Kevin's Space

I was just reading Pam’s House Blend and came upon a great entry.  It is written by Sue Jeffers.  I hope she doesn’t mind that I copy it here.  Read it and think about the argument some Christians have the the glbt community…

So Where’s my Tax Exemption?

Now don't get me wrong.  I have plenty of christian friends.  I love them, and totally respect their faith.  It's just that I have a deeply held conviction that their belief system is unnatural and  results from a form of insanity.  So when I try to commit them to the mental health ward or support legislation restricting their ability to have children, it isn't because I don't totally respect their beliefs - its just that I think their beliefs (which I totally respect) are unhealthy and insane, and a danger to any offspring they might conceive.  I feel it is my duty to not look the other way while they continue to harm themselves with unhealthy behavior - what kind of loving friend would I be to just allow them to wallow in their delusions?  

Now, some people might think that I am out of line when I argue that christians should undergo intensive treatment to cure them of their unnatural and unhealthy lifestyle.   But again, it is my deeply held conviction that they are doomed if they don't turn away from this illness.  It is my duty to make sure they are lovingly belittled and shamed,  and to make sure that their children are taunted sufficiently as well as taught that their parents are sick.  after all, someone has to think of the children. 

Even more disturbing, these people flaunt their beliefs.  everywhere you look, there they are - shoving their existence down your throats.  I was horrified to find that there are several television shows - even networks - devoted to spreading this illness - during prime time!  when children could be watching!  Now if they want to pray in the comfort of their own homes I guess that would be ok, but there are militants intent on not only existing, but go over the line expecting people to tolerate -no- accept their beliefs.  Even worse, they are not content to practice their delusions privately - they are actively recruiting others.  They even have established schools devoted to indoctrinating children.   I lovingly dissapprove, and am devoted to helping them get well.

As I said, I totally respect their beliefs, and it is only out of this deep respect and love that I have to tell them what they are doing is not natural - have you ever seen a "christian" cat or dog?  They need to understand that what they are doing is a choice - but there is hope.  And for a substantial fee I will be happy to help them.

Since I teach World History, my students have been asking me quite a bit about the Mayan date of 2012.  Here is an article in the S.F. Chronicle.  It is pretty good.  But the best part of this article is saved for last!  Enjoy!

NASA wants you to know that the world won't end in 2012

Apparently, NASA scientists are concerned that people might think that Roland Emmerich's new disaster movie "2012" is a documentary. So they put together a Q&A to reassure the nervous masses.

2012: The real estate crisis worsens.

What you need to know (NASA comments in quotes):

Why 2012?

"The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012."

Should we be worried about mysterious planets going rogue?

"If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye."

Is what Woody Harrelson (appropriately cast as an apocalypse-predicting radio DJ) says about planetary alignments science or gibberish?

"There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible."

John Cusack, limo driver, and Woody Harrelson, nut case, discuss the end of the world.

About this doomsday calendar business ...

"The Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar."

What about meteors and asteroids?

"... Nothing is predicted to hit in 2012."

The earth's crust won't do a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?

"A bait-and-shift to fool people."

So what you're saying is ...

"Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012 ... scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."

There you have it. No calamities expected in 2012. What could possibly go wrong in an election year?

SFGate Blog : NASA wants you to know that the world won't end in 2012

I’ve always liked Dan Savage.  Now I really like him.  Here is what he has to say about Marriage:

The Rhode Island Governor vetoed legislation that was passed on October that allowed gay couples to make funeral arrangements for their partners!  For Christ’s sake—gay people in Rhode Island can’t even get access to the dead body of their partners!  This guy is way over the top.  Maybe people should start taking over funeral homes and the state medical examiner’s office.  There is NO WAY IN HELL that a state agency would stop me from making arrangements for Doug.  I can’t help but think of one of the rights I have, in the Constitution, that is protected…

Listen what this bastard has to say:

“This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue.”

So how in the hell can collecting a body of a partner be an attack on ‘traditional marriage’?  Should married people only have the right to this???  Why???  I hope there is a huge outcry in Rhode Island about this.  This is an attack on private citizens and it should be stopped. 

I just heard the good news about Washington State!  Even though it is ‘everything but marriage’ (which to me is ‘separate but equal’) it is still good.  Referendum 71 passed by 52%.  I just want to thank my brother-in-law Paul and sister-in-law Monica for voting for this!

It was a pretty disappointing day with the Maine news.  It reminded me of exactly a year ago when I was sitting in the same place that the Maine glbt community is sitting in now.  However, there is some good news is all of this.  Here in California gay marriage was rejected by only 51.9% of the vote.  In Maine, it was only 52% of the vote.  Those anti-gay crusaders have nothing to be proud of today, and in fact, they need to feel very worried.  They have a bare majority.  This is good news in the long run.  How far we have come.  We need to keep talking about this issue to everyone.  It needs to be brought up over and over again.  The more we talk about it, the more it will be seen that we are not diseased anti-Christs, but real people who love their partners and their families.

I was a bit late carving the pumpkin this year.  I picked up on on Thursday and did it on Saturday.  The pic is below.  It isn’t my pattern—the S.F. Chronicle had a bunch of pictures of pumpkins and I just copied one.  I thought it was pretty funny!  We had about 50 kids come to the door and I gave away 8 pounds of candy.  We had more, but our friend Michael stopped by around 8:30 and we went out to dinner.

I have been trying to be good about not dragging a conversation I have with other blogs into this one.  For one, I usually feel guilty about doing this, especially when I don’t let the blog owner know I am doing this.  But this time I have been invited to do it. 

I will fully admit that I read an anti-Obama blog called TalkWisdom.  It is written by a woman called Christine.  Her blog used to be anti-gay, but the threat of Obama is more of a threat to her than the ‘gay agenda.’  I have to admit that I like Christine.  I don’t know why, but I fully believe that if people are going to have a conversation about something, they need to find some type of common ground.  The common ground that I have with her (although she may not share it with me) is that I can sort-of understand her fear.  She hates Obama with a passion. She thinks he lies about who he is and that he lies about the direction he wants to take us.  Now when I say I understand that it certainly doesn’t mean that I believe what she writes. I don’t believe any of it.  Conspiracy theories never interested me. But I can relate because I felt a dread when I was living in Australia when Bush was put into office without the majority vote.  This was especially the case because I really liked President Clinton.  I felt a dread for all the glbt people in the U.S. because a Republican always means that there will be no movement forward in causes of civil rights.  I felt a dread when the war in Iraq was started over the weapons of mass destruction.  Funny that—the wmd were never found, and therefore thousands of thousands of people were killed over this lie that George W. Bush wanted the country to believe. 

What started this with Christine is yet another anti-Obama posting.  She starts it out with a picture of President Obama:

I am not surprised when I see things at Christine’s blog like this.  She has moved away from being a Christian blog (at least that is how she refers to it) to being an anti-Obama blog.  You can find everything there from statements like Obama is a communist, Marxist who is going to overthrow this country and turn it into a Muslim nation (because of course he is a Muslim).  And I usually leave comments as well.  I don’t leave nasty comments either.  I try to point out the hypocrisy in some of the postings.  Anyway, Christine put up this post and gave some video of the ‘blessed’ Glenn Beck trying to show all the deception that Obama is doing (I find it funny that this part of the Republican party is always referring to Obama as our Messiah, but yet this wing of the Republican Party has made Glenn Beck their own Messiah who will save the entire country).  However, I didn’t see anything in Christine’s blog about the giant lie that led to thousands of people dead in Iraq.  I pointed that out to her.  She refused to print my comment.  All she said was:

October 27, 2009 9:05:00 AM PDT

Christinewjc said...

Note to Kevin -
Your comment had absolutely NOTHING to do with this topic.
Try again.

I was a bit surprised the Christine could not make the link between her blog posting titled “Obama Admin Uses “Interpersonal Deception” Methods [Update 2]” and the lie that George W. Bush used to get us to go to war.  Why not just print the comment?  I then tried to make the link totally clear to her, but she still refused to admit that this great lie led to great death and destruction. 

She then writes:

October 28, 2009 9:27:00 AM PDT

Christinewjc said...

Kevin -
You are entitled to your own opinion.
This blog post is not about the former administration. It is about the current one.
If you want to argue about the past administration - go to another blog. I often hear that the Daily Kossacks still like to bash President Bush. Perhaps you could find a Bush-bashing home there for yourself.

So I told her I would do that, but do it here.  I don’t think that pointing out that the lie that George W. Bush told is “Bush Bashing.”  Everyone knows what happened.  No WMDs were ever found in Iraq and they were the whole reason we went in (well, that and the supposed free oil we were going to siphon away).  And everyone still thinks about it every time another body bag comes home.  And for me, even if Obama is lying about something (and I don’t believe he is), it in no way compares to everything that has happened in Iraq. 

Anyway, the comparison is pretty clear.  If someone wants to ignore this fact, that is up to them.  But I figure if I am asked to write about something elsewhere, I might as well take up the challenge.

I’ve been wondering—how many people who don’t have healthcare are against what President Obama is trying to do?  Or is it only those who have health care that are complaining? 

I can’t seem to find too many people who are unemployed who are against getting health insurance.  If the poor can’t afford it, should the country provide it for them?  I can’t think of a single reason why the country shouldn’t do this.  If we can find billions and billions and billions for a war that was based on a lie, then why can’t we find billions for making sure that kids have health insurance.  It seems like a no-brainer to me. 

President Obama will sign the legislation that includes the Hate Crime bill tomorrow at 2:30!!!  I won’t be home then, but I am certain there will be lots of cameras rolling to record this historic event.  We will be protected at the federal level.  And not only that, we will be recognized at the federal level.  Soon, the anti-gay movement will be the pariah of this country, just like the racists.  It can’t come soon enough!

With that title you would think that there was an immanent attack coming on all of Christianity.  You know, from Islam or another religion.  Nope, it is the homosexual attack on Christians which they are preparing for!

This title (Christians on High Alert Over Hate Crimes Bill) comes from the American Family Associations ‘news’ arm—OneNewsNow.  It is pretty ridiculous.  I really can’t wait to see how many thought crimes are punished under the Hate Crime Bill that President Obama is going to sign.  My guess is that the grand total of thought crimes punished under this will be ZERO, mostly because the HC Bill protects free speech. 

Here are a few of the comments by these ‘Christians’:

These are dangerous times in which we find ourselves. I fully support any constitutional challenge, because it IS an infringement of rights protected by the First Amendment! No wonder our Founders feared the government -- they knew what could happen with one which is out of control, such as our current administration and Congress.

It is just the beginning of the end for the U.S. of A.

 

Bless those who come against these Demonic forces which undermine our society and the very future of our great country!

Another small chipping away of our constitutional rights. The phrase "all men are created equal" should have been edited to add, "but some are more equal than others." I pray for our leaders that their eyes may be opened by God and that those in leadership would see that the path they take is in rebellion to God. Time to send some messages to the leadership of this country during the next election that we are their employer, they work for us, we DO NOT work for them. It's Gods money for our use not their money for their use.

(Interesting that this last commenter probably has no clue that his/her choice of religion made that person ‘more equal than others’—at least according to their own skewed knowledge.  It is also crazy to be talking about God’s money—Jesus says give unto Caesar that which is Caesars (meaning money).

The only reason these so-called Christians should be on high alert is because their outdated thoughts on gays and lesbians and their prejudice will soon be frowned up.

And what are these people afraid of?  Here is a good example of an ad from Pepsico that the American Family Association hates (really!):

I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time.  All that is left is for President Obama to pass it, and he will by the end of the month!!!

Now, let the hate crime bill do what it is supposed to do:  penalize thoughts!!!  :)  Sorry—I couldn’t resist.  As anyone with a brain knows, the Hate Crime Legislation has nothing to do with criminalizing thoughts—only violence.  All you have to do is read the bill.  It specifically says (in order to appease the religious right who would rather the Hate Crime Bill not pass) that free speech is not involved.

Now on to other issues—getting rid of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.  Getting rid of the Defense of Marriage law.

Just around Labor Day one of our friends asked us if we wanted to help demolish his kitchen so he could renovate.  It inspired us, so we went home the next day and started to gut the small bathroom off of our bedroom.  The tiles were loose around the toilet, so we knew we had water damage.  So it began with taking off the tiles and seeing that the subfloor was rotted.  We took the old one out, installed a new one (only half of the bathroom needed a new subfloor). We then retiled, got a new vanity/lights and installed a ventilation fan.  Today I sealed the grout on the fish mosaic I made for over the shower and the bathroom is now finished.  We are pretty happy with it since we have never done any work like this before.  I was also pretty happy that I was able to get a circular saw and jig saw.  Today was renovation graduation day, so I picked up my first tool-belt!  Next week we start on the other bathroom.  The tiles are loose around the bathtub, so I think that is going to be quite a bit more work.  Anyway, here are a series of pictures showing the work.  The final two pictures show the finished bathroom.

The old bathroom:

The rotten subfloor

The rotten subfloor—I’m surprised we didn’t fall through!

The new subfloor:

The hole for the ventilation fan:

T

The new tile on the floor:

The big reveal and the new mosaic (yes, you can tell I like to watch HGTV!):

I wanted to blog about this the other day, but since ‘Matthew’ left a comment on a blog I had written a couple of years ago about the Christian founding of this country, I thought I would write it now. 

I didn’t hear of this Bible written by Thomas Jefferson until the other night when I finally watched a documentary by Bill Maher called Religulous.  I thought it was really good.  Anyway, there is a mention of a Bible that was created by Thomas Jefferson.  We keep hearing over and over that this country was founded on Christian principles.  Certainly Thomas Jefferson was one of these founders.  However, Thomas Jefferson apparently did not like all the miracles and angels and prophecy that he was reading in the standard bible.  He didn’t believe it.  So he decided to correct the bible and wrote his own. You can read this Bible here.  Clearly he didn’t believe that the Bible was the Word of God, since he decided to rewrite it…

So next time you hear about our Found Fathers being Christian—you can now read what Thomas Jefferson thought about his ‘Christian’ faith. 

Back in March 2006 I posted a blog about a guy who received a Cease and Desist order from the fundamentalist law firm Liberty Council.  The Liberty Council goes around creating money for itself by stirring up problems.  Here is my original post, and below that I put a comment that was just left by someone named Matthew two days ago.  I put it here because there is no way that someone reading my blog would notice some comments put in a nearly 4 year old post.

March 24

ACLU vs. Liberty Counsel

A couple of days ago I blogged about Justinsomnia and all the problems that this so-called "Liberty Counsel" was causing.  The ACLU has offered to help Justin.  It is worth reading the letter that the ACLU sent to LC.  I am so happy that someone is fighting back against these fundamentalists.  Their cease and desist letters are nothing but hollow threats and should be treated as such.

Here is what ‘Matthew” left:

Matthew wrote:

You should pack your bags and leave this country if you don't believe in the values this country was founded on! In God we Trust! The ACLU is a disgrace to this nation! Protesting at a fallen soldiers funeral, suing those who practice their religious freedoms... Misguided souls who we should all pray for. The Liberty Counsel is the breath of fresh air that this country needs. WE WILL NO LONGER SIT IDLY BY AND SEE THIS COUNTRY BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!

2 days ago | Delete

Here are my responses:

Matthew, why are you so angry? Did you even read the links I provided? "In God We Trust"? Don't you know that this did not show up on coins until the Civil War--This statement was used nearly 100 years after the founding of this country. The values this country were founded on were Deist ideals. I suggest you look it up. The Liberty Council is a bunch of thugs that just create work for themselves, if you ask me. So you think I want to bring down this country? That is pretty funny. I just want to make sure we are all treated equal--and this is something that the religious right does not like. I also suggest you do some homework on the history of all the religious wars in Europe. Christians won't hesitate to kill other Christians over who has the more correct version. We have freedom of religion in this country to prevent that type of massacre from happening. By the way, that freedom also covers people who practice different faiths (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam) and those who want nothing to do with religion.

6 minutes ago | Delete

By the way Matthew--all Justinsomnia did was create a parody of an ex-gay billboard and Liberty Council sent him a cease and desist order. So who is trying to destroy this country by preventing free speech? And guess what the outcome was? Liberty Council backed off. Hmm. It seems they were wrong in the first place. Thank God for the ACLU!

1 minute ago | Delete

I’m not sure what Matthew means by ‘not sitting idly’ anymore?  Sounds kind of threatening, especially with all those scary capital letters…  I don’t think he realizes that I wrote that post 3.5 years ago.  If I have been actively trying to destroy this country, I am already 3.5 years ahead of Matthew.  But seriously, anyone who doesn’t believe in the freedom of speech isn’t really an American.  The ACLU sent their letter to Liberty Council because they told Justinsomnia that he could not create a parody with an image used by an ex-gay group.  That is trying to prevent free speech.  And Liberty Council knew it—but without the ACLU, Justinsomnia would have been bullied by the so-called Cease and Desist order they received. 

Doug came home tonight and noticed that one side of the gate we built was kicked off the bottom hinges.  Whoever did it kicked it hard enough to break the heads of the bolts right off.  It really pissed me off since we can’t put bolts in the same place when we repair it.  I should really drive some nails through the gate so the next time it happens, they’ll think twice about doing it again…

So we called the police and there wasn’t too much they could do about it other than filing a report.  I also find it suspicious that our St. Francis statue (who is supposed to protect the house) was found flat on his face as well.  St. Francis was probably so appalled that someone who just break the gate for the heck of it (they weren’t trying to steal anything since they could have just opened the gate to come in the yard) that he just fell over.  Or he was pushed over.  But I hate to think about the punishment that comes with knocking a saint over on his face.

Today is a great day in California history.  The Gov. signed three bills into law today.  The first recognizes an official California day to celebrate the life of Harvey Milk.  The second bill he signed into law recognizes same-sex marriages that were performed in other states. The State of California must recognize those.  The third was a bill that puts more money into dealing with domestic violence in glbt relationships.

How is that for a Republican governor!  I have a love/hate relationship with our governor, but today it is only love!

I just received an email from the American Family Association.  They have someone who works there named Bryan Fischer.  He is the director of issues analysis.  Here is what he (and the article) has to say about the Hate Crime Bill that was passed in the House on Thursday and now has a very good chance of becoming law:

The bill passed by the House, he says, is alarming. (The vote on HR 2647 -- the Defense Authorization bill to which the hate crimes legislation was attached -- was 281-146; see roll call vote)

"For the first time in American history we are criminalizing thought," Fischer laments. "Thomas Jefferson said the reach of legislation should extend to actions only and not to opinions -- and now we are punishing people not just for what they did, but what they were thinking when they did it.

"It's also going to have a chilling effect on freedom of speech, especially religious speech. And [in] other places where these hate crimes bills have gone into effect, pastors have wound up in jail or fined for preaching a biblical view of homosexuality."

I think Mr. Fischer isn’t quite up to his job as someone who analyzes issues.  For one thing, he says that for the first time in our history we will have a bill that criminalizes thought.  This is an outright lie and the bill itself states that it has everything to do with physical violence and nothing to do with speech.  So much for analyzing the issue.  Mr. Fischer doesn’t seem to understand that race, religion (which most definitely is a choice) and gender has been in the hate crime legislation.  It doesn’t criminalize thoughts—even though a person has to think about committing a crime against a person of a certain religion—it only punishes that person once physical violence occurs.  Most crimes in this country are thought about before they happen—this is the basis of having separate punishments.  First degree murder happens when someone plans out the murder.  This is different than 2nd degree murder and manslaughter and so on. 

As I said, so much for being able to analyze issues.  There is a big difference between thinking about an issue and lying about it.  Unless of course Mr. Fischer hasn’t bothered to read the legislation—then he is still lying.  He just hopes that his lies take hold. 

He also states:  “I think he wants this scalp on his belt walking into that dinner.”  Hmm.

And note to Gary:  Mr. Fischer is thinking about overturning the legislation in the future:

He also has concerns about overturning such legislation in the near future. "Something like this is going to be very difficult to repeal," Fischer admits. "It's doable, but again [there's] a slim chance that Republicans or conservatives will have control of either the House or Senate in 2010 -- so we'll be fighting a rear-guard battle for some time now."

So a law will be passed and some will try to overturn it in the future. Hmm. Sounds like fascism, if you ask me (I say sarcastically).

And imagining what the Republican Party must really be like if a law is passed to protect people is then repealed.  I would bet money that they won’t try to repeal the whole thing—just the part regarding the glbt community.  They certainly wouldn’t want to take out religion—they would be eaten alive.

This is an incredible speech.  I love this guy.  I can’t believe he is our President and is standing at the HRC giving a speech.  I like how he mentioned the old views that are keeping people down.  I’m sure those who refuse to recognize that we are people who are fighting for justice and equality will be having fits soon.  Imagine George W. Bush standing up in front of the HRC saying these things!  It never happened because his views were the old views.  They will soon be a bygone era that is remembered alongside those who used religion to keep down the slaves; those who used religion to keep down women; those who used religion to keep the ‘races’ separate.  Now they use religion to keep the glbt community from gaining equality.  I’m certainly going to do my part to make sure those who are against progress are remembered—maybe not specific names, but certainly the ideas of these people.  There is no doubt in my mind that once the glbt gets its equality (despite those religious outdated views), they will move on to the next unfortunate group.  Maybe immigrants.  Maybe women.  Who knows, but it will be someone.  And I am certain that the glbt community will come to their help.  We’ve had to deal with religious persecution for a very long time. 

As you know, I am no friend of Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council.  He has a racist history and I find it hugely annoying that he has the guts to pretend to be Christian and beg for money, considering his history.

Some have questioned whether Tony Perkins is a racist.  Well, Box Turtle Bulletin has a picture of Mr. Perkins smiling and giving a speech at a racist organization called Louisiana Council of Conservative Citizens, on May 17, 1996.  He spoke again to this group in 2001. 

Here is the picture of the good Christian Tony Perkins, who runs the Family Research Council and who always signs his newsletters:  “Thank you and God bless you.”

I wonder if he was laughing about the goals of the Louisiana Council of Conservative Citizens:

(2) We believe the United States is a European country and that Americans are part of the European people. We believe that the United States derives from and is an integral part of European civilization and the European people and that the American people and government should remain European in their composition and character. …We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called “affirmative action” and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.

or maybe:

8) Cultural, national, and racial integrity. We support the cultural and national heritage of the United States and the race and civilization of which it is a part, as well as the expression and celebration of the legitimate subcultures and ethnic and regional identities of our people. We oppose all efforts to discredit, “debunk,” denigrate, ridicule, subvert, or express disrespect for that heritage. We believe public monuments and symbols should reflect the real heritage of our people, and not a politically convenient, inaccurate, insulting, or fictitious heritage.

Or maybe he is laughing because he is a white racist and believes that his skin color entitles him to be treated as special and he is feeling?  “Thank you and God bless you.” Right.