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The metaphorical ink wasn’t even dry on the Baton Rouge Advocate web page story (yeah, we know, there’s no ink—or paper—on the internet) about Grovernor (as in Grover Norquist) Jindal’s decision to issue an executive order to do what the Legislature, in a rare flash of clarity, refused to do—approve House Bill 707 by State Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Bossier City)—when outraged comments from irate readers began appearing.
The House Civil Law Committee voted 10-2 to return Johnson’s silly yet dangerous Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act bill to the calendar, a move that effectively kills the bill this session.
The grovernor immediately went on the attack by issuing his executive order to accomplish what legislators wisely would not—put in place the necessary protection for businesses to discriminate against gays. http://theadvocate.com/news/12415408-123/house-panel-effectively-kills-religious
“It’s not about discrimination,” Grovernor Jindal insisted. “It’s about protecting rights.” JINDAL EXECUTIVE ORDER
Whose rights? Certainly not those of gays and if the law is taken to more extreme measures, as some will almost certainly attempt to do, against blacks, against Islamics, against Jews, against Hispanics, perhaps even against Asians, including Indians.
This is about anything but protecting a business owner who has deep-seated religious beliefs from catering to same sex marriages. What if that business owner has equally deep-seated religious beliefs against Little League baseball players playing a Sunday afternoon makeup of an earlier rained-out game? Of if he is offended because Jews don’t observe their Sabbath (Saturday) on the same day of the week (Sunday) as Christians?
There have already been stories about how just about any one of us is condemned to hellfire and damnation by laws and dictates of the Old Testament. Robert Mann had a dandy that ran in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that illustrates the sheer idiocy of Johnson’s bill and those like it passed in Indiana and Arkansas. http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2015/04/louisiana_religious_freedom_ga.html
And thorough as Mann’s story was, there was no mention of Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death.”
So there you have it: could Jindal’s real agenda be an executive order as the first step toward capital punishment for gays? It is in the Bible, after, and Jindal’s agenda is by his own admission, faith-driven. It’s only logical, to quote Star Trek‘s Mr. Spock.
As one Advocate reader so aptly observed, Jindal is the non-candidate running all over the country bitching about overreach in government but who apparently had no problem handing down his own edicts that control millions of people’s lives when it happens to be political expedient to him.
Another reader was quick to pounce on Jindal with his own words in an earlier attack on President Obama. He wrote, “Here is what Jindal had to say about President Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration: ‘If the President wants to make the case that the law should be changed, he should go make the case to Congress and our people. This is an arrogant, cynical political move by the President, and it’s why so many Americans no longer trust this President to solve the problems we face.’ Substitute the word ‘Governor’ for ‘President’ and what’s the difference?” he asked, perhaps not so rhetorically, of Jindal’s hypocrisy.
If Jindal’s latest actions, taken in context with the above statement, do not represent a double standard, then there never has been and never will be a double standard by any definition.
At the same time, it represents yet more legal fees for Jimmy Faircloth or whoever is called upon to defend the state when the lawsuits start flying and U.S. Supreme Court rulings come down.
A reader named Beatrice said that Jindal should begin waving one of those giant foam fingers people wear at athletic events, “except make it a middle finger, pointed at Louisiana.”
Our favorite, from Joe: “You’ve been bested, old man. Can you believe it? We have a genuine psychotic tyrant on the loose in the governor’s mansion.”
Finally, one reader attempted to steer the dialog back to the real issue. “The legislature just showed that you can’t be a bigot and get away with it here. There is finally hope for this state. Now maybe the legislature can get back to important things – like finding $1.6 Billion to et rid of next year’s deficit without destroying education and health care. You know—the thing that really matters in the day-to-day lives of Louisiana citizens.”
Not that any of those comments will matter to Jindal who with each passing day more and more frequently exhibits psychopathic patterns of behavior.
No, we’re not doctors, analysts, counselors or social workers, but some of the symptoms are right up front for all to see. Which of the below symptoms might apply to Jindal?
- A disregard for laws and social mores;
- A disregard for the rights of others;
- A failure to feel remorse or guilt;
- The inability to form emotional attachments or feel empathy with others (though they often can mimic emotions and fool those closest to them, even family members);
- The ability to manipulate people and to easily gain others’ trust;
- They generally are well-educated and able to hold steady jobs;
- They are cool, calm and meticulous, planning out every detail in advance;
- All the above.
Intelligent psychopaths make excellent white-collar criminals and con artists, thanks to their calm and charismatic natures. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopath-psychopath
But none of those traits come close to describing Jindal, of course. Not this grovernor. No siree. Grovernor Jindal is sincere, understanding, compassionate, reverent and most of all, ambitious.
And there are delegates to woo in Iowa and those folks up there are God-fearing Christian who will take up his banner and follow him when they see what he’s done down there in Louisiana. Just you wait. He’s gonna bust through to 2, maybe even 3 percent in the presidential sweepstakes polls yet.
If you don’t believe it, just ask his core constituency—those Duck Dynasty people. They’re the ones who believe Jindal would be a great president, gays are abnormal human beings, and that blacks were happy picking cotton.
Seriously, though, the man is a total disgrace.
Louisiana Voice 
Governor Jindal’s executive order just further shows his thirst for power. Best of luck running for President of the United States with that attitude.
Two peas in a pod: Obama and Jindal. Both are tall, slim, young men, dark skinned with foreign names and both are arrogant, defiant dictators.
Betty Wall
The difference is that Obama is about to wrap up a presidency, and one that has not been without a few accomplishments despite the fact that he came into office having to clean up after the huge mess that was the George W. Bush administration and has largely had to face a very hostile Congress, whereas Piyush Jindal is never going to be president but rather is about to wrap a gubernatorial administration that’s disastrous for the state (and even though he has had the privilege of dealing with a pretty docile legislature) and has been that way largely because Piyush Jindal thinks that he can be president and how he thinks he can win that office, i.e. by tacking to the extreme far right on taxes and social issues.
What recourse(s) are available to the Legislature at this point? It is as if Jindal has given the legislators the iconic middle finger you refer to in your post.
The hypocrisy bit really sticks in my craw. It is really unfortunate that politicians have no ability to see their own hypocrisy or the hypocrisy of others in their party (unless they are running against them).
sometimes the actions of our elected officials makes you wonder if they are playing with a full deck, but I am really starting to believe that there is something truly mentally wrong with the Grovernor.
Amen!
I am confused. I would think that a serious candidate for President would need a very, outstandingly successful record at something – like Governor of a state. Since, Jindal cannot claim this, won’t his poor record work against him? Or, has all politics become a sham where lies rule and records don’t count?
Oh but he does! He crows that things are wonderful in Louisiana! He’s counting on on the old tactic “Repeat a lie often enough and people will start to believe it.”
Who does he think he is? I hope the legislature does something to put this man in order.
A recent poll statewide continue to show Jindal at around 30% approval rating. Still lower than Obama. Historically he is the only governor to rate this low without any catastrophic events. Certainly none that were self-imposed like our current governor.Ideally the legislators would have impeached him though that process would have started before the session. Understandably not wanting to bring anymore negative press about Louisiana , they appeared as though this bill would not pass. Did anyone know he would file an Executive Order ?
Jindal, the lame duck governor likes to unleash fear when he can be stopped. Call a special session, spend the dollars now to stop him or later for damage control like Indiana is doing. I vote he be stopped now and our legislators not give up. A good time to hear from Cassidy, Scalise and Vitter. He will never be POTUS nor VP and he knows it. Funny he really thinks Grover Norquist and Koch brothers support his run for Presidency! I think not. But anything they can squeeze out of him to promote their agenda is good for now. They know when he is no longer governor that his days are over.
The Executive Order combined with the unaddressed budget shortfall qualifies as a catastrophic event.
I’d like to clear up an apparent misconception about the Koch brothers. They are Libertarians at heart (and were members of the Libertarian Party until the party got a tad too whacky on advocating anarchy). Libertarians are fiscal conservatives and social liberals. The Koch brothers actively endorse the rights of gays to marry with the same full recognition as straight couples. The Koch Brothers also heavily oppose occupational licensing for low-wage professions. They have donated heavily to causes like the United Negro College Fund. I seriously doubt Bobby Jindal is on the Koch Brothers’ list of favored candidates, and I can assure you they detest actions like Jindal took today.
I’ve read many past posts about the Koch Brothers on this blog and others and opted not to say anything, but I feel compelled to say something now because I believe they have been (and continue to be) unfairly maligned.
Concerned Women for America, an organization that hosts anti-gay marriage rallies outside the Supreme Court, have received the great majority of its funding in recent years from Freedom Partners, the “secret bank” of Charles and David Koch.
So, Robert, I guess you would disagree with Bernie Sanders’ assessment of the Koch brothers 🙂
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/koch-brothers
It is hard to reconcile Libertarian tenets with social liberalism. But, let’s assume for the moment the Kochs are really benevolent at heart. Is it still okay for them to use the Citizens United ruling to attempt to control our political system via their huge wealth?
Even though the Koch brothers have redeeming qualities (some of their Libertarian leanings), the bottom line regarding these brothers is literally, yes literally, apocalyptic. They are major players in the destruction of the planet. It doesn’t get more evil than that. They are worse than Bond villains because they are real.
Donna…Your point is well-taken on the dichotomy of publicly supporting gay marriage yet funding an organization which staunchly opposes it. My guess (and that’s all it is) is that it’s viewed as a necessary act to ensure some other priority even more important to them.
Stephen….Some of the proposals outlined in that 1980 presidential platform (which, after all, was 35 years ago) certainly seem absurd on their faces, but others (most notably privatizing postal operations) seem well ahead of their time and, with the benefit of hindsight, look very prudent.
I think we all have to make political choices for which we weigh what’s important to us and merely accept or tolerate what comes with the package as part of our choice. For example, I’ve made no secret of my disdain for AG Buddy Caldwell and his propensity to not only tolerate governmental corruption but, as I think Lewis Unglesby is proving overwhelmingly in the CNSI case, actually initiate that corruption in the form of witness and evidence tampering. Consequently, I am enthusiastically supporting Jeff Landry for AG even though I know in advance his views on social issues are way right of mine. I’ve made the analysis, and I’d rather have an AG who will fight government corruption above all else even if it means overly-zealous pursuits of social conservatism which I’m not fond of.
The only way any of us is ever going to get the “perfect” candidate is if we ourselves run for office, and even then, we’ll be the only ones viewing ourselves as the “perfect” office holders.
So, while I don’t concur with removing government from its role of ensuring our safety as with an agency like the EPA, I think that political reality would never permit such to occur anyway. Having said that, I am heavily pro-business, and particularly pro-small-business, and Louisiana has a serious problem with its governmental stranglehold on small business entrepreneurs with its obscene number of boards and commissions. Hence, I’m supporting the tandem of Vitter-Landry to, in my mind, represent the best shot at remedying what I deem as one of Louisiana’s biggest problems and drawbacks to entrepreneurs considering locating here. Nevertheless, the counter-arguments presented by my fellow readers regarding the Koch Brothers certainly have merit and are appreciated as being informative of the “whole picture.”
And therein lies the difference between you and people like Earthpapa (whatever happened to Earthpapa anyhow?). You are able to present your point of view without insulting those who differ – once all else fails, the last shot of the troll is to hurl insults. [I’m still not saying Eathpapa was/is a troll, I’m just saying.]
The people to whom Jindal is attempting to appeal understand only 2 words in this issue, “religious freedom.” They neither know nor care what the implications of the law, had it passed, or his executive order, if issued, are. If questioned about it, they would answer, “Governor Jindal is for religious freedom. So am I. What’s the matter with that?”
If questioned about his position that Islam is the most evil religion in existence, they would give a similar simple answer. Obama is the worst President ever? For sure. Taxes? We don’t need any. Guns? You bet. Cuts in government programs? Huzzah!!!.
He knows his supporters are only interested in the surface and generalities of the positions he takes on these things and they are not radical positions to them. To them, these are the principles and values everyone should have and support and they don’t want to complicate things with details or contradictions. They are happy with their closely-held beliefs, thank you very much.
The further removed they are from Louisiana, the more they believe Bobby Jindal stands for they stand for and they hear only what they want to hear in support of that position.
Add people with big money and a national political agenda to these true believers and you have his base of support.
How many of these people are there? To the extent they vote and have political influence, we will soon know.
As I age I know my memory weakens, a little, but I seem to remember that one of the main tenets our forefathers fought for and created our country on was freedom of religion which grammatically to me sounds just the same as religious freedom either way you say it. Notably absent was freedom to discriminate although later laws and amendments had to be written to ensure this was (and is) the case. From this we can only surmise that Jindal is a bigoted homophobe who has concluded that pandering to an extremely small minority is the best course for his wrongheaded campaign. Curious game plan to say the least. Someone should remind Jindal their are millions of voters in religions here besides Fundamentalist Christian. I hope our legislature will slap him down on this but I’m not holding my breath. The fear they exhibit to a lame duck unpopular governor defies common sense. After all he claimed to be a Catholic at one point in time.
Sorry for that last sentence. It ended up out of order and misspelled in the post. My point is he seems to change religious callings out of convenience, or is it due to voter bases (Duck Dynasty followers).
Do they still do coroner’s commitments where they lock ’em up for a few days of observation? He may not be a danger to himself but he’s sure as hell a danger to the rest of us. 👿
Bobby Jindal and his entire crew of sycophants are the greatest blight to humanity since Adolf Hitler and the third reich.
Been calling him Jitler for some time now. I’m waiting for him to barricade himself in the newly fortified state capitol and declare he’s forming his own country. Supriya: Have him evaluated!
Well, I think 29% of Louisiana’s population is comprised of ultra-right-wing nut jobs. That explains his 29% approval rating. His problems are that he stares at an insurmountable task to go from 29 to 50, Louisiana’s population of such folk exceeds the nation as a whole, and he faces STIFF competition on the national front for those folks’ votes, most notably from Huckabee.
Jindal is wrong for Louisiana, wrong for the U.S, wrong for humanity. Just wrong.
Craven, self-promoter, remorseless. Some say Huey Long had these qualities but with the glaring difference of actually helping folks in his state. He also lacked the ” scumbag sense of entitlement” with which Piyush deports himself. Napolianic (sic) complex? Who knows and who cares at this point. I read recently that Vitter is despised on the hill by his colleagues, no small feat. I won’t be voting for him. As if it’s not obvious BJ proves one can be well educated and totally incompetent. I wouldn’t call him smart because I include in that definition to simplify it people skills. I guess BJ unlike an old rock group formed briefly by Harvard MBA candidates in the 80’s wasn’t “Born to Run Things.”
Thanks, Tom, for never letting up on the little guy, late of Baton Rouge. Louisiana Voice must be one of his worst nightmares. You’re doing the Lord’s work.
I was getting a little concerned about him/her, but the last 2 of the mystery cartoonist’s strips prove s/he is back in full, and maybe fuller, form. Great work!!!!