The Short-Sighted Buffoonery of “Religious Freedom Bills”

A number of states have recently enacted “religious freedom bills,” with a whole host of unintended consequences.

One of the more glaring unintended consequences is that such laws protect Islamic bigotries, just as much as they do fundamentalist Christian ones.

Under such laws, a Muslim store clerk would be protected from being fired for refusing to sell alcohol to patrons, or refusing to conduct commerce with females, ordering women customers to “get your husband to come in and pay for this.”

YES, Islam is just as much an accepted religion (already protected by the 1st Amendment, from government sanctions) as any other religion...so is Satanism.

Last Thursday, Georgia’s State Legislature provided a bit of comic relief, while denying that “overt discrimination” was the intention of the religious freedom bill, then when protections against discrimination were added to that bill, the House Judiciary Committee quickly and unceremoniously tabled the bill. Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) warned the committee that if the amendment passed and anti-discrimination language was included in the final version of the bill, he would vote no on it, as in his words, "This is the amendment that will gut this bill."

Enough said.

Ironically enough, the offending amendment was proposed by fellow REPUBLICAN Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven), who stated that he was inundated with calls and emails from constituents concerned about the bill's effects. After several minutes of debate and a call to vote on the amendment, and the committee then voted 9 to 8 to pass the amendment.

That same day, over in Arizona, Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said, "Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday." Yeah, and another good idea would be a return to burning "witches."

I don’t know buckaroos, but to paraphrase Howard Stern, about country music (you can listen to THIS https://www.youtube.com/watch… as you read the rest) ....I don’t know, maybe it’s because I went to College, read a bunch of books and I’ve never had sex with my sister, but I really don’t get any of this religious fundamentalism. Like I've said before, I don't hate religious people, even religious zealots...I just don't get them. I never have...(You can turn off Slim Whitman now, if you'd like).

And for those dolts who keep on insisting that “This is a Christian nation,” Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were non-denominational Deists, who both excoriated the “so-called Christians” of that day. Jefferson published a version of the Bible (still around today; http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Morals-…/…/ref=sr_1_1…), titled "The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth," which included ONLY the words of Jesus and NONE of the accounts of his miracles, etc.

Jefferson called modern-day Christians, “Paulists,” and it was very clear that he held them and their strictures in very low regard.

In a correspondence with Ezra Stiles, the Calvinist President of Yale College, Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Here is my Creed, I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him, is doing Good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this ... As for Jesus of Nazareth ... I think the system of Morals and Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw ... but I have ... some Doubts to his Divinity; though' it is a Question I do not dogmatism upon, having never studied it, and think it is needless to busy myself with it now, where I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble." (http://www.portal.state.pa.us/…/benjamin_franklin_a…/1014592)

NOT exactly fundamentalist Christianity, right?

So, anyway, like I said, I don’t much get and definitely DON’T agree with much of this fundamentalist religious fervor going around today, but then again, maybe it’s because I went to College and read a bunch of books and never had sex with my sister and all...but that’s just me.
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ADDENDUM: The argument in favor of such laws is that, "All they do is give religious people a guaranteed hearing in which the government must provide an over-arching reason why it is violating those individual's religious principles.”

There are a number of articles like this one (http://thefederalist.com/…/meet-10-americans-helped-by-rel…/), giving examples like the ACLU supporting such RFRAs in cases like that of Adriel Arocha, long-haired Native American kindergartener. In order to enter kindergarten in the Needville, Texas, schools, Adriel Arocha, the son of Kenney Arocha and Michelle Bettenbaugh, was told he’d have to cut his hair. The school had general grooming policies, including that “[b]oys’ hair shall not cover any part of the ear or touch the top of the standard collar in back.” The policy’s stated design is “to teach hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards, and assert authority.”

The parents applied for an exemption but because their religious practices were handed down orally, they couldn’t provide the necessary written documentation of their religious practice. The boy and his parents won their case that the school district had violated Texas’ Religious Freedom Restoration Act. OK, I'm unclear as to how such a case SHOULD BE "won" absent that kind of religious documentation. Another problem is that the bar for such standards can be raised or lowered at will. Sorry, I'm NOT a fan.

THIS Kind of Thing is Why It's so HARD to Take the UN Seriously

The U.N.

Only one of the UN's 193 members were mentioned in regards to ongoing infringement of women's rights – Israel. NOT any of the Arab countries where women are routinely stoned to death for "adultery," flogged after being gang raped, or having acid thrown in their faces over "shaming their families," ONLY Israel.

It's things like this that show how completely reckless, irresponsible and ineffective the UN is as a "world body."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4639165,00.html

WHY Did THIS Take so Long?

FINALLY! In the wake of countless recent cases of citizens violently resisting arrest, State Senator Tony Avella (D-Queens) has sponsored a Bill that would create a felony charge of "aggravated resisting arrest," for anyone convicted of resisting arrest twice within a 10-year period.

A LOT of people don't seem to know that simply backing away from an arresting officer claiming, "I didn't do anything," IS resisting arrest.

Merely pushing a cops hands away as he/she tries to handcuff you, or struggling with Police Officers is ALREADY a felony - "assaulting a police officer."

One of the problems today is that, while "resisting arrest" is already a crime, it's often routinely dismissed, the same way gun charges are routinely dismissed in favor of more substantial felonies (ie. armed robbery, etc.)

I think the idea of stockpiling charges (ESPECIALLY on repeat offenders) is a good strategy. It forces the accused to negotiate more charges, usually requiring them to accept lengthier prison sentences.

NOTHING wrong with that!

http://nypost.com/2015/03/22/senator-proposes-harsher-penalties-for-resisting-arrest/

Mo'ne Davis is a CLASS Act...On & OFF the Field

Mo'ne Davis

Recently young Mo'ne Davis made the news for something someone else tweeted about her.

Joey Casselberry, a junior first baseman for Bloomsburg University(in PA), in response to Disney working on a movie titled "Throw Like Mo," tweeted, "Disney is making a movie about Mo'ne Davis? What a joke that Sl*t got rocked by Nevada."

WHY?! Why belittle a kid...a girl who actually went where NO girl has ever gone before? She s the first girl to earn a win and to pitch a shutout in Little League World Series history!

That tweet just doesn't make any sense. The operative, or offending word, of course, is the "S" word...especially when hurled at a 14 y/o girl, who's been nothing but exemplary in her character and play!

The rest of his tweet was mean-spirited, but accurate. Mo'ne Davis DID lose a game to the eventual Little League National Champs (after Chicago got tossed for having a slew of ineligible players on the team), but (1) she's the first and ONLY girl to compete as effectively as that, at that level against boys and (2) her team didn't lose solely on her pitching....her teammates didn't hit very well that game.

If Casselberry had written, "Disney is making a movie about Mo'ne Davis? What a joke. She got rocked by Nevada," it would've been just as boorish and mean-spirited, but somewhat less sexist...AND it wouldn't have given the highly INTOLERANT politically correct crew the opportunity to APPEAR all "tolerant and inclusive," while continuing to show their classless intolerance to religious folks (OK, mainly Christians), Wall Streeters and virtually anyone else they perceive they disagree with.

Bloomsburg University rightly and predictably responded by immediately putting Casselberry off its team and that's where Mo'ne Davis showed incredible class, by emailing that school in favor of giving that goofball a 2nd chance. She told one outlet, "... I know right now he's really hurt and I know how hard he worked to get where he is. I mean, I was pretty hurt on my part but I know he's hurting even more,"

WoW! Seriously, THAT is true class!
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/24/opinions/jones-mone-davis/

It's highly unlikely that Casselberry will be reinstated, as calling a 14 y/o girl a "sl*t" is definitely beyond the pale, BUT had Casselberry been black and Mo'ne white, I'm sure we can ALL be pretty much certain that many of the SAME media hawks vulturing Casselberry would be explaining away his faux pas based on his immersion in the "rap culture."

THAT'S how deep our cultural and socio-economic segregated standards go now-a-days, and that's NOT about to change any time soon, NOR is any of that Mo'ne Davis' fault.

In fact, her classiness is made all the more apparent BECAUSE of such pernicious double standards. As good an athlete as she is...and she's exceptional, she seems to be an even better person!

THIS is Why James O'Keefe is One of My Favorite Journalists!

Here they get a Cornell University Asst. Dean to tell them not only would groups devoted to helping ISIS be welcome on that Campus, but they could get Cornell University funding to start and support a terrorist training camp on campus!

When asked by an undercover pretending to be a prospective student, if bringing a "freedom fighter" from ISIS or Hamas over to start a "training camp on campus," would be allowed, Dean Joseph Scaffido (Asst Dean of Students) said, "You'd be allowed to do that. It would be just like bringing in a coach to a training on a sports team, or something."

Yikes!

http://nypost.com/2015/03/24/cornell-dean-says-isis-welcome-on-campus-in-undercover-video/

84 y/o Long Island Attorney Pleads Guilty in Disability Fraud

Raymond Lavallee

THIS is the kind of abuse that fuels legitimate resentment against public pensions. People don't mind helping those who are truly disabled, but they revile "scammers" even more.

(http://www.nydailynews.com/…/lawyer-84-pleads-guilty-disabi…)

Raymond Lavallee, 84, a Long Island lawyer who represented numerous NYC cops and firefighters, coaching them on how to make false disability claims (mostly PTSD claims have been prosecuted so far) to game the system and get fraudulent benefits will get a year behind bars and will have to pay $2 million in restitution.

For the SAME reason that false alarms cost lives, such scams threaten the benefits of those who are truly deserving.

(http://watchdog.org/208197/what-a-way-to-end-a-career/…)

The ROOTS of Progressivism

Ironically enough, today “progressive,” IS a “far-Left” position in this Center-Right nation. The irony is that “progressivism” is Corporatism/fascism and the 1st “Progressive movement” in the USA was initiated by a legendary Republican (Teddy Roosevelt). Many, STILL wrongly see fascism, even Nazism as “Right-wing.”

In truth, Hitler’s disgusting fundamental view can be summed up neatly in a single statement he made on May 1^st, 1927; "We are socialists, we are enemies of today's capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions." - Adolf Hitler (Speech of May 1, 1927.)

In Hitler’s views the primary “sin” of the Jews was that they were “incorrigible Capitalists.”

What’s more, Hitler came far closer to make socialism work than any other leader of his day. BOTH Stalin and Mao were every bit as authoritarian and both were even more murderous than Hitler, but of the three, Hitler came closest to making socialism work.

That should be as frightening as the fact that such horrific, Hitlerian ideals often find voice in misguided social movements here in America, movements like Occupy Wall Street. Hitler’s Reich was the first government to embrace animal rights, environmentalism, to seek to ban the private ownership of firearms and to link cigarette smoking to cancer and other diseases. (http://constitutionalistnc.tripod.com/hitler-leftist/index.html)

Here in America, the Progressives had their greatest victory in 1913 with the establishment of the Federal Reserve (a consortium of private banks that control the money supply, interest rates, etc. of the USA) and the 16th Amendment (the progressive Income Tax).

What’s less well known is the well documented roots of Corporatism/fascism here in the USA.

Prior to WW II Prescott Bush was a partner with Union Banking Corporation in NY, as well as a partner with Brown Brothers, Harriman, another banking firm, where, along with Averell Harriman, son of railroad magnate, E.H. Harriman, they eagerly did business with the Third Reich. BOTH Prescott Bush and the Harriman’s were friendly with the Nazi regime in Germany, so friendly, in fact, as each could be called “a Nazi’s Nazi.”

In 1939, the NY Times ran a headline that read; “Hitler’s Angel (Fritz Thyssen,) Has 3 Million in US Bank.” The story reported that Adolf Hitler’s primary financier had stowed the fortune in Union Banking Corp., possibly to be held for “Nazi bigwigs.” Bush knew all about the New York bank, as he was one of its seven directors, at the time. If the Nazi ties became known, it would be a major “embarrassment” for both Bush and his partners at Brown Brothers Harriman. The story claimed that the bank held $3 million in deposits for a German businessman, described as a “financier” for Adolf Hitler. There was speculation that the account may have been intended for the later use of “Nazi bigwigs.” No one actually knew what purpose the fortune had been meant to serve, or who controlled it. Possibly, the money had been socked away as a hedge against Germany’s defeat.

Bush and his partners at Brown Brothers Harriman informed the government regulators that the account, opened in the late 1930s, was “an unpaid courtesy for a client.” Subsequent to an investigation, the government ultimately seized Union’s assets under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

A 2004 article in the British newspaper, The Guardian confirmed that a firm in which Prescott Bush was a director was directly involved with the financial architects of Nazism. Prescott Bush’s business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave laborers at Auschwitz.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), acted as a US base for the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, who helped finance Hitler in the 1930s before falling out with him at the end of the decade. The Guardian has seen evidence that shows Bush was the director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation (UBC) that represented Thyssen's US interests and he continued to work for the bank after America entered the war.

Bush was also on the board of at least one of the companies that formed part of a multinational network of front companies to allow Thyssen to move assets around the world.

Thyssen owned the largest steel and Coal Company in Germany and grew rich from Hitler's efforts to re-arm between the two world wars. One of the pillars in Thyssen's international corporate web, UBC, worked exclusively for, and was owned by, a Thyssen-controlled bank in the Netherlands. More tantalising are Bush's links to the Consolidated Silesian Steel Company (CSSC), based in mineral rich Silesia on the German-Polish border. During the war, the company made use of Nazi slave labor from the concentration camps, including Auschwitz. The ownership of CSSC changed hands several times in the 1930s, but documents from the US National Archive declassified last year link Bush to CSSC, although it is not clear if he and UBC were still involved in the company when Thyssen's American assets were seized in 1942.

See the full Guardian article; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar)

Harriman's banking business was the main Wall Street connection for German companies and the varied U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen; who was a financial backer of the Nazi party until 1938. The Trading With the Enemy Act (enacted October 6, 1917) classified any business transactions for profit with enemy nations illegal, and any funds or assets involved subject to seizure by the U.S. government. The declaration of war on the U.S. by Hitler led to the U.S. government order on October 20, 1942 to seize German interests in the U.S. which included Harriman's operations in New York City.

The Harriman business interests seized under the act in October and November 1942 included:

(*) Union Banking Corporation (UBC) (from Thyssen and Brown Brothers Harriman)

(*) Holland-American Trading Corporation (from Harriman)

(*) Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation (from Harriman)

(*) Silesian-American Corporation (this company was partially owned by a German entity; during the war the Germans tried to take full control of Silesian-American.

In response to that, the American government seized German-owned minority shares in the company, leaving the U.S. partners to carry on the portion of the business in the United States.

The assets were held by the government for the duration of the war, then returned afterward; UBC was dissolved in 1951.

See Wikipedia article on the forfeitures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Averell_Harriman#War_seizures_controversy)

The roots of Corporatism/fascism, even Nazism run very deep in America.

After the coup in November of 1963, the Progressives/Corporatists in America embarked upon a campaign to drive ethnic Catholics OUT of the Democratic Party and into the GOP, which they did. TODAY Progressive (“Country Club”/Moderate) Republicans control the GOP and “Progressive” Democrats control that Party. 50 years after their initial victory, they fully consolidated political power in the USA.

November 22nd, 1963 was a banner day for Corporatism/fascism because it was the death day of old America.

How successful; was that coup in 1963?

George H.W. Bush was then the CIA’s director of the Caribbean sector run out of a shell company called Zapata Offshore Oil. The Bay of Pigs was named “Operation Zapata.” Bush Sr. had a habit of naming things in his professional life after things in his personal life (his first Navy plane was named “the Barbara” and his 2nd “the Barbara 2). That group also controlled a political assassination group called Zebra Rifle Company, among whom was a young operative named E. Howard Hunt.

When George H.W. Bush was named CIA Director under Nixon, he brought E. Howard Hunt into that administration. When later asked, neither Harry R. Haldeman, nor John Ehrlichman knew where E. Howard Hunt came from. According to both, “he just appeared one day.”

George H. W. Bush was in Dallas, on Elm Street on 11/22/63....25 years later he was elected President of the USA and the Bush’s replaced the Kennedy’s as “America’s premier political dynasty.” One of the 1st things George Bush Sr. did after getting elected President was to trash his former boss, Ronald Reagan...a self-proclaimed “JFK-Democrat,” who famously said, “I never left the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.”

THOSE are the roots of today’s “Progressivism” – fully bi-partisan and completely corporately controlled.

How CRAZY is THIS?!

Kam Brock, who IS actually followed by Barack Obama!

32 y/o Kam Brock of Long Island was held for 8 days in Psychiatric Ward for what appears to be possible criminal actions by police (seizing her car without cause) and what appears to be a profound incompetence on the part of some mental health workers.

Ms. Brock’s experience began September 12th, when the NYPD took possession of her car, a 2003 BMW 325Ci, in Harlem because they suspected she was high on weed, according to her attorney, Michael Lamonsoff. (http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-woman-held-psych-ward-obama-twitter-claim-article-1.2159049?utm_source=Daily+News+2014&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNews_2014_From_201411172_665858&utm_content=168827033&utm_term=_665858_665872)

Police found no marijuana but confiscated her car anyway, he said. The NYPD declined to comment. (GOOD idea...keeping your mouth shut when you're wrong)

There is no longer ANY “discretion” allowed in the application of ANY of our laws now-a-days, nor SHOULD there be. That is, IF an attorney from a white shoe law firm wouldn’t have his car seized after police found no contraband, then police have absolutely NO discretion to treat anyone else any differently.

At any rate, the next day, Brock walked into the NYPD’s Public Service Area 6 station-house in Harlem to retrieve her car. Brock, described in accounts as “an eccentric 32-year-old born in Jamaica with dreams of making it big in the entertainment business,” admitted that she was “emotional,” but insisted she wasn’t in any way an “emotionally disturbed person.”

Nevertheless, cops cuffed her and put her in an ambulance bound for the hospital, her suit charges.

Once in the clutches of Harlem Hospital’s Psych Ward, things took an ugly turn, when Ms. Brock told the staff that President Obama follows her on Twitter. Ironically enough, @BarackObama follows over 640,000 accounts, including hers. The doctors at the Unit were also skeptical about her working at a bank, records show.

(OK, the fact that none of the doctors knew that @barackobama follows so many people isnt "incompetence," NOT having the curiosity to FIND OUT, certainly IS!)

According to a NY Daily News report, “a ‘master treatment plan’ from Harlem Hospital backs up the Astoria Bank worker’s story."

The Daily News report goes on to deliver some of the staff's notes, “Objective: Patient will verbalize the importance of education for employment and will state that Obama is not following her on Twitter,” the document reads.

It also notes, “Patient’s weaknesses: inability to test reality, unemployment.” ”

OK, how about the staff of this place's "ability to test reality" coming into question? That seems to be a pretty BIG issue here.

The Daily News also reported that, “Adding insult to insanity, the hospital hit Brock with a bill of $13,637.10, she charges in her suit seeking unspecified damages.”

SNIFF!...SNIFF!!

Can you smell that?

Because I smell a 7-figure settlement here.

Hell, I'd give her a ton of cash simply for police taking her car in the absence of evidence.