Voice of Freedom Editorials

11.04.05 - A president is impeached for getting a blow job in the oval office; a person for living with HIV/AIDS can be fired for having that disease; in Florida employers can fire a worker without giving a reason; a temporary at-will TV crew worker is fired for speaking his mind at a public hearing... Yet, American politicians are considering appointing a man to the highest court of the land, who defends the right of an employer to fire someone with HIV/AIDS or some other disease. Who's next? Not George Bush and his military junta. It may seem far fetched but Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, Alito, wrote a Department of Justice opinion during the Reagan administration allowing employers to fire workers with AIDS. His reasoning, according to a 1986 Post article, Alito was quoted as saying, "We certainly did not want to encourage irrational discrimination, but we had to interpret the law as it stands ... and it does not regulate what a private employer can do if he has a fear of a contagious disease."

Now we know how Alito will interpret the law, if it's not spelled out exactly in the law then it's ok. Whatever happened to finding a law unconstitutional?

Hey, look at the brightside. If you do have some type of illness or disability and no one will hire you because of it then by gosh Social Security Disability payments will be on their way. Yeah, right! Fat chance! Or Skinny chance!

Supreme Court Nominee Alito Helped Write 1980s DOJ Opinion That Employers Could Legally Fire People Living With AIDS

Supreme Court justice nominee Samuel Alito while serving as deputy assistant attorney general during the Reagan administration helped write a Department of Justice opinion that employers could legally fire people living with AIDS because of a "fear of contagion, whether reasonable or not," the Washington Post reports. The opinion said the firing would be legal because discrimination based on "insufficient medical knowledge" was not banned by federal laws protecting disabled people (Grunwald et al., Washington Post, 11/1).

In a 1986 Post article, Alitowas quoted as saying, "We certainly did not want to encourage irrational discrimination, but we had to interpret the law as it stands ... and it does not regulate what a private employer can do if he has a fear of a contagious disease."

Terje Anderson -- executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS, which is opposing Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court -- said, "We urge the U.S. Senate to carefully examine the record of Judge Alito and to reject his narrow and hateful willingness to allow irrational fear and hatred to become enshrined in law," adding, "People living with HIV/AIDS need to know that the court system will protect our right to live free from discrimination" (NAPWA release, 11/2).

Damon Dozier, congressional liaison for the National Minority AIDS Council, said, "This is quite disturbing, this information about his background in discriminating against those suffering from HIV and AIDS," adding, "Even though (Alito's work on the Justice Department opinion) was very early in the epidemic, it still is no excuse for discrimination against people who, quite frankly, contribute to the greatness of this nation" (Advocate, 11/3).

President Bush on Monday nominated Alito, who has served as 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge since 1990, to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/31).

Mauricio Rosas, Co-Editor, Commentary, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2005

*Focus on the Family Dr. James Dobson in his own words:*
*Teaching Tolerance of Gay Families is wrong*

In a letter responding to one of our sources Dr. James Dobson explains why teaching tolerance of Gays is bad for children.

By now you've undoubtedly heard about the controversy surrounding statements I made recently in which I reportedly accused a cartoon character named SpongeBob SquarePants of being "gay." Although I never made any such comment, the media has repeated the story incessantly, to the point that *the truth of the matter has been completely obscured*....more

Hillsborough County Republicans seek to deny AIDS patients access to the County’s Healthcare Plan

An Editorial By Mauricio Rosas

It’s more than obvious that Hillsborough County Commissioners Jim Norman and Ronda Storms are in the same fantasy world as George “Always Wrong” Bush. And just like Bush they promote fear, hate and intolerance. And just like “Always Wrong” Bush, they don’t look at the facts. They simply make them up to suit their own political ambitions. Just as they did this past week when Norman mistakenly said I had received services from Hillsborough County’s Healthcare plan to treat my HIV disease. I have never received services from the Healthcare Plan. In fact, all of my activities advocating for the Plan have been humanitarian and voluntary.

Since I have been an outspoken critic of their mismanagement and bungling of the healthcare plan, they’ve used my name and my HIV status as an excuse to consider denying people with HIV access to Hillsborough’s Healthcare Plan. Storms rationale is that people with HIV are “creating possibly more patients for us who might come under our care." That’s absurd and ill conceived. She goes on to say, "People who perpetrate those kinds of crimes ... ought to feel some sort of other ramification from their government if they are creating more difficulty for society as a whole." If these Commissioners are concerned about the additional burden to society for people who are HIV positive then they need to consider the cost of obesity to our society. Both Storms and Norman should also feel some sort of “ramification from their government” because their eating disorder is tantamount to criminal because they are purposely obese and with their image they encourage others to over eat, a behavior that is creating a health crisis of epidemic proportions. If we use their logic then we should ask the other County Commissioners to deny both Norman and Storms access to the county’s employee healthcare plan because their obesity and the illnesses attributed to it...more

They have no character and no moral courage and in fact we see that time and time again

Who said NO to each and every one of the canidates for the Moral Courage Award in Tampa?

Many say we are in a time of ethical crisis, but the greater crisis may be that of moral courage. Given an ethical dilemma, you may know what is ethical and right thing to do, and yet choose another course of action. This lack of moral courage is a reluctance to do what is right because the "price it costs" is more than you want to pay. This cost isn't necessarily monetary; it could be in terms of effort, time, convenience, pleasure, status or recognition. Ethical responses vary according to your ability to reason ethically. Awareness and discussion of ethical issues are the most important factors in developing ethical reasoning skills. My sense is that we ought to tie the question of moral courage to our practical professional decisions and ask ourselves whether we are living up to our potential to act with moral courage. In this vein we give out our Hall of Shame Awards to deserving individuals or groups. ...more

a very, very shocking issue

“It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand and denying reality” – Barry Goldwater

by Mauricio Rosas
March 1, 2004

The great American debate of the 21st century is not how to end the healthcare crisis or how to guarantee a full education to every citizen but instead whether or not the government has the right to discriminate and deny equality to homosexuals.

EGADS!!! What’s wrong with this picture? ...more