Religious Objections to Hiring GLBTQ Rears it's Ugly Head

I was about to go to the garage and put the mower back together with some new parts. Then I read the news that religious organizations with birth control exemptions are now asking to be exempt from the Federal Contractors order not to discriminate against the GLBT community. In other words, they don’t want queers of any kind working for them. Why? Well isn't it obvious?  “God Hates Fags” of all stripes. Just ask the Westboro folks.

Not so long ago blacks, Asians, women, handicapped people of all kinds and others were routinely discriminated against. And of course outted (sp?) queers. But that all changed and now there is equality for all right? This is America right? Where “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal;” is the rule, law and practice right?

No, WRONG. This has only ever been the land of the free for White Men from the get-go, and not even all of them. The rest of us have been “equalized” over the last 200 years or so by legislation to protect our rights. And now that we have them, a minority of, you got it, White Men, are working hard to take them away again.

THIS IS SUCH BULLSHIT THAT IT DEFIES LOGIC AND COMPREHENSION

Where are the defenders of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and of the Law? Oh, that’s

right, the Supreme Court said it, I believe it and that is the end of it. NO IT IS NOT THE END OF IT.

Revolution is the end of it, and I hope we are moving in that direction. I propose that we “Take Back America” as the Conservative Religious Republicans are fond of saying. But what I propose is that we take it back from THEM. Before it is too late.

Images: Various Westboro Protest signs.

Another Old Friend Passes

While the world goes by at a frightening pace, things happen over the horizon that stay unknown. Then, suddenly, you know. Such is the news of the death of a very old friend. I knew she was very ill from family Facebook postings. But the whirl of life in our household blotted out much of the world of news. Today, I read postings that said  that she had died.

Younger by many years than me, I met her and knew her as the “smart-ass teenager”, and joined the competition for her attention. I lost out to another good friend, and together they made a life and had 4 wonderful children. I knew them all and more recently have come to know them again, some more, some less. The marriage didn’t last, as many do not, and both of my friends moved on to new things.

We lost touch, she and I, but

I met her a few years ago, now older, grayer and wiser, but still with the infectious smile and laugh of the teenager. We had a little time to spend reminiscing, and then she went home to the West. We stayed in touch gently, and never got to spend more time catching up on our various successes and, yes, failures. Remember, failures are an important part of becoming who you are, not to be forgotten, but to be celebrated as teaching moments.

She died and I didn’t know. And she leaves behind 4 daughters and many friends. She did the very best she could with life, and, in the end, I think, triumphed. My heart is sad, but my memories are good, yes, even the infamous Rainbow Farm saga. We had fun, all of us, and Sal and I cherish those times. I will tell some of those tales in the next few weeks, as a fitting reminder that those whom we love are not forgotten, but are loved still.

So to L, T, T and J I say celebrate the woman whom she was, because she was a special person. And know that I stand with you, missing her and remembering her.

Image: https://reflectionsfromafriend.wordpress.com/category/reflections/

Cynical or Realistic?

One active aspect of cynicism involves the desire to expose hypocrisy and to point out the gulf between society's ideals and its practices according to Mary Midgley.  George Bernard Shaw allegedly expressed this succinctly: "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who don't have it" (1).

I have been tossing around the ideas of cynicism, depression and realistic attitudes, and have some difficulty. On the one hand, cynics are sometimes thought of as melancholic or depressed, self-deluded, and on the other as realistic. When someone tells me I have a cynical attitude, I respond that I have a realistic attitude. Why? Well, in my education and experience, cynical people were somehow thought of as being defective. Maybe in personality. Maybe in intellect. Maybe in spirituality. And I don’t think of myself thusly.

In looking back over my several decades, I find that the world view I have always held includes the ideas that humans like to and strive to do good as individuals and some groups. Take churches for example: countless “missions” are undertaken every year to go somewhere to do good works. And not always (cynicism?) just to gain new converts. I ran into Baptist missionary projects in Nicaragua, a fiercely Catholic country, building sanitary outhouses for extremely rural and poor families. No illusions of converts. Just good works. At the exact same time, corporations, governments and individuals all over the world were exploiting people and resources for their own enrichment. Not for the good of the people. This is not a cynical observation, just a realistic one.

The cynicism as defined by Midgley and Shaw, though, definitely shines through. You see, I deeply believe that humans will per natura act in their own interests when able, and when powerful enough. Not all people, or even most people mind you. But enough to tip the scales. A few powerful leaders control world events. Wars are not started by the citizens of countries, they are started by the leaders. Revolutions may be good wars started by the citizenry, but most often are corrupted at the end. Industries operate for profit and often disregard the long term effects of their actions. Governments can and often are corrupted by corrosive effects of money, either through the political process or directly through graft.

I believe that the vast majority of individuals want to do good and actually do good. Observation of the world, not a cynical observation either, clearly shows a world descending into degradation and chaos. Unstoppable? Probably not. Will it be stopped? Probably not.

Cynical? No, just realistic.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(contemporary)

Image: http://crapusa.blogspot.com/2012_11_01_archive.html

Good News? Some, but Enough?

Think Corporations Care? THINK AGAIN

I was talking to a few friends on the 4^th about many things, and the idea of good news vs bad news came up. As anyone who has read my writings over the last few years will know, I don’t find much good news to comment on. Sure there are always the feel good stories about saved animals and kids, brave cops and firefighters and super citizens who put themselves in danger for others. In my experience it is human nature to aid others, animals, trees or other humans, in times of distress. I agree it is good news and good works.

My take on the world, however, is informed by my equally deeply felt experiences that humans can be greedy and self-serving when operating on a more macro level: corporations seeking profit; chambers of commerce courting businesses; wealthy people trying to get even richer; governments seeking more power and resources. The list goes on and on. The net result of the nasty side of human activity is poverty, environmental degradation, disease and war. I see this as a natural condition of human kind since throughout human history, as we can know it, these or similar activities have always been around. Sure, again, some good is usually to be found, but not enough to outweigh the bad.

America? The same. Founded in war, forged by war and strengthened by commerce. The results are clear: declining arable land, declining and polluted water supplies, poverty, timber resources exploited in favor of fast growing mono culture, environmental and biological disasters. Having seen the outcome of centuries of exploitation, one might think that saner heads would prevail and through elected officials bring some sanity to the country. But the election process itself has been corrupted by huge amounts of money, and the judicial system has been corrupted by the corrupted elected officials, or if not corrupted then at the very least polarized to the point of de facto corruption. Example? Easy. The Supreme Court decision to make corporations “people” for the purpose of political donations. Thus injecting unlimited amounts of “polarized” money into elections.

During this same evening, a friend pointed out, rightly, that the demographics of the country are changing, and in a few decades the governing of the country will probably be done by more liberal politicians who might reverse the awful trends of corporate and municipal greed. I agree. I also think that if this occurs (bear in mind that the conservative actors are rushing to re-calibrate their message to attract new and more liberal voters, cynically I believe) the damage already done will be akin to having an inept surgeon remove the wrong leg from a patient and then being fired for incompetence: the patient still is without a leg. In the case of the country, the ground water will still be hopelessly contaminated; lakes, rivers and streams will still be hopelessly polluted; fish stocks will still be hopelessly depleted; women will be decades behind in equality; poor and disadvantaged people will be hopelessly under educated; and the rich will be unbelievably richer.

From my perspective: too little too late. Because along with America, will go the world.

There is good news out there, mostly deeds done by individuals and probably some by corporations and governments. But gosh and golly, the bad surly seems to outweigh the good.

Image: http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2012/06/day-22-daily-mass-massacre-of-children.html

Imge: http://www.jimwhitefitexpert.com/images/logos/foxnewslatino.jpeg