A personhood ban could have far-reaching consequences even beyond abortion care, since it will charge doctors who damage embryos with criminal negligence. Doctors in the state say it will also prevent them from performing in vitro fertilization, and some medical professionals have vowed to leave the state if it is signed into law.
Personhood measures are so extreme that some pro-life Republicans in the state have come out against them, planning to join a pro-choice rally in the state capital on Monday to oppose the far-right abortion restriction. “We have stepped over the line,” Republican state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R-Fargo) said of the recent push to pass personhood. “North Dakota hasn’t even passed a primary seatbelt law, but we have the most invasive attack on women’s health anywhere.”
North Dakota Votes To Ban All Abortions By Defining Life At Conception | ThinkProgress
Saturday, March 23, 2013
New Hampshire House Votes To Prohibit Private Prisons | ThinkProgress
The move is an abrupt shift in New Hampshire, where just last year the legislature had considered a bill to send its entire male prison population to private prisons.
The problems with private prisons are too numerous to spell out in full, but here are a few highlights.
At its core, the entire private prison industry profits when people are imprisoned, meaning stricter drug and immigration laws produce larger profits. Private prison operators know this, and have spent more than $45 million on lobbying federal and state lawmakers over the past decade, including top Republicans influencing the immigration debate. Indeed, the CEO of one of the largest private prison groups, the Corrections Corporation of America, assured investors on a recent call that there would continue to be “strong demand” for prison cells, even after immigration reform. The industry stands to rake in $5.1 billion detaining immigrants alone.
New Hampshire House Votes To Prohibit Private Prisons | ThinkProgress
The problems with private prisons are too numerous to spell out in full, but here are a few highlights.
At its core, the entire private prison industry profits when people are imprisoned, meaning stricter drug and immigration laws produce larger profits. Private prison operators know this, and have spent more than $45 million on lobbying federal and state lawmakers over the past decade, including top Republicans influencing the immigration debate. Indeed, the CEO of one of the largest private prison groups, the Corrections Corporation of America, assured investors on a recent call that there would continue to be “strong demand” for prison cells, even after immigration reform. The industry stands to rake in $5.1 billion detaining immigrants alone.
New Hampshire House Votes To Prohibit Private Prisons | ThinkProgress
Thank you
I'd like to take the time to say thank you to all that come to my humble blog. The other day for the first time I hit 100 page views in one day. I don't know how many of you are repeat visitors, or if what I post is being read, or just skimmed through. But I am still humbled.
What started out as something fun to do has become a bit of a obsession (when I'm not working, hence the lapses in posting at times). I hope y'all enjoy!!
What started out as something fun to do has become a bit of a obsession (when I'm not working, hence the lapses in posting at times). I hope y'all enjoy!!
GOP Senator Sponsors Measure Calling For U.S. Withdrawal From The U.N. | ThinkProgress
This is not the first time that I have heard this suggestion. The concern, this mindset is indicative of those that espouse a NWO or conspiracy theory rhetoric. So my question, is Paul a closet con-nutter or is this just a means to push his/their political agenda,,,
An amendment was filed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for just such a purpose, purporting to delete all spending related to the United Nations from the FY14 budget. Specifically, the amendment calls for a reduction of $7,691,822,000 in spending 2014 and 2023. That slash goes beyond even the most draconian of cuts proposed by House Republicans since they reclaimed a majority in 2010.
[,,,]
Paul appears to be following in the footsteps of his father — former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) — in advancing the call to have the U.S. completely pull out of the United Nations. The elder Paul was the primary sponsor of the “American Sovereignty Restoration Act,” a bill introduced periodically from 1999 to 2009 that would ban the U.S. from membership in the U.N. Despite this antipathy towards the United Nations, Ron Paul recently turned to the U.N. system to help him gain control of a website bearing his name.
But the Republican senator from Kentucky is no stranger to using U.N. paranoia to burnish his right-wing credentials. In 2011, he sent a conspiratorial email to his supporters, warning of a supposed U.N. plot to confiscate and destroy U.S. citizens’ guns via a “Small Arms Treaty.” In reality, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty is only just now being developed and in no way will effect civilian ownership of firearms.
GOP Senator Sponsors Measure Calling For U.S. Withdrawal From The U.N. | ThinkProgress
An amendment was filed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for just such a purpose, purporting to delete all spending related to the United Nations from the FY14 budget. Specifically, the amendment calls for a reduction of $7,691,822,000 in spending 2014 and 2023. That slash goes beyond even the most draconian of cuts proposed by House Republicans since they reclaimed a majority in 2010.
[,,,]
Paul appears to be following in the footsteps of his father — former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) — in advancing the call to have the U.S. completely pull out of the United Nations. The elder Paul was the primary sponsor of the “American Sovereignty Restoration Act,” a bill introduced periodically from 1999 to 2009 that would ban the U.S. from membership in the U.N. Despite this antipathy towards the United Nations, Ron Paul recently turned to the U.N. system to help him gain control of a website bearing his name.
But the Republican senator from Kentucky is no stranger to using U.N. paranoia to burnish his right-wing credentials. In 2011, he sent a conspiratorial email to his supporters, warning of a supposed U.N. plot to confiscate and destroy U.S. citizens’ guns via a “Small Arms Treaty.” In reality, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty is only just now being developed and in no way will effect civilian ownership of firearms.
GOP Senator Sponsors Measure Calling For U.S. Withdrawal From The U.N. | ThinkProgress
Health Insurers Threaten To Increase Premiums, Even As Profits Soar | ThinkProgress
Some of the nation’s largest health insurance companies are warning investors that they’ll raise insurance premiums by as much as 116 percent next year, as the coverage expansion provisions in the Affordable Care Act go into effect and millions of uninsured Americans begin purchasing coverage.
The threats of premium increases come as the industry is experiencing record profits and are part of a well-coordinated publicity campaign to alarm Americans about the cost of coverage, while downplaying mechanisms in the law that will cushion them from rate shock. The effort comes as insurers seek more favorable regulatory changes that would, in part, allow companies to charge older people more for coverage.
[,,,]
Insurers, meanwhile, are already seeing impressive profits. UnitedHealth, for instance, “had a particularly strong past year, with net income of $5.1 billion, up by 11% from the previous year” and Aetna is similarly beating revenue expectations. A July 2010 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that the law’s state-based health care exchanges provide private insurers with a lucrative new market in which they stand to gain up to $200 billion in revenue by 2019.
Health Insurers Threaten To Increase Premiums, Even As Profits Soar | ThinkProgress
The threats of premium increases come as the industry is experiencing record profits and are part of a well-coordinated publicity campaign to alarm Americans about the cost of coverage, while downplaying mechanisms in the law that will cushion them from rate shock. The effort comes as insurers seek more favorable regulatory changes that would, in part, allow companies to charge older people more for coverage.
[,,,]
Insurers, meanwhile, are already seeing impressive profits. UnitedHealth, for instance, “had a particularly strong past year, with net income of $5.1 billion, up by 11% from the previous year” and Aetna is similarly beating revenue expectations. A July 2010 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that the law’s state-based health care exchanges provide private insurers with a lucrative new market in which they stand to gain up to $200 billion in revenue by 2019.
Health Insurers Threaten To Increase Premiums, Even As Profits Soar | ThinkProgress
You Won’t Believe How The Bible Actually Defines Marriage (HINT: It’s Not ‘One Man And One Woman.’) | Addicting Info
Not quite how I would explain how marriage is "defined" in the Bible,,,but it does get it's point across,,,
You Won’t Believe How The Bible Actually Defines Marriage (HINT: It’s Not ‘One Man And One Woman.’) | Addicting Info
You Won’t Believe How The Bible Actually Defines Marriage (HINT: It’s Not ‘One Man And One Woman.’) | Addicting Info
Rachel Maddow 'Pissed' About Treatment of Veterans: Talks of 'Special Place in Hell' | Liberals Unite
Emotional squee!! Got to love Rachael, she is not afraid to let her passion show,,,
Rachel Maddow 'Pissed' About Treatment of Veterans: Talks of 'Special Place in Hell' | Liberals Unite
Rachel Maddow 'Pissed' About Treatment of Veterans: Talks of 'Special Place in Hell' | Liberals Unite
I Dare You Watch This Clip From A Dying Veteran | Liberals Unite
I am currently subscribed to 378 various news feeds (liberal, progressive, dem, repub, yada yada),,368 carried this video, only 10 did not,,,can you guess what side of the isle those 10 sites lean??
I Dare You Watch This Clip From A Dying Veteran | Liberals Unite
I Dare You Watch This Clip From A Dying Veteran | Liberals Unite
OMG, Socialism! | The Big Slice
Capitalism has built the most powerful economy that the world has ever seen. But socialism has been its traveling companion. We need socialism because profit is the last surviving principle of capitalism. Completely unprincipled capitalism is the most frightening prospect I can think of.
[,,,]
What has made American capitalism strong is the social safety nets that we’ve put under displaced people. When America was headed toward real socialism in the 1940’s, our government was frightened by that powerful trend and asked the big corporations to fill the gap. That was the beginning of corporate provided socially oriented benefits like health insurance. I won’t argue whether they went too far but the resultant expansion of benefits rivaled the European socialist democracies. But in America they were provided by corporations. The tax payers still paid for these benefits in the prices we were charged for corporate products and services.
That game is over. American companies can no longer compete with companies in foreign countries, especially when in those countries the government supplies the benefits. Every successful industrialized nation on the planet is part capitalistic and part socialistic in varying degrees.
[,,,]
We’ve been lulled into an anti-intellectualism’s that being held together by special interest political agendas. Too many Americans don’t know a socialist from a dog’s ear but depend on irresponsible media personalities to tell them what to believe.
Socialism is with us and has been for a long time. It is not the enemy of capitalism but is its most powerful enabler. Socialism reminds capitalism that the end goal of all capital and labor is human flourishing – not just for a privileged few, but for anyone willing to work at it.
OMG, Socialism! | The Big Slice
[,,,]
What has made American capitalism strong is the social safety nets that we’ve put under displaced people. When America was headed toward real socialism in the 1940’s, our government was frightened by that powerful trend and asked the big corporations to fill the gap. That was the beginning of corporate provided socially oriented benefits like health insurance. I won’t argue whether they went too far but the resultant expansion of benefits rivaled the European socialist democracies. But in America they were provided by corporations. The tax payers still paid for these benefits in the prices we were charged for corporate products and services.
That game is over. American companies can no longer compete with companies in foreign countries, especially when in those countries the government supplies the benefits. Every successful industrialized nation on the planet is part capitalistic and part socialistic in varying degrees.
[,,,]
We’ve been lulled into an anti-intellectualism’s that being held together by special interest political agendas. Too many Americans don’t know a socialist from a dog’s ear but depend on irresponsible media personalities to tell them what to believe.
Socialism is with us and has been for a long time. It is not the enemy of capitalism but is its most powerful enabler. Socialism reminds capitalism that the end goal of all capital and labor is human flourishing – not just for a privileged few, but for anyone willing to work at it.
OMG, Socialism! | The Big Slice
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
You Wouldn't Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan | Alternet
This change has come on surprisingly recently, and from a historical perspective, with breathtaking speed. As recently as 1993, almost two-thirds of Americans identified as Protestants, a number that had remained stable for the several preceding decades. But sometime in the 1990s, the ground started to shift, and it's been sliding ever since. Whether it's the "mainline" Protestant denominations like Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans or Presbyterians, or the independent evangelical, charismatic and fundamentalist sects, the decline is happening across the board. The rise of so-called megachurches, like Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California or Mark Driscoll's Mars Hill in Seattle, represents not growth, but consolidation. [Never thought of it that way, a consolidation,,,]
[,,,] The spokespeople of the religious right have noticed this trend as well, but it's clear they have very little idea what to do about it. In a column from 2005, Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, declared that "theological liberalism" is at fault for Christianity's decline, and that the only thing they need to do to reverse it is to make "a bold commitment to biblical authority." Far from it, the evidence is clear that churches clinging to antiquated dogma are part of the problem, as young people turn away from their strident decrees about gays and women.
[,,,] What's less well known is that three American evangelical preachers, Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, visited the country a month before the bill was introduced, giving talks about how "the gay movement is an evil institution" which seeks to prey on children, destroy "the moral fiber of the people," and abolish marriage and the family and replace it with "a culture of sexual promiscuity." Lively boasted that their campaign was "a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda," and later admitted to meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to help draft the bill, although he professed ignorance of the death penalty provision. Other American evangelicals, including Kevin Swanson and Lou Engle, have also expressed their support for the so-called Kill the Gays bill.
[,,,] Africa isn't the only place the American religious right is trying to exert influence. Pat Robertson's legal group, American Center for Law and Justice, has branches in Russia, France, Pakistan, Israel and elsewhere, and recently opened a branch office in Brazil. If its American counterpart is any clue, the BCLJ will devote its time mainly to fighting against the expansion of rights for gay and lesbian people and advocating laws that give Christianity special privileges. With a booming evangelical population and its rapidly increasing economic and cultural power, Brazil is a natural place for the religious right to take root, if secular humanists and progressives aren't ready to counter them.
[,,,] The point of all this is that stopping the religious right is a global issue. The harm they do in America isn't trivial, but they do far greater harm in developing countries where constitutional protections aren't as strong, and where American money exerts an outsized influence. If we can't stop them here, there are people all over the world who will suffer much worse repercussions.
You Wouldn't Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan | Alternet
[,,,] The spokespeople of the religious right have noticed this trend as well, but it's clear they have very little idea what to do about it. In a column from 2005, Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, declared that "theological liberalism" is at fault for Christianity's decline, and that the only thing they need to do to reverse it is to make "a bold commitment to biblical authority." Far from it, the evidence is clear that churches clinging to antiquated dogma are part of the problem, as young people turn away from their strident decrees about gays and women.
[,,,] What's less well known is that three American evangelical preachers, Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, visited the country a month before the bill was introduced, giving talks about how "the gay movement is an evil institution" which seeks to prey on children, destroy "the moral fiber of the people," and abolish marriage and the family and replace it with "a culture of sexual promiscuity." Lively boasted that their campaign was "a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda," and later admitted to meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to help draft the bill, although he professed ignorance of the death penalty provision. Other American evangelicals, including Kevin Swanson and Lou Engle, have also expressed their support for the so-called Kill the Gays bill.
[,,,] Africa isn't the only place the American religious right is trying to exert influence. Pat Robertson's legal group, American Center for Law and Justice, has branches in Russia, France, Pakistan, Israel and elsewhere, and recently opened a branch office in Brazil. If its American counterpart is any clue, the BCLJ will devote its time mainly to fighting against the expansion of rights for gay and lesbian people and advocating laws that give Christianity special privileges. With a booming evangelical population and its rapidly increasing economic and cultural power, Brazil is a natural place for the religious right to take root, if secular humanists and progressives aren't ready to counter them.
[,,,] The point of all this is that stopping the religious right is a global issue. The harm they do in America isn't trivial, but they do far greater harm in developing countries where constitutional protections aren't as strong, and where American money exerts an outsized influence. If we can't stop them here, there are people all over the world who will suffer much worse repercussions.
You Wouldn't Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion -- But the Fundamentalists Have a Plan | Alternet
Texas Cornerstone Megachurch to Unveil $5 Million Noah's Ark
Please explain to me why we need 2 replica's of Noah's Ark?? Couldn't $5 million be spent on something more helpful??
"With its unique, stimulating and larger-than-life elements, the Ark experience will truly bring to life the famed Bible story and be an inspirational adventure to all who enter," the 20,000-member church says on its website, of the building that cost nearly $5 million.
"I want them to say it happened,” Executive Pastor Matthew Hagee told mysanantonio.com. “The Ark was real. Salvation is real. What God desires for Noah, God desires for me. For Noah, it was a boat. And for me, it was Jesus Christ.”
[,,,]
Hagee, son of founding pastor John Hagee, described The Ark, saying it has vestibule entrances with outdoor scenes of the ship’s hull, crafted with alder wood panels. At one vestibule will be a talking macaw playing host.
Each of the animals in the central area of the hull – from a tortoise, sheep and zebra to a rhinoceros, lion and elephant – will be named for a great church figure from history, as a springboard to lessons on John Bunyan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles Wesley and others.
Nine of the 16 creatures will be animatronic, created by Animal Makers, a Southern California firm that specializes in robotic animals for Hollywood movies. Some are new, and some were formerly leased. The rhino, for example, had a short appearance in the John Cusack film 2012.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find any church with animatronics,” Michael Chanley, executive director of the International Network of Children’s Ministry, was quoted as saying. “It communicates so much value to the family, ‘We don’t just want your kids to come here and learn. We want them to experience God,’” he said.
Texas Cornerstone Megachurch to Unveil $5 Million Noah's Ark
"With its unique, stimulating and larger-than-life elements, the Ark experience will truly bring to life the famed Bible story and be an inspirational adventure to all who enter," the 20,000-member church says on its website, of the building that cost nearly $5 million.
"I want them to say it happened,” Executive Pastor Matthew Hagee told mysanantonio.com. “The Ark was real. Salvation is real. What God desires for Noah, God desires for me. For Noah, it was a boat. And for me, it was Jesus Christ.”
[,,,]
Hagee, son of founding pastor John Hagee, described The Ark, saying it has vestibule entrances with outdoor scenes of the ship’s hull, crafted with alder wood panels. At one vestibule will be a talking macaw playing host.
Each of the animals in the central area of the hull – from a tortoise, sheep and zebra to a rhinoceros, lion and elephant – will be named for a great church figure from history, as a springboard to lessons on John Bunyan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles Wesley and others.
Nine of the 16 creatures will be animatronic, created by Animal Makers, a Southern California firm that specializes in robotic animals for Hollywood movies. Some are new, and some were formerly leased. The rhino, for example, had a short appearance in the John Cusack film 2012.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find any church with animatronics,” Michael Chanley, executive director of the International Network of Children’s Ministry, was quoted as saying. “It communicates so much value to the family, ‘We don’t just want your kids to come here and learn. We want them to experience God,’” he said.
Texas Cornerstone Megachurch to Unveil $5 Million Noah's Ark
Illegal to help change sexual orientation?
Just plain wrong, I have posted numerous times concerning ex-gay therapy and the methods so I wont rehash them, but dude is off the charts in regards to hyperbole,,,
At the same time American society takes this anything-goes approach to sexuality, there is one new glaring taboo being constructed in some states: Counseling and therapy for minors who want to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.
Such legislation was passed by the California Legislature before being struck down by the courts.
But now similar legislation is being introduced in New Jersey, in what can fairly be described as the next big push by those promoting sexual anarchy in America.
[,,,]
This is an illustration of just how dangerous and totalitarian in nature the homosexual lobby truly is.
What’s happening in our society today is nothing short of the active recruitment of children into aberrant sexual lifestyles. We once called this child abuse. But today it’s official state policy. The next step, which may have been unimaginable a few years ago, is to ensure there’s no way out for those recruits.
Parents and children shouldn’t have an opportunity to explore their options in enjoying a heterosexual lifestyle. Change only works one way, according to these fiends.
Think about this: Children molested by same-sex adults are much more likely to adopt a same-sex attraction. Sometimes all those kids need is some counseling to overcome their victimization. That would be legally prohibited by the legislation now under consideration in New Jersey and the legislation passed in California.
[,,,]
The homosexual movement once claimed its supreme goal was to ensure that its constituents could do what they want in the privacy of their own bedrooms. That was a lie. Now they parade their sexual proclivities in our streets and in the “gay”-friendly media. It’s no longer an alternative lifestyle; it’s quickly becoming the preferred lifestyle, the brave new lifestyle, the hip and heroic lifestyle, the affirmative-action lifestyle.
Now the homosexual movement and its allies in the popular culture, media and politics are seeking to use the police power of the state to make sure there’s no return from a “choice” made even as a child. Once “gay,” always “gay” is their credo.
Illegal to help change sexual orientation?
At the same time American society takes this anything-goes approach to sexuality, there is one new glaring taboo being constructed in some states: Counseling and therapy for minors who want to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.
Such legislation was passed by the California Legislature before being struck down by the courts.
But now similar legislation is being introduced in New Jersey, in what can fairly be described as the next big push by those promoting sexual anarchy in America.
[,,,]
This is an illustration of just how dangerous and totalitarian in nature the homosexual lobby truly is.
What’s happening in our society today is nothing short of the active recruitment of children into aberrant sexual lifestyles. We once called this child abuse. But today it’s official state policy. The next step, which may have been unimaginable a few years ago, is to ensure there’s no way out for those recruits.
Parents and children shouldn’t have an opportunity to explore their options in enjoying a heterosexual lifestyle. Change only works one way, according to these fiends.
Think about this: Children molested by same-sex adults are much more likely to adopt a same-sex attraction. Sometimes all those kids need is some counseling to overcome their victimization. That would be legally prohibited by the legislation now under consideration in New Jersey and the legislation passed in California.
[,,,]
The homosexual movement once claimed its supreme goal was to ensure that its constituents could do what they want in the privacy of their own bedrooms. That was a lie. Now they parade their sexual proclivities in our streets and in the “gay”-friendly media. It’s no longer an alternative lifestyle; it’s quickly becoming the preferred lifestyle, the brave new lifestyle, the hip and heroic lifestyle, the affirmative-action lifestyle.
Now the homosexual movement and its allies in the popular culture, media and politics are seeking to use the police power of the state to make sure there’s no return from a “choice” made even as a child. Once “gay,” always “gay” is their credo.
Illegal to help change sexual orientation?
Anti-Gay Activists Attack Rob Portman's Son's 'Disorder' and 'Abhorrent Lifestyle' | Right Wing Watch
And it didn't take long for the fundies to get their panties in a wad,,,and again there is that wonderful phrase "moral relativism" being thrown about,,,
Perhaps [the senator’s] love for his son has deceived him in not being able to differentiate between loving his son and helping his son to do the right thing, versus changing his entire worldview and his view of the natural institution of legitimate marriage in order to accommodate his son's abhorrent lifestyle,” says Barber.
[,,,]
I’ve heard some wacky excuses by politicians for changing their minds on some of the most important moral issues facing American, but Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s rationale for flip-flopping on same-sex marriage takes the proverbial wedding cake.
[,,,]
It’s not that I can’t empathize with the position his son has put him in. Every parent hopes never to face a rebellious child. But Portman has decided not to call this rebellion. Whether it was pressure from his wife or some kind of ultimatum by his son, Portman now issues editorial statements that ring with “gay marriage” advocacy. What a slam on Ohio families!
Anti-Gay Activists Attack Rob Portman's Son's 'Disorder' and 'Abhorrent Lifestyle' | Right Wing Watch
Perhaps [the senator’s] love for his son has deceived him in not being able to differentiate between loving his son and helping his son to do the right thing, versus changing his entire worldview and his view of the natural institution of legitimate marriage in order to accommodate his son's abhorrent lifestyle,” says Barber.
[,,,]
I’ve heard some wacky excuses by politicians for changing their minds on some of the most important moral issues facing American, but Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s rationale for flip-flopping on same-sex marriage takes the proverbial wedding cake.
[,,,]
It’s not that I can’t empathize with the position his son has put him in. Every parent hopes never to face a rebellious child. But Portman has decided not to call this rebellion. Whether it was pressure from his wife or some kind of ultimatum by his son, Portman now issues editorial statements that ring with “gay marriage” advocacy. What a slam on Ohio families!
Anti-Gay Activists Attack Rob Portman's Son's 'Disorder' and 'Abhorrent Lifestyle' | Right Wing Watch
GOP senator reverses gay-marriage stance after son comes out | The Ticket - Yahoo! News
As much as I applaud Sen. Portman, the cynic in me "knows" damn well had his son not come out this change of heart towards gay marriage never would have occurred,,,
GOP senator reverses gay-marriage stance after son comes out | The Ticket - Yahoo! News
"It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that's of a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have—to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years," Portman said.
GOP senator reverses gay-marriage stance after son comes out | The Ticket - Yahoo! News
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A School Prayer Bill in Oklahoma Will Allow for More Student-Led, Administration-Supported Proselytization
Now Oklahoma is entering the school prayer fray,,,
A School Prayer Bill in Oklahoma Will Allow for More Student-Led, Administration-Supported Proselytization
Rep. John Bennett sponsored and passed HB 1940 (PDF), which “guarantees the right of school students to talk about God and other religious subjects at school.”
Since that was already allowed, what was this really about? The text of the bill offers some clues:
To ensure that the school district does not discriminate against a publicly stated voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint by a student, if any, and to eliminate any actual or perceived affirmative school sponsorship or attribution to the district of the expression of a religious viewpoint by a student, if any, a school district shall adopt a policy, which shall include the establishment of a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak.
That’s politic-speak for “Christians can proselytize whenever they want.”
It’s almost word-for-word the same text as the Mississippi bill.
A School Prayer Bill in Oklahoma Will Allow for More Student-Led, Administration-Supported Proselytization
Monday, March 18, 2013
6 Biggest Religious Right Threats to America
Lawmakers like Fiscus often push their agenda in defiance of established constitutional law, and sometimes hope they can create a case to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn previous decisions that contradict their personal beliefs. Americans United combated a wide array of state-level legislative schemes in 2012 that sought to tear down the critical safeguards that keep church and state separate,,,With most state legislatures starting their annual sessions this month, here is a look at some of the top threats to church-state separation expected in 2013, including school voucher bills, creationism ploys, “conscience” exemptions, anti-shariah legislation and so-called “religious freedom” and “prayer” caucuses.
[,,,] Advocacy groups have worked hard to build support for vouchers. StudentsFirst, the Memphis Commercial Appeal says, has given thousands of dollars to candidates in legislative campaigns in the last two years. The newspaper said that group donated $427,000 through its Tennessee PAC between January and November 2012 alone.
[,,,] “If a student thinks something isn’t true, then they can question the teacher and the teacher would have to come up with some kind of research to support that what they are teaching is true or not true,” Kruse told the Indianapolis Star,,,But Micah Clark, executive director of American Family Association of Indiana, was a little more forthcoming about the bill’s true intent. He told the Star that he sees the proposal as a form of protection for teachers who want to discuss creationism and intelligent design.
[,,,] Legislators regularly come up with new schemes to allow coercive prayer and proselytizing in public schools, and Americans United staffers expect this year to be no exception,,,In Virginia, a proposal was filed just ahead of the 2013 legislative session that would create a state constitutional amendment to “secure further the people’s freedom of speech and right to acknowledge God” on public property and presumably in public schools.
[,,,] The news media has reported widely on the campaign by the Catholic bishops and the Religious Right to win “conscience” exemptions from provisions of the Obama health care reform, but this issue has also filtered down to the state level. Sectarian lobbies want to exempt religious institutions and individuals from a broad range of laws that ensure civil rights and civil liberties,,,A leading proponent of this type of legislation is the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a Washington, D.C., group that advocates public policy based on the “Judeo-Christian moral tradition.”
[,,,] A similar movement to the one orchestrated by the EPPC is under way thanks to the efforts of U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.),,,That may not sound so sinister, but critics say it’s every bit as misleading as the EPPC “religious freedom” caucuses. The CPCF claims to encourage state lawmakers to “partner with churches and para-church organizations, and ultimately preserve faith in God as lifeblood of America.”
[,,,] The U.S. Constitution already prohibits government enforcement of religious law, but right-wing groups are insisting that legislatures take the extra step of banning shariah – Islamic law,,,As of press time, anti-shariah legislation had been pre-filed for the 2013 legislative sessions in Alabama and Florida. Texas has pre-filed a bill proposing a ballot measure to amend the state’s constitution to prohibit enforcement, consideration or application of any “religious or cultural law.”
6 Biggest Religious Right Threats to America
Keeping Watch: The Latest, Biggest Threats From The Religious Right
[,,,] Advocacy groups have worked hard to build support for vouchers. StudentsFirst, the Memphis Commercial Appeal says, has given thousands of dollars to candidates in legislative campaigns in the last two years. The newspaper said that group donated $427,000 through its Tennessee PAC between January and November 2012 alone.
[,,,] “If a student thinks something isn’t true, then they can question the teacher and the teacher would have to come up with some kind of research to support that what they are teaching is true or not true,” Kruse told the Indianapolis Star,,,But Micah Clark, executive director of American Family Association of Indiana, was a little more forthcoming about the bill’s true intent. He told the Star that he sees the proposal as a form of protection for teachers who want to discuss creationism and intelligent design.
[,,,] Legislators regularly come up with new schemes to allow coercive prayer and proselytizing in public schools, and Americans United staffers expect this year to be no exception,,,In Virginia, a proposal was filed just ahead of the 2013 legislative session that would create a state constitutional amendment to “secure further the people’s freedom of speech and right to acknowledge God” on public property and presumably in public schools.
[,,,] The news media has reported widely on the campaign by the Catholic bishops and the Religious Right to win “conscience” exemptions from provisions of the Obama health care reform, but this issue has also filtered down to the state level. Sectarian lobbies want to exempt religious institutions and individuals from a broad range of laws that ensure civil rights and civil liberties,,,A leading proponent of this type of legislation is the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a Washington, D.C., group that advocates public policy based on the “Judeo-Christian moral tradition.”
[,,,] A similar movement to the one orchestrated by the EPPC is under way thanks to the efforts of U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.),,,That may not sound so sinister, but critics say it’s every bit as misleading as the EPPC “religious freedom” caucuses. The CPCF claims to encourage state lawmakers to “partner with churches and para-church organizations, and ultimately preserve faith in God as lifeblood of America.”
[,,,] The U.S. Constitution already prohibits government enforcement of religious law, but right-wing groups are insisting that legislatures take the extra step of banning shariah – Islamic law,,,As of press time, anti-shariah legislation had been pre-filed for the 2013 legislative sessions in Alabama and Florida. Texas has pre-filed a bill proposing a ballot measure to amend the state’s constitution to prohibit enforcement, consideration or application of any “religious or cultural law.”
6 Biggest Religious Right Threats to America
Keeping Watch: The Latest, Biggest Threats From The Religious Right
These are very real threats to real religious freedom. Make no mistake, there are groups of fundamentalists who have the agenda of dominionism, to create a Christian nation in America. They have no thought for the Constitution. No respect for other faiths. No love for democracy. They are backed by powerful monied interests. Some of the things I’ve written about are simply religious nuts trying to force their faith on the rest of us. But these Christian Reconstructionists are dangerous. We must know and understand the difference while resisting all attempts to align U.S. laws with religion – any religion. When it comes to government, the only thing we should worship is the Constitution. Outside of that, hey, whatever floats your boat. Just don’t try to sink mine.
'A concentration camp for little boys': Dark secrets unearthed in KKK county - Americas - World - The Independent
That the Arthur G Dozier School – a borstal for delinquent boys founded in 1900 – was not a gentle place was well-established. Boys as young as six were chained to walls, lashings with a leather strap were frequent and, in the early decades, children endured enforced labour, making bricks and working printing presses. When it was closed in 2011, it had already been the subject of separate federal and state investigations.
But, as suspicions deepen about how the boys in the burial ground died, pressure is growing again on the state to shine new light into the darkest days of the school in Marianna, a Florida Panhandle town that once was a bastion of the KKK and the site of the 1934 lynching of Claude Neal. The pressure is coming from some of the school's survivors, from relatives of boys who died here, and from Florida's top US Senator, Bill Nelson.
[,,,]
So far, the team, led by Erin Kimmerle, has focused its work around the once-secret cemetery. It knows that as many as 98 boys died at the school between 1914 and 1973. Since starting last year, Professor Kimmerle has found 19 previously undiscovered graves in addition to the 31 marked by steel-pipe crosses. That means 50 graves so far. Forty-eight have yet to be located, assuming graves were dug for each body.
"It's more than we anticipated," she says. "Our purpose is to explain who these children were, what happened to them and to understand what the story is that should be told." The official stance – that all the children died from accidents, such as fires and drownings, or natural causes – does not impress her. She cites the case of one child, Billy Jackson, whose cause of death was listed as kidney failure. There is a record of his being beaten two weeks earlier and admitted to hospital. "Common sense", she asserts, says he died from the beating.
The place of Dozier in Florida's history is already set and it's a shameful one. That is thanks in part to a group of Dozier survivors who call themselves the "White House Boys" because that was the colour of the small building where the floggings used to take place. A decade ago, they began finding one another by email and social networks and sharing their painful memories. In a book that Roger Dean Kiser eventually wrote about his time at the school – The White House Boys: an American Tragedy – he called it a "concentration camp for little boys".
'A concentration camp for little boys': Dark secrets unearthed in KKK county - Americas - World - The Independent
But, as suspicions deepen about how the boys in the burial ground died, pressure is growing again on the state to shine new light into the darkest days of the school in Marianna, a Florida Panhandle town that once was a bastion of the KKK and the site of the 1934 lynching of Claude Neal. The pressure is coming from some of the school's survivors, from relatives of boys who died here, and from Florida's top US Senator, Bill Nelson.
[,,,]
So far, the team, led by Erin Kimmerle, has focused its work around the once-secret cemetery. It knows that as many as 98 boys died at the school between 1914 and 1973. Since starting last year, Professor Kimmerle has found 19 previously undiscovered graves in addition to the 31 marked by steel-pipe crosses. That means 50 graves so far. Forty-eight have yet to be located, assuming graves were dug for each body.
"It's more than we anticipated," she says. "Our purpose is to explain who these children were, what happened to them and to understand what the story is that should be told." The official stance – that all the children died from accidents, such as fires and drownings, or natural causes – does not impress her. She cites the case of one child, Billy Jackson, whose cause of death was listed as kidney failure. There is a record of his being beaten two weeks earlier and admitted to hospital. "Common sense", she asserts, says he died from the beating.
The place of Dozier in Florida's history is already set and it's a shameful one. That is thanks in part to a group of Dozier survivors who call themselves the "White House Boys" because that was the colour of the small building where the floggings used to take place. A decade ago, they began finding one another by email and social networks and sharing their painful memories. In a book that Roger Dean Kiser eventually wrote about his time at the school – The White House Boys: an American Tragedy – he called it a "concentration camp for little boys".
'A concentration camp for little boys': Dark secrets unearthed in KKK county - Americas - World - The Independent
5 Psychological experiments that show our dark side | MyScienceAcademy
During the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted and published a series of laboratory experiments that demonstrated the degree to which an individual’s own opinions are influenced by those of a majority group.
[,,,] The Biblical story of the Good Samaritan, if you hadn’t heard, is about a passing Samaritan helping an injured man in need, while other, self-righteous types walk right on by. Psychologists John Darley and C. Daniel Batson wanted to test if religion has any effect on helpful behavior.
The researchers had three hypotheses:
1. People thinking religious, “helping” thoughts would still be no more likely than others to offer assistance.
2. People in a hurry will be less likely to offer aid than others.
3. People who are religions in a Samaritan fashion will be more likely to help than those of a priest or Levite fashion. In other words, people who are religious for what it will gain them will be less likely than those who value religion for it’s own value or are searching for meaning in life.
[,,,] The bystander effect was first demonstrated in the laboratory by John Darley and Bibb Latané in 1968 after they became interested in the topic following the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. These researchers launched a series of experiments that resulted in one of the strongest and most replicable effects in social psychology.
[,,,] The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted at Stanford University from August 14 to August 20 of 1971 by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo. It was funded by the US Office of Naval Research and was of interest to both the US Navy and Marine Corps as an investigation into the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners.
,,,The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority.
[,,,] The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.
5 Psychological experiments that show our dark side | MyScienceAcademy
[,,,] The Biblical story of the Good Samaritan, if you hadn’t heard, is about a passing Samaritan helping an injured man in need, while other, self-righteous types walk right on by. Psychologists John Darley and C. Daniel Batson wanted to test if religion has any effect on helpful behavior.
The researchers had three hypotheses:
1. People thinking religious, “helping” thoughts would still be no more likely than others to offer assistance.
2. People in a hurry will be less likely to offer aid than others.
3. People who are religions in a Samaritan fashion will be more likely to help than those of a priest or Levite fashion. In other words, people who are religious for what it will gain them will be less likely than those who value religion for it’s own value or are searching for meaning in life.
[,,,] The bystander effect was first demonstrated in the laboratory by John Darley and Bibb Latané in 1968 after they became interested in the topic following the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. These researchers launched a series of experiments that resulted in one of the strongest and most replicable effects in social psychology.
[,,,] The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted at Stanford University from August 14 to August 20 of 1971 by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo. It was funded by the US Office of Naval Research and was of interest to both the US Navy and Marine Corps as an investigation into the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners.
,,,The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority.
[,,,] The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.
5 Psychological experiments that show our dark side | MyScienceAcademy
Friday, March 15, 2013
Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy | Alternet
This is a bit dated in regards to newsworthiness, but has a good solid explanation of Dominionism,,,
Dominionism is a broad political impulse within the Christian Right in the United States. It comes in a variety of forms that author Fred Clarkson and I call soft and hard. Fred and I probably coined the term “Dominionism” back in the 1990s, but in any case we certainly were the primary researchers who organized its use among journalists and scholars.
Clarkson noted three characteristics that bridge both the hard and the soft kind of Dominionism.
At the apex of hard Dominionism is the religious dogma of Dominion Theology, with two major branches: Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now theology.
[,,,] “While differing from Reconstructionism in many ways, Kingdom Now shares the belief that Christians have a mandate to take dominion over every area of life,” explains religion scholar Bruce Barron. And it is just this tendency that has spread through evangelical Protestantism, resulting in the emergence of “various brands of ‘dominionist’ thinkers in contemporary American evangelicalism,” according to Barron.
[,,,] Much of the controversy over the issue of Dominionism is caused by writers who use the term carelessly, often conflating the broad term Dominionism with the narrow term Dominion Theology. Some on the Left have implied that every conservative Christian evangelical is part of the Christian Right political movement; and that everyone in the Christian Right is an active Dominionist. This is false. Some critics even state that the Christian Right is neofascist. Few serious scholars of fascism agree with that assessment, although several admit that if triggered by a traumatic societal event, any contemporary right-wing populist movement could descend into neofascism.
[,,,] Christian Reconstructionists believe that as more Christians adopt Dominion Theology, they will eventually convert the majority of Americans. Then the country will realize that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are merely codicils to Old Testament biblical law. Because they believe this is God’s will, they scoff at criticism that what they plan is a revolutionary overthrow of the existing system of government. Over the past 20 years the leading proponents of Reconstructionism have included founder Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, and Andrew Sandlin. Kingdom Now theology emerged from the Latter Rain Pentacostal movement and the concept of Spiritual Warfare against the literal demonic forces of Satan. It has been promoted by founder Earl Paulk as well as C. Peter Wagner, founder of the New Apostolic Reformation movement.
[,,,] Religion scholar Bruce Barron explains that “unlike the Christian Right, Reconstructionism is not simply or primarily a political movement; it is first and foremost an educational movement fearlessly proclaiming an ideology of total world transformation.” According to sociologist Sara Diamond, Christian Reconstructionism spread the “concept that Christians are Biblically mandated to ‘occupy’ all secular institutions” to the extent that it became “the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right.”
Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy | Alternet
Dominionism is a broad political impulse within the Christian Right in the United States. It comes in a variety of forms that author Fred Clarkson and I call soft and hard. Fred and I probably coined the term “Dominionism” back in the 1990s, but in any case we certainly were the primary researchers who organized its use among journalists and scholars.
Clarkson noted three characteristics that bridge both the hard and the soft kind of Dominionism.
- Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe the United States once was, and should again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.
- Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.
- Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, believing that the Ten Commandments, or “biblical law,” should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.
At the apex of hard Dominionism is the religious dogma of Dominion Theology, with two major branches: Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now theology.
[,,,] “While differing from Reconstructionism in many ways, Kingdom Now shares the belief that Christians have a mandate to take dominion over every area of life,” explains religion scholar Bruce Barron. And it is just this tendency that has spread through evangelical Protestantism, resulting in the emergence of “various brands of ‘dominionist’ thinkers in contemporary American evangelicalism,” according to Barron.
[,,,] Much of the controversy over the issue of Dominionism is caused by writers who use the term carelessly, often conflating the broad term Dominionism with the narrow term Dominion Theology. Some on the Left have implied that every conservative Christian evangelical is part of the Christian Right political movement; and that everyone in the Christian Right is an active Dominionist. This is false. Some critics even state that the Christian Right is neofascist. Few serious scholars of fascism agree with that assessment, although several admit that if triggered by a traumatic societal event, any contemporary right-wing populist movement could descend into neofascism.
[,,,] Christian Reconstructionists believe that as more Christians adopt Dominion Theology, they will eventually convert the majority of Americans. Then the country will realize that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are merely codicils to Old Testament biblical law. Because they believe this is God’s will, they scoff at criticism that what they plan is a revolutionary overthrow of the existing system of government. Over the past 20 years the leading proponents of Reconstructionism have included founder Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, and Andrew Sandlin. Kingdom Now theology emerged from the Latter Rain Pentacostal movement and the concept of Spiritual Warfare against the literal demonic forces of Satan. It has been promoted by founder Earl Paulk as well as C. Peter Wagner, founder of the New Apostolic Reformation movement.
[,,,] Religion scholar Bruce Barron explains that “unlike the Christian Right, Reconstructionism is not simply or primarily a political movement; it is first and foremost an educational movement fearlessly proclaiming an ideology of total world transformation.” According to sociologist Sara Diamond, Christian Reconstructionism spread the “concept that Christians are Biblically mandated to ‘occupy’ all secular institutions” to the extent that it became “the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right.”
Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy | Alternet
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
It Feels Like Hope Is Finally Making A Comeback | The Big Slice
Those are the words that everyone seems to forget when they quote Michelle Obama. “…for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” They love to quote the first part about being proud for the first time with her country, and then scream about how horrible a phrase that should be for any American to utter much less the First Lady of the United States.
[,,,] There are those who will scream Support Our Troops,,,There are those who will scream We Are A Christian Nation,,,There are those who will scream about The Constitution,,,
[,,,] My point is that Michelle Obama grew up in a country that was in the throes of demanding rights for blacks, rights for women and rights for the poor. She also grew up during a time when both Vietnam and the Cold War were in full swing. We were, as an American powerhouse, sending our men and women to die in a war that had nothing to do with us, spending millions on a race to the moon and teaching our kids that huddling under a wooden desk, would somehow save them from a nuclear explosion.
[,,,] Meanwhile, through all of this, Michelle is still an educated, black woman in America. We have seen from the Palin fiasco that Educated is not a word many Americans see as being a positive thing, calling it elitism. Somehow not being stupid became elite. Go figure.
She is Black, which we have seen with the election of Barack Obama, racism is still rampant in this country. No White President would have ever been called a ‘secret Muslim’, a Kenyan or been accused of not being born in this country. Know how I know? Because EVERY President before him was a white man, and those questions never came up, not once.
And lastly, she is a Woman. Which these last four years have shown us from the state-to-state attempts to vote in things like required vaginal invasions, to referring to rape as a choice, to voting against a Violence Against Women Act, to trying to make abortion illegal time and time again – all while voting against Equal Pay for Women and then pretending they respect you, when it’s time to win your votes. Luckily, a majority of women in America are ‘elitists’ and smart enough to see past this fakery.
So when Michelle Obama says, “…for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” I say, right along side her, no shit!
[,,,] I refuse to denounce that woman for those words she spoke, because at the end of the day, she was not lying. And the problem with this country is we like to applaud people who say what we want to hear, even when we know they are lying – instead of supporting those of us who are just smart enough, just tough enough and truly love this country enough – to admit we still have a long way to go. Honesty is far more Patriotic than a bumper sticker, a flag pin on your lapel or saying some words over and over again with your hand on your heart.
It Feels Like Hope Is Finally Making A Comeback | The Big Slice
[,,,] There are those who will scream Support Our Troops,,,There are those who will scream We Are A Christian Nation,,,There are those who will scream about The Constitution,,,
[,,,] My point is that Michelle Obama grew up in a country that was in the throes of demanding rights for blacks, rights for women and rights for the poor. She also grew up during a time when both Vietnam and the Cold War were in full swing. We were, as an American powerhouse, sending our men and women to die in a war that had nothing to do with us, spending millions on a race to the moon and teaching our kids that huddling under a wooden desk, would somehow save them from a nuclear explosion.
[,,,] Meanwhile, through all of this, Michelle is still an educated, black woman in America. We have seen from the Palin fiasco that Educated is not a word many Americans see as being a positive thing, calling it elitism. Somehow not being stupid became elite. Go figure.
She is Black, which we have seen with the election of Barack Obama, racism is still rampant in this country. No White President would have ever been called a ‘secret Muslim’, a Kenyan or been accused of not being born in this country. Know how I know? Because EVERY President before him was a white man, and those questions never came up, not once.
And lastly, she is a Woman. Which these last four years have shown us from the state-to-state attempts to vote in things like required vaginal invasions, to referring to rape as a choice, to voting against a Violence Against Women Act, to trying to make abortion illegal time and time again – all while voting against Equal Pay for Women and then pretending they respect you, when it’s time to win your votes. Luckily, a majority of women in America are ‘elitists’ and smart enough to see past this fakery.
So when Michelle Obama says, “…for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” I say, right along side her, no shit!
[,,,] I refuse to denounce that woman for those words she spoke, because at the end of the day, she was not lying. And the problem with this country is we like to applaud people who say what we want to hear, even when we know they are lying – instead of supporting those of us who are just smart enough, just tough enough and truly love this country enough – to admit we still have a long way to go. Honesty is far more Patriotic than a bumper sticker, a flag pin on your lapel or saying some words over and over again with your hand on your heart.
It Feels Like Hope Is Finally Making A Comeback | The Big Slice
Iran's Ahmadinejad blasted for consoling Chavez's mother - World - CBC News
Islamic tradition forbids men from touching women who are not members of their direct family.
According to The Telegraph, Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the Friday prayer leader of Iran's second city, Isfahan, told Mehr news agency that Ahmadinejad had "lost control".
"Shaking hands with a non-mahram [unrelated by family] woman, under any circumstances, whether young or old, is not allowed. Hugging or expressing emotions is improper for the dignity of the president of a country like the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Since when has expressing any basic human decency become morally wrong?? Love or hate him, those criticizing Ahmadinejad need to do some self-examination. I get called a "moral relativist" because I base my beliefs on compassion and not the absolutes of religious dogma which IMHO causes more harm than good. It seems that Ahmadinejad, in this instance does as well.
What absolutists value is what the THINK God's will is, their interpretation. The only time we have conflict is when people base their values/ethics on something other than compassion, when there is some "ultimate arbitrator." Either God exists or he doesn't and whether it agrees with my morality doesn't matter as compassion is the compass I am led by. If it is a dogma of non-compassion I want nothing to do with it.
Iran's Ahmadinejad blasted for consoling Chavez's mother - World - CBC News
MS Passes ‘Student Religious Freedom’ Bill
MS Passes ‘Student Religious Freedom’ Bill
Already protected by existing law,,,pointless.
Again already protected,,,although there are provisions which allow students to give religious answers on assignments, BUT does this mean they have the right to give a religious answer without having it marked wrong? If a teacher is required to accept those answers, how does this better education? How does this develop critical thinking skills by maintain a religious dogma?
Again already protected,,,
Here is the meat of the matter,,,
They are creating more opportunities for student speakers to proselytize to a captive audience. The bill declares every such situation to be a limited public forum, meaning that anything said during that time is the expression of the person speaking rather than the school, and it means that the school cannot discriminate against any form of expression (other than obscene or illegal expressions). The model policy also sets limits on which students are allowed to introduce these events.
My question is how is this “neutral criteria,” in practice it will ensure that the students picked to speak are part of the dominant majority (Christian) and thus that only Christianity will be advocated. All the enumerated positions are popularity contests among the students. Any potential speaker is thereby pre-filtered through some sort of election process, so only majority viewpoints will survive to be eligible to speak. By design, this limited public forum is not viewpoint-neutral.
SB2633PS.pdf
SECTION 2. Student expression. A public school district shall not discriminate against students or parents on the basis of a religious viewpoint or religious expression.
Already protected by existing law,,,pointless.
SECTION 3. Religious expression in class assignments. Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions.
Again already protected,,,although there are provisions which allow students to give religious answers on assignments, BUT does this mean they have the right to give a religious answer without having it marked wrong? If a teacher is required to accept those answers, how does this better education? How does this develop critical thinking skills by maintain a religious dogma?
SECTION 4. Freedom to organize religious groups and activities. Students in public schools may pray or engage in religious activities or religious expression before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.
Again already protected,,,
SECTION 5. Limited public forum; school district policy. (1) To ensure that the school district does not discriminate against a student's publicly stated voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, and to eliminate any actual or perceived affirmative school sponsorship or attribution to the district of a student's expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, a school district shall adopt a policy, which must include the establishment of a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak. [This section is too long to post in its entirety.]
Here is the meat of the matter,,,
They are creating more opportunities for student speakers to proselytize to a captive audience. The bill declares every such situation to be a limited public forum, meaning that anything said during that time is the expression of the person speaking rather than the school, and it means that the school cannot discriminate against any form of expression (other than obscene or illegal expressions). The model policy also sets limits on which students are allowed to introduce these events.
My question is how is this “neutral criteria,” in practice it will ensure that the students picked to speak are part of the dominant majority (Christian) and thus that only Christianity will be advocated. All the enumerated positions are popularity contests among the students. Any potential speaker is thereby pre-filtered through some sort of election process, so only majority viewpoints will survive to be eligible to speak. By design, this limited public forum is not viewpoint-neutral.
SB2633PS.pdf
Daily Kos: Paul Ryan: 'We're not going to give up on destroying the health care system'
That didn't sound like a Freudian slip to me, it flowed right out of his mouth with no hesitation,,,BUT I would like to see the whole clip as well ,,,
Daily Kos: Paul Ryan: 'We're not going to give up on destroying the health care system'
Daily Kos: Paul Ryan: 'We're not going to give up on destroying the health care system'
Monday, March 11, 2013
Family Research Council clearly lying about scientific evidence, gay parenting – LGBTQ Nation
Finally, it is very ironic that Mr. Blackwell cites the Regnerus study as proof that his scientific proof that same-sex parents are not just as capable as opposite-sex parents because of the following simple fact:
The American Sociological Association condemned the Regnerus study in its brief submitted to the Supreme Court. In the brief, the ASA also said that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents when it comes to the raising of children.
So when Mr. Blackwell says that the weight of scientific evidence does not prove that same-sex parents are as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children, he is clearly not being truthful. Not even a little bit.
Family Research Council clearly lying about scientific evidence, gay parenting – LGBTQ Nation
The American Sociological Association condemned the Regnerus study in its brief submitted to the Supreme Court. In the brief, the ASA also said that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents when it comes to the raising of children.
So when Mr. Blackwell says that the weight of scientific evidence does not prove that same-sex parents are as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children, he is clearly not being truthful. Not even a little bit.
Family Research Council clearly lying about scientific evidence, gay parenting – LGBTQ Nation
State Party Considers Firing Chairman for Embracing Gay Marriage
And this comes as NO surprise,,,
The state Republican Party’s central committee will meet Saturday to consider firing chairman Pat Brady, largely because he spoke out in favor of a bill to end Illinois’ ban on gay marriage. And the only Republican state senator to vote in favor of same-sex marriage, Sen. Jason Barickman, has been chastised by his colleagues and a national organization opposing the measure.
Brady and Barickman say they’ve heard from hundreds of people since taking their positions earlier this year — some were thankful, others excoriated them. A conservative organization even posted Brady’s cellphone number online and his voicemail quickly filled up while on vacation with words he said he “didn’t know were in the Bible.”
“This issue is not about me. It’s about the direction of the party going forward,” Brady said. “It just plays into a national narrative of the GOP as closed-minded.”
After a poor showing at the polls in November, national Republican party leaders vowed to work harder to attract more young, moderate and minority voters — those who may be on board with the party fiscally speaking, but are turned off by the conservative views on social issues, such as immigration and gay rights.
[,,,] “We’re a party that prides itself and often talks about having a big tent approach. And if we’re going to be a party that grows … we need to acknowledge that … we’re not always going to agree with each other 100 percent,” Cross said. “To me, you can be for (gay marriage), or you can be against it. But we ought to say to ‘You have a place in this party.’”
[,,,] An Associated Press analysis conducted last month shows Illinois isn’t the only place where Republicans are seeing that their gay marriage votes have consequences. Just 47 Republicans over eight state Legislatures have voted for gay marriage, the analysis found, and many said they paid for it — including losses in primary and general elections.
[,,,] That organization made a similar pledge against Illinois Republicans who votes yes, and has posted a link on its website for gay marriage opponents to email state GOP committeemen and tell them to fire Brady.
“Brady has betrayed his party, misrepresented ‘key Republican values,’ and insulted conservative voters in Illinois and across America,” the website states.
State Party Considers Firing Chairman for Embracing Gay Marriage
The state Republican Party’s central committee will meet Saturday to consider firing chairman Pat Brady, largely because he spoke out in favor of a bill to end Illinois’ ban on gay marriage. And the only Republican state senator to vote in favor of same-sex marriage, Sen. Jason Barickman, has been chastised by his colleagues and a national organization opposing the measure.
Brady and Barickman say they’ve heard from hundreds of people since taking their positions earlier this year — some were thankful, others excoriated them. A conservative organization even posted Brady’s cellphone number online and his voicemail quickly filled up while on vacation with words he said he “didn’t know were in the Bible.”
“This issue is not about me. It’s about the direction of the party going forward,” Brady said. “It just plays into a national narrative of the GOP as closed-minded.”
After a poor showing at the polls in November, national Republican party leaders vowed to work harder to attract more young, moderate and minority voters — those who may be on board with the party fiscally speaking, but are turned off by the conservative views on social issues, such as immigration and gay rights.
[,,,] “We’re a party that prides itself and often talks about having a big tent approach. And if we’re going to be a party that grows … we need to acknowledge that … we’re not always going to agree with each other 100 percent,” Cross said. “To me, you can be for (gay marriage), or you can be against it. But we ought to say to ‘You have a place in this party.’”
[,,,] An Associated Press analysis conducted last month shows Illinois isn’t the only place where Republicans are seeing that their gay marriage votes have consequences. Just 47 Republicans over eight state Legislatures have voted for gay marriage, the analysis found, and many said they paid for it — including losses in primary and general elections.
[,,,] That organization made a similar pledge against Illinois Republicans who votes yes, and has posted a link on its website for gay marriage opponents to email state GOP committeemen and tell them to fire Brady.
“Brady has betrayed his party, misrepresented ‘key Republican values,’ and insulted conservative voters in Illinois and across America,” the website states.
State Party Considers Firing Chairman for Embracing Gay Marriage
Jeb Bush on 2016 run: ‘I don’t think there is any Bush baggage at all’ | The Raw Story
All politics aside for the moment, I would hope that family baggage would not be and issue. Jeb is his "own" person. BUT it's not family baggage so much that worries me, it's the adherence to the party line,,,
“Do you think there is any Bush baggage?” Wallace wondered. “Do you think that would be a problem?”Jeb Bush on 2016 run: ‘I don’t think there is any Bush baggage at all’ | The Raw Story
“No,” the former Florida governor replied. “I don’t think there’s any Bush baggage at all. I love my brother, I’m proud of his accomplishments, I love my dad, I am proud to be a Bush.”
“And if I run for president, it’s not because of something in my DNA that compels me to do it. It would be that it’s the right thing to do for my family, that the conditions are right and that I have something to offer.”
New Family Structures Study Intended To Sway Supreme Court On Gay Marriage, Documents Show
The documents, recently obtained through public-records requests by The American Independent and published in collaboration with The Huffington Post, show that the Witherspoon Institute recruited a professor from a major university to carry out a study that was designed to manipulate public policy. In communicating with donors about the research project, Witherspoon’s president clearly expected results unfavorable to the gay-marriage movement.
[,,,] In a study slammed for its methodology, funding, and academic integrity, University of Texas associate sociology professor Mark Regnerus found that children who grew up in households where one parent had a same-sex relationship (regardless of whether the children lived with that parent or that parent’s supposed same-sex partner) were more likely to experience negative social, psychological, and economic outcomes than children raised by a married heterosexual couple.
[,,,] So far, the New Family Structures Study has been cited in United States v. Windsor, a challenge to the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, which seeks to overturn California’s gay-marriage ban, Proposition 8.
[,,,] Plaintiffs and advocates involved with some of the cases in which the study has been cited as evidence to support bans on gay marriage are pointing out its many flaws.
Regnerus’ own professional organization, the American Sociological Association, recently filed an amicus brief in Hollingsworth v. Perry, arguing that his study “provides no support for the conclusions that same-sex parents are inferior parents or that the children of same-sex parents experience worse outcomes.”
[,,,] Jennifer C. Pizer, senior counsel and director of the Law and Policy Project at the LGBT-rights legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, said she is not surprised to learn that the study’s funders had an agenda when financing this research. But what is more important, she said, is that the study is being used to support conclusions it did not find.
[,,,] In the early stages of the New Family Structures Study – before data was collected and long before any results were known – the Witherspoon Institute’s president, Luis Tellez, made it clear to Regnerus that expediency was paramount.
[,,,] A letter Tellez wrote to the Bradley Foundation’s Vice President for Programs Dan Schmidt shows that Teller not only anticipated what the study would find, but also intended to use it to sway policy.
[,,,] Tellez went on to explain that the crux of the New Family Structures Study – whether kids raised by gay parents fare as well as those raised by straight parents – “is the question that must now be answered – in a scientifically serious way – by those who are in favor of traditional marriage.”
[,,,] “One of the things about academic publishing is that it’s not in a hurry,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s more important to get it right than to rush it into print. So, I was sort of perplexed as to what the hurry was about.”
Rosenfeld said he agreed to review the paper on the condition that he could see the data. But Regnerus’ team refused.
“I’m a data-analysis person,” Rosenfeld said. “So, for me I wasn’t going to have anything to say about Regnerus’ paper until I could actually see the data and figure out for myself whether what he had done was reasonable or not. And I didn’t want to have a debate with him about the data when he could see the data and I couldn’t. That didn’t seem like it was going to go very far.”
[,,,] In late 2010, Clark University psychology professor and LGBT parenting scholar Abbie Goldberg contacted Regnerus after hearing about his study plans from other researchers. In her initial email, she asked him why he was undertaking this research and said she was skeptical of the Witherspoon Institute’s involvement.
In an email dated Dec. 2, 2010, Regnerus revealed to Goldberg that the Witherspoon Institute had already anticipated what the results would be – that previous studies showing favorable outcomes for children raised by same-sex parents were wrong. Still, he assured Goldberg that he was committed to finding the truth. He also told her that Witherspoon was trying to raise money from LGBT-friendly organizations to help fund the study.
[,,,] Regnerus’ assertions come into question in light of revelations last year that Wilcox had been hired on contract by UT to assist Regnerus with the data analysis of the study. During part of that time, Wilcox was also the director of Witherspoon’s Program on Family, Marriage, and Democracy, out of which the study was conceptualized and Regnerus was recruited. Wilcox had been a fellow with Witherspoon from 2004 to 2011, and he has said that he worked as a paid consultant on the study from October 2010 to April 2012.
Wilcox, Regnerus, and Tellez all downplayed Wilcox’s position at the Witherspoon Institute and asserted that his advice to Regnerus was never given on behalf of the think tank. “[Wilcox] was never involved in any decision making at the Witherspoon Institute in matters related to the New Family Structure Study,” Tellez told The American Independent last October. Regnerus also said that Wilcox was never a “Witherspoon agent.”
New Family Structures Study Intended To Sway Supreme Court On Gay Marriage, Documents Show
[,,,] In a study slammed for its methodology, funding, and academic integrity, University of Texas associate sociology professor Mark Regnerus found that children who grew up in households where one parent had a same-sex relationship (regardless of whether the children lived with that parent or that parent’s supposed same-sex partner) were more likely to experience negative social, psychological, and economic outcomes than children raised by a married heterosexual couple.
[,,,] So far, the New Family Structures Study has been cited in United States v. Windsor, a challenge to the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, which seeks to overturn California’s gay-marriage ban, Proposition 8.
[,,,] Plaintiffs and advocates involved with some of the cases in which the study has been cited as evidence to support bans on gay marriage are pointing out its many flaws.
Regnerus’ own professional organization, the American Sociological Association, recently filed an amicus brief in Hollingsworth v. Perry, arguing that his study “provides no support for the conclusions that same-sex parents are inferior parents or that the children of same-sex parents experience worse outcomes.”
[,,,] Jennifer C. Pizer, senior counsel and director of the Law and Policy Project at the LGBT-rights legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, said she is not surprised to learn that the study’s funders had an agenda when financing this research. But what is more important, she said, is that the study is being used to support conclusions it did not find.
[,,,] In the early stages of the New Family Structures Study – before data was collected and long before any results were known – the Witherspoon Institute’s president, Luis Tellez, made it clear to Regnerus that expediency was paramount.
[,,,] A letter Tellez wrote to the Bradley Foundation’s Vice President for Programs Dan Schmidt shows that Teller not only anticipated what the study would find, but also intended to use it to sway policy.
[,,,] Tellez went on to explain that the crux of the New Family Structures Study – whether kids raised by gay parents fare as well as those raised by straight parents – “is the question that must now be answered – in a scientifically serious way – by those who are in favor of traditional marriage.”
[,,,] “One of the things about academic publishing is that it’s not in a hurry,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s more important to get it right than to rush it into print. So, I was sort of perplexed as to what the hurry was about.”
Rosenfeld said he agreed to review the paper on the condition that he could see the data. But Regnerus’ team refused.
“I’m a data-analysis person,” Rosenfeld said. “So, for me I wasn’t going to have anything to say about Regnerus’ paper until I could actually see the data and figure out for myself whether what he had done was reasonable or not. And I didn’t want to have a debate with him about the data when he could see the data and I couldn’t. That didn’t seem like it was going to go very far.”
[,,,] In late 2010, Clark University psychology professor and LGBT parenting scholar Abbie Goldberg contacted Regnerus after hearing about his study plans from other researchers. In her initial email, she asked him why he was undertaking this research and said she was skeptical of the Witherspoon Institute’s involvement.
In an email dated Dec. 2, 2010, Regnerus revealed to Goldberg that the Witherspoon Institute had already anticipated what the results would be – that previous studies showing favorable outcomes for children raised by same-sex parents were wrong. Still, he assured Goldberg that he was committed to finding the truth. He also told her that Witherspoon was trying to raise money from LGBT-friendly organizations to help fund the study.
[,,,] Regnerus’ assertions come into question in light of revelations last year that Wilcox had been hired on contract by UT to assist Regnerus with the data analysis of the study. During part of that time, Wilcox was also the director of Witherspoon’s Program on Family, Marriage, and Democracy, out of which the study was conceptualized and Regnerus was recruited. Wilcox had been a fellow with Witherspoon from 2004 to 2011, and he has said that he worked as a paid consultant on the study from October 2010 to April 2012.
Wilcox, Regnerus, and Tellez all downplayed Wilcox’s position at the Witherspoon Institute and asserted that his advice to Regnerus was never given on behalf of the think tank. “[Wilcox] was never involved in any decision making at the Witherspoon Institute in matters related to the New Family Structure Study,” Tellez told The American Independent last October. Regnerus also said that Wilcox was never a “Witherspoon agent.”
New Family Structures Study Intended To Sway Supreme Court On Gay Marriage, Documents Show
86-year-old St. Peter woman charged with voter fraud » Local News » The Free Press, Mankato, MN
Key word is crime, or more to the point , defining whether this was a crime,,,
Michelle Zehnder Fischer, Nicollet County attorney, doesn’t comment on specific criminal cases. In general, though, she said in all cases when she is notified about a possible voter fraud incident she is required to have it investigated. If there is probable cause to show a crime occurred, she is required by state law to prosecute.
[,,,}
Bills are moving through the state Senate and House that would change the wording of the law so prosecutors have more discretion, Fraser said. The new bills would change the law so county attorneys can prosecute based on American Bar Association standards, which are used for other criminal cases.
Moore’s concerns about the fact her mother was allowed to vote are also valid, Fraser said. The purpose for adding the “A.B.” to the voting roster is to remind people when they’ve already voted with an absentee ballot.
“The election judges are supposed to see that and stop her,” Fraser said. “That’s why it’s there.”
86-year-old St. Peter woman charged with voter fraud » Local News » The Free Press, Mankato, MN
Michelle Zehnder Fischer, Nicollet County attorney, doesn’t comment on specific criminal cases. In general, though, she said in all cases when she is notified about a possible voter fraud incident she is required to have it investigated. If there is probable cause to show a crime occurred, she is required by state law to prosecute.
[,,,}
Bills are moving through the state Senate and House that would change the wording of the law so prosecutors have more discretion, Fraser said. The new bills would change the law so county attorneys can prosecute based on American Bar Association standards, which are used for other criminal cases.
Moore’s concerns about the fact her mother was allowed to vote are also valid, Fraser said. The purpose for adding the “A.B.” to the voting roster is to remind people when they’ve already voted with an absentee ballot.
“The election judges are supposed to see that and stop her,” Fraser said. “That’s why it’s there.”
86-year-old St. Peter woman charged with voter fraud » Local News » The Free Press, Mankato, MN
86-Year-Old With Dementia Being Charged With Voter Fraud | Addicting Info
Besides the fact that this whole scenario is ludicrous,,,
I find it more grievous that Nicollet County did not hold proper elections. The county did not perform their duties if the roster had been marked it was an error by the election judges for allowing her to vote and not telling her that she had been marked as voting absentee. I hope the judge who let her vote is also held culpable for not letting her know she had already voted.
86-Year-Old With Dementia Being Charged With Voter Fraud | Addicting Info
I find it more grievous that Nicollet County did not hold proper elections. The county did not perform their duties if the roster had been marked it was an error by the election judges for allowing her to vote and not telling her that she had been marked as voting absentee. I hope the judge who let her vote is also held culpable for not letting her know she had already voted.
86-Year-Old With Dementia Being Charged With Voter Fraud | Addicting Info
U.S. manages disease, not health - CNN.com
The federal response was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Better known as "Obamacare," it is a complex mix of insurance changes and tax credits. When the act takes effect on January 1, 2014, it will provide access to insurance to about 30 million people who currently don't have it.
Unfortunately, that was the wrong question. So the looming "answer" is wrong as well.
Here's the right question: How can we improve medical care so that it's worth extending it to more people? In other words, how can we create a health care system that helps people become and stay healthy?
I have argued for years that we do not have a health care system in America. We have a disease-management system -- one that depends on ruinously expensive drugs and surgeries that treat health conditions after they manifest rather than giving our citizens simple diet, lifestyle and therapeutic tools to keep them healthy.
The brutal fact is that we spend more on health care than any other country -- an estimated $9,348 per capita in 2013 -- and get shockingly little for our money.
The U.S. "currently ranks lowest on a variety of health measures," concludes a new report from an expert panel commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, Americans have more obesity, more sexually transmitted diseases, shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality than the inhabitants of nearly all of the 16 developed "peer" countries studied.
Why? A major culprit is a medical system based on maximizing profits rather than fostering good health.
U.S. manages disease, not health - CNN.com
Unfortunately, that was the wrong question. So the looming "answer" is wrong as well.
Here's the right question: How can we improve medical care so that it's worth extending it to more people? In other words, how can we create a health care system that helps people become and stay healthy?
I have argued for years that we do not have a health care system in America. We have a disease-management system -- one that depends on ruinously expensive drugs and surgeries that treat health conditions after they manifest rather than giving our citizens simple diet, lifestyle and therapeutic tools to keep them healthy.
The brutal fact is that we spend more on health care than any other country -- an estimated $9,348 per capita in 2013 -- and get shockingly little for our money.
The U.S. "currently ranks lowest on a variety of health measures," concludes a new report from an expert panel commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, Americans have more obesity, more sexually transmitted diseases, shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality than the inhabitants of nearly all of the 16 developed "peer" countries studied.
Why? A major culprit is a medical system based on maximizing profits rather than fostering good health.
U.S. manages disease, not health - CNN.com
Iowa Republicans Aim To Eliminate Youth Vote By Refusing To Teach Them How | Addicting Info
Furthermore, this bill demonstrates a severe lack of understanding of simply being American: Voting in elections is part of the democratic process and a fundamental of democratic government. But it does require some basic education. Each state has its own voting laws, its own ballot, its own voting machines, and its own procedures for casting provisional and absentee ballots. To insist on teaching the principles of American citizenship without also teaching voting is hypocritical at best.
Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa, had this to say about it:
”Grassley’s proposal flies directly in the face of Iowa’s proud tradition of voter participation. If he doesn’t think voting is a principle of American citizenship, then what is? Nothing is more fundamental to being American or Iowan than exercising our right to vote.”The problem for Republicans is that young people tend to vote Democratic, so, like everything else they want to try, if they can’t reach young people with their message, they’ll find ways to quietly discourage them from voting and hope that doing so increases their share of the votes.
Iowa Republicans Aim To Eliminate Youth Vote By Refusing To Teach Them How | Addicting Info
Public High School Students Won't Learn About Voting In Government Class If Iowa Bill Becomes Law | ThinkProgress
Under the measure, public high school students in Iowa would learn about “national, state, county, and local governments” without receiving instruction in voting procedures or methods:
This bill increases the amount of instruction in government required as part of the state’s high school social studies curriculum from one-half unit to one unit. The bill adds instruction in the federal system of government; the overlapping features and responsibilities of the national, state, county, and local governments; and the tenets of American citizenship to the subjects required in the instruction in government. The bill adds the principles of American citizenship to the required subjects for assessment as part of the instruction in government.
The bill strikes requirements that high school students receive instruction in voting statutes and procedures, voter registration requirements, the use of paper ballots and voting systems in the election process, and the method of acquiring and casting an absentee ballot.
Public High School Students Won't Learn About Voting In Government Class If Iowa Bill Becomes Law | ThinkProgress
This bill increases the amount of instruction in government required as part of the state’s high school social studies curriculum from one-half unit to one unit. The bill adds instruction in the federal system of government; the overlapping features and responsibilities of the national, state, county, and local governments; and the tenets of American citizenship to the subjects required in the instruction in government. The bill adds the principles of American citizenship to the required subjects for assessment as part of the instruction in government.
The bill strikes requirements that high school students receive instruction in voting statutes and procedures, voter registration requirements, the use of paper ballots and voting systems in the election process, and the method of acquiring and casting an absentee ballot.
Public High School Students Won't Learn About Voting In Government Class If Iowa Bill Becomes Law | ThinkProgress
Kentucky Seeks to Legalize Discrimination Against Gays Based on Religious Beliefs | Alternet
A prime example of what happens when one mixes religion with politics, it becomes an ideology which leads to tyranny. Many are so worried about Islamic Shar'ia laws creeping into our system but me thinks they need to look in a mirror. People have every right to practice their religion, but they have NO right to practice it on me or any other minority or group of people they don't agree with. This will devolve into which religious dogma do we follow, which church is right,,,
Kentucky Seeks to Legalize Discrimination Against Gays Based on Religious Beliefs | Alternet
Gay rights groups are up in arms. “House Bill 279 represents a clear and present danger to the gay and lesbian community and other minority groups around the commonwealth. [The bill] does nothing more than give people permission to discriminate based on their religious beliefs, thereby taking it beyond ‘freedom of religion’ to ‘forced religion,’ because they have imposed their religious beliefs on others, with legal authority to do so,” a letter from the Kentucky Equality Federation to the Senator who introduced the bill states, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
[,,,]
Kentucky has no statewide ordinance against discrimination against LGBT people, but four cities in the state do have anti-discrimination laws. The bill could make it easier for people in those cities to discriminate at will against gay people.
Kentucky Seeks to Legalize Discrimination Against Gays Based on Religious Beliefs | Alternet
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Creationism Case: John Freshwater Lawyers Spar With Mount Vernon School Board In Ohio Bible Case
The issue I have with any case concerning ID/evolution is this,,,IF they want to teach the "controversy" they need to include ALL creation accounts (all 300+) not just the biblical account of abiogenesis, IF they are not advocating a religious position,,,
Another issue is with what IDers present as "evidence of the gaps or flaws in evolutionary theory" most of these so called gaps/flaws are themselves wrong or lack the scientific evidence to back such claims,,,ALL science should be treated equally, in other words a modification (or abandonment) of a theory if presented with enough contradictory data,,,
Also can someone please explain to me how the teaching of ID advances society as a whole, especially in regards to health and well being,,,how does belief/acceptance of ID advance humanity?? Eradicate disease?? Or feed the hungry??
Creationism Case: John Freshwater Lawyers Spar With Mount Vernon School Board In Ohio Bible Case
Another issue is with what IDers present as "evidence of the gaps or flaws in evolutionary theory" most of these so called gaps/flaws are themselves wrong or lack the scientific evidence to back such claims,,,ALL science should be treated equally, in other words a modification (or abandonment) of a theory if presented with enough contradictory data,,,
Also can someone please explain to me how the teaching of ID advances society as a whole, especially in regards to health and well being,,,how does belief/acceptance of ID advance humanity?? Eradicate disease?? Or feed the hungry??
A lawyer for the school board that dismissed John Freshwater in 2011 said he waved a Bible at his students, handed out religious pamphlets and espoused creationism in his evolution lessons.
Freshwater violated the constitutional separation between church and state and was rightfully fired, said David Smith, an attorney for the Mount Vernon School Board.
Smith said Freshwater can't "teach evolution from a Christian perspective" without violating constitutional protections against government establishment of religion.
"There is no academic freedom of the teacher to do that," Smith argued. "This is not a case about industrial hemp. It's not a case about the Iraqi war. Political sociological viewpoint is something completely different."
Freshwater's attorney, Rita Dunaway, said accounts of Freshwater's class conduct were exaggerated and he was exercising his academic freedom to explore controversial ideas.
Creationism Case: John Freshwater Lawyers Spar With Mount Vernon School Board In Ohio Bible Case
The White House Joins the Fight on Gay Marriage - NYTimes.com
The administration’s brief to the Supreme Court was a legally and symbolically important repudiation of Proposition 8, the 2008 voter referendum that amended California’s Constitution to forbid bestowing the title of marriage on a union between two people of the same sex — a right the California Supreme Court had found to be fundamental under the State Constitution.
Like the arguments made by the lawyers for those who seek to overturn Proposition 8, and by a group of prominent Republicans earlier this week, the government’s brief says any law attempting to ban same-sex marriage must be subjected to heightened scrutiny because it singles out a class of Americans, historically subject to discrimination, for unequal treatment.
[,,,]
The government made mincemeat of the argument that same-sex couples threaten “traditional” marriage. “Petitioners’ central argument is that Proposition 8 advances an interest in responsible procreation and child-rearing because only heterosexual couples can produce ‘unintended pregnances’ and because the ‘overriding purpose’ of marriage is to address that reality by affording a stable institution for procreation and child-rearing,” the brief said. “But, as this court has recognized, marriage is far more than a societal means of dealing with unintended pregnancies.”
Proposition 8, it said, neither promotes opposite-sex parenting nor prevents same-sex parenting. In any case, “the overwhelming expert consensus is that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents.”
The White House Joins the Fight on Gay Marriage - NYTimes.com
Like the arguments made by the lawyers for those who seek to overturn Proposition 8, and by a group of prominent Republicans earlier this week, the government’s brief says any law attempting to ban same-sex marriage must be subjected to heightened scrutiny because it singles out a class of Americans, historically subject to discrimination, for unequal treatment.
[,,,]
The government made mincemeat of the argument that same-sex couples threaten “traditional” marriage. “Petitioners’ central argument is that Proposition 8 advances an interest in responsible procreation and child-rearing because only heterosexual couples can produce ‘unintended pregnances’ and because the ‘overriding purpose’ of marriage is to address that reality by affording a stable institution for procreation and child-rearing,” the brief said. “But, as this court has recognized, marriage is far more than a societal means of dealing with unintended pregnancies.”
Proposition 8, it said, neither promotes opposite-sex parenting nor prevents same-sex parenting. In any case, “the overwhelming expert consensus is that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents.”
The White House Joins the Fight on Gay Marriage - NYTimes.com
Duane T. Gish dies | NCSE
A "sad" day in the creation/evolution debate circle,,,
Duane T. Gish dies | NCSE
"If the mild-mannered professorial Morris was the Darwin of the creationist movement," wrote Ronald L. Numbers in The Creationists (2006), "then the bumptious Gish was its T. H. Huxley." Gish boasted of having engaged in over three hundred debates. He was certainly a lively debater, whose style involved a rapid delivery of arguments on widely varying topics; his debate style was dubbed the "Gish Gallop" by NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott in 1994. But scientists quickly concluded — in the words of Karl Fezer, writing (PDF) in 1993 — that "Gish will say, with rhetorical flourish and dramatic emphasis, whatever he thinks will serve to maintain, in the minds of his uncritical followers, his image as a knowledgeable 'creation scientist.' An essential component is to lard his remarks with technical detail; whether that detail is accurate or relevant or based on unambiguous evidence is of no concern. When confronted with evidence of his own error, he resorts to diversionary tactics and outright denial."
Duane T. Gish dies | NCSE
The American Fantasy Of The Christian Nation | The Big Slice
I find the political distortion of our country’s religious history offensive enough. But to pander to the uninformed by adding more disinformation cheapens religion and insults sincere Christians. This country was founded on the principle of religious freedom. We are free to worship or not however we want. No amount of revisionism is going to change that fact.
The American Fantasy Of The Christian Nation | The Big Slice
The American Fantasy Of The Christian Nation | The Big Slice
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