Tag Archives: healthcare

Just a Whole Lot of Stuff

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I meant to update Thursday… and even Friday… but… well… it was a holiday weekend and I figured I’d use it to catch up on things.

And by “things”, it turns out I meant all those games I bought during the Steam sale. Because I really didn’t do much else for most of that long weekend.

The feed from Thursday features a bunch of music (via YouTube) because I was in a classic rock kind of Throwback Thursday mood.

Then there were all sorts of questionable political things that went on (or kept going on, as the case may be), as well as some astounding (both in good ways and bad ways) social stuff.

So, this extra long rundown is a real mixed bag. Kind of like life.

Discrimination, Diversity, Voices and Images From Beyond, Living Above Venus, and the Impeccable Bad Piper

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

This came through the feed late today:

“Without a robust religious exemption,” they wrote, “this expansion of hiring rights will come at an unreasonable cost to the common good, national unity and religious freedom.”

That’s the justification, in part, for a group of businesses (who claim to be religious) for asking that they be exempt from non-discrimination rules when it comes to those totally wrong, creepy, and detrimental GLBT “people.”

To me, that says “In order to be united, we must exclude this entire group of people. In order to be free, we must oppress these others who don’t fit our beliefs.”

This is a result, direct or in, of the Hobby Lobby decision from the Supreme Court yesterday. The one that people (who are happy with it) have been swearing up and down that it won’t lead to anything worse than some (skeevy whores) not getting their pass to free sex (“birth control”).

Well, there ya go. Not more than 48 hours later and this request has been made.

It makes me sick. It makes me disappointed in any genuine faith-based organization that would condone, let alone support, this kind of exclusion in this day and age. (And, yes, I am regularly disappointed in a number of faith-based organizations.)

The biggest problem with the Supreme Court decision is that it was based on other exemptions already on the books. I take issue with those, too.

There’s a difference between secular society and spiritual life. One is shared among people who don’t always agree on things. In order to be part of that secular world–especially as an incorporated business–you have to play by the same rules as everyone else. Exceptions to the rule of law should be few and far between and supported by a distinct need.

Thinking gay people are icky does not make eliminating them from your presence a need.

Opposing birth control is just fine. Don’t make use of it in your life. But how other people feel about that is out of your hands. Especially if you’re “just” in a titled position in a free-standing entity like a national chain of businesses. A secular entity. You want to be a faith-based organization? Fine, change your structure and all your other behavior to be one. Then you get to play by those rules and be as picky as you want.

This whole thing is an nasty mess waiting to explode.

And I don’t have a good, coherent solution to make it any better. Mainly because the existing laws are a mess. Partially because the way we’ve done business for more than a century is a bit of a mess.

Anyway… here’s the rest of the feed…

Blasts from the Past, Signal Knowledge, Private Police, Big Brother Buzz, and Just Some Darn Funny Stuff

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Today did not start out well.

The bus I normally catch to make it to work on time just plain didn’t show up.

The second bus on that route–the one that will get me to work just a little late, as long as we don’t hit any long traffic lights–was late.

Since that first bus hadn’t shown up, it was also at about 90% capacity when I got on. Total standing room only and a lot of shared airspace and getting friendly with strangers (and their bags).

The first stop after mine filled the aisles of the bus to sardine level.

Then the bus driver spent three minutes arguing with people at the second stop after mine about why he couldn’t fit them on the bus. That repeated for half the stops after that one (since the bus wasn’t getting any less full).

Why there isn’t a “Bus is full” option on the vehicle signage, I’ll never know. There should be.

Because, man, were there some pissed off people.

Rightfully, so, too. Some of them were going to end up being a minimum of an hour and a half late for wherever they were going. I’m assuming most were going to work. You know, a place where being late can get you fired.

This isn’t the first time this has happened in the past year.

Usually, the bus shows up. But more often than not it’s between five and ten minutes late. In a 20-30 minute rotation (depending on time of day). That’s up to a third late. Sometimes more.

Even five minutes late, if the timing is just wrong enough to catch the later traffic lights, is enough to make me miss my first connecting bus. Catching the second connecting bus still gets me to work on time, but just barely. On days I miss that second connection, I’m stuck waiting at the transfer station for another 20 minutes–in order to do a 10 minute bus ride.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve just considered shelling out for a cab from the transfer station.

So my day started with my normally just shy of an hour commute taking me around an hour and a half (from front door to desk). If I were driving, it would less than half an hour.

While I appreciate having public transportation as an option, I really don’t appreciate its lack of ability to hold to an actual schedule.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Short Short Stories, Green Fetish, Warp Speed, Color Capture, He Says He Didn’t Know, Russian Homophobia, and ER Perspective

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Amid the slightly less hectic waves of work, I had the chance to read a couple of interesting–and infuriating–news articles today.

One of the big ones was about Archbishop Robert Carlson, one of the far too many higher-ups in the Catholic Church who were involved with the whole child sex abuse scandal. According to him, he doesn’t remember when he figured out having sex with kids was illegal.

As a friend of mine put it in their own stream: “Sex out of wedlock: SIN! Sex with someone of the same gender: MORTAL SIN! Sex with a kid: Gee, I just don’t know… could be okay, I guess, maybe.”

And then people wonder why I have no respect at all for the temporal body of The Church.

Thankfully, I know enough good Catholics–ones who actually live decent lives and are properly critical of their leaders–that I have yet to descend into the full-on hate of the religion itself.

One of the other big ones is about the institutionalized homophobia that’s now in place throughout Russia. Gay rights groups–really, any group in any way affiliated with the whole GLBT population–are being deemed “foreign agents.” That basically means, as far as the government is concerned, they are subversive, enemy organizations. The powers that be have taken to applying pressure to other agencies–banks, landlords, etc.–reminding them that dealing with foreign agents can get them on that list, too.

This has, of course, lead to the gay rights groups not being able to do things like renew their leases, maintain bank accounts, or, for those who are affiliated with the groups, hold down other jobs.

That right there is example enough to remind us all why we fight so hard for the equal rights under the law that we enjoy in this country. And why we need to keep fighting any time those rights are infringed upon.

It makes me sad that modern Russia seems well on its way to being the bundle of bad examples that the Soviet Union was when I was growing up, before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Apparently, everything old is new again. Can’t say I like it.