Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Distract, Distract, Distract

Whenever local pols start to do the stoopid, we tend to dig in a little bit more to try to find out exactly what it might be that these same pols are trying to distract us all from seeing.

These pols seem to know that if they can somehow make people frightened about something, then their constituents will re-direct their growing frustrations onto the scary/evil something the pols just invented.

Works like a charm, right? The last thing we all want to hear about is how poor we've gotten over the last several years.

The cumulative impact of the economic policies pursued by the Bush administration over the course of the last 8 years on North Carolina is staggering. In Wilkes County, according to a report by the North Carolina Justice Center, the poverty rate now stands at 25.2%. Fully ONE QUARTER of the population of Wilkes County now lives in poverty.

That is not a recession, it is a depression. And it's brutal.

What do we hear about this shocking news from the elected ones? Nothing. We hear nothing.

How about the "local" media? Gobluridge.net recently offered up these Pulitzer-worthy Wilkes County articles:

Haunted Wilkes Paranormal Conference Begins Tomorrow

929 Gallons of White Lightning Found in Wilkesboro

Motor Racing Network to Broadcast Live from Wilkes

Man Leasing North Wilkesboro Speedway Arrested

Looks like we can't count on the "local" media to call it straight either. Two peas in a pod.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The C Street Widening Project

Heath Shuler is a Stupak:

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Oppressed Minority

As holy activities in the High Country wind down for the day, we thought we'd quiz you. Who said this? We'll tell you at the end of the post.
"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."
Hint: He also said this:
The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama said was a major victory for America. I’m not sure if America was the beneficiary. [...] We have voted into office a group of people who are opposed to many of the fundamental Christian beliefs of our nation.
Yes, in this country we are somehow supposed to believe that Christians are "oppressed". An oppressed minority in need of protection, even. The fact that that protection already exists seems not to matter, from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Under Title VII:

  • Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices - except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices.
  • Employees cannot be forced to participate -- or not participate -- in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
  • Employers must reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices by allowing: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.
  • An employer is not required to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employers' legitimate business interests. An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees' job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated employee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
  • Employers must permit employees to engage in religious expression, unless the religious expression would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Generally, an employer may not place more restrictions on religious expression than on other forms of expression that have a comparable effect on workplace efficiency.
  • Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees. An employer can reduce the chance that employees will engage unlawful religious harassment by implementing an anti-harassment policy and having an effective procedure for reporting, investigating and correcting harassing conduct.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on religion or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

Looks like those evil, "special rights", librul laws protect Christians, too.

The viewpoints and stories of the truly oppressed are NEVER heard. The for-profit media world in which we live considers their viewpoints to be irrelevant, or worse--unprofitable. So, look around the dial in the High Country, and witness the oppression of the poor Christians in action:

There are at least nine radio stations used by the oppressed Christian minority to lament their plight. What a pity. Depending on where you live in the High Country, the oppressed Christians can be heard on up to nineteen radio stations.

Oh, the oppression! It hurts so bad!

The person quoted above? Pat Robertson.