New Look

…any thoughts?

American Fork - now curing gays (updated)

The Desert Morning News, a backwater Utah newspaper that tailors to Mormons, reported today that the PTA of American Fork High School will be holding a forum titled “Protecting Our Youth From Serious Social Problems,” which will discuss such serious social problems as pornography and same-gender attraction.

Belinda Jensen, local yokel and PTA president, said “I think sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS are an important reason to look at this, I also believe that it is a lifestyle that is not conducive to families.” Obvious point on the latter half - Mormon’s overwhelming voted yes on Amendment 3, which banned same-sex marriage in Utah. A gay lifestyle can’t be conducive to families if you make it illegal for two consenting adults to marry. But STDs and AIDS? Last I checked pornography gave you neither, and AIDS has become a heterosexual disease more so than a homosexual one.

Jensen’s concern is over the homosexual agenda - which includes such equal rights as offering gay and lesbian youths school clubs. The forum also aims to help kids “avoid and overcome” same-gender attraction. Avoid and overcome? What, exactly, does that entail? Electroconvulsive shock therapy of yesteryear? Avoiding and overcoming will simply result in anxiety and closeting - how likely would it be for a gay youth in the area to come out after such a conference is held?

American Fork’s view of homosexuals, or any such ‘other’, is indicative of many prevailing attitudes of religious zealots and uninformed bigots, both inside and outside of Utah. The fact that Utah is so cloistered doesn’t excuse it from infringing on human rights. I’m a proponent of free speech of any kind, but if these people want to host their Klan meetings then they should do so outside of publicly-funded PTA meetings.

UPDATE: After seeing the agenda, Principal Carolyn Merrill canceled the forum, saying the entire board hadn’t agreed to include the issue of same-gender attraction. Standard of Liberty co-founder Stephen Graham circulated an email blaming it on “someone from the homosexual activist group.”

What You Should Think About Iraq

On “Are we ‘morally responsible’ for Iraq?“, Demonweed left a comment that I felt warranted its own post. His blog can be found here, and though it hasn’t been updated since January, there is a small archive offering insightful views on “What You Should Think” about a variety of topics, such as organized religion, that I’m apt to agree with. His reply is posted below in its entirety.

***

As I see it, Iraq today is the result of two historic blunders. The first was the decision to go to war. Saddam Hussein was a very bad man, but did he have to go? There must have been at least ten other regimes at that time that, if subject to forced change, would have involved spilling less innocent blood while creating a better prognosis for the development of a civilized open society.

As a humanitarian initiative, “liberating” the people of Iraq would have been an unusual priority even if the planning and execution of the venture were not the product of abysmal incompetence. Compounding this is the fact that the U.S. did have a compelling interest in bringing about regime change . . . in Afghanistan. It may just have been the ultimate “taking your eye off the ball” moment when our national focus shifted from bold counterterrorism efforts to bloodlust for an unrelated dictator.

However, so much less blood could have been spilled if there was someone with a shred of personal integrity able to get relevant facts about the world into the ear of George W. Bush. If the infamous “Mission Accomplished” moment were followed by American actions suggesting the mission had been accomplished, who can say what the prospects would be for both the U.S. and Iraq going forward from here. Instead, what was so clearly a military occupation continued to be mischaracterized as a war. Worse yet, it remains a war in which objectives are not clearly defined (not to mention a war for which talk of an exit strategy is forbidden amongst executive branch insiders.)

Ultimately it is all about saving face. Possibly the President himself does not understand how much better everything would have been if the invasion had been followed by a prompt demilitarization of our Iraq policy. Certainly he remains hostile to that lifesaving approach.

As with immigration (not to mention a host of lesser issues) John McCain has displayed his own level of personal integrity by shifting position to capture the support of the Republican base. Here it is hard to tell if he is so deeply clueless about geopolitical realities or if he is merely grasping at whatever themes he believes will motivate Republican voters to show up at polling places this November. Either way, a war hero deserves better than to be dragged into such sewers, and the United States of America deserves better than to be led by anyone who supports one of the bloodiest and most blatant follies in the history of American foreign policy.

Did Hillary just compare herself to FDR?

Upset over McCain’s statement on the mortgage crisis that it’s not the government’s responsibility to “reward those who act irresponsibly,” Hillary equated McCain to Herbert Hoover, president during the Great Depression, whose inaction led to widespread ‘hoovervilles’ and did little to resolve the recession.

Is she comparing herself to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hoover’s successor, who took a more proactive approach to resolving the Great Depression? Unlike Hoover’s failed policy of lifting oneself up by one’s own bootstraps, the New Deal programs of FDR assisted nearly-bankrupt banks and “saved capitalism in 8 days” during the “First 100 Days” of his presidency through emergency banking acts.

Hillary’s proposal for solving the mortgage crisis is both progressive, costly, and akin to FDR’s program of government intervention: she would immediately allocate $30 billion to be used to help states fight foreclosures. A 90-day moratorium would be enacted on foreclosures and rates on subprime mortgages would be frozen for at least 5 years. Lastly, legislation would be introduced that would provide legal protection to mortgage services.

Now is not the time for the next president to sit back and do nothing. If we are entering a recession it will require government intervention to bring us out of it. McCain’s policy of not helping those affected, because of his erroneous belief that they brought it upon themselves, has been proven historically false.

While no one would equate Hillary to FDR in terms of charisma or oratory ability, her policies of government intervention in a time of crisis is similar to what FDR implemented during the Great Depression and WW2. It took, however, a do-nothing president before people were so fed-up that they voted in FDR, who expanded the federal government’s role in an effort to bail the country out of economic turmoil. Hopefully now only one do-nothing president is sufficient.

Are we “morally responsible” for Iraq?

Senator McCain said today that “[the nation] has incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq,” and our leaving would not only cause the area “to sink back into chaos and extremism,” but would result in ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide.

This novel idea of the United States caring about genocide is news not only to Darfurians, but also to the Kurds during the gassing by Saddam, then backed by the U.S., during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s, or the Jews in World War 2. We carry a long history of “never agains,” but for the first time in our history we are to believe that this is more than just rhetoric. Apparently McCain, and the rest of the Republican Party, actually cares about the ethnic cleansing this time.

Spending 100 more years in Iraq may seem somewhat daunting, but if it’s able to stop ethnic cleansing in the region, is it worth it? No matter how many U.S. armed forces we lose? No matter how pathetically low our international standing becomes? No matter how weakened we become as a nation?

The want to stay in Iraq is driven by two forces: (1) cheap oil; and (2) the need to appear militarily mighty. McCain’s incarceration during the failed Vietnam war is apparently still ripe in his mind. He would rather subject more soldiers to their deaths than simply cut our losses and leave. Iraq is the Vietnam War for the 2000s, and only time will tell which will be remembered as the bigger foreign blunder.

The only people who should be held morally responsible are the leaders who knowingly lied to the American public to create support for the war. The American people and U.S. soldiers should not be held accountable for lying politicians.

Boycott the Games? Why not boycott the country?

China is a lot like the United States. They are both large, powerful countries who couldn’t care less about human rights. With the recent turmoil in Tibet, it seems that China is winning the ‘how authoritarian and secretive can we be?’ war.

Scant protesters, upset over the Olympic Torch relay to China, have managed to make themselves seen in snippets of news clips. France has taken the lead in contemplating a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but what, other than hurting the athletes who have been training their entire life, will this actually accomplish? Will this send a message to China?

I have an idea that will send an even greater message without hurting people who just want to perform. Boycott the entire country. Boycott the imports, boycott the exports. Cut off all trade completely. Hell, maybe even try some diplomacy first. Diplomacy is when two nations talk to each other to try and reach an agreement; I know, the last 8 years have made me forget, as well.

Boycotting the Olympics is as stupid idea as boycotting Exxon for getting some gasoline from that crazy South American socialist Chavez. It’s as pointless as changing the name of ‘German toast’ to ‘French toast’ in World War 1 and later to ‘Freedom Toast’ during the Iraq war. The only message this sends is that the global community is too stupid and childish to resolve world affairs.

4,000 - When is it enough?

The death toll in Iraq reached 4,000 late Sunday night, a number to which Dick Cheney might reply “they volunteered” or simply, “so?”. The surge was successful only in killing more U.S. forces this year than any other since the war started. The violence continues to spread, and the death toll on both sides continues to rise.

The war in Iraq has eroded our standing in the global community. Are we the world’s gestapo? Is our hand in every honey jar? The outpouring of support from the world following 9/11 was squelched once we entered into an unjust war with a country that we knew played no part in the attack on the Twin Towers and harbored no WMDs. Patriotic rhetoric coaxed a nation to attack another for its natural resources. Sure, there would be some civilian casualties, but in the end we would continue to have cheap oil.

Iraq is the biggest American foreign blunder since Vietnam. The question isn’t when we will win the war, it’s when we will cut our losses and leave. What we are fighting is a poorly planned, executed, and unwinnable war. The only thing worse than soldiers dying in vain is more soldiers dying in vain.

How much do people honestly care about what is going on in this world? Popular culture is the opiate of the masses. Even the nightly news has become an entertainment enterprise. Who can be bothered to pay attention when the news is upsetting? American Idol isn’t.

Vacation

I will be on vacation until March 24th. There will be no new posts until that time.

Christianity Gene Isolated

Homosexual geneticists at the Pink Tiger Research Institute have isolated the gene that makes people Christians, and are hoping to isolate the cause of Christianity altogether by the next decade. The method of isolation has already been shown to work in rats, and hopefully a cure for humans will be found soon. In the meantime, gay scientists have begun counseling Christians to make positive changes to their lifestyle and values.

Mormons A Minority in Utah?

Once bipartisan, the intermingling of church and state has resulted in Utah’s failure to vote democratic in a presidential election since 1964, though admittedly Barry Goldwater’s true conservatism clashed with the ideals of Lyndon B. Johnson. But the political landscape of Utah may soon change.

The owners of Messages From Hell believe that practicing Mormons are now a minority in Utah. Written by the founders of Whole Life Ministries, a nondenominational church in American Fork, the blog is a tirade against Mormons and the city of American Fork in Utah. In January of 2008 police in American Fork raided Happy Valley Tattoo and Piercing, owned by Gregory Lowrey who doubles as tattoo artist and pastor, after accusations that a minor saw a book of ‘adult piercings’.

Whole Life Ministries believes that the Mormon population in Utah is much lower than LDS church records would lead one to believe. The disparity between church records, which puts the LDS population at roughly 61% in Utah, and the number of practicing Mormons, which Whole Life believes to be around 30%, results from convoluted record-keeping practices. But in the belief that every person who is not a Mormon is a Democrat, Whole Life Ministries advocates the mobilization of Utah Democrats, thinking rather erroneously it will result in a Democratic landslide, if only liberals can overcome their learned helplessness caused by the majority rule.

We can create a more fair representation of ALL Utahans by their government in just one year by simply getting the real majority to the polls this fall! I’m not talking liberalizing Utah, this would be LIBERATION from unfair taxation and religious monarchy! All we have to do is get the news out that the LDS are the minority… And of course, we need to register and vote.

People vote through a narrow spectrum, realizing only what is in their best interest. Never in history has an educated electoral body existed. Religions, even nondenominational ones at that, refine people’s beliefs and affect the results on election day. People should vote for a greater good and take into consideration all peoples when doing so, a hallmark of a secular nation. But the overall message of the Whole Life Ministries article is important - everyone should vote, as long as they are educated on the issues.

The article can be found here.

The Prison-Industrial Complex

The change of public opinion due to the rise of crime in the 1990s has led to the belief that a majority of Americans deserve to be behind bars and has translated into the rise of the prison-industrial complex.

While crime rates have fallen, incarceration rates have simultaneously risen. $44 billion in tax dollars is spent yearly on incarcerating roughly 1.6 million individuals nationwide, roughly 1 in 100, more than any other country including the authoritarian state of China.

In his farewell speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned against the military-industrial complex, saying “the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” These powers, now obviously blatant in the defensive sphere, have become applicable to the incarceration sphere as well. Bureaucratic entanglement has increased spending on imprisonment, including the building and maintenance of new prisons, due to a number of causes including public opinion, ignorance, and the politics of fear.

Minorities, minor drug offenders, illiterates, and victims of three-strike laws represent a large portion of prisoners. Transient William Yazzie Benally, pictured, has been arrested 452 times. His record speaks not to the growing need of incarceration, but rehabilitation. Prisons accomplish nothing but the punishment of individuals, usually for minor crimes.

Perpetrators of all crimes deserve the chance of rehabilitation. Too long has the belief of an eye for an eye been the law of the land. Leaving a permanent mark on a person’s record, nearly 70% of inmates are repeat offenders. Reform programs drop this number to less than 10%. Education and rehabilitation, not punishment, should be the ultimate goal of our failed penal system.

McCain + Bush + hug = ?

This picture brings to mind a number of questions:

1. Isn’t it a little emasculating to close your eyes when hugging another man?
2. Is proper hand placement no longer above the waist?
3. Is it appropriate to smell the clothing of the person you’re hugging?
4. Is Bush heiling Hitler, or just swinging around for a wide hug?

Climate Changed

As the debate on climate change nears culmination in scientific consensus, the controversy from dissenting groups proliferates in an attempt to disprove the science behind human-induced environmental changes.

Earlier this week the Heartland Institute met for a two-day conference to potentially debunk the science behind global warming. Funded by ExxonMobil until 2005, the Institute is made up of members with no binding theory on what, if not humans, is causing global warming. Some members even argue that humans are a potential cause but the problem cannot be solved by cutting greenhouse gas emission.

Dissenting groups can offer no viable science in dispute of climate change. Debate centered on teaching it in public schools is as irrelevant as is the debate behind evolution. Uneducated people arguing against either one are ignorant of the science and the scientific community’s consensus in support of both theories. Arguing that you can find me whatever number of scientists in opposition is akin to agreeing with the fifth dentist who doesn’t recommend toothpaste. I thought it was apt to end with a quote from the New York Times report on the conference:

The meeting was largely framed around science, but after the luncheon, when an organizer made an announcement asking all of the scientists in the large hall to move to the front for a group picture, 19 men did so.

The Homosexual Agenda

Dr Lowrey has finally stumbled upon an oft rumored but never seen copy of the gay agenda. Just as I surmised in an earlier post it includes indoctrinating youngsters, but what impressed me the most was how efficient homosexuals are at multitasking.

The Homosexual Agenda
6:00 AM Gym and Tanning Bed
8:00 AM Breakfast (oatmeal and egg whites)
9:00 AM Hair Appointment
10:00 AM Shopping
12:00 PM Brunch (Salmon Benedict, roasted potatoes, mimosa)

2:00PM
1) Assume complete control of the US Federal, State, and Local Governments, as well as all other national governments;
2) Recruit all straight youngsters to our debauched lifestyle;
3) Destroy all healthy heterosexual marriages;
4) Replace all school counselors in grades K-12 with agents of Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels;
5) Establish planetary chain of “homo-breeding gulags”, where overmedicated imprisoned straight women are turned into artificially-impregnated baby factories to produce prepubescent love slaves for our devotedly pederastic gay leadership
6) Bulldoze all houses of worship; and,
7) Secure total control of the Internet and all mass media for the exclusive use of child pornographers.

2:30 PM Get beauty rest to prevent facial wrinkles caused by the stress of world conquest.
3:30 PM Protein Shake
4:00 PM Tea Dance
6:00 PM Light Dinner (soup, salad, and skinless chicken breast, with a crisp Chardonnay)
8:00 PM Theatre
11:00 PM Bed du Jour

The full article can be found here.

Chris Buttars - Illegal Immigrant

The Voice of Utah has shaded some light on Senator Chris Buttars’ shady past. Apparently his great-grandfather was a polygamist who never naturalized nor legally married.

Doesn’t it make your blood boil? This man and woman, living together in sin, yet wanting the same benefits as a real marriage? The nerve! The only thing that could have made this worse would have been if Clarkston, Utah, had a domestic partner registry. Illicit relationships like that shouldn’t be encouraged.

The whole situation is akin to the Larry Craig’s of the world: quick to pass anti-gay legislation while getting their jollies in men’s rooms. Maybe soon it will be discovered that Buttars is actually a black, gay man. Would that make him an Uncle Tom, or a Log Cabin Republican? I realize that’s not witty - if you have a term for the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom let me know.

The full article can be found here.

A Candidate Actually Against Zionism?

H RES 951, a bill to “condemn the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians”, overwhelming passed in the House yesterday, 404-1. The lone, dissenting voice? Ron Paul - here is what he said in opposition to it.

Madam Speaker: I rise in opposition to H. Res. 951. As one who is consistently against war and violence, I obviously do not support the firing of rockets indiscriminately into civilian populations. I believe it is appalling that Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured. Unfortunately, legislation such as this is more likely to perpetuate violence in the Middle East than contribute to its abatement. It is our continued involvement and intervention – particularly when it appears to be one-sided – that reduces the incentive for opposing sides to reach a lasting peace agreement.

Additionally, this bill will continue the march toward war with Iran and Syria, as it contains provocative language targeting these countries. The legislation oversimplifies the Israel/Palestine conflict and the larger unrest in the Middle East by simply pointing the finger at Iran and Syria. This is another piece in a steady series of legislation passed in the House that intensifies enmity between the United States and Iran and Syria. My colleagues will recall that we saw a similar steady stream of provocative legislation against Iraq in the years before the US attack on that country.

I strongly believe that we must cease making proclamations involving conflicts that have nothing to do with the United States. We incur the wrath of those who feel slighted while doing very little to slow or stop the violence.

The other 404 members of the House, and those not voting, seem obliviously ignorant that the Israel-Palestinian conflict has another side, namely that of the Palestinians. As Paul points out, it is our one-sided involvement that hinders an agreement between the two countries.

Our security only creates the need for our security. Our international hatred stems from our spending more militarily than any other country and, with it, feeling the need to police the world. If the United States were to adopt Paul’s radical non-interventionism, the same non-interventionism of our Founding Fathers, we could regain our standing in the world. Cosmopolitanism is required in a global community, and if a nation who terms itself the ’sole remaining superpower’ only has its best interests at heart, others will follow suit.

Canadian Thoughts on Universal Healthcare

Dr. Carolyn, of No Quarter USA, has written an article about her experience as a doctor in Canada’s healthcare system. She advocates Hillary Clinton, believing that her healthcare plan is a gateway to a more socialized U.S. healthcare system, as seen in Canada and Europe. I’m apt to side with her. It’s unfortunate Hillary’s first try was ruined by Harry and Louise.

Instead of advocating for amending the Constitution of the United States to conform to “God’s standards” (whatever that means), Americans and their government should demand to amend their Constitution to conform to human rights standards. The only candidate who has shown an ability to do this, again, is Senator Clinton. She has already demonstrated the ability to pass legislation, which provides free healthcare to anyone who became ill or injured as a result of helping at Ground Zero of the World Trade Center, following the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The article can be found here.

SB 777 - De-Christianizing the Nation

 

With the signing of Senate Bill 777 last fall, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has advanced the de-Christianizing of the nation, realizing the ideals upon which it was founded.

Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, is concerned that, with the advent of SB 777, children are being “taught to become” homosexual, a lifestyle he sees as “controversial,” and claims schools will become “indoctrination centers.” Thomasson forgets that this bill simply reverses a trend of Christianizing public schools.

Legislation banning suicide and gay marriage and controversy surrounding abortion and intelligent design are indicative of a solidification of Church and State. There is no ground upon which one can stand other than that of religion in making an argument against gay marriage. The precepts upon which this nation was founded, set forth by the Founding Fathers, were not those of the Christian religion.

The far-right Christians are frightened that this bill will make their children tolerant of other people and turn them into the next generation of Democrats. In reality, SB 777 is a step towards a secular nation, as it was intended to be, and towards a new generation of people who are accepting of others’ differences.

 

 

 

Hillary VS Obama (& McCain)

As another round of voting draws to a close the Democratic race tightens, indicative of an overwhelming desire for change among voters in the United States, with both candidates amassing wins in the primary elections.

While Hillary has swept up Ohio and Rhode Island, Obama has taken Vermont and retains an ever decreasing lead in pledged delegates. A nearly even split exists in Texas, where Clinton has shored up the primary and Obama received the caucus.

The fact that the campaigns of Hillary and Obama, both unique in their own regard, are so close is indicative of the wont for change of the American populace. People have put aside the racism and sexism of yesteryear in favor of candidates whose stances on issues lie outside the hard-right mainstream of U.S. politics. Ever the minority party, the Democrat’s recent and sudden succession to power in light of what many people see as a long, unjust war may change U.S. policy for some time to come.

Even the newly-acclaimed Republican nominee, John McCain, has been accused by many hard-right conservatives of being too liberal, with lenient views on gay marriage, abortion, and immigration. Is McCain’s bid for presidency illustrative of a discontented Republican party? Though few found themselves able to vote for the radical ideas of Ron Paul, McCain offers a liberalized version of conservative politics, one that was perhaps seen before the Republican party became a vessel for religious organizations.

Is the 2008 election truly indicative of a changing population and political climate? Or is it simply dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling party? The dissenting voices of the hard-right, such as Rush Limbaugh, are perhaps the minority - adherents to either party are voting for change.