If tolerance is wrong I don't want to be right.

Two of Mrs. Fields favorite television shows feature interracial couples. So, in a way, I suppose we are making progress on the social front in this country.

Unfortunately, however, we are not there quite yet.

Just look at the picture that goes with this post. What's not to like? Well apparently not everyone shares my views.

"Kenyata White and Aeimee Diaz were celebrating their anniversary at the American Kitchen & Wine Bar in downtown Phoenix this week when they were suddenly asked to leave the restaurant for "inappropriate behavior." But after an uproar on Facebook and other social media sites, the lesbian couple has been welcomed back with open arms -- and free drinks.

The Arizona Republic reports that the couple was asked to leave the restaurant, which is in the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, after the two women were seen hugging and kissing at their table. A manager approached them to tell them their behavior was "inappropriate," and making other customers "uncomfortable."
"My partner and I were reminiscing," White told the Arizona Republic. "I had my arm around her neck, and she had her hand around my waist. I gave her a hug for about a minute, pulled myself away to give her a quick kiss, and then we continued talking." [Source]

One step forward and two steps back.

And as bad as that story was it didn't offend me as much as this one:

"As her elderly mother was dying, Barbara Johnson lay next to her on the hospital bed, reciting the “Hail Mary.” Loetta Johnson, 85, had been a devout Catholic, raising her four children in the church and sending them to Catholic schools.

At her mother’s funeral mass at the St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Md., a grieving Barbara Johnson was the first in line to receive communion.

What happened next stunned her. The priest refused Johnson, who is gay, the sacramental bread and wine.

“He covered the bowl with the Eucharist with his hand and looked at me, and said I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin in the eyes of the church,” Johnson told ABC News affiliate WJLA.
Her older brother, Larry Johnson, couldn’t believe what he had seen.
“I walked to the side of the church to console her, because she was clearly distraught,” Johnson told ABC News.

Larry Johnson said his sister, who has been in a committed gay relationship for 19 years, composed herself enough to give her mother’s eulogy, but then he was shocked at what happened next. The priest left the altar, Johnson said, and didn’t return until his sister was nearly finished speaking.

Family members added that the priest failed to come to the grave site, and the burial was attended by a substitute priest found by the funeral director.
Larry Johnson and his sister were outraged at what occurred on “what would already have been the worst day of my life,” he said." [Source]

Father, always remember to ask yourself: What would Jesus do? I think that's the whole point of this religion thing. Dogmatic insensitivity to your fellow human beings (regardless of their sexual orientation) will not get you into heaven.

Finally, congrats to Flipper on his big wins last night. Ricky, it was fun while it lasted. But it was just a matter of time before the rest of A-merry-ca found out what we already knew here in Pistolvania: That you are one crazy dude with visions of a theocratic A-merry-ca.

Again!

"We have an active shooter at the high school. Repeat: an active shooter at the high school".

T.J. Lane sounds like the name of a Country and Western  singer. But it is not. It is the name of the seventeen year old who took a gun to school and killed three high school students in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. Just the latest troubled A-merry-can youth to act out his Columbine style fantasies for the entire world to see.   

Of course, over the next few days, you will be hearing about what a good kid he is. There will be lavish superlatives thrown his way from the usual suspects, and everyone will be shocked that such a nice quiet child could commit such an unspeakable act. 

Wait... I think it has started already:

"He was more of a quiet type of kid,” Erasmus said. “He was more of a quiet type of kid. He was really nice, though, if you did talk to him. He came from a broken home. My family knew his a little bit from high school. And he just came from a really broken down home and he was living with his grandparents. I was really shocked when I found out that it was him. Because he was, I mean, he was quiet, but he was one of the nicest kids there. You could talk to him really easily. I mean, he was funny. It was really shocking that it was him" [Source]

Well, as one of my twitter buddies said earlier, "so was Ted Bundy."

It's always shocking to A-merry-cans when things don't go according to the script. T.J. Lane is not drug dealer Jerome Johnson from North Philadelphia, who blasted another drug dealer on the corner for stealing his money. T.J. Lane is a kid from a wonderful bucolic suburban town in Northeast Ohio. A town where they have maple festivals and violent crime is just something they read about when it's committed by those savages in Cleveland. 

Unfortunately, behind this Rockwellian facade, there are problems.  And whenever these problems explode into something sinister they lead the evening news.

Those of us who live and breathe the problems of urban A-merry-ca are wondering, once again, what's all the fuss about? This is what troubled kids do. They shoot and kill people with no remorse. T.J. Lane was shooting in a suburban high school in Northeast, Ohio. But the shots were flying through living rooms all over A-merry-ca. Of course we will all take cover and pretend it didn't happen. That is until the next troubled suburban kid decides that he or she wants to lead the evening news.

Obama the "snob"?

I don't even think my father attended my high school graduation. I think he was off the island attending business somewhere. In my family, going to college was just something we knew that we had to do, a high school diploma was just a means to an end.

I wish more families were like my own when it comes to this issue. Unless you are fortunate enough to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth, getting a college education is the most proven path to success in this country.

Sadly, you can't tell that to conservative politicians when they are out trolling for the anti intellectual -right- wingnut vote.

Unfortunately, republican politicians do not believe that a college education is a good thing. And they hint that the president of the United States is an uppity Negro for even suggesting that young people in this country should aspire to get a college degree.

 “President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college,” Santorum sniped. “What a snob!”

A "snob" for going to college? If that's the case I sure wish that there were more "snobs" in this country.

“Not all folks are gifted in the same way. Some people have incredible gifts with their hands!” Santorum added. “There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them. Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his.”

Yes Rick, and do you know why those "decent man and women" go out and work every day? So that they can send their children to college!
I wonder if Rick and his wife are going to give back their law degrees?

But Ray Charles, may his soul rest in peace, could have seen what Ricky is trying to do. He is trying to paint Obama as uppity and out of touch. To some folks being uppity and out of touch is alright if your name is Mitt Romney. (Some of his best friends are NASCAR team owners? WTF?) But being uppity and out of touch is not cool if you are....well, you know....one of them.

President Obama, as is to be expected, is pushing back. 

"President Obama on Monday defended his stance that higher education is critical to preparing Americans to compete in the global workforce, offering a tacit rebuke to Republican rival Rick Santorum who called Obama a “snob” for wanting everyone to go to college.....  

'...When I speak about higher education we’re not just talking about a four-year degree,” Obama said. “We’re talking about somebody going to a community college and getting trained for that manufacturing job that now is requiring somebody walking through the door, handling a million-dollar piece of" equipment. And they can’t go in there unless they’ve got some basic training beyond what they received in high school.”'

O, I am disappointed in you. Why are you lowering the bar? Stick to your guns. When you speak about higher education you should be speaking about a four year degree. A-merry-cans need their leaders to inspire them to do greater things; not tell them that it's cool to be dumb and that the uppity Nigger President trying to get them to educate themselves is out of line because he is....you know, one of them.

Finally, if you are a woman in A-merry-ca and you want to have sex for the pleasure it brings you, I  strongly suggest that you do not move to Kansas.

"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has a simple solution for women who work for religious institutions that refuse to cover birth control: Find a new job.
During a call-in show on C-SPAN Monday morning, a woman named Doris from Osawatomie, Kansas told Brownback that she was worried that he wanted to turn back the clock on women’s rights.

“No, goodness,” Brownback replied. “That’s not true.”

“I am concerned that — along with lots of other red states — Gov. Brownback feels that we should be the reddest state in the country,” Doris explained. “Women’s rights are being trampled. He was talking about what President Obama is requiring insurance companies to do, to cover birth control. You know you are taking away the individual woman’s right to decide if they need birth control.”

“Ninety-eight percent of women have used birth control in their lives,” she added. “Now, we can pay for vasectomies, we can pay for Viagra, but we cannot pay for birth control for women? I think it’s a shame.”

Brownback immediately disagreed.

“What the president basically said is if you are church that does not believe in this — and the Catholic Church has problems with, the official Catholic Church, amongst other institutions, have problems with paying for contraceptives,” the Kansas governor explained. “You have a number of religious groups who saying, ‘We don’t want to pay for so-called abortifacients, these have morning after pill-type effects. And this is against our religious beliefs.’ And the president was saying, ‘You got to pay for it.’ And they were saying, ‘This is against our view life is sacred.’”

“That’s not denying women’s rights,” he insisted. “If a woman then wants birth control, go work somewhere else.” [Source]

Oh my! Women of A-merry-ca, this means war.











 








 

Disparaging religions and killing senators.

This is torture. I am trying to watch the NBA All-Star game and the Mrs. is in another room watching the Oscars. I already learned that Ryan Seacrest got "ashes bombed" by Sacha Baron Cohen, and Viola Davis was letting her natural side come out on the Red Carpet. Help! There is absolutely nothing worse than a bunch of celebrities posing for the cameras and some giddy star struck entertainment reporter asking them who they are wearing. Seriously? "Who are you wearing"?  

Anyway, I wonder if the New York Post has a Kabul bureau. For their sake I sure hope not. They are just not feeling the folks over at the Post in the Muslim world right now. 

I understand the whole First Amendment thing, but at some point you would think that a major news organization such as the Post should take responsibility for their actions. First the Obama chimpanzee cartoon and now this. I swear wingnuts have no sense of decency.

Which brings me to congressman John Sullivan (R-Ok).Mr. Sullivan believes that the way to get bills passed in Washington is to kill a few democratic Senators.

"After expressing his support for the GOP budget that shreds Medicare, Sullivan told his constituents in Bixby, Oklahoma on Wednesday that killing Democratic Senators may be the only guarantee of it’s passage unless Democrats take heavy Election Day losses this November.

“Like I said, after this last election, the first order of business is pass a budget,” Sullivan declared. “Now, I believe that. I supported the Paul Ryan budget and sent it over to the Senate. Now I live with some Senators, I yell at them all the time, I grabbed one of them the other day and shook him and I’d love to get them to vote for it — boy I’d love that. You know but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their head and maybe killing a couple of them, I don’t think they’re going to listen unless they get beat.” [Source]

Holding a gun to their heads and "killing a couple of them"? I am so glad that we live in America and not Afghanistan. At least not yet.

Finally, I am supposed to be on Jesse Lee Peterson's radio program tomorrow. I will try to be respectful to the brotha. But, as you all know, he is not one of my favorite people, so we will see what happens.



 

Cadillac man.

There is this joke in some racist circles: "Give a N****r a Cadillac and a white woman and he is set for life." If Flipper was a N****r he would be definitely set for life. He has a white woman and a Cadillac; he told us so.

 "I like the fact that most of the cars I see are Detroit-made automobiles," Romney said during an economic policy address at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday. "I drive a Mustang and a Chevy pickup truck. Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs actually. I used to have a Dodge pickup truck, so I used to have all three covered."

Wow! Flipper's wife drives two Cadillacs! Man talk about set for life. Now if he could just get another wife. (That was not meant to be a Mormon joke.)

Anyway, as it turns out, the people who are responsible for Cadillacs didn't always like us Negroes too much. Who knew? Maybe that's why some of
you Negroes like to drive them. I wonder how many republicans are aware of this little tidbit? If they did the sales of Cadillacs would fly through the roof.

"Nicolas Dreystadt singlehandedly saved Cadillac from its own ignorance. He was a German immigrant who came to the U.S. with his parents when he was a small boy. He worked as a mechanic apprentice for Mercedes-Benz before becoming the national head of Cadillac’s services department. He was responsible for the department that serviced Cadillac cars throughout the U.S. and was considered middle-management.

As he travelled across the country to monitor Cadillac’s service departments, Dreystadt noticed something strange. He noticed great numbers of Blacks bringing their cars in to be serviced. “But how could this be,” he thought, knowing that Cadillac had a strict “no sale to Blacks” policy. Then it dawned on him that these Blacks had paid Whites to buy the cars for them – they actually paid a fee for the transaction.

“But, the wealthy Negro,” business critic Peter F. Drucker recalled, “wanted a Cadillac so badly that he paid a substantial premium to a White man to front for him in buying one. Dreystadt had investigated this unexpected phenomenon and found that a Cadillac was the only success symbol the affluent Black could buy; he had no access to good housing, to luxury resorts, or to any other of the outward signs of worldly success (Cadillacs cost more than $ 5,000 back then–over $ 60,000 in today’s money).”

Now why would Negroes want to drive an automobile from a company that had a no sale to Negroes, policy? And why would you Negroes spend so much money to show off your status? I swear some things just never change. *shaking head*  

"A Romney aide told reporters after the event that two Cadillacs driven by the candidate's wife are SRXs.

The luxury crossover retails new from from $35,485 to $54,525, according to the manufacturer's website -- mid-priced cars by industry standards."

I like nice cars as much as the next guy, but I have never liked Cadillacs. Something about them says Pimps and Elvis to me. Just a little too ostentatious for the kid. And besides, I never found their body style that appealing. 

"See, I'm a Detroit guy, so, you know, I only have domestics. I have a couple of Cadillacs, at two different houses. You know, small crossovers,"

Mitt, would it kill your wife to drive a couple of nice Buicks?

The truth post.

If the truth usually hurts you might want to skip this post or grab some Tylenol.

Let me start with the Oscars, because Sunday is Oscar Night here in A-merry-ca. And, sadly, to many of you A-merry-cans, this is bigger than the State Of The Union Address.

One of documentaries that was nominated for an award is called Undefeated. It chronicles the successful football season of a poor inner city high school in Memphis, Tennessee, and how they overcame problems on and off the field. "So field, what's so movie worthy about that?" Funny you should ask. The coach of the troubled football team in the film is white, and, like The Blind Side before it, an all too familiar theme emerges.

I have nothing against Bill Courtney, the latest white saviour to catch Hollywood's fancy. God bless him for volunteering his time to help those young men in Memphis. He deserves credit for it. But ABC's Person Of The Week? ESPN? Hollywood? Oscar? Countless talk shows? And...well, I think you get the picture. Like that wealthy white woman before him played by Sandra Bullock, Mr. Courtney is the white saviour of the hour. A-merry-ca loves these types of feel good stories; all the better when poor inner cities kids are lifted out of their condition by that one wealthy white person.

You will never see such a story about William Ellerbee, or Ted Ginn, Sr, or Todd Walker, because it would never sell. Black men are supposed to look out for their own children. I guess when there is a white savior it's like one of those man bites dog kind of deals.

I wish Mr. Courtney good luck on Oscar Night. I bet the makers of Undefeated walk away with the statute. Mr. Courtney might bring some of those boys from the team with him, and the camera will pan to them as he hugs his wife, the filmmakers, and whoever is in reach of his arms. The music will just keep playing, and there won't be a dry eye in the house.

Finally, it's time to get on some of you young Negroes.

This is always hard, because the people that I want to talk to do not read this blog. I know because I meet them from time to time in my professional life.

I don't know who is going to get to these killers living among us, but somebody better do something and fast. (h/t Greg Fuller)We know that they are not getting proper training at home. We can't blame the schools because most of them are not in school. We can't blame the church, because Pastor Jones can't go and drag Jerome out of bed on Sunday morning. And we can't blame city and state officials because it's not their job to police your damn kids.

We could blame the various negative influences in the neighborhoods for creating these little monsters, but where did these negative influences come from in the first place? Television? Movies? Rap Videos? I suppose we can say all of the above. But we all watch television and movies, and we don't go around splitting people's wigs in the middle of the day with automatic weapons. That is just some depraved s&^t that sociopaths do.

Thing is, when you meet some of these monsters they are nothing like you would expect. It's as if they reserve their anger and depravity for kids who are in similar situations as they are: Other kids in "the game" as they like to call it. They actually refer to people who aren't in "the game" as civilians. As if they are waging some kind of sick inner city war against each other that the rest of us will never understand. Unfortunately, the only time I get to really get their ear is when their war infringes on the rest of society and society takes action. Then it's my job to see if society acted properly and if justice is being served. It's enough to keep even the hardest field Negro up at night.

But I have some ideas, and hopefully someday the right people will listen to what I am saying. Right now poli-tricksters are too busy trying to get paid and maintaining the status quo to really care. (And no, I am not talking about white folks. I am talking about you Negroes who happen to be local poli-tricksters who care more about getting reelected than making the tough decisions that's best for your community.)

Oh yeah, those ideas:

• Start kicking out the bad seeds from our public schools at an earlier age, and make more alternative schools available for problem children.

If kids in class want to learn they should not be distracted by thugs who want to act the fool instead of hitting their books.
We need more schools like Glen Mills with committed teachers and counselors who will step in your ass if you get out of line. We have to start identifying violent kids at an early age and get them off the street and into some type of environment where they can be counseled and monitored. 

• Start fining parents who don't attend parent teacher's meetings, and whose kids are always late or absent from school.
• Give parents more choices (I know I sound like a wingnut, but this is one area where I part company with my progressive friends) where they can send their kids to school.
• Make some overall changes to the the child support process by making the guidelines a little more payor friendly.  (This is a little inside baseball, but believe me, it's something that needs to be done.) For instance, give a downward deviation in the support guidelines for overnight stays between the non- custodial parent and their child. Right now in Pennsylvania you have to spend at least 40% of overnights throughout the year to get a downward deviation of your child support order. Maybe if we can give some of these sperm donors some more incentives they will spend more time with their children. Maybe.
• More sex education. More sex education. More sex education. You all need to stop having all these damn kids you can't take care of.
• Decriminalize some of these drugs to lower the street value. I could do an entire treatise on this one, but I just don't have time. Let's just say that drug dealers carry a lot of money, and they don't go to the police for protection.
• Make more athletic and extra- curricular activities available to these kids at a younger age. (See the first part of this post to see what can happen when kids become involved with athletics and other activities.)  
• More sensible gun laws. No one is trying to take your gun away from you 2nd Amendment wingnuts, we just want to keep certain automatic weapons off the streets of some of our urban areas. I promise you, I have never seen a deer running around Center City, Philadelphia. 

I could go on, but you will just have to wait for the book.



 

       




 

A new low.

What Newt did today was low even by his lousy standards.

He hastily called a news conference to politicize the deaths of two American soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. Newt used the killing of those poor soldiers to score cheap political brownie points with his base.

Of course, for him, it was a twofer. Bash those evil Mooslims and the Commander in Chief with the evil Mooslim name in one fat swoop. (Pun intended)

" GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday a U.S. apology to Afghan authorities for burned Qurans on a military base was “astonishing” and undeserved.Gingrich lashed out at President Barack Obama for the formal apology after copies of the Muslim holy book were found burned in a garbage pit on a U.S. air field earlier in the week"

Newt couldn't wait to jump on Obama for apologizing to the Afghans for that inadvertent book burning. There will be more to follow. Mr. Obama, the programmers over at FOX NEWS would like to thank you for giving them some red meat for their voracious viewers.

 "The president apologized for the burning, but I haven't seen the president demand that the government of Afghanistan apologize for the killing of two young Americans."

In his rush to be first, Newt forgot that those soldiers were killed after Obama apologized to the President of Afghanistan. I suppose that if Newt or one of his cohorts were running things no apology would be forthcoming. Anger the Afghans even more and put more American lives at risk. 

"There seems to be nothing that radical Islamists can do to get Barack Obama's attention in a negative way, and he is consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the president of the United States, period," Gingrich said." [Source]

Newt should be apologizing to the families of those two dead soldiers. They will get a phone call from Obama. (If they haven't already) If Newt called, however, I am sure they would just hang up the phone.

Finally, the tape never lies.

If you dumbocrats want to learn how to cheat in politics you might want to start taking notes from your republican friends:

"Yesterday in Wisconsin, a hidden camera caught a certain Republican voter ID law advocate violating the assembly rules to cheat and vote for colleagues who were not present. This is also referred to as vote fraud."

Oh my! You mean to tell me that a republican voter ID law advocate was actually caught cheating, himself? Nooooo! [Source and video tape]

The cheating poli-trickster caught on tape actually looks like he uses Newt's personal trainer. Hey, maybe the guy was just reaching for a donut.

CNN Laughfest.

I should have followed O's example and skipped this republican debate, but I just couldn't pass up the laughs.

Mitt is talking religion, Ricky is talking earmarks, and Newt is going after the moderator. (What else is new?) There is Ron. Ron is talking....well I actually don't know what Ron is talking about.

This might b the worst debate yet. I have no idea what any of these guys are talking about, and I am guessing that John King is having a hard time understanding them as well. This might explain why he is doing such a horrible job tonight. Maybe he is still scared of Newt. I am still scared of Rick. He thinks Satan has his "sights set on America". And he likes to talk about Nazis.  The whole Satan Nazi thing is not a good combination. At least he doesn't have on a sweater vest tonight.

Now they are talking about foreign policy. Sadly, they are as clueless in this area as all the others. Newt says that he would bomb Iran; they all have reservations about women serving in combat, and Mitt says that he would be expanding all areas of the military, not shrinking it. I guess his friends from Bain Capital will pay for it.

Rick is saying that Obama is helping the Muslims in the Middle East, and the implication is that he is one of them. Rick and Mitt agree on an Iran policy. Now I know there is no hope for the GOP. I actually thought that Mitt was the sensible one in the group. Now I am not so sure we can trust him with the red button. 

"Hamas is going to smuggle dirty bombs over the border into the US, says Mitt Romney. He repeats his line about if he is president, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon, but it will if Barack Obama is president."

On and on they go. Now Newt is talking about opening up America's energy sources.

I really should have followed Obama's example. John, please put us out of our misery.

And a Christian shall lead them.

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."~ Matthew 7: 21-23~      

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Franklin Graham are all "workers of lawlessness."

They have all been in rare form lately with their I am more religious than you schtick. Obama said that he offered a prayer for Franklin's daddy; he should have sent one up for the son as well. That boy needs Jesus.

"..Graham also said he couldn't "categorically" say Obama wasn't a Muslim, in part, because Islam has gotten a "free pass" under Obama. Graham also said the Muslim world sees Obama as a "son of Islam," because the president's father and grandfather were Muslim." [Source]

Not wanting to be left off that "chariot of fire" as it rides into heaven; Mitt Romney also joined the bash Obama's faith crowd.

"Unfortunately, possibly because of the people the president hangs around with, and their agenda, their secular agenda — they have fought against religion," Romney said". [Source] 

Move over Elijah!

And then, of course, there was Rick.

" [Santorum] told an Ohio audience on Saturday that Obama’s agenda is based on "some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology."

Rick, I feel like doing a little  preaching myself.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." ~Matthew 7:1-5~

My brothers and sisters, let us stay with the book of Matthew. Turn with me to verse fifteen.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."        

And the church said amen.
        

One flew over the GOP nest.

"Freedom isn't to do whatever you want to do, it's to do what you ought to do" ..."

Huh? I told you all that Ricky [I should be in a] Sanitarium is crazy, but you wouldn't listen.

Folks, make no mistake, A Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium presidency would be scary for A-merry-ca.

I know all about Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium, I am from Pistolvania. He was one of our Senators here before we decided to throw his ass out by 16 percentage points. Now that he has a national stage the rest of A-merry-ca is finding out about the guy as well.

Comparing O to Hitler. Wanting to do away with federal AND state involvement with education. (Yes, Ricky would prefer if all the children in A-merry-ca were home schooled like his own. Shhhh, let's not mention the fact that he stole money from the people of Pistolvania while doing it.)Wanting to do away with pre-natal care for pregnant women, and calling the religion of the president of these divided states "phony." Wow! This all makes him declaring contraception harmful to women seem like the norm. I will give Ricky credit; he is doubling down on crazy.

"The idea that the federal government should be running schools, frankly much less that the state government should be running schools, is anachronistic. It goes back to the time of industrialization of America when people came off the farms where they did home-school or have the little neighborhood school, and into these big factories, so we built equal factories called public schools. And while those factories as we all know in Ohio and Pennsylvania have fundamentally changed, the factory school has not."

"Anachronistic" Rick? Oh the irony. Folks, believe me, if there is anything that belongs in another time it's Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium.

"There's nothing - there's no gift, no Christmas gift, that could be given better than Rick Santorum to the Democrats,"

I know that they don't believe me, but I want to say this to my republican friends in all sincerity: If Donald Trump believes that the guy heading for the nomination of your party is unelectable, just what do you think a normal person in A-merry-ca is thinking about him? Think about it.







       

A "teachable moment", but who should teach it?

If you know anything about me you know that I love open dialogue and honest debate. It's why, for the most part, I never censor people on this blog. I always want to know how folks feel, no matter how ignorant, detestable, and abhorrent their opinions appear to be.

So when I saw the story about the white teacher who has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago School District because they fired him for using the n-word to teach his students, I was immediately drawn to the story. I thought that we could be looking at another one of those "teachable moments" when it comes to race relations here in A-merry-ca.   

"The incident occurred last October when Brown said he used the n-word after two of his students were passing notes with rap lyrics that included it, according to the Sun-Times. The lawsuit alleges Brown used the word during a "teachable moment" in the context of the book Huckleberry Finn in order to show how such language can hurt. But as the words left Brown's lips, the school's principal walked in to the Murray Language Academy classroom.

Murray Principal George Mason charged Brown with "using verbally abusive language to or in front of students" as well as "cruel, immoral, negligent, or criminal conduct or communication to a student, that causes psychological or physical harm."

Brown has just served the first of his five days of suspension, but told WLS-TV he's worried that this has ruined his reputation as a teacher."

Oh my! What to do? Principal Mason, a black man, knows the pain that the word can cause, and he has probably experienced it personally. Teacher Brown, on the other hand, probably wants to do the right thing, and he wants, in his own way, to teach his class about that horrible word.

Problem is, of course, that teacher Brown is white. And we live in a very race conscious and "color aroused" world. Teacher Brown doesn't have a black card which allows him to use the word even if he is using it to teach his students not to use it.

I am quite sure that if teacher Brown was a black man there would have been no suspension. To white people, this is unfair. To black folks, on the other hand, that is the reality. The word coming from you is different than when it is coming from us.

This is a white person's take which I suspect represents the popular view:

"COMMENTARY | The n-word is an ugly, hateful word. Any negative descriptor of race, creed, characteristic, religion, ideology or lifestyle choice is. Lincoln Brown, a white teacher in Chicago Public Schools, tried to teach his students why the n-word is wrong and got suspended. Brown had found a student note with the word quoted from a rap song. The principal walked in and heard Brown say the word as part of a sixth grade language arts anti-racism lesson, says ABC.

The principal, Gregory Mason, who is black, called Mason's lesson "cruel, immoral, negligent and verbally abusive." Brown is suing CPS, according to Fox Chicago News, saying this is damaging to his reputation, which it is. Teaching jobs are hard enough to come by with all the axing of educational programs. If you're 48 like Brown and you get a smudge on your record, fairly earned or not, you might as well kiss your career goodbye.

It's not even Brown's career that is the crux of the issue. Nor is it the fact Mason suspended him in such a back-door way. The principal didn't just walk in, hear the word, assume it was used as a slur and confront Brown. Mason listened in on the lesson (which dove-tailed negative historical, literary, film and music references to blacks to show why the word is so problematic). Brown thought Mason approved. Apparently not. Two weeks later, Brown got suspended.

The core of the matter is, as Brown put it, "We can't solve these issues if we can't discuss them," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Clearly, the word and all shaming comments are "cruel and immoral." It's not a "sticks and stones" thing; words hurt more than physical injuries because they don't heal. Brown wasn't fanning the flames, though. He was trying to teach kids not to fan it. In order to do so, he had to use the word.

History can't be sanitized in retrospect and silencing issues negates them. Hiding from problems makes them loom larger. The Minotaur gained power skulking in his labyrinth. It was only when Perseus ferreted him out that he was able to vanquish the beast.

Brown should be congratulated for turning swords into plowshares and giving us all a positive learning experience." [Source]

I don't know if it has been positive. But at least we are learning.





 

A rousing sendoff and republican skeletons are once again on the loose.

Shout out to CNN for allowing the rest of A-merry-ca to see how you Negroes send your dead home today. You all were sure having church up in Newark, New Jersey. Those Winans are no joke. They might be the best export from Detroit since the automobile. The tributes by Kevin Costner and Tyler Perry were on point, and every song was terrific and from the heart. Bobby, you should have been there.

Oh, and while I am at it, let's go ahead and praise governor Krispy Kreme for doing the right thing for once. I know I am always hard on him, but this is one of those times when I am going to give him credit. The governor took a lot of heat from the general public and wingnuts for having the flags in Jersey flown at half staff after Houston's death, and he stood his ground.

"Why can't we focus on the true Heroes that fight for our country? This is getting ridiculous with the whole flag lowering thing for celebs!" Ray Leichner wrote.

"I get the concept of she was a famous NJ Native but really, I think the idea of flying the flag half-staff for her is going a bit over-board," wrote Karen Preston. "I think it is a shame that the Governor would give this honor to Whitney Houston when there are true heroes that are Native New Jerseyans who have died for our country that do not get the same respect."

Riiiight. Man I love these people in A-merry-ca. I wonder where all this outrage is coming from? Hmmmm. -"Don't say it field, don't you dare say it."- The governor has done this over 42 times before. He did it for Jersey soldiers, entertainers, and a BASKETBALL COACH for crying out loud! Nothing like a little "color arousal" to bring out the outrage in folks.

Finally, the problem with being a preachy [right] wingnut ideologue, is that you can't always practice what you preach. Take, for instance, the case of Paul Babeu. Mr. Babeu belongs to that camp in A-merry-can politics who loathes both immigrants and Gays. And yet.....

"FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — A sheriff seeking the GOP nomination for an Arizona Congressional seat was forced Saturday to confirm he is gay amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he previously had a relationship.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu on Saturday denied claims he tried to threaten the man, a Mexican immigrant and a former campaign volunteer, with

deportation if their past relationship was made public. The man's allegations were first published Friday in The New Times, a Phoenix alternative weekly magazine.
Babeu, a first-term sheriff who has risen to national prominence with his strong opposition to illegal immigration and smuggling, said the accusations were an attempt to hurt his political career.

He vowed to continue his campaign in Arizona's rural western 4th Congressional District seat, but said he had called presidential candidate Mitt Romney's staff to say he would step down from his post as state campaign co-chair.
"This whole rumor, this whole of idea of who I am in my private life has been shopped around," Babeu told reporters during an hour-long press conference Saturday in front of his sheriff's office. "This was a way, the hook, of how this could be brought out, and to malign and attack a sheriff who does stand for conservative principals, who does enforce the law."

The lawyer for the man, Melissa Weiss-Riner, did not returns calls or emails from The Associated Press on Saturday, but told The New Times that Babeu's attorney and campaign consultant falsely told her client that his visa had expired. Babeu told reporters he believed the man, identified only by his first name Jose, was living in the country legally.

The New Times posted a photo provided by the man of the two embracing. It also posted a cell phone self-portrait of a smiling Babeu in his underwear and another of what appears to be the shirtless sheriff in a bathroom, posted on a gay dating website. The man provided the magazine with photos of himself and Babeu and text messages between the two.

The congressional district where Babeu is seeking election runs from western Arizona through Prescott and south to take in parts of Pinal County south of Phoenix. Its voters are heavily Republican and generally very conservative." [Source]

Fortunately for Flipper, Mr. Babeu will step down from his campaign. I am quite sure that the last thing Flipper needed was the added distraction of a Gay campaign manager who is dating an -alleged- illegal immigrant. Lord knows he has his hands full with Ricky.    

   

Flying pot, the firing of a racist, and crack hoes and crack pipes.

To my man who was flying that plane that went a little too far into O's restricted airspace, I have some good news and some bad news for you: The good news is that the Secret Service did not find that you were a threat to the President. The bad news is that you are going to have to explain all the good collie weed that you were carrying to the po po.

"Field, how do you know he wasn't carrying it for the President? I wouldn't put it past that Obama fellow. He probably wanted to share it with those fat cat donors up in San Francisco."

Don't laugh, you might actually here that theory floated out on FOX NEWS any day now.  

Speaking of FOX, I am pretty sure that any day now they will be making an announcement that Pat Buchanan has a home over there. Pat is in need of a pay check because he was recently fired by MSNBC for his keep A-merry-ca white manifesto.

"Without a hearing, they smear and stigmatize as racist, homophobic or anti-Semitic any who contradict what George Orwell once called their 'smelly little orthodoxies.' They then demand that the heretic recant, grovel, apologize, and pledge to go forth and sin no more.

"Defy them, and they will go after the network where you work, the newspapers that carry your column, the conventions that invite you to speak. If all else fails, they go after the advertisers."
"The book 'Suicide of a Superpower' contained chapters titled 'The End of White America' and 'The Death of Christian America," David Bauder wrote Thursday for the Associated Press. "Critics called the book racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic, charges Buchanan denied.

"MSNBC President Phil Griffin said last month that he didn't think Buchanan's book 'should be part of the national dialogue, much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC.'

"The network said on Thursday that 'after 10 years, we have decided to part ways with Pat Buchanan. We wish him well.'
"Buchanan, in a column posted on Thursday, called the decision 'an undeniable victory for the blacklisters.'

Pat, I actually agree with you. If it was up to me you would still have a job at MSNBC. I want you right where I can see you. And I want the rest of these Negroes and so called progressives in A-merry-ca to see that folks like you want your country back, and you are not going away.  

Finally, the occupy woman's vagina movement continues in A-merry-ca. This time the state of Vaginaia has gotten into the act.

"This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion. Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced. Since a proposed amendment to the bill—a provision that would have had the patient consent to this bodily intrusion or allowed the physician to opt not to do the vaginal ultrasound—failed on 64-34 vote, the law provides that women seeking an abortion in Virginia will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. I am not the first person to note that under any other set of facts, that would constitute rape under state law"   [Source] 

Man it has to be tough to be a woman in A-merry-ca these days. Female music icons are called "crack hoes",  sitting congresswomen are told to stay away from the "crack pipe", and women are being told to pop some aspirins and keep their legs closed for birth control.










  

Take an aspirin, stick it between your legs, and call me in the morning.

Look at that picture. Do any of those people sitting at that table look like they might have a vagina? (Well the guy on the left, maybe) I am going to take a wild guess and say that none of them have to sit on the urinal before they tinkle.

So anywhoo, those are the individuals who the republicans down in Washington decided to trot out to explain to us why A-merry-can women do not need birth control.

“What I want to know is: Where are the women?” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked the committee chairman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) before walking out. “I look at this panel and I don’t see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventative health care services, including family planning. Where are the women?”
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep. Mike Quigley also walked out of the hearing."

Come on now ladies. Why would we need a women to tell us about a woman's body and how it works? Those men in that picture have years of experience when it comes to these issues. They are family planning experts. Just look at them.

 "Imagine they're having a panel on women's health, and they don't have any women on the panel – duh!" Pelosi said during a press conference. "What is it that men don't understand about women's health and how central the issue of family planning is to that?"

Democrats said they tried to invite Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student, to the hearing as a minority witness, but were blocked by Issa, who said she was not qualified." [Source]

Yes, her vagina does not qualify. It's a democratic vagina; apparently they are different.

One guy who would have made a great guest today in Washington would have been Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium. Rick, like his fellow wingnut male travelers, do not believe that there should be any form of contraception in our society. He believes that all sex should be to procreate. No contraceptive sex for you! All you poor slobs who had a vasectomy will never have sex again. Ha!

 “One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.” And also, “Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”  

Rick, how exactly are things "supposed to be"? Maybe his biggest benefactor will give us a little insight.

"Appearing of MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell today, Foster Friess, the main donor to the Super PAC backing Rick Santorum’s presidential bid, dismissed the controversy surrounding President Obama’s new birth control rule by suggesting that women should just keep their legs shut. Asked if he worried that Santorum’s Puritanical views on sex and social issues could hurt the candidate in the general election, Friess offered a more home-spun family planning scheme:

FRIESS: On this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so inexpensive. 'You know, back in my days, they used Baer Aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly."' [Source]

Hmmm, the old "Baer Aspirin" contraceptive. "Gals", please take note.

"The Year Of The Bible", and when in Rome.....

In case you folks in the rest of A-merry-ca were wondering, this is "the year of the Bible" here in Pistolvania. Let me repeat that: "The year of the Bible".

Apparently our politricksters in Pistolvania have way too much time on their hands. And here is the scary thing, the proclamation passed unanimously. Not a single vote against this official resolution by people we elected to go to Harrisburg to solve our state's problems.

I don't like John Bear very much, but his article on the subject was on point:

"BE IT RESOLVED: Whereas, members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, a bloated, overperked crowd indeed, apparently do not read or even seem to be aware of items they unanimously adopt, there shall henceforth be an outright ban on silly, meaningless resolutions.
And, whereas, such a ban would obviate the need for nonreaders and nonthinkers in the House, let this be the first step in slicing House membership in half, at least.

 If you missed the inspiration for the afore-offered resolution, it's born of the unanimous (193-0) adoption of a real House Resolution, H.R. 535, on Jan. 24.
That resolution declares 2012 "The Year of the Bible" in Pennsylvania.
Its sponsor is Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Allegheny County. It has 36 co-sponsors: 33 Republicans and three Democrats, including Philly Rep. Tony Payton, though he says he's unaware of his co-sponsorship (more on that later).

The resolution says we recognize the Bible because of its "formative influence" on state and nation and because of "our national need to study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures."

If this strikes you as bumping up pretty close to at least symbolically violating separation of church and state or inviting similar resolutions proclaiming "The Year of the Torah," "The Year of the Quran," "The Year of Beelzebub" etc., you're not alone.

This is why - and I am not making this up - Philly Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen this week held a Capitol news conference asking that the House reconsider the resolution that he and all his colleagues supported. In other words a redo.
You may remember Cohen from past hits such as charging taxpayers $28,000 in one year for personal books, including The Little Book of Stress, or for collecting more than $100,000 in expenses in one legislative session, including per diems for Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Labor Day and Yom Kippur.
The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports that Cohen apologized for essentially having no idea what the resolution was about that he and everybody else in the House voted to adopt.

Philly Democratic Rep. Babette Josephs, long a forceful advocate of individual rights, joined him in that apology and later told me she intends to actually read future resolutions before voting on them.

The Bible resolution is non-binding and therefore falls into the what-the-heck-are-you-doing- with-taxpayers'-time-and-resources category.

But it raises questions and points to some public-service realities.
The questions include what the heck are you doing with taxpayers' time and resources? Do you have even a basic understanding that those who pay your salary and perks are of various religions, beliefs and nonbeliefs? And do any of you recall that Pennsylvania was founded on religious tolerance, especially for unpopular, persecuted religions such as the Society of Friends, or Quakers?
The public-service realities are (a) our elected officials aren't paying attention, and (b) there now looms the prospect of more time-wasting by putting up votes for or against the Bible.

Nice. Why not just pass out armor, swords and lances and re-enact the Crusades on the House floor?

All this helps explain why our Legislature consistently waits until the last possible moment to act on required duties such as passing annual budgets or adopting once-a-decade redistricting plans before screwing them up. They obviously don't read anything so don't know what to do.

Payton, for example, didn't even know he co-sponsored "The Year of the Bible."
"Are you sure I'm a co-sponsor?" he asked." [Source]

Now I like Tony Payton, he is a good guy. But Tony, you have to pay attention up there in Harrisburg.

The Bible is a wonderful book, but I am pretty sure that we don't need a bunch of politricksters declaring that 2012 is "the year of the Bible". I think we can all agree that the Bible has done pretty well for a very long time without it's own damn year.

Finally, I bet if Rick [I should be in a] sanitarium gets elected we will have a national year of the Bible. That would be good for you Christians out there. But for everyone else, not so much.

Rick took a trip to Rome a few years ago, and he refused to tell us who paid for it. Now I am not a conspiracy guy, but can you imagine if O took a trip to Mecca a few years back and wouldn't tell us who paid for it? Wingnuts would lose whatever is left of their minds.

But this is not hurting Rick. He is actually surging in the polls and leading Flipper in some of them. Good for him. Say what you want about the guy, he takes his extreme positions and sticks to them. Flipper has no soul, and I don't think his conservative peeps like that very much.

Good luck Rick, if you win the republican nomination the battle lines will be that much deeper, and maybe we will finally have a clear debate about the future of this country.

Breaking stereotypes. But are we still color aroused?

When you hear about an Asian American Harvard graduate, the last thing you think about is some dude breaking legs and raining jumpers in the NBA. But that's exactly what Jeremy Lin is doing these days, and he is doing it in style. Dude has made the Knicks relevant again. Something Mello and Amare couldn't quite do. And now, Spike Lee, all five feet three inches of him, is jumping out of his court side seat once again.

They are calling it "Linsanity" in New York, and even for the hype capital of the world this is major.

I say this is a good thing. Anytime you get something out of the box and busting up stereotypes it's all good as far as I am concerned. Of course Asian dudes from Harvard don't usually go off in the NBA. So yes, dude is an anomaly, but he is an anomaly in a good way.

Floyd Mayweather is catching heat for these comments he made via a tweet:

"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather wrote on his Twitter account on Monday afternoon. [Source] 

Yes Floyd, all the hype is because he is Asian. And not just any Asian riding the pines on an NBA bench in Charlotte. He is starting for the Knicks! That makes what he is doing special.

Sorry Floyd, you don't always have to call out the elephant in the room.

Personally, I want more whites, Asians, and people of all of other races getting their shine on the NBA. And I want more African American neurosurgeons like Ben Carson getting their shine on in hospitals all over the country. That's progress.

Finally, more from the color arousal department: (Thanks Francis)

" A white grandfather says he wound up in cuffs after being accosted by police, all for walking home with his black granddaughter.

Scott Henson, a former journalist who now researches for and blogs about the criminal justice system, wrote about the experience on his popular blog, "Grits for Breakfast."

Henson, who describes himself as "an almost stereotypical looking white Texas redneck," said he was walking home from a roller skating rink with his 5-year-old granddaughter Ty, who is African-American, on Friday night.
On the blog, Henson explains the relationship. Ty's mother is his goddaughter, and Henson and his wife often find themselves "tasked with unplanned impromptu babysitting duties, like hundreds of other parents and grandparents around Austin."

That night, Henson opted to walk home from the rink instead of having his wife come pick up him and Ty.

"This was a terrible mistake on Grandpa's part," he said.
According to the blog post, which was published Saturday, Henson was stopped by a deputy constable, who told him that there were reports of a white man kidnapping a black girl. He was ordered to step away from Ty, and the officer began to question the girl.

"He's my Grandpa!" Ty said, according to the blog post.
Satisfied, the officer released Henson and Ty, who continued to walk home until they were stopped again -- this time, by five flashing police cars and a crowd of police.

"The officers got out with tasers drawn demanding I raise my hands and step away from the child," Henson said. "I complied, and they roughly cuffed me, jerking my arms up behind me needlessly."

"Meanwhile, Ty edged up the hill away from the officers, crying."
Henson said he provided officers with phone numbers they needed to verify that Ty was his granddaughter, "but for quite a while nobody seemed too interested in verifying my 'story.'"

Police again questioned Ty, and Henson was eventually released.
Corporal Anthony Hipolito of the Austin Police Department verified that Henson was stopped on Feb. 10, as police were searching for a kidnapper who'd allegedly snatched a young black girl nearby.

"Officers verified that the man was her grandfather through a phone call to her mother, and they were released," Hipolito said to the Daily News.
Still, Henson, who has written about a similar experience on his blog before, isn't satisfied.

"How hard would it have been to perform a safety check without running up on me like I'm John Dillinger and scaring the crap out of a five-year-old?"
He also noted that he was released without an apology.

"I hated for a five-year-old to be subjected to such an experience,” Henson said. “I'd like her to view police as people she can trust instead of threats to her and her family, but it's possible I live in the wrong neighborhood for that." [Source]

Hmmm, this story is deep on a lot of levels. The po po could have done a better job of handling this situation. But were they wrong? This is, after all, A-merry-ca, and we are all color aroused in this post- racial world that we live in.

Let me know what you think.    


 
   

OBL, Whitney, and the rise of American Theocracy.

Oh my! It seems my girl Whitney had quite a few admirers all over the world.

"Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is so obsessed with singer Whitney Houston he thought about killing her husband, Bobby Brown, it was claimed last night.

"The suggestion is made by Sudanese poet and novelist Kola Boof, who claims she was bin Laden's sex slave for four months 10 years ago.

In her autobiography, Diary of a Lost Girl, she writes: "He told me Whitney Houston was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen."

Boof, 37, who claims bin Laden raped her and held her prisoner in a Moroccan hotel, says he could not stop talking about the songbird, even though he disapproved of music.

"Osama kept coming back to Whitney Houston," she says in the book, excerpted in the magazine Harpers' Bazaar. "He asked if I knew her personally when I lived in America. I told him I didn't.

"He said that he had a paramount desire for Whitney Houston, and although he claimed music was evil he spoke of someday spending vast amounts of money to go to America and try to arrange a meeting with the superstar.

"It didn't seem impossible to me. He said he wanted to give Whitney Houston a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Khartoum.

"He explained to me that to possess Whitney he would be willing to break his colour rule and make her one of his wives.

"Whitney Houston's name was the one that would be mention constantly.

"How beautiful she was, what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have women's husbands killed." [Source] (h/t to Susan)

Damn, OBL had more love for Whitney that some of the racist mofos in this country. (And people wonder why I despise FOX and everything they represent so much.)

Anyway, tonight I want to blog about the "occupy woman's vagina" folks who have hijacked this contraception debate. Because we all know that blocking a woman's right to reproductive services is the republican thing to do.

President Obama, much to my displeasure, compromised with the Catholic Church in this debate. I hate to break it to him, but if he thought that the folks who are trying to score cheap political brownie points from this would back off, he would be wrong.  And the Catholic Church certainly isn't giving any ground. (Why should they? It's not like we are talking about pedophile priests or anything.)

"It's still clear that President Obama does not understand this isn't about cost--it's about who controls the religious views of faith-based institutions," Blunt said in a released statement. "President Obama believes that he should have that control. Our constitution states otherwise."

And who should have the control over a woman's body? If a------ fill in your religion other than Catholic--- woman chooses to work for a Catholic hospital or university and wants to buy birth control pills for whatever, are you telling me that she shouldn't be allowed because she works for a Catholic institution? (One that most likely gets some kind of public funding.) What about individual freedoms in this country? If a non Seventh Day Adventist man works for Andrews University and wants to buy a bucket of chicken in Berrien Springs, Michigan on a Saturday night, are you telling me that he shouldn't be allowed to because Adventist don't believe in eating meat? And if the poor guy gets a heart attack because of his love for the Colonel's cooking, are you saying that the Seventh Day Adventist health plan shouldn't have to pay for his hospital visit to clear out his arteries? Should an employer who is Jehovah's Witness be allowed to deny blod transfusions to one of his or her employees? Of course not. We all know a stretch when we see one.

The hierarchy of the Catholic Church and their political soul-mates are trying to pull a fast one on the American people. This is not about religious freedom, it's about religious tyranny. Do you honestly believe that if men had to give birth to children we would even be having this debate?

I love what Wendy Kaminer wrote in The Atlantic:

"What accounts for the rhetorical excesses of the Catholic Church and its advocates on the campaign trail and in the media? They reflect some genuine outrage, no doubt. But, in part, the rhetoric is an organizing tool (which may succeed in wresting new concessions from the administration). And in part, it reflects larger rhetorical trends: We inhabit a culture of hyperbole, especially during election years. Every argument is a gunfight (to which someone mistakenly brings a knife), every gunfight is a war, and every war a potential apocalypse.

Still, while the fate of American civilization doesn't depend on this debate about the obligations of church-affiliated institutions to abide by secular law, the stakes are relatively high. As government workers are laid off and government programs shrink, the public role of private, tax-exempt non-profits expands. The stronger their right to dispense public funds and deliver public services according to sectarian religious dictates, the weaker our rights to a non-sectarian public sphere. It's a zero-sum game." [Source]

I disagree with her about one thing: the outrage expressed by church officials might be genuine, but the outrage expressed by the poli-tricksters rallying around this issue are as phony as a W's cowboy persona.