Hucabee and Imus

I'm more concerned about a presidential candidate, Huckabee, defending Imus than what Imus actually did. Imus was hired as a shock jock. It's his job to straddle the line between offensive and pertinent and offensive and degrading. What he said was about the Rutgers team was inappropriate and insulting. Imus has crossed that line more than once and with any job he gets will probably do the same.

Firing him because he's done too much is also appropriate. Imus has the right to say what he wants, but he doesn't have the right to get paid to say exactly what he wants. Certainly Rosie O'Donnell has taken heat for some of her statements and rightly so. Certainly Bill Maher has taken heat and lost his job for some of the things he's said. And that is part and parcel of the marketplace.

All of the people that Huckabee mentioned are in the business of giving their opinions. And there are a lot of other people doing the same thing. Some are pundits, some are humorists, some are talk show hosts, and I could name more professions. Part of the bane and boon of having free speech is that other people are allowed to call you on what you've said - and their allowed to do that even if they're completely wrong in doing so and have completely misunderstand your point.

But when you're hired to give your opinion part of the chance you take is that you will do more than what those who hire you intend or can stomach and then you lose your job. That's not always fair, but it is part of the marketplace. Huckabee doesn't seem to understand the difference between being able to speak your mind and being paid to speak your mind. And that's his loss

Taking the Fifth

There's more and more talk about Goodling, but I was glad to hear this comment from a fellow student.

One third-year student, Chamie Riley, said she rejected the idea that any government official who invokes her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be a good representative of Regent.
As Christians, she said, Regent students know "you should be morally upright. You should not be in a situation where you have to plead the Fifth."

I disagree somewhat. I think one should be able to plead the Fifth when planning an event of civil disobedience such as what happend during the Civil Rights Era, but those events were to show the immorality of a particular law rather than to hide what one was doing. And in this case the problem is avoiding responsibility for one's actions as a government official.

Equal rights

Gays should be flogged, says at least one religious leader in Russia. And while I've not really heard that extreme of opinion in the USA - though Phelps comes close - it is still frightening. It is less frightening than the rules now being discussed in Nigeria where any activity percieved as being homosexual may be grounds for prison, but still frightening.

If anyone wants to know why gays want equal rights, the question should be answered.

Blog Against Theocracy

This Easter Sunday I'm planning to spend my time in prayer and meditation. And one of the things about which I think is that my Savior went to the cross because the religious leaders of his day worked with the government to send him there. If that's not a reason to oppose the government getting together with religion, I don't know how to explain it to those of the Christian faith. But I've also lived in areas where my faith is not the dominant religion. And that separation of church and state protected me and my worship. Then there's the plain and simple truth that if my religion needs the government for support it is not much of a religion. I have faith that God can work within or without the government. God just doesn't need the government to support religion if God is really God.

So for all those reasons I'm against making a government based on religion, even if the religion is my own.

Oh yes, other people blogging are here and here and a hat tip to Pam's House Blend for pointing this out

Lonnie Latham

The anti-gay pastor who was picked up by a police officer (male) for soliciting sex is free. The fact is soliciting for sex isn't and shouldn't be illegal. It is hypocritical to troll for a same-sex encounter, while preaching against it. For that he's paying the price. But it just isn't illegal to ask someone to come with you to a hotel room for sex.

Personally I'd like to be in a life-long relationship with someone before I consider sexual activity. But that didn't happen in Scripture, e.g. Tamar posing as a prostitute and seducing her father-in-law and being judged righteous for doing so in Genesis 38:15, and doesn't happen today.

Please don't make it up.

There are hate crimes. But really, please don't make it up. Yet that's what one woman did. She needs to apologize to all those who have actually been attacked because of their perceived sexual orientation, race, or other civil rights issues. I was once told to leave town because of my sexual orientation - that's discrimination. I suspect that the mother who told me so was worried about one of her sons being gay. I know that I didn't know the man with whom she accused me of having an affair. And that sort of situation needs to be addressed, but being gay or lesbian or anything else is no excuse for making up a crime.

Marriage counts

From the Petrelis Files I heard about a Republican standing up for the rights of all to marry. Given the recent history of the Republican Party this is good news. And it comes from Wyoming which isn't really noted for being at the forefront of civil rights for GLBT folk. But Rep. Dan Zwonitzer stood up when it counted. Thanks.

Oh by the way, though it shouldn't be of interest, the guy is straight.

Marriages

Reality isn't moral or immoral and teaching about real issues isn't saying they're moral or immoral. But one family seems to think so. They filed suit saying something along the lines of because the school is teaching that families have different makeups e.g. some may have two parents of the same gender, then the school is teaching morality. This is the same as filing suit because the school mentions there are some polygamous marriages and while the vast majority of those are one man with several women there are societies where several men have married one woman. Reality just is. Certainly children need to be taught religious values and morality. But teaching what is in fact happening just doesn't rise to the level of taking that teaching of religion and morals out of the individual and their family

It's not money for sex

I don't approve of sex outside a life-long committed relationship. I'm not in favor of soliciting sex at a bar or anyplace else. I despise people who preach against something and then go out and do it. But none of that is pertinent to free speech. If you want to preach against homosexuality and then solicit sex that's something that may be immoral but not illegal. That's what Rev. Lonnie W. Latham did. He shouldn't be up on charges for illegal sexual activity. If that's the case many of the couples who check into my motel after the bars close on Friday should be arrested since they don't really know each other's last name. The fact that almost without exception they're heterosexual couples shouldn't make a difference, they and Latham should be treated in the same fashion. And that means that soliciting sex just isn't illegal, nor should it be. Asking for sex just isn't prostitution.

Frederick Douglas

Slavery, like all other great systems of wrong, founded in the depths of human selfishness, and existing for ages, has not neglected its own conservation ... Custom, manners, morals, religion, are all on its side everywhere in the South; and when you add the ignorance and servility of the ex-slave to the intelligence and accustomed authority of the master, you have the conditions, not out of which slavery will again grow, but under which it is impossible for the Federal government to wholly destroy it, unless the Federal government be armed with despotic power, to blot out State authority, and to station a Federal officer at every cross-road. This, of course, cannot be done, and ought not even if it could. The true way and the easiest way is to make our government entirely consistent with itself, and give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise — a right and power which will be ever present, and will form a wall of fire for his protection.

Frederick Douglas

with thanks to Andrew Sullivan.

Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

If you want to know one reason for the fourth amendment read Citizen Crain on what happens, sometimes, without it. There are many freedoms we have taken for granted in this country. But letting them go without a fight is the wrong message. Secret courts, untraceable warrents, those are the actions of a police state. When we do them as a part of our war on terror we become the very thing we say we're fighting.

Rebukes and condemnations

Yes, some athelete said he hated gays. Yawn. If he uses physical violence I'd be more offended, but is this a surprise? And he's rebuked by the

How can we help those around us learn respect - I know a very old-fashioned attitude - for each other? That's a more important question than focusing on who said what to whom.

Gay Straight Alliance - one more

Congratulations - this time a Gay Straight Alliance seems to have been established without any of the brouhaha and false allegations that can happen. Gay-Straight Alliances aren't about hooking up or having sex, but providing a safe place to talk about sexual orientation.

Karl Rove and Howard Dean

Let's see - Howard Dean made a joke about whether the Republicans could get so many people of color into a room to the Congressional Black Caucus, but Karl Rove said about the immigration debate “I don’t want my 17-year-old son to have to pick tomatoes or make beds in Las Vegas.” Which one doesn't appeal to the Republican National Caucus? Who's Republican and who's Democrat? I guess that answers the question of whether a joke or statement is funny or too true.

Gitmo

The detention at Gitmo is a continuing embarassment to this country. If they are actually terrorists then give them an open trial, if they are not then release them. But changing the rules and making rules which don't allow for the defendant or lawyer to see the evidence is just wrong. We need to close the prisons now.

The Watada Case

I've been reading about the Watada case for several months now without commenting. Having had men and women in my family who have fought in every war since the Revolution (sometimes I've had people on both sides) I have trouble with the thought of refusing orders. But this war (and it is a war by whatever name it's called) is equally problematic. But having the case end in a mistrial is even more of a problem. The case should be heard on its merits and there's some doubt that another trial may happen as most of the case was finished. If as Wataba claims - he refused an illegal order - then that truth needs to be proclaimed. If as the prosecution claims - he refused a legal order - then that truth needs to be proclaimed. A mistrial is not in the interest of justice nor of this country.

I'm not sure what I want to have happen with a decision, but this lack of decision is bad for all sides.

Holocaust denial

Who in their right mind thinks that approaching someone in an elevator and trying to drag them down the hallway is the way to get them to cooperate? Someone who is denying that the holocaust happened did that. But wait that sort of person is in some sort of mental state that doesn't let the evidence speak for itself. I guess they weren't in their right mind after all.

Property rights

Good news from around the world. Advances for equal rights are still happening. The BBC reports that gay couples are starting to get the same property rights as heterosexuals.

Bait and switch

So Michigan's law that was only supposed to prevent same-sex marriages is now different. GLBT activists were saying it would have unintended consequences. Those consequences are now evident. The law affects heterosexuals, homosexuals or everyone. What is that statement about where one person lives under persecution all live under persecution?

Good riddance

A Defense official resigned. And it's high time. Someone, Charles 'Cully' Stimson, who does not understand the right to a fair trial, the ideal of having good representation for defendants should not be in a position of authority in this country. To criticize lawyers for representing detainees at Guantanamo is a less than stellar attitude.