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Looking at some absurd protest signs put together by the Tea Party Movement, I was inspired to write about the absurdities of the movement thus far.

To begin with, the original Boston Tea Party in December 1773 was a form of protest against the British government and one of the turning points in American history leading to the American Revolution and eventual independence from Britain. The American colonists were upset about being taxed by a foreign government rather than their own elected officials. In fact, despite the level of autonomy and all of the financial support the British Crown gave Americans, the colonists were constantly unhappy about “taxation without representation” even though most of the taxes were minimal. Since the British East Indian Trading Company had a monopoly on the trade of tea to and from the colonies and many colonists were heavy consumers of tea, they eventually revolted against the perceived “unjust” law, destroying all of the tea brought into Boston harbor rather than allowing it to be sold.

Personally, I’m a critic of the American Revolution because I think the colonists were better off in many ways as a British colony. Imagine how much farther we would be as a nation today if our government followed the British system rather than our broken system where “States rights” are constantly in competition with the central government.

The British took care of defense, government, currency and largely left the colonists alone. As an independent nation, despite the best intentions of the founders, it took us until the 1960s to become a modern nation. In a lot of ways we’re still very backward compared to the rest of the world whereas the British commonwealth nations (the UK, Canada and even India) are centuries ahead of us in terms of social welfare and civil liberties.

Ironically, the anti-Obama Tea Party Movement in America has none of the grievances of their namesake. They are not taxed heavily, they do not lack legislative representation and they are not being denied rights. In many cases, as I will discuss later, they stand to benefit the most from Obama’s evil “Socialist” agenda.

According to Wikipedia:

The Tea Party movement is a fiscally-conservative socio-political movement that emerged in the United States in 2009 through a series of locally and nationally coordinated protests.^[1][2][3] The protests were partially in response to several Federal laws: theEmergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,^[4] the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,^[5][6] and a series of health care reform bills.^[7]

The Wikipedia article goes on to list a Tea Party Manifesto:

1. Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.
2. Reject emissions trading: Stop the “cap and trade” administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
3. Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification.
4. Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words – the length of the original Constitution.
5. Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce^{[clarification needed]} that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities.
6. Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.
7. Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation.
9. Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.
10. Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011.

Most of these things are completely absurd. The only part that I can really agree on is balancing the federal budget and limiting annual growth to federal spending to match inflation. We have a huge deficit that we’re passing onto future generations – but we can’t balance the budget at the expense of social welfare either.

Restoring the George W. Bush tax cuts for the wealthy , reducing earmarks, limiting environmental action or repealing Obamacare before it even takes effect are just ridiculous though.

Under the Obama tax policies as recently addressed in Congress and the Senate, things aren’t much different from the Bush tax policies. People who make less than $1 million annually actually save slightly more under Obama than under Bush. They save dramatically more than under Clinton. Why should people making more than $1 million have huge tax cuts versus the middle class?

And all of the references to constitutionality are an absurd waste of time and a waste of rhetoric. All laws are already scrutinized for constitutionality. That is why we have three branches of government and separation of powers. If someone deems a law to be unconstitutional they are free to take their case to the Supreme Court whose JOB it is determine constitutionalist and scrutinize laws against the constitution.

Before continuing on the Tea Party, lets consider some of President Obama’s major achievements (so far) as President:

President Obama:

1. Passed the “largest” economic stimulus bill in American history.
2. Ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay military detention facility and abolished “enhanced interrogation techniques” (ie: water boarding).
3. Set a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq (currently in motion).
4. Ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and enlisted European allies in a new multi-layered strategy in the Middle East and in Pakistan setting a timetable for a drawdown of our troops.
5. “Returned science to its rightful place” by lifting the Bush restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
6. Signed laws to expand children’s health insurance (financed by a 61-cent per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax).
7. Signed a law meant to improve the ability of women who allege pay discrimination to sue their employer.
8. Lifted travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans who seek to travel more frequently to the island and send more US currency to their immediate family.
9. Appointed the first Latina to the US Supreme Court
10. Signed a law supporting increased financial aid to severely injured war veterans, and their caretakers.
11. Banned offshore drilling until parameters for deep well safety procedures are clarified.
12. Put a hold on Arctic oil exploratory digging until environmental impacts are clear.
13. Passed health care reform.
14. Signed a hate crime bill.

The sad reality is that, despite all of the good he has done, President Obama is getting hit from every side. The Democrats accuse him of being too centrist and conceding to both the Right and special interests, the LGBTQ community accuses him of not acting fast enough with passing ENDA and repealing DADT and the Conservatives just hate him for existing.

Despite being dramatically opposed to the Economic Stimulus and Obamacare, conservative states are some of the first with their hands out for federal funds resulting from the “bailout” and Obamacare (examples being Louisiana, New Jersey and Florida).

Back to the Tea Party, the majority of the movement is made up of the white working middle class who, arguably, have the most to gain from what Obama has accomplished. They are the largest population that is unemployed, the largest population that stands to benefit from the healthcare legislation (ie: uninsured, uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions) and the largest population that ultimately stands to benefit from the stimulus.

Everyone – white, black, asian, male, female, adult, child, gay, straight – stands to benefit from the stimulus, the ending of the wars in the middle east, Stem Cell Research, health insurance, a more diverse Supreme Court and the suspension of off-shore drilling.

Yet we, metaphorically, “bite the hand that feeds us”. My guess is that Tea Partiers resent the fact that Obama has worked so hard for civil rights and minority protection – but none of them have the balls to attack him on those issues because they know it would be culturally unfounded. This isn’t the 1950s in the American South, this is 2010.

In the end, if we don’t start standing together, nothing will get done. President Obama, as he said when campaigning, is one man. He cannot snap his fingers and magically fix the country. He has worked hard, he has repeated successful strategies of past leaders such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson but unlike FDR and LBJ he does not have popular support. If the political schism continues, we’re going to alternate like a sine wave between conservative and liberal politicians and ultimately get nothing done.

So far the stimulus package has been successful; healthcare reform is something that we direly need. Why not work together to ensure our continued success as a nation rather than writing ridiculous grammatically incorrect protest signs and taping teabags to our hats screaming about issues that we don’t understand?

So lately I’ve been hearing a lot about this so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” (Islamic Community center) and I really can’t believe how much media attention it is getting from both sides.

1. The “mosque” will be located in New York. New York is a state, not a country. Many of the most outspoken critics haven’t even BEEN to New York, yet care unduly for the affairs of another state?

2. The “mosque” is not located at Ground Zero. It is a few blocks away. Plans to build this mosque were in place even before 9/11.

3. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious leader behind the mosque, is a moderate Muslim, even liberal by Islamic standards. If we must tolerate religion in the US (it’s in our constitution) we need moderate religious people rather than fundamentalist nut-cases.

4. Yes, the people who attacked us on 9/11 were Muslim. But we’ve had Christians wreak plenty of havoc in the name of religion. Most Americans don’t consider Christianity to be as toxic as it is, so why have double standards with Muslims? The fundamentalist minority should not define the peaceful majority.

5. As an American who vividly remembers the details of 9/11 including where I was standing when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, I agree that it is a little bit insensitive to build an Islamic Community cCenter so close to Ground Zero. But ultimately it isn’t up to me to decide what happens 1) in another state and 2) on private property. Maybe this Community Center will help us become more tolerant and move forward as a modern globalized nation.

6. The first amendment, the same amendment that allows Christians and the religious-right to spread hate in the name of religion, also gives Muslims the right to worship and build mosques wherever they choose. If religious liberty is eliminated for one group, it will have to be eliminated for all groups.

Lets take a look at what the first amendment guarantees all Americans:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That means that, just like civil rights, it isn’t up to the majority to decide on the rights of the minority. I’m sorry if you disagree with something, by all means scream and make a ruckus about it, but in the end Christians would be the ones screaming the loudest if someone denied THEM religious liberty. I guess this shows the ultimate hypocrisy of Christianity that many complain about.

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So I really love Photoshop CS5. I’ve always been a big fan of Adobe products, but I really like CS5 and LightRoom 3. I’m taking a class at school on advanced Photoshop and Photoshop for Photographers and here is some of the stuff we’re learning:

Photo Retouching – this picture (before on the left, after on the right).

Adjustments made:

• Curves adjustment to fix up the color balance.
• Dodging and burning where appropriate: dodging on clothes of the two boys, burning-in on the ocean and grass.
• Hue/Saturation adjustment layers on the two sections of grass to make them actually look like grass.
• Cropping
• Selective “healing spot brush” to remove hairs, defects, dust, etc.

This only took about 20 minutes and I had a lot of fun with it.

Adjustments made:

• Curves adjustment to fix up the color balance.
• Imogenic Portraiture filter used to boost color and smooth the bride.
• Dodging and burning where appropriate: dodging on clothes of the two boys, burning-in on the ocean and grass.
• Hue/Saturation adjustment layers on the two sections of grass to make them actually look like grass.
• Cropping
• Selective “healing spot brush” to remove hairs, defects, dust, etc.

This only took about 15 minutes.

Adjustments made:

• Curves adjustment to fix up the color balance.
• Brightness/Contrast layer adjustment.
• Topaz filter used to boost contrast and detail – made it a little bit grainy at the bottom, but some healing brush should fix that up.
• Dodging and burning where appropriate: dodging on clothes of the two boys, burning-in on the ocean and grass.
• Hue/Saturation adjustment layers on the two sections of grass to make them actually look like grass.
• Cropping
• Selective “healing spot brush” to remove hairs, defects, dust, etc.

This only took about 10 minutes.

Although I am an anti-religion Atheist, I like to consider myself open minded. That said, I occasionally watch religious documentaries and read books from the religious-right. Today I came upon this video on Netflix called “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers” which was apparently adapted from a book of the same name.

The author (and host of the movie) is an evangelical, but one I could consider liberal. Although he holds deep conviction in his beliefs, he also sees how the rest of the world views fundamentalist Christians and wants to change that perception. His message is that Christians are losing their Christ-like demeanor and actually going backward in terms of their sociocultural stances. Rather than focusing on love and turning the other cheek, they are becoming more combattive and militant – working to pass laws to deny women reproductive right and LGBTQ Americans civil rights all in the name of religion.

I am all for freedom of speech, it is our first amendment right after all. And although I am generally all for the ACLU, I do think they go a bit far with pressuring businesses not to celebrate Christmas or Easter. There is nothing offensive to me about a nativity, a “holiday” tree or the Easter bunny. We have gone too far as a society trying to keep everyone happy. Dan Merchant, in this film, goes as far as showing all of the cities with religious names such as St. Paul, St. Petersburg, etc and jokingly suggesting we rename them to New Leningrad. Although America is not a Christian nation, we are rooted in religious freedom, after all that is why our original settlers came here. Let Americans celebrate religious holidays and let cities keep their names.

What this ultimately gives us as Bill O’Reilly and Dan Merchant have suggested is a culture war in the US. We have the liberals (or “secular progressives” as Bill O’Reilly coined in his book Culture Warrior) on one side and the conservatives (the religious-right) on the other side. Neither is willing to accept defeat and in the past decade this has fueled a huge political “fire” which has come to define American politics.

Next the movie goes on to show a “Family Feud” style game show with liberals versus conservatives. The liberals whipped the butts of the conservatives, even when it came to religious topics. Dan Merchant’s message through this illustration is that liberals (secular progressives) understand the culture of Christians much better than Christians understand the culture and beliefs of progressives. He goes as far as saying that if this disconnect between the two factions doesn’t change that we are going to continue to live in a very divided country.

Drawing on the opinions of authors, politicians and lots of other big names in our culture, Dan Merchant touches on American consumerism. I know I personally am a “victim” (happy participant) in consumerism. I have been programmed by our society to live by the motto “want it, buy it; can’t afford it, charge it” and it’s a very bad thing. Christian, Atheist, conservative, liberal, straight, gay, male, female – we are all victims of consumerism. Consumerism is an issue we should all be concerned with. It should be the big issue, not gay marriage, not abortion.

Jesus Christ is someone that we all respect. Christians or Atheists – we all agree that Jesus was a great philosopher, he is a great idea. We can all apply his teachings to our life and make it a better life. We may differ on believing that he is a god rather than just a great man, but regardless we should all apply his teachings to our life.

In the end, although I may never see eye to eye with the religious-right, a difference in belief doesn’t mean we have to be enemies. I have tons of people in my life who are staunchly religious, including my mother. I love her dearly. I have friends, acquaintances, colleagues and family members who I love dearly and we don’t see eye to eye on really…anything. If I can get along with them, why can’t others in the American public agree to disagree with people? Like race and gender, religion and sexual orientation should be irrelevant in American culture. There is a separation of church and state in our country. There is also unlimited religious freedom (along with freedom of speech and assembly also guaranteed in the first amendment). Rather than always being at war with each other, we need to live and let live. Although I’m sure this culture war isn’t going away anytime soon, the only thing that is going to win this war is love (something profound that was said to me by a teacher from my high school). We need to learn to understand the “enemy”, learn to see the good in them, learn to love them, learn to work together for a common good that we can all agree upon.

All humans have the potential for love, for goodness. Lets put our differences aside and start loving rather than hating. Love conquers all.

Some of the most outspoken personalities of the religious right are women. Sharon Engel, Sarah Palin, Anne Coulter – the list continues. They claim to believe in the bible and to live by its rules, but do they really adhere to strict biblical canon? After all, it is immoral and sinful to pick and choose the parts of the bible that you like. Lets see what the New Testament has to say about the role of women in society…

This from 1 Corinthians 11:

11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
11:8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.
11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

Further, from 1 Corinthians 14:

14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
14:35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Rather than being so outspoken about political issues, campaigning to deny civil rights to minority groups, and having tea parties – perhaps these outspoken women should follow the teachings of the Apostle Paul in their Providence-inspired holy book: shut up, cover your head and if you must speak, filter it through your husband. Don’t have a husband? I’m sorry. Marriage is sacred, you should go find one.

Until next time…

The politics in America are ridiculous right now, especially where Republicans are concerned. I say this as a fiscal conservative and social liberal. Congress has been called into an emergency session right now to approve a bill that would give money to state and local governments to save the jobs of public servants like teachers, police officers, firefighters, etc.

In the past few months, we have seen a big growth in private sector and manufacturing jobs but a big decline in public sector jobs. Admittedly a lot of the public sector jobs were temporary census jobs, but STILL there were quite a few other jobs that could have been saved if the local governments just had the funding they needed.

During the controversial Obama stimulus package of 2008, while fighting out the stimulus package in the House and Senate, the conservatives forced the Democrats to concede billions in monies to state and local governments to save education, state-level healthcare and other public servant jobs. That is why America is in such bad shape right now! We rewarded the banks and financial institutions that fucked up the economy in the first place and bailed out GM but we neglected the people who matter who are our public servants.

The budget cuts are so bad that some states are going as far as turning off street lights, unpaving roads, ending public transportation and cutting school weeks to only 4 days a week! Education should be our number one priority. We should not be cutting education, healthcare or public transportation. If anything we should be cutting the pensions of politicians and the amount of days that state legislatures meet.

We know the problems, we know that giving money to state and local governments will help – but Republicans are refusing to do this. If we’re going to pull money out of thin air and burden future generations with paying it off, we should be giving to public servants, not corrupt banks and lending institutions like Goldman Sachs or car manufacturers like GM. These companies don’t even do much for our economy – companies like Toyota (a Japanese company) provide many more jobs and economic growth than GM (an American company).

Republican idiots, grow up. Stop demanding tax cuts for the rich and start fighting for what really matters which is proper education (jobs for our teachers) and social services (jobs for the typical American everyman).

The media conglomerate Discovery Communications used to be known for their earth-friendly offerings. But they’ve just paid millions to Sarah Palin to host a “nature” show, despite her decidedly anti-environmental stance: She vocally advocates for habitat-destroying oil drilling, she denies global warming is a human-caused threat, and she spearheaded a brutal wolf-slaughter program as governor of Alaska.

It’s one thing if Fox News gives Sarah Palin a platform. But when Discovery Communications — home to the Discovery Channel, the “Planet Earth” series, the Science Channel, Animal Planet, and TreeHugger.com — gives a show to Sarah Palin, it undercuts everything the Discovery brand has come to represent.

Anti-environmentalism has no place in the Discovery Communications lineup. Join me in demanding that the company cancel “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” before it airs. Just click on the link below to send your message.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/palin_discovery/?r_by=10405-3080250-c3WhTMx&rc=paste1

So I’ve held off on writing about the ruling by Judge Vaughn Walker in California that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Of course I was excited, no THRILLED that it was struck down, but I wanted to wait to see how the religious right would respond.

The Absurdity of Proposition 8 (to begin with)

2008 was a year of great victory for progressivism in America. We elected Barack Obama – our first non-white President – something unprecedented in American history. But on the same night – in California – arguably the most liberal state in the Union, citizens passed a law that amended the California constitution to make  gay marriage illegal. The Yes on 8 campaign was filled with lies and scare tactics to entice the ignorant-majority to vote in opposition to Prop 8. I even heard of people so confused by what Yes and No actually meant in regard to the proposition, that they voted opposite of how they intended to.

As Rachel Maddow so eloquently said this week on her show, when you put minority rights up to vote by the majority, the majority will subjugate the minority 100% of the time. 31 out of 31 states that put gay marriage up to a vote, voted against it. Rights should not be put up for vote, they should not be a matter of public opinion, even if many MANY people think they should be. Rights exist to protect people – if we didn’t NEED protecting there would be no need for laws. For example, look at universal suffrage for minorities and women as well as the civil rights battle in the 50s and 60s for minorities and women. Previously, they had a similar position in society as LGBTQ Americans and it took the government intervening to give them rights. Clearly the same was true in the case of Prop 8.

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The Overturn of the Discriminatory Law

Judge Vaughn Walker in California overturned Proposition 8 on Wednesday, August 4th 2010. An appointee of George Bush Senior (AKA Daddy Bush), Walker is assumed to be a conservative-leaning judge. Among other things, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that “Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.” He also believes (and I agree with him) that “Denying marriage to gay people does not make heterosexual marriages stronger; it does not protect children; it does not have any ‘rational reason’ at all”. He further went on to say that it violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution on the basis of not providing equal protection.

Taken from Change.org:

“Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to legitimate state interest,” asserted Walker in his decision yesterday. And, in a direct strike to social conservative arguments on the “sanctity of marriage,” Walker ruled, “tradition alone, however, cannot form a rational basis for a law.” The old paradigm of rationalized, “reasonable” sexual norms was thus struck down, replaced by a new order, for now, that emphasized our historic “rationales” flaws.

To bolster his point, Walker contended, “The evidence shows that the tradition of restricting an individual’s choice of spouse based on gender does not rationally further a state interest despite its ‘ancient lineage.” Times have changed, he’s saying, and American law needs to keep up.

There’s no way Walker’s decision won’t be debated and discussed for years, perhaps even generations, to come. He totally reoriented previously entrenched ideas about “rational” sexuality and gender identities and placed them in a new context, a more relevant context.

Walker’s Proposition 8 reading totally revolutionized the nation’s idea of “rational reason,” and now there’s no turning back. Not that a reasonable nation would want to in the first place, right?

The Aftermath of Justice

Not unusual for the religious right, all was quiet on the bible belt front. They were so shocked that, for once, that they were silent. At least for a day. Now people on the religious right are calling for the impeachment of Judge Vaughn Walker. On what grounds, I’m not sure. I’m sure something along the lines of denying religious liberty – however, what they really mean is not passing laws derived from the chaos and brutality of the Old Testament.

According to the American Family Association, anything but an organization dedicated to preservingfamily, Judge Vaughn Walker should be impeached because:

(Taken from The Examiner)

• Walker’s decision overturning Prop 8 “frustrated the express will of seven million Californians who went to the polls to shape their state’s public policy on marriage;”
• “Judge Walker is an open homosexual, and should have recused himself from this case due to his obvious conflict of interest. “
• “Federal judges hold office only ‘during good Behaviour,’ and …Judge Walker’s ruling is not ‘good Behaviour.’”

While 6.8 million Californians voted for the Prop 8 gay marriage ban in 2008, more than 6.2 million voted against Prop 8. Moreover, the issue before Judge Walker was whether Prop 8 violated the U.S. Constitution, specifically, the 14th Amendment’s guarantees against deprivation “of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and of “equal protection of the laws.” As Judge Walker pointed out in his ruling, these Constitutional protections for minorities of all types are not subject to the whims of a majority of voters.

Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides for the impeachment of “civil officers of the United States” (including federal judges) for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Judge Walker did not do anything illegal or even unethical. He will not be impeached. Stop wasting time and costing the tax payers money in order to force religion on Americans.

As usual the religious-right is just a bunch of idiotic buffoons who are unable to come to terms that society has changed since the Middle Ages. It’s time to move on. The rest of society, including many moderate Christians, have already moved on. It’s time for the far right to do so as well.

I’m sorry if conservatives disagree with gay marriage. In the 1940s, the majority denied the minority (blacks and women) rights. They disagreed that they were deserving of civil rights. In that case as well as this, the government had to step in. Now civil rights for women and minorities are just a fact of life.

I’m sorry if conservatives hold deep religious conviction that homosexuality is deviant behavior. But that’s just too damn bad. Church and State are separate in the United States. If they’d prefer a theocracy, they should move to Iran. Enough said.

Awesome parody video from The Onion -

New Law Would Ban Marriages Between People Who Don’t Love Each Other

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

Edit 19:20 August 6, 2010:

After posting my article I found an awesome article concerning Arnold Schwarzenegger and how he is an LGBT hero. Even the Republican governor of California supports marriage equality. You’d think, being Republican of all unpleasant things, he could be adamantly opposed to marriage equality. However, he praised the decision by Judge Vaughn Walker! And he’s not even up for re-election this year; it was genuine. Schwarzenegger pleaded that gays be allowed to marry immediately, opposing the stay requested by the far-right nutcases. You go Arnie! I love you and I’m proud to be a Californian and an American today!

Recently Target donated $150,000 to a Minnesota PAC supporting Tom Emmer, an anti-gay politician. Not only is Emmer anti-gay, but he supports a rockband who actually advocates death to LGBTQ Americans. As a national chain who has always been progressive in their support of LGBTQ employees with a 100% rating on HRC’s equality index, it baffles me that Target would support such a candidate.

Please stand with me (and the grieving mother in this video) in boycotting Target until they issue a public apology and make this right.

My e-mail to Gregg.Steinhafel@target.com

Hello Gregg,

My family and I have been long term shoppers and fans of Target. We were particularly impressed when you took a stand against the religious-right in not allowing certain dogmatic Christmas symbols. As a supporter of the HRC, I am also proud that Target has a 100% rating on the HRC Workplace Equality Index.

However, this recent news about supporting not just an anti-LGBT politician, but one who supports a rock band who encourages killing LGBTQ Americans, well that is just shameful. My family, friends and anyone who will listen to me will doing business elsewhere – at businesses who do not support hate with their money.

We would be happy to return our business to Target once there has been a formal apology to LGBTQ Americans and a promise to investigate candidates further before making donations in the future.

I’m hoping that Target makes the right choice.

Michael R Brant

Apparently (according to Towleroad) Anne Rice has quit being a Christian for many of the same reasons that I frequently cite when criticizing Christians. I always thought her dramatic shift from vampire author to staunch Christian was a little bit…ironic but this is pretty interesting.

Anne Rice announced on Facebook yesterday that she’s quitting Christianity as a matter of conscience.

Wrote the author:

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

She followed that up with another message:

“As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

Although it is always sad to me to see people lose their faith and get hurt by something they devoted so much time to, I still find it admirable that Anne Rice is able to stand up for what is right.