Liberty and Justice for All!

So called “pro-majority” protestors marched on Jena today to proudly show how Louisiana still has a long way to go when it comes to race relations. Not only did they re-open the old sore that was created with the Jena Six controversy, they showed that Louisiana still has people that embrace the days of old. I am sure that these people would want slavery reinstated in the name of so called “white civil rights”.

To make these racists look even more ignorant, they brought their own firearms with them (even though a Louisiana law prevents marching when armed).

To complete the show of ignorance, one of the marchers actually stated:

“It’s time for us white folks to start getting some of our rights back.”

News flash, white folks have not lost any rights (unless he feels that owning slaves is a right that a white person should have). I guess the good thing about this march was that they could only find 50 pathetic losers to march. At least that shows that they are unorganized.

I have never known anyone to have good service from Verizon. Nobody has been pleased with their customer service and even before this story I would have never gotten a phone from them. However, this story takes the cake.  

First, you need to read the story of Edna the dog. This poor dog was taken and then apparently tortured and killed by some punk kids.

Now you can read how Verizon, instead of doing the right thing, this happens:

The detective working the case, who asked me not to use his name, says he got a search warrant and faxed it to Verizon on Nov. 16, but it took 12 days before he got a list of calls made to Whiting. The city was charged $150 for the search.

Verizon charged police $150?

In most cases, says Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski, “the company charges no fee or a nominal one,” but in a “very small percentage of cases, Verizon will charge reimbursement fees for gathering information it does not routinely maintain.”

The fee covers some of Verizon’s costs and it makes no profit, he says. In a wired world, I find both the slow service and the high cost hard to swallow.

A crime has been committed. Another police source tells me the service is no better for other crimes, such as kidnapping, when time is crucial.

In Edna’s case, the detective says, he must now get another search warrant to connect the phone numbers he has to subscribers. He couldn’t say what the charge would be or how long it would take.

Let’s all be clear, any fee charged by Verizon goes towards the bottom line. They can claim that they don’t profit all they want. In reallity, they are profiting from this poor guys loss. They should have done the right thing, found the data immediately, and at least help this man get some closure.

And in a letter from Edna’s owner he states:

Verizon charges $500 an hour for searches, and some companies add an additional $150 per phone number researched. It costs Verizon nothing to do this, its pure corporate greed at its worst.  

I couldn’t agree more. Pure greed. You can contact Verizon and share your views on this matter.

412-633-5574
Lee Grasinsky, media relations, Verizon.

Update: Edna’s owner posted a response here.

Tony Perkins and the FRC have a problem with Homosexuals. Apparently, Tony Perkins cannot live a moral life if homosexuals are treated as people, just like everybody else. There is no other reason I can think of that he is so opposed to two amendments to HR 3685. In his recent press release he states:

House Amendment #1 to H.R. 3685 by Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Calif.) will grant special rights to transgendered people. House Amendment #7 to H.R. 3685, offered by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), is a very limited amendment that purports to protect religious institutions but, in fact, denies protection to most Christian schools and other private groups and businesses.

Tammy Baldwin is not from California (she is from Wisconsin), so someone needs to do some fact checking for Mr. Perkins. Congresswoman Baldwin’s amendment (pdf) does not give “special rights” to anybody. It understands the fact that people who are born with one gender but identify with another gender should be protected when they seek to live their lives as a member of the gender they identify with. Even conservative Louisiana, the state that has banned marriage and civil unions for homosexual couples, allows people to be issued a new birth certificate if they have gender reassignment. I wonder if Mr. Perkins feels that this hurts his family as well.

George Miller’s statement on the bill seems to contradict Tony Perkins as well. According to the statement, the bill exempts religious organizations. So any religious organization that Tony Perkins belongs to will be free to discriminate against all the gay people they want. He need not worry that gay people will infiltrate his little cabal and destroy the hatred that he holds dear.

What ever happned to “hate the sin, love the sinner”?

Let’s see where else Tony Perkins is absolutely wrong.

If this legislation passes, it will mainstream homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism

It will do no such thing. No more people will be gay, bisexual, or transgendered if the law gets passed. The majority of people will be heterosexual and no law can change that.

and provide activists a legal tool for punishing employers who do not approve of these lifestyles

No it doesn’t. An employer need not approve of “these lifestyles” to follow the law. Period.

They will either accommodate these sexual behaviors or face the full weight of federal civil rights enforcement.

Wrong. If they would be required to accommodate those sexual behaviors, they would be required to allow them to commit sexual acts in the workplace. They are clearly not required to do so.

This legislation essentially seeks to silence those with religious beliefs, either through legislation or the lawsuits this bill will create and encourage.

Again, Tony Perkins is incorrect. People with religious beliefs are still free to follow them, whatever they are. And if Mr. Perkin’s religious beliefs tells him to hate gay people he is more than welcome to do so. Preventing businesses from discriminating against gay people would not prevent people from speaking out against homosexuals if they so desired. If it did, the law would be unconstitutional.

Perkins completes his release with: “Thank you and God bless you.”. I guess he should add “unless you are gay”. 
 
As a side note, this post has prompted me to start a new category: “What is wrong with America” to point out the things that are, well, wrong with America. I may go back and update other posts with this tag, but I will hope to make frequent updates to this category. But first and foremost, Tony Perkins absolutely represents what is wrong with America.

Update #1: The bill passed the house. Here is the bill text. The bill does not require quotas and the bill protects religious institutions (even schools that are Christian but non-affiliated). So in those areas, Tony Perkins was dead wrong. Unfortunately, the bill did not include Tammy Baldwin’s amendment. She withdrew it because she felt it would cause the bill to not pass. I don’t quite understand that logic, but it is rather unfortunate if true. I guess Republicans could have voted to pass the amendment to get enough Democrats to vote against the bill as a whole. However, I just don’t think that Republicans would risk having a yes vote on this issue listed on their record.