REPUBLICAN SHAME AND CHRIS-
TIAN CONFUSION

I'm indebted to Gail Collins for her NYT co-
lumn today about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair
Pay Act that the Pres. signed into law today.
Lilly, now 70, worked for years as a plant
supervisor at a tire factory. She didn't know
it, until she was ready to retire, but men at
the plant in similar jobs had always received
substantially more pay than she was getting.
She sued, and a jury readily found her the vic-
tim of pay discrimination.

Justice done? Not so fast! The Republican-led
Supreme Court threw the case out on grounds
that Lilly had waited too long to file it. They
ruled that the law required the plaintiff to file
her suit within 180 days of the first time Good-
year paid her less than they paid the men. Ne-
ver mind the fact that she had no way of know-
ing that was going on. And that it was going on
for years. Besides, courts had generally ruled
that the 180-day limit began the last time the
plaintiff received a discriminatory pay check,
not the first.

Now the Senate has finally clarified the law in
favor of the Lilly Ledbetters (but too late to help
her.) The shame is that only five Republicans
voted to make this right! Collins, in her op-
ed, tells of several similar cases where women
have suffered this kind of pay discrimination.

Another Republican shame is Rush Limbaugh.
He's openly sexist, racist, and homophobic.
And a Republican congressman on TV yester-
day called him "a giant" in the party! This is a
guy who has repeatedly hoped aloud that our
new President fails! That's like hoping the cap-
tain of the Titanic will have a heart attack while
trying to deal with a sinking ship. This guy is
not a patriot! He doesn't love this country, or
he couldn't talk such nonsense. Sexism and ra-
cism are deeply un-American. They are also
obviously un-Christian. Christians who support
him or the party he represents so reprehensa-
bly are confused and disoriented, to say the
least. They need to read the Book of James,
and act (vote) accordingly.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net