Why The Salvation Army Doesn't Deserve Your Support

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Every holiday season, people open their hearts and wallets for family, friends, and charities alike. Unfortunately, some large organizations who regularly solicit for money are often using funds for political motives or ‘overhead’ costs.

Everyone knows the Salvation Army. Whether it’s the secondhand goods at their thrift stores or their collection kettles outside department stores, the Salvation Army is ubiquitous to the holiday season.
However, the Salvation Army’s virulent opposition to gay rights both in public and through persistent legislative lobbying raises the question how donations intended for the needy are being spent. Many people forget that the Salvation Army is in fact an Evangelical church, and as such, it tends to have a hard-right social agenda.

In fact, the Salvation Army goes so far as to say gay people shouldn’t be having sex. You can find this nugget on their website: “Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life.”

Starting at the beginning of George W. Bush’s presidency in 2001, the Salvation Army began lobbying for an exemption to equal labor practices for government-funded faith-based organizations. Why? Because the Salvation Army wanted to continue to discriminate against gays and prevent them from being hired.

In 2004, the Salvation Army threatened to close all its soup kitchens in the New York City area—which would have ended $250 million worth of contracts with the city—if they were forced to offer benefits to same-sex couples. This move would have lost the Salvation Army around $70 million in direct funding from the city and endangered the lives of several thousand people reliant on the Salvation Army.

Was this supposed to be a principled stand? All the homeless people receiving care from the Salvation Army would be turned out on the street. What would have motivated The Salvation Army to make such a callous move? They said that, by offering benefits to same sex couples, they’d be supporting HIV/AIDS because HIV/AIDS is only the product of homosexual intercourse.

AIDS? How does AIDS factor in? Oh yeah, I forgot! Gay people don’t suffer from non-gay sex related maladies. If a same sex couple needs health benefits, it must be from all that AIDS they’re spreading around. Is there any way to construe this as anything but bigotry?

There’s still more, too. The Salvation Army has repeatedly rallied against anti-discrimination laws involving hiring of homosexual employees. They’ve even tried to block a repeal of sodomy laws in New Zealand. And in Canada a few days ago, the Salvation Army turned down donations of Harry Potter and Twilight toys. The occult connotations of these toys, supposedly, is out of line with their Christian teachings. Harry Potter is Satanic? That’s a rather old-hat Evangelical argument, isn’t it?

Is this the kind of charity you want to be donating to? More importantly, is this a charity that should be receiving government funding? Sure, the Salvation Army does some noble things. Using charity money and government funding to further an anti-gay, Evangelical agenda is not one of them.

The Salvation Army’s tremendous size and omnipresence may provide the illusion of moral rectitude. Sadly, that just isn’t the case. There are plenty of wonderful charities out there without hidden political agendas worth donating to instead of the Salvation Army. Check out websites such as Charity Navigator to look for charitable organizations that will spend your money on the causes they support, not political muckery.

Book Thrown At President Obama

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During his "Moving America Forward" rally, President Obama narrowly dodged what could have been a very serious presidential security incident.

While President Obama was closing his speech, an attending author threw his paperback book at the back of the president, who just missed the projectile.

There is no doubt that this was a publicity move. When the secret service spoke to the man, he told them that he was a "staunch Obama supporter", and only "wanted the president to have a copy of his book".

The man was released without any of the publicity he had tried to attain. Neither his name nor the name of his book has been released by the secret service.

This story wasn't picked up by any of the major US media outlets, although the UK was quick to pick up on the flying book.

You can see the book sail past President Obama's head in the video below:



Between President Obama's ability to catch a fly out of thin air, dodge bullets, and the recent spotting of him using a light saber, I think it's safe to say that he's a jedi...

Now if only he could use the Jedi mind trick on the Republicans in Congress...

White House To Install Solar Panels

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From 350.org

Dear Friends,

Just in time to give this weekend's 350.org Global Work Party a White House-sized boost, the Obama administration announced this morning that they are going to put solar panels on the First Family's living quarters, returning to a tradition begun by president Jimmy Carter and abandoned by Ronald Reagan.

It's a great win for our efforts over the last months--everyone who wrote letters, signed petitions for 350's "Put Solar On It" campaign, and turned out for the Solar Road Trip as 350.org rolled down the east coast from Unity College towing one of the original Carter panels. They were disappointed that day that the White House wasn't prepared to go solar, but are now very happy and honored that the White House took their suggestion to look into the matter seriously.

Solar panels on one house, even this house, won't save the climate, of course. But they're a powerful symbol to the whole nation about where the future lies. And President Obama will wake up every morning and make his toast by the power of the sun (do presidents make toast?), which will be a constant reminder to be pushing the U.S. Congress for the kind of comprehensive reform we need.

And remember, President Obama's not alone: tomorrow, Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed and a crew from Sungevity will be putting solar panels on the Muliaa'ge, the "White House of the Maldives". It's a trend!

Of course, both of these initiatives are perfectly timed to lead into this weekend's Global Work Party, when 6127 carbon-cutting events (and rising) will take place in 187 countries. If you haven't already gotten involved, now is most definitely the time to join an event near you--or register your own. See this post for more info on the Global Work Party and how to join an event.

The first account of the news from the White House, from Associated Press reporter Dina Cappiello, noted the efforts of 350.org to make this happen

This victory reminds us of why, when the day is done, we'll be putting down our hammers and our shovels and picking up our cellphones to call our leaders.

You never know what will happen when you ask for change.

Onwards!

10/10/10 Global Work Party

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As you may recall, 350.org hosted the "International Day Of Climate Action" last year on the 24th of October. It boasted a total of 5,248 events in over 180 countries, and was garnered as a huge success. CNN called it the "most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." View the montage of countries in this video released by 350.

350 is hosting another international event this year, the Global Work Party. It'll be on 10/10/10, and is open to anyone who wants to participate.

Experts are saying that after the failed talks in Copenhagen, people are losing hope for this years event.

It would, however, seem as if the "experts" were wrong. The movement is even more energized than it was last year, with more than 5,500 events taking place in all but 12 countries on Earth. Yeah, that's almost EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY ON EARTH, and there's still time left for missing countries to register.

When we see our leaders failing, we want to show them how it's done. We want to get to work.

From the 350 website:

"It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

We’re calling it a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both 'work' and 'party'. In Auckland, New Zealand, they’re having a giant bike fix-up day, to get every bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they’re putting up solar panels on the President’s office. In Kampala, Uganda, they're going to plant thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they’re installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic.

Since we've already worked hard to call, email, petition, and protest to get politicians to move, and they haven't moved fast enough,  now it's time to show that we really do have the tools we need to get serious about the climate crisis.

On 10/10/10 we'll show that we the people can do this--but we need bold energy policies from our political leaders to do it on a scale that truly matters. The goal of the day is not to solve the climate crisis one project at a time, but to send a pointed political message: if we can get to work, you can get to work too--on the legislation and the treaties that will make all our work easier in the long run."

With nine days left, there is still time to register an event.

Click Here to register a new event.

Click Here to view events near you. The left hand side of this page will show a map centered on Middletown, NY. The orange dots on the map indicate events. To the right of the screen is a list of these events. Above the list is a search box for you to type your own location, if it differs from Middletown or the surrounding area.

 

Assistant Michigan AG's Blatant Homophobia

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For nearly six months now, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been slandering a young man because of his sexual orientation.

Chris Armstrong, recently elected president of the University of Michigan's Student Government, has been the sole recipient of Shirvell's hate. Shirvell created the blog "Chris Armstrong Watch" in April and has created close to 30 articles so far.

"Welcome to ‘Chris Armstrong Watch,’” Shirvell wrote in his inaugural blog post. “This is a site for concerned University of Michigan alumni, students, and others who oppose the recent election of Chris Armstrong – a RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST, RACIST, ELITIST, & LIAR – as the new head of student government.”

Attached to that post was this picture:

To actually be so blinded by your own hatred that you can call someone a Nazi just because of their sexuality proves how immature this insane man is. This is an opinion not only shared by me, but by the Attorney General of Michigan as well:

"Mr. Shirvell's personal opinions are his and his alone and do not reflect the views of the Michigan Department of Attorney General,” Cox said in the written statement provided by his office. “But his immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear."

When attempting to view the blog, I received a message stating that "This blog is open to invited readers only. Permission Denied." Apparently, Shirvell has decided to lock out anyone that isn't specifically invited by himself.

I was able, however, to get cached pages. (A "Cached" page is a link that appears in the Google search results. By clicking on this link, you will get a version of the web page that Google saw when they visited. Google typically saves a version of the website when indexing.):


Welcome to Chris Armstrong Watch - Shirvell's first blog post.

Home Page - Includes a short sampling of recent articles.

Permission Denied Page - This is the actual address of the blog. Notice that you don't have permission to view.


Shirvell also told the local news station that his online postings were justified not because Armstrong is openly gay but because Armstrong is “somebody that’s there to promote special rights for homosexuals at the cost of, you know, heterosexual students.”

First of all, they aren't fighting for special rights; they are fighting for equal rights. And apparently they are right in thinking that they don't yet have equal rights, just look at this blabbering idiot.

Watch Shirvell being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN below:






 

The Bush Survival Bible

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"We are worried about you. Yes, you--you with the ashen face, pale lips, and expression of dazed horror. Although many of you may try, you can't really do anything about [Bush's victory in 2004]. But you can do something about your post-election stress disorder. [Included in this book is] more than 250 ways to help you get through the next four years."
                                      -Gene Stone

 The book "The Bush Survival Bible" was originally created to help people cope with the excruciating pain that most (sane) citizens experienced when they heard that Bush won the 2004 elections. Although we are past that blemish in America's history, we can still look back and have a nice laugh. Well not really, but what else are we gonna do about it? The book is packed with jokes poking fun at Bush and the Bush Administration, and I felt that you would really enjoy some of these jokes. Hopefully I don't get sued for copyright infringement. (To try to sway that from happening, here is the link to view the book on Amazon. All credit goes to the author.)

"Bushisms"

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dreams." -George Bush

"Al Gore is a very tough opponent. He is the incumbent. He represents the incumbency. And a challenger is somebody who generally comes from the pack and wins, if you're going to win. And that's where I'm coming from." -George Bush

 "Our priorities is our faith" -George Bush

"In my judgment, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences." -George Bush

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -George Bush

"I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating." -George Bush

Click Here to show more Bushisms.

"I think we agree, the past is over: -George Bush

"The woman who knew that I had dyslexia-I never interviewed her." -George Bush

"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids, upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like." -George Bush

"Let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to not be right doesn't mean you're willing to kill." -George Bush

 "Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace." -George Bush

"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." -George Bush

 "Too many docs are getting out of the business. Too many ob-gyns aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country." -George Bush

"I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'." -George Bush

Hide these Bushisms.

Bush Jokes

At a party a man came up to Texas governor George W. Bush and said, "Have you heard the latest George W. Bush joke?".
Governor Bush said, "I'm George W. Bush".
The man said, "Oh, I'll tell it slowly.".

---

George W. Bush is out jogging one morning and notices a little boy on the corner with a box. Curious, he runs over to the child and says, "What's in the box, kid?"
The little boy says, "Kittens! They're brand-new kittens."
George W. laughs and says, "What kind of kittens are they?"
"Republicans," the child says.
"Oh, that's cute," George W. says, and he runs off.
A few days later George is running with his buddy Dick and he spies the same boy with his box just ahead. They both jog over to him.
George W. says, "Look in the box, Dick, isn't that cute? Look at those little kittens. Hey, kid, tell my friend Dick what kind of kittens they are."
The boy replies, "They're Democrats."
"Whoa!" George W. says, "I came by the other day and you said they were Republicans. What's up?"
"Well," the kid says, "their eyes are open now."

---

As Governor, Bush got to ceremonially act as a state trooper for a day. While operating a speed trap, Bush pulled over a Texas farmer. He lectured the farmer about his speed and the necessity of obeying laws made by his superiors, and in general threw his weight around. Finally, he got around to writing the ticket, and as he was doing so he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.
The farmer said, "Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya, sir?"
Bush stopped writing the ticket and said,"Well, yeah, if that's what they are--I never heard of circle flies."
So the farmer said, "Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they're called circle flies because they're almost always found circling around the back end of horses."
Bush said,"Oh", and went back to writing the ticket. After a minute he stopped and slowly said, "Hey . . . Wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse's ass?"
The farmer says,"Oh no, Governor, I have too much respect for you to even think of calling you a horse's ass."
Grinning broadly, Bush says, "Well, that's a good thing," and goes back to writing the ticket. After a long pause, the farmer says, "Hard to fool them flies, though."

---

PolitiFact's "Obameter"

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Well, I'm back (for now) from hiatus. I've just been too busy with school and all to really keep up with the blog, and I felt that if I wasn't going to be putting 100% into my posts that I should just give it a rest.

I've got a real find for you today. It's a website called PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times to "help you find the truth in American politics". Reporters and editors from the Times fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on their self proclaimed "Truth-O-Meter".

The thing that caught my attention, however, was their "Obameter". They've recorder each and every promise that President Obama made on the campaign trail in 2008 and are actively labeling each promise as either Kept, Compromised, Broken, Stalled, or In The Works. The list below shows current standings as of September 28th, 2010.

• Promises Kept 122

• Compromised 39

• Promises Broken 22

• Stalled 82

• In the Works 238

Notice that you can click each label and view exactly what promises fall into that category. For an up-to-date overview of the promises, view the Obameter directly.

The most notable promises kept? Most likely that would have to be requiring children to have health insurance coverage; or perhaps the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Most notable promises broken? Well there weren't many, but ending income tax for seniors making less than $50,000 a year would have been a sight to see. Perhaps allowing imported prescription drugs?

I really think that if these figures were to be made more public, Democrats would have a much better chance of winning this November. It seems like people somehow forgot, or didn't notice, all the promises President Obama kept. 

Get this information public!