Decent Manners Required Even More During Election Season!

Inexplicibly, the owner of BVBL continues to reduce politics to a personal level.  It has come to the attention of Moonhowler and myself, that Greg has singled out the ages of Martha Hendley(R) and Toddy Puller (D), and the skirt style and overall intelligence of Suzanne Miller(R).

Greg says about Martha:

Her experience and history are a strong positive but she’s quite a bit older than someone you typically see running for their first elected office, and how that might impact the dynamics is yet to be seen. She’s in good health however, so there’s not any evidence to suggest she isn’t going to run as hard as anyone else.

What does Martha’s age matter?  She has been more involved in county politics and policy than other person running for Gainesville Supervisor, age is definitely NOT an issue so why even bother to bring it up.

His comments about Toddy Puller are even more offensive:

The contrasts between Toddy Puller and Jeff Frederick are tremendous. Puller is a grouchy old party-line hack who isn’t fun at all to listen to. Frederick is a young engaging maverick (the real kind, not the McCain BS kind) who is funny, warm, friendly and engaging. Puller isn’t physically able to knock on doors while Frederick attacks doorknocking with the single-minded purposefulness of George Patton. Frederick’s campaign literature will feature him and his cute family while Puller’s campaign staff will desperately try to keep Toddy’s picture from appearing anywhere unless it’s at least fifteen years old.

Now, you think that was inappropriate, wait til you read what Greg wrote about Suzanne Miller:

If ever there was someone utterly unprepared to run for office this would be it. I’ve seen some pretty awful candidates in my time, and this one takes the cake. Any random neighbor in the county would likely demonstrate higher capabilities to run for office or qualifications to hold it.

Not many of them would look better in a tight, short skirt at a campaign event like this, however.

Let’s start with why would anyone comment on her skirt in such an offensive manner?  Suzanne Miller holds dual masters degrees, one in instructional technology and another in Computer Science.   She has also authored several technical publications.

Greg not only proudly represents himself as a loyal conservative Republican, but he also does work for Republican Candidates.  We expect that when it comes to discussing candidates, the criticism should be directed at policy, not age, not skirt choice.

We all must live by that age old standard of the golden rule, especially during election season.  We can discuss differences, loudly, passionately, even angrily, but to get personal, to focus on the way someone looks, or their age, is simply a poor show of character.

 

 

UPDATE: It appears we need to put in another requirement for the election season–truthfulness.

“Jon Stewart is right about Fox News”

Washingtonpost.com

Reprint:

Jon Stewart is right about Fox News

By Adam Serwer

Yesterday Daily Show host Jon Stewart appeared on Fox News Sunday, where he accused the network of taking ideological “marching orders.”

Fox Anchor Chris Wallace took exception to Stewart’s remarks:

STEWART: You can’t understand because of the world you live in that there is not a designed ideological agenda on my part to affect partisan change because that’s the soup you swim in. I appreciate that. I understand that. It reminds me of, you know — you know, ideological regimes. They can’t understand that there is free media other places. Because they receive marching orders.

WALLACE: How do you explain me? Do you think I get my marching orders?

STEWART: I think that you are here in some respects to bring a credibility and an integrity to an organization that might not otherwise have it, without your presence. So, you are here as a counterweight to Hannity, let’s say, or a counterweight to Glenn Beck, because otherwise, it’s just pure talk radio and it doesn’t establish the type of political player it wants to be.

Read More

Walmart gets the Supreme Court nod of approval

 

Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a massive sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart on behalf of female employees in a decision that makes it harder to mount large-scale bias claims against the nation’s biggest companies.

The justices all agreed that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could not proceed as a class action in its current form, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to wrap into one lawsuit.

The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million women, with Wal-Mart facing potentially billions of dollars in damages.

So did all of them agree or was there a 5-4 vote?  It can’t be both.  Basically the Supreme Court tacitly approved gender discrimination with a ‘too big to sue’ statement.  It might hurt business.  It might hurt Walmart. 

Does that mean its ok to pay women differently?  Should they not be promoted the same way men who work for Walmart are promoted?  Should they not be paid the same salary for the same work or get raises on the same scale men do?  What is Walmart afraid of?

Walmart and other businesses need to be sent a strong message that discrimination is unacceptable.  I am not sure how to do it.  Some of us won’t go into a Walmart.  I also won’t go inside a local Home Depot because the male workers ignore women customers.  That’s the only way I know to send a message that business practices are unacceptable.  It is probably wise to sent an email to corporate to tell home office why you don’t shop at the local retail stores also. 

The original complainants can still pursue their claim but they cannot move forward in a massive class action lawsuit.