News -> Letters to the Editor TUE, APR 28 6:00PM by Mary Anne McDougall, Lafayette

PASS ERA ASAP

Considering that the majority of people living in this country are women, isn’t it about time that we took a stand and included equal rights for women in the U.S. Constitution? The U.S. recently demanded that countries like Iraq and Afghanistan include equal rights amendments in their constitutions. Shouldn’t Americans be guaranteed these same equal rights under U.S. law? Currently, the only right women are granted in the Constitution is the right to vote. We must remedy this and encourage our legislators to support the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Louisiana!

The Equal Rights Amendment simply states “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” This amendment, first proposed in 1923, would guarantee an end to sex discrimination like no other law, ordinance, or statute can. The most successful push to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment between 1972 and 1982 acquired ratification from 35 of the 38 states needed for inclusion into the U.S. Constitution.It’s time for another strong push. Louisiana is one of 15 states that have not yet ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. With only three states needed for ratification to be complete, we must make the Equal Rights Amendment a priority in Louisiana this legislative session.

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BR Chamber's report on higher ed: not pretty
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
Mathieu signs with arizona
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
Deberry on NOLA's murder "problem"
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
And in the "well, duh" category...
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
CB pokes fun at the GOP
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
Governor Vitter?
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
Brennan's building sold at auction
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
bill would require online courses to graduate
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.

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