Discrimination?

Last week was an interesting week for me on Facebook and here on the blog. Last Saturday when I stated my opposition to gay marriage, I got a comment, very nice and civil by the way, that disagreed with me. I like such comments. 

On Facebook however I pointed out that the incident where Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed was not about homosexuality, but violence. I was immediately accused of being homosexual. The word “fag” was used, but not in reference to me. The thread was eventually deleted as was only proper.

I decided to talk about these issues a little more. First we have this episode:

A restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee refused to serve state Sen. Stacey Campfield, the man who sponsored the state’s “don’t say gay” bill, compared homosexuality to bestiality, and most recently told Michelangelo Signorile that it’s virtually impossible to spread HIV/AIDS through heterosexual sex. “I hope that Stacy Campfield now knows what if feels like to be unfairly discriminated against,” the Bistro at the Bijou wrote on its Facebook wall on Sunday. The restaurant has received an overwhelmingly positive response.

I found this amusing on several levels. It was not unfair for the restaurant to do this. It is their right, or at least it should be. Another thing I found amusing was that it is not a good business model for 1 to 2 % of the population to discriminate against 98% of the population. The potential customers who do not show up are not going to say anything. 

It is also amusing to me that I wish to give the right to refuse service to them, but they are often unwilling to do the same for others. Even more amusing is the fact that the person they “discriminated” against does not discriminate and rents his rental property to homosexuals. 

Maybe I am easy to amuse. 

As for it being nearly impossible to get AIDS through heterosexual relations, this is clearly wrong. 

Transmission route                        Male                               Female

Male-to-male sexual contact          24,132                                -

Injection drug use                        2,652                                1,520

Male-to-male sexual contact

and injection drug use                    1,157                                    -

Heterosexual contact                     4,551                                8,706

Other                                            47                                     29

Total*                                           32,538                            10,255

* Because totals are calculated independently of the subpopulations, the values in each column may not sum exactly to the figure in the ‘Total’ row

 I took this chart from here. 

However these statistics must be tempered with the fact that many homosexuals will not admit their lifestyle. Nor will many drug users admit to drug use. Avoidance of prostitutes, bi-sexual men, and intravenous drug users as sexual partners will reduce the risk to very low levels, but not to the “virtually impossible” level. 

The CDC estimated that a man having vaginal sex with an HIV infected women has a 1 in 1000 chance of being infected. This is every time it happens, so over the years the odds increase. I was not able to find a reference on the CDC site, but this paper on why AIDS is so prevalent in Africa and on the effects of circumcision on aids transmission (it halves the risk) references it. 

Years ago I saw a skit on the comedy show “Living Color.” Two people were about to have sexual relations. They talked about their previous liaisons. Suddenly every person either had ever had sex with appeared in the room. The woman was clearly upset that some of the man’s previous partners looked better than she did. The man that appeared in his group was explained by the man saying “I was in jail once.” The skit never did explain the white (both actors in the skit were black) meek accountant that appeared on the woman’s side of the bed. 

Often comedy can bring forward important points in a memorable way. When you sleep with someone you are also sleeping with every person they ever slept with. 

I Corinthians 6 talks about this issue:

¹² ”I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³ You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

 ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

So to answer the now deleted Facebook thread, yes sexual immorality is wrong. This includes homosexual acts. 

I will talk about Sodom and Gomorrah later as their fate relates to the theme I am developing on war.  

Lusitania

Although President Wilson campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of the war,” in fact he wanted the US to be involved. He was constantly offering to mediate, an offer that no one took seriously. After his reelection in Nov 1916, by April 1917 Wilson proposed war. He gave two reasons for the war, the attempt to get Mexico to attack the United States outlined in the Zimmerman Telegram, and the unrestricted submarine warfare Germany conducted around Great Britain.

One cannot always count on one’s opponents being stupid, but it does happen. The Zimmerman telegram intercepted by British Intelligence is a good example. This telegram proposed that if Mexico attacked America they could count on German support to claiming Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. There was no way that the Mexican government would ever try to attack the United States, no matter what encouragements were offered by Germany. In a final act of stupidity, Ambassador Zimmerman actually admitted that he had written the telegram proposing that Mexico attack. If there ever is a Hall of Shame for dumb politicians, Zimmerman will have his own exhibit, maybe even his own wing. 

The other reason for the war listed by Wilson was submarine warfare. An example of this was the sinking of the Lusitania. A history website tells us about it:  

As always, there is more to the story than this. Near the start of the war in August 1914, the British, wanting to leverage the might of the Royal Navy, imposed a blockade of German ports. This blockage was very effective, causing starvation in Germany and the eventual deaths of 763,000 civilians, according to official statistics. Germany responded with the only advantage she had, which was her submarine service, the most advanced in the world. Germany declared the North Sea and the area around the British Isles a British “military area” and warned that any ships entering this area, including those from neutral countries, were subject to submarine attack.

While the sinking of the Lusitania killed over 1000 people, the British Navy killed far more with their blockade. How dare the “Hun” attack an innocent ship! 

Most passengers were unaware of two crucial facts about the Lusitania. First, she was secretly subsidized by the British government, and in return was built to meet with specifications to allow her to be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser if the need arose. She had magazines for powder and ammunition, and gun mounts concealed underneath her decks. Second, on her final voyage she was carrying contraband (military cargo), including 4.3 million rounds of Remington .303 cartridges, used in both rifles and machine guns. Passengers were not aware of the contraband, but the Germans, via their spy network, almost certainly were. In fact, the German Embassy in Washington took out an ad in the New York newspapers, warning people not to book passage on the Lusitania. The German notice was printed next to a Cunard Line advertisement for the voyage, and caused a stir. Many people took heed, and the Lusitania was only at about half capacity on the final voyage.

This is how propaganda works. Even when every word is true and accurate, it can still be false by only selectively citing what you want the public to hear. WWI was an easily avoidable war. The reason it happened was the division of Europe into sides or alliances. When a junior partner in the German alliance had their head of state assassinated, war became inevitable since Germany felt that an ally in the Austro-Hungarians was needed. Interestingly, Serbia, where the assassination took place, basically gave Austro-Hungary everything they wanted. It was not enough. 

As most historians will admit, like A.J.P. Taylor for example, WWII was directly caused by the horrid peace treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. Once there is a “them” and an “us,” war can continue from generation to generation. 

This is how the media works. An incident happens and then it is twisted to serve the purpose of war. 

War, What Is It Good For?

It seems appropriate to use Jackie Chan's version of the 70's song War for my intereting video this week. 

For those who wish to continue in this theme, click here for Xena, the Warrior Princess, version of this song. 

Remember The Maine. The Hell With Spain

Spanish CartoonOne of the better examples of a false flag operation is the sinking of the Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The Spanish were immediately blamed after the explosion. No one knows what happened. The most likely explanation is that coal dust ignited. This caused a fire that exploded the munitions in the ship. The Spanish had zero reason to get the US more heavily involved in the Cuban revolt.  

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover investigated the explosion years later:  

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover became intrigued with the disaster and began a private investigation in 1974. Using information from the two official inquiries, newspapers, personal papers and information on the construction and ammunition of Maine it was concluded that the explosion was not caused by a mine. Instead spontaneous combustion of coal in the bunker next to magazine was speculated to be the most likely cause. The Admiral published a book about this investigation, How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed, in 1976.

The Wreckage of the MaineThe first official Navy report blamed a mine. A second report, done after the war when no propaganda was needed, concluded that it was an internal explosion. Oops. 

As with 9-11, some concluded that the US Government sank its own ship. No one knows what happened. 

The explosion provided the needed slogan and propaganda for war. It does not matter how the explosion occurred. It served the purpose of justifying the war. (I have blogged about the Spanish American War before.)

The Media frenzy was manipulated: 

One of Remington's More Well Known WorksFrederic Remington, an artist hired by Hearst to provide illustrations to accompany a series of articles on the Cuban Revolution, soon became bored with seemingly peaceful Cuba and wired Hearst on January 1897:

"Everything is quiet. There is no trouble. There will be no war. I wish to return." To which Hearst's reply was: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

I had heard this story before but did not realize it was the famous artist Remington that Hearst hired. Propaganda is the purpose of Media, owned then as now by the wealthy. 

The war was very popular among Protestants in America—just as war is popular among evangelicals today. The Spanish being Catholic made them suspect in the popular prejudice. Islam being opposed to Israel is the current template by which everything is viewed and justified. To oppose Israel is to oppose God, they say. 

So here is the pattern we will see in the justification of war. An event is staged, or occurs and its importance exaggerated, and this is used to justify the desired war. The incident is used to inspire the patriotism of the masses, who will be needed to fight the war. This pattern will continue in the other incidents I will discuss.

The Front Page Of Hearst's New York Journal

Homeschooling Myths

The main reason we are home schooling our daughter is the extra flexibility it gives. In September we were in Russia. In November and December we were in Missouri. We are now in California. This would not be possible in a traditional school year. 

Stacy gets individual attention. Would the average 3rd grader be learning Russian? Nyet. The following video was made by a home schooled youth. He turned out all right.