Christian Leftist

Polic Officer Kills Man Who Killed K-9 - The letters to the editor in the aftermath of this incident are, with I think two exceptions, positively appalling. This isn’t the first time Pittsburgh police have committed brutality against black people in the city burroughs, either.

A Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed a 19-year-old Allentown man who shot and killed a K-9 dog during a confrontation in Mount Oliver last night.

A crowd of angry onlookers, including the victim’s family, quickly gathered at the scene in the 1600 block of Arlington Avenue. Dozens of officers also arrived on the scene, some with K-9 dogs, to help keep the crowd under control.

When the Pittsbrugh Post-Gazette ran coverage of the funeral, angry (bigoted) readers wanted to know why there wasn’t more coverage of Ulf, the K-9 dog’s funeral. Someone wrote on topix.com, “Thank [the cops] for taking out the trash.” Apparently, when a 19-year old black man has a prior criminal record and has a gun, he’s no longer considered human. Because we all know that trained pets are worth more than black people!

More reactions to the shooting death of Justin Jackson

Greenwood Councilman Calls Mississippi State Senator ‘Ole N*gger’ - John Lee, one of the city’s two white Republican councilmen, circulated an email to 15 of his colleagues in which he referred to David Jordan by the racial slur, saying:

“had a long talk after the city council meeting … with David Jordan. The ole n*gger can’t understand why the black’s (sic) continue to shoot one another. I told him he needed to spend less time with the old people at the Voters League and more time with the young people about getting an education.”

One of the email recipients leaked the letter to the press. The other white Republican councilman in Greenwood, John Jennings, continues to defend Lee’s remarks.

Thanks to Jack and Jill Politics for bringing the second story to light.

The Texas Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the polygamous ranch of the FLDS Yearning for Zion anch and its mothers today in a decision that stated that Texas child custody services did not have the right to take boys or any children under age 12 from their parents without evidence of an imminent risk of abuse. The state is likely to appeal the decision, meaning the case would likely end up in the Texas Supreme Court.

Appeals Court Rules Against Texas in Polygamy Case

The sad thing is that I’ve heard this argument before. I let my Jewish friend listening to something similar from my own youth pastor, thinking it was the right thing to do.

I cannot believe how stupid and ignorant and anti-Semitic that was. I cannot believe that I let myself be so blinded by the good intentions of my church at that time that I allowed myself to miss the negative effects of what I was doing in trying to proselytize my friend.

As with any -ism, it is the EFFECT, not the intent, that matters to the people who you hurt.

I wish Pat Hagee and John McCain could realize this, too.

A couple of weeks ago, my Dad burst into the room with a triumphant smile. “Look what Mom (my mom, his wife) found!” My glance shifted from the beaming expression on his face to the bright silver object on his fourth finger, and I realized belatedly that Dad was wearing a ring.

His wedding ring, he told me proudly. They knew they had kept both of them, but they didn’t know where either of the two had been for years.

I’d seen the rings on and off over the years, usually during spring cleaning or an emptying of the dreaded 12-drawer dresser that we’ve had since around the time of my birth. The design is extremely unconventional - a series of welded silver circles in a staggered pattern about half an inch wide for the entire band. There are no names or initials, no gold, no diamonds, no filigree. That’s because my parents married during the seventies, and they were dirt poor graduate students at the time.

You won’t find a single wedding picture on display in our house. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a professional photographer there. I find the occasional collection of faded Polaroids and Kodaks when I sort through old family photographs. There was no honeymoon, as there was no money for one. My dad wore a maroon jacket, and my mom wore a white pants suit. Obviously, they haven’t worn their wedding rings on a regular basis in decades.

What do all of these unusual facts say about my parents’ marriage?

Absolutely nothing.

Let me repeat that: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. In a few days, they’ll celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.

In order to have some perspective on this: the average American marriage lasts all of - wait for it - 8 YEARS! Wow! Go, heterosexual couples, go! Way to show staying power! That’s, like, almost long enough for a first child to make it to elementary school (if you hurry) before the divorce proceedings end up in court! Totally patriotic of them to deny the same right to those ‘unfaithful’ homosexual couples. After all, deviants can’t be patriotic, right? Right.

Putting aside the sarcasm brigade for a moment, I should note that while their marriage hasn’t been perfect, my parents have not cheated on each other, separated, divorced/remarried, fought over our custody, started family feuds with the in-laws or suffered through a number of the myriad problems that seemed to plague the families of my friends from pre-school to college and beyond. Most people who hear how long they’ve been married are in shock, and it’s only in those moments that I remember how unusual they really are, and just how happy they are with each other most of the time.

The point I am trying to make here is that you don’t need a wedding band to prove you’re in a stable and secure marriage or even a comfortable marriage. Rings are status symbols, and the only people who really are about them are the ring wearers themselves and the few odd bystanders who want to get into their pants.You alone know whether or not you’re married and what that means, and you shouldn’t have to prove it to anyone else by wearing a band around your digit.

That’s why I don’t understand the whole ‘flag pin issue’ with Obama. This one should be obvious, but since it isn’t: wearing a flag pin just to wear a flag pin isn’t patriotic - it’s reflexive jingoism.

Go right ahead and wear one if you want to. People with half a modicum of common sense should be able to tell what you stand for by your actions. That includes wearing one on your suit, by the way - an action that informs me you have a strong desire to assimilate, to belong, to follow the sheep, even if it’s to a small extent. Barack Obama has put his principles, his family, possibly even his life on the line to defend his country, this country, just as the other presidential candidates have. I can’t imagine putting up with the flak he’s taken in the past few years of his public service without caring enough for America to do his job anwyay.

It reminds me of these people down a neighboring street of ours whose flagpole dwarfs their tiny little 1.5-story house. They certainly don’t need to do it. At least ten other houses within 500 yards have American flags outside their homes. I think all of the car dealerships on the strip that is our one main road and the artery of this town have flagpoles over two stories high. If you drive down the main drag in either direction, chances are there’s a giant Stars & Stripes blowing in your face in all of her majestic glory.

And yet.

Despite all of these facts, there remains this itch, this abject compulsion in our neighbors to stick a giant metal pipe in their front yard and use it to display their patriotism like men use sports cars to display their masculinity. Over-compensation, much?

What does it say about America when government buildings, farms, schools, offices and commercial complexes aren’t doing a good enough job of telling visitors that we love and respect our country, when we choose to ignore the federal guidelines for the use of Our Flag and slap it on bumper stickers, hats & t-shirts, when we tattoo it onto our chests and toss it around haphazardly, a year-long holiday ornament on display like the Christmas lights we forget to take down? Why has it become a partisan symbol that screams in our faces, “If you’re not with the Flag, you HATE AMERICA!” and a rallying cry to support our troops when virtually no one doesn’t want to support our troops? Is this the best we can offer ourselves? To act like competiing children and see who can build the bigger and better monument to our hollow patriotism, the kind that doesn’t care who suffers as long as someone who looks like ‘one of us’ says it’s the right thing to make someone else do?

I remember a day when it wasn’t necessary to ask. We were watching the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies, and people brought in the torn flag on TV, and my mother, who would probably balk at being labelled ‘patriotic’ these days, wept as the national anthem filled the room. It wasn’t out of hate or fear of the people who had the gall to kill for a political message. It was for the hope that the flag symbolizes and the knowledge that we would emerge from crisis, broken and beaten but still standing, that even if she didn’t approve of some of the aspects of our society, she wanted the freedom to choose how to live, that our way of life would continue in spite of all efforts to eradicate it.

I’m writing this because Ronald Martin, a contributor on CNN, wrote a wonderful piece of snark on exactly why the attacks on Obama because of the flag pin issue are false and divisionary tactics that the Right uses because they can’t engage Obama on substantive policy issues. Thanks to Loganatron for “Hypocrisy: The Flag Pin Non-Scandal” for pointing to this article.

ETA: I just found a great montage of McCain Not Wearing a Flag Pin. McCain hasn’t worn a flag pin ONCE since he won the GOP nomination.

The hypocrisy, it burns.

To be fair, I coudn’t not post about the racism Obama canvassers are experiencing without mentioning the rampant sexism going on in the media against the Clinton campaign. Granted, I think the racist behavior rampant in her campaign sapped a lot of the sympathy from those of us who don’t didn’t feel strongly for one candidate or the other in the beginning, but the number of people on the sidelines has dwindled to a scant few, so we or they don’t matter as much anymore, and that doesn’t mean we should just let the treatment of her slip by us because we’re mad about HER behavior.

So, with that being said, the Washington Post has an article out today, entitled “Clinton Puts Up a New Fight.”

Oh, and I was Googling “rust belt voters” and found some good linkage on both the Obama canvassers face racism subject and the topic of misogyny and Hillary:

What I wanted to say about white rust-belt voters but couldn’t

Here’s the Washington Post article, which has a link to the actual legal ruling in pdf format.

This is significant because the Supreme Court of the United States has already ruled on a similar case recently and has said such laws are constitutional, even though they provide no exceptions for the health of the mother.

So-called “partial-birth” abortion bans find popularity among voters because the misnomer makes them believe that the laws are solely about late-term controversial procedures that rarely happen anyway. These bans usually make ALL abortions illegal beyond the first trimester of pregnancy. Somehow, that fact escapes the major news media on most occasions.

And Southerners wonder why everyone else thinks the majority of them are racist, maximalist whackjobs.

Marietta, GA bar sell racist Obama t-shirts comparing him to a monkey