Monday, July 12, 2010 – What ties our articles together today
by Steven M. Finger
So, what’s it all about today? Saying it’s right, when it’s just plain-dang wrong.
Let’s start with an article about those who would like to say that children born to immigrants shouldn’t have the rights of anyone else born here. [1] Hmmm… exactly who would that ‘anyone else’ have been?
With that consideration of taking rights away from newborns, here’s what in mind for all the old guys: make ‘em work till they drop because they’re just livin’ too darn long to support. [2] Or not. Some interesting stats; the ‘free ride’ of Social Security isn’t as long as you might think, and as some say. Which, beyond the reduced economic impact, isn’t good news at all to all of us who had plans to ring in the new millennium.
Surely you see that the first discriminates against the newly landed, and the second against those who are wearing out their welcome. But if the issue wasn’t all that obvious, veiled by arguments that put reason ahead of being righteous, well this one should put the issue right up front: the club of Christians sued their school for withholding funding and meeting space just because they don’t let Gays join. [3] Perhaps on the grounds that even if Gays like God, God doesn’t like them, and the school shouldn’t have any say in that.
To the last two items – first, as we’re already at a question of morality, it seems that the richer you are, the less likely you are to have any. At least when it comes to mortgages. [4]
And, finally, here’s what you have to be a real bastard to do… cut the benefits of the unemployed (when you already know that jobs are as scarce as handouts), so that it looks as if the percentage of employment is up, just so cutting the benefits even more is ‘justified’. [5]
What’s happening here… whose thinking is changing our entire culture? Are these thoughts permeating the entire society, or are we being led down the path by the pronouncements of just a few? Immigrants – for your child’s sake, shout loudly about our 14th Amendment. Retirement age? Best that you make a Plan B, or vote loudly now, because our present office holders are just looking at budgets and not lives. A school club is small potatoes, but the issue of religious freedom – if it is not understood and respected – is going to hold back rights from a large group of Americans. The mores of the rich… the guiding principle of ‘it’s just business’ is going to hurt us all, even them.
We need to assess issues, and take sides based on what’s right; the culture we are allowing to grow, stinks. Outrage needs to be spoken; to halt its growth, to re-invigorate the best of a society had once been on the path of prosperity both spiritually and economically.
Anti-immigration vs constitutional rights, the cost of social security as an excuse to raise retirement age, religious school clubs with an anti-gay stance, high-end mortgages not being paid by those who can afford them, unemployment statistics tweaked to halt benefits for those who, literally, earned them – as a society and culture where are we going?
1 http://losangelesfreepress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=5018
2 http://losangelesfreepress.com/zombie-social-security-lies-retirement-age-must-be-raised-because-people-are-living-longer/
3 http://losangelesfreepress.com/christianist-professor-calls-for-religious-mccarthyism/
4 http://losangelesfreepress.com/biggest-defaulters-on-mortgages-are-the-rich/
5 http://losangelesfreepress.com/obama-wouldn%E2%80%99t-have-done-this-for-you/
Categories: Civil Rights, Community, Government & Politics, Homosexual and Transgender Issues, Political Humor, Religion, Social Change, Society and Culture Tags: anti-gay, anti-immigration, constitutional rights, employment, high-end mortgages, political humor, religious clubs, retirement age, school clubs, Social Security, Society and Culture, society change, Steven M. Finger, unemployment benefit, unemployment statistics
Christianist Professor Calls for Religious McCarthyism
Although I’ve learned not to expect much from the right-leaning Supreme Court, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of their recent decisions. First was Holy See v. John Doe, in which the court upheld a ruling that the Vatican isn’t immune from lawsuits over its protection of pedophiles. The second was Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, in which a Christian student group sued a California law school to demand – what else? – the legal right to discriminate against gays.
The law school has a policy that all official student groups must accept all comers and may not turn anyone away on grounds of race, gender, or sexual orientation. The Christian group claimed that they should be able to exclude gays and still receive all the benefits granted to officially recognized student groups: university funding, the use of university facilities for meetings, and the right to use the university’s newsletter for their communications. Fortunately, the Supreme Court disagreed:
The court held that the all-comers condition on access to a limited public forum was both reasonable and viewpoint neutral, and therefore did not violate CLS’s right to free speech. Nor, in the court’s view, did Hastings impermissibly impair CLS’s right to expressive association: Hastings did not order CLS to admit any student, nor did the school proscribe any speech; Hastings merely placed conditions on the use of school facilities and funds.
This decision was both simple and reasonable, and is the obvious consequence of state and federal laws forbidding the government to cooperate in discrimination. Since the activity fee that funds student groups is mandatory, Hastings’ policy ensures that no student is “forced to fund a group that would reject her as a member”. As the court points out, other groups such as fraternities and sororities don’t have official school recognition, yet they continue to thrive, and CLS is also still in existence and still holding its own events.
Departing Justice John Paul Stevens summed up the issue at hand in his concurrence, in a praiseworthy reminder that religiously inspired bigotry is no different than any other kind of bigotry:
Other groups may exclude or mistreat Jews, blacks, and women — or those who do not share their contempt for Jews, blacks, and women. A free society must tolerate such groups. It need not subsidize them, give them its official imprimatur, or grant them equal access to law school facilities.
All well and good, and I look forward to this decision being applied across the country.
http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/07/christianist-professor-calls-for-religious-mccarthyism.html
P
Categories: Community, Education, Homosexual and Transgender Issues, Religion, Social Change, Society and Culture Tags: anti-gay, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, religious clubs
Texas GOP Wishes to Punish Straight People Who Support Gay Rights
By Ivan Garcia
The 2010 GOP platform in Texas supports laws that criminalize sodomy and suggests that straight people who support same-sex marriage should be penalized with jail time.The GOP platform was quoted as openly stating:
“We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy,” the GOP platform reads. Meaning that even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned sodomy laws last decade (ironically in a case that stemmed from Texas), Texas Republicans would like the state to have the power to criminalize LGBT folks for having sex.
“We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such,” reads the GOP platform.
http://gltnewsnow.com/2010/06/19/texas-gop-wishes-to-punish-straight-people-who-support-gay-rights/
Categories: Civil Rights, Government & Politics, Homosexual and Transgender Issues Tags: Ivan Garcia
Kids With Lesbian Parents Do Just Fine
Study shows they might even be better adjusted than kids from traditional families
By Serena Gordon
When compared to teens of the same age, adolescents raised by lesbian parents are doing just fine socially, psychologically and academically, new research finds.
Not only that, they have fewer social problems, and less aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors than other teens.
The nearly 20-year study has followed 78 teens since their lesbian mothers were planning their pregnancies, and concluded that these children “demonstrate healthy psychological adjustment.” These findings stand in contrast to what some vocal opponents of gay or lesbian parents might have expected.
“One of the things that opponents of the equalities of gays and lesbians — in marriage, parenting, adoption and foster care — often bring up is the so-called gold standard of parenting, which defined by them is the traditional family where children are conceived in traditional ways and not through insemination or surrogates. But, when we compared the adolescents in our study to the so-called gold standard, we found the teens with lesbian mothers were actually doing better,” said study author Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the Williams Distinguished Scholar at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.
As to why these teens are doing better, Gartrell said, “Moms in the lesbian family are very committed, very involved parents.”
Categories: Health & Wellness, Homosexual and Transgender Issues Tags: Lesbian Parents, Serena Gordon
Categories: Civil Rights, Homosexual and Transgender Issues, Political Humor Tags: Gay territories, political humor
San Diego Anti-Gay Religious Zealots Launch Judicial Crusade
BY BILL BERKOWITZ
Better Courts Now’s candidates are on a ‘mission from God’ to transform San Diego’s court system.
If you’ve had your fill of athletes thanking God for their good fortune on the basketball court or gridiron, and/or politicians claiming that God directed them to run for public office –- think George W. Bush –- then do not read any further. If, however, you’re interested in and/or intrigued by the “Mission from God” conceit, and wondering if folks adopting that charge from on high just might be coming to your humble township, then check out what’s been happening in San Diego, California.
What may have started out as a small, almost stealth-like campaign –- similar to those that took over school boards across the country — has evolved into a rock-em, sock-em, full-throated effort to remove four Democratic-appointed judges from Superior Court, and replace them with four bona-fide “Mission from God” Christian conservative attorneys.
The movement, called Better Courts Now, is supporting four San Diego Superior Court candidates that have the backing of “pastors, gun enthusiasts and opponents of abortion and same-sex marriages,” the Associated Press recently reported.
A banner on the front-page of the Better Courts Now (BCN) website welcoming visitors, reads: “Welcome to BetterCourtsNow.com. The most innovative approach to unifying the moral vote. Better Courts Now, is an attempt to network with you in a way that allows you to become a change agent in making judges accountable. Join the fight and let your voice be heard!”
In mid-March, Capital Weekly reported that the website “also includes testimonials from at least one person affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a group that has been in the center of political battles over gay marriage in California and around the country.”
Categories: Civil Rights, Government & Politics, Homosexual and Transgender Issues Tags: anti-gay, Bill Berkowitz
