This might be old news, but it has begun to circulate through the blogosphere, and so I am going to post it anyway.
In 2005, voters in Texas approved a constitutional amendment that “bans” same-sex marriage and civil unions. The text of the amendment (my emphasis):
Section 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.
Banning marriage just shows that opposition to same-sex marriage is not really about the sanctity of marriage.
On the other hand, someone at the Language Log thinks that there is a way to dodge this reading.
On Today’s Oprah Winfrey Show, Sarah Palin announced that she probably won’t be running for president of the United States in 2012. She said that running for presidency was “[N]ot on my radar screen right now.” However, she also said that she was uncertain of what she would be doing in 2012, which perhaps leaves the door open for her to run as the presidency may get back on her radar screen sometime in the future.
Creationist organization Answers in Genesis makes a “moral dilemma” where one shouldn’t be (via Pharyngula). The “dilemma” is whether it is permissible to lie in certain situations. The specific example used is lying to Nazi soldiers who are asking where a family of Jews is hiding.
I think the resolution is obvious: lie or if you can, say nothing. I’m pretty sure that almost everyone would agree that in this situation, it is better to lie than to allow people to die (whether you justify this through deontology, utilitarianism, or virtue ethics is up to you.)
However, in a stunning example of why moral absolutism is not the way to go, Answers in Genesis says you should be truthful. They even back it up with Bible verses. I doubt there is a better recent example than this of why the Bible should not be used to resolve moral dilemmas.
Months ago, I did a post quoting an unusual question from a textbook used in an accounting course I was taking. Now someone has come here using the following search term (quoted verbatim):
arantxa corporation made the following cash purchases of investments during 2008, the first year in which arantxa invested in equity securities:
In case that person is searching for an easy answer, please stop. Do the question yourself. Looking for the answer in blogs seems an awful lot like cheating to me. Besides being unethical, plagiarism and cheating are bad because they prevent you from really fulfilling the purpose of your education and prevent you from getting knowledge and a full understanding of the subject matter. So don’t plagiarize or cheat, please; you’re only hurting yourself, even if you don’t get caught.
I got the H1N1 flu shot earlier today. As you can see, I am clearly still alive. There is nothing to worry about. So don’t risk dying from the pandemic.
Moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her campaign in the special election to New York’s 23rd Congressional District, (h/t to AmericaBlog). Although I cannot predict who will win the election in this GOP-leaning district and what the winner will act like, rest assured that if some appeals to, and is pandering to, teabaggers, it is pretty likely that they will act like and have the same positions as a teabagger. I think this is bad news because when the teabaggers take over, compromise is crushed.
Extremists on both sides of the political spectrum are bad because it is difficult to get them to compromise. Compromise is good because it prevents the foolish excesses of both the left and right. I know, it’s frustrating to not always get what you want, but while ideologies create the ideas and initiatives, it is moderates who actually put them into practice, regardless of which side they are from. Extremists are unable to do that. Consider the case of California, where due to gerrymandering, incumbents on both sides have a 99% reelection rate. If elections are not competitive, there is no need for candidates to hold moderate positions and attract the votes of centrists, and hence nearly everyone in the California Legislature is an extremist. What does that bring? Budget crises because no one is willing to cooperate instead of compete.
Scozzafava would probably have been a reasonable conservative. She was pro-choice and supported marriage equality. She would have been a necessary “Let’s go slow” counterweight to left-wingers. But her withdrawal, that will not happen. Instead, the wingnuts and teabaggers will likely be energized and will try to take down the remaining GOP moderates.
And that is another step on a dangerous downward spiral.
Update:Look at all the wingnuts who supported Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party’s candidate: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Concerned Women of America, James Dobson, Michele Bachman, the Eagle Forum; a who’s who of what’s wrong with the Republican Party. Yikes!
