So Much for Tolerance

After seeing some highly inflammatory posts on Facebook about Chick-fil-A, I had to look into the issue for myself to see what was REALLY going on.  It seems Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A did a radio interview and a print interview which was published the same day the radio interview aired, and then the earth fell off its axis (that’s hyperbole for those who don’t get it).

Print article from June 16, 2012

Print article from June 19, 2012

Here’s what Dan Cathy DIDN’T say:

• We don’t serve gays.
• Faggots need not apply.
• God hates queers.
• Destroy all homos.

Here’s what he did say:

• We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.
• [I]ts tradition is ‘to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.’ [sounds like tolerance to me!]
• “As it relates to society in general, I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than You as to what constitutes a marriage,’” Cathy said on “The Ken Coleman Show.” “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about.”

If you don’t see the difference between the two, let me present an analogy.

I have diabetes.  My doctor told me processed, sugar-laden foods are bad for me.  Therefore, I am a firm believer in a healthy, whole food diet.  I will not eat processed foods.  Anyone who eats processed foods is poisoning their body.

If you extrapolate from the above statement that I think people that eat Cheetos are bad people and should burn in hell…you are engaging in word play (or you have a reading comprehension problem at best).

Being pro-Biblical marriage does not make a person anti-gay.  In fact, God calls on all believers to show love to everyone.  No where did Dan Cathy say anything negative about gay people.

So what about tolerance?  The word “tolerance” is being tossed around today by people that clearly don’t understand its meaning.  Dictionary.com defines tolerance as:

1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own.
3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one’s own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

If those calling for a boycott were truly tolerant, they would accept that Christians who truly follow the word of God cannot, in good conscience, approve of same-sex marriage.  Agree to disagree.  Simple as that.  And I know there are gays that exhibit this kind of tolerance.  I also know there are people who wear the moniker “Christian” and espouse hate (Westboro “Baptists” anyone?).  But that is not the case here.  Dan Cathy has essentially said, “God is my boss and I trust my boss and I think it’s a bad idea for society to go against my boss.”  I agree with all of that.

Now, to any and all of my gay friends that read this:  I love you.  I love you as much today as I did when we would hang out – when yes, I was being every bit as debaucherous as you, if not more.  I am not that person anymore.  But I still love you and not just because God told me to.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10, 12-13 (ESV)

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — ¹⁰ not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

(Emphasis mine.)

Hello Again

Well…it’s entirely possible that I’ll start posting again on a semi-regular basis.  Note how the previous sentence lets me off the hook if I can’t seem to get it done.  Anyway, I wonder how many of my “regular” readers have written this blog off…

Money Money Money

Indiana is attempting to pass legislation that de-funds Planned Parenthood.  Personally, I’m all for it.  But rather than get on my soapbox about abortion, I’d like to bring up the money issue.

Planned Parenthood Funding Fight (<— link to article)

To me, this boils down to taxes.  I pay taxes.  I am pro-life.  I don’t want my tax dollars being spent on what I see as murder. 

Yes, Planned Parenthood says that the money that may be withheld is not used for abortion, but in a sense, it is.  This funding frees up other funding they receive for abortion.  Think of it this way: 

You have $5 and want a cheap bottle of  booze but need a gallon of milk for your kids.  If I give you $5 for milk, I have just given you the ability to go buy the booze AND the milk. 

If you want an abortion, YOU should pay for it.  Heck, sometimes insurance will cover at least part of it.  But I don’t want to pay for it, and I shouldn’t. 

Final line in the article: 

Cockrum said Planned Parenthood is prepared to sue for its money if the proposal is signed into law.  [emphasis mine]

How telling it is.

Just Say NO!

Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana has declared his intention to seek re-election.  I wanted to title this entry “Is This a Joke?” or “The Joke’s on Hoosiers if Lugar Gets Re-elected” or even “RINOs and the Fools that Work for Them” but I had to go with what I really feel about Lugar.  Just.  Say.  No.

Sen. Richard Lugar to seek re-election in 2012

I’m not sure how this guy can consider himself a Republican.  I mean really, just because you say something doesn’t make it true. 

Here is a fun quote from the article (and by fun, I mean ridiculous):

“Lugar’s been a solid Republican conservative his entire career and has not changed,” Helmke said.

I’m not sure what substances Mr. Helmke ingested before he made that statement, but they must have been potent.  To use the word “conservative” in the same sentence with “Lugar” demonstrates, at the very least, Mr. Helmke’s unfamiliarity with the meaning of the word conservative.

Let me put it out here right now – I will wholeheartedly support Lugar’s opponent in the primary and do what I can to replace him as the Republican candidate.  If he happens to win the primary, then I’ll be voting for the Democrat.  As I wrote to Senator Lugar a few years ago, I will vote for a communist before I will vote for him again.  At least I know the communist will be trying to destroy our nation.  I expect better from someone with enough sense to put an R after his name.

Goodbye, Danny Williams

James MacArthur dies at 72

 Just after I had read this news, one of the attorneys I work for called me.  I asked if she was calling to share the sad news of Danno’s passing.  She didn’t know what I was talking about.  So I politely explained to her about Hawaii 5-0, that the show ran from ’68 to ’80, and that the phrase “Book ‘em, Danno,” came from here.  She again pleaded ignorance and I was left wondering about her home life as a child.  Who didn’t watch Hawaii 5-0 in the 70s? 

Shortly after that, another of the attorneys I work for came up to my desk and I shared the sad news with him.  “Danno died today.”  “Who?” he replied.  “Danno.  You know, like ‘Book ‘em, Danno’?”  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Was there some law that prohibited future lawyers from watching Hawaii 5-0?

HOW DO YOU GET THIS FAR IN LIFE WITHOUT EVER HEARING THE PHRASE “BOOK ‘EM, DANNO”?!?!?

Even my almost-three year old son is familiar with the term.  We have been watching season one on DVD, and he will frequently say to me “Let’s watch 5-0, Mommy.”

James MacArthur, rest in peace.  Those of you unfamilar with his work, get with the program!

*By the way, I haven’t watched the remake of 5-0. I know it won’t do the original justice, so I’d rather keep my memories of the original.

New Jersey No Longer Smells Like Cheese

About a million years ago, I saw an episode of Saturday Night Live with Drew Barrymore (it was actually November 20, 1982) and one of the skits (the Whiners) had one of the cast members telling Drew she was going to New Jersey.  Her follow-up line was someting to the effect of “I don’t want to go to New Jersey; New Jersey smells like cheese.”  Having never been to New Jersey at that point in my life, the description stuck with me and popped into my head every time New Jersey was mentioned.  [I have since been to New Jersey and found it did not, in fact, smell like cheese.]

Now that New Jersey has a fantastic governor, the cheese comment is no longer the first thing that comes to mind.  For that alone, kudos go to Chris Christie.  Christie is the kind of politician that I like:  He tells it like it is, and like it should be.  Here is the most recent video of him.  Enjoy!

 

The Geniuses at NIPSCO

For anyone that doesn’t know, NIPSCO is the gas/electricity provider for my area.  They will frequently send out little newsletters with their bills (yes, I know I’m still living in the dark ages by getting papers bills).  When paying my bills today I read the little newsletter and came across this gem:

When’s my power coming back?

Why did my power go out?  When will it be back on?  Those two questions are among the most frequently asked after a storm or other related electric outage.  Thanks to updates to our online outage map, you won’t be “left in the dark” with these questions any longer.

By visiting www.NIPSCO.com/stormcenter, you can find real-time information on outages in your area, including the cause and an estimated restoration time.

Um, I hate to break this to you, NIPSCO, but if I don’t have any power, how am I supposed to get on the internet to see when power will be restored?  My laptop battery is not always charged! My desktop certainly doesn’t run on hope and good wishes.

This seems about as smart as the phone company telling you to call an automated hotline to find out when your phone will be back in service.

How Does This Happen?

So I’ve been driving to work lately because I can’t seem to make it to the train.  The positives to this are that I get to listen to the radio,  on whatever station I want, or whatever CD I want, at whatever volume I like.  I can eat and get crumbs all over myself and not worry about brushing them on the person next to me.  I can go as fast as I want (within reason) or as slow as I want, and I don’t have to depend on someone else to get me where I’m going.  The negatives are the cost, the wear and tear on the car, and traffic.  But I digress from my original point.

As I’m driving down Lake Shore Drive one day last week, I saw this in front of me:

No, wait.  That wasn’t on Lake Shore Drive.  Sorry. 

Here’s what I saw:

Well, this is almost what I saw.  I did black out their license plate – they weren’t driving around like that. 

Just in case you can’t see what I saw, I’ll make it a little bigger (and lighter).

So how exactly does a flip flop make it from Indiana to Chicago without falling off the bumper?  And why is it on the bumper in the first place?  Is someone, somewhere missing their flip flop and hopping around trying to find it?  So many questions…

The Moral Decline of Civilization

I found this article today:

Duke co-ed’s scandalous sex ratings are viral sensation

In reading the article, I came across this nugget of wisdom:

Speaking with Meredith Vieira on TODAY, Internet safety expert Donna Rice Hughes called the Owen paper “a teachable moment,” saying parents need to get involved early on in their children’s lives to instill Internet discretion.

So the problem Donna Rice Hughes has with this story is that Ms. Owen’s parents didn’t teach her to not put naughty things on the Internet?  I would say that the problem is that her parents didn’t teach her to not be a trollup, but it is entirely possible that her parents did try to teach that message to her and it just didn’t stick.  So instead I’ll say that I thought the big problem here was that Ms. Owen decided to sleep with 13 men – most of them on the same sports team – so she could make her friends laugh with her witticisms.  In all due fairness, it is possible that she is just a promiscuous skank and later decided to create the powerpoint presentation because…well, I don’t know.

Blue Bloods

CBS has a new show with one of my favorite actors of all time, Thomas Sullivan Magnum - I mean Tom Selleck.  TS did an interview and in it he talks about the new show, the Jesse Stone movies, and the best television series ever, Magnum, p.i.!

Tom Selleck Interview