voters to show certain forms of photo identification, eliminates same-day registration and reduces early voting — all measures which voting rights advocates say are intended to make it harder for Democratic-leaning minorities to vote.

The emails sent by legislators are crucial to proving racial motivations played some role in the legislation.

North Carolina wanted to keep legislator emails secret. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Joi Elizabeth Peake ruled Thursday that the state couldn’t withhold all the emails. She did, however, say that North Carolina might be able to argue that emails only between legislators and their staffers could be kept private.

Of course, if legislators have nothing to hide about the motivations for passing the restrictive laws, they can individually waive their legislative immunity, as Peake noted.

Voting rights advocates welcomed the judge’s decision.

“North Carolinians have a right to know what motivated their lawmakers to make it harder for them to vote,” Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “Legislators should not be shrouding their intentions in secrecy. The people deserve better.”

In previous voting rights cases, legislator emails have demonstrated racial motivations. A legislator in South Carolina replied “Amen” when a constituent compared black voters to a “swarm of bees going after a watermelon,” while in Texas, a Republican member of Congress acknowledged wanting to move a country club from a heavily Hispanic district into his own, in order to increase the number of white voters.