Snip, Snip
It seems that not all local pols with Italian surnames are running for District Attorney. State Rep. John LaBruzzo (R-Metry) has other things on his mind. LaBruzzo is advocating a plan to pay poor folks to get their tubes tied to save on “welfare costs.” LINK. It’s a pity that LaBruzzo doesn’t have a phallic name but he’s definitely a dickhead who deserves to be beaten with a plaster schmeckle.
LaBruzzo represents the district that once elected Fuhrer wannabe and plastic surgery connoisseur, David Duke. No surprise there. It is, however, disappointing that someone with roots in Southern Europe is advocating what amounts to neo-eugenics. Early 20th Century American Eugenicists favored sterilizing as many folks of “non-native” stock as feasible. That meant that *my* Greek relations were as likely to have been on the…uh…chopping block as those of Mr. LaBruzzo.
Mr. LaBruzzo *claims* that he just wants to help “those” people and save the taxpayers some money. I’m sure getting his picture on the front page of the Picayune had nothing to do with it. I’m sure he’s enjoying the comments at NOLA.com as well. I only skimmed them, I have a delicate digestive system and rabid bigotry upsets my stomach.
Since we’re kinda/sorta on the subject of eugenics (neo or old school) I can’t resist quoting one of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ less salubrious opinions as a Supreme. It came in the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell wherein Justice Holmes upheld a Virginia law that allowed forced sterilization of the mentally retarded:
“It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind . . . three generations of imbeciles are enough.”
Obviously, LaBruzzo’s bill provides an *incentive* for the “wrong sort of people” to be sterilized instead of making it mandatory but the intent is the same. Basing public policy on bigotry and stereotypes is another form of imbecility.
This will be cross-posted in a slightly different form at the Adrastos Virtual Cafe.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I always thought the way to fight poverty is with higher wages. Even if you’re single, you can be damn poor.
Yet another squirt of brilliance form a LA legislator.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
[...] out of my damn blog. Working on alternatives. And Adrastos beat me to the LaBruzzo story. I guess it had been a while since a LA legislator spouted off some [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
You know, education in general, sex education and access to abortions work just as well. Funny that those aren’t this Republican’s options.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Under Labruzzo’s plan, the world would eventually be populated with productive taxpayers like John DuPont, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richey and the Bush Twins and we would never again see another Andrew Carnegie, George Washington Carver or Sister Gertrude Morgan. I recommend Mr Labruzzo visit his doctor quickly as it seem that his own internal plumbing is in need of serious attention: The shit spewing forth from his mouth makes me think he’s talking out of his ass.
September 26th, 2008 at 8:10 am
$1000 isn’t enough to cover the cost of HAVING your tubes tied…
September 26th, 2008 at 10:14 am
[...] closin’ malaka Archbishop Alfred Hughes but he has denounced State Rep John LaBruzzo’s sterilization plan trial balloon. LINK. LaBruzzo’s grab for publicity seems to have backfired on him. Pop goes [...]
September 26th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
According to the most recent study, abortion is now fulfilling the eugenic vision of Planned Parenthood’s founder,Margaret Sanger, and blacks are disproportionately getting abortions which reduces the black population.
Given the data, I am curious to hear from those who oppose this legislation and yet support abortion. Isn’t this the ideal Pro-Choice legislation? Why doesn’t the ACLU celebrate this as an opportunity for women to make decisions about their reproductive rights and even profit from their choice?
Also for those who advocate for population control to save the planet, is this not the kind of legislation you would like to have passed so we can reduce our carbon footprint?