I don’t watch The Daily Show because CNN and FOX specifically are so absurd any comedic take on their “news coverage” amounts to someone pointing at a man walking into a rake.
Here is a clip of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer — who conversed with a hologram on election night 2008 — asking an Oklahoma tornado survivor if she “thanks the Lord” for… well, I guess for randomly choosing not to kill her in the natural disaster that has killed two dozen people.
I’m impressed that this lady held her own and stood by her convictions. She’s an atheist, and she doesn’t “thank the Lord” for her decisions and actions. She maintains her own agency in the world. Well done.
I’ve always said that God has the best job ever — ultimate power and zero accountability. It’s like he’s CEO of Earth, LLC. If he’s truly omnipotent, then tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters that kill people indiscriminately are entirely within his power to control. If they’re not, then he’s not omnipotent. He’s more early 2000s Prince. I can probably get him some legal cover for school shootings and marathon bombings because of the whole “free will” conundrum, but tornadoes and hurricanes are as unjustifiable as The Rainbow Children.
What the hell, Arizona?
From CNN:
Arizona’s Legislature has passed a controversial bill that would allow business owners, as long as they assert their religious beliefs, to deny service to gay and lesbian customers.
To borrow from the Robot Devil, this bill is as lousy as it is bigoted.
CNN’s interview with Rep. John Kavanagh who supported this bill is straight-up crazy. This guy is a legislator and he can’t effectively communicate how this bill would actually work any better than some random person interviewed on the street who isn’t wearing pants. Apparently, the freedom to be a religious bigot extends to independent contractors (wedding photographers) and small business owners but not to a waitress at a diner who doesn’t want to serve a gay couple. Huh? What possible legal principle is at work here to distinguish the two? Rep. Kavanagh claims the “burden” the religious feel when dealing with icky gay people has to be high, which taking pictures of drunk people dancing poorly at a gay wedding is, but refusing to rent a room to that newly married couple isn’t. That’s absurd on its face, because bed and breakfasts don’t allow children under a certain age so it’s not that much of a legal stretch, especially with this law on the books, for them to not rent to homosexual couples.
Of course, the gooey center of logic supporting the bill probably serves its purpose in making life miserable for gay Arizona residents and swell for local attorneys, who homosexuals can have on retainer to look into every discriminatory action they face. What a country!
We are tripping over dead kids from gun violence and that’s not enough for a gun bill. Arizona’s own congressional representative is permanently disabled after being shot in broad daylight in a public place and that’s not enough for a gun bill. But my god, someone might have to photograph two gay men slow dancing. Time to legislate!
Posted by Stephen Robinson on February 21, 2014 in Political Theatre, Social Commentary
Tags: Arizona, CNN, Kavanagh