Cop lives matter

So, on the one year anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting a bunch of folks decide that the best way to celebrate is to shoot at cops, really?

Since this time last year about 60 police officers have been killed in the line of duty.  Shot, Assaulted, Hit by a car, Killed during pursuit.

Where are the folks out in the streets protesting this?

For that matter, where are the folks protesting the hundreds of young black men shot, stabbed, or otherwise killed in Chicago, by people who aren't white and aren't police.

The rank hypocrisy shown by a bunch of people gathering to protest against a narrative that has been proven to be false, (especially after the riots, looting, and burning) and the fact that at least some of them thought shooting cops is the way to celebrate is just appalling.

Why is this a problem?

TORONTO – An ordained United Church of Canada minister who believes in neither God nor Bible said Wednesday she is prepared to fight an unprecedented attempt to boot her from the pulpit for her beliefs. 

In an interview at her West Hill church, Rev. Gretta Vosper said congregants support her view that how you live is more important than what you believe in. 

“I don’t believe in…the god called God,” Vosper said. “Using the word gets in the way of sharing what I want to share.” 

Vosper, 57, who was ordained in 1993 and joined her east-end church in 1997, said the idea of an interventionist, supernatural being on which so much church doctrine is based belongs to an outdated world view. 

What’s important, she says, is that her views hearken to Christianity’s beginnings, before the focus shifted from how one lived to doctrinal belief in God, Jesus and the Bible.
“Is the Bible really the word of God? Was Jesus a person?” she said. 

“It’s mythology. We build a faith tradition upon it which shifted to find belief more important than how we lived.” 

In response, Nora Sanders, general secretary of the church’s General Council, issued a ruling in May laying out a review process that could ultimately lead to Vosper’s defrocking.

Essentially, Sanders said, the review should determine whether she was being faithful to her ordination vows, which included affirming a belief in “God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

What we have is a pastor who openly admits she is an atheist, and argues that the Bible is "myth", being evaluated by her denomination to determine if she should be employed as a pastor in said denomination.   To be clear, she voluntarily affirmed a belief in God as a part of her ordination.  But hey, what's in a vow, right.   This is one more example of the direction that progressive christians are heading, and the fact that there are some who believe that it is perfectly fine to lie when taking ordination vows ( they wouldn't admit to lying, they just redefine the words so they can answer affirmatively without an overt lie) and to actively work to undermine the tenets of the group they lied to get in to.    

It seems as though atheist christian is a contradictory term.  

The Tolerant, Accepting American Left

I was just reading the comments on a Facebook post about Cecil the lion, and one commenter suggested that the dentist be stripped naked, equipped with a tracking collar and hunted down.    There were plenty of other folks who want the guy dead, but this was the most creative.

Just for grins, let's say that I posted a comment on Facebook detailing how we should take Cecile Richards (or any/all of the PP hierarchy), and against her will and without anesthesia, crush both her head and her lower extremities, then remove all of her salable organs and part her out so as to receive the maximum amount of remuneration for the parts.

How long do you think it would take for me to be labeled as every which kind of vile, sick and twisted person.   I'd guess pretty quick.

But, hey you want to strip a guy naked, take him to Zimbabwe, put a tracking collar on him and hunt him down and no one in the thread even bats an eye.

My goodness, isn't tolerance a wonderful (if a bit selective) thing?

More dangers of indoctrination.

As we have watched the tragic tale of Cecil the lion unfold over the last few days, one almost inescapable conclusion is that the political left is (at least on certain things) so indoctrinated as to have given up any semblance of common sense.

What we have is a bunch of people attacking this dentist for engaging in an activity that was legal.  Now, it appears that there was an element of the hunt (we don't know if he knew this or not) that went beyond the bounds of legality, but as a general rule it is legal to hunt lions in Zimbabwe.  If laws were broken, then those who broke them should be punished appropriately.   Having said that.

We have a group of people marching on this guy's office threatening him with death, in some cases things like being skinned alive.   How is it that the tolerant, peace loving American left is willing to abandon thise closely held beliefs at the drop of a hat, because of one dead lion?  Oh, and if you watch the local coverage, these folks are really upset about the fact that the guy is "rich".   Class envy anyone?

So, while the lynch mobs are out in full force against the dentist let's see what they are ignoring.

1.  The unfolding Planned Parenthood selling body parts in violation of federal law.
2. The killing of 5 elephants which are much more endangered than Cecil
3.  The fact that economic growth in the US is officially "tepid", yet the administration continues to try to spin the situation otherwise, and no one questions them.
4.  The fact that the MN governor condemns this dentist while in the same breath advocating an increase in state spending to increase the fish population (so that said fish can be baited and killed much like Cecil) and to compensate a bunch of rich resort owners who might not make as much profit because the fish shortage might mean an early end to the season.
5.  The fact that these people are more concerned about 1 lion, than they are about the economic conditions in Africa generally and Zimbabwe specifically that might motivate the native guides to violate the law in search of economic gain.
6.  The fact that the witch hunt against the dentist is going to put any number of other people out of work, you know the ones who aren't "rich" but actually make the office function.
7.   How hypocritical is it to threaten death to this hunter, then heading out the Burger King for a Whopper.   I hate to bring this up, but that cow didn't go willingly.
8.  The AFL-CIO in CA attempting to get an exemption for their members to the new minimum wages that they spent millions of dollars campaigning for.
9.  The graduation rates for minorities (as well as the ability of students to read at grade level) of both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul school districts are abysmal.  But we see no protests about that.

It just mystifies me that all these sheep jump on whatever Facebook or Twitter bandwagon is trending and actually think that liking a post, forwarding a tweet, or commenting is actually doing anything real.    These folks just buy in and repeat whatever the eruption du jour is without even taking the time to think it through.

Personally the thought of hunting has never appealed to me, and the though of simply shooting anything as a trophy is even less appealing.   But, as long as these things are legal and done within the scope of local laws all stuff like this does is to focus attention on a fake crisis, while allowing these supposedly caring compassionate people to ignore real crises that are out there.     There is a degree of political blind loyalty at play as well, it is all to obvious that the American political left is going to ignore and actively try to bury the PP story because maintaining and expanding access to abortion is critical to their political future and to do anything to upset the narrative would be unthinkable.  

In the end what we have is the angry lynch mob that is willing to kill a guy because he shot a lion, is willing to support the continued taxpayer funding of PP even though they are in clear violation of federal law.

It seems as though indoctrination can indeed be a bad thing.

Gossip, Slander, and Lies

Disclaimer:   This is going to be a bit strange because of the limitations of Dan's ability to comment here due to his refusal to answer certain specific questions in a post a while back.

Dan has been on a bit of a rampage lately because of a post Stan wrote about fairness.   Dan (is essence) doesn't think that God's view of what is fair and just should be different from Dan's opinion.   At several points over a couple of threads Dan pulls out his standard complaint that people are engaging in "gossip" "slander" and "lies" when they express opinions about the views he spouts.    The problem is that he doesn't seem to have a problem is wrongly characterizing the opinions of others in such a way that he can attack people for not responding to his false characterization of their position, rather than their actual position.    What I'm going to do is to copy/paste comments Dan has made that are either false, unsupported, or flat out lies. 

"I do tend to answer questions, unlike you guys."

Given Dan's a priori refusal to answer the specific list of questions that got his commenting privileges restricted, it's safe to say that in my opinion (based on specific interactions with him) this is just a self serving lie.

"Your position (that god is a monster who would condemn someone to eternal torture for one minor sin - and thus, you slander God by saying God is neither just nor perfect, but childish and whimsical and immoral as hell) is not one that can be defended rationally."

 "So, when reasonable questions arise from your insane sounding argument, you absolutely CAN NOT defend your position or answer the questions because, well, your position is insane and immoral. So, I would run and hide and refuse to answer questions, too, if I were called on such a crazy arguments."

These three are from a comment at Stan's.  The problem with the two above, is that they do not in any way resemble a position that has been taken, and cannot be supported.

 "You are using "justice" in a non-standard English way."

This is a common complaint, that is unsupported.   It also presumes (and we know Dan won't defend his presumptions, or at least hasn't so far)

"2. That because God is perfectly just, the reasoning goes, God can not "abide" or put up with ANY sin.
3. So, because God is SO "just," even one little lie is sufficient cause for God to send a person to an eternal torment and torture, as a matter of "justice..."

Neither of these is an accurate representation of either that position of anyone with whom Dan has actually conversed, nor do they represent Orthodox Christian theology or doctrine.

 "Part of the notion of justice includes proportionate punishment for sins/mistakes/crimes."

This is interesting because no one is denying the concept of proportionate justice.  What is being said is that sin is an active rebellion against the God who created and rules the universe and to try to minimize that willful rebellious aspect of sin by writing it off as a "mistake" is in itself seriously out of proportion.

 "So, while human beings are all sinful or imperfect in nature, do most of us do something so monstrous in our life as to merit an eternity in torment as an equitable "just" punishment?"

Again, this is a (willful) distortion of the Orthodox Christian position, as well as of the position in the post that started all of this.

 "Or, consider that we have been created imperfect by God (for those who believe we are created by God...) Is it rational or just that God creates us imperfect and then demands that we be perfect or else we'll be punished with eternal torment for being imperfect, as God made us!?"

I'm not even going to deal with the seeming denial of God as creator.   But, this is a complete (intentional?)  distortion of the Orthodox Christian position as well as the position of anyone who has interacted with Dan.

"God becomes whimsical, monstrous, unjust, uncaring... not the God most believers think of as a loving God."

As to the first sentence, no one is or has suggested that, as to the second I wasn't aware that God's nature is defined by how humans think of Him.

 "I would ask Stan or others who have made these sorts of statements:..."

There is a claim that "Stan or others" have made specific statements which correlate with the claims Dan has made about those alleged statements.   Of course, those specific statements are not quoted or referenced in any way that would allow someone to check the accuracy of Dans characterizations of the alleged statements.   So, Dan has attributed a lot of "statements" to "Stan and others" without actually proving the existence of the statements.

 "Every human is grossly immoral and JUSTLY deserving of eternal torture."

One more that can't be supported



I think that I have demonstrated a fairly consistent pattern with the above quotes and see no reason to add more of the same.

I am quite sure that there will be cries that it is not fair for me to post this about Dan without allowing him to respond.   I will respond by saying the following.

1.  Dan is well aware of what he needs to do in order to regain his commenting priveledges.
2.  Once Dan does what has been asked of him he will get those privileges back
3.  If Dan can provide specific documented (quote with a link for context) instance where any of his characterizations are correct, I will allow the comment to stand, edit the original post to remove my comment, and apologize for my error.

Terry Bean is the kind of person the American political left loves

Terry Bean is a native Oregonian, successful real estate developer, and President and CEO of Bean Investment Real Estate, a private company that trades and invests in commercial real estate as well as large residential complexes.  Along with these badges of honor, Terry Bean is often first recognized as a pioneer in the national civil rights movement, promoting full equality for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer/questioning communities. (GLBTQ)
Terry Bean is so well regarded as an activist that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski declared August 23, 2008, to be “Terry Bean Equality Day” in recognition for the work he has done on LGBT rights causes since the 1970’s.
A pioneer in the movement, Terry Bean, started advocating politically for gay rights in the early 1970′s in Eugene, Oregon. Early successes resulted in the passing of a city gay rights ordinance, which, while was later overturned by voters, set the framework for grassroot organizations and strategies which quickly followed—establishing a pattern of victories which have continued well into the new millennium.
In 1979, Bean helped to organize the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, the first such highly visible effort to empower a minority while educating a majority.
After the march on Washington, Terry Bean turned his focus to the national level co-founding the Gay Rights National Lobby and the Human Rights Campaign Fund. These groups merged to become today’s Human Rights Campaign – HRC.

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest gay rights organization.


P-BO and Hilary have both praised him, I suspect Dan and his little enclave down in KY probably think he's a pretty good guy as well.

The Dangerousness of Indoctrination and the Unwillingness to Acknowledge it When it Hurts You Politically.

Apparently indoctrination is bad, so when we see this, I guess we must conclude that some folks are so indoctrinated that they are devoid of rational thought.

http://dailybruin.com/2015/07/20/free-tampons-would-slow-flow-of-gender-inequality/

It would seem that darling Zoey, is so indoctrinated into the government must pay for everything mentality of the American left that she can spew this kind of crap.

"To most government officials, feminine hygiene products are a luxury item. But, every day, women are being poisoned by their own bodies because they lack access to even the most essential health products."

 "Although still greatly outnumbered and underpaid compared to their male counterparts, women have made so much progress. Yet inequality still lies in the most basic areas of human well-being. Women are still facing unequal treatment when it comes to health care and are paying out of pocket for necessary female health products, particularly tampons and pads."

 "It’s about time that the federal government recognizes that even the most basic health care needs to start subsidizing the cost of tampons and pads for women, or covering the cost completely."

Seriously, doesn't the Daily Bruin fact check before they publish?