Do We Need Atheists in Congress to Save the Planet?

We might need some atheists in Congress to save the planet.  Certainly we need people who have a higher IQ than Senator James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, and the soon-to-be head of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Senator Inhofe may be the world's biggest skeptic when it comes to climate change.  In 2012 he even wrote a book, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.  Inhofe claims the U.N. created the global warming hoax.  No, I'm not kidding. 

Apparently it's a hoax 97% of the world's scientists have been fooled by.  Go figure!  Who'da thunk Senator Inhofe would be so much smarter than all those scientists, their fancy degrees, and years of research?  Isn't he amazing, though.

Why is Inhofe so sure global warming is a hoax?  Because God.  Yep, here's a quote from an appearance Inhofe had on a Christian radio program in 2012 while hawking his ridiculous book:

...the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.

Source: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change

So, see?  God's on it!  People can't be creating climate change because that would be God's job!  Just like wars, and world hunger, and the recession.  We mere humans are not important enough to do something like create global warming, therefore, there is no global warming.  It's all a hoax.

Whew.  And here I was so worried about shrinking ice caps, the disappearance of glaciers, the rising of the oceans, and the polluted atmosphere.  We can all relax and let Jesus take the wheel.

What in the hell are Oklahomans thinking voting for this idiot?

It's not okay to use religion to set public policy.  It's not okay to legislate your religious beliefs.  Period.  Never.  Especially not when you use religion to deny what is clearly true, and what will be devastating to the future of this planet, and every living thing on it.

Unfortunately, Senator Inhofe will shortly have the power to do untold damage because even though he's clearly clueless about science, he will have a lot of power in Congress.  I hope he's still alive to see Manhattan go underwater because of rising sea levels, or see wars start over food.  I doubt even if he did he'd realize how wrong he is now.

:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous. - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change#sthash.qWHiIh5T.dpuf

the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous. - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change#sthash.qWHiIh5T.dpuf

We know there are atheists already in Congress; they just can't "come out" of the religious closet.  Maybe what we need are more of us... people who realize that destroying the planet for the sake of getting reelected is immoral.  People who understand that clean air and clean water are worth fighting for.  We don't need an imaginary deity to tell us that.  It's a moral thing.

The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change#sthash.qWHiIh5T.dpuf

The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change#sthash.qWHiIh5T.dpuf

Election 2014 - The Issues Not Considered

To me the biggest issues that should decide Election 2014 (and hence, who controls the Senate) are not being talked about.  At all.  Which is inexplicable to me.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a gathering of hundreds of scientists from over 80 countries.  And here is their warning to the humans of planet Earth: there's a 95% certainty that climate change is causing "irreversible and dangerous impacts" and that human activity is to blame.

There will be wars in some countries, in the not too distant future, over food.  There already are devastating storms and wild weather changes, and at some point insurance companies will be unable to cover losses when flooding and other environmental devastation becomes too much for them to bear. Property damage will be horrible, but what about the resulting loss of life?  Human life, wildlife, plant life... climate change literally has a scorched earth policy.

But apparently that's not what voters are worried about.  In 2014 voters are worried about... Ebola.  Yep, a disease while, albeit awful and even life-threatening to those who have contracted it, still affected in this country fewer people than you have fingers on one hand.

Apparently there are people who think Democrats are to blame.  Personally, I blame CNN (and other media outlets like it), where it's all Ebola, all the time, for spreading panic when there are numerous other things they should be reporting on.  Like the 300,000+ people who marched in New York City this past September to call attention to climate change.  Bet you didn't hear butkus about that in the media!  If they had given that topic one-tenth of the coverage they've given Ebola, some people might actually start to get it.  Instead, Fox News and other right-wing media outlets continue their anti-environmental nonsense with impunity.

And then there's the women's vote.  Never mind that Republicans are still not willing to vote for a bill that simply says women should be paid the same as men for the same work.  But hang on, men from our country aren't the only ones who want women to be undervalued and underpaid!  Click here for an article on Evan Thornley, Australian co-founder of LookSmart, who admits that women aren't paid equally to men, and proved it with a presentation including a slide titled "Women: Like Men, Only Cheaper."  I wish I were kidding about that one.

How about abortion and birth control rights?  That has largely disappeared from discussion this election cycle.  The Republicans, meanwhile, aren't backing off from their view that women shouldn't concern their pretty little heads with such things.  Men (many of whom don't know how birth control or a woman's body parts work in the first place) will tell us what to do with our bodies, even in cases of life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies, while they continue to get Viagra, penile implants and penis pumps paid for by Medicare.

Why a woman would vote for a Republican is simply beyond my comprehension, but that party is inexplicably making headway with my gender.  Any woman who would vote for someone who doesn't want women treated the same as a man in the workplace, and who wants to control what she does with her body, is a traitor to her gender in my opinion.  It's time for women to wake up and realize that for all their talk of "family values," the party that values them and their opinions the most is not the GOP.

New Rule

This post is going to be short and sweet.  I have a New Rule (forgive me for borrowing a little from Bill Maher).

If men -- and you know who I'm talking about -- want to discuss any of the following subjects: birth control for women, vaginal probes, libido, abortion, rape, or anything along those lines, here's the new rule: they must give equal time to discussing Viagra, vasectomies, penile implants and penis pumps.

Funny how some men want to limit women's access to birth control and abortion, and in particular don't want insurers to include these things in their health care coverage for women, but the same men have said nothing about Viagra, vasectomies or any of the other sex or birth control-related male equivalents that are covered by their health care.  And they say there's no "war on women."  I don't know what else you'd call it.

If they want to discuss taking birth control and abortion coverage out of health care plans for women, but don't want to discuss also taking things like Viagra and vasectomies out as well, then I don't want to hear jack from them about what's covered for us.

Ladies, we need to get men out of office who have no respect for us or our ability to make our own health care decisions, especially while displaying such blatant sexism.  You know what to do this November - vote them out.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Another December, another faux "War on Christmas."  Once again the Christian right and Fox News is dragging out that tired old refrain.  To save energy they could just plug in a repeat of the previous year's show, I'm not sure why they don't.  It's kind of like watching Miracle on 34th Street every single year - the dialogue doesn't change any.

Let's get one thing straight - there is no War on Christmas.  There is a War on Diversity.

According to some Christians (not all, I'll admit), the only proper greeting to be made the entire month of December is "Merry Christmas."  If one says "Happy Holidays" in an attempt to be inclusive of people who may be celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice or just Santa and reindeer, then you're trying to kill Jesus!  You're taking the Christ out of Christmas!  Where I come from you'll see bumper stickers saying "keep the Christ in Christmas" all the time.  I didn't know anyone was trying to take him out of that particular holiday simply by using a greeting that is non-discriminatory of people who may have different beliefs.

It's clear that those who are so touchy about Christmas don't understand how the holiday came about in the first place.  To facilitate the overtaking of pagan beliefs by Christianity, ancient Christians took the traditional winter celebration of the pagans, including the feast and the decorated tree, stuck a star on the top of the tree and called it Christmas.  So now you can't call a decorated tree a holiday tree, even though that tradition was a pagan one, and if you say anything but Merry Christmas for an entire month you're trying to kill the Christian deity.  All righty, then.

Corporations, including those that are publicly traded on the stock market, have faced backlash for wanting to be inclusive of people of varying faiths or no faith at all.  This kind of inclusiveness is called diversity, something most corporations work hard to obtain.  They have diversity teams, diversity events, people whose sole job it is to promote diversity.  But some Christians just don't like it, especially during the month they want to claim belongs to Christians and Christians alone.

Those who disdain the greeting "Happy Holidays" are showing their ignorance, their prejudice and their bigotry.  You can't tell someone's religion by looking at them.  What if you say "Merry Christmas" to a Jew?  Or a Buddhist?  How about a secular humanist such as myself?  These Christians have decided that it's their religion, and their religion only, that matters during December, and we're not supposed to be offended.

But I am offended; just as offended as I am that every day I have to handle currency that says "In God We Trust" (which, by the way, was adopted as the national motto in 1956 during the Red Scare).  Every December, this one being no exception, I'm inundated with people greeting me with a "Merry Christmas" and sending me "Merry Christmas" cards, under the assumption that I am, of course, a Christian.  When someone greets me with "Merry Christmas" I've decided just to say "same to you" in return.  Until people get educated about why diversity is important, they're not going to understand why "Merry Christmas" is an inappropriate greeting unless you know the person you're addressing is a Christian.

I've even discovered that finding a charity I can support during this holiday season is getting increasingly tough.  For years I "adopted" an Angel from the Salvation Army Christmas Angels program, i.e., I bought clothes and toys for little boys and girls who were in need.  But the Salvation Army is an evangelical Christian organization, and despite what they may want you to believe if you read their website, has a very anti-gay stance.  My belief is that the LGBT community suffers much from Christians who take one statement out of the Bible as reason to discriminate against them and even incite violence against them, yet they don't do the same for any other commandment in their holy book.  This year I have resolved to stop supporting the Salvation Army and donate instead to the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.

Us secular humanists are just as charitable as Christians are, and yet charitable donations and offers of volunteer work from atheist organizations have literally been turned down by some charities so they won't be seen as affiliating with atheists.  (See the article here from Religion News Service.)

The people who were going to be helped by their generosity may never know this.

Christians should not assume that their beliefs should apply to everyone, and any other beliefs (or non-beliefs) are invalid.  That's the difference between saying "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays."

So Happy Holidays, everyone, whatever you're celebrating!

Why Senator Ted Cruz Is So Dangerous

I've been wanting to do a post on Senator Ted Cruz and his crackpot father Rafael Cruz for some time.  Mother Jones has done it for me here in an article by David Corn.  I'm still going to add my two cents, though!

I used to think that those Americans who are religious are perfectly fine to have their own thoughts about God and religion, and I still do... as long as they leave religion out of public policy.  Yes, it's a shame that so much money goes to churches (tax free to the churches, tax deductible to the giver, and that means the rest of us pay more taxes because of it) -- as well as buying everything from Bibles to crosses to Christian music.  I say it's a shame because I think of all the good that could be done with that money if we could get past religion in this country.  Could we cure cancer?  Make sure no one ever goes to bed hungry?  It boggles the mind to think about.

But in recent years the conservative evangelicals in this country, aided by Fox News and right-wing radio hosts, have twisted religion into a political force.  When you want to insert religion into laws and public policy, then I have a big problem with it.

Ted Cruz and his fundamentalist father are much scarier than most people, even those who voted for Ted, realize.  Ted and Rafael Cruz are Dominionists.  Google "Christian Reconstruction" or "Dominionism" sometime.  If it doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should.  Whether you are religious or not, these people are trying to turn the United States into an extremely fundamentalist Christian nation.  Taking away women's rights, the rights of minorities, making sure the wealth flows only to the very top (and even to just certain "kings" of the hard Christian right, including Ted - I'm not joking, he literally was "anointed" by several pastors, as noted in the Mother Jones article)... this is all a part of their grand plan to rule in the "end times," which they believe we are now in.

Among Rafael Cruz's more incendiary remarks (and an outright lie) is that the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, requires seniors to get suicide counseling.  No, I'm not kidding.  You and I might think that this old kook is just a crackpot that needs some serious psychological counseling, but the thing is, there are people who believe this crap!

It might be easy to just shrug your shoulders are say that people like this won't make much headway.  But Ted Cruz is a United States Senator.  With presidential aspirations.  Not to mention the GOP war on women that continues unabated, with many states cutting women's rights to control their reproductive choices.  Voter ID laws have hit young people, women and minorities particularly hard, as those groups tend to vote Democratic.  There are many school districts who want to teach creationism in science classes.  Fox News is watched by a lot of people; Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mike Savage and other extreme far-right radio hosts are listened to by a lot of people, and they are all aiding and abetting in the attempt to paint this country as "Christian."  Unfortunately, in some areas of the country it's working.

Let's get one thing straight - the United States is NOT a "Christian nation."  A two-second Google search will give you all the ammunition you need to prove it.  But I'll give you a quick way to prove it once and for all -- go here to the online searchable version of the Constitution, and search on the word "Christian."  You will get NO results.  Nor will you find any of the following words: God, Jesus, Christ or Christianity.  If this country was meant to be a Christian nation, those words would be all over that document.  A nation founded on religion is a theocracy, and we don't live in one.

To those people who want to live in a Christian nation, I suggest you pack your bags and get the hell out of my country.  Because the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.  Which also means freedom from religion, if you so choose.  If you don't like it, you're free to move.  That includes you, Senator Cruz, and your father.

Shutdown Showdown

Correction 10/4:  The staff of Congress is being furloughed.  Some of the Congresspeople and Senators are actually answering their own phones, giving tours, etc.  Good for them!!

So let me get this straight... The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010.  Some of its provisions have been in effect for years.  The state medical exchanges opened as of the beginning of this month and millions of people are looking to sign up.  The constitutionality of this law has been affirmed by the Supreme Court.  The Republicans have tried and failed more than 40 times to pass a bill repealing ACA (colloquially known as Obamacare). 

So they decide they're willing to shut down the entire federal government in a pathetic and desperate attempt to defund a law that was passed years ago, which has already been funded, and which they don't have the votes to repeal.

To be fair, there are a few grown-ups amongst the Republicans who recognize the futility of this, and are mad as hell at its instigator, narcissist Senator Ted Cruz.

I would not count Speaker of the House John Boehner amongst the grown-ups.  He has enough votes between the Democrats and the Republicans to pass a clean bill (i.e., one without the defunding of ACA), but he won't allow it to come up for a vote.  Why?  Because he's going by the so-called "Hastert Rule," which is the idea that the Speaker should have a majority of the majority party voting for a bill before bringing it up for a vote.  But here's the rub... today Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker for whom the law was named, said there never was such a "rule."  He advocated bringing a bill up if a simple majority would vote for it.  Oops.

Speaker Boehner and Senator Cruz should do the country a big favor and resign from Congress immediately.  Their asinine idea to try to defund a law that was duly passed, signed into law and affirmed by SCOTUS, after having tried over 40 times to repeal it, is nothing short of an attempt by some members of the Republican party to circumvent the Constitution and hijack this country by sheer blackmail.  They are pathetic excuses for congressmen and do not deserve the honor of serving in that institution.

As far as the shutdown goes, the very first thing that should happen in a government shutdown is that every member of Congress should be required to give up not only their paychecks, but their staff should be given paid furloughs.  No congressperson or senator should have a driver or a car to shuttle them around.  No assistant to go get their coffee.  No one to read their bills for them.  Period.

The second thing that should happen is that federal workers who are furloughed should be given back pay.  Then, federal parks should remain open with the rangers receiving their full pay.  Essential things like medical trials should be continued.

There's no sense in the American people suffering because we have some idiots sitting in Congress who are doing everything in their power to keep people who don't have health care from receiving it.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) had this to say:  "We're not going to be disrespected.  We have to get something out of this.  And I don't know what that even is."  Disrespect?  Really.  Like the Republicans haven't disrespected this President ever since he was elected!  Rep. Stuzman, I am going to call 'em like I see 'em, and I say you're an ass.  You don't deserve to "get" anything for this shameful attempt to blackmail our President into dumping a law that's already in effect just because you don't like it or him.  You and your Republican colleagues need to get off your butts and get back to work.  Go do your job, pass a damn budget bill like you've been elected to do, or get the hell out of Congress and let someone more worthy of your seat do it instead.

President Obama should stand his ground and not give the Republicans one damn thing.  What they have done is unconscionable, and the GOP will pay for it in future elections.

I can just imagine what other developed countries think of us.  They manage to have single-payer health care for all at a much lower cost than the patchwork mess that is our private, for-profit insurance model that until now has left millions of Americans without even basic health care.  I'm sure they think Americans are just idiots.  Right now, I'm agreeing that some of us certainly are, and they're sitting on Capitol Hill.

Another North Carolina Sneak Abortion Attack Bill

The Republicans in the North Carolina congress have instituted yet another sneak attack on women's rights.  This time they have attached draconian anti-abortion measures to a motorcycle safety law.  Yep, a motorcycle safety law!  They did this without notifying either the public or the Democrats. 

Bastards.

They wanted to bring the legislation to a vote yesterday, but ended up with the vote coming today (Thursday).

Governor Pat McCrory, who made a campaign promise not to sign any new restrictions on abortion in the state, threatened to veto such legislation, but members of his staff said they had no problems with the bill as it stands.

Anyone who is a public service employee or who would have health insurance via the Affordable Care Act exchanges would not have access to a plan that would include abortion coverage, which is clearly unconstitutional.  In addition, abortion providers would face restrictions that would effectively shut down most, if not all, of the abortion clinics in the state.

In the meantime, the anti-abortion legislation that was previously put forth in the NC congress (attached to a bill outlawing sharia law) was dubbed the Family, FAITH and Freedom Protection Act after Rick Santorum's "tour" of the same name.  Any legislation that has the word "Faith" in it is an obvious violation of the Constitutionally-guaranteed separation of church and state.  And make no mistake, it's our rights to have our laws free from a group imposing their religion on others that's at stake here.  The evangelical Christian right is determined to insinuate the Bible into our legislation so as to control every aspect of a woman's life, especially control over her own body, future, medical and economic health.

Maybe they think women have been getting a little too uppity or something, what with these birth control pills and working outside of the home and all.  But maybe it's time us ladies see to it that their Viagra is outlawed, and they have to drive out of state to get Trojans.

Even Jewish groups have been outspoken about the fact that this kind of anti-abortion legislation is in violation of their religious views.  In the Jewish faith, for instance, a futile pregnancy -- one in which the fetus has no chance of survival outside of the womb -- is not considered a "life" at any stage, even past 20 weeks.  It is what it is... a horrible circumstance that can and does happen (I've known someone it happened to myself), for which a late-term abortion should be an option. 

That's just one example of why we have to keep abortion legal and safe.

The Secretary of Commerce for the state says she is getting calls daily asking her what the hell is going on in the state.  Since the Republicans took over and jerry-mandered the voting districts to make them red-friendly they have been a on a legislative tear to enact as many extreme right-wing policies as is humanly possible, completely ignoring things like, oh, jobs.  She says it's making it very hard to market the state to prospective businesses.  (Under Democratic control the state was a magnet to businesses looking to relocate.)

Ladies -- and  you men who love them -- stand up for your rights!  Vote the Neanderthals out as soon as you can.  No state in this country should become a place where women are not treated as equals and where extreme evangelical religious views are allowed to become law.  It's unconstitutional, it's undemocratic, it's dangerous, and it's just wrong.

While you're at it, send a donation to Planned Parenthood. 

WTF, NORTH CAROLINA???

Republicans clearly have decided to double-down on their war on women's health care and rights, as well as their slimy, sneaky attacks on voting rights.

I guess I missed the news that North Carolina now has full employment, and no other important business that needs to be done.  Apparently the legislators there now have nothing else better to do than deal with this crap.

Just the latest attempt at government intrusion into every woman's vagina comes via a set of amendments to legislation that states North Carolina would not recognize sharia law (yeah, that's something we've really been worrying about).  A late-night sneak attack, obviously not something the Democrats were prepared for, involved the GOP legislators adding these amendments to the sharia law legislation: 1) abortion clinics would have to meet the same standards as surgery centers (only one abortion clinic in NC now does, effectively shutting down the others, including all four Planned Parenthood clinics); 2) limits on health care coverage for abortions would be implemented; 3) clinics would be required to have "transfer agreements" to local hospitals; and 4) doctors would have to be present when the abortion medication RU486 is taken.

Rachel Maddow is right, North Carolina is like "Conservatives Gone Wild."  Or maybe Conservatives Gone Crazy would be more like it. 

Ever since the Republicans took over the governorship and the state congress they've been laser-focused on passing extreme right-wing legislation, including a ridiculous voter ID law clearly meant to make voting harder for minorities (read: blacks) and young people (who tend to vote in larger numbers for Democrats than Republicans).  This includes a provision to severely limit early voting, outlaw voting on Sunday -- when black churches have traditionally gotten their folks in buses to go vote -- and to effectively make the parents of college kids pay $2,500 if their kids vote where they go to school.  I'm not kidding.

North Carolinians, you know what you have to do.  When primaries come up pay attention, find your voting place, and go vote.  When it's time to go to the polls on election day, get out and let these Republicans know we're not going to stand for their extremist views in our state.  Vote them out! 

Shame on Ohio

Texas may be getting a lot of publicity for State Sen. Wendy Davis' filibuster of an anti-abortion bill, but the women of Ohio were not so lucky.  Unfortunately, the Ohio state legislature just managed to pass into law an extreme anti-abortion measure of their own, which was signed by conservative Republican Governor John Kasich.  This was passed as part of the new state budget.

The right-wing's war on women continues.

The bill requires women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound and to have the anatomical development of the fetus described to them.  Abortion clinics must give information to the woman about adoption and other alternatives to abortion.

Rape crisis clinics will lose their funding if they counsel rape victims about the option of abortion.  This is just unconscionable to me.  What if the rape victim is a 10-year old who was raped by her father, or her uncle?  Is Governor Kasich going to be the one to tell that little girl that she has to carry that fetus to term?  If he wants to sign such a restrictive law, he should have to.

The bill provides funding for pregnancy crisis centers, but most of those are run by religious organizations, do not give referrals for abortion services, and quite often give inaccurate health information.  The bill effectively cuts $1.4 million of funding to Planned Parenthood. 

In addition, there will be cuts to low-cost birth control and family planning, which seems counterintuitive to me, if they want to cut the number of abortions.

Yes, this is happening in the United States in 2013. 

It's very interesting to me that these extreme anti-abortion bills don't include any provisions for state-funded orphanages, yet budgets like this always cut benefits for low-income women and children.  The right always wants to see women have more babies, but they don't want to give them any assistance in caring for them, forcing many women into deeper and deeper poverty.

Please donate to Planned Parenthood, and pay attention to the laws your state senators, congressmen and governors are passing.  Anyone not representing the needs of women should be voted out of office at the earliest opportunity.

Here's My Issue With Paula Deen

If Paula Deen's only problem was using the "N" word once years ago, there would have been no lawsuit.  A lawyer would never have taken the case, and if one did, the judge would have thrown it out of court for just being lame.

This is not about using a racist word a few years ago, as many people seem to think.  This lawsuit is about a pervasive racist and sexist workplace in Paula's restaurants.  It's about Paula Deen's brother and how he treated some of his employees, and Paula's apparent inability or unwillingness to stop it. 

I confess I've never been a big Paula Deen fan (although the PD griddle I have makes decent pancakes).  But having grown up with a racist father -- who was from Missouri -- and a mother who was from the South, I know what it's like to be around racism.  Actually, my mother was much more tolerant of people of color than my father was.  My father embarrassed me in public with racist comments more than once.

In looking into the Paula Deen comments a little bit farther I ran across her appearance on "Who Do You Think You Are," the show that looks into celebrities' ancestors.  It turns out that one of Paula's ancestors was a slave owner.  In fact, before the Civil War he owned thirty slaves, who worked his plantation.  In this segment on YouTube Paula is lamenting that her great (I'm not sure how many greats that would be) grandfather killed himself because after the War his "workers" were gone and he had no one to operate the plantation.   

Here's Paula's big problem.  She doesn't refer to them as slaves.  They were workers.  And she's boo-hooing the fact that an ancestor of hers, whom she never even knew existed before this show, killed himself because he was too cheap to actually pay people to work on his plantation.  Seriously.

After the Civil War some former slaves did stay and worked for pay, if their (former) owners were benevolent enough, in large part because they hadn't received enough education during their years in slavery to be able to do much of anything else.  But Paula's ancestor wasn't one of those former slave owners that his "workers" liked enough to stay with him, and without his slaves he just found life not worth living. 

I'm not going to give her a pass just because she's from the South.  Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 60 years, you know it's not okay to say racist things, and it's certainly not okay to have racist and sexist policies in the workplace.

I'll hang onto the griddle, but it's the one and only Paula Deen item I will ever have in my kitchen.