AMERICAN ANGST

Polls have been bewildering lately, showing one candidate up, then down, then up again in a whirlwind of data. The polls I found most upsetting were the ones showing that women are splitting their vote over the candidates for president.

A reminder is called for.

Republican Representative Paul Broun Jr. of Georgia introduced H.R. 212 in January 2011 called The Sanctity of Human Life Act; "To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization."

Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas introduced H.R. 1096 in March 2011 called the Sanctity of Life Act 2011; "To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception, and for other purposes."

Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi introduced S. 91 in January 2011 called the Life at Conception Act; "A bill to implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and unborn human person."

Republican Representative Duncan Hunter of California introduced H.R. 374 in January 2011 also called the Life at Conception Act; "To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person."

Republican Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska introduced S. 314 in February 2011 called the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2011; "A bill to ensure that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child."

Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced S. 2103 in February 2012 called the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act; "A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to protect pain-capable unborn children in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes."

Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio introduced H.R. 3805 in January 2012 called the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act; "To ensure that women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and the opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion."

Republican Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota introduced H.R. 3130 in October 2011 called the Heartbeat Informed Consent Act; "To ensure that women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and an opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion."

Republican Representative Jeff Duncan of South Carolina introduced H.R. 3802 in January 2012 called the National Pro-Life Waiting Period Act of 2012; "To require an abortion provider, before performing an abortion, to wait for a period of at least 24 hours."

Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana introduced S. 3290 in June 2012 called the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) of 2012; "A bill to prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or gender, and for other purposes."

Republican Representative Bill Huizenga of Michigan introduced H.R. 5646 in May 2012 called the Homeland Security Respect for Life Act; "To prohibit funds appropriated for the Department of Homeland Security from being used to pay for an abortion, and for other purposes."

Republican Representative Randy Neugebauer of Texas introduced H.R. 6173 in July 2012 called the Pro-Life Act; "To amend the General Education Provisions Act to prohibit Federal education funding for elementary schools and secondary schools that provide on-campus access to abortion providers."

Republican Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey introduced H.R. 3 in January 2011 called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act; "To prohibit taxpayer funded abortions and to provide for conscience protections, and for other purposes."

Apparently fifty percent of women in the country our good with this.

In Arkansas, a gentleman running for the state Representative job thinks children should be put to death for misbehaving. Charlie Fuqua quote:

"The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellious children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21."

"This passage does not give parents blanket authority to kill their children. They must follow the proper procedure in order to have the death penalty executed against their children. I cannot think of one instance in the Scripture where parents had their child put to death. Why is this so? Other than the love Christ has for us, there is no greater love then [sic] that of a parent for their child … Even though this procedure would rarely be used, if it were the law of land, it would give parents authority. Children would know that their parents had authority and it would be a tremendous incentive for children to give proper respect to their parents."

He also thinks liberals and muslims are teaming up because both hate christianity.

GOD'S GREATEST

Reverend Stoney Shaw weighs in on legitimate rape Akin:

"Some of my family was -- my children: Dad, you're not going to support him, are you? Everybody is turning against him. I said, well, there was another guy that everybody turned against, Jesus Christ. But he prevailed."

Akin and Jesus, apparently both incredibly lame.

Terry Jones, the pastor known for his desire to burn as many Korans as it will take to inflame muslims around the world was barred from entering Canada. Though Jones' allies are crying freedom of speech, we all know the real reason. Canada wants nothing to do with his hate speech. Canada is not the only country that wants nothing to do with the hate monger, Germany and the United Kingdom want nothing to do with the gentleman as well. Free speech is something we should protect in this country, but we cannot impose are view on other countries, just as they cannot stop our expressions here.

I'm all for free speech, I'll be in Florida in a couple of months, anyone want to join me in a little bible burning in the pastor's backyard?

As those who have been watching are aware, "religious freedom" is a buzzword being thrown around by those who wish to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. The Affordable Care Act is being attacked by those who think their beliefs are being challenged by the state. So far these attacks have come mostly from the Catholic hierarchy, but now it appears that private enterprise is using the same tactics. O'Brien Industrial Holdings out of Missouri is suing the Feds for the same reason, religious freedom. Even though a private company, and that employees pay for their health insurance, the company doesn't want their female employees to have access to paid birth control. 

National Organization for Marriage religious liaison William Owen's recently stated that not only is Obama not a christian, but the entire democratic party is a demonic entity. I like, keep up the crazy and atheism will be the default status of the country.

Free speech under attack by the usual culprits. In Britain thousands of muslims are protesting Google for allowing The Innocents of Muslims to remain on youtube. They would like to see protests against Google across the world and the organizer actually believes that "this insult to mohammed will not be allowed." Anyone want to volunteer to give him the bad news?

I think the perceived insults should not only remain, but that all religions should be taken to task for the incredulous and harmful claims they make.

EDUCATION ENEMIES

Normally I would point out where religion is trying to insert its ideology into the American secular public school system, but that seems to be minor this week when considering the horror that is the taliban.

Last Tuesday a Pakistani young lady, Malala Yousefzai, was shot while on a school bus that should have taken her home. Malala has been an outspoken advocate of education for girls and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize last year.

The taliban decided her work was obscene.

Malala was shot once in the head and once in the body, and is now in Britain for rehabilitation and surgery.

The taliban has been, and still is, a repressive regime when the subject centers on women and education. Arguments are made by muslims that islam promotes education for all as a duty and that the taliban lack of concern for women is not an islamic value.

The usual debate between progressive and conservative theists seems to be the same around the world. 

In 2009 Mala started writing a blog about life under the taliban regime, interesting reading that describes a world that is unfathomable by western standards. I'm surprised that fundamentalists have not been driven from civilization wherever they make home, including the U.S.

Religion is the enemy of education in every country, city and town that this planet nurtures.