FollowUp 3: "FRAC! Baby FRAC!"

Wow! Great lyrics, popular style, and a nuanced take on a real problem. I'm impressed with the students of Studio 20 NYU and their follow-up to ProPublica's ongoing research.

Thanks to The Young Turks for the heads up.

13 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
10 December 2011, FollowUp 1.
2 January 2012, FollowUp 2.

Humor: The Atheist Pig on Religion and Same Sex Marriage

Oh my!  Icky.  One doesn't need to be an atheist (I'm not) to appreciate humor from The Atheist Pig.

Humor: Day of Silence

I have written previously about opposition to the GLSEN Day of Silence.  This video speaks for, er, has a nice flair for presenting the message.  Nice job by Mr. Brown.  He calls this "cheesy"; and it is, but a little cheesy humor is a good thing.  As he wrote, 20 April 2012 is this year's Day of Silence.

FollowUp 2: Claims of Threat to Religious Liberty

I must admit that I was tempted to start a new thread titled humor, but despite the temptation to laugh at this news, the implications of religion triumphing over civil law are serious.  This is particularly true for the victims of religious claims against those who do not fit within that particular religion's view of acceptable.

Appleton Wisconsin is a small city, about half an hour South of Green Bay, almost two hours North of Milwaukee.  It is a relatively peaceful community in the Fox River Valley.  So, it was unusual to have a case of felony property fraud in Winnebago County, the first in over five years.  Even more surprising is Erik Hudson's planned defense of religious rights to the property he stole.  The counterfeit property transfer is best explained by the Northwestern.

The document, in which Appleton resident Erik Hudson claimed to transfer ownership of property at 312 E. Cecil St. to the Moorish Science Temple of America, also contained pages outlining the religious beliefs of the temple, which is based in Washington, D.C..

That aroused suspicion, which led to the discovery that Anchor Bank had purchased the property in a January 2011 sheriff's auction and Hudson had no legal claim to it.

Hudson, who also uses the name Kabir Karim Bey, was charged in October with criminal slander of title, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In its criminal complaint, the state of Wisconsin claims that the deed Hudson filled out is "false, a sham, and frivolous."

After filing the bogus deed, Hudson began to rent the property to a Neenah woman, according to Winnebago County Circuit Court records.

Court documents filed in October state that Hudson, who claims to be a representative of the Moorish Science Temple of America, "admitted he had filed the document, and had various unusual political and legal theories that he believed supported his conduct."

Among these theories is Hudson's belief that "the Americas" are under possession of the Moorish Science Temple of America and that the church has lawful authority to exercise this jurisdiction through its members, including missionaries, Grand Sheikhs and sheikesses.

If one truly believes that religious law must supersede American law, then Mr. Hudson, Sheik Bey, must prevail.  One must ask to what degree religious liberty warrants protection from the government.  The First Amendment could be interpreted to mean that Winnebago County and the State of Wisconsin should not interfere with the Moorish Science Temple of America.

Or we could come to our senses and respect religion under law, and not the other way around.

6 February 2012: Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.

28 February 2012: FollowUp 1.

Humor: (NSFW) Video against H8

The language is crude, but the message is pro-equality and the messengers have fun delivering it.



Thanks to Joe My God for the heads up.

Humor: WND Birthers Disappointed

President Obama taping a weekly address, photo by Chuck Kennedy

President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.  He has been dogged by the birthers, silly people who claim that he was born in Kenya or lost his citizenship when he moved with his mother to Indonesia or perhaps was a native of Jupiter (okay, I made up the Jupiter claim), to the point where he has even made a coffee mug with his long form birth certificate on it.  There is even a website called the Birthers that appears to be serious about itself and not some parody.

So, a group of birthers petitioned the courts in Georgia to have President Obama removed from the November ballot.  They managed to convince Georgia Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi to order a subpoena that the President appear in court to defend his legitimacy on the ballot.  The President did not go to Georgia to chase this latest distraction.

So now the crazies at Birther Central, better known as World Net Daily, must be extremely disappointed.  Posted yesterday at Birther Central:

An administrative law judge in Georgia today ruled that Barack Obama’s name can be on the state’s 2012 presidential election ballot because he was born in Hawaii, is “native born” and thus also is “natural born” as required by the Constitution.

He cited a little-known determination by an Indiana judge.

“The Indiana court determined that a person qualifies as a natural born citizen if he was born in the United States because he became a United States citizen at birth,” wrote Michael Malihi, an administrative law judge in Atlanta.

“For the purposes of this analysis, this court considered that President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Therefore, as discussed in Arkeny, he became a citizen at birth and is a natural born citizen.”

Really?  Being qualified as a natural born citizen when born in the United States is a little known determination??!?  Future history books will need a full chapter on the birther movement, properly categorized under Humor.