September 22, 2014

Petty in Texas


Source: Connie Wilson
Dear Texas, please do keep denying drivers licenses to people in same-sex marriages. Then you will have same-sex marriage imposed on you lickety-split!

September 04, 2014

Consistency in Outrage

Credit: Marcus Qwertyus 
For everyone who felt the need to support Chick-Fil-A with your dollars as they were being "persecuted" by boycotts in response to their CEO's stance on same-sex marriage, I hope you will likewise lend your support to the Dallas Cowboys, who are being boycotted for their hiring of Michael Sam. If the outrage you felt in the first situation far exceeds any outrage you feel in the second, I think you should ask yourself what really outraged you about the Chick-Fil-A affair. Was it really because someone was being boycotted for their publicly-stated beliefs (no matter what those beliefs might be), or was it because someone was being boycotted for a belief you sympathize with? Should I expect increased support for the Dallas Cowboys this year from the same folks who celebrated Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day? I won't be holding my breath.

July 02, 2014

Hobby Lobby Hypocrisy

Source: www.hobbylobby.com
According to CNN, Hobby Lobby 401k plans allow investments in the very contraceptive devices that they brought suit about: IUDs, morning-after pill, etc. When companies want exemptions from the law based on their owners religious beliefs, shouldn't the pertinent religious beliefs be sincerely held? 401k plans and health care plans are quite similar in that the employee chooses the procedure or the investment and the employer makes a partial payment towards that purchase. So, in what ethical system is it wrong to support the purchasing of IUDs but OK to support the manufacture of IUDs?

Suffer the Little Children

Protesters in Murrieta, CA shamefully blocked a busload of refugee children, forcing them to turn around. Perhaps the good Christian people of Murrieta need to be reminded of some Bible verses:
Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 
Hebrews 13: 1 Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

June 19, 2014

...But Pragmatism is What Felled Eric Cantor

Per the New York Times, the new Majority Leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, is a pragmatist. What's surprising about the choice of another pragmatist is that Eric Cantor was castigated and ultimately de-throned for being just that. So, is the Republican establishment just not listening to the Tea Party, or do they think that lightning won't strike twice?

Bob Jones' Philosophy Regarding Sexual Abuse

Credit: Associated Press
Per Al Jazeera, Bob Jones University tells students who have been raped to "repent." What's interesting about the cases cited in this article is that the rapists were men in authority over women, such as fathers and bosses, or were 'good' men, e.g., ministry students.  It is a standard tactic of sociopaths like these to minimize or even normalize their behavior within the confines of a closed, rarefied environment. Treating a woman's unwillingness or inability to forgive her rapist as a sin, perversely makes her the "real" problem and aligns with the sociopath's agenda.

May 26, 2014

The People of Latta's Will

Source: Moore's Facebook page.
The Huffington Post reports that, despite the people of Latta, SC even changing their form of government to overrule and repudiate him, Mayor Earl Bullard has defied their wishes and refused to re-instate the long-time police chief, Crystal Moore, whom he purportedly fired because she is a Lesbian. His defiance shows him to be one of those conservatives who isn't too concerned with "the people's will" when it doesn't agree with his goals. On a more positive note, the people of Latta have provided us with yet another example of one of the most heartening phenomena of social change in the last twenty-five years or so. You see, when LGBT people become known to people as brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, neighbors, public officials, etc. they cease being strange, alarming abstractions and become normal, flesh-and-blood people -- the kind of people you want to share a meal with, call on when you need help, and look out for when they are in danger.