Culture Warriors category archive

I live in a time in which Republicans consider vicariously sticking things up women a legitimate function of the state.

Words fail me.

Ronnie Polaneczky considers Pennsylvania’s proposed policy of state rape. A nugget:

The forced test has been likened to rape (why not add candlelight and Barry White, and call it date rape?). But since it’s being pushed in a bill sponsored by a gaggle of anti-choicers, the bill has been cynically dubbed “The Woman’s Right-to-Know Act.”

(snip)

Indeed, a statement from one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Thomas Killion, R-Chester, suggests that a social agenda, not a woman’s “right to know,” is precisely what this bill is about. Killion told the Inquirer that he had pulled back support, even though “I’m personally pro-life and I support anything that would discourage abortion.”

In other words, House bill 1077 is not at all about a woman’s “right to know.” It’s about discouraging a woman from exercising a right that others wouldn’t choose to exercise.

It’s all about control.

The Republican Party, the party of doms.

Revealed truth is an elastic thing.

It so often reveals the financial and personal concerns of those who claim the revelation.

Robyn Blumner remembers a court case in which she was involved with the legal team:

I have a solution to the battle royal between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration over providing free birth control (she misplet “covered by insurance”–ed.) to employees at Catholic-run hospitals and universities: Blame the lawyers. The Catholic Church relied on this handy excuse when it bent its religious creed to save some bucks. It’s time to dust it off once again.

I’m referring to a group of tort cases in which Catholic hospitals defended themselves against lawsuits from aggrieved parents of a dead fetus by claiming that an unborn child is not a person.

Till people caught on.

Harold Camping, the doomsday radio preacher who has predicted the end of the world for more than a decade, has told his followers that he has no evidence that his predictions and reality would ever overlap. Thus, he will cease predicting the date they would coincide.

But have no fear, my friends.

The scam shall come again.

Hanlon:

I’d wager that a big reason the religious right is so adamant that allowing gay marriage will bring about the destruction of society (such as Kirk Cameron claims) is that if gay marriage becomes legal everywhere and civilization doesn’t collapse, it will undermine their authority to the point of tearing it down entirely.

Moral authority abrogated:

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua ordered aides to shred a 1994 memo that identified 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a new court filing.

The order, outlined in a handwritten note locked away for years at the archdiocese’s Center City offices, was disclosed Friday by lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former church administrator facing trial next month.

The new beauty (sic) secret:

Via PoliticalProf.

The (US Supreme Court–ed.) justices on Tuesday rejected appeals from Pennsylvania and West Virginia involving questions about the limits on criticism from students and where the authority of school officials ends.

The high-court decision left standing lower-court rulings that two Pennsylvania students could not be disciplined at school for parodies of their principals that they created on home computers and posted online.

In the West Virginia case, an appeals court upheld the suspension of a student who created a web page that suggested another student had a sexually transmitted disease, and invited classmates to comment.

So there’s one precedent that lets punishment for out-of-school behavior stand one one that does not.

That clears things up nicely.

There’s more about the Pennsylvania case here.

Addendum:

See Glomarization’s comment below. H/T to Glomization, Esq., for casting some light on this.

Down in Florida, one of the speakers for a school career day was a Hooters waitress.

Now, I’m not a big fan of Hooters. I “dined” at one once; I was on a week-long business trip marooned in a suburban motel surrounded by malls and mall-type eateries; along about Thursday, Hooters was the only untried choice left and I figured I should see what the fuss was all about.

Lousy menu and no scotch at the bar.

Also, I find the idea of gawking at the waitresses quite repugnant; I find the stolen glimpse much more exciting than the counter display (also, the waitresses at that particular Hooters weren’t particularly gawkable).

Nevertheless, waiting tables is hard work and generally severely underpaid; I make it a practice never to belittle honest work.

Not so one of the mothers of a student at this high school. Daniel Ruth reports:

Dominicci (the mother–ed.), in an Olympian leap of logic, compared Morgan’s (the waitress–ed.) appearance with that of a former porn star who was invited to a California school to read to students. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, perhaps?

Really now, one could hardly equate serving chicken wings to Debbie Does Dallas.

The mother was concerned Morgan’s appearance would send a negative message to the kiddos that “you’re all bad kids, and this is all you’ll be in life.”

Morgan, who aspires to study psychology and graduate from college, did not appear in Hooters garb, opting for sweat pants and a sweater. She also stressed the importance of hard work, looking presentable on the job, learning to order from a menu, the proper way to tip and the various charitable efforts her employer contributes to the community.

At Mr. Feastingonroadkill’s house.

From Balloon Juice.

My two or three regular readers know I don’t think much of Mitt the Flip, mostly because he seems to embrace, not principles, but polls. His inconstancy of position causes my weather vane to appear a rock of immobility.

Nevertheless, the wingnut flap over his religion is disgusting. If there are such things as unAmerican activities, applying a religious test for office is one of them.

In other news, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention calls the Church of Latter Day Saints a cult with the same relationship to Christianity as Islam, that is, a religion of the book.

Words fail me.

Warning: Mild Language.

Via Mano Singham.