Politics, SciFi, Comics, Comedy, and, well, Pretty Much a Little of Everything

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

I’ve really got get back on track to do posts on Fridays… or any of the times over the weekend that I think “Gee, I should probably post something to my actual blog…”

Because by the time Monday night rolls around, I’m usually doing so many other things that I put this off until the last minute and then find myself at a loss for something even vaguely meaningful to yammer on about. (Which is likely why I don’t do videos.)

Instead, as usual, I’ll just say there’s a lot that went into the feed since Friday morning. Some of it sparked some really good discussions, some of it is just really awesome in and of itself, and some of it has likely gone completely unseen–so you could be the first to discover it! (Or, uh, something like that.)

Anyway… here’s the feed…

https://www.facebook.com/kierduros/activity/10152191008695981

Science, Aliens, Sexism, Stupid Application of the Law, and Buzz Aldrin

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

I’ve been fiddling with websites all day–first at the day job and then after I got home.

But, pretty much every site I have my fingers in is up to date now. So, that’s good.

Sadly, this is the only one of my own sites that gets regular content these days. (And, really, calling some of this intro text “content” is really a stretch… and the FB feed reposting doesn’t count at all.)

I have a plan for tomorrow’s feed… I should have pre-loaded everything, but I haven’t. So I’m just going to be winging it tomorrow between crunching through on projects. Y’know, just like normally do. But it’ll be more frustrating, because I do have a plan I’d like to carry out.

Ah, well, my own fault for not budgeting time better.

Onward with today’s (surprisingly short) feed… (I must have really been busy)…

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

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…

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

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.

More Than a Weekend’s Worth of Stuff

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

Missed another Friday of posting the (week)daily feed. Ended up out and about late into the night catching the “best of” showings of the 48 Hour Film Project films. Some very, very impressive things were made in that weekend. (And, hey!, I even know some people who made one of them! You can find that in the feed below.)

The rest of the weekend was ridiculously low-key. Mostly spent catching up on some shows, a backlog of email (lots of YouTube video notifications), and playing a few too many hours of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat (both nostalgia-fueled Steam purchases, since they were on sale when I bought them… I’ve been reminded why I stopped wasting quarters at the arcade).

The quiet weekend was shaken out by another high-stress day at the office, thanks to near-impossible deadlines and technology seemingly conspiring against me at every turn. And totally capped off by the bus I normally catch not even showing up and the second one on the route running just slow enough to make me miss my connecting bus to home by about three minutes (gotta love it when you can see the bus pull out of the pickup area and onto the main road).

Oh, and my sunglasses broke. (And, apparently, they were my backup pair… I usually have two pairs hanging around, just in case… seems I forgot to restock last time.)

It hasn’t been that great of a day.

https://www.facebook.com/kierduros/activity/10152073399765981