On Bob McDonnell, 'Strife has formed a core of their joint defense.' Bob McDonnell and his wife of 38 years insisted throughout the trial that their marriage was crumbling and in such a state that they barely spoke enough to be able to conspire to sell the influence of the governor's office to a dietary supplement executive in exchange for $177,000 in loads and luxury gifts. The trial was long and contentious.
The details of the story are convoluted. In my brief and superficial summary I see a marriage which slowly failed in sacrifice to promote a political career. Mrs. McDonnell dutifully raised the children while the ambitious Mr. McDonnell rose in political rank. The diet-supplement king enters the picture and captivates Mrs. McDonnell. She accepts his friendship and all the material and monetary accessories that accompany it. Mr. McDonnell sees it but believes no harm nor violations of law are occurring, so he lets it continue. Justice prevails in the end. But $177,000 and a political career? Doesn't seem worth the gamble in the first place.
Yes, it's easy for me to sit here and analyze at a distance from it all, but sad is my overwhelming reaction to it all.
OHO's
"Ocean City Ditty," the
CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if
you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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. . . developed by short-sighted narrow-minded conservatives and adapted by, among others, Marco Rubio . . .
(from http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/marco-rubio-gay-marriage-debate-109300.html)
" . . . Marco Rubio jumped head first into the culture wars on Wednesday to blast what he sees as “growing intolerance” against those who oppose same-sex marriage. In a speech on family values at the Catholic University of America in Washington, Rubio lamented the backlash that companies like Chick fil A and Mozilla often face when their executives express public support for keeping marriage between a man and woman. He said that supporting that definition doesn’t make someone “anti-gay” but rather “pro-traditional marriage.”
“There is a growing intolerance on this issue, intolerance of those who continue to support traditional marriage,” the Florida Republican senator and potential 2016 presidential contender told a standing-room only crowd. “Even before this speech is over, I’ll be attacked as a hater or bigot. Or someone who’s anti-gay. This intolerance in the name of tolerance is hypocrisy. Supporting the definition of marriage as one man and one woman, is not anti-gay. It is pro-traditional marriage.” . . ."
OHO's
"Ocean City Ditty," the
CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if
you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)
My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our
fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a
marriage'" says Chick-Fil-A's Dan Cathy.
First, what God and what judgement are we talking about here? Second, where or in what direction would a fool shake his fist in order to express this silly sentiment? Third, this imaginary being to whom he is expressing this anger actually holds an opinion about what the word 'marriage' represents which holds WHAT relevance?
It's only a matter of time before opinions like Cathy's will be totally irrelevant, part of a tiny minority, no longer newsworthy, and dismissable as those of a mere crank.
Isn’t it odd that our Supreme Court is finding it difficult to say that gay people should be accorded every benefit of marriage while they had no difficulty at all saying that corporations are people? Maybe it’s time to clean the judicial house. (Guess that really can't be done, can it? What a shame.)
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Opponents of the French government's plans to legalize same-sex marriage
and adoption took to the streets of Paris in January. With an estimated
350,000 marchers, the demonstration was considered one of the largest in
years. The French government took note, but vowed go ahead with
its plans for the law anyway.
France now joins Britain in taking a major legislative
step in recent weeks toward allowing gay marriage and adoption — making
them the largest European countries to do so. The Netherlands, Belgium,
Norway and Spain, as well as Argentina, Canada and South Africa have
authorized gay marriage, along with nine U.S. states and the District of
Columbia.
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. . . to give benefit of the doubt whenever possible. . .
. . . but I don't believe any benefit remains for one who continues to say such things as. . .
(from http://santorumexposed.com/wp/?page_id=22)
“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country” on the absolute separation of church and state, 2/26/2012
“…everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation. And so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he [John McCain] doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative. And that’s when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that’s how we ended up with bin Laden.” on John McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war, doesn’t understand “enhanced interrogation”, 5/17/11
“A lesbian woman came up to me and said, ‘why are you denying me my right?’ I said, ‘well, because it’s not a right.’ It’s a privilege that society recognizes because society sees intrinsic value to that relationship over any other relationship.” on gay adoption, 5/3/11
“The reason Social Security is in big trouble is we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees. A third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion, because one in three pregnancies end in abortion." on how abortion is responsible for Social Security’s problems, 3/29/11
“I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say ‘now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people’.” on President Obama’s race and pro-choice beliefs, 1/19/2011
“But is there such thing as a sincere liberal Christian, which says that we basically take this document and re-write it ourselves? Is that really Christian? That’s a bigger question for me. And the answer is, no, it’s not. I don’t think there is such a thing. To take what is plainly written and say that I don’t agree with that, therefore, I don’t have to pay attention to it, means you’re not what you say you are. You’re a liberal something, but you’re not a Christian. That’s sort of how I look at it.
“When you go so far afield of that and take what is a salvation story and turn it into a liberation theology story, which is done in the Catholic world as well as in the evangelical world, you have abandoned Christendom, in my opinion. And you don’t have a right to claim it.” on “Is Obama a sincere, liberal Christian?”, 10/200
“Is anyone saying same-sex couples can’t love each other? I love my children. I love my friends, my brother. Heck, I even love my mother-in-law. Should we call these relationships marriage, too?”
on love that same-sex couples share, 5/22/2008
. . . but having depleted all the magnanimity and tolerance that I can possibly muster, I must now paraphrase one of the most opinionated yet talented artists of our time, "Rickie's such an asshole."
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". . . If it is in the Bible, it must be true. . ."
(from Howard Bess)
". . . In the past this attitude has led to advocacy of slavery, segregation, subordination of women and corporal punishment for children. It has been only when these Biblical teachings were challenged and set aside that justice has prevailed. The latest challenge to Bible standards is the current debate about Biblical marriage and same-sex marriages. The Bible standard advocates are calling for Biblical standards for marriage.
Many of the relevant passages are found in the book of Leviticus. The place of women is set out as a part of the property codes. Women were property. Men were owners of women. A man could own as many women as he could afford. Polygamy was the standard, not monogamy. Men owned women in three categories. They owned wives; they owned concubines; and they owned slaves. All were available to their owner for his sexual use. Most of the women involved were little more than breeding stock. These standards were prevalent all over the Middle East and reflect Mesopotamian and Babylonian traditions.
Over the centuries, custom changed and, while polygamy was allowed and was common, cultural pressures and standards evolved toward monogamy. One standard did not change. Women in Jesus’ day were still seen as property. Marriages were still arranged. A woman had no voice in the acquiring of a husband. A young woman was provided for marriage for what was deemed the best interests of the father.
During the times of Jesus, the life of many women in a poverty economy was precarious. A man could divorce a woman by declaring his freedom from her. The worst scenario for a woman was to have no owner. The so-called prostitutes that hung around Jesus were not prostitutes in a modern sense. They were vulnerable women who had no owner. Evidently Jesus accepted them and provided them with a level of protection and security. One of the criticisms of Jesus was that he associated with prostitutes.
To his credit, the Apostle Paul declared that in Christ there was no longer slave or free, male or female. In spite of the acceptance by Jesus and the declaration of Paul, the early church embraced and perpetuated patriarchal dominance and female submission. The Leviticus standard of male ownership of wives continued in most of Christianity until the 20th century. It now seems incredible that women in the United States did not have a vote until the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1920.
I scratch my head when I hear someone declare that we need to return to Biblical standards for marriage.
Around the world and within the United States the understandings of marriage and marriage practices are hugely diverse. In that diversity a new question has been inserted in the public discussion. Should two persons of the same sex be allowed to marry? It is a subject that is never addressed in the Bible. It is a modern question that has evolved over the past 50 years. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. I would not expect any of these writings to address a question that is so recent. Bible quotations seem so very irrelevant. . . "
". . . Is there no standard for marriage that can be embraced in our modern world? I suspect that diversity of understandings will win the day. The need to formalize the attractions that we have for a loving companion will not go away. . ."
[The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is HYPERLINK "mailto:hdbss@mtaonline.net" hdbss@mtaonline.net]
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. . . the repression and confines of narrow thinking, be it based upon pre-scientific religious teaching or fear rooted in a tribal mentality. . .
Maryland Governor, Martin O'Malley (a Catholic visibly transcending dogma) says. . .
Maryland's legislature ". . . came together around the principle of human dignity. . . "
“I believed that in my short service to the people of this state that
the consensus point on this issue could only be reached around civil
unions, I was wrong. It became possible to reach a consensus on
marriage equality. There’s been an evolution in the broadest sense among the people of
our state. Initially, when this issue first became very
visible, after Mayor Gavin Newsom conducted marriages in San Francisco
[in 2004], I think initially a lot of people had a lot of fear -- and a
lot of misplaced fear -- and over time I think people have come to
realize that the way forward, among people of many different faiths, is
always through the greater and broader respect for equal rights for
all.”
“I welcome bipartisan cooperation wherever it happens.There were lots of
people making lots of calls and I think that’s a good and healthy
thing. There’s not a family among us that doesn’t have a friend or a
relative who is gay. All of those stories come together around this
issue and it transcends party.”
“I encouraged people to look at it through the eyes of children of gay
and lesbian couples, and it is not right, and it is not
just, that children of gay and lesbian parents should have lesser
protections. It was about equal rights for all.”
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