IntenseDebate - readerjohn

11 years ago @ Sheila Reports - Religious freedom and ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Formerly a constitutional law wonk, I no longer have time to delve into all the primary sources. But this is a good argument. I would only add that, if memory serves, the penalty ("tax" in the Chief Justice's parlance, I guess) on employers who don't toe the line on $9/month contraceptives is high enough that it might flunk the CJ's coercion test, too, unlike the tax on individuals (which often is less than the premiums they would have paid had they complied).

12 years ago @ Conjugality - Important European Cou... · 1 reply · +3 points

I am heartened at the court's rebuff to "rights talk" on the core issue, but confused and frustrated by the loose rights talk on collateral issues.
"...ensure the right to gay couples to marry in churches if heterosexual couples have that right." What Churches? Church of England, the established church? Do "heterosexual couples" have a categorical right to marry in dissenting churches, or even in the Church of England? Even if they don't profess the dissenting group's faith? Would an Orthodox Church in England, whose Crowning Service is chock full of procreative incitements, be required to pronounce those benedictions over (1) non-Orthodox (2) same-sex couples who cannot possibly procreate because (3) non-Orthodox (4) opposite-sex couples would have a right under English law to force themselves upon the Orthodox Church?
"...if gay couples are allowed to marry, any church that offers weddings will be guilty of discrimination if it refuses this facility to same-sex couples." What is meant by "offer weddings"? Are you talking about a church that essentially offers itself as a wedding chapel for any opposite-sex couple that wants a "Church Wedding," thus making itself virtually what we'd call a "public accomodation" in the U.S.?

12 years ago @ Sheila Reports - Advice for investors · 0 replies · +1 points

Mindful of the guideline to be polite and respectful of others' ideas, I will concur that "the S&P downgrade is a fiscal warning, not an economic event."
Beyond that, I think it's (polite and respectful, polite and respectful) ... er, dubious, to think that we'll pay back $14 trillion of debt with real dollars, and that repayment with funny money will slip under investors' radar.
I think we're very close to the end of the road for the crony capitalism that is so frequently lauded as "free-enterprise." We have overpromised, and soon will under-deliver.

12 years ago @ Sheila Reports - Rick Perry’s pra... · 0 replies · +1 points

I'd be less queasy if Governor Perry were not in league (according to reports that were dubious in motivation but fairly convincing in detail) with the "New Apostolic Reformation," which sounds religiously cultic and politically theocratic. That's in addition to the American Family Association, connection; AFA looks mainstream next to New Apostolic Reformation.

13 years ago @ Sheila Reports - Justice, marriage and ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I came across this today as I was sorting and filing (as it were) digital clippings.
I rarely disagree with Robert P. George, and I don't know that I've ever before disagreed strongly enough to call him out on an untruth.
But I don't think it's true that Attorney General Holder's statement was dripping with animus toward anyone. I've read pro-SSM court opinions that dripped with animus - the ones that denied any rational basis for limiting marriage to men and women - but Holder was careful to avoid that. Instead, he relied on a history of harmful discrimination against gays and lesbians that gives them a legitimate claim to heightened scrutiny.
I've got a problem even with that argument, but it's not the back of the hand for "mere prejudice" that George makes it out to be. I can only hope Prof. George, who I respect highly, spoke hastily, expecting something (as did I) that turned out not to be there, and that he has backed away from or retracted this lamentable mischaracterization.

13 years ago @ MercatorNet - Calling all millennial... · 0 replies · +5 points

Your sentiments about our boomer generation are almost exactly my own.

Why we were bequeathed The Pill (with not a hint that it was other than an occasion for unmitigated rejoicing, aside from a few health threats to women who took it), no-fault divorce and the western world's most permissive abortion regime is a complicated tale that I don't claim to have fully sorted out. Part of the reason was Protestant shunning of all things Catholic, leaving Protestant kids from even devout families with little more than legalism about what NOT to do BEFORE you tied the knot.

Be that as it may, it is within our power to turn our lives around (dare I say "repent"?) and begin building a culture of marriage (and chastity, and life). Legal change may follow, rather than lead, this peaceful cultural revolution.

13 years ago @ Frontpage Magazine - Backdoor "Death Panels"? · 0 replies · +1 points

Your suggestion that coverage of the regulation by the New York Times was "stealthy" may play well with dittoheads and paranoid folks, but it strikes me as absurd. I saw the story, high on the NYT Website, immediately.
I dare say you wouldn't know about this yet had the NYT not covered it, including the murmurings among those who approved the regulation to keep the victory under their hats for now.

13 years ago @ MercatorNet - MercatorNet: test for ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I agree completely for once.

13 years ago @ MercatorNet - Gay marriage is redefi... · 0 replies · +4 points

Tri Dang's response is full of conjecture and logical fallacies ("so's your hetero mother," in essence). Bayakugan critique might fit if this were a scientific article rather than a popularizing blog.

Hasson's blog points out an inconvenient fact that runs counter to the politically correct narrative. Don't let them shout you down, Ms. Hasson. That's part of a calculated strategy.

13 years ago @ Antiwar.com Original A... - Bill Kristol Must Resign! · 0 replies · +2 points

What I found offensive in Steele's remarks was that he tried to pass the war off as the Democrats' problem, as if Dubya hadn't dumped it on Obama's doorstep. This baby is Bush's. You can check the DNA.

IntenseDebate Comment System

Connect with readerjohn

People I'm following

readerjohn