It's Just Like Paying Taxes

There is that fight in the government that to help with the U.S. deficit, all they need to do is raise taxes.  Now the fight continues since the GOP tax pledge doesn't sit well with raising taxes.  Even Republican Candidate leader Rick Perry says he’d push for a tax system that would be “as light on the job creators as you can be". (DeathAndTaxesMag.com) The job creators (are there really any of those out there?) need to be protected?  The country needs to be in debt so that the corporate leaders of America would have it easier?


Well, it seems that the would-be job creators are already benefiting from that, yet the jobless rate increases.  "Of last year's 100 highest-paid corporate executives in the United States, 25 earned more in pay than their company recorded as a tax expense in 2010." (CBSNews.com) So, these corporations average global profits of $1.9 BILLION and yet they aren't hiring anybody.  Places like Verizon, GE, eBay are dodging taxes, and rewarding their CEOs for the evasion.


Maybe it is time to raise those damn taxes!  The ratio of CEO pay to the average U.S. worker's compensation is 325 to 1.  With those kind of odds, one would think they can afford it!

How Much?

Basically, that is the question that Presidential Hopeful Michele Bachmann is asking.  How much does God have to do to prove His point?  What does he have to do to "get the attention of the politicians"?  Obviously this thing that is happening right now (Hurricane Irene) should be enough to get the current political farce - er force - to realize that things are bad and God has delivered the message that things have to be changed!  (HuffingtonPost.com)


Michele says that the "government is on a morbid obesity diet" and the hurricane is a warning to watch what the Government eats.  Not sure that a 'different' government was any better off, say, oh six years ago, but obviously those in power then, didn't listen to the voice of God. And He sent a larger message -- a little thing called Hurricane Katrina.


And maybe what happened over the weekend in D.C. and New York wasn't really the big message that Michele thinks it was.  Below is a comparison of some of the attention getting statistics. 

Deaths Total 1,836 Missing 135

Cost refers to total estimated property damage Rank Hurricane Season Damages
Katrina 2005 $108 billion (Wikipedia.org)


Now, on the other side of the fence, Irene's early totals are not nearly as intense:


Hurricane Irene has led to the deaths of at least 31 people in 10 states
(CBSNews.com)

The total damage inflicted by Hurricane Irene may reach $7 billion
(NYTimes.com)

There seems to be a big, BIG difference between the two messages.  Perhaps God doesn't agree with Michele.  Or maybe the message was that God was pissed off at the odd candidates that are running for the next election.

What is the Gay Agenda in Valdez, Colo?

There must be one.  A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck just hours before the 5.8 temblor in Viriginia.  And of course  the Amazon region of Peru must have one heck of a gay agenda.  Their earthquake today was even larger then either the Colorado one or the Virginia one at 6.8.  The gays must just be running the streets in both places.


Why, you ask?  Well, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a New York City-based rabbi, has blamed “homosexual marriage” as the cause of yesterday’s east coast earthquake. He's also the guy who blamed the dismemberment killing of an eight-year old New York City Jewish boy on gay marriage.  (New Civil Rights Movement)


But maybe it is just Virginia that is deserving the wrath of God.  Although it seems that the gay agenda isn't really all that big there either.  You see, "this earthquake hit in one of the most anti-LGBT states in the union." (LezGetReal.com)  And of course, the hurricane aimed at North Carolina?  Must be the gays fault too.  Although NC is currently debating a Constitutional Amendment to ban same-sex unions. 


Maybe God really likes the gays and is trying to stop the homophobia?? 

P.S.  The best way to explain the earthquake though might be what was posted on Facebook last night:

Seismologists have determined that the earthquake in Washington, D.C. was not caused by a fault line, but by our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.

Judicial Activism

Found this article on the Unicorn Booty Facebook page.  Pretty much a Houston, TX judge has ordered that a man cannot leave his children with male doctors, male teachers, or male pastors.  The actual wording was that he can't leave "his children alone with any man not related to them by blood or adoption". (Advocate.com)


You see, it all revolves around a custody issue and a divorce which probably resulted from one of the parents "coming out."  William Flowers divorced his wife in 2004 and wanted custody of the children.  He married Jim Evans last year in Connecticut. And the court has decided that the ex-wife still gets custody, but Flowers can continue his visits as long as he doesn't leave the kids alone with anybody not blood related, including his husband - the kids' stepfather.


Now, "lawyers who practice family law in Houston (and requested anonymity) described the order as patently anti-gay,” according to an article in the Houston Chronicle by Geoff Berg. An Austin family law attorney, Jennifer Cochran, who was willing to be quoted, says "it’s judicial activism, legislating from the bench.”


There may never be equality in this country.

A Square Circle

It must have something to do with fitting a square peg in a round hole, maybe?  But, no, it is what the National Organization of Marriage said today about "same-sex marriage".  According to Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute, saying "same-sex marriage" is like saying "square circle" because "such an entity is not possible." (NOMBlog.com)

Now, granted, it is obvious that a square can't be a circle and a circle can't be a square.  But a marriage can be with the same sex (and not the kind where you just do it the same way every time).  She also doesn't think that "genderless marriage" works real well either.  She says "Gender is essential to marriage."  Well, ok, it is.  Female is a gender.  If two females get married then you have two genders and that is essential to the marriage.  If you only have one female married, well, then that is whole nother term entirely.


Ok, Dr. Morse, don't say "Same-Sex Marriage" anymore.  If I have dinner with a girlfriend, I don't call it "Same-Sex Dinner".  I just call it Dinner.  (Thanks to a comment on the I-bet-this-turkey-can-get-more-fans-than-NOM facebook page for that one).

So, just call it marriage.

Thanks For Making it Clear

It is so nice when you are unsure of what you are supposed to be and someone comes along and just clears it all up for you.  Thankfully there were two such "clearers" today.  Both of them must know exactly what it means, since they are so vocal with their opinions and stance on the issue.  What is it to be gay?  Well, let's find out.


Allen West is a Republican U.S. Representative who represents Florida's 22nd congressional district.  He says that being gay is like preferring chocolate chip ice cream.  Or it could be compared to riding a scooter. He chooses to ride a motorcycle, why should he choose to ride a scooter?  Now, he has also said that gay marriage will lead to the end of society (although last I looked Massachusetts and New York were still there).   OnTopMag.com

On a different tack, Rick Santorum, a lawyer and a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (not the frothy mix that pops up in some google results), wants to ensure that we all know that calling gay marriage a marriage is like calling a napkin a paper towel.  "You can call it whatever you want but it doesn't change the character of what it is to the metaphysical," he continued.  So, metaphysically, gay marriage is a paper towel... not a napkin. (MSNBC.com)

Allen West also said “Now everyone has the same basic rights, and no one is telling people in the gay community that they don't have the same basic rights that any American has." Not sure he actually meant that one.  And Rick Santorum also stated that "water is water and marriage is marriage."  He said you could try and call water beer, but it was still water.  Gay marriage is like a beer, got it.


Anybody want a beer? 

Can You Pray Away the Weigh?

Now, there are some out there that think you can pray for or against anything.  Just Google Pray Away the Gay and you get a list of articles (mostly about Michele Bachmann and a few with Sarah Palin).  Then there is Rick Perry's attempt this past weekend to "Pray Away America's National Decline".  But, is it possible to pray away fat people?  Well, maybe it is -- pray away the fat in people.


A pastor in Mississippi "is now urging fellow African-American congregations nationwide to make the health of their members a priority." (FoxNews.com) This after he banned fried chicken from the fellowship hall at the church.  What?? No fried chicken in a Southern church?  Wow.


Now it takes more than just long-winded sermons on the sin of gluttony.  And sometimes people listen more to their pastor then they do their doctor.  "A pastor can tell someone what to do, and they'll take it as a scientific fact," says director of the Office of Preventative Health, Victor Sutton.  (Seems like an odd title for a department -- preventing health??)


But it is scary.  Just think of all the Right-Wing presidential hopefuls who like to preach politics.


Can somebody pass the chicken??

Is it Sexist?

Or is she just crazy and raging?  The media world is up in arms with a preview pic of Michele Bachmann on the cover of Newsweek. 

Conservative blogs are screaming that it is just Newsweek's anti-Republican bias that made them post the picture.  Never would they do that to a male running for office (UNTRUE )

Now maybe Newsweek is just reporting things how they are.  They posted this picture of John McCain:

And it shows that he is old.


So maybe this one is also just reporting the true news.  Bachmann is crazy.

Makin' Your Truck Look More Manly

No, really.  "Truck nuts, fake bull testicles made of plastic or metal that drivers hang on the back of their pickups to make a truck look more manly".  (FoxNews.com)


But are they indecent?  The South Carolina code of laws says that they might be.  And a woman there was given a $445 ticket for violating the obscenity laws.  The woman's attorney will argue whether these large, red, plastic testicles are “really an accurate depiction of a human body part.”  So they are going to court.


David Hudson, a First Amendment attorney and scholar thinks they may have a case.  They just might be able to prove that the South Carolina law is “unconstitutionally vague and unconstitutionally board, and it violates the First Amendment.”


Now, on the other hand... Jay Bender, a lawyer and professor at the University of South Carolina thinks the police chief who issued the ticket is... well... “He is nuts”


Apropos...

Clothes Make the Man...

Or the woman, I guess.  Back on July 9th, a woman went to Dollywood with her partner and their family.  She was wearing a t-shirt on that said "Marriage is so gay" in support of gay marriage.  A park worker asked her to turn the shirt inside out so as not to offend anybody at the "family park".  The woman did as she was told but sent a letter afterwards asking that Dollywood be a tad more inclusive of LGBTs and all kinds of families. (ABCNews)

Now, this past weekend, Walmart was not thrilled with the clothes that a particular Oregon woman chose to wear to the store.  She was at the store shopping in her bikini top and was asked to put a shirt on over it.  The store employee claimed she "may be violating health regulations".  (CBSNews)

The Oregon woman actually has an attorney over the dress-code violation.


Dolly Parton has apologized to the lesbian, saying she is "truly sorry for the hurt or embarrassment."  If you click on the link to CBS you can see the picture of the bikini-clad Oregon woman.  And really, doesn't Walmart know who shops in the stores?  Have they never heard of PeopleofWalmart.com?