Kansas board of education subordinates evolution and science

It seems the church-going folks in Kansas want to go back to the dark ages before Darwin and evolution. I guess there's another state that I'm afraid to visit, if only because the buildings and bridges might not hold up for long. Maybe I can allow myself to fly over it in an airplane if I'm going cross country.

-- updated 12/24/05

I had this brilliant idea that people who don't believe in evolution are the same people who only take parts of the bible they agree with. Like they take the part about homosexuality being a sin seriously, but don't take working on Sunday (and stoning to death all those who do work on Sunday) as seriously. In other words, they are career hypocrites -- hypocrites to the point of not knowing they are being illogical. I understand better people who take everything in the Bible as rote truth or falseness, but to take one part and not other parts seems random, Bible-A-La-Carte. You either believe it entirely or not. [Actually, this idea is covered well in the book titled: "Crimes Against Logic".]

Most people in the US today live in a modern society which science has built. And science as a method and field of knowledge tends to stick together. Rules proven in one field affect others. The science which proves evolution is how man came into being is the same science that makes cars and computers run. It's nonsensical to take one part of science and disbelieve the other.

Is 6% the right number?

The British say 6% of the population is gay or lesbian. This is about what I've heard recently. Kinsey said 10%... See a related posting on my other blog.

Make your purchases count politically?

The gays are doing similar things to the religious conservatives in coming up with a list of companies which they feel are supportive of their cause. The Human Rights Campaign has come up with a list of companies and their scores on their support list. At some point in your holiday purchase decisions you might consider reading up on companies which are helping the cause of equality and avoid those that are unsupportive: http://www.hrc.org/buyersguide/buyersguide.htm.
Don't want to read the whole thing? Here's the companies to avoid at all costs: Circuit City, Rite Aid, Heinz, Nestle, Rubbermaid, Bayer, Maytag, Nissan, Emerson, Autozone, Exxon, AIG, Franklin Templeton.

Oh, I was wrong about Haagen Daz: it's owned by Pillsbury and General Mills and gets the highest (100) rating.

Traditional marriage was destroyed by the heteros, what more can the gays do?

What the article seems to point out is that it's women who have greatly changed the institution to one of greater equality, because they were no longer dependent on the men/had their own careers, and as a by-product changed marriage to an institution with less assumed stability.

-- update 12/25/05

Let's do a thought experiment. I would like to start a religion where heterosexual behavior is morally wrong (aside from being disgusting). In addition, it is the tradition of this religion that marriage between those of the same sex was always permitted but those of opposite sex were not. I would then proceed to take over a political party, say the democratic party. I would then become president and the party would take over congress and start passing laws preventing recognition of marriages between opposite sex couples. I think I would make the validity of these laws based on the common understanding that marriage is only between those of the same sex and of course it's only morally correct for that to be the case.

Okay, so many folks would argue this is a ridiculous example, nobody would join such a religion. But then they would probably add, but also it's unfair. It's discriminatory. It's one religion forcing their views on others.

-- update 1/8/05

Sarcasm: top 10 reasons not to have gay marriage.

Government forcing School to distribute anti-gay Boy Scout recruiting materials

In an mirror of the government forcing Law Schools to allow Military recruiters access to college and university career planning facilities, the No Child Left Behind act is forcing schools to distribute Boy Scout materials despite that group's discriminatory rules towards gays.

US Mislead to Attack Iraq by Al Qaeda

Interesting. America invaded Iraq to combat a secular Muslim culture ruled by Sunni's. A culture which the Shiite Al Qaeda probably wouldn't mind if we eliminated. A case of killing two birds with one stone. We stepped into a nice little trap. How stupid are we?

Football coaches want their players to be christians and saved

From my point of view _completely_ messed up. Harassment training is needed. Lawsuits should be pending.

Iraq based on lies; Bush thinks god said to do it

The Americans ostensibly went to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction as presented by Powell at the UN and Bush in state of the union. The WMD were never found.

Before this UN presentation, Wilson went to Niger to investigate if Saddam tried to get uranium from Niger. Wilson says Saddam did not and repeats it in NYT Op-Ed column.

Bush administration, trying to discredit Wilson, says Wilson got his assignment because of his wife, the cia agent, in the process, outing a covert operative.

Bush administration says no, no we didn't break the law. Libby and Rove say that they were just passing on information already garnered from reporters. However, reporters do not have access to classified information; Bush and Cheney's office does.

Libby indicted for lying.

I read in another article, Bush says that god spoke to him and said to invade Iraq. So, it had nothing to do with WMD. Bush was just doing as god told him. Of course, I assume god told him to lie about the fact that god really was the reason behind the war. Not all Americans believe in god, so practically speaking saying "god said so" wouldn't fly. Of course, there is a book that says god doesn't like liars, but well he probably thought: sometimes you just have to select the parts of the book to obey when it's convenient, right? you know what I mean.

Damn Americans are fucking idiots to vote this Bush guy into office, no matter how bad the alternatives were.

Veto - California (almost) legalizes marriage between persons of the same-sex

-- orig post 9/6

Well, Governor Schwarzenegger was not as socially liberal as we thought. He will veto AB849, based on the idea that the proposition 22 passed five years ago (in 2000), preventing the recognition of same-sex marriages in other states (e.g. Hawaii at the time or Massachusetts now) in California still represents the will of the public with respect to marriages originating in California herself... But if so, why doesn't the proposition say so? I thought conservatives like a narrow reading of laws. I suppose it is only when the laws don't favor them that they want a narrow reading.

-- update 9/29

The Governor has vetoed AB849.

AB849 support from bay area religious leaders

An Open Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger Regarding Gay Marriage

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

As religious leaders in Santa Clara County, we are writing to encourage you to sign AB849 into law. We believe that this law is fair, appropriate, and needed! Our state laws should support all of our citizens, not just those who happen to be heterosexual. Our state should support the right of all consenting adults to marry.

We respect religious diversity. Some churches and faith communities embrace and support same-sex marriage, other churches and faith communities do not. We recognize and uphold the right of each minister, faith community, and denomination to determine on their own which couples they will marry and which couples they will not. However, this is a decision that should be made by people of faith within their own communities. It is not a decision that should be imposed on churches by the governor's office.

Sincerely,

Rev. Michael Patrick Ellard, Senior Pastor
Rev. Victoria S. Kolakowski, Scholar in Residence
The Metropolitan Community Church of San Jose

Rev. Beate Chun, Pastor
Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Rev. David J Harvey, Pastor
Celebration Of Faith, Praise and Worship Center

Rev. Jerry Fox, Pastor
St. Paul's United Methodist Church

Rev. Elane O'Rourke, Pastor
Campbell United Church of Christ

Bill Welch, President
Dignity/San Jose, a local chapter of DignityUSA
An inclusive Roman Catholic faith community

Rev. Karen F. Siegfriedt, Rector
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino

Rev. Dr. Roger Wharton, Chaplain
SJSU Campus Ministry - sjSPIRIT.ORG

Rev. Margo Tenold and Rev. Dr. Diana Gibson,
Co-Executive Directors,
The Council of Churches of Santa Clara County

Rev. Nancy Peters, Minister
First Congregational Church of San Jose

Rev. Melanie Patton Colpaart, Pastor
Conscious Living Center of Los Altos
A Member Church of Religious Science International

Rev. David Mundy, Ministry Liaison
The Central California/Nevada Sub Region of MCC

Judy Rickard, Roberta Etheredge, and Gertrude Welch
Members of the Gay Ministry Committee,
Council of Churches of Santa Clara County

Rev. Michelle Webber,
Foothills Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

Rev. Bran Scott, Pastor
New Community of Faith
American Baptist Convention / United Church of Christ

Rev. Ellen Grace O'Brian, Spiritual Director
Center for Spiritual Enlightenment

Stephanie Flaniken, Clerks' Committee Representative
San Jose Friends Meeting (Quakers)

Rev. David Bruner, Senior Minister
Center for Spiritual Living
United Church of Religious Science

The Very Reverend David Bird, Dean and Rector
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Rev. David Sunday,
Independent, Interfaith Minister

Rev. Roger Jones, Pastor
Rev. Michelle Favreault, Minister of Religious Education
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sunnyvale

Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern,
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto


-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Michael Patrick Ellard, Senior Pastor
MCC San Jose
P.O. Box 388
San Jose, CA 95103
(408) 607-5471 - Direct Line
(408) 279-2711 - Church Office

Unpatriotic to pull out? Impeach W first...

Despite how nice it is to say I told you so (and I can't even do that because I was duped by W. into initially supporting the war), it does make sense that we can't just pull out of Iraq. There does seem to be a good strategy outlined in Rich's editorial defending Iraqi civilians rather than going out to hunt insurgents. That would require a lot more support, troops, and money.

Since the president has a very low approval rating, we as a country can no longer trust him and his cronies to do this job right. So maybe the thing to do is to impeach this W. guy and get another person in there who we trust, _not_ Dick Cheney, and finish this job right. Who would it be, and how could this be done? Call your congressperson.

Maureen Dowd my heroine

I'm not sure what I'll do to feel righteous when the New York Times makes it's editorials pay-to-view. I'm probably too cheap to pay up. Anyway, here's what I proudly call a scathing assessment of W and his trumped up war.

NYT Opinion: Iraq is a quagmire, quagmire, quagmire

Public opinion is moving more and more negative about the Iraq war. Bush is still lying through his teeth: "these were terrorists", but Americans are finally seeing through his duplicity.

Canada is progressive leader

Canadian House approves marriage between persons of the same sex nationwide.

US 35% Evangelicals BusinessWeek

A recent business week article (you would need to register [free] to see the article online) puts the % of white evangelicals in America at around 25%. And % of black evangelicals at 10%. That's over 1/3 of the country. Wow. That's a big number and scary when you think about their typically conservative views.

Do genes of fruit flies mean anything?

So, well, fruit flies can be turned gay by altering a single gene. I believe this means there's nothing to worry about for all those worried heteros out there.

In case you missed it, CA Superior Court Affirms Marriage Between Persons of the Same-Sex

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=101&e=1&u=/po/20050315/co_po/califrulingaffirmsrightforgaystowed

Also, the AP story, http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050315/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_16

It's probably a temporary legal advance. But just read how strangely conservatives in Maine react to it (tee hee): http://magic-city-news.com/article_3387.shtml