THE PATH NEVER CHOSEN is the Only Path to Peace. To take it we would have to ditch our exclusive religious beliefs and allow the Golden Rule, to rule.
14 Nov 2018 Leave a comment
in Acts of the Ignoble, Corruption in the U.S. Government, Dishoner, family values, Politics Tags: EPA, Government Corruption, Politics, Scott Pruitt, Trump
Many folks have already read or heard about the Alabama poop train, but the whole story hasn’t been told until now and it tracks stinkingly directly to the White House. The level of corruption in our highest positions of government is truly astonishing. Who would have ever thought that our nation’s leadership would have come to this?
Watch at least this first segment of Rachel Maddow’s exposé.
19 Oct 2017 2 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Antipathy, Dishoner Tags: Government-Corporate corruption, Government-Corporate greed, Money in Politics, Oligarchs, Opioid crisis, Politics
Why can’t we ever learn? FOLLOW THE FRIGGIN’ MONEY!
I’ve been making MONEY IN POLITICS my major argument for the ROOT CAUSE of virtually all that is wrong in our Government–in economics, the healthcare “debate,” gun violence control, poverty, etc, etc. .
“Our government?” NAY, our corporate government (we continue to let it happen)!
The ONLY candidate who wanted to stop it was Bernie Sanders. But all corporate America had to do was to keep their elected congressional representatives and Senators in Washington (otherwise called conservatives and blue dogs) repeating (without qualification) to the public that Sanders is a Socialist, and since most of the public has never had an education in civics or in the argumentative fallacies (critical thinking), and because we’ve been nurtured for the past century to belive that socialism is equivalent to old Soviet style communism, they run from him no matter what he says, and into the arms of our corporate congress.
But, you say, conservatives passed a bipartisan bill in 2016 that would severely cut back on the ability of corporations to keep pumping the nation full of opioids?
Yep. sure did. McConnell helped it pass. But that was only FOR SHOW to their voters. They then refused to fund the program. It’s all a dance. It’s the dance called the Side Step. Now you see me doing the right thing, but then you don’t see me refusing to let the right thing happen–tah ta tah ta tah dance dance dance, money money money!
Trump and many politicians have said a lot in favor of curbing corporate power, but how many times does Trump softly say the right things–what people WANT to hear, but then turn around and do the opposite? He is the consummate con man liar as are all who blocked the funding (probably by poison pill clauses or amendments). It would take some digging to find out, so they know they are safe and will be reelected with the financial help of the pharmaceutical corporations–otherwise called legal bribery.
And many wonder why conservatives and almost all liberals refuse to make higher education tuition free for all, as Sanders was advocating, and have the super wealthy (those who benefit from money in politics) pay for it. An educated public (in the humanities) would see these self-serving rats for who they are and could not be propagandized nearly as easily as they are now.
Donald Trump was not wrong. Hours before his nominee for “drug czar” withdrew from consideration over his part in a law limiting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to crack down on pharmaceutical distributors feeding the US’s opioid epidemic, the president took a shot at the influence of drug companies over Congress.
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/19/big-pharma-money-lobbying-us-opioid-crisis
04 Jul 2017 8 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Intellectual Dishonesty, propaganda Tags: Christianity, Dark Humor, Politics
NOTE: I have vetted the claims put forth in John Oliver’s segment on Sinclair Broadcasting’s greasing of the slope upon which the United States is sliding toward permanent one party rule by the wealthy and the privileged. While Oliver’s segment is presented in a humorous setting, his facts are all too true.
The following is only one part of the ongoing effort of the political, corporatist and quasi religious, conservative right to gain permanent and exclusive power, and it is likely the most frightening one. It is one that, under the guise of free speech and the ongoing deregulation of the broadcast industry, is psychologically nurturing the nation’s public to unwittingly support their efforts.
Currently, I’m working on the major events in our history that have brought us to these darkening, religio-political skies.
Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a novel of political intrigue featuring the factual history of the rise of the modern neoconservatives, their political philosophy and worldview.
While the storyline in part 1 is based on biblical literality, part 2 features a trial of God in The Ethereal Court of Answers.
The overall thrust of the novel is an analysis of religious cognitive dissonance where modern views come into conflict with the Old Testament’s alleged actions of God.
Is the god of the Bible amoral? Do true-believers believe that whatever their god does, he does because it is the moral and right thing to do, or are his actions right and moral because they are his actions? —A paraphrasing of a question originally posited by Socrates.
09 May 2017 6 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Antipathy, Dishoner Tags: greed, immigration, inhumanity, Private Detention Centers
Once again we see what for-profit private prisons (corporations) are doing to boost profit. Millions of voters and conservative politicians claim that private enterprise, when deregulated and/or allowed to oversee themselves will do what’s best for the people, and do better than the (Federal) government with all its regulations and oversight. Yet study is yet another example of that shows otherwise. It’s the same problem with our private “healthcare” corporations in the U.S.—profit over people, profit over lives.
By and large, corporations are concerned with, not people or reasonable profit, but high profit alone—and as high as they can get it by hook or crook. Deregulate Wall Street? Abolish public schools? Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? Abolish the ACA? Take away healthcare for millions of people? These are the goals of the present administration and Congress. Profit over people, profit over lives.
President Obama was trying to phase out private prisons and detention centers (human warehouses) at least on the federal level, but Trump wants more of them to warehouse more people. More profit! More profit! —Author
From The Guardian —
Immigrant detention centers marred by ‘needless deaths’ amid poor care – report
This report cites a ‘systemic failure’ to provide adequate medical care to detainees with health issues and warns Trump’s desire to expand capacity would make it worse. . .
Raúl Ernesto Morales-Ramos, detained in California and ravaged by cancer, begged for treatment. He was given ibuprofen.
Tiombe Kimana Carlos, detained in New York with chronic schizophrenia, was held in solitary confinement. She made a noose from a sheet.
Manuel Cota-Domingo, detained in Arizona with untreated diabetes and pneumonia, began to have trouble breathing. Staff dithered over who should call 911.
Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/08/immigrant-detention-centers-medical-care-deaths
18 Apr 2017 4 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, courage, Empathy v. Racial Bigotry Tags: Islam, Politics, Quran, religion
–This is the very reason for our Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment–
An excellent editorial from the Dawn, a Pakistani publication:
A medieval brutality, a very cancer of the soul, has permeated this society. Not only has it pervaded the hinterland, it has also spread to places where minds are supposed to be enlightened by knowledge and learning.
Each ghastly detail of Mashal Khan’s murder on Thursday illustrates this chilling fact. The 23-year-old student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was lynched on campus by a mob of fellow students over allegations of blasphemy.
Read more at https://www.dawn.com/news/1327030
07 Feb 2017 9 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Antipathy, Political Cartoon, Uncategorized Tags: Christianity, Donald Trump, ethics, Islam, morality, paranoia, religion, Social Justice
I have vetted the following Dr. Seuss cartoon on Snopes. It is TRUE and a very chilling affirmation that history does, indeed, repeat itself (in varying ways).
— Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a philosophical novel exploring the nature justice and religious belief.
Was Descartes wrong and God was a deceiver, after all?
Consider that if the Christian Bible were true (sans contradictions), then what would that say of objective science, such as astronomy, biological evolution and medical research? Indeed, what would it say about logic and the Creator, Itself?
What would the world be like had it been created by a truly benevolent god and our primary motivating force was empathy, not self interest? How, indeed, with the human condition as it is, could we achieve such a world either via a god or by humanism?
Join Professor M. Jefferson Hale as, in part II, he puts God on the witness stand in an ethereal court to answer for Its malfeasance and terrorism.
14 Jan 2017 2 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Dishoner, Injustice, Intellectual Dishonesty Tags: Donald Trump, Exxon, Follow the Money, Rachel Maddow, Rex Tillerson, Russia, Secretary of State, Vladimir Putin
Hope you don’t have combustible hair. Rachel Maddow brings a bit of history to what leads up to the reason for Trump’s selection of Tillerson and why they are so friendly with Putin.
As always, FOLLOW THE MONEY:
26 Feb 2016 2 Comments
in 9/11, Acts of the Ignoble, Antipathy, Con Games, Dishoner, Rebuilding America's Defenses, The Project for a New American Century, Uncategorized Tags: 9/11 conspiracy, Flint Michigan, Led in water, Project for a New American Century, Rebuilding America's Defenses, The Empathy Imperative
publicdomainpictures.net
When will America wake up? There appears to be no depth to which congressional conservatives will not sink in their utterly disgraceful attempts to undermine the president at the expense of the lives of thousands, even millions of citizens, including the lives of children. Their complete indifference to suffering is simply without precedent, at least in this nation. It appears, to them, the public is no more than a Machiavellian means to power.
I have to say that, even though I do not tend to favor conspiracy theories, knowing the sheer insensitivity, incivility, and inhumanity of leading conservatives, there isn’t much I wouldn’t put past them.
Thus, I have come to lean toward the theory that the Cheney-Bush Administration knew in advance of the 9/11 attack and let it happen (or even facilitated it) in order to fulfill their Project for the New American Century dream of “reconstructing” the Middle East for American control the oil fields.
The key line in this PDF document is the statement that their designs on the Middle East would take a long time to accomplish “absent some catastrophic catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor” (Italic mine).
Washington (CNN) Frustrated Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan energy bill Thursday after Republicans refused to allow a vote on an amendment to help the city of Flint, Michigan, respond to its catastrophic water crisis. READ MORE HERE.
05 Jan 2016 4 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Antipathy, Firearm Violence, Gun Control, Uncategorized Tags: Bush, Cheney, Gun control executive order, NRA, Obama, Sandy Hook, Unitary Executive
Indifference to suffering is humanity’s greatest moral failing.
The children and adults of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, whose lives ended that horror filled day
Because of the congressional conservative’s opposition to any regulation that might save lives—especially the lives of children—President Obama has announced the details of his executive order, executed in an effort to curb unfettered avenues to firearm purchases.
The main thrust of the executive order is to expand background checks partly by naming any person selling a firearm at a gun show a dealer and, therefore, must conduct background checks. The executive order also will include stricter control of Internet sales of firearms, which is now a robust industry in itself.
Republicans will say that he has overstepped his authority, but he has not. Recall that G.W. Bush and de facto President Cheney embraced the doctrine of a strong Unitary Executive as a means to block aspects of laws that they didn’t like, even though they were passed by Congress. To my knowledge, no conservative ever objected.
Bush’s use of the Executive Order was no different from the Iraq constitutional Theocracy, where only those laws approved by the head cleric may be allowed to manifest.
The March on Washington after Sandy Hook and the lobbying efforts of the parents of the dead children had no effect on conservatives. They blocked subsequent legislation.
President Obama’s executive order on gun control is different. He is acting in a virtual national emergency situation where Congress refuses to act. While conservatives continually chant the mantra that the first duty of the president is to protect Americans, it is clear that they don’t mean by reducing the number of Americans killed by domestic gun violence. After all, that would cut into corporate profit.
The President’s action will be condemned, as usual, as using Executive Orders to illegally grab power from Congress when, in fact, President Obama has executed fewer executive orders than any president since William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901, having served 4.5 years.
According to The Gun Violence Archive, the total number of Americans killed by gun violence in 2015 was 13,338. There were 692 children, ages 0-11 and 2,688 teens, ages 12-17 killed or wounded.
Conservatives are indifferent to the 13,338 killed by domestic gun violence, but horrified by the 74 killed by domestic and foreign inspired terrorism.
Imagine the pain!
The reason there are so few terrorist attacks in the U.S. is because conservatives push for strong controls and liberals agree, to an extent. The reason death by firearm violence in the U.S. is so high, is because conservatives fight against even the mildest controls.
It is a serious moral crime to sit and do nothing about gun violence in the U.S. It is an even greater crime against our fellow citizens to fight against any attempt to reduce these numbers, which is the main purpose of the Murder Industrial Complex (firearm manufactures, the NRA—their de facto political bribery/threat arm—and the politicians they’ve bought to do their fighting or threatened to keep them silent.
PLEASE SEND THE PRESIDENT A “THANK YOU” FOR THIS ACTION.
And consider, as well, that the only candidate now running in the presidential primary who has vowed to fight hard against corporate money in politics (which drives the anti-firearm control madness) is Bernie Sanders.
— Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a novel featuring a trial of God in an ethereal courtroom where He is charged with creating evil, willful and harmful negligence, and with terrorism. His interrogators are a professor of evolutionary biology and a professor of psychology.
Is the god of the Bible amoral? Do true-believers believe that whatever their god does, he does because it is the moral and right thing to do, or are his actions right and moral because they are his actions?
23 Jun 2015 4 Comments
in A path to a better world, Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Constitutional Amendments, Dishoner, The Civil War Tags: Confederate States of America, Government cannot endure permanently half slave half free, inhumanity, Secession, South Carolina, The Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, The Confederate Flag
The South fought for the constitutional right to treat its property as it saw fit – From Pinterest: Citation unknown
So many times in the past I have argued that in order to find the reason for the occurrence of an event is to look for the root cause. This applies as well to many folks, especially in the South, who claim that the Civil War was not about enslaving human beings, but about State’s rights. So, let’s look at the root cause of South Carolina’s secession, and ultimately starting the Civil War:
Section 2 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States stated:
Section 2 – Privileges of Citizens of each State. Fugitives from Justice to be delivered up. Persons held to service having escaped, to be delivered up.
- The Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of Citizens in the several states.
- A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
- No person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.(This clause superseded December 6, 1865 by Amendment XIII)
A current argument:
1. Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States guaranteed that a “person held to service or labour” would be returned to their owners from any State where they were apprehended.
2. The non slaveholding states of the North violated Article IV, Section 2 when they, and the new liberal president, Abraham Lincoln, decided to refuse to return runaway slaves.
Conclusion ∴ The Northern States, breached the Constitution’s guaranteed State right to have their lawful property (slaves) returned–a States’ rights issue.
(Slave ghosts added by author)
The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
And now the State of South Carolina having resumed her separate and equal place among nations, deems it due to
herself, to the remaining United States of America, and to the nations of the world, that she should declare the immediate causes which have led to this act.
In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration, by the Colonies, “that they are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.”
They further solemnly declared that whenever any “form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government.” Deeming the Government of Great Britain to have become destructive of these ends, they declared that the Colonies “are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
In pursuance of this Declaration of Independence, each of the thirteen States proceeded to exercise its separate sovereignty; adopted for itself a Constitution, and appointed officers for the administration of government in all its departments– Legislative, Executive and Judicial. For purposes of defense, they united their arms and their counsels; and, in 1778, they entered into a League known as the Articles of Confederation, whereby they agreed to entrust the administration of their external relations to a common agent, known as the Congress of the United States, expressly declaring, in the first Article “that each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not, by this Confederation, expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.”
Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave (1796) by William Blake.
Citation: Wikimedia/Public domain
Under this Confederation the war of the Revolution was carried on, and on the 3rd of September, 1783, the contest ended, and a definite Treaty was signed by Great Britain, in which she acknowledged the independence of the Colonies in the following terms: “ARTICLE 1— His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that he treats with them as such; and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof.”
Thus were established the two great principles asserted by the Colonies, namely: the right of a State to govern itself; and the right of a people to abolish a Government when it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted. And concurrent with the establishment of these principles, was the fact, that each Colony became and was recognized by the mother Country a FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATE.
In 1787, Deputies were appointed by the States to revise the Articles of Confederation, and on 17th September, 1787, these Deputies recommended for the adoption of the States, the Articles of Union, known as the Constitution of the United States.
The parties to whom this Constitution was submitted, were the several sovereign States; they were to agree or disagree, and when nine of them agreed the compact was to take effect among those concurring; and the General Government, as the common agent, was then invested with their authority.
If only nine of the thirteen States had concurred, the other four would have remained as they then were– separate, sovereign States, independent of any of the provisions of the Constitution. In fact, two of the States did not accede to the Constitution until long after it had gone into operation among the other eleven; and during that interval, they each exercised the functions of an independent nation.
Burning a Slave, 1741
From Skepticism.org, Original citation: unknown.
By this Constitution, certain duties were imposed upon the several States, and the exercise of certain of their powers was restrained, which necessarily implied their continued existence as sovereign States. But to remove all doubt, an amendment was added, which declared that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people. On the 23d May , 1788, South Carolina, by a Convention of her People, passed an Ordinance assenting to this Constitution, and afterwards altered her own Constitution, to conform herself to the obligations she had undertaken.
Thus was established, by compact between the States, a Government with definite objects and powers, limited to the express words of the grant. This limitation left the whole remaining mass of power subject to the clause reserving it to the States or to the people, and rendered unnecessary any specification of reserved rights.
We hold that the Government thus established is subject to the two great principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence; and we hold further, that the mode of its formation subjects it to a third fundamental principle, namely: the law of compact. We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all its consequences.
In the present case, that fact is established with certainty. We assert that fourteen of the States have deliberately refused, for years past, to fulfill their constitutional obligations, and we refer to their own Statutes for the proof.
The Constitution of the United States, in its fourth Article, provides as follows: “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.”
This stipulation was so material to the compact, that without it that compact would not have been made. The greater number of the contracting parties held slaves, and they had previously evinced their estimate of the value of such a stipulation by making it a condition in the Ordinance for the government of the territory ceded by Virginia, which now composes the States north of the Ohio River.
The same article of the Constitution stipulates also for rendition by the several States of fugitives from justice from the other States.
The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied with the stipulation made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional obligation; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation.
The ends for which the Constitution was framed are declared by itself to be “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
These ends it endeavored to accomplish by a Federal Government, in which each State was recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its own institutions. The right of property in slaves was recognized by giving to free persons distinct political rights, by giving them the right to represent, and burthening them with direct taxes for three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the importation of slaves for twenty years; and by stipulating for the rendition of fugitives from labor.
We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.
For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common Government. Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that Article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,” and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.
This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.
On the 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States.
The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.
Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irritation, and all hope of remedy is rendered vain, by the fact that public opinion at the North has invested a great political error with the sanction of more erroneous religious belief.
We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.
Adopted December 24, 1860
The real history of the Confederate flag
So, yes. It was about States’ rights–the right to enslave and brutalize human beings for dominance and financial gain. While it is true that the non-slaveholding States were in violation of the Constitution, that violation was caused by the North’s refusal to be a party to the institution of slavery and inhuman brutality–the root cause.
As for the “Heritage not Hate” argument for displaying the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia on public property to honor those who fought for States’ rights, either these supporters are completely ignorant about the real cause of the Civil War, or they know it and don’t care. Both conditions are usually a result of poor parental nurturing in humanity and indifference that has been perpetuated from one generation to another.
All that people of reason and empathy can do is to state their disgust in as civil a manner as possible, demand the removal of all confederate symbols from publically owned property, demand that their politicians institute laws and policies that designed to bring true social justice to the U.S., and ask supporters of the flag to try to see it from the eyes of a poverty ridden, historically repressed population that was subjugated and brutalized beneath it. Perhaps some will listen.
12 Apr 2015 6 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Antipathy, Dishoner Tags: Judge Roy Moore, Religious freedom bill, Thomas Jefferson
Rational Press (RP) – Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is today’s winner of the Legion of Dishonor Award for his open defiance of Constitutional law; specifically for his history of disregard for, or his ignorance of the intent of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. He is hereby inducted into the National Hall of Injustice.
Recently, Moore insisted that biblical law supersedes the Constitution, and to that end he issued an illegal order—demanding that local magistrates not issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples—in an effort to countermand the Supreme Court of the United States. For a judge to declare that his ancient, religious views override the Constitution and to act on that belief is, in the opinion of this Board of Inductions, judicial treason, punishable by firing and disbarment. He is a disgrace to the bench.
The federal courts have virtually always come down on the side religious freedom for everyone, but that freedom gives no one a right to compromise the freedom of others, e.g., freedom of conscience and the right to pursue happiness according to the dictates of conscience. All citizens must be equal before the law, and any law, based on religious conviction, inherently relegates some citizens to second-class status. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for adherents of one religion to rule over adherents to other religions, or to rule over those who adhere to none at all.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote in A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom–the document from which the Establishment Clause was crafted and to which virtually all courts refer in church v. state cases:
Still, Moore isn’t entirely to blame. His religious tyranny is reflective of the will of ignorant voters who tend to elect such pompous, self-righteous, and/or ignorant men to high places.
21 Mar 2015 10 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Dishoner, Legion of Dishonor Award, National Hall of Injstice Tags: Brewster-Jennings, CIA, Dick Cheney, Legion of Dishonor, Valerie Plame Wilson
Author’s Note: Anyone may nominate a personality or organization for the “Legion of Dishonor Award” and induction into the National Hall of Injustice. Reasonable evidence must be presented with the nomination.
Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney, 46th Vice President of the United States is today’s inductee into the NATIONAL HALL OF INJUSTICE for treason against the United States by exposing a NOC (Non-Official-Cover/deep cover) CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson–specializing in anti-WMD operations–and her front organization, Brewster-Jennings. Her outing, in turn, exposed all agents under that front organization as well as their foreign contacts. Plame was operations chief at the Joint Task Force on Iraq of the Counterproliferation Division of the CIA’s clandestine operations directorate. The CIA’s damage assessment, to this day, remains Top Secret.
Plame’s CIA operation was compromised by a leak from Cheney’s office in revenge against Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, for his op-ed in the New York Times that refuted the administration’s claim that Iraq was attempting to buy “yellowcake” (the base material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment) from Niger. A subsequent criminal investigation was obstructed by Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s top advisor and firewall. Libby subsequently fell on his sword, was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and perjury. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. G.W. Bush commuted the prison sentence.
Cheney deserves the Legion of Dishonor Award as well for his false statements and critical influence of President G.W. Bush to give unconfirmed, disputed, and false information to Congress in order to obtain the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. This resolution gave the administration congressional permission to preemptively invade the sovereign nation of Iraq.
Cheney was instrumental, as well, in the creation of America’s Gulag Archipelago of Blacksite Torture camps that used methods of enhanced interrogation (torture) in violation of international law, to which the U.S. was/is bound.
20 Mar 2015 2 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Antipathy, Dishoner, propaganda, Right-wing Deception Tags: Dishonor, email, Fox News, Obama Just Announced, Political Deception, propaganda
I just received this email this morning sporting the title, “Instant Poll,” and the brief detail says, “Obama Just announced . . .”
Opening the email I found that it is a deception from a conservative source that slyly, in very large, bold print, says to vote to stop “Stop Citizen’s United.”
A lot of folks will go straight from the large print and vote on the large voting buttons. But the title is a deception. The question on the poll, in smaller non-bold print, however, has nothing to do with Citizen’s United. Just over the Vote Button is the question: “Do you support or oppose Obama’s proposal to make voting mandatory for American Citizens.”
Obama never made any such proposal.
This is why I became a progressive and why I left the Republican Party years ago. While some (most?) liberal politicians will lie now and then, they do not engage in massive email deceptions (propaganda) and they do not have a robust propaganda network such as Fox “News,” et al, which is continuing to spread this lie. This is the sort of dishonorable action that the misinformed, low information, often fundamentalist voter supports.
Evidence posted at this site:
16 Mar 2015 8 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Intellectual Dishonesty Tags: bigotry, Hall of Fame, Hall of the Infamous, human-rights, Legion of Dishonor Award, Mind Control
After reading article after article for the past 3.5 decades that demonstrate the nations slide away from tolerance and justice and toward a culture of bigotry and corporate dominance–mainly religious bigotry disguised as “religious freedom” and corporate dominance promoted as “free market capitalism” and “supply side economics”–I have decided create a hall of shame, concentrating on words and acts bigotry and deceit.
The National Hall of Injustice is an ongoing list of elected officials and political appointees such as judges and department heads, as well as outspoken citizens, clerics, and corporate personalities. Nominees who are approved for induction will receive the metaphorical Legion of Dishonor Award. Anyone may make a nomination and/or suggest changes or additions to the structure of the Hall, the definitions, or the Rules of Induction.
I invite anyone interested to be on the Board of Inductions. Necessarily, this board will consist of no more than 5 members, including myself.
Definitions: Injustice – Unfair treatment : a situation in which the rights of a person or a group of people are ignored or reduced. Justice – Fairness (I am taking a Rawlsian original position on the definition of fairness) Social justice is defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “justice in terms of the distribution of wealth*, opportunities, and privileges within a society.”
Bigotry is a state of mind where a person by actions or words obstinately, irrationally, unfairly or intolerantly dislikes or treats other people, ideas, etc. Other examples include degrading a person’s natural, physical appearance, personal beliefs, race, religion, national gender, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or other group characteristics. (I use the Wikipedia definition because I like it.) 😀
Tentative rules for induction: 1. Nominee’s word(s) and/or action(s) must meet the above definition of injustice and/or bigotry (above). 2. Nominations must be accompanied by a verifiable, objective source (video, original, news agency, professional paper, blog, etc.). Preferably an image of the person(s) would be included as well. Information may be added or deleted over time.
More examples of bigotry and/or injustice: A. Personal attacks – includes verbal degradation of a person or group rather than making an objective argument against their actions or ideas. Personal attacks are used in politics on a daily bases as a means of thought-engineering/mind-control (propaganda) for the purpose of molding the public’s opinion of people and their ideas. Those who use this tactic are particularly dishonorable. B. Advocating injustice – Advocating or acting against another person or group (e.g., advocating and/or legislating to deny a segment of society the right to pursue happiness through marriage; advocating or acting against another religion or people of no religion without a secular, just cause; advocating and/or making laws for government control over the reproductive decisions of women and their doctors; advocating the propagation of a religion via law; advocating government sponsorship of a religion; advocating supply-side economics (redistribution of the wealth of the middle class to the already wealthy and the demise of labor unions). Currently, since I am the only member of the board of inductions, I will personally install the following personalities. Removal of names from the Hall may be suggested by anyone, but determined by the argument and/or evidence and decided upon by the board of inductions.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wins the Legion of Dishonor Award for his outstanding display of injustice in leading the Majority in effectively striking down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Although Roberts may have been acting in accordance with his true belief that racial and voting discrimination had ended, he certainly should have known better. It has been invigorated in conservative held States. Secondly, Roberts led the majority decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which effectively opened the door for massive corporate, political influence in voting and legislative bribery contrary to the ideals set up by the Founders and to the detriment of the Republic.
United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia earns the Legion of Dishonor Award for his part in effectively striking down the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and joining the majority in voting with the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which resulted in greater corporate influence over federal legislation and elections, State and federal, resulting in a further the dismantling of the Republic.
United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joins the Legion of Dishonor for his part in effectively striking down the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and joining the majority in voting with the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which resulted in greater corporate influence over federal legislation and elections, State and federal, resulting in a further the dismantling of the Republic.
United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas receives the Legion of Dishonor for joining the majority in effectively striking down the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and joining the majority in voting with the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which resulted in greater corporate influence over federal legislation and elections, State and federal, resulting in a further the dismantling of the Republic.
United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. receives the Legion of Dishonor for joining the majority in effectively striking down the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and joining the majority in voting with the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which resulted in greater corporate influence over federal legislation and elections, State and federal, resulting in a further the dismantling of the Republic.
Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney, 46th Vice President of the United States is today’s recipient of the Legion of Dishonor Award and hereby inducted into the NATIONAL HALL OF INJUSTICE for treason against the United States by exposing a NOC (Non-Official-Cover/deep cover) CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson–specializing in anti-WMD operations–and her front organization, Brewster-Jennings. Her outing, in turn, exposed all agents under that front organization as well as their foreign contacts. Plame was operations chief at the Joint Task Force on Iraq of the Counterproliferation Division of the CIA’s clandestine operations directorate. The CIA’s damage assessment, to this day, remains Top Secret. While no direct evidence has surfaced in relation to this crime, it is clear to the Board of Inductions that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Plame’s CIA operation was compromised by a leak from Cheney’s office in revenge against Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, for his op-ed in the New York Times that refuted the administration’s claim that Iraq was attempting to buy “yellowcake” (the base material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment) from Niger. A subsequent criminal investigation was obstructed by Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s top advisor and firewall. Libby subsequently fell on his sword, was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and perjury. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. G.W. Bush commuted the prison sentence.
Cheney deserves the Legion of Dishonor Award as well for his false statements and critical influence of President G.W. Bush to give unconfirmed, disputed, and false information to Congress in order to obtain the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. This resolution gave the administration congressional permission to preemptively invade the sovereign nation of Iraq.
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is today’s winner of the Legion of Dishonor Award for his open defiance of Constitutional law; specifically for his history of disregard for, or his ignorance of the intent of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. He is hereby inducted into the National Hall of Injustice.
Recently, Moore insisted that biblical law supersedes the Constitution, and to that end he issued an illegal order—demanding that local magistrates not issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples—in an effort to countermand the Supreme Court of the United States. For a judge to declare that his ancient, religious views override the Constitution and to act on that belief is, in the opinion of this Board of Inductions, judicial treason, punishable by firing and disbarment. He is a disgrace to the bench.
19 Feb 2015 2 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, America's shame, Dishoner, Hall of Dishonor and Shame, Hall of Shame Tags: bigotry, Black Sites, Chicago torture, definition of ignoble, Dick Cheney, Fascism, George W. Bush, Guantanamo torture, Guantánamo torturer led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession, Gulag Archipelago, Impathy, ISIL, ISIS, racism, shackling, Torture, torture camps, When fascism comes to America
The Guardian this morning has given us more to add to America’s shameful legacy. I post this because it could not be more antithetical to Human decency and empathy (short of ISIL and their ilk, of course). This is what our government became, in your name, and too much of it remains. I am going to establish a Hall of Dishonor and Shame and call for nominees.
Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a hard-hitting, philosophical novel on the nature of justice and mercy and why we don’t have it.
06 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in Acts of the Ignoble, Antipathy, Child abuse, Childhood Development, Dishoner, Intellectual Dishonesty Tags: Bible, Biblical Counseling, bigotry, Christian fundamentalism, Christianity, Dangerous occupations, religious bigotry, religious intolerance
I’ve little to add to this wonderful post. It should be required reading (including its links) to all parents and expecting mothers:
Excerpt from Got Questions.org:
“Secular psychology is based on the ideas that man is basically good and that the answer to his problems lies within himself. The Bible paints a very different picture of man’s condition. Man is not “basically good”; he is “dead in trespasses and sins”(Ephesians 2:1), and the unregenerate heart is “deceitful and beyond all cure” (Jeremiah 17:9).
View original post 1,520 more words
21 Jan 2015 2 Comments
in Acts of the Ignoble, Atheism v Religion, compassion, empathy, evolution of the mind, Inclusiveness of Life, Meaning of life, Religious intolerance Tags: benevolence, better world, Bible, bigotry, family values, Religion in the public square, tolerance
As a matter of understanding and a blow for universal empathy between the genders, I reblog this video.
Ten types of women Christian men should not marry. This video/article was just brought to my attention. Thanks Tim.
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20 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in Acts of the Ignoble, compassion, courage, empathy, Examples of Courage and Empathy, role model, The Meaning of Empathy Tags: Black Sites, Dick Cheney, empathy, G. W. Bush, Ignobility, Indifference, insensitivity, Islam, religious intolerance, shame on the nation, The Guantanamo Diary, Torture, torture camps, Treason, tyrannical government
Learn of the man with far more courage, honor, and empathy than the collective soul of a conservative nation:
08 Jan 2015 2 Comments
in A path to a better world, Acts of the Ignoble, compassion, empathy, Empathy and Religious Belief, Inclusiveness of Life, Malala Yousafzai, Religious intolerance, The Meaning of Empathy Tags: benevolence, better world, cartoons of Mohammad, Charlie Hebdo attack, Church and State, Establishment Clause, insults, Islam, John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, philosophy, religious freedom, The Empathy Imperative, The First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson, tolerance
Being an advocate of universal empathy and benevolent reciprocity, acts of sheer terror such as the Charlie Hebdo attack place me squarely on the horns of a dilemma, especially since I am opposed to the death penalty as well. So, since I do not shy away from cognitive dissonance, as I write this piece, I will attempt reconcile my seemingly opposing concepts. I turn to philosophy.
On one horn, I am a devotee of the John Stuart Mill School of Free Speech—a school of empathic thought that says, in Mill’s words:
If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. –John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter 2 – Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion.
Side note: It is clear to me that this mode of thought, in no small measure, influenced Jefferson and Madison when they crafted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the intent of which is laid out in Jefferson’s Virginia Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. And that intent is the very heart of a constitutionally limited, representative democracy (a republic). I no longer see our nation as such, however, but that is an argument for another time.
Indeed, as Mill wrote concerning the “tyranny of the majority”:
John Stuart Mill
Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant—society collectively, over the separate individuals who compose it—its means of tyrannizing (sic) are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices (sic) a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough: there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own. There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism. —John Stuart Mill, On liberty, chapter 1
Thus I have to say that Charlie Hebdo has, in my opinion, every right to lampoon fundamentalist Islam, bearing in mind that their parodies of Mohammad is not the root cause of the terrorist attack, but was a contributing factor.
On the other horn of my dilemma is the root cause of the Charlie Hebdo attack—that of the right of fundamentalist religions to preach and believe as they do—a religious teaching that encourages murder as revenge for perceived insults to Islam. Too, it is for the most part a mindset with which one cannot reason. This last point, of course, is the same for peaceful but still dangerous fundamentalist, religious beliefs of Western nations. If one is convinced that he will burn in an everlasting Hell if he does not abide by the doctrines he was taught to believe, how can anyone change his mind? Cannonballs of logic and reason will not dent his walls of dogma. But, has he the right to teach and build those walls for others?
This brings me back to Mill, who wrote:
First, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.
Secondly, though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions, that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.
Thirdly, even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds. And not only this, but, fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience. —John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter 2 – Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion.
Therefore, fundamentalist Islam does, indeed, have a right to teach its opinions, although Mill would not condone—nor would any person possessing even a molecule of humanity and reason—allowing it to act out its nefarious teachings.
The solution? By allowing radical and harmful ideas to be spoken, society, perceiving the danger, knows who to watch and to whom contrary opinions, especially those of empathy, must be conveyed. Still, there must be constraints, especially in fundamentalist Islam, to prevent harmful acts. If the individuals of the group are beyond reason, then society must protect itself, by any means necessary—although capture should be our primary concern.
However, terrorists who are captured should not be put to death, but imprisoned and detoxed, if possible, of their harmful concepts. If they cannot be detoxed, then they must remain in prison and be treated humanly.
This episode highlights why I promote the view that every individual should rid himself of all religious dogma, saving only the single concept of benevolent reciprocity: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This goes for Western nations as well. Our primary goal, above all, should be the elimination of poverty and corporate/government greed–the ultimate medium for radicalism to grow.
I welcome your arguments and corrections if you find any.
Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a philosophical novel that takes a critical look at justice, love, and mercy, and written in the spirit of the BBC/WGBH Boston film production, God On Trial.
Based on
22 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
in Acts of the Ignoble, empathy, Empathy and Religious Belief, Inclusiveness of Life, Religious intolerance, The Meaning of Empathy Tags: AiG, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Ark Encounters, Ark Park, benevolence, best of all possible worlds, better world, Bible, Brotherhood, Christianity, Church and State, creationism, do unto others, Establishment Clause, evangelical, First Amendment, Freedom of Religion Clause, Kentucky, Noah's Ark, Sectarian Religion, Thomas Jefferson, Virginia act for Establishing Religious Freedom
—-Updated from my original post, Answers in Genesis: A Profile in Parasitism.—-
The State of Kentucky has decided to extend no further tax incentives to Ark Encounters, a Christian fundamentalist theme park.
The Mask of Deception
Now, I understand that some folks might think the following is a continuing attack against Christianity in general and Answers in Genesis (AiG) in particular. On the contrary. I am only suggesting how I believe empathy could be applied to this situation such that the solution is in the best interest of everyone. That is, by the way, the purpose of the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
Fairness requires empathy, and empathy can only be derived from within.
First, with regard to AiG, note that no one is making any attempt to shut down its right to purchase property and have a theme park. First Amendment watchdog groups demand only that governments–federal, state and local–represent all of its citizens, without regard to their religious beliefs, their political opinions, or their financial standing. All working citizens pay taxes, thus, all citizens must have free access to commerce and must not be forced to subsidise sectarian religion.
Secondly, in the United States–as most of you know–all religions are to be treated equally under constitutional law. The only way this can be accomplished is for the government to remain neutral in matters of religion, (i.e., it cannot make laws respecting anyone’s religion).
When the courts attend matters of church and state separation, they reference the intent of the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment, which may be found in Jefferson’s Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom. Here is the excerpt pertinent to the AiG case.
Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical . . . [note that Jefferson was a Deist, not a Christian]
How could this be more empathetic and fair to all citizens?
Now, with regard to AIG’s ongoing efforts to have the taxpayers of Kentucky pony up 10s of million$ more in tax breaks for its restrictive, fundamentalist Ark Encounters theme park, after Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) reminded Kentucky lawmakers, many times, that they were elected to serve all the people and not just fundamentalist Christians, the State backed out of further tax incentives for the park. AiG is now resorting to revenge attacks for being forced to abide by the Constitution.
From AU:
Answers in Genesis (AiG), a creationist Christian ministry, had applied for a 25 percent sales tax rebate through the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet for Ark Encounter, a theme park that will feature a 510-foot replica of Noah’s Ark. The application received preliminary approval, and since the project is expected to cost $73 million, final approval would have cost the state up to $18 million in sales tax revenue.
But the Ark Park sailed into stormy seas in August when Americans United informed the tourism cabinet that AiG had posted online an opening for a computer-assisted design technician to work at Ark Encounter. That job post has since been removed, but in the August description, AiG said applicants must submit a “[c]reation belief statement,” as well as “[c]onfirmation of [their] agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith.”
That “statement of faith” required potential AiG employees to affirm their belief that homosexuality is a sin on par with bestiality and incest, that the earth is only 6,000 years old and that the Bible is literally true. Anyone who doesn’t agree with those statements won’t be considered for the job. (Read more here.)
According to AiG’s own website, “The purpose of the Ark Encounter park is to point people to the only means of salvation from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, who also is the only God-appointed way to escape eternal destruction.”
But after receiving word of the tax-break cutoff, according to AU, “AiG . . . said earlier this week that it would run 16 billboards throughout the state promoting Ark Encounter and attacking ‘intolerant’ groups like AU. AiG also said it bought a 15-second digital video display that will run in New York City’s Times Square.”
AiG feels that it has been attacked unfairly and is being denied its “right” to tax dollars from non-fundamentalist Christian people–the same folks they would bar from employment at the park, no matter what their qualifications.
I have to wonder, What would the politicians of Kentucky, who want to continue the tax breaks, do if a group of Muslim citizens wanted the State to give them tax incentives to establish a park dedicated to Islam? Would you think that the folks at AiG would object?
How do you feel about this? Does AiG have a right to tax dollars? Should all religions have that same right?
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