When it came to marriage, divorce and family responsibility, Jesus advocated for the rights of women and children in a male-oriented culture that assigned them little more value than cattle. In the first century, to divorce his wife, and leave her without support or the ability to re-marry, a first century man just had to say, “I divorce thee; I divorce thee; I divorce thee.” Jesus’ teachings about marriage, and about poverty, reveal his opposition to this practice.
This year, the Georgia legislature did not show the same concern for moms, children or poverty. This session, the General Assembly passed sweeping child support legislation that met with significant opposition from custodial parents (mostly moms) who are likely to see substantial reductions in child support payments.
That legislation awaits the Governor’s signature, but, in a rather transparent and cowardly move, even if he signs it, the provisions will not be effective until January. This is, after all, an election year, and by some estimates, women will represent 60% of voters and could tip the election. Wouldn’t want to tip off that voting block, now would we?
(Here’s a bulletin, Sonny: we are already clear that the agenda of The Perdue Team does not favor women.)
Not only is this legislation unbelievably complicated, it also threatens to throw even more Georgia children into poverty. One of the more controversial provisions of this bill gives non-custodial parents monetary credit for time spent with their children.
Currently, more than one third of female-headed households in Georgia fall below the poverty line. The cost of maintaining a household is not reduced when a child visits with another parent, so this legislation, if signed into law, will make an already bad situation, much worse.
I found myself asking, what would Jesus have done? I think, certainly not this.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
I Divorce Thee, I Divorce Thee, I Divorce Thee...in January
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Glad to have you on the blog! This is an issue that I looked at long and hard before deciding to support Cathy. I certainly don't consider myself an expert of this, but I am convinced of Cathy's willingness to be proactive on the issues of voting accuracy and voter access. I have posted a recent statement from her below. It is her response to the Carter-Bates Commission. I have read numerous statements from her on this and have also heard her address this in speeches. Cathy expressed support, this year, of the legislation that will test paper trails in 2006 in some Georgia counties, including Bibb.
I think that it is important to remember the context of Cathy's push for electronic voting in Georgia. In 2000, we all watched as the voting fiasco in Flordia played out, threatening a constitutional crisis and ultimately taking the outcome out of the hands of the voters and leaving the the United States Supereme Court to decide who would become president.
That same year, the voting problems in Georgia were just as significant, or more so, than in Florida, we simply were not subjected to the same scrutiny because the overall margin of the Bush win here was so much greater. Still, without uniform standards, 94,000 ballots in Georgia were "undervotes" or ballots where no presidential candidate was selected.
It was with that knowledge that Cathy, as SOS, began to advocate for the very best technology available at the time. Was it a risk for her to lead on this issue? Of course it was. But the alternative was to allow to continue an obviously broken system that failed to protect voter access and accurate votes. My understanding is that she has continued to upgrade the equipment, and that she does support a verifiable paper trail, provided the technology meets existing standards and will facilitate accuracy and access rather than limiting either.
----------------------------
From her website, www.cathycox.com, here's what she recently had to say:
In 2002, Georgia became the first state in the country to modernize its elections with statewide uniform electronic voting. Because of our bipartisan reforms, study after study has found that voting in Georgia is more accurate than ever before. But there?s no reason to rest on our successes.
I support paper receipts. We are pro-actively exploring options to modify and enhance Georgia?s voting system to provide a voter-verified paper trail that gives voters even more confidence in our voting process. In fact, Kathy Rogers, the director of my elections division, is currently working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the federal Election Assistance Commission to design a reliable system and establish standards for voter-verified ballots.
On a different subject, I echo the Carter-Baker Commission?s concerns about our state?s new restrictive photo-ID law … In the words of one dissenting Commission member ?An election with integrity is one that allows every eligible voter—and only eligible voters—the opportunity to cast a ballot and to have that ballot counted accurately. The Commission’s ID recommendation fails this standard.’
Finally, I am honored that the Carter-Baker Commission praised Kennesaw State University?s Center for Election Systems. Georgia was the first state in the country to found such a center, and I?m glad that the Carter-Baker Commission recognized the great value of a university-based center to study and guide elections.
The AJC has also weighed in with their take
Posted by: David McLaughlin
09:46 AM September 22
Post a Comment