Thoughtcrime must be punished.

Take this professor to Room 101 until he loves Big Brother!

I don't approve of this guy's alleged promulgation of capital punishment, but the "gay movement" is using law to punish speech/democratic behavior...

...and that is very troubling.

Leftist Activists cheer "trial" of American Pastor for "Crimes against Humanity."


 First, it is fascinating how much distortion these activists will engage in, apparently knowing that their "amen corner" won't read beyond the headline.

Second, the pastor is not being "tried" for crimes against humanity; rather, his writ to dismiss a civil action for an alleged tort was denied by an appellate court that expressed concerns about the First Amendment.

Third, this case is very disturbing to anyone interested in civil liberty since it effectively seeks to penalize speech and democratic petition activities. Admittedly these affected a foreign company, but is the next step to sue people who advocate social policy that is deemed to be restrictive of social groups in America?

I expect nothing less than that the secular left will have no concern for the speech/petition rights of people they disagree with.

You. Must. Approve.

The next step would seem to be to sue them for Crimes against Humanity:

Milwaukee, Wis., Dec 9, 2014 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An anti-harassment training presentation at a Catholic college encourages employees to report critics of “gay marriage” – and could reflect recent federal decisions that the belief in marriage as a union of a man and a woman is discriminatory.

Part of the employee anti-harassment training at the Wisconsin-based Marquette University includes a presentation with a comic strip-style story about a fictional employee named “Harassed Hans,” a man in a wheelchair. The training encourages Hans to report to the university human resources his co-workers Becky and Maria who “have been talking about their opposition to same-sex marriage” all week.

“Their co-worker Hans is offended, but he struggles with whether to report the situation,” the comic says.

“Hans is right to report Maria and Becky’s conversation,” the presentation later adds.

The presentation shares the federal government’s new understanding that beliefs about marriage as a union only of one man and one woman can be a source of discrimination and illegal harassment.

Since 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has held “sex stereotypes” like “the belief that men should only date women or that women should only marry men” to be illegal discrimination on the basis of sex. This is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the commission said in a news briefing on enforcement protections for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) workers.

Brian Dorrington, senior director of communications at Marquette University, told CNA Nov. 21 that the university requires all employees, faculty, staff and student employees, to complete an anti-harassment module “in accordance with federal law and university policy,” He added that harassment training “includes the latest changes in law, and workplace diversity training reflects developing regulations.”

He said the presentation uses “hypothetical scenarios” are “teaching tools do not necessarily equate to university policy.”

“They are simply tools to raise awareness of various forms of harassment that could arise,” he said, adding that any specific harassment case “would be reviewed on an individual basis.”

The presentation is from the Austin, Texas-based company Workplace Answers. Dorrington said Workplace Answers has partnered with seven Jesuit universities in addition to other prominent colleges and universities.

CNA repeatedly contacted Workplace Answers for comment but did not receive a reply.

However, one spokeswoman for the federal commission that helps regulate workplace behavior and policy indicated that “gay marriage” opposition can be considered harassment.

Tolerance - So Pre-Gay Marriage.

How can someone else having the right to marry possibly affect anyone else?

Staff at tech company Mozilla are calling for CEO Brendan Eich to resign a week after he took the job, after it emerged that he gave donations to an anti-LGBT campaign.

Eich contributed $1,000 (£601.11) in support of California’ Proposition 8 in 2008, an initiative which opposed same-sex marriage.

His controversial donation was discovered on a public database, with Mozilla named as his employer, in 2012, the Telegraph reported.

Eich was made CEO of Mozilla, which is behind the Firefox web browser, in late March after his predecessor Gary Kovacs announced his resignation in April last year.

He was previously the organisation’s chief technology officer, and has been associated with Mozilla in its various guises since the 1990s.

According to Mozilla, Eich invented JavaScript, the Internet’s most widely used programming language.

Since his appointment, his colleagues, who regard his anti-LBGT stance as against the company's ethos, have taken to Twitter to post the message: “I'm an employee of @mozilla and cannot reconcile having @BrendanEich as CEO."

In the 21st Century, everyone must participate in politically correct delusions.

California 2014: Strapping senior calling himself female to play on girls’ high school softball team

A male California high school senior who played on the boys baseball team as a freshman will now play on the girls softball team.

The student, Pat Cordova-Goff, attends Azusa High School in the northeastern corner of the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles.

Cordova-Goff (who was also a cheerleader at some point) will be the California’s first transgender high school student-athlete, reports The San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The strapping, broad-shouldered, 5-foot-8 senior is able to play for the Azusa High Aztecs under a new state law commonly known as Assembly Bill 1266. The amendment to the state’s education code stipulates that each student will have access to facilities, sports teams, and programs that are “consistent with his or her gender identity,” rather than the student’s actual biological composition. (RELATED: Calif. governor signs transgender students’ rights bill)

Cordova-Goff, 17, was born a boy — and, by all accounts, remains a boy — but now identifies as a girl. He has undergone no surgical procedures or treatments.

“I can’t afford a wardrobe and makeup and everything, so I don’t have the resources to express myself the way I want to,” Cordova-Goff told the Valley Tribune. “I’m really pushing myself to be myself, and I finally have started going by ‘Pat,’ started using ‘she’ and ‘hers.’”

Under California Interscholastic Federation guidelines that took effect in September, that’s enough to allow Cordova-Goff to try out for and make the girls softball team.

Local high school softball coaches don’t seem too concerned about Cordova-Goff’s inclusion on the Azusa High softball team.

“There is no issue for me,” said West Covina softball coach Jesse Mendez said. “Could there be a competitive advantage? Sure, but softball is a pretty skillful game.”

The coach at Charter Oak High School, Scott Higuera, opined that rules are rules.

“I’m fine with it as long as it’s within the rules,” Higuera said. “The bottom line is, you have to play the game, and softball is very competitive.”

Questions: Why don't we just get rid of gendered sports, altogether?

Answer: because boys and girls are not physically interchangeable and we want girls to have a chance at developing the virtues that come with excelling on their own teams.

You have to love how those coaches are totally cowed into opining that "everything's fine" and that there's totally nothing unfair to, you know, girls in being forced to compete with boys for the same positions.

Free Speech in the UK.

Former LAPD Officer arrested in Scotland for preaching that homosexuality is a sin:

An American preacher serving on a week-long mission trip in Scotland was reportedly arrested Wednesday for openly preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

Former LAPD Deputy Sheriff Tony Miano Was Arrested in Scotland for Preaching That Homosexuality Is a Sin

Tony Miano’s legal problems began when he delivered general comments about immorality during an outdoor sermon.

He spoke about adultery, promiscuity and — homosexuality, The Christian Post reported.

It was this latter issue that ended up landing Miano, who once served as Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff, in hot water.

As he was preaching, a woman who disagreed with his message yelled out that she has a gay son and threatened to call police on Miano and Pastor Josh Williamson, another preacher who accompanied him.

“Tony wasn’t focusing just on homosexual practice — it was about all sin,” Williamson said in a statement distributed by the Christian Legal Centre, a legal group based in London. “A woman was yelling at him and her friend noticed we were filming the preaching, so she ran up to me and tried to smash my camera.”

The woman then made good on her promise and called the police.

When Scottish authorities arrived, they reportedly arrested Miano on the charge of “breach of peace with ‘homophobic’ aggravation.

Is this like excommunicating a heretic?

Because the media spent years criticizing Cardinal Ratzinger for "cracking down" on Catholics who taught heresy.

Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson recently told GQ Magazine that in his opinion homosexuality is a sin. Gay rights activists were up in arms, and now A&E, which carries “Duck Dynasty,” has suspended Robertson//

Also, when did A&E get the authority to determine what is and is not a sin?

The world has become a funny place when TV networks enforce theology.

You.Must.Approve!

Los Angeles public schools are encouraging teachers and staff to wear badges that identify them as “LGBT allies” and supporters of the pro-gay movement.

Superintendent John Deasy kicked off the effort Thursday, which he said was necessary to prevent gay kids from being bullied.

“We want all our youth and staff to know that it is safe to be you in LAUSD,” said Deasy in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

The move is part of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s “Out for Safe Schools” initiative.

The front sides of the badges have the word “ally” written on them in several different languages, which will help teachers celebrate the fabulousness of gay students, gay fellow teachers, and other gays, whose gayness automatically merits universal applause and celebration. Allies are straight supporters of gay people and gay marriage.

The reverse sides of the badges include a handy list of resources available to gays and their supporters. The list handily includes the public-sector unions United Teachers Los Angeles, SEIU, and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, allowing L.A.’s organized labor community to rejoice in the school district’s salute to gayness.

Because nothing deters bullies like having their victims’ specialness publicly praised by authority figures, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center applauded the school district for its “groundbreaking” work in applauding gay students.

Friday marked the beginning of the initiative, to coincide with National Coming Out Day, during which the English-speaking peoples unite in paying tribute to gays.

Read more: 

 Remember tolerance ...*sigh*

Answering the question about "how does someone else's marriage affect you?"

Oregon bakery falls victim to tolerance police:

Commissioner Brad Avakian told The Oregonian that he was committed to a fair and thorough investigation to determine whether the bakery discriminated against the lesbians.

“Everybody is entitled to their own beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that folks have the right to discriminate,” he told the newspaper. “The goal is to rehabilitate. For those who do violate the law, we want them to learn from that experience and have a good, successful business in Oregon.”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Judge permits lawsuit against pastor for "bad speech":

A U.S. judge is allowing a lawsuit by a Ugandan homosexual group charging an Evangelical pastor with a “crime against humanity.” The American pastor is accused of violating international law for speaking against homosexuality and discussing legislation with Ugandan leaders.

Scott Lively, an attorney and author, runs the Holy Grounds coffee house in Massachusetts where coffee and Bibles are free and Sunday church services minister to homeless people, drug addicts and others. In 2009, he was invited to speak at a conference in Uganda where he said the goal of the homosexual movement is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) accuses Lively of inciting “persecution” through public speaking and advising Ugandan leaders who introduced legislation against homosexuality. SMUG advocates for legal and social acceptance of lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. It opposes legislation to strengthen anti-homosexuality laws.

The lawsuit describes several events in Uganda, such as a raid of SMUG’s office. Lively is not mentioned a “single time within the many pages of the complaint that describe” those events, said Liberty Counsel, the law firm representing Lively.

An event SMUG attempts to tie to Lively is the murder of David Kato, a co-leader of the group. The suit fails to mention a homosexual prostitute confessed to killing Kato over a dispute regarding payment. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

If SMUG is successful, any person “petitioning in opposition to special designations for homosexuals would become an international human rights criminal,” Lively’s attorney Horatio Mihet told WND.

The lawsuit is based on the Alien Tort Statute, a federal law that allows U.S. courts to hear cases on violations of the law of nations or a U.S. treaty. The Supreme Court recently ruled the statute does not apply to conduct that occurred outside the U.S.

The lawsuit appears to be “a meritless publicity stunt designed to harass Scott Lively into inaction,” a legal expert told the Friday Fax. The right to free speech in the U.S. bars “such nonsense” as holding someone legally liable for trying to convince people against an opposing idea.

The veteran litigator notes this could come back to haunt homosexual activists. SMUG’s theory would invite lawsuits against “homosexual activists who are trying to repress their own political and cultural opponents in foreign countries.”

In his decision, Judge Michael Ponsor described Ugandan leaders and legislators as “co-conspirators” with Lively. Ponsor said some officials consider “persecution” based on sexual orientation and gender identity “constitutes a crime against humanity that violates international norms,” but it is questionable whether it violates U.S. law.

Judge Ponsor made news in June when his first published novel, a legal thriller set in Massachusetts, was released. Posner originally aspired to be a writer, but after two unsuccessful novels re-directed his writing when he was appointed a judge.

You.Must.Approve.

The leadership of the Texas metropolis of San Antonio is working on ordinance changes aimed at punishing those who speak out against homosexuality.

The San Antonio City Council is doing some housecleaning to combine all of its anti-discrimination rules and ordinances into one. The consolidated ordinance states a desire to adopt a “comprehensive and expanded non-discrimination policy with revisions to outdated terminology.”

According to Pastor Charles Flowers of Faith Outreach International, the city leaders want to add two categories to the policy: sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The ordinance also says that if you have at any point demonstrated a bias – without defining what a bias is or who will determine whether or not one has been exercised – that you cannot get a city contract,” he tells OneNewsNow. “Neither can any of your subcontractors [who have demonstrated a bias] sign on to the contract.”

Moreover, according to a draft of the revised policy, no one who has spoken out against homosexuality or the transgender lifestyle can run for city council or be appointed to a board. Flowers says the Arizona-based legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom has taken a look at the ordinance.

“They said they've never seen this kind of language in any other ordinance in any other city that they've dealt with,” the pastor shares. “It is unprecedentedly wrong – and of course the citizens of San Antonio must stop it.”

Flowers maintains the ordinance violates state and federal constitutions in terms of freedom of speech and religion. He is inviting people throughout the U.S. to call the members of the San Antonio City Council to politely voice their opposition.

How does another person's marriage affect anyone else?

Catholic student ejected for answering question in officially unapproved way:

Federal District Judge Patrick J. Duggan of the Eastern District of Michigan declared the teacher’s actions in punishing Daniel Glowacki violated his First Amendment Rights.

"While the Court certainly recognizes that schools are empowered to regulate speech to prevent students from invading the rights of other students, people do not have a legal right to prevent criticism of their beliefs or for that matter their way of life," Judge Duggan stated in his decision.

"Simply put, the law does not establish a generalized hurt feelings defense to a high school’s violation of the First Amendment rights of its students."

The incident that led to the lawsuit occurred on October 20, 2010.

That day during Daniel’s economics class, teacher Johnson McDowell wore a purple “Tyler’s Army” t-shirt, as part of a national campaign promoted by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to highlight “bullying” of homosexuals.

In testimony at the trial, the court heard that McDowell initiated a discussion about homosexuality when, after telling a female student he was offended by her confederate flag belt buckle and ordering her to remove it, he went on to explain the purple “Tyler’s army” shirt he was wearing was meant to promote tolerance of homosexuality.

The court heard that the teacher specifically asked Daniel about his feelings on homosexuals. When the boy responded that as a Catholic he was offended by the gay and lesbian lifestyle, Daniel was ordered to leave the classroom under threat of suspension.

In an interview with Damian Goddard of the National Organization for Marriage’s Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, Daniel recounted what happened:

“I raised my hand and I asked him what the difference was between him wearing a purple shirt and explaining that to us, but Danielle (another classmate) couldn’t wear her rebel flag belt buckle,” Daniel said. “He asked me if I was really against the homosexual lifestyle and I told him that the homosexual lifestyle was against my Catholic religion.”

An altercation ensued, and Daniel said he quietly left the classroom after McDowell told him “we lost our right to free speech once we stepped inside his classroom.” 

Brett Easton Ellis notes the Stalinism of Gay Identity Ideology...

... where saying anything less than that every gay is a courageous, well-adjusted, heroic figure results in vicious attacks: 

Gay activists dive-bombing other gays who express an opinion that doesn’t lean toward their agenda means that within the gay world we are living in a very simplistic place. A barbed observational opinion tweeted by a gay man about gay men in Hollywood—and not directed at anyone—becomes, in the world of GLAAD, hate-speech. When a community prides itself on its differences and uniqueness and bans the gay man because of the way the gay man expresses himself—then a corporate PC fascism has been put into play that needs to be seriously reconsidered by the LGBT community. This is a problem: If you are a gay man who is not The Gay Man as Magical Elf, then you run the risk of being ostracized by the elite gay community. An organization holding an awards ceremony that they think represents all gays and also feels that they can choose which gays can and cannot be a member of the party is, on the face of it, ridiculous. The fact remains that if you aren’t presenting yourself as a happy homosexual promoting healthy mainstream gay values and pimping for GLAAD, then you’re somehow defaming The Cause. 

Ellis's sin was in noting the infantilizing way that gays are treated when they "come out":

Was I the only gay man of a certain demo who experienced a flicker of annoyance in the way the media treated Jason Collins as some kind of baby panda who needed to be honored and praised and consoled and—yes—infantilized by his coming out on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Within the tyrannical homophobia of the sports world, that any man would come out as gay (let alone a black man) is not only an LGBT triumph but also a triumph for pranksters everywhere who thrilled to the idea that what should be considered just another neutral fact that is nobody’s business was instead a shock heard around the world, one that added another jolt of transparency to an increasingly transparent planet. It was an undeniable moment and also extremely cool. Jason Collins is the future. But the subsequent fawning over Collins simply stating he is gay still seemed to me, as another gay man, like a new kind of victimization. (George Stephanopoulos interviewed him so tenderly, it was as if he was talking to a six-year-old boy.) In another five years hopefully this won’t matter, but for now we’re trapped in the times we live in. The reign of The Gay Man as Magical Elf, who whenever he comes out appears before us as some kind of saintly E.T. whose sole purpose is to be put in the position of reminding us only about Tolerance and Our Own Prejudices and To Feel Good About Ourselves and to be a symbol instead of just being a gay dude, is—lamentably—still in media play. 

But, hey, tolerance is not enough.

Notice the drumbeat effect of this?

Homosexual gets married and it is newsworthy that his public repudiation of the teachings of Catholicism means that he is asked to stop teaching CCD?

How is this newsworthy?  Do we see reports on other decisions about who gets to teach CCD in other churches?  Do we see news reports, for that matter, on the Episcopal Church that is currently suing scores of dissident Anglican churches and have excommunicated members and clergy for dissenting on the ordination of a "married" Episcopal priest?

Nope...but let one homosexual get asked not to teach CCD and its worth it to NBC to cover it.

And, obviously, this is setting up the next round, after gay marriage, in the culture war, where these kinds of trivial personnel decisions will be the media focus for years.

You. Must. Approve.

I have no idea who Fantasia is or why I should care about her, and I've never watched American idol.

But whoever she is, she's under attack it seems for speaking the truth, which is proven by the fact that she's under attack -

On Sunday, the winner of American Idol's Season 3, Fantasia Barrino posted a photo on Instragram with a caption in which the singer revealed she felt "judged" and what was taken by some to be an anti gay marriage message. She wrote:

 I Rise ABOVE IT ALL!!! THE WORLD IS GONE MAD. KIDS, THE GOVERNMENT THE church House... Everybody Trying!!!!!!! Its a lot that going on that the Bible speaks about we should Not be doing. Weed legal in some places, Gay Marriage Legal BUT YET IM JUDGED!!! I'm not doing Nothing for you... My Life!!!!

 As of now, the photo has been removed from her account and a statement on Barrino's behalf has been released by her publicist signaling that the singer's words were taken out of context and that she's been a supporter of the LGBT community throughout her career. 

 

This cri de couer about how the world is changing in ways that leaves some of us wondering when we woke up in Cloud Cuckoo Land is being framed as "anti-gay."

So, apparently, the only acceptable position of the fascist left is that being puzzled by the fact that some people don't understand that one father and one mother makes one baby, and that marriage exists for such people, are now guilty of "thoughtcrime."

She is now reporting for re-education to the forces of "we are all about love and tolerance"

Welcome to 2013.

Tolerance - the moment between breathing out one orthodoxy and breathing in another.

Teachers may be fired for not teaching gay marriage material:

Schools will be within their statutory rights to dismiss staff that wilfully fail to use stories or textbooks promoting same-sex weddings, it is claimed.

Aidan O’Neill, a senior QC and expert on religious freedom and human rights, also warned that parents who object to gay marriage being taught to their children will have no right to withdraw their child from lessons.

In a report, he said that any decision to redefine marriage would have far-reaching consequences for schools, hospitals, foster carers and public buildings.

The most serious impact is likely to be felt in the church where vicars and priests conducting religious marriage ceremonies could be taken to court for refusing to carry out a gay wedding, he said.

The conclusions – in legal advice commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage – comes amid continuing fall-out over Government plans to tear up the centuries-old law on marriage.

From the "You.Must.Approve" file - Homosexual marriage doesn't affect you...

...unless you want to pray for real marriage in a church.

French Catholic Church pro-marriage prayer provokes gay rights row:

PARIS (Reuters) - Roman Catholic congregations in churches across France prayed for traditional marriage on Wednesday, provoking accusations of homophobia from gay rights groups as Paris prepares to legalize same-sex matrimony.

The rare clerical foray into political debate, on the Assumption Day holiday observed in traditionally Catholic countries in Europe, referred only indirectly to the new marriage law the government plans to pass next year.

But the carefully worded text, first published earlier this month, dominated the news headlines in France, where the media have presented it as a strong attack on the reform.

Church leaders insisted their aim was to launch an open debate about plans to legalize same-sex marriage and euthanasia, two in a list of 60 pledges made by Francois Hollande in his successful election campaign for the presidency last spring.

Well, it is France.

You.Must.Approve.

The Tolerance Police lines up on Chick-Fil-A for doubleplus ungoodthink:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from bringing its Southern-fried fast-food empire to Boston — possibly to a popular tourist spot just steps from the Freedom Trail — after the family-owned firm’s president suggested gay marriage is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.”

“Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Menino told the Herald yesterday.

“That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started right here. And we’re not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.”

Chick-fil-A has been swept up in a growing national controversy over company president Dan Cathy’s remarks questioning gay marriage and lauding the traditional family.

But, but, but...the government is here to help businesses prosper.

Heresy Hunting.

The Anchoress has a great post on Maureen Dowd's latest demonstration of arrested adolescence. You should read the whole thing, but this is the part that particularly caught my attention:

Dowd, emboldened by her chat with Cuomo, tries for her own smackdown, and to read it is to laugh until one’s sides hurt:

Absolute intolerance is always a sign of uncertainty and panic. Why do you have to hunt down everyone unless you’re weak? The church doesn’t seem to care if its members’ beliefs are based on faith or fear, conviction or coercion. But what is the quality of a belief that exists simply because it’s enforced?

The last part is simply banal sophistry — of course the church cares that its members beliefs are based on faith, but in a faith that is understood in its fullness; whether the church succeeds in teaching its fullness is a very valid question — if Dowd is an example, the answer must be “no” — but on the other hand, in order to be taught anything in its fullness, one must be willing to actually hear a lesson, and absorb it enough to repeat it back with some accuracy; that cannot be done if one is inclined to a kneejerk “la-la-la, I can’t year you” over its often subtle points. But it’s the first part of that quote that killed me: “Absolute intolerance is always a sign of uncertainty and panic. Why do you have to hunt down everyone, unless you’re weak?”

Gosh, Maureen, I agree with you! that intolerance is sign of weakness, and that hunting down part — that’s a question I’ve wondered myself. Since you’re so well connected, perhaps you could ask it for me? Ask Ms. Steinem and Ms. Fonda, please, why free speech should not be tolerated by some; ask some college groups why a free expression of opinion is so unendurable to them that they will steal newspapers rather than allow others to read it; ask this teacher why her students are not allowed to criticize “this” president.; ask Bev Perdue why “some” elections should be suspended; ask Eric Holder why governments should force churches to give up their right to define ministers or ministry; ask President Obama why churches should be coerced into betraying their own consciences; ask why churches must conform to the lights of mere men or face consequences. Ask the people who know everything how come they can’t “tolerate” hearing someone refer to their spouse as a “husband” or a “wife”.

The Anchoress studs her observation with all the narrow-minded heresy hunting that the Left engages in, and, yet, the Left is, apparently, oblivious to its own orthodoxy and heresy-hunting tendencies and inquisitions.

This is a piece with Cullen Murphy's thoroughly tendentious "God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World." Murphy is Dowdish tribal Catholic who explicitly admits that the reason he was induced to write a book on the Inquisition was the fact that Pope John Paul II's had taken away the right of certain theologians to label their teaching as being "Catholic" because those teachings were not Catholic. Like Dowd, Murphy wants to read the Inquisition into modernity, but it's always the other guy's modernity that he finds the reverberations of the Inquisition.

In my book review - go here and give me a helpful vote if you haven't already - I wrote:

Another amusing bit of irony occurs when Murphy points out that notwithstanding the fact that Catholics in England were subjected to an Inquisition after Henry VIII, no Englishman could recognize anything that an Englishman might do as ever imaginably being considered an Inquisition. (p. 195.) But Murphy demonstrates that same mentality throughout the book! So, when he looks at bad special prosecutors harassing Presidents, he doesn't come up with Fitzpatrick's pursuit of information on the silly Plame affair that resulted in the conviction of "Scooter" Libby, instead he goes to Ken Starr and Bill Clinton. Since Clinton was disbarred for his actual perjury, but Fitzpatrick came nowhere near Bush, one might think that it would be Fitzpatrick who would get the "grand Inquisitor" label, but to anyone aware of conservative-liberal politics, Murphy's choice is not surprising. Nor is it surprising that every single example of "modernity looked at through the lens of the Inquisition" involves something done by the American Right that the American Left objects to. Like the Englishmen, who couldn't recognize "the Inquisition" in their own country, Murphy can't recognize "the Inquisition" when it is done by the Left, and for all his sighing about the "war on terror" and the Bush administration, he finds little time to mention Obama's use of drones to kill Americans as a "disturbing example" the Inquisition's "legacy to modernity."

How does gay marriage affect your marriage?

Well, for one, it could get you or your spouse banned from public if you dare to express opposition to it.

Spot the rich, creamy, ironic hypocrisy here:

The “tolerant” same-sex marriage left has struck again – this time, at the popular hangout The Grove, in Los Angeles. The owner of The Grove, Rick Caruso, tweeted that iconic boxing great and Philippines Congressman Manny Pacquiao would not be allowed “on the premises” thanks to Pacquiao’s outspoken opposition to same-sex marriage. “Boxer Manny Pacquiao is not welcome @TheGroveLA,” he tweeted. “@TheGroveLA is a gathering place for all Angelenos, not a place for intolerance.” Pacquiao was supposed to do an interview today with “Extra” at The Grove.

Although I think that property owners have a right to control the property they own, that option has been foreclosed by wiser heads that mine. California Civil Code Section 51et. seq. - the Unruh Act - prohibits discrimination by business establishments based on "personal characteristics," including personal beliefs. Semler v. General Electric Capital Corp., 196 Cal. App. 4th 1380, 1394 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 2011)("In Koebke, the court commented that the personal characteristics enumerated in the Act “represent traits, conditions, decisions, or choices fundamental to a person's identity, beliefs and self-definition.” (Koebke, at pp. 842–843, italics added.)

It seems that Pacquiao may have a claim for discrimination against the Grove.