I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
Location: US/Canada
Registered: September 2009
Messages: 733
By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Feb 23 | I am thankful that not only am I a citizen of Canada, but as I ply my craft as a journalist here in the American capital, I chose to make my residence the state of Maryland. Why you ask? Because across the Potomac river in Virginia, far right conservative politicians now rule the roost in its state government down in Richmond. Virgina's apparent political and cultural atmosphere now, boosted by its new Christiban Governor & Attorney General, have given licence to a reordered form of McCarthyism. The most recent example of which was a call by state representative, Robert Marshall, (R-Prince William County) to cut off and ban all state funding for Planned Parenthood based on suspect, antiquated, and nonsensical so called Christian doctrine and 'biblical' teachings.
I had a chance last evening sandwiched in between viewing Olympic coverage, writing, and blog reading, make that catching up on etc, to watch MSNBC's Rachel Maddow take on Bob Marshall's public pronouncements and the recent trend in Virgina. At the end of her segment I found myself saying "Amen!" Here is Rachel on Virginia's hard right turn:
I actually thought I might be supportive of the decision made by Virginia as I'm opposed to anti-discrimination laws on the grounds that I believe they are a breach of free speech and/ or freedom of association.
It turns out I'm just as opposed as anyone, though. The right to discriminate does not extend to the state. The state, by definition, is required to be unbiased and neutral.
Oh but I wasn't fond of the closing comments about forcing employers to hire people they aren't comfortable hiring.
[Updated on: Fri, 26 February 2010 21:35]
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway