“The Truth About the Economy in 2 Minutes and 15 Seconds”

Robert Reich sums it up.

-Chris

Unconstitutional Christians — again

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It seems that a group of preachers, led by an attention-craving attorney have made a costly decision to violate the separation of church and state again.

In this case the Giles County School Board, under pressure from the above, have decided to hang copies of the Ten Commandments in schools using a flimsy pretext.

The action will likely cost the cash-strapped school district in the neighborhood of $350,000.00.

Said school board member Drema McMahon (one of two board members who opposed the decision):
“We do not have the money to fight this battle to the Supreme Court. Our teachers and our staff continue to do an outstanding job, even though they have not had a raise in four years, and we are talking about spending $350,000 to fight this to the Supreme Court.”

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, the State Senate just shot down a bill that would authorize the hanging of the Ten Commandments on public property.

A local church had announced that it is willing to fund the erection of the monument, and the bill’s sponsor, representative Patrick Williams (D-Shreveport) tried to justify the legislation:

“This is for historical purposes, not religious purposes,” to show the effect of the Ten Commandments on history and laws, he said.

This of course, is bullshit.

The bill, rejected on the fears of costly litigation, at least tried a fig-leaf approach to allow the erection of monuments to other religions as well — but there were no financial backers for these hypothetical monuments.

This article on the Discover website does a nice job dismantling the claim for the Ten Commandments as a basis for law:

Are the Ten Commandments really the basis for our laws?

I leave the final words on the subject to the late great George Carlin (LINKED HERE).

-Chris

Related articles

• Ohio case on courtoom Ten Commandments reaches U.S. Supreme Court (dispatch.com)
• Louisiana Legislators Must Reject Ten Commandments Display At State Capitol (msatheists.org)
• Removal of Ten Commandments poster from Ohio courtroom reaches U.S. Supreme Court (dispatch.com)
• Ten Commandments proposal for Giles County schools is unconstitutional (secularnewsdaily.com)

Congressman Weiner will resign

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So, he’s resigning.

When the scandal broke, I posted on my Facebook wall in response to suddenly vociferous critics calling for his resignation.

They were shocked and outraged that Anthony Weiner would be monstrous enough to cyber-sext women who were not his wife.

I did not (and do not) defend the New York Democrat’s behavior. I think that news of his resignation is appropriate and simultaneously sad.

Weiner was one of the few firebrand Democrats willing to call Republicans on the carpet for their policies and for their seeming lack of compassion for — well, just about anyone who don’t line their pockets with campaign donations.

On the other hand, from time to time I would wince at his overreaching and combative appearances on television and on the floor of the House.

More that once, I disagreed with stances he took, but on the issues, I happened to agree with him the vast majority of the time.

What Weiner did may pale in comparison to other recent scandals, and I do think that Republicans running on “values” platforms are ridiculous in light of their silence on Senator David Vitter’s (R-LA) and now former SC Governor Mark Sanford’s extramarital dalliances — I do think what the congressman did was wrong.

That being said, what he did should have been between him and his wife. Nothing revealed to date was illegal or impinged on his duties as a representative.

In a better world, he would be able to keep his job and continue the good fight he has been engaged in for a decade.

This is not that world, and the sledgehammer of judgement is not evenly applied.

The media circus around Weiner is an unneeded distraction from the Democratic agenda. The predatory, scandal-driven press will never let this go — delighted in their laziness to have a juicy story handed to them. This saves them from actually, you know, reporting. It’s almost summer after all.

It is entertaining to watch Republican spokesheads  feigning a case of the vapors over this unheard of violation of the sanctity of marriage. These same folks are deafeningly quiet about other prominent scandals, in particular the one involving a Senator from the bayou state.

See, a few years ago it was discovered that married Republican Senator Mark Vitter had paid top-shelf prostitutes to allow him to wear diapers during their rendezvous. Repeatedly. Over a number of years.

It was further revealed that he took calls from a prominent Washington, DC madam while on the Senate floor.

By the way, prostitution (and engaging a prostitute) is ILLEGAL  in both Washington, DC AND Louisiana.

Vitter was reelected by his Louisiana constituency and continues to serve as Senator (where he protects the sanctity of marriage from Teh Gayz).

So, I guess the lesson to glean from this debacle is that despite all of the moralizing by the self-appointed right-wing arbiters of “values”, they have no principles beyond winning at all costs.

They have long ago lost any sense of shame.

At least congressman Weiner seems to have retained that.

-Chris