Height/weight bill hearing in Massachusetts

The height and weight bill has once again come up to be heard by the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development in Massachusetts.

The hearing will be on June 25th in Boston.  Here are more details:

Here is some contact info to submit written testimony:

Hi All,

Thank you for your past support and advocacy for legislation in Massachusetts to make it unlawful to discriminate based on height and weight. As you may know, Representative Rushing has again filed H. 1758, An Act Making Discrimination on the Basis of Height and Weight Unlawful during the current legislative session. 

I am writing to let you know that a hearing has been scheduled for this bill on Tuesday, June 25 before the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.  The hearing begins at  10:00 am in Hearing Room B-1 in the  Massachusetts State House.  Representative Rushing would like to invite you to provide oral or written testimony in support of this bill.  Written testimony can be addressed to:

Senator Daniel A. Wolf

Senate Chair, Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development

State House, Room 511B

Boston, MA 02133

Representative Thomas P. Conroy

House Chair, Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development

State House, Room 39

Boston, MA 02133

Please reply to this email message  if you are interested in providing testimony in support of the bill.  If you know of others who might be interested in providing testimony in support of this legislation, please feel free to forward this email along.

I’ve attached a copy of the bill for your reference. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.  

Best,

Dave

Dave VanderWoude

Office of Majority Whip Byron Rushing

State House, Room 235

Boston, MA 02133

(617) 722-2783

david.vanderwoude@mahouse.gov

No flight upgrades for short people I guess

This article is about 17 things a flight attendant won't tell you.  It may not reflect the attitude of all flight attendants but some of it is no surprise...

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2013/01/02/17-things-your-flight-attendant-wont-tell/


Have a look at this one:

5. Yes, we can upgrade you to business class or first class after the airplane’s doors close. No, we don’t do it very often, partly because on some airlines we have to file a report explaining why we did it, partly because there has to be a meal for you, and partly because the forward cabins are often full. Who do we upgrade? Not the slob who’s dressed in a dirty tank top. It helps if you’re extremely nice, well dressed, pregnant, very tall, good looking, one of our friends, or all of the above

It helps if you are very tall huh?  Hmmm; so guess short people are out of luck for an upgrade? 

Why do they have to be short?

Why?  Oh why do the likes of Senator Barbara Boxer and conservative women basher Bill Maher have to be short people?

First:  Barbara Boxer (height 4'11")

Senator Boxer, who supports Social Security benefits for illegal immigrants, has gone nuts (moreso than she usually does).

This past week, she has introduced legislation to freeze the pay of people in Congress until they raise the debt ceiling.  Senator, I am sorry, but shouldn't you be working on lowering our debt and not sending $2 billion  to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or sending a Russian contractor $700 million for helicopters we will give to Afghanistan.  That money will then be used to fund the genocide in Syria.

Senator Boxer has also proposed legislation that will take money from border security and put it where?   Into the hands of illegals so that they may have health insurance when they cross the border.

Senator, it is time for you to go!


Second:  Bill Maher (height 5'6")

This man feels it is okay to call Sarah Palin's son Trig a "retard".   No surprise, this liberal hypocrite has referred to Sarah Palin as a "twat" and a "cunt".  Nice going Bill!  Would you refer to Hillary that way?  We know the answer!

California to pass law that will allow boys and girls in same locker room

Yes, it is true.   California will follow in the footsteps of Massachusetts and Washington (and who knows what other states) and will allow transgender students to go into whatever bathroom or locker room they choose.  If anyone is uncomfortable with it (mostly girls) they may get into trouble for discrimination and be branded a "bigot".  Nice!

http://www.inedc.com/1-4576


Yet, these states won't pass any law to protect the short or overweight from discrimination.  Un fucking believable!

A TALL man, Bashir Assad, is responsible for 90,000 deaths in Syria!

Bashir Assad of Syria, all 6'2" of him, has been using chemical weapons on the rebels.   Wow, that must be a mistake, tall men aren't evil...lol!

I wonder if people are going to start trashing tall men now, the way they do all short men when a shorter dictator acts as the TALL Syrian leader is currently doing.

Looks like another sense of entitlement from a tall, bully to me!  Can't take opposition, so look how he acts.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/officials-syrian-president-bashar-assad-chemical-weapons-opposition-article-1.1372138?localLinksEnabled=false

Double standard of hate speech on social media

A 911 operator in Texas, April Sims. was recently fired from her position for making disparaging comments about black people on Facebook; think she would have been fired for making similar comments about short people?  No.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20130605-dallas-911-operator-fired-after-racist-facebook-postings.ece

We all know there is a double standard going on!  Certain groups can be targeted and receive no recourse, while others will no doubt get immediate and swift results.

Bill O' Reilly recently addressed this issue on his program (5/29).

He makes mention of Facebook's policy about hate speech and who is protected; no doubt that Twitter mirrors theirs.

Marshall professor, Christopher Swindell, attacks conservatives and NRA

Oh, here we go again, another liberal professor (this time at Marshall University) decides to go on the attack against conservatives and the National Rifle Association.

Professor Christopher Swindell wrote an op-ed piece for the Charleston Gazette last week attacking the NRA, making a baseless claim that they want to have an armed rebellion against the government and that they need to be executed by a firing squad, as well as that they should have tanks and hellfire missiles used on them.   Perhaps Mr. Swindell has been breaking bread with Darry Sragow of USC.

Careful Mr. Swindell, that kind of language might get you a visit from the Department of Justice...oh wait,  you said that against conservatives not Muslims...my bad!   Way to be a tolerant liberal, professor...lol.! 

Mr. Swindell's hate filled rant:  http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/OpEdCommentaries/201305300071

DOJ warns against attacking Muslims on social media

The Department of Justice is issuing a warning to people to watch what they say about Muslims, you may just get prosecuted for it.

http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/06/04/doj-antimuslim-rhetoric-could-violate-law-n1612651/page/2

Really?  Well Mr Holder and Mr Bill Killian, perhaps you should look at all the hate and death wishes directed at short men on Twitter and other social media sites!!  Oh wait, that is okay, you don't pander to short people.

Short men are targeted because there are no repercussions

This essay from Eric Antwi is so true:

Bashing short men is acceptable because there are no consequences to it.

http://www.shortsupport.org/Essays/EricAntwi3.html

"Little People Big World" family (Matt and Amy Roloff) being threatened; "Price of fame" or "price of shortness"?

Will they get swift justice; let's see, they are little people, Christian, white... don't hold your breath...

http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Little-people-big-problem-Roloffs-get-death-threats-208581481.html

Should there be height requirements for police officers/firefighters?

Well,  I don't think so.   This is why you go through training and an academy first.  You don't just  go to your local precinct or firehouse and fill out an application.   Anyone who makes it through the required training deserves the job.


However, not so in the Philippines I guess...

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/301861/news/nation/short-people-need-not-apply-for-police-firefighting-jobs

Will women ever stop stigmatizing short men?

Well, if Twitter is any indication of the female perspective on short men, the answer is no!  They want us to cease to exist if anything.


http://www.policymic.com/articles/27294/what-women-want-will-we-ever-stop-stigmatizing-short-men

Fort Hood shooter receiving salary while victims struggle for medical assistance

Wow!   Is this not the epitome of the problems in America right now?

The man who shot and killed 13 members of our  military and wounded 30 others in 2009 is still receiving a salary; $278,000 since the shooting.

Due to political correctness, the shooting has not been labeled as a terrorist attack, even though this army psychiatrist was indoctrinated into Islam and yelled Allah's name during the incident.  The victims who were injured, soldiers, are struggling to get the health benefits they would have received had this been designated appropriately.   However, it was named a "workplace violence" incident.

Additionally, according to the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), he is entitled to pay until he is convicted.   Yea?  Well,  what does the same UCMJ say about murdering your fellow soldiers in cold blood?.  That is treason and he needs to be executed right?

Oh wait, gotta be nice to the guy...lol

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/05/nidal-hasan-has-earned-278000-salary-fort-hood-shooting/65438/

Short men bashing on Twitter continues

So,, I guess the whole tolerance thing everyone keeps advocating for is just bull shit huh ladies?  How disgusting!!

Have a look for yourselves and then ask if this would be acceptable if it were directed at blacks or gay people?

https://twitter.com/expsnghghtsm


Here is an example of the latest:

EricRahoo ® ‏@EricRahoo 23 Apr

Lets kill all short men and women

Sports writer reminds us of taller men senses of entitlement

Frank Deford said it..not me:   From 2007:   I posted this a few years ago but many didn't see it.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12787664

If the Tall Run Things, Why Aren't Americans Taller?

by Frank Deford

August 15, 2007 4:58 AM

Did you see that Yao Ming got married not long ago? Well, if you were there in Shanghai you couldn't miss it. After all, he's 7'6", and his petite bride, Ye Li, is 6'2".
But then, this is telling. Americans are getting shorter. Well, we're not getting shorter, it's just that Yao Ming and Ye Li and lots of other people around the world are getting taller. Good grief, Dutchmen now average — average — more than 6 feet.
However, for about the last 50 years, our guys have been stuck at around 5-feet-9-and-change. No wonder we don't win basketball games against other countries much any more. How can this be? The very image of the American was of that long-legged, rangy, raw-bone type. Tall in the saddle, hombre.
Now our most popular sport, which is significantly known as "American" football, features some fat 300-pounders. Maybe the American century was really just the tall century. Why shouldn't we have ruled the world? After all, studies have shown the long and short of it: Tall men do better in life. They win the best jobs and the best-looking women. And a study at Princeton reveals that tall people are simply smarter than the wee ones. Me being 6'4", I accepted this news with the height of smugness.
Our two greatest American leaders, Washington and Lincoln, were exceptionally tall, and right up until the end of the American century — the tall century — it was unusual for the shorter presidential candidate ever to win. Indeed, given what a mess of things the shorter choice, George W. Bush, has made of his presidency in the fat century, Hillary Clinton's main obstacle may not be that she's a woman, but that she's shorter than most men.
In sports, though, the best athletes still get taller. Some basketball guards now are the size of centers of a couple generations ago. Cal Ripken, who just went into the Hall of Fame, might best be known for his iron-man credentials, but his lasting influence was to prove that a shortstop could be a tall stop.
Nonetheless, honesty compels me to offer this grudging addendum to the Princeton study. That is, it is the little guys who invariably end up running sports. I call it the Coxswain Authority — coxswain being the peewee who sits forward in the back of the scull and just screams at the giant rowers: "Stroke, stroke, stroke ...."
The Coxswain Authority is especially, ironically evident in basketball. Hoop coaches in the tall sport are invariably short guys. Oh, occasionally a forward like Phil Jackson or Don Nelson becomes a successful coach, but the really big guys are still thought of as mindless goons. Generally, we just assume that the little players — the pepper pots, the playmakers — are the brains of the outfits.
As a tall person, I say it is time to end this gross discrimination in sports and let tall people have their rightfully ordained place, smartly running games, the way we run everything else so very well.

Posting on this blog

If you can't stick to the subject, don't post.   Any irrelevant and off the wall posts, as well as juvenile personal attacks  will be deleted. 

A video in support of short men...

"Kiss Me On A Chair".... By Anna Pillsbury

Height of hypocrisy; Evangelist bashes short men in sermon

Well...who knew that an "evangelist" would say such mean, hateful things about short men?...lol.   Mr. David Couchman, an evangelist/minister in the UK seems to have some contempt for short men as evidenced by the posted article.  See for yourself...

http://www.facingthechallenge.org/luke19a.php

Hmmm...where do I begin?  Does it not say somewhere in the Bible that "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer!"  (1 John 3:15). It doesn't seem that this evangelist favors short men; I can feel the hate coming from him and I hope for his sake that he sheds this unjustified hate or he is going south on Judgement Day. 

He seems to think that Zaccheus was bullied and was angry; why, because he was a tax collector?   Should he have been a beggar, maybe Mr Couchman would be happy with that? It sure seems to me that this man considers himself superior to short men.   If  "Zack", as he refers to him,  was indeed bullied, who was bullying him then?  Bigger, taller kids.    Why isn't this minister vilifying them for their sense of entitlement and  anger then?   He seems so certain that all short men are bullied, why doesn't he do something to curb the bullying?  Perhaps he thinks it is perfectly acceptable for taller, elite kids to assault the smaller kids.

A short man's choice of profession also seems to draw this man's ire.   One man turned out to be a Thai boxing champion and seems he was bothered by it.  Why?   Are short men not allowed to be successful?  Would he have been happier if that man turned to drugs to deal with his issues?  Not happy unless us "inferior shorties" are serving the taller people, such as his hypocritical self.

Maybe Mr Couchman should read the gospels again.  Jesus did say to "love your neighbor as yourself" did he not?  The Bible also states that we were created in God's image but perhaps this man thinks that the Creator made a mistake; certainly seems he thinks less of short men.   He had better hope that Jesus isn't short...lol.

Does this surprise me?  No.  I seem to remember a Sunday School song about Zaccheus.  "Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he."   Wow, what a nice message to indoctrinate kids with huh?  How about a Sunday School song that goes "Mary Magdalene was a real slut and real slut she was!"   Oh no wait, that would be offensive wouldn't it?

Growing up in this environment, I saw how the kids (I attended church and school with) formed their bigoted thoughts and began looking down their noses at me with their err of tall, white superiority; their sense of entitlement.   I am not sure which Bible they had been reading but it couldn't have been the version I was reading.

I don't know which version David Couchman subscribes to either.  No where in any Bible that I have read does it say "Thou shall not be short!"  Perhaps in his twisted, warped interpretation it does.  If  this man seems to think it is okay to stereotype all short men as angry and bullied, would it then be acceptable for me to say he is a pedophile (being a man of the cloth and all)?  Of course not, that would be stereotyping.

Woman denied justice after being fired from NYC Parks Dept for ..being short

A couple of years ago I posted an article about Sandra Peterson, a 4'8" employee of the NYC Parks Department.  

What happened?  Her boss, Louis Marchi, let her go because she was "too short".  What was she too short to do?  Clean.  Of course, we all know how height is an essential part of mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, taking out garbage...a job reserved for the tall elite...lol.  Well, Mr. Marchi sure thought so.

When Ms. Peterson began working there, I am quite sure she wasn't wearing stilts when they hired her in 2010.  So, if they hired her knowing she was 4'8", how can they then fire her for the same reason?  Well, they really shouldn't have and we all know that.  But Mr Marchi brought his prejudice into the workplace and used it to deny this woman her job.   I sincerely hope this man gets fired; I hate knowing that my tax dollars are going to this bigot who works for the city.

However, justice won't be done for this woman or for us taxpayers; she sued for discrimination and lost, yet this piece of crap remains in his job.   Here is the details of her court case last year:

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20NYCO%2020120807357.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR

This injustice will continue to take place to us shorter people until states like New York, Massachusetts, Nevada and Utah (to name a few) get off their asses and give us the protection we deserve just as they protect everyone else.

If a transgender man/woman (Colleen Francis) can get protection in Washington State and be allowed to scare girls with his penis in their locker room, then why the hell can't Sandra Peterson get justice?

Posting on this blog

A number of weeks ago, someone decided to act like an adolescent internet bully and submitted a vicious, obscenity laced attack on me.  My knee jerk reaction was to restrict the posting.  However, I am once again going to open the posting and ask that when you post, you refrain from verbal attacks against myself but you can, of course, disagree with my position.  A vitriolic, verbally abusive attack will just be a waste of time and will be deleted.

"Tallerance" ...yes; "tolerance"...no

So, last month, the state of Utah had a hearing on a height and weight bill.   Of course, it was voted down 10-4.   They don't feel that short or overweight people are discriminated against apparently either or enough to require legal protection.  They even wanted "height" defined.  Well, anyone of any height can be discriminated against because of their stature but it is most likely to happen to those of us who are shorter or taller than average.  So, the fight for legal protection (which every other disparate group receives) continues.   Here is audio of the hearing early last month:

http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=3019;   the height portion begins at around 45:00 minutes into the audio.


So, what is "tallerance"  as opposed to "tolerance"?    Well, the latter applies to everyone (well it should) and the former is the way things really are, since people don't seem as accepting of shorter people, especially men.    Have a look at twitter and see all the hateful posts directed at short men.  Phrases such as "short men should die" to "short men should be stepped on" are very common when you enter the phrase "short men" or "short guys" into the search field.   Yes, all this coming from the same groups of people who would tell you that you are intolerant if you say the same about them.  Similar tweets disparaging gay, overweight or black people will get you (no doubt) labeled as a bigot, racist, or even a homophobe;  people have been terminated from their jobs and/or fined because of those offensive tweets but change the words to "I hate short people" and all is forgiven and acceptable.  That is "tallerance"!   It is widespread, on the tip of people's tongues and swimming in their heads.


Does anyone in the media vilify tall men when a dictator of normal to taller height kills many?   Of course not, because they worship tall men and those men are just individuals (you know Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and real nice guy Bashar Al-Assad of Syria; all tall men). However, Kim Jong Un is the typical dictator with "short man syndrome".  All of us short men are angry, little  wanna be dictators too apparently.   We are all napoleons, every single one of us...lol!    Of course, there are many (and by many I mean about a billion) of us short men who aren't dictators and definitely don't support Kim Jong Un or Mussolini or Stalin etc.

The other day, K.T. Mcfarlane described Un as a pipsqueak on America Live with Megyn Kelly,  I wonder if a male commented on the actions of a female leader he didn't agree with and referred to her as a "bitch" if that would be acceptable on air?  Anyone want to guess?  Of course not, that would be sexist no matter what heinous act that particular female had committed.  Short men are ripe for the picking aren't we?   Always acceptable to insult the short man huh K.T?

Now, the UK is adding people who are goth or punk to their protected class of people,  Someone was attacked (because they were goth) and killed, so now going after them is labeled a hate crime.  Yes, a new group to be added but when a short person is targeted (well anywhere) it is okay, even though we are attacked because we are hated too.  So, another group we have to be tolerant of, well "tallerant".

A poem about personal responsibility

Yourself To Blame
by Mayme White Miller
If things go bad for you
And make you a bit ashamed
Often you will find out that
You have yourself to blame
Swiftly we ran to mischief
And then the bad luck came
Why do we fault others?
We have ourselves to blame
Whatever happens to us,
Here is what we say
“Had it not been for so-and-so
Things wouldn’t have gone that way.”
And if you are short of friends,
I’ll tell you what to do
Make an examination,
You’ll find the faults in you…Your the captain of your ship,
So agree with the same
If you travel downward
You have yourself to blame

Unlike the transgendered, short people still look for protection from discrimination in Massachusetts and beyond.

So today, I ran across this article from AOL Jobs, written by Donna Ballman (en employment lawyer) about how there are still legal ways you can be fired based on your appearance.  Believe it or not, you can be fired for being: too attractive, too thin, too fat (unless you are overweight enough to qualify for a disability), too ugly,  too young, improper attire and being too short (although if you are let go for being too short as a female it could fall under the heading of disparate impact, since females are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act).   This never ceases to amaze me, how some groups get protection, while others are still treated unfairly and no recourse is offered.   Here is what Ms. Ballman had to say about short people's plight in the workplace:

Like attractive folks, tall people tend to make more money than short people. Minimum height requirements may have a disparate impact on women, so employers must be very careful in imposing height requirements. If your company tends to equally prefer taller men and women over shorter ones, you may be out of luck. If you're lucky enough to live in Michigan, or the cities of Santa Cruz, Binghamton or San Francisco height discrimination is expressly illegal there. Massachusetts has a similar bill pending in the legislature right now.

The bill in Massachusetts she is referring to is H1758:   http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H1758


Now, the state of Massachusetts has been trying (well Byron Rushing anyway), to get legislation passed to protect the short and overweight for at least ten years.  This bill hardly gets much support obviously from his colleagues there in the liberal, tolerant (or should I say "Tall" erant; meaning tolerance doesn't apply to short people) state of Massachusetts.

Yet, this same state passed a law in 2011 to ban discrimination against people based on them being transgendered or on their gender identity.  Now, even students have to share a bathroom with students of the opposite sex because they identify themselves as being female if they are male or vice versa.  So a male student can walk into a girl's bathroom at school saying that he is really a girl and if the girl objects to his presence, she can face punishment.  So, the Massachusetts Department of Education passes this directive on.  

But apparently, this same state thinks that passing a law to ban height discrimination is more ridiculous than allowing a male into a girls bathroom.   Massachusetts, you're ridiculous!

Two different heights: Two different outcomes

This past week, I am sure many have been inundated with these images of the ex-cop in Los Angeles who went on a killing spree but how many of you are aware that we had someone awarded the Medal of Honor also this past week?

Well, a staff sergeant by the name of Clinton Romesha was given this prestigious and rare award  for his bravery and courage back in 2009 in Afghanistan.  Yes, this man was a hero!  A true one!  Not one who  was glorified because he went on a killing spree in southern California in retaliation for being wronged by the LAPD and taking out innocent people.  If being wronged is justification for going on a violent murder spree, this country will be plunged into a war zone; lawlessness will be the order of the day.   There are many that have been placed in more adverse and unfair circumstances than this ex-cop.   Clinton Romesha was definitely in an adverse situation when he and his fifty fellow soldiers were faced with taking on over thee hundred Taliban members who were surrounding them.  Facing gunfire, grenades and who knows what else, he was able to survive along with some of his battalion;  he was injured after shrapnel was embedded in his body  and still decided that he wasn't going to leave his comrades behind to be killed.    He got them out of there!

All this coming from a man who had been described as "intense, short and wiry."  It is obvious when you take a look at Mr Romesha that he stands at about 5'6" or 5'7".  Not what a heightist, prejudice society would envision as a hero, much less a Medal of Honor recipient.   Yet, they would rather imagine a man of say 6'0"  and above, weighing 270 being the hero.  Well, that was the build of this ex-cop who has since expired.  And, sadly, we see who the media wants to portray as heroic.   No surprise here!

This is Staff Sergeant Romesha receiving his Medal of Honor!!

Of course there is heightism

This recent article is just stating the truth!  Too bad people are dismissive of this issue, as displayed in the comments.

http://www.thecord.ca/?p=14923

If you have the right to do something, does that mean you should do it?

Recently, The Journal News, a newspaper based out of Westchester (Putnam County) in New York, decided that it would publish the names of gun owners in its area.  Yes, they have a legal right to know who is legally carrying a firearm.  However, just because someone has the right to do something, does that mean they should do it?  Of course not!  Now, anyone can go and harass someone at their homes if they don't like them carrying a weapon.  Not only that, it makes targets of homes and their residents of people who don't have protection.  If people want to know who is carrying, I am sure there is a website they can access to find out the information.  A newspaper doesn't need to publish the personal information of these law abiding citizens.  Last time I checked, there are still incidents of identity theft in this country.   

Publishing someone's name and address, after they legally registered their firearm, will probably now deter people from doing just that!   I am guessing that the people who work at The Journal News don't carry weapons and, if they do, perhaps they aren't registered.