February 2012
16 posts
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Accordingly, at the first session of the first Congress the amendment now under consideration [the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] was proposed with others by Mr. [James] Madison. It met the views of the advocates of religious freedom, and was adopted. Mr. [Thomas] Jefferson afterwards, in reply to an address to him by a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association (8 id. 113), took...
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There are few, if any, governmental activities to which some person or group might not object on religious grounds.
- Judge Ben C. Duniway, Autenrieth v. Cullen, 418 F.2d 586 (1969)
This decision held that a group claiming religious opposition to the Vietnam war was still obligated to pay income taxes. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied certiorari.
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Not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional. … The state may justify a limitation on religious liberty by showing that it is essential to accomplish an overriding governmental interest.
…
The design of the [social security] system requires support by mandatory contributions from covered employers and employees. This mandatory participation is indispensable to the fiscal...
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Conscientious scruples have not, in the course of the long struggle for religious toleration, relieved the individual from obedience to a general law not aimed at the promotion or restriction of religious beliefs. The mere possession of religious convictions which contradict the relevant concerns of a political society does not relieve the citizen from the discharge of political...
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They assert, in other words, that “prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]” includes requiring any individual to observe a generally applicable law that requires (or forbids) the performance of an act that his religious belief forbids (or requires). As a textual matter, we do not think the words must be given that meaning. It is no more necessary to regard the collection of a...
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“The cure for poverty has a name, in fact: it’s called the empowerment of...”
– Christopher Hitchens, speaking during a Nov. 26, 2010 debate with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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“No woman’s health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much...”
– Barack Obama, in remarks on access to preventive care.
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Catholics and contraception
My posts on the Catholic “outrage” over the new ruling by the Health and Human Services Department.
The Catholic Church’s weird ideas about conscience and contraception
More thoughts on Catholicism and contraception
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“Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism, invested in...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great.
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The Catholic Church's weird ideas about conscience... →
My latest for Angry Black Lady Chronicles.
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
– Winston Churchill.
—I do not think Winston Churchill would have liked Mitt Romney.
(via politicalprof)
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January 2012
15 posts
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Guess what? Occupy Oakland sucks.
And it always has.
Occupy Oakland’s assaults endanger public safety
“It struck me that if you were reading a book, people would assume that therefore...”
– Ian McEwan (via youngcontrarian)
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From an old Socialist, to #OccupyWallStreet
The average thinking person nowadays is not merely not a Socialist, he is actively hostile to Socialism. This must be due chiefly to mistaken methods of propaganda. It means that Socialism, in the form of which it is now presented to us, has about it something inherently distasteful—something that drives away the very people who ought to be nocking to its support.
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I am making...
“And there’s always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the...”
– Billy Joel, “Angry Young Man,” Turnstiles, Columbia Records, 1976
Politicalprof: Sometimes You Gotta Wonder →
politicalprof:
So there’s this chart running around that compares how things were in 2009, when Obama became President, with the way they are now. The upshot is that things are worse now, so Obama sucks.
One recent twist on this is: gas prices were cheaper in 2009 than they are now. OBAMA SUCKS!!!
But you…
Watchmalefeminists:
“Republicans and Democrats sitting next to each other” is like “date rape.”
*record-scratch*
What?
(via Sara Langhinrichs)
Yeah, actually, it’s not like that at all.
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“Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective...”
– Hunter S. Thompson, “He Was A Crook,” Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994
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Republican Dictionary
socialist - [soh-shuh-list] noun
1. an advocate or supporter of socialism
2. an inconvenient or distasteful person or idea
Synonyms: hypocrite, hypocritical, radical, Saul Alinsky radical, Marxist, anarchist, secularist, militant homosexual, gay agenda, Kenyan anti-colonialist, feminist, anarcho-feminist, fascist, Nazi, secular humanist, leftist, communist, Leninist, Stalinist, Trotskyist, bad...
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The Paula Deen Debacle: Just Another Devil With a... →
The fact that people have been picking on Paula Deen may partly be because her type 2 diabetes is an illness brought on by eating exactly the kind of food she prepared on her show, but another part of it is out of disgust at the cynicism with which she simultaneously announced her affliction and her deal with a pharmaceutical company to shill their $500-per-month “treatment.”
Anyway,...
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Reposts of two #OWS things I wrote
Because tonight, I feel pretty vindicated.
Why #OccupyWallStreet does not, and will not, have my support
Another missive to #OWS: We know what the problem is
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The perfidious “liberals don’t love the troops”...
Cross-posted from Angry Black Lady Chronicles, where I have the honor of being a contributor.
I wrote before about how Dana Loesch, who as far as I am aware is still employed by CNN, said on her radio show that she would have joined four Marines in urinating on the bodies of three dead Afghans, as depicted in a video that surfaced this week.
Now, tea party darling Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) has...
November 2011
2 posts
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“Perhaps this class-breaking business isn’t so simple as it looked! On the...”
– George Orwell, The Road To Wigan Pier
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Where do you stand on the subject of V8 juice?
It’s excellent when combined with vodka and other savory things in a Bloody Mary. And it’s also strangely drinkable on airplanes. Otherwise, it should be called “sauce.”
Ask me anything
October 2011
8 posts
scoldylox:
Look what’s mostly healed now and internet-ready!
I took about five thousand pictures trying to move my muscles such that the lines would be perfectly straight, but it got exhausting, so I just picked this one. There’s still some scaley skin on the red part, but in another week or so, it should be gone.
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Another missive to #OWS: We know what the problem...
You are, as best as I can tell, upset about these things:
1. High unemployment despite rising corporate profits
2. High income disparity between the top percentile of earners and everyone else
3. Lack of ethical standards for the financial sector
One, not both, of the (viable) American political parties is working to make these problems worse. This is a fact, and it was identified a long time...
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Why #OccupyWallStreet does not, and will not, have...
I’ve gone back and forth on this for the last week or so. When the now-worldwide phenomenon known as #OccupyWallStreet movement began making sounds about a manifesto of sorts several days ago, I was encouraged — and further encouraged when several workers’ unions started showing up in support.
But every time a list of demands or goals emerged from one quarter of the movement,...
July 2011
34 posts
1 tag
The best writing advice I've read today.
adamweinstein:
I don’t recommend, or even approve, writing personally. It can lead to dreadful writing. The danger is that you’ll get lost in the contemplation of your wonderful self. You’ll include things for the lousy reason that they actually happened, or that you feel strongly about them; you” forget to ensure that the reader feels anything whatever. You may hold the popular view that art...
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“The First Amendment was written neither to guarantee freedom of religion to...”
–
American Family Association spokesman and demagogue royale Bryan Fischer, trying to see how many feet he can get into his mouth.
Our only question: If this is how he mangles the meaning of a single 45-word sentence, what’s that say about his interpretation of the Scriptures?
(h/t Joe.My.God.)
...
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Just One Dumb MFer's View
I know I’m just one of the “dumbest motherfuckers in the world,” but this latest from Jane Hamsher seems like a pretty laughable bit of sophistry.
[T]he Obamabots are so out of touch with who Obama is and what he wants they don’t realize that by cheering for the McConnell deal, and his prowess in making McConnell “blink,” it amounts to twisting the knife for him. It makes it impossible for him to...
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Are there two shows called True Blood?
People I know keep going on and on about some show called True Blood, which they universally agree is awesome.
So there are two True Bloods, right? Because I saw an episode of a show called True Blood, and it was shit.
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“The tea party was pretty useful to the GOP leadership for a while. But now...”
– Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum, in his post “Republicans in Disarray! Film at 11!”
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Milk Ad pitch meeting
CEO: Well, Johnson. What have you come up with for the new milk ad campaign?
JOHNSON: Not a whole lot, to be honest, sir. We've mostly been watching a lot of Spike TV.
CEO: Your job may be on the line here, Johnson. You better give me something.
JOHNSON: Well, sir... so far all we have is, "Bitches be crazy."
CEO: Goddamn. That's brilliant.