Progress In The Back Woods

by Dick Mac

Humanity has always been challenged by our ability to disseminate information. The more information that flows to the citizenry, the better-informed the citizenry, the more sophisticated the society.

As Judas Iscariot sang to Jesus Christ in "Superstar": "If you'd come today you would have reached a whole nation, Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication."

As ideas flow from one community to another, from one city to another, from one state to another, from one market to another, we all become more enlightened; even when we disagree with the information or conclusions being shared.

In the United States, there are hypothetical badges of honor associated with being the first and/or last to do something. The first state to pass gun control, the first state to sue the federal government over the health care laws, the last state to enact consenting adult laws, etc. These are highlights often discussed in the media. The first, the last, the only, the best, ad nauseum.

In 1977, Florida was the only state to pass a law specifically denying homosexuals the right to adopt children. For 30-odd years, Florida has been denying homosexuals approval to become adoptive parents. Oddly, they have all along allowed homosexuals to be foster parents, a common route to adoption, but denied them and their children the legal designation of a "family."

News has not yet seeped into Florida that every homosexual is actually part of a family (being a brother, sister, son, daughter, etc.), and that homosexuals often build new families (becoming mothers and fathers), and that there is no empirical evidence to suggest homosexuals are bad parents. Florida has been our "Israel in 4 B.C.," seemingly not hearing these tidbits of information, or choosing to ignore them.

So, kicking and screaming, Florida was recently dragged out of the back woods and into the 20th Century. (The jury is still out on when it will join the 21st Century.)

The 3rd District Court of Appeal agreed in a ruling that Florida's ban is unconstitutional. The State of Florida has decided against an appeal, meaning that the decades-old law is now history.

So, even though Florida was the only state with this kind of law on the books, they are also the first state to abandon a law preventing homosexuals from adopting children.

Congratulations Florida!

Miami couple who successfully fought Florida's gay adoption ban officially adopts 2 brothers

Burning Books Is Never A Good Idea

by Dick Mac

One of the right-wing's absurd conclusions, that they use with impunity, is that objection and resistance to the war in Afghanistan endangers the troops.

Back in 2003, I wrote about right-wingers who cancelled a celebration in Cooperstown, New York, that had been planned for over a year, because they determined that two of the participants' objection to the war in Iraq endangered the troops. This, of course, was patently false, and the monster who was in charge of the event was just taking an opportunity to further his own political aspirations. Fortunately, this back-fired and he is pretty much invisible outside of Cooperstown today.

This has always been a tactic of the right-wing, and the liberal media like Fox News and CNN never confront them about it. They are allowed to continue spreading their lies.

Can exercising our First Amendment rights ever really endanger the troops? Generally, I think not. There might be one exception: book burning.

A right-winger has come forward to announce that other right-wingers are endangering the troops with their planned exercise of free speech.

The Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, has declared "Burn a Koran Day" on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

U.S. and NATO Commander Gen. David Petraeus said yesterday:

Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.

The geniuses behind the idea to burn the holy book of their competition are Dr. Terry Jones, and his lovely wife, Sylvia Jones.

I am not a businessman, but I understand a little bit about marketing and competition in the marketplace. Religion is a huge business and there is a lot of money to be made. Other religious leaders have tried various tactics to increase membership in their churches, temples, and mosques. Book-burning, however, is never a very popular option. People seem to prefer sex-scandals infused with a nominal amount of piety and humility. Bad clothes permeate the entire industry, so there is no reason for criticism in that area.

Dove World is gathering together a bunch of semi-literate bigots on Saturday and they are going to burn the Quran! Muslims from Gainesville to Kabul are going to lose their minds over this.

If you think Muslims are angry about the war in Afghanistan, wait until you see their reaction to this!

The insurgents in every country will be encouraged by this act. There will be more bombings, more acts of terror, a deeper rift between Muslim Americans and non-Muslim Americans.

There is no good reason for this.

We can only hope that one or more of these imbeciles catches fire themselves and dies for their righteous cause.

Idiots!

Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops

Dove World Outreach Center

A Private Matter

by Dick Mac

Tiger Woods was involved in an automobile collision.

The story is that his wife smashed the window of the car with a golf club to extricate him. This doesn't sound like a fender-bender to me. This sounds like the type of accident where emergency assistance might be required; and Woods has stated: "My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble."

It's impressive that a collision requiring extrication of an injured driver could be remediated by Mrs. Woods. Generally, when an automobile collides with a tree, emergency service personnel are needed because there may be head, neck, or back injuries that your wife might not know how to address.

"This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way," Woods said.

The spirit and letter of the law may prove otherwise. Florida law states:

The driver of a vehicle involved in a crash resulting in injury to or death of any persons or damage to any vehicle or other property in an apparent amount of at least $500 shall immediately by the quickest means of communication give notice of the crash to the local law enforcement department; however, if the crash involves damage less than $500, no injuries, the vehicles did not need a wrecker, and the crash did not involve an intoxicated or "hit and run" driver, you may download and complete the following report for insurance purposes.

- from Driver Report of a Traffic Crash, Florida Highway Patrol

Please note that it says nothing about private property or private matters.

Since Woods was driving a Cadillac and collided with a tree, chances are that the damage is in excess of $500. It can cost more than five hundred bucks to have a rear view mirror replaced on a Cadillac, never mind a fender or a bumper. In conjunction with the monetary threshold being passed, Woods himself stated that he was hurt. So, Woods has met both criteria that require him to report the accident to the authorities "immediately by the quickest means of communication."

Although Woods did not report the accident, a neighbor did, and Woods has refused to cooperate with authorities investigating the incident.

If Woods was Joe Sixpack, in Florida, crashed his car into a tree, and his wife extricated him from the vehicle with a golf club, and refused to answer questions of the authorities, do you think he would be sitting at home right now? No! He would be in jail.

Is Tiger Woods above the law? Does Florida law apply to some, but not to others?

It's no secret that I dislike Tiger Woods, and find the entire Professional Golf Association to be repugnant, and perhaps I would be kinder if this were David Bowie or Juan Pablo Angel. I think however, that if Angel or Bowie were in this situation, they would have been arrested.

But, it's not David Bowie or Juan Pablo Angel, and Tiger Woods has broken the law, and refuses to cooperate with authorities. I hope my firends in Florida receive the same treatment when they find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

What is Woods hiding?

Is it the other angle?

The entertainment angle that is more colorful, and is probably closer to the truth of the situation than not?

There are rumors that in their current marital discord, Mrs. Woods went after him with a golf club, and in his attempts to get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge, he jumped in his car and slammed into a tree as he tried to flee. In this scenario, she is not using the golf club to extricate him, but to kill him. In every state, that is assault with intent to kill.

Irrespective of the angle from which you like to view this incident, someone should be under arrest, or at least down at the station house answering some serious questions; and should be preparing to pay-to-the-piper.

What are the odds that action will be taken against the Woods family?

Woods speaks up, says crash is 'private matter'

Here Comes The Scam

I have believed for many months that Hillary Clinton was going to be the eventual nominee to represent the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election.

I have said that she will not actually win the nomination, but that the power-brokers in Washington (the Bush family and friends, the Clinton family and friends, the Diebold Corporation, Howard Dean, and other election powerhouses) would simply do for Hillary that which was done for George W Bush in Florida in 200 and Ohio in 2004: they would rig the process to ensure that the candidate most appealing to the conservatives would win. In 2008, that candidate is Hillary Clinton: champion of corporate interests, anti-labor hero, and homophobe supreme.

Clinton has packaged herself as a liberal for many years, but her positions on the issues are the positions of a conservative.

She is losing the race to become the Democratic nominee to Barack Obama. Her momentum was dead in the water, then she won a couple of states that use Diebold voting machines (including Ohio, which has been devastated by her support of NAFTA), and her campaign is re-born. Now the chairman of the Democratic Party wants to change party rules to allow her to get the delegates from Florida and Michigan, which states have had their delegates nullified for breaking Party rules. When Clinton was the front-runner, she wanted those states punished for their rules-breaking; now that she can win by manipulating their delegates, she wants them reinstated.

Things are bad. Things are worse than we think.

Read more at The Huffington Post: Dean Urges Do-Over Voting in Fla., Mich.