Why do Right wing nuts pick horrible human representatives?

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Does God vomit at the thought of gay and lesbian people? That's the graphic image that O'Neal Dozier, pastor of Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach Florida, uses. It's radically different from the one that many of us know of a God of inclusion and love. Not vomiting but smiling on us -- all of us!

What makes Dozier's view so prominent is that he is the Honorary Chair of Rick Santorum's Florida campaign. Although Dozier believes that homosexuality is the "paramount of sins" he is an equal opportunity exclusionist. Mother Jones reveals that his Islamaphobia and local crusade against Muslims are fueled by his belief that Muslims have an agenda for taking over America. Dozier, who claims to know the mind of God on election results, has used his position on the Florida judicial nominating committee to seek "God-fearing" judges. The test for him is whether those nominees support anti-sodomy laws.

Dozier believes America should be taken over by those who share his exclusionist views and create a fundamentalist theocracy. The constitution in his view was created only for those who are a "moral and religious people." God-fearing in his view translates into a projectile God who throws up on those who do not share his religious vision. Thankfully there are other more spacious religious and spiritual paths.

Like millions of other LGBT people I feared God as a young person because of the religious messages I received that God had disdainful disgust for us. Like millions of other young LGBT people I considered suicide. That is one of the reasons that Dozier's imagery and words are destructive, not life-giving.

If the arc of spirituality bends towards inclusion Dozier's views are not part of that moral trajectory. Pew Research polls reveal approximately 65 percent of Catholics and Protestants have positive views of gays, while only 29 percent of Evangelicals do. Among post-moderns 91 percent have favorable views of LGBT people while 80 percent of them support same-sex marriage.

The moral arc towards inclusion has a foundation of spiritual wisdom from many traditions. Christian wisdom settles largely on a message of generous expansive love matched by acts of mercy, kindness and justice. The notion of repairing the world is a central underpinning in most branches of Judaism. While Buddhist philosophy is rooted in seeking the happiness or well-being of all Buddhist practice points to the inter-connectedness of all sentient beings.

Religious leaders can be found in most traditions that, like Dozier, use their position and authority to tear apart, diminish and demean others at any cost. The climate they create is quite different than that of those who beg to differ but who seek a world in which none are harmed or excluded. The bullies who cloak themselves with the mantle of the Divine are no different than schoolyard bullies who are stopped only when their behavior is challenged. That choice is in our hands.

We participate in the movement of the moral arc of inclusion when we actively engage in creating a world which acknowledges the goodness and compassion inherent in every person. A world in which imagery of a puking God is replaced with a spiritual path of generous inclusion in which there are no outcasts. That is a life-giving journey acknowledging and celebrating difference.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/2 ... 78378.html

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has released a new video featuring Gloria Steinem, in which the feminist icon argues that this election is a "turning point" and that women should grant Obama a second term if they want to see their rights protected.

"We will lose what we have gained if a Republican candidate were to win," says Steinem. "So the question is will we be active, will we get out there, will we be self-respecting and forget about party labels and vote for ourselves. Vote for our fundamental human rights?"

The latest appeal comes amid a cascade of state laws and protests from conservatives over women's reproductive rights, a trend that has sparked a backlash across the nation and prompted former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican who later switched to the Democratic Party, to tell The Huffington Post in an interview that the GOP is damaging its reputation with women "terribly."

Steinem, who strongly supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries but enthusiastically endorsed Obama when he became the party's nominee, says in the video, "In the past 50 years, women have banded together to build the most important thing, which is to tell the truth about what's happening to them. Because of that, we have changed a lot of laws and change is built from the bottom up, like a house, not from the top down. But you need someone at the top who allows you to build a house in the first place, and that's President Obama."

"From his personal life, who he married, how he treats his daughters, he understands that women are absolutely full human beings," she says. "He has a good heart, a good mind, treats people with dignity, doesn't court conflict and represents I think the best in this country."

The spot goes on to remind women that Obama's first act as president was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which made it easier for women to sue for equal wages.

Steinem also touts the Affordable Care Act, which will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this week, noting that it has extended coverage to young adults and would eliminate a gender gap that sees women pay more for health insurance than men. She also references the current controversies over abortion rights and contraception coverage, both issues that were thought to have been settled decades ago.

"If you've listened to the Republican candidates in the primary, you know that each and every one of them would criminalize abortion and outlaw quite a few forms of birth control," she says. "Whether or not women can determine when and whether to have children is the single biggest element in whether we're healthy or not, whether we're educated or not, what our life expectancy is, whether we can be active in the world or not."

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This is a strange one. it looks like it will not effect abortions but I don't know for sure.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/apr/2 ... ath-of-an/

NASHVILLE — The Senate approved and sent to Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday legislation that allows criminal prosecution for causing the death of "a human embryo or fetus at any stage of gestation in utero."

The bill (HB3517) marks the second change in two years to a law that since 1989 had it a crime to cause the death of a "viable fetus." That was changed last year to eliminate the word "viable."

Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, the sponsor, said legislators have since learned that, under the scientific definition of a fetus, the term only applies when eight weeks or more has passed since conception. Adding "embryo" covers from the moment of conception.

Humphrey on the Hill

Tom Humphrey's blog on politics and legislative news in Tennessee

The bill passed the Senate 30-2. The House has approved 80-18 last week.

All votes against the bill came from Democrats, some of whom contended in floor debate that "embryo" is too broad.

Sen. Beverly Marrero, D-Memphis, told Beavers the measure would be construed to require a pregnancy test for "every woman who is shot."

"No, Sen. Marrero, I don't see it that way at all," replied Beavers.

"All we are trying to is punish that person for two counts of homicide or two counts of assault on that woman who has chosen to have her child," Beavers said.

In the House, Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, the law could now could lead to a business owner who allows smoking being charged when an employee miscarries because of secondhand smoke or charges against a motorist who causes a careless minor accident that resulted a miscarriage.

"It seems to go too far," Stewart said. "What's the limiting factor?"

Rep. Joshua Evans, R-Greenbrier, the House sponsor, said district attorneys general would not bring charges "if the proof wasn't there" of an intent to cause harm to the embryo or fetus.

Evans also said the bill merely clarifies current law, which is necessary because women are sometimes attacked because of a their pregnancy.

"There is a problem with people being killed because they're pregnant, or being assaulted," he said.

Rep. Jeannie Richardson, D-Memphis, said that about 50 percent of all conceptions "miscarry naturally" before the embryo reaches eight weeks and the new law is vague enough to allow prosecutions in such cases.

Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, said Democrats were "playing the 'what if' game" he knows of no unwarranted "horrible instances" of prosecution in other states with similar laws covering embryos.

"This deals with criminal behavior, by people who have harmed not one but two Tennesseans," Hill said.

Rep. Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis, said the bill would give "veiled support" to the anti-abortion movement.

Evans said that is not the case. He noted the measure explicitly excludes any harm to an embryo or fetus cause by the pregnant woman herself.

The bill includes language declaring it does not apply "to any act or omission by a pregnant woman with respect to an embryo or fetus with which she is pregnant or to any lawful medical or surgical procedure to which a pregnant woman consents, performed by a health care professional."

Haslam has not indicated a position on the bill.

The Senate was scheduled to also vote Monday on a House-passed bill that declares any physician performing an abortion in Tennessee must have hospital admission privileges in the county where the procedure is performed or an adjoining county. It wound up being postponed until today when the Senate stopped work early Monday night to allow the Finance Committee to work on the state budget bill, the main measure remaining before the end of the 2012 legislative session.

Legislative leaders want to end the session by Friday.

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And we wonder about needing to suseed again. They have poor enough health care so what do they want to do? pay money for less health care.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/2 ... 68596.html

State Rep. Jonathan Stickland ® introduced a bill in the Texas House of Representatives on Thursday that would give tax breaks to companies that don't cover emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Under Obamacare, company health insurance plans are required to fully cover employees' contraception costs, and companies must pay a federal fine if they do not.

The Texas bill, if it becomes law, could help wipe out the financial disincentive for some companies to not cover emergency contraception. The state tax break would be up to the total amount that companies pay in state taxes or the total amount of the federal fine, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Obamacare's contraception mandate has faced a number of court challenges. A federal judge ruled in November that Hobby Lobby must cover employees' contraception costs after the company filed a lawsuit requesting an exemption, claiming that the contraception mandate violated their religious freedom. Federal judges have dismissed several several similar lawsuits. The Supreme Court declined to block the contraception mandate in December.

Some companies' opposition to the contraception mandate may hurt their bottom line. Hobby Lobby's vocal opposition to covering contraception has spurred a backlash, with a petition to boycott the company garnering more than 70,000 signatures.

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Call me silly but I think this is just to give the GOP some good face again. they don't want it but if they compromise on this it will help.

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/conten ... d=pO44VNoe

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A national group of prominent GOP donors that supports gay marriage is pouring new money into lobbying efforts to get Republican lawmakers to vote to make it legal.

American Unity PAC was formed last year to lend financial support to Republicans who bucked the party's longstanding opposition to gay marriage. Its founders are launching a new lobbying organization, American Unity Fund, and already have spent more than $250,000 in Minnesota, where the Legislature could vote on the issue as early as next week.

The group has spent $500,000 on lobbying since last month, including efforts in Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, West Virginia and Utah.

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well it could not happen to a nicer guy lets hope they nail him to the wall.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/1 ... 64087.html

AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas judge said Thursday he plans to have a special prosecutor review allegations that Gov. Rick Perry abused the powers of his office and broke the law over a veto that cut funding for state public corruption investigators.

Judge Robert Richardson said he expects to select someone in the coming days to look at a two-page complaint filed by a watchdog group, Texans for Public Justice. The special prosecutor could quickly deem the complaint meritless or decide it warrants further investigation.

Perry's office denies wrongdoing.

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I mean we all see them use religious nut jobs to prop them up but at least they have religion in common. but like my brother who has jumped off the deep end of right wingers tries to use ted nugent as a poster boy and allen west.

I mean old nugent should rename his cat scratch fever song to kitten scratch fever. he is a self proclaimed pediophile who Courtney love claims gave him a blow job when she was 12. As a draft dodger that can only hunt those who don't shoot back. My brother is always posting about how the troops are abused then he uses ted. Allen west got kicked out of the army for some nasty things he did to Muslims. also a woman hater and a hater of all things not christian.

When I point these things out he says nothing of course.

it's like they pick the worst examples of humanity and go for it. but I guess it is only the dregs that think like that in the first place I guess.