Why am I Subsidizing Boner Pills?

In the wake of five men on the Supreme Court deciding that corporations, provided they are "closely held", can have religious preferences, the scene is set for some bad things to happen.

First bad thing: this is another "one-off" decision by the conservative wing of the Supreme Court to get a result that following precedent would have denied them. Just like Bush v. Gore, it is an on-the-fly decision tailored to get the result they want. The Hobby Lobby case will not apply to all corporations, and (according to the judges) not even all health care options. Just 16 different kinds of contraception for women who happen to work for "closely-held" corporations.

And yes, it's all of them. One of the arguments after the decision was that the ruling only applied to the four kinds of contraception that Hobby Lobby supporters called "abortifacents". Their use of the term, unlike actual science, is more of a pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo catch-all word wrapped up in the Shroud of Turin. It has less to do with worrying about an egg smaller than the point of a needle and more about their need to go all Helen Lovejoy:



Yes, won't somebody think of the children? Because with decisions like this, our children are going to grow up in a very fucked up society.

Second bad thing: "Closely-held" corporations are a lot more prevalent than you think. According to this piece in the Wall Street Journal, up to 90% of American companies qualify as "closely-held".

The Internal Revenue Service defines a closely held company as a corporation that has more than 50% of the value of its outstanding stock directly or indirectly owned by five or fewer individuals at any time during the last half of the tax year. It also cannot be a personal-service corporation.

Massive corporations like Mars Inc. and Cargill Inc. actually qualify as "closely-held" companies. Those two companies alone employ over 200,000 people.

Now, will all these companies follow Hobby Lobby and discriminate against women and their health-care choices? Likely not. Least of which because it makes your company look ignorant, backwards and ridiculous.

But now there is a legal stamp of approval to do something like this. It creates a constant sense of concern for women because now they could lose a part of their health care.

Third bad thing: There is no guarantee this stops here. Remember the first bad thing about conservative court members trying to limit this religious exemption? There is no guarantee that will happen. Justice Ginsberg, in a stinging dissent, made it clear that the Court had entered some very dangerous territory.

Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude.

"The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield."

And it has. Now that the Court established that a corporation can have religious beliefs, trying to tell a closely-held corporation run by Jehovah's Witnesses that they have to cover transfusions is going to be a rough sell. And in the end, I don't see how the Court could make them do it because of the Establishment Clause.

In short, because Alito, Scalia and the other three are scared of vaginas, we're going to have a Constitutional crisis sometime in the next 10 years or so over this topic. Thanks a lot, guys.

But really, I just want to know one thing...

Why am I subsidizing boner pills?

"He-Man is More Powerful than Jesus"

Now, before you start trying to save my soul or argue that Skeletor is stronger than either of them, I am not the one that said this. This quote comes from a video made in the mid-80s by Phil Phillips and Gary Greenwald that attacked the demonic, anti-Christian gateway toys, movies and cartoons such as He-Man, Dungeons and Dragons and ... The Smurfs.

Okay, I'll give them the last one. Smurfs are weird.

Greenwald was the asshat who really ramped up the "Everything kids like are full of Satan" movement in the 1980s. And the video excerpted below was his masterpiece, his Pietà of insanity, simply called Deception of a Generation.

Game pieces possessed by demonic spirits. Voltron is sexually oriented. G.I. Joe is occult-oriented. You have to watch out for those sneaky Hindus. Obi Wan Kenobi practices something called "Obi Witchcraft" (God as my witness they actually say this). And of course, the creepy creepy Smurfs are dead, gay Satan creatures.

Some things from the 80s really, really sucked. Greenwald and the other Bible-thumpers were one of those things. And while it is fun (and proper) to laugh at this bullshit, it has serious consequences for the rest of us even today.

The people who said and thought things like "They think He-Man is more powerful than Jesus" are the same knuckleheads who say "The Affordable Care act is socialism" and "Obama is like Hitler!" today. It's the same reactionary mindset that sees enemies and conspiracies around every corner and in the heart of every person that is different from them.

It's a toxic mix of self-righteousness, fear and stupidity that never questions itself, never wonders if they have it right. They see something different...and it's bad. Or possessed by Satan. Or Stalin brought back to life.

Yeah, Greenwald is a doofus with a bad haircut. But he set the table for people like Glenn Beck and the Tea Party. And it's why we can't get anything done in this country today.

Now THIS Is A Pope!

A criticism of the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God (aka The Pope) in recent years was that the focus of the Roman Catholic Church was on things like decrying condoms, chastising homosexuals and turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of young boys. That criticism was accurate and deserved.

But with the arrival of Pope Francis, there is a sense of reform in the Church that really hasn't been seen since the short, short reign of Pope John Paul I. Francis has turned the focus of the Church to ministering to the sick and poor. While the Church still opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, Francis has de-emphasized that as a focus of the Church

“We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel," Francis said in the interview.

"The church has sometimes locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules,' Francis said. "The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials."

He also has attacked the dogmatic, ideologue approach to faith:

"If one has the answers to all the questions - that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble."

And now he is going after Wealth in the Church. There has always been a stark contrast between the son of a carpenter and the opulence of the Church that claims to speak for him. But it appears that Pope Francis isn't going to stand for that.

The Vatican has suspended a senior German Church leader dubbed the "bishop of bling" by the media over his alleged lavish spending.

Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst is accused of spending more than 31m euros (£26m; $42m) on renovating his official residence.

The Vatican said it deemed "appropriate... a period of leave from the diocese" for the bishop.

The suspension comes two days after he met the Pope to discuss the matter.

I am an Episcopalian, so I have fundamental differences with the Catholic Church in issues of theology. I don't believe one man speaks for God, for example. But the Pope's influence is unquestionable. If he is preaching a message of humbleness and service, if he is going after ostentatious displays of wealth...then that is a good thing regardless of whether you believe he is the Vicar of Christ or not.

Lesus Wept

Did you ever have a day where things just didn't go right? Many mistakes were made, many feelings trampled upon? Just a real crapbag of a day?

Well cheer up! At least you aren't the guy at the Vatican who spelled "Jesus" incorrectly.

The Vatican has been forced to withdraw commemorative medals commissioned to celebrate Pope Francis’ first year after misspelling Jesus.

The coins, created by the Italian State Mint, had the Pope’s official motto printed around the side, but referred to Jesus as Lesus.

Around four were sold before the mistake on the 6000 bronze, silver and gold medallions was pointed out.

The Independent (UK)

So at least you aren't this guy, who couldn't even spell the name of the person the entire Roman Catholic faith is founded upon.