10 posts tagged “culture”

                                                        

                                                                 Every self-respecting Citizen needs one!

NEWS STORY - LA Times - Daily Pilot    Gay-rights activists plan to picket the Mormon temple in Newport Beach on Sunday to protest Mormon support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. Another protest is planned Saturday at South Coast Plaza.

“I think it is a registering of how upset we are about it,” said Sandra Hartness, a member of the board of directors for the Human Rights Campaign, a national group that lobbies for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. Hartness is one of the organizers of the Sunday protest planned at the Newport temple.

“It reinforces that we are not going to go away, and we’re going to continue to seek equal rights,” she said.

Hartness said she and other opponents of Proposition 8 are angered at claims by the Proposition 8 campaign that homosexuality would be taught in public schools if gay marriage were to remain legal.

“It’s not so much the fact that they donated but the manner that the campaign was conducted and the misinformation that was spread,” Hartness said. “To not expect people to be upset when you take away a right from a group of people is probably naive.”

Protesters have swarmed Mormon churches and temples across the state after the passage of Proposition 8 last week. Opponents of the ballot measure claim members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bankrolled the Proposition 8 campaign. A website created by gay-rights activists tracked campaign finance records during the course of the Proposition 8 campaign and claimed Mormons donated more than $20 million in support of the ballot measure.

Another anti-Proposition 8 protest also is planned for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Bear Street and South Coast Drive near South Coast Plaza as part of a nationwide day of protest against Proposition 8.

Many Mormons feel they are being singled out from the numerous churches in the state that supported Proposition 8, said Joseph Bentley, Orange County director of public affairs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Church leaders encouraged Mormons in California to donate to the Proposition 8 campaign on a voluntary basis, he said.

“We’re shocked,” Bentley said. “Everyone I know is really quite surprised, and we find it quite deplorable that these are more than peaceful protests.”

                                                          Michigan Protests

Church members across the state have been subjected to vandalism and threats after the passage of Proposition 8, Bentley said.

“We have gay friends we love and care about and support in every way, but we don’t understand why there has been such a horrific backlash,” Bentley said.

The protest is planned for 10 a.m. Sunday, but the Newport Beach temple, 2300 Bonita Canyon Drive, is usually closed on Sundays, Bentley said.

“We usually try to keep the gates open so people can walk peacefully through the grounds,” Bentley said. “We try to keep it beautiful and inviting, but whether they will be able to do that this weekend, I don’t know.”

"This WEEK'S Quote: "No, not in politics, No I'm going to get an honest job." Mayor Debbie Cook (D), Huntington Beach, Ca., Nov. 4, 2008, referring to her future after losing a bid for Congress.
 I really like this quote by Mayor Cook. It reminds me of a quote by President Harry Truman. Something about a piano player in a house of ill repute being more reputable than a politician.
 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Lightfoot - Published Dec. 27, 2008 - Liberty Views

Where are you planning on watching today's historical election results? Are you prepared to celebrate or for disappointment?

I think I will let Will Rogers and Judge Gray speak for me as someone that know much more than I about politics.

 "If your side lost don't take it too much to heart. Remember there is always this difference between us and Italy. Mussolini runs the country. But here the country runs the president."
Will Rogers - Nov. 9, 1932

" Mr. President. Regardless of the politics of this past election, all Americans wish you good health, wisdom and fortitude as you guide our fragile experiment in democracy forward for the next four years. And if you ever feel that there is anything I can do to help you in this effort, you can always count on me"
Judge James P. Gray - Nov. 2, 2008

Published: LA Tmes Daily Pilot

and today-
 
  In the early 1900's, most educational leaders, as well as the rank and file of teachers argued that the unionization of teachers was prompted by selfish devotion to self interest.  The affiliation with the A.F. and L. was the prostitution of the well-being of all children. The main assertion was NO WORTHY TEACHER would ever feel justified in going ON STRIKE.
 

 Today we hear; Our new budget is only 193 million over last years budget of 56.6 billion. "We have to be out here (picketing) for the kids." LAUSD teacher the day of the mini-strike. 30,000 teachers stayed-out, on the picket line. That's 30,000 hours times approximately 700, 000 students lost time that will never be regained, never returned.  Again,  "we have to be out here for the kids." Just what kids are they talking about.  

 
 And, the LAUSD and The California Teachers Union wonder why some of us think the public schools are failing and set a bad example for all our kids, grandkids and future generations. Don't be surprised the next time you hear close the public schools for a year and just start over. A good time to start over might be 1904.  I do not think those teachers would pick D-Day to hit the picket line! 
 
Then again,  I wonder if  these students or teachers even know it's D-DAY.
 
  Not to be less corrupt than the LAUSD, the Nevada Teachers Union's threatened to use of the initiative process to increase taxes on casinos by approximately (44%)forty four percent. That's right forty four percent! If passed all the new taxes would only be used for teachers salaries. 

 
  And then, with the help of Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D) a secret meeting was held between the Public Teachers Union and the casinos resulting in a bizarre plan that almost as corrupt as the original initiative. Nevada counties are to put the question of tax increases on the November ballot. 

 
Threats, blackmail and secret back room deals of the past have become the present for teachers unions. To use the initiative process to for a personal tax grab, not improve education, is corrupt  to the core. An act  only worthy of self serving selfish greedy individuals, but not public employees...especially teachers!

Not to be outdone by Nevada Teachers. The District Attorney charged Capistrano School Board (CUSD) held closed door meetings in violation of the Brown Act. While, voting the CUSD Super a 58 thousand per year pay raise. I'm sure it was all for the little kids.

Again, just what kids are they talking about?

Brian Gilbert wrote; "The teachers union, tenure and promotion, out of the classroom, who should be fired, represents everything that is wrong with America."

 
ref: LA Times,  ABC News 2008,  School and Society 1918, 1956, Sac. Union, Tahoe 
      Bonanza - Photo - Sacramento Union 

 Published in part June 29 -  Sacramento Union

Additional Notes: Sept.6 -  In all areas of academic ability, half of the children are below average. This fact has implications for education and public policy, and yet it's something most politicians and public intellectuals would rather not talk about. It amounts to educational romanticism. At its heart is a glib presumption that every child can be anything he or she wants to be if only the schools do their job properly. No one really believes it, but we approach education's problems as if we did. We are phobic about saying out loud that children differ in their ability to learn the things schools teach. Not only do we hate to say it, we get angry with people who do. We insist that the emperor is wearing clothes, beautiful clothes, and that those who say otherwise are bad people.”

Dr. Charles Murray

Dec. 5 -  Our public education system is a slow-motion car crash, driven the same union special interests that brought the auto companies to the brink of bankruptcy.

Townhall

              Minority Rights do not Exist
 

I understand the meaning of the article by Judge Gray (“The government’s judicial branch,” July 13).

The phrase “that leaves only the judicial branch of government to defend minority rights” leads us down a path I do not think we want or need to go down. It is not the duty of the judicial branch to defend the minority rights. A more accurate and just statement would be “that leaves the judicial branch to defend the rights of all citizens under the law.”

Once you accept the idea that a minority deserves special consideration, you also give the minority special rights not available to all citizens under the same rule of law. Consequently, the judicial system cannot render a just decision based on rights and special consideration that do not exist under the same rule of law.

In our legal system, all rights are vested in the individual. Group rights do not exist; only individual rights. We do not give special consideration based on affluence, authority or ethnicity — whether physical or philosophical.

An example would be special consideration given to Mexicans perceived to be a minority. The result is a breakdown in business, immigration, environmental and Social Security laws.

                                  LA Times Photo

It is not because we need more laws, but because we give special consideration to a perceived minority group.

This is a selective system of law enforcement that will eventually destroy the rule of law altogether.

For a nation of laws that is the loss of the nation altogether.

Published July 13 - LAT/DP - Tribune Newspapers

Rob Dickson wrote on Jul 18, 2008 

Ila Johnson wrote on Jul 17, 2008 

  SEAN HANNITY  the great american
  You've reached the hate Hannity hot line. This message is for people who disagree with Sean. If you leave a message here it can be played on air. THE OWNER OF THIS MAIL BOX IS NOT ACCEPTING MESSAGES AT THIS TIME.
 
  What that means is the hot line has been, for the time being, taken down. Sean was caught doctoring the comment line to come out a certain way. Reasonable comments were cut completely or editing in such a way as to leave out the actual disagreement. Example; Hey duffs boy, you don't know the difference between a socialist and a conservative. This would be cut to dufus boy, added to some other foul language and presented as the actual comment.
 
  I believe the purpose was to demean and slander liberals. And, to destroy the past, the liberalism of John Loke and Thomas Jefferson, and present core values and principles of liberalism as the  new conservative. To claim the values and principles of liberalism, as your own,  and at the same time time claim "liberalism is the basis of socialism" is dishonest to the core.
 
  I can agree with some of Sean's  political ideas  and as a vet I appreciate what he does for the military. I can not agree with his purpose and methods. Partisan politics is no excuse for misleading the public, especially the young people, on such a grand scale.  But being guilty of the same behavior,doctoring comment lines and blocking e-mail comments,  to paint a false picture is no different than what he accuses others of doing. Even, if my analysis and opinion is not 100% accurate it still does not justify what amounts to a falsehood. 

 "Conservatives define liberal as anyone who is not their idea of a conservative."
Clarence Page - Chicago Tribune.   I believe the facts support this observation.  Meaning that Limbaugh, Hannity and the "mouth that roared" Mark Levine's use of the word liberal has no meaning at all. Example; Mark Levine says "liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid."  If he does not mean the liberal philosophy of John Loke or Thomas Jefferson....who or what does he mean?

 Sean's proclamation  that liberalism is the basis for socialism is "Hannity Logic." That would make liberal philosopher John Loke the father of Socialism. Thomas Jefferson was an avid reader, student and supporter of John Loke. Using Hannity logic that makes Thomas Jefferson not only a supporter of socialism but a founding member.

 
  The biggest political lie in our history is socialists, marxists and authoritarians are liberals and examples of liberalism. This is the lie that Sean is selling and the purpose of the doctored comment line. The difference between  Tokyo Rose Radio (West Coast) and ABC Radio's Sean Hannity? Nothing! They all mislead their listeners for pure partisan political reasons.
 
  "The OWNER of this MAIL BOX is not accepting messages at this time." Especially if you are a liberal and your comments contradict the "The BIG Lie."
 
 Be careful. You never know what shenanigans people are up to these days." - Sean Hannity - 2008
 
 
"This is where we need truth to catch up with reality."
Lightfoot Letters - 2007

Original letter June 8, 2008

Revised June 29 

June 17 Sidebar:

 It should be noted that the Rushman will not take calls or accept challenge to his ideas of what it means to be a conservative, socialist ect. I do not believe it to be the same level as Sean Hannity...But the dishonest misleading component is clearly there.

Original letter June 8, 2008

Revised June 29 

           TOBACCO SHOULD be BANNED

                                        Letter to the Editor
 
  My mom, my dad, my aunt and uncle all died  from cancer.  I think I can more than relate to the loss of a close relative. Especially your mom or dad.
 
  However, I do not blame anyone for their personal choices. My grandmother did not allow smoking inside her home. She could paint a visual picture of what smoking and chewing tobacco could do to your body in the 1940's. My mom, her sisters and brothers choose not to follow her advice. It was their decision for the part tobacco played in their lives.
 
  The idea that we are ignorant and we blame others for all our bad decisions must stop. It is dishonest on our part and is a very poor example for children. It teaches them and society nothing except, we are not responsible for our own choices. Someone else is to blame. In this case it is the tobacco companies. Not us, no it could not possibly be our fault for our own bad decisions.
 
  Do I wish my mom and dad were still here. Of course. Do I miss my favorite aunt who was so much like my mom. No question about it. Would I do anything to limit their choices that I wish were different.  Absolutely not.
 
  I am thankful every day that I have the freedom to make bad decisions, to make a bad choice.

Gay marriage ruling vaults issue back to front