Posts by DJS

112

Supreme Court ruling- refusing to photo gay wedding is discrimination

by SadElder in

according to bloomberg news:.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-07/wedding-photographer-rebuffed-by-top-court-on-same-sex-ceremony.

"the u.s. supreme court turned away an appeal from a new mexico wedding photographer found to have violated a state anti-discrimination law when she refused to take pictures of a commitment ceremony for a same-sex couple.. the photographer, elaine huguenin, argued unsuccessfully that she was being unconstitutionally forced to convey a message conflicting with her religious beliefs.

DJS

People are free to believe what they wish. When they come into a forum such as this and spew hate, prejudice or ignorance they are open to whatever comes their way. If they don't want to hear it, avoid the keyboard.

People who hate, hate. It is that simple. They have always tried to rationalize their hatred. We have posted such examples of white people rationalizing their hatred, bigotry, separation and even killing of blacks in the country. That is why hate speech in any form has no place today and it is quickly responded to. Ask the owner of the Clippers. Or the Duck Dynasty Dude.

Hating others in our hearts is the first step towards denigrating them assigning them to a lesser place in society, justifying their bad treatment or situation and genocide. Voicing that hatred in words, regardless of whether they are smooth such as those used by David Duke years ago or other haters who have cleaned up their image a bit, changes nothting. It is still hate. Home's 'rationale' exists only in his mind. At least we got him away from his reactionary hysteria (the LGBT community is really after him. I mean, really?). But using more and better words to justify the unjustifiable, again, changes nothing.

Black people suffered needlessly because of hate in this country. Many died. A lot of families were ripped apart. Gays have suffered needlessly for thousands of years. They still die at the hands of people like Homes. It doesn't matter to me whether Homes would kill Matthew Shepard, as his hatred and voiced views support those who did and would again. The SCOTUS and other courts systematically dismantled the authorized, legally protected prejudicial and bigoted treatment of others decades ago. They didn't include the LGBT community then; they appear to be fixing that now.

Home's initial comments showed a hysterical, reactionary, emotional view. That is who he is. So I disagree completely. Haters get exactly what they deserve. One of the reasons some members of the LGBT community are outing themselves these days is to hopefully save lives. Young gay people are committing suicide, facing depression, isolation, etc. because of homophobic, hate-filled views like Home's. These views have no place on the planet. Cloaking them within ancient, archaic beliefs and charged words and adjectives or within modern day Tea Party rationale as if to justify the hate slays me.

144

Escaping Indoctrination - Faith Isn't a Virtue.

by cofty in

the unknown writer of the gospel of john put the following words in jesus' mouth, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.".

persuading countless generations that it is a virtue to believe incredible things on insufficient evidence, is one of religion's cleverest tricks.. the more incredible the claim; the more flimsy the evidence; the stronger the belief; the greater the virtue.. this is the exact opposite of how we operate in every other aspect of our lives.. rational people must demand objective evidence for everything they are asked to believe.

"extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence".. leaving the dogmatic claims of the watchtower is only a first step.

DJS

Jgnat,

Accurate but missing a few hundred thousand years. Until the 20th Century the average lifespan for humans was about 34, and life was brutish. Sanitation and especially chlorination of public water systems was the event which resulted in the greatest leap in lifespan.

It's always been difficult to be a human on this planet. A loving or caring god, even one that occasionally looked in on this master creation, wouldn't have allowed llife to be short and brutal from its beginning. Provide better instructions. Tell us about bacteria. The evidence for any god, whoever you want to call her, is missing. Creating stories in our minds from myths and legends to support things we really, really want to believe might help some get through difficult times (which for many humans has been their entire existence - and which explains all religions and beliefs of after life), but that's about it.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

Deal with it, haters (there's lots more where this came from):

On Mar. 21, 2014, a federal judge ruled Michigan's gay marriage ban unconstitutional. US District Judge Bernard Friedman wrote that "Today's decision... affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail."

New Mexico: 2014, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from a studio that refused to photograph a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony, letting stand a New Mexico high court ruling that helped spur a national debate over gay rights and religious freedom. The justices left in place a unanimous state Supreme Court ruling last year that said Elane Photography violated New Mexico's Human Rights Act by refusing to photograph the same-sex ceremony "i n the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races." Tobias Barrington Wolff, a University of Pennsylvania law professor representing the couple, said "no court in the United States has ever found that a business selling commercial services to the general public has a First Amendment right to turn away customers on a discriminatory basis. "The New Mexico Supreme Court applied settled law when it rejected the company's argument in this case, and the Supreme Court of the United States was correct to deny certiorari review. The time had come for this case to be over, and we are very happy with the result."

On Feb. 13, 2014, a federal judge ruled Virginia's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.

Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%

Nearly eight in 10 young adults favor gay marriage

by Justin McCarthy

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' support for the law recognizing same-sex marriages as legally valid has increased yet again, now at 55%. Marriage equality advocates have had a string of legal successes over the past year, most recently this week in Pennsylvania and Oregon where federal judges struck down bans on gay marriage.

Two successive Gallup polls in 2012 saw support climb from 53% to 54%, indicating a steady but slight growth in acceptance of gay marriages over the past year after a more rapid increase between 2009 and 2011. In the latest May 8-11 poll, there is further evidence that support for gay marriage has solidified above the majority level . This comes on the heels of gay marriage proponents' 14 th legal victory in a row.

When Gallup first asked Americans this question about same-sex marriage in 1996, 68% were opposed to recognizing marriage between two men or two women, with slightly more than a quarter supporting it (27%). Since then, support has steadily grown, reaching 42% by 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it -- a milestone that reached its 10th anniversary this month.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

Homes,

I couldn't care less what Clarence Thomas or anyone else's veiws are on 'sodomy.' That's an archaic meaningless bullshit term. What consenting adults do is no one's business, including Clarence Thomas or anyone else holding on to ancient views, inclulding you. Your rationale is ridiculous; none of the comparisons are rational. Hate is hate. The SCOTUS has determined that people like you are wrong. Most of the high courts in other Western and other developed lands have determined the same thing. Others will soon join them, stating that you and those like you are hate filled bigots. The world is changing as we type these messages. You and those like you are short for the world, and me and those lke me are glad. The world will be a better place without you and your hate; cloaking it in bullshit rationale and feigned high moral ground changes nothing. It. Is. Hate.

50

OMG the Watchtower IS toast!

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

the waters are drying up!

a congregation of 110+ publishers will be contributing only $200 a month to the society in the new kingdom hall construction arrangement.

that's less than $2 a publisher!

DJS

As I've stated before, selling off assets, streamlining the org chart and laying off employees are typically done by organizations feeling stress. Their apparent greedy grab for cash flow strained from the local congregations suggests the same thing. They cloak it in supporting the growth. Since the 'growth' appears to be in under-developed and developing lands and the new borgs, regardless of where they are from, are typically poor and under-educated, it only makes sense that to serve this growth the cash flow has to come from somewhere. The new borg members are likely poor, they can't sell literature and the normal contributions clealry aren't working out, at least not in a manner to address cash flow concerns. They are not likely to use one red cent of asset sales to fund the world wide work. Not a penny. That, they consider, belongs to them and is re-invested in 'capital' pursuits for the borganization's leaders/command and control.

Also, it is of interest that they are scaling back assemblies. From my days in the borg and working behind the scenes with the financial guys, assemblies were one of the primary money making enterprises. Cutting them short suggests that well dried up a while ago. An educated guess would suggest that the length of the assemblies coincides exactly with when the contributions/profit margins are maxed out. So this suggests that the money grab is real; they are hurting. Good for them.

All of this suggests financial concerns, but none of it proves the borg is short for the world, which is what we all would love to hear. If the congregations decided to tell the dark lords in NY to shove it and kept their funds for themselves, it would be the one thing, based on what I hear you all say, that would be the acid test as to their financial fitness and illustrate what it has been all along - a publshing, money making borganization.

Add to all of this is that the increase is likely fabricated. They will be around, but it appears they are feeling the pain. Good for them.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

Homes,

What consenting adults do is none of my business. You ought to try that some time, that is, making it none of yours. I couldn't care less what married couples, straight couples, gay couples or any mixture thereof do sexually with one another, others, animate or inanimate objects of any kind as long as they are both in agreement. Cheating on someone is the only 'moral' issue, but what consenting adults do, I repeat, is none and has never been any of your business. To label any behavior between consenting adults with any moniker other than "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS" is the epitome of arrogance.

If partners of any persuasion have an agreed upon open relationship, that is none of your business. If they share others, that is none of your business. If they tie the other up and phone a friend to join, that too is none of your business. Why is this concept so difficult for you.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

jws and LisaRose,

Very good analysis. MrHome sounds like a shrieker, less sane version of the FoxNews talking heads. First the LGBT community is stalking him and now it is tyranny and anarchy because a business has to open itself up to more customers rather than fewer. I think it is time for me to end my participation in this discussion lest I violate one of my prime directives. Good luck to the rest of you; the discussion is clearly in capable hands. MrHomes is entrenched and irrational. But as Cofty has reminded me, lots of lurkers are benefitting from the discussion, so perhaps it hasn't been a waste of time. And Kate, thanks for starting this and then sitting and watching the conflagration. LOL. Brat. I hope you enjoyed the popcorn.

144

Escaping Indoctrination - Faith Isn't a Virtue.

by cofty in

the unknown writer of the gospel of john put the following words in jesus' mouth, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.".

persuading countless generations that it is a virtue to believe incredible things on insufficient evidence, is one of religion's cleverest tricks.. the more incredible the claim; the more flimsy the evidence; the stronger the belief; the greater the virtue.. this is the exact opposite of how we operate in every other aspect of our lives.. rational people must demand objective evidence for everything they are asked to believe.

"extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence".. leaving the dogmatic claims of the watchtower is only a first step.

DJS

Homey,

I'm sometimes a sarcastic wise ass. Abe deserves exactly what he gets. Anger hasn't anything to do with it. Abe pops in from time to time to preach Jesus to all of us heathens, typically using the same Jesus lovin' mantra. Easy target. Anyone else using the same tactic will get the same response.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

Abbas,

Thanks for the clarification. It isn't really a complicated issue. Governments and individuals/businesses have equal parts to play in a successful society. One shouldn't dominate the other, but inclusiveness has been proven best for a community, a nation and the planet. Exclusiveness, prejudice and hatred have proven very bad for our planet. If we are to thrive or even survive as a species, inclusiveness and an end to prejudice, hatred, and egoist behaviors has to occur. Llike it or not we are all in this together. In theory I am a Libertarian. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do what we wanted. In reality nearly everything I do affects you and vice versa. To think otherwise is naive. None of that (end to prejudice, hatred, bigotry) has anything to do with individual rights, creativity, expression or entrepreurialship. They are mutually exclusve. The right wing reactionaries who act like they are linked insult all of us.

176

JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

by KateWild in

i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

DJS

Homey,

It wouldn't be time wasted. I already knew you to be a right wing reactionary from your very first comment. Every comment since then has only confirmed. John Galt is simply more of the same. Hate is hate, regardless of how you cloak it. The Tea Party and those like them aren't islands unto themselves, and their 15 minutes of fame are fast fleeting. And there isn't a chance in hell you really have friends as you describe. They would see through your shallowness immediately.

Trying to link inclusiveness and an end to bigotry, prejudice and hatred with entrepreneurialship and freedom of expression and inventiveness is probably the most ridiculous thing you have inferred. And you have said a lot of stupid crap.