The U. S. House Representative for SC District 1, who is not and never has been my representative, although I live in that district, has a peculiar view of freedom.
For example, he believes that women should not have the freedom to access contraceptive care, but that employees should have the freedom to not provide this coverage when the law requires it.
He calls it "conscience."
I call it bullshit.
When a religious institution feels comfortable taking my tax dollars, which I do not have the freedom to withhold from said groups, regardless of my conscience, the very least obligation they should have is to follow the law. If their conscience causes angst, they can refuse the federal dollars. They can also stop pretending they should be tax-exempt.
Tim Scott passionately professes his belief in "life." That, too, is bullshit. Jesus, neither Scott's nor anyone else's, would never condone automatic weapons (or war, for that matter). When innocents are getting gunned down in a classroom or a movie theater, Scott should have more important things on his "conscience" than whether or not a woman should be allowed free contraceptives.
This hypocrisy would puzzle me more if it didn't so much follow the money. The National Rifle Association has incredible power in this country, and incredibly deep pockets. So it is no surprise that when Scott "prays" on issues, gun control provokes as resounding a "no" from God as does contraception.
No disrespect to God, however. Because when Tim Scott prays, he may think he is hearing God's voice, but in fact he is hearing answers that are easy on his ears. The voice he actually hears, I believe, is that of Jim DeMint.
I have yet to hear of a vote cast by Tim Scott that he has not only agonized over, but then voted against what his hero in the Tea Party has dictated.
And so freedom, for Tim Scott, is the freedom to hear whatever voices he chooses to hear, and to vote "for life" when it is convenient, and anti-life when the NRA and Jim DeMint tell him to.
Shame on you, Tim Scott.
Showing posts with label Tax exempt status. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tax exempt status. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Tax Exempt No More?
I imagine that rather than continuing to try to fight the battle over denying the existence of sexual abuse by priests, the Catholic Church has decided to turn its -- and our -- attention to women. While they continue to keep nuns under their thumbs, denying them the same status as priests, Catholic women at large tend to be philosophical about whether it really is God telling the Pope what to do about birth control and abortion. It may simply be that the Pope and bishops just have issues with women that are interfering with messages from the Almighty.
Sadly, our right-wing politicians are all too happy to yield to the authority of this bunch of guys known as the Catholic Bishops, being guys themselves, mostly (There are always a couple of women in the crowd that are going to "stand by their man", and that is definitely true in the republican party.).
It started most notably when a bunch of guys was asked to testify on Capitol Hill in February as to whether Obamacare is hurting religious freedom by offering cost-free birth control to women. Catholics, scorned fifty years ago in politics, were proudly represented by a member of the Catholic Bishops, who, in his wisdom, testified that, by allowing women reproductive freedom, he was being denied religious freedom. Not in so many words.
Legitimatized by Congressional right wing-nuts, the Catholic Church has flaunted their wealth and power with increasingly grandiose political contributions, as with the anti-same-sex marriage support in North Carolina in May. The Mormon Church was successful in their anti-gay effort in California -- twice -- although the courts continue to find the ban unconstitutional. And it is no longer risky to preach an anti-left-wing get out the vote message at the pulpit.
So, as the wealthy Christian (and I use that term loosely) denominations step up to throw money into the political fray as they whine about losing their freedom, the theatrics can only get more incredible, the message ever more dramatic.
Hence:
Only a clip from Monty Python could improve on this message, absurdity-wise:
On the other hand, I would have a difficult time finding a comparable message, horror-wise. I can only hope that whoever paid the production company for Test of Fire: Election 2012 is planning on a full-feature extravaganza for Halloween.
And I would think that the reason the sponsors of that ghastly video are anonymous is that they realize that the Church that paid for this message no longer qualifies as tax-exempt.
Sadly, our right-wing politicians are all too happy to yield to the authority of this bunch of guys known as the Catholic Bishops, being guys themselves, mostly (There are always a couple of women in the crowd that are going to "stand by their man", and that is definitely true in the republican party.).
It started most notably when a bunch of guys was asked to testify on Capitol Hill in February as to whether Obamacare is hurting religious freedom by offering cost-free birth control to women. Catholics, scorned fifty years ago in politics, were proudly represented by a member of the Catholic Bishops, who, in his wisdom, testified that, by allowing women reproductive freedom, he was being denied religious freedom. Not in so many words.
Legitimatized by Congressional right wing-nuts, the Catholic Church has flaunted their wealth and power with increasingly grandiose political contributions, as with the anti-same-sex marriage support in North Carolina in May. The Mormon Church was successful in their anti-gay effort in California -- twice -- although the courts continue to find the ban unconstitutional. And it is no longer risky to preach an anti-left-wing get out the vote message at the pulpit.
So, as the wealthy Christian (and I use that term loosely) denominations step up to throw money into the political fray as they whine about losing their freedom, the theatrics can only get more incredible, the message ever more dramatic.
Hence:
Only a clip from Monty Python could improve on this message, absurdity-wise:
On the other hand, I would have a difficult time finding a comparable message, horror-wise. I can only hope that whoever paid the production company for Test of Fire: Election 2012 is planning on a full-feature extravaganza for Halloween.
And I would think that the reason the sponsors of that ghastly video are anonymous is that they realize that the Church that paid for this message no longer qualifies as tax-exempt.
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