It’s the time of year when many employees are asked to give donations to charities through the Combined Federal Campaign.

CFC is the world’s largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign, with more than 300 CFC campaigns throughout the country and internationally to help to raise millions of dollars each year.

It’s been a great way for me to give, since it’s deducted from my paycheck throughout the year. One that is always on my list to give to is Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, but this year I wanted to give to some kind of skeptical charity. Or at the very least one that helped promote science and critical thinking.

I started by doing a keyword search of the charities for “skeptic”, but was not happy when the one and only hit ended up being this:

Reasons to Believe www.reasons.org Ministry that uses emerging scientific discoveries as strategic resources to
engage skeptics and equip believers with a fact-based foundation for Christian faith and outreach

Oh, joy. In addition I could also donate to Answers in Genesis. Yes, the same one that built the Creation “Museum”. Of course, there are many, many different Christian charities that are available, like the well known Catholic Charities, but I don’t understand how those two can make the qualification and re-qualification required each year.

So if I couldn’t give to a skeptical organization, my quest began to find a good science based one. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few really good organizations. Domestic, children, and sexual violence charities, AIDS charities, homeless and community organizations, civil rights…just to name a few. I ended up deciding on Science Olympiad:

Encourages male/female/minority K-12 students to participate in academic events at tournaments designed to promote career interest in science/technology/engineering/math (STEM) education.

Yay for getting kids into science! I really wish there were at least a few skeptical organizations available. I mean if quite a few creationist and “the bible is true!” type organizations can get approved for CFC (and believe me, there were more than just the two I listed), how hard could it be to get the James Randi Educational Foundation or the Richard Dawkins Foundation added as an option? I know I can’t be the only one who would love to give to a skeptical organization through the CFC.

If there is anyone involved in a non-profit skeptical organization, please please please look into the application for CFC for the next donation period. I will definitely donate if you make it on the list.

It was great to have my first visit to London fall on November 5th.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

A very happy Bonfire/Guy Fawkes Night to all! Ah, to be able to visit London again on this night would be great. I was there during my honeymoon 7 years ago, watching the bonfires and hearing fireworks go off in the neighborhoods near our hotel.

In honor of the holiday, read or watch V for Vendetta. Me, I think I’m eyeing a Remember, Remember shirt.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

I was reminded that Banned Books Week is coming up by reading of an unfortunate event that happened in my own state. Dustbury writes

In honor of Banned Books Week, here is a repost from last year’s event, with updated links for books and events for this year.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

We often hear about someone not being happy that their precious child might happen to see something that the parent doesn’t want them to see when they go to the library. PROTECT TEH CHILDREN!!! is very often the reason given for a book being challenged or taken off the shelves. (Sally Kern is noted for wanting to decide what we can and can’t read, for instance. Those evil gays…) Thankfully though, we have some kick ass librarians who don’t like being told what people can and can’t read.

So in honor of BBW, check out the list of 2008-2009’s most challenged books, and read one you haven’t read yet. Or at least help spread the word, and if possible check out some of the BBW events! Unfortunately there are no events listed for Oklahoma, but there’s gotta be something going on somewhere. Any Okies with more info, please let me know and/or spread the word!

UPDATE! The ACLU of Oklahoma and Full Circle Bookstore are celebrating on Oct 1st at 6:30pm!

Technorati tags: banned books week, censorship, american library association, freedom to read

It seems like more often than not Fox “News” is on the gym TV. Usually I have my headphones on so I can drown out whatever crap they are saying. Today however, I didn’t put them on, and boy did I regret it.

As I was finishing up my workout, a segment about Swine Flu and the new vaccine came on. The lady introducing the segment asked some guest (didn’t catch who it was) about the concerns that parents may have about the vaccine. His response was to talk about mercury and thimerosal. And how there “is a link, of course,” between that and autism.

I had to audibly say “NO there is NOT!” as I walked out of the gym.

Let’s repeat that. There is NO LINK between mercury, thimerosal, and autism. NONE.

Science has shown this, but repeated fear mongering by anti-vaxxers has caused an increase in childhood diseases like measles and even death. A four week old baby died from whooping cough because not enough children were vaccinated and the community lost its herd immunity.

Vaccines save lives. Fox is being very irresponsible. Well, that may not be anything new, but with broadcasting anti-vaxxer’s lies, it’s just one more thing to add to the irresponsible journalism list. If you can even call it journalism.

Marion Gooding, the musician who was arrested in Tulsa for allegedly desecrating the US flag, won’t have to fight anything. The District Attorney’s office announced they won’t press charges, citing the Supreme Court’s decision that protects such acts under the First Amendment.

“The fact that an audience takes offense to certain ideas or expressions does not justify prohibitions of speech,” according to a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.

While this is a Very Good Thing, take a look at what Gooding’s attorney had to say.

Gooding’s attorney Tim Studebaker has not viewed the video but said he believes the decision not to press charges means that his client’s version of the facts was right.

“We said all along that this was an accident and not as egregious as the deputy marshal said it was. I think the video tape exonerated my client,” he said.

…

Studebaker said that Gooding uses the flag on stage as an act of patriotism. Gooding came out wearing the flag draped around his shoulders, then draped it over a speaker, he said.

He didn’t trample the flag but did admit to accidentally stepping on the portion of flag that hung to the floor, Studebaker said.

It doesn’t matter if it was an accident. You know, I don’t have a fancy law degree, but even I understand enough to know that Gooding could have done things that many people find extremely offensive, like spit on the flag and set it on fire, and it would have been protected under the First Amendment. Although if he did do something that extreme he would probably be arrested due to attitudes like this:

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said, however, that he believes Ketcher acted well within the scope of his duties.

“On a personal note, I’m proud of the action he took,” Walton said.

Walton said he has not seen the video but hopes the public gets a chance to view it, noting that Ketcher and Gooding’s accounts of what happened are very different.

“It’s certainly (the district attorney’s) determination to view this in terms of prosecution merit. I think what the man did was very outrageously disrespectful to the United States,” Walton said.

Don’t you just love police and law officials who don’t give a fuck if someone’s rights are violated?

Technorati tags: free speech, first amendment, oklahoma, flag

UPDATE! There won’t be charges pressed. Check out this post for more details.

Last week a musician from the band Smunty Voje was arrested after their performance at a Casino in Catoosa. The arresting Cherokee marshal said the reason was “treating the American flag with indignity”, which is a felony offense here in Oklahoma. Here is what allegedly happened:

Ketcher, a veteran of the Gulf and Iraq wars who served with the Marine Corps and Army National Guard, said in his affidavit that he saw the incident while on duty and standing in front of the entrance to a new night club, Friction, at the casino.

Ketcher said in his affidavit that Gooding had the flag draped around his neck and shoulders. Later in the performance, Gooding “allowed the U.S. flag to touch the floor multiple times then he wadded up the flag in his fist and shook it in the air before he threw it to the floor then trampled, stomped and danced on top of it,” he wrote.

A security officer later picked up the flag from the floor, where it was “wadded up next to an amp with guitars stacked on top,” Ketcher said.

First, I question Tulsa World on why they felt the need to include Ketcher’s prior military service in the story. Is it meant to sway the reader to think “Well, of course he should have arrested the band member! The guy fought for his country and risked his life! He shouldn’t have to watch the flag desecrated!”

Except that later on in the same news story the point is made that Oklahoma’s law is not in line with the Supreme Court.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Abitbol said that while state law prohibits flag offenses, federal law protects it as a display of free speech.

“It was apparent that if a charge was filed it would not be a felony,” he said.

“It’s one of those situations where Oklahoma has the offense on the books, but federal (law) and the Supreme Court have upheld that type of action as protected free speech.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that a Texas man’s burning of a U.S. flag during a demonstration at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas was constitutionally protected. [See Texas v. Johnson]

“It’s our job to follow the law,” Abitbol said.

“I don’t agree with it, but that’s the law. It is not a crime to do things to the U.S. flag that most people don’t like.”

Gee, this sounds just like what I said back when when a Marine was arrested for assaulting one of the Westboro members who desecrated a US flag. And something I’ve said many times here before. Free speech means free speech for everyone. Even for people who may say or do things that most people don’t agree with. That means yes, the KKK have the right to hold a parade, Westboro gets to protest, Sally Kern gets to spew her vile beliefs, groups can hold “Tea Parties” at the Capitol, and we must protect their right to do it. When we start deciding that some people’s speech isn’t protected just because it’s offensive, we start losing what makes this such a great country. And what the founding fathers meant for this country to be.

While I don’t agree that the ADA is required to file charges here just to “follow the law” (charges weren’t brought against the Marine in the Westboro incident who broke a law), this does point out that our law needs to be challenged through the courts and have it removed from the books. Hopefully the Oklahoma ACLU will step in if charges are filed.

Technorati tags: free speech, first amendment, oklahoma, flag

There she goes again, spouting off her anti-gay bigotry and using religion as a cover. This week in The Oklahoma Gazette, Sally Kern wrote a counterpoint to marriage equality. If this were a bingo game using all the same old arguments for squares, you’d win after just the first two paragraphs. It’s hard to find the most ridiculous line out of the whole thing, but my picks would be:

It doesn’t take a genius to know that a man’s and a woman’s body parts naturally fit together. The anatomy of opposite sexes was made to complement each other. Two men or two women can’t physically complement one another.

and

Jesus’ silence on homosexuality is not an endorsement of it. He also said nothing about rape, incest, drugs or pedophilia. Surely, these aren’t acceptable?

If you’re feeling very masochistic, go ahead and read the whole thing. It would take up too much room to tear her arguments apart sentence by sentence, but I could sum up her OpEd for you in “Blah blah God blah blah homosexual sin blah blah man and woman blah blah”. She even used the Norway example that said teen pregnancies went up after gay marriage was legalized. Except that it’s not related to the “decline of morality” but more to the fact that comprehensive sex ed was not being taught as much anymore. Guess what? They were pushing abstinence only education instead. (My Google-fu is weak right now, but when I find the source I will update this post.)

It’s not surprising at all she wrote this. This is just the most recent time we’ve heard anti-gay bigotry from her. The thing that frustrates and depresses me the most is that voters who live in her district know her belief and yet vote for her anyway. She was reelected last November.

Oklahoma. Where no county voted for Obama, we proudly elect bigots and anti-science politicians (Inhofe I’m looking at you here as well), and even our Democrats are right of center.

UPDATED!

I see that News 9 has a PDF of her “OKLAHOMA CITIZEN’S PROCLAMATION FOR MORALITY“. I’ll spare you the whole thing, since it’s basically a rehash of her article, just with a bunch of WHERAS thrown in. Some WTF moments come when they are disappointed that Obama didn’t recognize the National Day of Prayer (uh, he did), and believing the economic woes are consequences of “our greater national moral crisis”. But what irks me is that she’s using quotes from “founding fathers” to make it sound like they were religious like her and they’d be totally ok with what she’s saying. Hey, Sally! I can throw around founding father quotes, too!

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. -Thomas Jefferson

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature. -Thomas Jefferson

Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. - George Washington

The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. -George Washington

See? Just because a founding father said something, doesn’t mean you can claim superiority and deny equality and rights to a minority. Because, well, it seems that on that aspect the founding fathers wouldn’t agree with you. It’s kind of an important reason behind the US after all.

Technorati tags: marriage equality, oklahoma, sally kern

I use the gym at work almost every day, and usually listen to my iPod. The past few days I’ve been listening to the audiobook of World War Z, which is awesome by the way, but today it was difficult to drown out the TV. It’s normally turned to a local news channel or to CNN, which I can drown out, but today someone turned up the volume extra loud. Obama was speaking at the town hall in Green Bay, and questions were being asked about the proposed health care reform. I tried to tune it out and focus on the awesome and sexy Henry Rollins in his role as the body guard to the stars during the zombie outbreak, but one thing slipped through and irritated the hell out of me.

I don’t really remember the question asked (there is no transcript online yet), but the President responded with “rising premium costs” and something to the effect like 20% of people who pay into insurance use 80% of the cost. In other words, a small amount of people eat up a lot of resources. Obama gave an example of ways we can help lower premiums by helping the people who use up those resources become more healthy. He said we could help an overweight person lose weight so they won’t develop diabetes. It was then I became stabby.

See, according to the craptacular BMI, I’m overweight and closer to obese than to normal. I’d have to lose more than 20 pounds to be in the “normal” range. I’ve ranted about this before, but it bears repeating.

Just because I am fat doesn’t mean I automatically will develop diabetes or heart disease or some other “fat disease”. Or it doesn’t mean that someone who is skinny, by default, is healthier than I am.

Fat in and of itself is not an indicator of health.

The Ten Commandment statue in Haskell county that sits in front of the county courthouse was unanimously decided as unconstitutional.

In its decision, the court ruled that the monument violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution because a “reasonable observer would view the monument as having the impermissible principal or primary effect of endorsing religion.” The monument is unconstitutional, the court ruled, because the proposal to erect the monument, its approval by the Haskell County Board of Commissioners, and the commissioners’ expressly religious defense of the monument “strongly reflect a government endorsement of religion.”

This is a great victory for separation of church and state proponents, and gives me hope that the statue that is planned for the Oklahoma State Capitol will also be challenged and ruled unconstitutional. The Oklahoma ACLU was waiting for the decision in the Green v. Haskell County case, and with a victory, I’m sure they will be filing a lawsuit before the statue is erected later this year.

I’m glad the court came to the decision it did, especially when reading the decision, I see that I was right to think of the Kentucky case McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, which was ruled unconstitutional. Although I haven’t heard yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if Haskell County appeals.

Technorati tags: ten commandments, oklahoma, separation of church and state

Via Oklahoma Women’s Network Blog, I see that The Oklahoman chose to run a sexist and racist political cartoon. Take a look:

In case you can’t read the caption it says “Fiesta time at the confirmation hearing”. And yes, President Obama is wearing a sombrero while offering up Sotomayor as a pinata for a group of Republicans who each have a stick.

The racism is obvious, but the sexism seems to have escaped the people at The Oklahoman. Violence has very commonly been used to silence women and “keep them in their place”, and Oklahoma is one of the worst in the nation when it comes to violence against women:

Oklahoma ranks as the 3rd worst state in the nation for women. Much of what holds Oklahoma women and girls back is linked to our state’s culture of violence and disresepct for women. Oklahoma ranks #4 in women murdered by men, #1 in child abuse and our domestic violence shelters are full of women escaping violence.

So the image of Obama asking “Now, who wants to be first?” to a group of men holding sticks, waiting to beat up a smiling Sotomayor who is strung up on a rope sends a strong message to any woman or girl who has opinions or wants to achieve in a male dominated field.

Just take a look at the sexist attacks on Secretary Clinton and Gov Palin during the presidential race. Very often they involved threatened violence against them. It was wrong then, and this political cartoon is wrong now. Violence against women will always be wrong.

Way to stay classy, Oklahoman.

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Technorati tags: the oklahoman, sexism, racism, political cartoon, sotomayor