Saturday, June 9, 2012
Winston-Salem Journal LTE 06/09/12
Representative
On May 27 about 2,500 people met at the Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden to protest a sermon preached by the Rev. Charles Worley on what the Bible says about homosexual behavior and what he thought should be done to practicing homosexuals ("2,000 protesters support gay rights," May 28). As a North Carolinian and a Christian, I was not only offended by his suggestions, but also saddened and embarrassed because his comments could be interpreted by many as representative of the 61 percent of the voters who voted to ban same-sex marriage, and worse yet, all of Christianity.
Once I got over my self-righteous outrage, I realized that there is a little of Worley in all of us. How many times have we added words to the Bible and left words out to justify our own personal opinions on a moral issue? More specifically, how often have we blinded ourselves to certain passages of the Bible to justify a divorce and remarriage, even though Christ himself said no less than three times it is "adultery"?
How often have we ignored passages of the Bible to justify the killing of the unborn, in spite of the fact that it was expressly forbidden by God in the fifth commandment? When was the last time we have heard a pastor preach on either of these issues without watering down the words of the Bible?
If pastors ignore controversial issues, are they any different than Worley? Are we any different than Worley?
ROB HICKS
North Wilkesboro
Deserving of equal pay
I read in the June 5 online Journal that President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are courting female voters by pushing a bill that calls for equal pay in the workplace ("Obama, Senate Dems court women with fair pay bill"). It reports that Republicans say the legislation would unfairly burden employers. What kind of nutty thinking is this?
I worked for IBM for 40 years. During that time, I worked with and for many talented women, who as far as I know were always paid the same as men with similar positions and responsibility. This doesn't seem to have put any "burden" on IBM. IBM is a very successful company that has benefited greatly from the contributions of women employees. Equal and fair compensation has helped attract very good ones. In fact, IBM now has a woman as CEO, Virginia Rometty. If American companies are going to remain competitive in the world, we need the contributions of our best and brightest. What shouldn't there be equality in compensation?
Equal pay for equal work is not a political ploy. If this kind of thinking truly represents that of Republican legislators, stop voting for them.
DON ZELLMER
Ararat
A right to life
A letter recently decried the attempt by the Catholic Church to impose its religious convictions on all Americans ("Inflicting theology," June 1). I hope that the writer may be willing to accept respectful correction.
He either has not read or has not understood the church's principal teaching on civil liberties in religious matters. On Dec. 7, 1965, Vatican Council II published the "Declaration on Religious Liberty," which asserts that "the human person has a right to religious freedom." That same declaration insists that "nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will."
No Catholic properly insists that the state enforce Catholic teaching about contraception or sterilization, only that Catholics not be coerced into paying for such practices. It is correct, though, that Catholics and very many others of different faiths or of none at all, hold that the child in, or emerging from, the womb has a right to life.
In seeking to promote laws that protect the innocent and defenseless, Catholics and others subscribe to the Thomist definition of law as "an ordinance of reason for the common good." Whether Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God and the savior of the world, as Catholics believe, will and should be debated in a secular society. To contend, though, that a child (with its unique DNA) is mere "bloody tissue" is ignorance on steroids, and we all (even Catholics!) have both a medical and moral stake in setting right the laws of our beloved country.
JAMES H. TONER
Kernersville
Finish the Thought
Briefly complete the sentence below and send it to us at letters@wsjournal.com. We'll print some of the results in a few days. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones.
"Republican Gov. Scott Walker's win in the Wisconsin recall elections is a sign of ..."
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LTE #1 & #3 - More theological nonsense. Mr. Hicks and Mr. Toner and Pastor Worley are free to believe whatever they want, but they are not free to codify their superstitions into the laws that govern our nation.
ReplyDeleteLTE #2 - Equal pay for equal work is about as basic as you can get. It is shameful that this is still an issue.
As Mr. Zellmer points out, it is not an issue in the best companies. Unfortunately, there are far too many companies that are not among the best. If they did the right thing on their own, there would be no need for regulation.
FINISH THE THOUGHT - Not what most people think. The Walker side outspent the recall side more than 8 to 1…so much for all that union money that some are so obsessed about.
What is really interesting is the exit polls:
1. 60% of those who voted for Walker said that they did not necessarily agree with his policies. They said that they voted for him because they disagreed with the recall process, that recall should only be used in cases of high crimes and misdemeanors. I agree.
If we're going to have a recall election every time somebody does something that we disagree with, we will spend more time voting in recall elections than we do working.
2. When asked how they would vote in the Presidential election in November, 53% said that they would vote for President Obama…42% chose Mitt Romney.
The Walker campaign far outspent Barrett's, but unions spent millions on their own outside Barrett's campaign. That 8:1 figure is a bit of clever reporting by the watchdog media.
ReplyDeletePartly true. The actual reported spending by all parties, including outside PACs, the US Chamber of Commerce and unions, through the end of May was Walker $47 million, Barret $19 million.
DeleteThe projected total is over $80 million, split roughly Walker $57 million, Barret $23 million. Any way you cut it, big business way outspent unions and everybody else.
All told, the recall elections cost the taxpayers of Wisconsin $20 million.
And a final snippet from the exit polls: 86% of voters said that they had made up their minds more than a month before the election, so an awful lot of money was spent on the remaining 14%.
Excellent post Stab. It's clear that people, like you and I, across America are getting tired of unions and their thugery.
Delete“What … does the academic literature say about the relationship between homosexuality and child molestation? Quite a bit, actually,” he wrote, quoting data compiled by the Family Research Institute: “Scientific studies confirm a strong pedophilic predisposition among homosexuals.”
ReplyDeleteThe institute, after reviewing more than 19 studies and peer-reviewed reports in a 1985 “Psychological Reports” article, found that homosexuals account for between 25 and 40 percent of all child molestation.
“But this number is low,” Baldwin says, “due to the fact that many reporters will not report if a child molester is a homosexual, even if he knows that to be the case.”
http://www.wnd.com/2002/04/13722/
This is something many of us have known for quite some time. But, the PC police have stopped everybody from of actually saying it.
DeleteAnother wave from the fount of misinformation...
DeleteQuoting the kuckoos at the Family Research Institute on homosexuality is like quoting Adolf Hitler on Jewishness.
Bucky, this thread is threadbare.
Delete"Reverend" Worley's preaching was not Christian at all. There was too much heat that produced no light. Besides, only a Black pastor can hold forth from his pulpit on political/social issues and get away with it. I do not sense Worley is black.
ReplyDeleteDeserves equal pay for equal work. "Equal" work is not the same thing as the "same" work. This comes up when Dems are in trouble and need a diversion. Unions love this idea because they can spread the "equal" across all kinds of occupations.
ReplyDeleteRight to life. I'm not Catholic, but it seems the Catholic church messed up in the 1930's when its heirarchy threw in with FDR's New Deal social experiment and allowed the State to use welfare in place of the Church's concept of the proper term which is charity. The Church doubled down on this in the mid 1960's with LBJ's Great Society welfare state and collaborated on a social tragedy that we are living with today.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker's win in Wisconsin a sign of? Where to begin....On the very same day in San Diego and San Jose Ca, local voters did some of the same things to public union contracts that Walker did. Stockton,Ca is on the same track and North Las Vegas, Nv did similar the week before with public union contracts. This is spreading as citizens are waking up to the out of control cost of these contracts. Even Democrat mayors and Governors are being forced to face the unyielding force of basic math.
ReplyDeleteThere is some movement in places to rein in public sector unions, but I suspect it will be localized and incremental. I doubt other governors will want to go thru the turmoil that did WI. In IN, Gov Daniels did not want to push RTW, though he did sign the legislation when the legislature passed. The political effort is high when trying to pass reforms like that, and unions can exert disproportionate pressure, as they for months.
DeleteStab, you are probably correct but progress is progress. One factor that hurt the Left in Wisconsin was the assembled freak show put on by out of state vagrants, Occupy types etc. NJ governor Christie challenged the teachers union early and other Govs are noticing. The Left will misinterpret all this as a wake up call to bear down with their union allies, but the message is simply that voters are now awake and watching budgets of their broke local and state governments. Little by little the post WW2 Blue governing model is breaking down.
DeleteYes, there is progress. And WI has turned its deficit into a surplus. I agree re the freak show. I suspect that attempt at mobocracy turned a lot of voters off.
DeleteThe DNC confab in Charlotte awaits. It should run smooth as the freaks outside are interchangable with the freaks inside.
DeleteWow, a string of obsessive emotional Buck boy style emoting...freaks and mobocracy, eh?
DeleteWe're the bright young men,
Who want to go back to nineteen-ten,
We're Barry's Boys.
We're the kids with a cause,
A government like Grandmama's,
We're Barry's Boys.
Back to when the poor were poor,
And rich were rich,
And you felt so damn secure
Just knowing which was which.
-Chad Mitchell Trio
OT, thats what they are. Acapella or contata.
DeleteIf the Republicans were actually fighting for some high minded principles, you might have a point.
DeleteBut they're not. They're just fighting to get elected, then back to the same old same old.
And this:
Delete"And WI has turned its deficit into a surplus."
Pants on fire, this time, Governor Walker's. Wisconsin did have a surplus, when Walker came to office. But:
"A report from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau indicated that Wisconsin is projected to have a $53 million deficit at the end of fiscal 2012, which concludes June 30, and a $208 million deficit at the end of fiscal 2013, due largely to lower-than-expected tax revenue."
Hmmm...wonder what happened to that tax revenue.
Polls show that Gov. Romney is now leading Obama in Wisconsin. If that doesn't tell you something about the recent recall vote, nothing will.
ReplyDeleteWe Ask America 6/6 48.0 43.0 Obama +5.0
DeleteMarquette U. 5/26 52.0 40.0 Obama +12.0
Marquette U. 5/26 51.0 43.0 Obama +8.0
St. Norbert 5/22 49.0 43.0 Obama +6.0
Marquette U. 5/12 46.0 46.0 Tie
Rasmussen 5/9 49.0 45.0 Obama +4.0
Marquette U. 4/29 51.0 42.0 Obama +9.0
NBC/Marist 3/27 52.0 35.0 Obama +17.0
Rasmussen 3/27 52.0 41.0 Obama +11.0
Marquette U. 3/25 48.0 43.0 Obama +5.0
Rasmussen 2/27 47.0 42.0 Obama +5.0
PPP 2/26 53.0 39.0 Obama +14.0
Marquette U. 2/19 53.0 38.0 Obama +15.0
Marquette U. 1/22 48.0 40.0 Obama +8.0
From Nate Silver. The most recent poll, published last Wednesday, has Obama up by five.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy error.......I thought Hannity said last night Romney was leading Obama in recent polls.
DeleteI think it's actually better to be behind at this point in the race, because a lot can change in a few months. Of course, that's just my IMO.
DeleteOops...Buck boy just had another one of his "slight mistake" moments...at least this time we know where it came from...yet another "talking head" moment. He has advanced from reading and comprehension problems to listening and comprehension problems.
DeleteAnd this:
"I think it's actually better to be behind at this point in the race..."
The mantra of every losing coach just before he gets fired. It is never "better to be behind", with the possible exception of going into the fourth turn at certain NASCAR tracks. This ain't NASCAR.
I still won't be grabbing my ankles when I vote in November while telling Obama to take me.
DeleteAs always, when he has no answer to being called on the carpet for yet another stupid, misinformed, lying comment, Buck boy resorts to crude, uncouth imagery.
DeleteI'd bet that in his dreams each night, he is being taken in just that way, in glorious color 3D surround sound IMAX with SmellOVision.
Facebooking: at Mt Tabor's graduation. Sarah, aka Miss Stepstab, just received her well earned diploma.
ReplyDeletePlease tell her congratulations from WW.
DeleteTell Susan well done as well.
DeleteYes, and congratulations from an old college professor.
DeleteA big step toward a bright future.
Was a glorious day indeed. Very nice and uplifting ceremony. Go Spartans!
DeleteThank you, and many thanks to Bob, who set up the picnic and received the barbecue lunch I had ordered from Little Richards. Bob is a great friend to me and my family, and has been a great help. There are none finer than Bob in our estimation.
DeleteWhat a pleasure to be surrounded by all that beauty and intelligence.
DeleteI'm glad Maria Sharapova won the French Open. It gets a little disgusting watching some of these 'manly' women play tennis.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/story/2012-06-09/french-open-womens-final-maria-sharapova/55479648/1
More seepage from the gutter.
DeleteYou've got to love Buck boy's grotesque predictability.
'Sexual Depravity' Of Penguins Detailed In Historical Document
DeleteHistorical documents deemed too shocking for their time have been unearthed, detailing the "astonishing depravity" of penguins.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/09/historical-documents-reveal-sexual-depravity-penguins_n_1583227.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Thanks, Wordly, for the entertaining story. I hear that the Westboro team is preparing an emergency expedition to Cape Adare. And the Tea Party is cooking up a new Marriage Amendment that will apply specifically to penguins worldwide.
DeleteThat's good, because depraved behavior by penguins is not confined to Antarctica. There is another story right below this one about a jailbreaker penguin who busted out of an aquarium in Japan. He was captured after several weeks on the lam and punished with a week in solitary confinement.
Shameful...animals behaving like, like...well, animals.
Oops, forgot...we're animals too.
Good to know Mr. Popper's Penguins is really some kind of porno.
DeleteAnd to think that it was originally published as a children's story...oh, the moral decline of the west!
DeleteI'll bet unions have something to do with this. In fact, a little investigation proves it:
DeleteThe book was written by a couple named Atwater in 1938. There was a lot of union activity in 1938. And two of the three states having the largest populations of Atwaters are New York and California, the twin demons of unionism. Also, NC has the 2nd largest concentration of Atwaters, which almost certainly bodes ill for the November elections.
The story is about the Popper family. Popper is a German-Jewish name. Need I say more? And where do most of the Poppers live? NY...but you already knew that.
The Poppers first learn about penguins while listening to the radio. Everybody knows that a lot of union members listened to the radio (study conducted by the Family Research Institute). The noose is tightening.
The Poppers live in a town called Stillwater. There are several towns named Stillwater in the US and guess what, there are union members living in every one of them, especially the one in Minnesota…you can only live there if you are a union member…they check your card.
But here's the clincher. Where do the people named Stillwater live? There aren't all that many of them, a somewhat secretive clan. Only one state has more than 2 Stillwater families. I don't have to tell you which state north of New Jersey that is.
You could probably guess which states have 2 Stillwater families. Union to the core. I don't want to embarrass their citizens, so I'll just give their postal codes: PA, OH, MI, WA.
Ergo, unions are responsible for the depraved behavior of penguins, not to mention the declining moral fiber of our youth. But you already knew that anyway, didn't you?
Good God...you're onto us! I'll have to contact the politburo. They'll probably send over some gay teamsters to either plant you somewhere outside of Seacaucus, or re-do your kitchen.
DeleteVinnie gave me a great deal on some granite countertops that "fell of a truck".
No, please...not the gay teamsters! Throw me in the briar patch...anything...just not the gay teamsters!
DeleteOn the other hand, I've never visited Seacaucus...and my kitchen could stand a re-do.
Hmmm...
The occupation of the WI statehouse certainly resembled mobocracy, and was repudiated by democracy. Refreshing.
ReplyDeleteThe three minute clips on Fox "news" are not quite adequate to make anyone an expert on any event.
DeleteThe demonstrations at the Wisconsin state capitol went on for four months and involved hundreds of thousands of protesters. For the most part they were peaceful, if a bit noisy at times. The proof of the pudding is that in all that time, only about 10 people were arrested. No one was killed or injured.
One of my sons spent several days there with a team of observers from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University. What he saw was people exercising their 1st Amendment right to petition the government.
He said "It made me think of you and mom in Mississippi and DC in the '60s."
Large demonstrations are by their nature a bit messy. For those on the ground, things look very different than they do to those in their recliners watching carefully edited snippets designed to dramatize everything.
As to democracy, the demonstrations were classic democracy in action. And as to repudiating anything, as previously mentioned, exit polls reported that 60% of those who voted "for" Governor Walker stated that their votes were cast against the recall process itself and not about the earlier events in Madison.
My impression of the occupation of the statehouse came from watching NBC News, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schulz.
DeleteAs for WI voters' motivation, the fact is they voted to retain a governor whom unions were trying to oust. The unions' pitch didn't sell. Had voters been more sympathetic to the issue, their aversion to recall may have been less pronounced. And, I still suspect the occupation and the Dem legislators fleeing had an impact. And maybe just maybe, unions aren't so beloved elsewhere as they are in this forum, especially public sector unions.
It doesn't really matter whether your impressions came from Fox or NBC...if you're relying on TV, you're relying on entertainment...all about ratings.
DeleteHundreds of thousands of people don't turn out over four months unless a serious nerve has been touched. Your contempt for them is no different from Nixon's when 100,000 or so of us, many Viet Nam veterans, assembled on the National Mall in 1970, at the time, the largest anti-war demonstration in the history of the world.
Nixon tried to intimidate us with mounted cops brandishing their "riot sticks", riding way too close to peaceful demonstrators, hoping to provoke something, no different than Walker's threat to use the National Guard in Madison, except he didn't dare. The whole world is watching, as we used to say in Mississippi.
Enough of us had had experience in Mississippi in 1963 and/or Viet Nam that the threats didn't work. DC in '70 was a piece of cake compared to Mississippi in '63.
Try walking into a tobacco chewing sheriff's office and explaining what is about to happen. As soon as he gets the drift, he throws you out. As you're leaving, a deputy spits at you and misses, probably because he is drunk, then says "Keep on goin' you white n----r, all the way back to where you come from."
What I want to do is punch him out, but we had been trained not to. So I am quivering, half rage, half fear.
Then a sweet little Ole Miss girl explains it all. "Honey, he's scared to death of you, because he knows deep down that he's nothin' without that badge and gun. And he knows that if the colored people actually start voting he won't have that badge and gun for long."
I'm still mad and still scared, but at least I now know why I'm there. Within a few days I am transferred back to Georgia because that sweet Ole Miss girl has told the powers that be that I might be too hot headed for this non-violent campaign. And she is right.
A few days later, three of our comrades disappear in Philadelphia, MS. And those of us who have been there and gone are, cowards that we may be, glad we are not there any more.
I'm afraid that those who now bitch and moan about Wisconsin and the Occupy movement wouldn't have measured up in the '60s. Somebody had to, because otherwise black people in Mississippi would still be afraid to register to vote and we would still be killing people, ours and theirs, in Viet Nam.
Some of my friends from those days have a lot of contempt for those who studiously ignored the civil rights movement or hid out in frat houses from the war, but I don't, because I know our history.
The ones who make a difference are always a tiny minority.
OT, I do not accept the comparison of oppressed African-Americans with public sector unions. Neither did the voters in the somewhat liberal state of WI. The privilege of union hacks to negotiate with their purchased pols is far different from the abuse and misery visited upon the descendants of slaves.
DeleteI respect your efforts on behalf of the descendants of slaves.
OK, OK...UNCLE...I GIVE...WHATEVER
DeleteMy brilliant grandmother always told me not to argue religion. Obviously, unions are a form of religion for you. So no more.
I must say that I am baffled by a focus on the dying unions when so many truly important issues are on the table at this moment. If you are happy having your future and your children's future dictated by the US Chamber of Commerce, why shouldn't I be as well.
Bring on 1984, no matter how belated it might be.
I don't blame unions for everything. A lot of things, yes; everything, no.
ReplyDeleteMost union people start life as good people. Then they get involved or forced into unions and they turn into bums and thugs.
DeleteStab, it appears that you have found a staunch ally.
DeleteHe's got more than one ally on that front.
DeleteAh, but with "allies" like Buck boy, who needs enemies?
DeleteAllies act in concert. In this instance, Bucky and I have similar opinions, though not identical. On many other subjects we diverge.
DeleteBTW, you might read the op-ed piece at the top of today's print edition op-ed page.
Looks like AG Holder and the Obama Administration will be 0 and 2, when the Supreme Court gets through with them in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteHolder has to be one of the most corrupt AGs in history.
Illegal immigration front-Obama doesn't want states to help enforce federal immigration laws. Why-gotta get the illegal vote BABY! All that matters is that you win in a presidential election. It don't matter how-right liberals?
DeleteThe result-states like North Carolina become Mexican drug cartel distribution centers and battle grounds.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/09/us/mexican-cartels-small-town-usa/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
I'll agree with Bucky re Holder to a point. Corrupt, I'm not sure about. Abysmally bad, I'm positive.
Delete'Sasha' will be out of business for a while, in case any of you all were looking to roll around with her.
ReplyDelete____________
Police arrested a University of Georgia professor on prostitution charges Thursday after he allegedly arranged a meeting with an undercover detective, MyFoxAtlanta.com reported.
Gwinnett police said Max Reinhart, 65, who teaches German music and literature at the university, was dressed as a woman and used the name "Sasha" to set up the meeting.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/09/university-georgia-professor-reportedly-arrested-on-prostitution-charges/?test=latestnews#ixzz1xLCSk8Qs
_________
Mark another one up for the LGBT community!
"I read in the June 5 online Journal that President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are courting female voters by pushing a bill that calls for equal pay in the workplace ("Obama, Senate Dems court women with fair pay bill"). It reports that Republicans say the legislation would unfairly burden employers. What kind of nutty thinking is this?"
ReplyDeleteDon Zellman
_________
Hey Don, I realize there's not a whole hell of lot going on up there in Ararat, but what you read was just a bunch of liberal hogwash invented to make female fools vote for Obama.
There is no Republican war on women. Women who do not receive 'equal' pay are generally not in the job classifications as comparable men. Otherwise, women would rightfully employ a lawyer and sue the ever loving day lights out their employers, and they would win.
So, go out and get yourself a whittling stick, and have at it. Don't worry yourself about such liberal nonsense promulgated by the Journal.
On the other hand, if Mr. Zellman is not interested in whittling, he could spend his waking life surfing the back alleys and sewers of the Web looking for gross and disgusting stories from the underbelly of human life, then post them here on this forum. Part of the job description is that you must have a willingness to show your ass in public at least every fifteen minutes.
DeleteOh, sorry Mr. Zellman, that job's already taken. Better get out your whetstone.
I don't know about this current effort, but some years ago the idea was to equate entirely different jobs, apples to oranges, y'know. If this is the current case, this smacks of a command economy, the kind that has worked so well in the USSR, NK, Eastern Europe, and other workers' paradises.
DeleteInteresting report:
ReplyDeleteThe Dept of Labor is requiring journalists to file reports on DOL data on government computers, using government software, over government Internet. They may not use their own computers. We've heard re the freedom to ask for redress of grievances today, now, how about Freedom of the Press?
Wow, Stab, you are getting into Bucky world.
DeleteI usually know what is going on through reliable sources, so when I saw this post I thought "Huh?"
But as soon as I Googled it, I saw that all the sources were loony tunes ones.
For good reason. The DOL stuff is about highly sensitive timed data releases and they have had serious problems with allowing outside computers connected to their network.
I was astonished that they had not done something about this before. One of my companies provides similar government data to many clients. Our government source has complete control over the timing, as they should, because one leak would allow the leaker to obtain an unfair advantage.
And our company would never allow any client to connect directly to our databases.
This is all about howling at the moon.
My cousin works for Campus Partner. They process student loans. She was talking about all the new rules governing computer use now that they are processing the loans directly for the government rather than the banks. She can't receive and send personal emails or download anything at her office anymore. She tried the other day to download something and two I-security guys quickly let her know it (a friendly exchange). They just reminded her that the data she deals with (student and parent financial details) was sensitive, private, matters, that needed to be kept safe.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of corrupt Attorneys General, Roger B. Taney was Attorney General for 2 years during the Jackson Administration before he became a member of the Supreme Court. Taney died during the final months of the American Civil War on the same day that his home state of Maryland abolished slavery.
ReplyDelete