How to re-institute the separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State was a founding principle of our nation.  But now, some want to use the government to impose their particular interpretation of their religion on others.  And they do so in the name of protecting religious freedom.  "Allowing women to make their own choices about abortion infringes on my religious right to tell people what to do", or "Forcing my company to pay for health care that includes birth control infringes upon my religious right to try to make my employees live according to the principles of my church."  I want to live in a Democracy, not a Theocracy.  But the tide of Supreme Court decisions (5 to 4) has been to allow religion to trump other individual freedoms.  So what could change this trend?  If the Bin Laden family were to buy a major American company (say Sears, or Starbucks) and require that all their female employees wear burkas.  I think public opinion and the Supreme court would quickly condemn it and re-institute the ability for individuals to live free from the religious beliefs of their employers.  Remember, when you allow religion to dictate, you have to allow all religions to dictate.  The right-wingers don't want that, they want everyone to follow only their version of the Bible (be it the Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran interpretation or what have you).  But they know they can't sell that idea.  So they cloak their intentions in the guise of religious freedom.  Bin Laden's please come and push the envelope so people can wake up and realize the danger of letting a religion dictate civilian life. 

Global climate change really benefits the energy companies

I have long been aware that Big Oil. and Big Coal, and Big Gas have denied global warming (aka climate change) because they don't want to incur the expense required to reduce their pollution and contribution to the problem.  But today, in Chicago, I see another benefit for them.  I live in Chicago.  Yesterday, I had my heat on, as the temperature was about 50 degrees.  Today it was 90 degrees and I had to turn on my air conditioner.  Spring used to be a time were you didn't have to pay for heat or cooling.  But with the drastic shifts in temperature, we'll have to pay the gas company or the electric company (and their suppliers) every day.  We should put solar on every roof, windmills in every field, and stop killing our planet to line the pockets of the very few. 

The new, right-wing take on the old Jesus prostitute story

We all know the story:  a group of men were about to stone a prostitute to death when Jesus stepped in and famously said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  Well, the right wing loves throwing stones.  So the new interpretation of that story is not that Jesus was saying, "You shouldn't throw stones," but rather he was saying, "I get to throw the first stone, because I am holier than thou."   As long as you believe that you are closer to Jesus than the other guy, it's perfectly fine to condemn, belittle, persecute, and harm your neighbor.  If Jesus were alive today, he'd be using His divine powers to slit the throats of all the Muslim heathens, the gays, the "lazy. inner-city" folks, the liberals, and anyone who would want any restriction on capitalism.    If you're not sure who Jesus would hate, just watch FOX news.  They are His spokesperson.

Wayne LaPierre offers solutions

David Gregory did his best to get Wayne LaPierre, the spokesman and CEO for the NRA, to concede that guns have something to do with gun violence, but Wayne held his position strong.  I saw Mr. LaPierre in a fictional hallway after that interview and asked him, "so if a ravingly, paranoid. psychotic individual goes into a gun shop and says, 'I want to buy a gun and then go shoot up the elementary school in town,' what should the shop owner do?  What is the responsible thing to do, and what is the best thing he can do to help keep our children safe?"  Mr. LaPierre answered, "he should sell the gun to this individual, but then sell two to the school."

Women Vs. Blacks

I was just thinking about the struggles that Black Americans and Female Americans have had in earning rights and privileges in our country and decided to compare them.  (And I know that Black and Female are not mutually exclusive, so I am specifically looking at Black Males vs Females) (and I know the current correct term is African American).  Let's look at some milestones.

Earned the right to vote
Blacks.......... 1868 with the 14th amendment
Women......... 1920 with the 19th amendment
Difference..... 52 years

First member elected to the House of Representatives
Blacks........... 1870  Joseph Hayne Rainey
Women.......... 1917  Jeannette Rankin
Difference...... 47 years

First Member elected to the Senate
Blacks........... 1870  Hiram Revels
Women.......... 1932  Hattie Caraway (In 1922  Rebecca Felton was appointed by Governor Hardwick of Georgia, but she only served one day).
Difference...... 62 years

First Secretary of State
Women......... 1996  Madeline Albright
Blacks........... 2001  Colin Powell
Difference..... 5 years

First Member of the Supreme Court
Blacks.......... 1967  Thurgood Marshall
Women......... 1981  Sandra Day O'Connor
Difference.... 14 years

First President
Blacks...........  2008  Barak Obama
Women..........  None
Difference...... at least 8 years 

Now, I believe that we are created equally and that neither color nor gender nor religion nor sexual preference should be used to discriminate against anyone.  But considering that white men originally held all the power, I am surprised that it took white women so much longer to earn more of the positions of power than black Men.  I don't know why this is.  Perhaps it was that the blacks were better organized and motivated to claim political power.  Perhaps it was that there was greater opposition to female progress.  I don't think there are any inherent differences between how blacks and whites think.  I do think there are inherent differences in how men and women think though.  And considering that women are more than 50% of our population, I think they should hold at least 50% of the government seats.  If I could re-write the constitution, I would have it so that each state elects one male and one female senator.  And I would require that at least four, but no more than 5, seats on the supreme court be held by each gender.   And race should not be a factor at all.   (I'm not sure what to do about the House of Representatives.  I'm open to suggestions). 

Here's an idea

Republican Party:  Race-baiting, fear-mongering, election-machine rigging, voter suppression, gay-baiting, gender-baiting, war-mongering, and flat-out lying have not worked.  How about you try to listen to what the American people want for a change?  I'll give you some clues.  We want Citizen's United overturned by constitutional amendment.  We want American jobs and manufacturing protected and wages to be sufficient that we can have enough time to spend some with our kids and afford to educate them.  We want an end to the upward re-distribution of wealth, so all our money is floating around the economy and not sitting in an off-shore bank account.  We want personal freedoms and restraint on the ability of the government to monitor our activity.   We want good roads, schools and bridges, fire departments, police departments.  We want to be more focused on nation building here in America and less focused on breaking and then fixing other countries.  (How many new schools have we built in Afghanistan in the past 10 years and how many have we built in Illinois?)  We want an end to discrimination against women, gays, and minorities.   We disagree about abortion, but most of agree that we do not want laws re-written by every new congress or supreme court. 

I really hope you'll stop trying to force your minority agenda down our throats and start reflecting what the people want.  Not just the 0.1%, but all Americans.  That may help you win more elections. 

A silver lining in the debate debacle

I have been looking hard to find a silver lining in the terrible debate performance by Barak Obama last week, and I finally have found one.  If you recall, the story before the debate was that Romney's big donors were pulling out and were going to concentrate on the congressional races.  Now the Republicans are excited about Romney's chances to win and are sticking with him.  If Obama crushes in the next two debates, Romney will lose support.  And then it will be too late to super-fund the congressional races and the Democrats will win more house and senate seats.