This just in--Catholic Church not anti-gay

On “Meet the Press” David Gregory asked Cardinal Dolan about the Church’s stand on gays.  I’ll quote the entire first paragraph of an article in today’s New York Times entitled “In Interview, Dolan Says Church is ‘Caricatured’ as Anti-Gay.”

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said on Friday that the Roman Catholic Church was being “caricatured’ as being anti-gay,” even as he lamented the continued expansion of same-sex marriage in the United States and vowed to keep fighting it.

That is beyond irony.

The N.R.A. can kiss the butt of my 16-guage shotgun

On November 20 I wrote about the early December expiration of the law banning plastic guns and speculated on the N.R.A.’s position on extending that law.  I will now explain why the N.R.A. is so powerful, even though many of its policies are opposed by an overwhelmingly majority of Americans.

It all has to do with the concept of “intensity.”  In public opinion studies intensity is the term given to how strongly people feel about a particular issue.  The first thing to realize is that a small portion of the public is not even aware of many issues.  How many people can tell you much about milk price supports, or nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain, or the Citizens United decision, or the Delaware loophole?  On that type of issue small groups with good lobbyists and some targeted campaign contributions can exert disproportionate influence.  They have “intensity,” while the rest of the public couldn’t care less.

On some issues, of course, intense groups exist on both sides of the issue.  Anti-abortion groups are somewhat balanced by people who feel strongly that abortion should be a matter between a woman and her doctor.  As long as there is a large cushion of people in the middle of an issue, democracy can handle that kind of intensity. 
When the country becomes too polarized, however, democracy breaks down.  (30% think slavery is necessary, 20% doesn’t care, and 50% thinks slavery is an evil to be ended--well, you know what happened in 1861.)

Now let’s look at the N.R.A.  Most people think you should have background checks for anyone purchasing an assault rifle.  They think assault rifle owners should register their firearms.  They don’t understand why assault rifles, which you can’t use to hunt anything except people, should even be allowed.

But they don’t feel any intensity.  They don’t have any equivalent bumper stickers to counter “The only way you’ll take my gun is from my cold dead fingers” or “Gun control is sighting with both hands.”  

N.R.A. members write letters.  They vote on one issue only.  They give money for campaign contributions.  They are vocal.  They are intense.  And they win.

As an opponent of the N.R.A., I have also become intense.  When some N.R.A. member tells me Obama wants to take his guns, I’m going to tell him he is an ass who is playing into the hands of arms manufacturers.  When somebody tells me about the 2nd amendment, I will point out the words “well regulated.”  And I will note that I, too, have a shotgun, and I, too, know how to use it.  I’m really getting tired of the crap pedaled by the N.R.A.

Quest for the New York Times

Every day I drive four miles to the Kresgeville Deli for my New York Times.  Last Sunday  the Deli didn’t get its normal delivery.  There’s some problem with the distributor.  That meant a 14-mile trip to Jim Thorpe, where Dugan’s on Broadway had a copy.  On Monday I was able to buy one at the Sunoco station on Delaware in Palmerton.  On Tuesday it was back to Dugan’s.  Today no one--Deli, Dugan’s or Sunoco--had a copy.

At this point most readers will be shouting, “You can get it on line.”  And I did.  It’s not the same.

First of all, the on-line edition does not have all the news the paper has.  Secondly, you have to hunt for stuff.  You have to click on the article.  You can’t just turn the page and scan headlines.  Third, there’s all kinds of distracting crap along the margins.  Finally, Linda and I like to work the crossword puzzle during lunch.  That won’t work on the screen.

If my various outlets don’t have copies by Friday, I’m driving to Manhattan and raising some hell.

Note:  Under the terms of the Bloggers’ contract, I get Thanksgiving off.  I’ll be back Friday.  In the meantime, have a nice Thanksgiving.

Black Thursday

Suppose there was a country where people cared more about each other than about saving a dollar or two.  Suppose in that country shoppers were disgusted that stores like Lowes and Wal-Mart stayed open on a holiday traditionally centered around family activities, denying their employees Thanksgiving with their loved ones.  And suppose those shoppers boycotted those stores that stayed open to teach them a lesson about just what was important.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that country is the United States.

Wyoming and Texas

In continuing with my comparison of states (last night it was liberal Minnesota and right- wing Wisconsin), tonight I will discuss Texas and Wyoming.  

Wyoming is not a blue state.  In some counties it is difficult to find a registered Democrat.  The license plate has a cowboy on a bucking horse, and, for all I know, gun ownership is mandatory.  Nonetheless, Wyoming way ahead of Pennsylvania in its fracking regulations.

In 2010 Wyoming became the first state to require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking.  A Times article on Nov. 23 (“Strong Rules on Fracking in Wyoming Seen as Model” by Kate Galbraith) quoted Republican Governor Matthew Mead as saying, “I am not going to accept the question of do you want a clean environment or do you want energy.  The fact is that in Wyoming, we want and need both.”

Get this.  A newly adopted water rule will require oil and gas companies to test wells or springs within a half mile of a drilling site, before and after drilling.  The tests will measure such items as bacteria, dissolved gasses like methane, and 20 chemical compounds.  Drilling companies must also monitor air pollution at drilling sites.  Wow.

And now Texas.  Members of the textbook review panel that looks at science books is concerned that the Genesis version of creation is slighted.  You know, the one that says a god created the world in six days, which evidently tired him out so much he had to rest on the seventh day.  I believe in this version fossils were put down by the devil (evidently also created by god) to confuse us.

Lordy, Lordy.

Minnesota v.Wisconsin

Don’t you love it when reality conforms to your expectations.  An article in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times compared the economic performance of Minnesota and Wisconsin.  

Wisconsin, as you probably know, elected the right-wing anti-union tax-cutting governor Scott Walker and a Republican legislature to do his bidding.  Minnesota, on the other hand, elected liberal Gov. Dayton and a Democratic legislature.  Minnesota raised taxes on the top 1%.

Wisconsin is now behind Minnesota in job growth.  Minnesota put money into schools; Wisconsin cut state funding to education.  Minnesota expanded Medicaid, Wisconsin refused, and many of its poor lack health insurance.  Minnesota is doing well economically; Wisconsin, not so much.

Bottom line:  liberal polices created jobs, expanded health care, and created a good business climate.  Right-wing ideology in Wisconsin excited the Tea Party but wrecked the state.  

By the way, Gov. Walker is now contemplating a run for the presidency.  His campaign slogan is “Let’s screw up the country the way we screwed up Wisconsin.”

Dallas Buyers' Club

My friend Jeremy stopped by today to teach me how to add pics to my postings.  He asked me how I decided what to write about, and I told him I usually didn’t decide until fairly late in the evening.  

Tonight, for example, I could have written about:

1.  how poaching for aphrodisiacs is depleting an already small stock of rhinos (listen, you impotent guys, one word--Viagra); 

2.  how the N.S.A. was planning to tap even more emails and calls;

3.  the visit by a Pakistani to various members of Congress to get answers about why his innocent relatives were killed in a drone strike;

4.  an article in the latest Nation about the progressive victories in the November elections;

5.  an article in Lancaster Farming about how big agribusiness is trying to pass a law that would override state laws on  caged chickens.  (I have a personal interest in that one--my chickens are NOT kept in cages.)

Instead, I’ve decided to write about the “Dallas Buyers’ Club,” a movie about the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and early 90s, before we were sure how the disease actually worked and what drugs might be helpful in alleviating the disease.  Linda and I saw it tonight at the Pocono Theater in Stroudsburg.

I had a Poly Sci major who had AIDS in the early years of the disease.  He sat in the back of the classroom away from other students. I made it a point to shake his hand, but I think he was afraid that other students might be reluctant to sit near him.  Now people with AIDS live long lives, but at that time the diagnosis was a death sentence.  He died a semester before he would have graduated.  San Jose State, to its credit, awarded him his B.A. posthumously.  

I don’t think you will “enjoy” the “Dallas Buyers’ Club,” but I think you will benefit from seeing it.