On the day after we honored the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr...

...we read this:

Joshua Black, a Republican candidate for Florida House District 68, sent out a tweet on Martin Luther King day calling for President Obama to be hung for “war crimes.” 

 “I’m past impeachment,” Black wrote on Twitter. “It’s time to arrest and hang him high.” 

Chris Latvala, a fellow Republican running for Florida House District 67, replied via Twitter: 

“You aren’t seriously calling for the killing of Obama are you? I know you are crazy but good heavens. U R an embarrassment.” 

Joshua Black:  “He should be executed for treason,” Black said. “I think the appropriate punishment is death. They killed Benedict Arnold. (Obama) shouldn’t be allowed to kill Americans without a trial.” 

Latvala later tweeted to Black that he should “go take his medicine.” 

Black responded that he isn’t “intimidated” by the Secret Service and called Latvala a “criminal politician.”




I read trash similar to this every day on rightwing blogs.



(But...but...Sarah Palin says Mr. Obama should stop "playing the race card!")


h/t Progressive Populist

Martin Luther King, Jr., January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

I Have A Dream

Most of You Have No Idea What MLK Did.

"Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south."

"I'm guessing that most of you, especially those having come fresh from seeing "The Help," may not understand what this was all about. But living in the south (and in parts of the mid west and in many ghettos of the north) was living under terrorism. 

 It wasn't that black people had to use a separate drinking fountain or couldn't sit at lunch counters, or had to sit in the back of the bus. You really must disabuse yourself of this idea. Lunch counters and buses were crucial symbolic planes of struggle that the civil rights movement decided to use to dramatize the issue, but the main suffering in the south did not come from our inability to drink from the same fountain, ride in the front of the bus or eat lunch at Woolworth's. 

 It was that white people, mostly white men, occasionally went berserk, and grabbed random black people, usually men, and lynched them. You all know about lynching. But you may forget or not know that white people also randomly beat black people, and the black people could not fight back, for fear of even worse punishment. 

 This constant low level dread of atavistic violence is what kept the system running. It made life miserable, stressful and terrifying for black people. 

 White people also occasionally tried black people, especially black men, for crimes for which they could not conceivably be guilty. With the willing participation of white women, they often accused black men of "assault," which could be anything from rape to not taking off one's hat, to "reckless eyeballing." 

 This is going to sound awful and perhaps a stain on my late father's memory, but when I was little, before the civil rights movement, my father taught me many, many humiliating practices in order to prevent the random, terroristic, berserk behavior of white people. 

 The one I remember most is that when walking down the street in New York City side by side, hand in hand with my hero-father, if a white woman approached on the same sidewalk, I was to take off my hat and walk behind my father, because he had been taught in the south that black males for some reason were supposed to walk single file in the presence of any white lady. 

 This was just one of many humiliating practices we were taught to prevent white people from going berserk."

HUMANITY BECOMING LESS VIOLENT, EXCEPT IN ONE AREA...

...religious conflicts.


Most religions preach peace and good will toward their fellow humans; but according to a recent Pew Research study, human conflict is not subsiding in certain religious communities.  In fact, according to studies, religious violence is increasing:


Dr. Steven Pinker, Pulitzer prize-winning author and Harvard psychology professor, writes, “Today we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species’ existence.” He acknowledges: 

“In a century that began with 9/11, Iraq, and Darfur, the claim that we are living in an unusually peaceful time may strike you as somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene.” Pinker points out, wars make headlines, but there are fewer conflicts today, and wars don’t kill as many people as they did in the Middle Ages, for instance. 

Also, global rates of violent crime have plummeted in the last few decades. Pinker notes that the reason for these advances are complex but certainly the rise of education, and a growing willingness to put ourselves in the shoes of others has played its part.


The "in-group, out-group" thinking that religion encourages plays a huge part in promoting conflicts and violence notes Sam Harris:


“Faith inspires violence in two ways. First, people often kill other human beings because they believe the creator of the universe wants them to do it…Second, far greater numbers of people fall into conflict with one another because they define their moral community on the basis of their religious affiliation: Muslims side with Muslims, Protestants with Protestants, Catholics with Catholics.”



As humanity moves toward a more peaceful co-existence among the community of nations, the one area that humans believe is a force for goodness and compassion, is, in fact and according to the study, in contradiction to those humanitarian goals and the cause of some of the world's more horrific conflicts. That one area:  religion. 


" The study finds rises in religious motivated threats of violence, harassment of women over religious dress, mob violence related to religion, sectarian violence, and religion-related terrorist violence. One in five countries experience religious motivated terrorism in 2013, which is up from one in ten countries in 2007. Examples cited include the killings of a rabbi and three Jewish children by an Islamist extremist at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. The study also mentions the August 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that left six worshipers dead and three others wounded. While the 2013 al-Shabab attack on a Nairobi shopping mall fell outside of the date range studied in the analysis, the Islamic motivated terrorist attack highlights a steady increase of religion-related terrorism in Kenya, which ignited when more than a dozen Christians were killed by Islamists near the Kenya-Somalia border in November 2012."



 SOURCE

A VERY SMART GUY EXPLAINS "GLOBAL WARMING."

UPDATE BELOW



"...Hank talks about why it's cold, why extreme weather makes us talk about global warming, and why this is precisely the wrong way to think about "Average Global Atmospheric Energy."   (Which is a more accurate description of worldwide climate changes.)

Go Hank!

UPDATE:


Three arguments about climate change that should never be used 

Please, can we try to make sure that these stop appearing in our discussions? 

 "The warming is just part of a natural cycle." 

"We've been warming up since the last ice age." 

"To think humanity can influence the climate is pure arrogance." 


 Read the answers to these absurd statements.

Shitty, Shitty, Bang! Bang!

A moviegoer lost his life inside a Pasco County [Florida] theater Monday afternoon after a dispute over texting with a retired police officer. 

According to the sheriff's office, the dispute happened before the 1:20 showing of 'Lone Survivor' had even gotten underway at the Cobb CineBistro at Grove 16 complex on Wesley Grove Blvd. Investigators say two couples had gotten into an argument over noise. 

 "The victim was on his cell phone; he was texting. We believe he was making some kind of noise. This noise led to an altercation between the suspect and the victim," Sheriff Chris Nocco explained. A witness recalled seeing the agitated man -- later identified by deputies as Curtis Reeves -- get up and leave in an apparent attempt to find a manager. 

When he came back alone, the argument escalated. Charles Cummings told FOX 13 he heard the victim say he was texting his 3-year-old daughter before Reeves pulled out a pistol. "Their voices start going up, there seems to be a confrontation, somebody throws popcorn, then bang, he was shot," said Cummings, who was there to celebrate his birthday. 

"I heard the victim say, 'I can't believe...,' then he fell on us." "I asked if the guy was OK, and he started gurgling blood and then fell," recalled Cummings' son, who said he ran to call 911. 

 Both the man, identified by deputies as Chad Oulson, and his wife Nicole, were struck by the single shot. Oulson, 43, was hit in the chest and died, while Nicole was hit in the hand when she put her hand up in front of her husband. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries. 

An off-duty Sumter County deputy inside the theater was able to grab the gun and detain Reeves until deputies arrived, the sheriff added. Reeves, a 71-year-old retired Tampa police officer, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. 

A 2005 Tampa Bay Times article also described him as a former director of security for Busch Gardens. Moments after he was named as the suspect, Tampa police issued a statement saying Reeves had retired back in 1993 as a captain. "He was instrumental in establishing the department's first Tactical Response Team," the statement explained. "We are not aware of any contact with the department since his departure more than 20 years ago." 

 Nocco said his detectives considered if this could be a 'stand your ground' case but decided the criteria did not apply. [Well, it IS Flori-DUH, isn't it? And hey, it worked for George "These assholes always get away with it" Zimmerman.]

 "It's absolutely crazy it would rise to this level over somebody just texting in a movie theater," he offered. "I can't believe people would bring a gun to a movie," added Cummings, a Marine who served in Vietnam. "I can't believe they would argue and fight and shoot one another over popcorn or even a cell phone."


I can believe it because it happened.  

And they didn't "shoot one another."  Only one guy had a gun, and he killed the guy with the popcorn.  No doubt he deserved it.  

What a country.

Tempers flared, and the guy with the gun killed a young husband and father because he was texting [his 3-year old daughter, it was reported].

And no one's even talking about another school shooting.  It's all so boringly common and not anything to bother with anymore.  Ho-Hum.  

"Shit Happens."

Kids get shot, wounded, or killed in school shootings. Guy gets shot in a movie theater.

Oh, look!  Over there!  Sarah Palin said something!


Charles Pierce "TWO DAYS IN GUN AMERICA":


And, in the past couple of days, we've had a school shooting in New Mexico, the killing of a man in a movie theater for the crime of texting his daughter, and a Republican group in Oregon which thought the best way to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln was to raffle off a rifle. 

I mean, why not? Only one of those two guys was murdered with one. There is one thing all of these three events have in common, in addition to tragic stupidity. There is in all three of them a fundamental undercurrent of contempt by the gun lobby and its financiers and the politicians that they sublet at every level of government for anyone who is revolted by the damage they have done to society. 

The power of the arms industry in our politics is brute and unyielding. Its lack of compassion is made of iron and its ability to make itself the victim nearly inexhaustible. Witness, for example, the Republicans of Multinomah County...

"Bruuuuuuuuuuuce!" (and Jimmy)

LOL!

About that chemical spill in West Virginia...

involving the ironically named "Freedom Industries," (freedom to pollute a region's water supply?) here's some reporting on the story:



Lax Regulation, Shady Owners Probed in W. Virginia SpillCorporate malfeasance may have a played a central role in generating disaster

 A New York Times report points the finger for a chemical spill last week on the Elk River in West Virginia at a state government well-known for "lax" environmental and public safety regulations.



The Times describes the state's weak regulations as pervasive: 

Critics say the problems are widespread in a state where the coal and chemical industries, which drive much of West Virginia’s economy and are powerful forces in the state’s politics, have long pushed back against tight federal health, safety and environmental controls. 

 “West Virginia has a pattern of resisting federal oversight and what they consider E.P.A. interference, and that really puts workers and the population at risk,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a lecturer in environmental health at George Washington University. 

And investigative journalist David Gutman, reporting for the West Virginia Gazette, explores the troubling behavior of Freedom Industries executives and their history of illegal behavior, political manuevers, and past associations with other environmentally damaging industrial failures. According to Gutman: 


Freedom Industries, the company responsible for contaminating the water of 300,000 Kanawha Valley residents, was founded by a two-time convicted felon, benefited from the 2009 federal stimulus and at least two of its executives have longstanding ties to the Charleston business community. 

Since the chemical spill on Thursday, Freedom Industries executives have entirely avoided media requests, except for a brief news conference Friday night. 

On Sunday morning, Charles Ryan Associates, a prominent Charleston public relations firm hired by Freedom, abruptly dropped the chemical distributor as a client. "I made the decision not to represent them," said Susan Lavenski, who was handling Freedom for Charles Ryan. She would not give any details as to why she would no longer represent the company. 

Freedom Industries was founded in 1992 by Gary Southern and Carl Lemley Kennedy II, according to filings with the West Virginia secretary of state. The company's website, however, says it was founded in 1986.  

"Our friends and our neighbors, this incident is extremely unfortunate, unanticipated and we are very, very sorry for the disruption to everybody's daily life that this incident has caused," Southern, the company's president, said at the news conference Friday night. "It has been an extremely long day, I'm having trouble talking at the moment. I would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up."

I wonder if Gary Southern, the head of the laughably named Freedom Industries has whined to the media that he'd "like his life back."





More HERE.

Mens sana in corpore sano

How healthy is your state and how much does your state invest in education?  For communities to thrive, IMO, their populations must be healthy and educated.  All other factors for success follow in an upward trajectory when those two indicators are doing well.

Here is some information on how the various states are doing in those areas:





New York Times Report from September 2013

BRAINTREE, Mass. — Conventional wisdom and popular perception hold that American students are falling further and further behind in science and math achievement.

The statistics from this state tell a different story. If Massachusetts were a country, its eighth graders would rank second in the world in science, behind only Singapore, according to Timss — the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which surveys knowledge and skills of fourth and eighth graders around the world. (The most recent version, in 2011, tested more than 600,000 students in 63 nations.)

 Massachusetts eighth graders also did well in mathematics, coming in sixth, behind Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

The United States as a whole came in 10th in science and 9th in math, with scores that were above the international average.

 Of course, Timss is only one test, and achievement tests are incomplete indicators of educational prowess. But behind Massachusetts’ raw numbers are two decades of sustained efforts to lift science and mathematics education. Educators and officials chose a course and held to it, even when the early results were deeply disappointing.

 While Massachusetts has a richer and better-educated population than most states, it is not uniformly wealthy. The gains reflected improvement across the state, including poorer districts.


Report: American Education Isn't Mediocre—It's Deeply Unequal 

Students in Massachusetts are doing great compared to their international peers, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Students in Alabama, Mississippi, and D.C., however, are languishing.


Massachusetts was the highest-scoring state in math, coming in behind four educational systems—Republic of Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong—and outranking 42 education systems. The lowest-ranking state, Alabama, outperformed only 19 educational systems.

 Massachusetts and Vermont outperformed 43 educational systems, while the District of Columbia ranked above only 14 educational systems. Singapore was the only education system to outrank all U.S. states.

Health Care

As of 2012, according to the United States Census Bureau, here are the states with the top five highest and lowest estimated percentage of uninsured citizens (scroll down the page for the chart):

STATES WITH THE HIGHEST ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED:


1) Texas
2) Nevada
3) New Mexico
4) Florida
5) Georgia 

STATES WITH THE LOWEST ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED:

1) Massachusetts
2) Vermont
3) Hawaii
4) Washington, D.C.
5) Connecticut





Report, December 2013:

Hawaii the nation's healthiest state and Mississippi the least healthy.  

Overall, Hawaii was the most healthy state in the country, while Mississippi ranked lowest for health. 

Last year, Vermont topped the list for healthiest state, and came in second this year. To understand the health of communities across the country, various factors were measured, including smoking, obesity, air pollution, high school graduation rates, infant mortality and crime rates. 



America's healthiest states, top 5:

1) Hawaii
2) Vermont
3) Minnesota
4) Massachusetts
5) New Hampshire


America's unhealthiest states, top 5:

1) Mississippi
2) Arkansas
3) Louisiana
4) Alabama
5) West Virginia 

ANOTHER CON FOUND STEALING A LIBERAL BLOGGER'S ID AND AVATAR!

For some reason, known only to them, conservative bloggers and commenters like Radical Redneck have a burning need to deceive, cheat, and steal.  I've found another instance of their deceit--and evidence makes this pretty certain this faker is a conservative--and of their stealing another liberal's avatar and ID.  

A commenter who frequents this blog, as well as others, whose blognym is "Ema Nymton" has had her avatar and ID stolen, just as mine was stolen not too long ago by "Radical Redneck."  This seems to be some sort of compulsion with these sort of characters in the conservative blogsphere.  So be aware if the fake "Ema Nymton" shows up on your blog. [The fake "Ema Nymton" never shows up on my blog.]

The real "Ema Nymton" has posted comments here and this is her Blogger url profile number:


https://www.blogger.com/profile/01291372077565212886

When you link to here name, which you can find HERE, you will be directed to this profile page:

Ema Nymton

View Full Size

On Blogger since June 2008

Profile views - 1680

My blogs

• ~@:o?

Blogs I follow

• Ramona's Voices

About me

This is the information on the fake "Ema Nymton:"



This was found over at a conservative's blog:

Ema NymtonJanuary 11, 2014 at 3:55:00 PM EST

This is not the kind of behavior we need in a president. Imagine what he (Christie) would do if he had the entire nation’s police, military and spy agencies at her beck and call…

It’s getting truly frightening in this nation – politicians aren’t even trying to hide their naked abuse of power anymore. Christie doesn't represent me. Christie represents most of the GOP.

The right is having a problem with Chris Christie. From the pure objective stand point it is interesting to watch the right handle this situation. We are watching this sort of love hate relationship going on where some on the right don't like the guy but feel the need to defend him ala by attacking Obama.

So in the end the right will vote for Chris and the left will vote for Hillary if they decide to run, and all that huffing and puffing right now is quite irrelevant in the grand scheme.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?

Reply

When you link to the fake "Ema Nymton's" name at this blog, this is what comes up:

Profile Not Available

The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile.

If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile.

This is the Blogger profile URL for the FAKE "Ema Nymton:"

https://www.blogger.com/profile/13981358404696562895

As you can see, it's completely different from the real "E.N." cited above.

Why do these certain conservative commenters do this? Who knows.  Maybe it's just part of their inbred character to be cheaters and fakers.  Maybe they haven't the intelligence or wit to invent their own blog personas, or maybe they like making fools of their fellow conservative commenters who believe they're having a conversation with the real "Ema Nymton," when in fact, they're actually conversing with one of their own kind.  The joke, then, is of course on them.  The person engaging in this deceit is actually making fun of his own friends.  Why?  That's another question I can't answer.

I don't know if the real "Ema Nymton" is aware of all this tomfoolery or not, but I am and I will continue to expose the charlatans every time I discover them.  And it's rather easy.  

They're not very clever or smart.

The New Yorker Cover Nails It!

Juvenile

"I Am Not A Bully!"

UPDATE BELOW



UPDATE II BELOW



Oh Crikey, Governor Christie, wrong thing to say.  Ever!






Christie: 

 "Listen, politics ain’t beanbag, okay? Everybody in the country who engages in politics knows that. On the other hand, that’s very, very different than saying that someone’s a bully. I have very heated discussions and arguments with people in my own party and on the other side of the aisle. I feel passionately about issues and I don’t hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now, that has always made some people as you know uneasy. Some people like that style; some people don’t. And i’ve always said, I think you asked me a question after the election, are you willing to change your style in order to appeal to a broader audience and i think i said no because I am who I am, but I am not a bully."


Queue up all the instances the media will dig up of Christie's bullying.

UPDATE:


From Talking Points Memo:
David Wildstein, the former Director of Interstate Capital Projects for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, refused to answer questions Thursday at a state Assembly committee hearing concerning the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal. 

 "I respectfully reserve my right to remain silent," Wildstein said before a hearing of the New Jersey The Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee. Wildstein had been subpoenaed to testify about the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge in September, which lead to a massive, multi-day traffic jam in the town of Fort Lee, N.J. 

Wildstein has previously maintained that the lanes were closed as a result of a traffic study, but Democrats in the state have suggested the closures were retaliation against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, who declined to endorse Christie's re-election bid last year.




 "Curiouser and Curiouser"



UPDATE II:


Go HERE to Infidel753 and watch Rachel Maddow report on this developing story.  She was the first to break the news on it.  GOPers won't bother, of course, because unlike the IRS story and the Benghazi tragedy, this is a real scandal, and there is actual evidence to back the allegations up.

Marijuana is not just for getting high (not that there's anything wrong with that) but...

it heals as well.


Here's an incredible story about a young girl named Charlotte, and how medical marijuana gave her back her life.

The whole story is HERE.






And in other news:

Washington (CNN) - "In a major turnaround from past decades, a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. 

 The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicated that the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged. 

 Fifty-five percent of those questioned nationally said marijuana should be made legal, with 44% disagreeing. The CNN/ORC findings are similar to a Gallup poll conducted in October. 

 According to the CNN poll and numbers from General Social Survey polling, support for legalizing marijuana has steadily soared over the past quarter century - from 16% in 1987 to 26% in 1996, 34% in 2002, and 43% two years ago. 

 The survey found interesting divides on the issue. "There are big differences on age, region, party ID, and gender, with senior citizens, Republicans, and Southerners the only major demographic groups who still oppose the legal use of pot," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. 

 Two-thirds of those 18 to 34 said marijuana should be legal, with 64% of those 34 to 49 in agreement. Half of those 50 to 64 believe marijuana should be legal, but that number dropped to 39% for those age 65 and older. 

 Support stood at 60% in the Northeast, 58% in the West, 57% in the Midwest, but just 48% in the South. 

Sixty-two percent of Democrats and 59% of Independents, but just 36% of Republicans, backed legalizing marijuana. 

Fifty-nine percent of men but just 51% of women supported making pot legal."


I'm a Northeast liberal female who supports legalizing marijuana. The war on drugs, and especially possession of pot, is a failure, and putting people in prison for smoking a joint is just plain stupid. The facts are that if you're poor or a person of color, your chances of getting convicted for possession are higher than if you come from an upper or middle-class white family. That's just the way our justice system works today. 

Justice certainly isn't blind when it comes to arresting people for possession of pot. 



Racially Biased Arrests for Pot

"Researchers have long known that African-Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, even though studies have repeatedly shown that the two groups use the drug at similar rates.

New federal data, included in a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, now shows that the problem of racially biased arrests is far more extensive that was previously known — and is getting worse. The costly, ill-advised “war on marijuana” might fairly be described as a tool of racial oppression.

[skip]

Nationally, African-Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites. The disparity is even more pronounced in some states, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where African-Americans are about eight times as likely to be arrested. And in some counties around the country, blacks are 10, 15 or even 30 times as likely to be arrested. This nationwide pattern is evident in all kinds of communities — urban and rural, wealthy and low income, in places where the African-American populations are large and in places where they are small. As the report notes, police officers who are targeting black citizens and black neighborhoods are turning “a comparatively blind eye to the same conduct occurring at the same rates in many white communities.”





More:
 The Scandal of Racist Marijuana Arrests

Let’s Stop Arresting Marijuana Users


It's good to see the country moving in the right direction of decriminalizing marijuana and allowing police to go after truly dangerous criminals.

Regulate it, tax it, and... 

legalize it.

The Kids Are All Right, Part III

Mark Zmuda, a well-liked vice-principal at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, was recently fired from his job because he married his male partner. He was not fired because he's gay.   As you will see and hear in the interview below, he was also not fired because he violated his contract, nor was he fired because his performance in his job was unsatisfactory. He was fired because he married. Period.   But here's the very curious part:  The Catholic school has informed him that he can get his job back if he divorces his husband.

I hate to use this cliche,  but really, I can't wrap my head around that.  The Catholic Church does not condone same-sex marriage, but in order to get his job back, they told Mr. Zmuda that he has to divorce his husband? Divorce is not condoned in the RCC either.*  So what's going on here?  None of this makes sense.

(*Actually, that's not quite right.  A wife or a husband CAN obtain an "annulment" of their marriage from the Vatican, which would then mean the RCC acknowledges that the marriage was made under false pretenses and is not valid, even if the couple has had a number of children. So, in a round-about way, divorce is sanctioned in the RCC, if one has the money to buy one.)

This, of course, is very curious, and I don't know how the Eastside Catholic School expects Mr. Zmuda and his partner to divorce and then go through a commitment ceremony, which is legally non-binding and a step-down, so that the RCC's moral sensibilities will be assuaged.



Andrew Sullivan says it so much better than I could express it myself:

"What does it say about the twisted, absurd view of homosexual persons that the Catholic Church should demand that they divorce their spouses as a condition of working for a Catholic organization? It tells you so much. What the church is saying by this is that homosexuals should be punished for constructing stable, committed relationships of mutual care and support. If they stay single or have some kind of down-low commitment ceremony, all will be ignored."

The overwhelming majority of students at the school support Mr. Zmuda:

“We care too much about Mr. Zmuda to let this go,” said Ian Edwards, a senior at Eastside Catholic, after speaking at the second demonstration in as many weeks outside the old chancery of the archdiocese. With social media at their disposal, the students are thinking big.
They plan to organize, nationwide, a “Z-Day” on Jan. 31 to protest the forced resignation of Eastside vice principal Mark Zmuda after his same-sex marriage last summer.
 

“We encourage students, at Catholic schools or otherwise, as well as any other impassioned individuals, to proudly wear the color orange on that day. In so doing, we will be showing solidarity with Mark Zmuda, as well as expressing our hopes for an enlightened perspective on issues of sexuality in the Catholic Church,” said a statement read by Edwards and other students."

What do you think?

Reporting LIVE!

This is what happens when you want all news all the time (NSFW):

2013 in Review: My Neighborhood, Boston's North End

I love my neighborhood!

The Right's Selective Free Speech Outrages

It's curious to read or hear complaints about "political correctness"  and non-government-involved"free speech" issues by people on the right, then observe how these same people ignore those suppposed infringements on their precious "freedoms" when they involve an issue they support.  

For example, I'm fairly sure I won't read about how unfair it is that Dick Metcalf lost his job because he wrote a column in a gun magazine about regulations and the 2nd Amendment:



From the New York Times:  BARRY, Ill. — The byline of Dick Metcalf, one of the country’s pre-eminent gun journalists, has gone missing. It has been removed from Guns & Ammo magazine, where his widely-read column once ran on the back page. He no longer stars on a popular television show about firearms. Gun companies have stopped flying him around the world and sending him the latest weapons to review. 

In late October, Mr. Metcalf wrote a column that the magazine titled “Let’s Talk Limits,” which debated gun laws. “The fact is,” wrote Mr. Metcalf, who has taught history at Cornell and Yale, “all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” 

The backlash was swift, and fierce. Readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions. Death threats poured in by email. His television program was pulled from the air. Just days after the column appeared, Mr. Metcalf said, his editor called to tell him that two major gun manufacturers had said “in no uncertain terms” that they could no longer do business with InterMedia Outdoors, the company that publishes Guns & Ammo and co-produces his TV show, if he continued to work there. He was let go immediately."



Another example is the right's most recent "free speech outrage" over some millionaire and his family who shoot ducks and get paid gazillions of dollars pretending to be red necks.  

Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty made some filthy remarks about the gay community; told his interviewers how happy African-Americans seemed to him during the Jim Crow era in the south; and, just  recently, we found out that he advocates child rape. (Yeah, that's harsh, but what else would you call it when someone encourages grown men to marry 15-year old girls?  I've read many times how people on the right apply that term to the Prophet Muhammad for doing exactly the same thing.)

Martin Bashir lost his job for suggesting that Sarah Palin receive the same treatment as some slaves received when she stupidly compared the ACA to slavery.  

He publicly apologized and lost his job.  

The fake red neck good ol' boy still has his job after slandering an entire group of Americans, the gay community; after denying the tragedy of what southern African-Americans experienced under Jim Crow; and after suggesting men should get their wives while they're still young girls.

Apology for his slander?  None.  And he kept his job.



When You Defend Phil Robertson, Here's What You're Really Defending 







Here's another example of the GOPers censoring speech they don't like:


Bill Moyers Documentary Blacked Out in NC 
JANUARY 4, 2014  

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has created a new documentary about North Carolina’s politics in 2013 titled North Carolina: State of Conflict. As of press time Saturday, UNC-TV does not have the show scheduled to air in our state – essentially blacking out the documentary to all but those who are able to access it through the internet.




The rightwingers who valiantly stood up for Phil Robertson believe in the unalienable right of free speech (even when the government is NOT involved), but ONLY free speech for what THEIR ideology supports. 

"If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve."

UPDATE BELOW


What can you say about the news that an increasing number of self-identified conservatives/GOPers do NOT "believe in" Evolution?  Even using the construction "believe in" to describe their attitude toward this scientific fact is strange, since it's like saying one doesn't "believe in" the theory of gravity.  It's absurd.

But more absurd is the disturbing increase in the percentage of Republicans who stubbornly refuse to accept the fact of evolution.  On the bright side, young people of all political affiliations do not believe evolution is a lie like the big bang, straight from the pit of hell.

Evolution is a fact.    But the anti-science segment of the GOP has managed to outdo itself in its rejection of facts in favor of, what? superstition? ignorance?  Both?  It seems so.  That may explain their eagerness to believe in and embrace any rumor or lie about President Obama.






"Each generation of Americans, Pew found, is increasingly more likely to accept natural human evolution; Americans 18-29 do so by a 68-27 margin, while the number for seniors (65+) is 49-36. 

Likewise, white evangelical protestants are the group most likely to reject evolution, while the religiously unaffiliated are by far the most likely to accept it. 

The winnowing of self-identified Republicans to these demographic groups has been dramatic in recent years. The overall number of Americans who identify as Republicans hovered around 29 percent from from 2008-2012 as American seniors became dramatically more Republican, the pro-GOP margin shifting from 35-34 in 2008 to 39-29 in 2012. 

White evangelicals have become similarly more Republican at the same time. So on one look, the decline in Republican belief in evolution is perfectly consistent with one of the most fundamental trends in American politics: a greying, born-again Republican Party increasingly out of step with the rest of America’s political views." --Think Progress

USAToday:


"While nearly two-thirds of Americans say humans have evolved over time, a third of U.S. adults disagree, according to new survey results from the Pew Research Center. 

 The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project report...found that 33% think "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." 

Sixty percent agreed with evolution. Among those who agree with human evolution, about half attribute it to "natural processes such as natural selection." 

Whereas, 24% of adults say "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things." The survey also found disagreement across political and religious lines. 

 Among white evangelical Protestants, 64% say that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."  

Surprising Number Of Americans Don't Believe In Evolution

There's good reason the GOP is seen as the anti-science party.  The recent poll on the number of GOPers who do not accept Evolution explains that reason.


And don't miss this:


Bill Nye To Debate Evolution At Kentucky Creation Museum



UPDATE:


P.E. commenter, B.B.Idaho, linked to this interesting article on why only 6% of scientists identify with the GOP (and B.B.I. wondered why that number was so high).

"One of the great political shifts in the past decade has been the move of scientists toward the Democratic Party, a casualty of the Republican Party’s war on reality. It’s not about politics for scientists, it’s about the fact that only one party accepts scientific findings on everything from global warming to evolutionary theory to what does and doesn’t prevent pregnancy. 

Only 6 percent of scientists identify as Republican, whereas 55 percent identify as Democratic. 

In October of 2012, 68 Nobel-winning scientists co-signed a strong endorsement of Obama, saying the President “has delivered on his promise to renew our faith in science-based decision making.

****************

"Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun."   --Richard Dawkins



"So in my freshman year at the University of Alabama, learning the literature on evolution, what was known about it biologically, just gradually transformed me by taking me out of literalism and increasingly into a more secular, scientific view of the world."   --E. O. Wilson 



"If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve."   ---Jello Biafra 

"How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president?"

Here are some updates on the implementation of the A.C.A. that will help counter the paranoia being promoted by conservative bloggers, pundits, and pols (via Daily Kos):



"Republicans are constantly blurring the line between people who lose a plan and people who lose coverage.  That is, many people might lose a particular insurance plan but immediately be presented with other options.

Now, a new report from the minority staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has destroyed the foundation of that particular GOP claim. It projects that only 10,000 people will lose coverage because of the ACA and be unable to regain it — or in other words, 0.2 percent of the oft-cited 5 million cancellations statistic."



Here's how "compassionate conservatism" in Republican-run states treats their poor citizens (it's ugly):


Ryan Cooper: "Because of the decision on Obamacare by the Supreme Court, which left the decision to expand Medicaid (a key part of Obamacare) up to the individual states, most Republican-controlled states refused said expansion, leaving substantial portions of the citizenry in the lurch. Ed Kilgore has been calling this the “wingnut hole,” and many have been speculating about its size. How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president? Well, happy 2014, dear readers: initial estimates are in, and we have 5 million lucky winners!"


And here's something to think about when you hear the howlers on the right try to drown out reality with their predictions of doom and the end of America as we all know it:

"January 1 2014. In the midst of constant turmoil over websites, enrollment snafus, policy cancellations, political attack ads, and more, we are missing something important. January 1 2014 may well be the most transformational day in the history of United States health care policy, ever, and nobody seems to notice. What's so big about 1/1/2014? First, this is the first day of fundamental reform of the business and regulation of health insurance in all 50 states: 

 • Banning the practice of "medical underwriting" by which insurance companies rate enrollees based on their health status and medical history, 

• Banning pre-existing condition exclusions from US health insurance everywhere, 

• Establishing "guaranteed issue" as the new operating paradigm for individual health insurance, 

• Completely eliminating lifetime limits on all health insurance, and 

• Establishing "minimum essential benefits" that must be included in nearly all licensed health insurance policies everywhere."


President Harry S Truman knew what he was talking about, and his observation on the GOP's core values still applies today.  Nothing has changed in the GOP's philosophy of sticking it to the poor, the helpless, and our veterans:

A friend read my blog today and sent me this:

Same as it ever was.

HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE!

The Most Admired Man in the World for the 6th Year in a Row:

What?  He beat out Ted Cruz?   Nooooooooooooooooo!





A new Gallup poll will be more bitter medicine for the Right. After a solid year of harping on Benghazi lies in an attempt to bring down both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a new Gallup poll finds both ranked as the number one man and woman Americans most admire. 

Every year since 1948, Gallup asks Americans to name the man and woman living anywhere in the world they admire most. 

This year’s poll was conducted December 5-8, and for the 6th year in a row, Obama has been named the Most Admired Man.

h/t PoliticusUSA