What The Bible Really Says About Homosexuals

The LGBT community is all the rage nowadays. Conservatives hate them and liberals embrace them. The conservative hatred stems from the bible condemning them to the fiery pits of hell, when the holy scriptures only references homosexuality six or seven times. They were written over two thousand plus years ago, so their meaning is open to debate. With numerous scriptures talking about acceptance, forgiveness, and having love for your fellow man outweighing references to homosexuality. You would think that the scriptures of love eclipsing those of hate, people would be accepting and not use the bible as a weapon against the LGBT community. Sadly, that's not the case, but times are changing and with more states in the US recognizing gay marriage; the debate heats up.

Sins of Sodom

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in genesis was a city where the men wanted to rape the angels that retrieved Lot. They also wanted to rape the guests of the city similar to the story in the book of Judges. Now the bible goes on to condemn these violent atrocities, not homosexuality specifically. Jude 1:7 "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh,"- referring to the citizens of Sodom. Saying that the sins of Sodom were of men lusting after angels. Later Jews interpreted this as homosexuality being the sins of Sodom. In retrospect this would be like modern day rape in our prisons. The prisoners aren't necessarily homosexuals, but rather their lust for sex and forcible rape is what is so despised.

The Holy Code

Leviticus is full of "guidelines" commonly referred o as the Holy Code. It contains two passages that are the most famous and used by most Christians to justify their hatred for homosexuals. Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination". And Leviticus "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is uponth them". Now this seems pretty clear cut and not up for debate, but think again! First you have to understand about who this scripture was written for. They were intended for the Israelites so they can be distinguished from the Egyptians (who they just fled from) and the Canaanites (who they were living amongst). A couple issues here. Egyptians and Canaanites were lustful rapist, going back to the story of Sodom these actions were condemned because of the horrible nature of rape. So the Israelites had to differentiate themselves from the rapist. Another issue is, were these holy codes speaking of consensual homosexual sex between two loving individuals? Was this even a comprehend-able option for the ancient world? The last issue I have with this so called Holy Code is that the Israelites were nomadic people and depended on procreation for survival. Could this scripture just be a way for the author of Leviticus to make sure future generations of  Israelites?

Christians have to ask themselves, is pushing there personal beliefs on other people is really "loving thy neighbor"? With the all the passages about love and acceptance why hate on homosexuals? Why push your religion into politics and stop two loving individuals from the fruits of marriage? Jesus always preached that his followers should stay out of politics anyways! Modern Christians pick and choose what part of the bible they wish to follow. Jews don't eat pork and you don't see them picketing the White House to stop the slaughter of pigs. Stop the hate and LOVE THY NEIGHBOR!

Texas GOP Raping Women With New Law

 
I've written about backwards run Texas before, but this really takes the cake. The GOP run state recently approved a new voter law that drastically restricts women's right to vote. Voters in Texas now have to show a PHOTO-ID with an up to date legal name. According to Occupy Democrats, this effects ONE THIRD of the women in Texas. To put that into perspective, Texas has 254 counties and only 81 DMVs. Men aren't effected by this because they keep their legal name after wedlock, but sometimes women don't get new ID's, or if they needed one they could just use a birth certificate in order to vote. This is no longer the case. The Republican run state knows that this law leaves a third of their women lost and confused. Women have the power to turn Texas blue for the first time in 20 years, because of senator Wendy Davis. She is a strong advocate for women's rights and against government regulating women's bodies. She is running for Texas governor and she has the women of the state backing her. The GOP are threatened by Davis and instead of battling on the issues, they change the rules. Read all about it and sign a petition here at http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/3959.

Raise The Wage Minimum Wage, For America

You know, the cell phone companies really understand the power that consumers have. They made smartphones reasonably priced so everyone can have one. Now everybody has one and their paying for data, and apps with companies advertising in these apps. They've opened up a whole new marketplace never before used. Now couldn't this same rule apply to the whole minimum wage debacle? Think about it. Disregard your views on the situation and think about what I'm saying. Raise the minimum wage so more people have more money to spend. In a world ruled by capitalism, you would think companies would be jumping at the chance to pay their employees more to, keep the flow of money going back up to the employers. Without the consumer (the underpaid employees) capitalism is nothing. Capitalism ultimately works like a powerful Red Wood with the CEOs at the top and the consumers (i.e employees) at the bottom. A strong consumer will in turn give way for a stronger CEO. Republicans love to throw the "trickle down" argument around (that the wealth of the CEO will trickle down to everybody), let's throw the "trickle up" argument right back at them. It's time America. Raise the minimum wage. 

A Bold New Law To End Corruption

My last post was about some real grimy stuff going on in Washington. Luckily there is a group of activist that have had enough of the corruption and bribery. They came up with an ingenious new law that will greatly impact how American elections are campaigned. The group is Represent.Us and they are actively fighting to end corruption. They wrote the American Anti-Corruption Act (AACA). In short, the law greatly impacts how much can be donated to a campaign and is 100% constitutional. Written by some of the top constitutional lawyers in America. Here is a rough outline of the law taken from Represent.Us

AMERICAN ANTI-CORRUPTION ACT OUTLINE

1. Stop Politicians From Taking Bribes- "Prohibit members of Congress from soliciting and receiving contributions from industry or entity they regulate, including those industries' lobbyist. Prohibit all fundraising during Congressional working hours."

2. Limit SuperPAC Contributions and "Coordination"- "Require SuperPACS to abide by the same contribution limits as other political committees. Toughen rules regarding SuperPACs' and other groups' coordination with political campaigns and political parties."

3. Prevent Job Offers As Bribes- "Close the "revolving door" where elected representatives and senior staff sell off their legislative power for high-paying jobs. Stop them from negotiating jobs while in office and, once they leave, bar them from all lobbying activity for five years."

4. Call All People Who Lobby, Lobbyist- "Significantly expand the definition of and register all lobbyist to prevent influencers from skirting the rules." (In my opinion we should have a national database of lobbyist and they should register as a Lobbyist, just like sex offenders so we know who is a lobbyist and monitor how much our politicians associate with them. The database is just my opinion though not part of the AACA.)

5. Limit Lobbyist Donations- "Limit the amount that lobbyists and their clients can contribute to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees to $500 per year and limit lobbyist fundraising for political campaigns. Federal contractors are already banned from contributing to campaigns: extend the ban to lobbyist, high-level executives, government relations employees, and PACs of federal government contractors."

6. End Secret Money- "Mandate full transparency of all political money. Require any organization that spends $10,000 or more on advertisements to elect or defeat federal candidates to file a disclosure report online with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours. List each of the donors who give $10,000 or more to the organization to run such ads. This includes all PACs, 501c non profits, or other groups that engage in electioneering."

7. Empower All Voters With A Tax Rebate- "Build up on the influence of voters by creating a biennial $100 Tax Rebate that they can use to make qualified contributions to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees. Flood elections with small-donor contributions that will offset the huge spenders. Candidates and political groups will only be eligible for these funds if they agree to a set of contribution limits: they will only accept money from small donors (giving $500 or less a year), other groups abiding by the limits, and the Tax Rebates themselves."

8. Disclose "Bundling"- "Require federal candidates to disclose the names of individuals who "bundle"contributions for the member of Congress or candidate, regardless of whether such individuals are registered lobbyists."

9. Enforce The Rules- "Strengthen the Federal Election Commission's independence and strengthen the House and Senate ethics enforcement processes. Provide federal prosecutors the additional tools necessary to combat corruption, and prohibit lobbyists who fail to properly register and disclose their activities from engaging in federal lobbying activities for a period of two years."

REPRESENT.US NEEDS YOUR HELP!

If you are intrigued by the new law there is a lot more you can find out about it on the Represent.Us website. Please take into account this whole project is in its infancy and as of December 7th 2013 there are only 20 districts across the country with an established team of activists fighting the fight. They need all the help they can get and if you are interested in doing what you can PLEASE visit the website and do what you can! Below I will post links where you can find the tools you need to combat corruption in your area. Please check out the website and sign your name to co-sponsor the act! America needs your help and frankly, we've all had enough, from liberals to conservatives and everyone in between.With our elected officials in the pockets of lobbyist they are turning America into a Corporate Dictatorship, but TOGETHER WE CAN PREVAIL!

Represent.Us Website - Represent.us

Activist Materials & Tools- https://represent.us/tools/

AACA Entire Overview- http://anticorruptionact.org/ 

   

Wall Street Lobbyist Corrupting Our Government

I found something rather disturbing today on Facebook. I ran across this video of a independent group of youngsters that stand up against political corruption. From over inflated super packs to lobbyist donating ridiculous amounts of money to politicians. The video, which I have pasted below, explains a very surprising bill that was passed in congress today. The Bill is called H.R. 922 - the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act. At the dawn of the 2008 financial crisis insurance company AIG was on the verge of bankruptcy when the wonderful federal government stepped in and saved their asses with a $85 billion bailout. The "risky business" (no pun intended) that drove AIG to the brink of extinction is known as derivatives trading. After the bailout the government did the most logical thing and made some laws and provisions so this type of thing wouldn't happen again. So the truly disgusting part of all of this is that today congress passed a bipartisan law that would let big companies, i.e AIG, to go back to their risky business. Who do you think contributed the most to the campaigns of the politicians that were in support of the bill? You guessed it Wall Street Lobbyist. Lobbyist that work for insurance groups like Citigroup and AIG practically wrote that bill. Our government is basically run by special interest and this is what this group is fighting end. Visit Represent.us to show your support against political corruption.

End The War On Drugs And Legalize All Drugs

Now I don't advise anyone to go out and do illegal drugs because this is would be ILLEGAL. I also don't do illegal drugs so with that said lets move on. This is a touchy subject and people don't like talking about it. Well this is the purpose of my blog, to talk about the things people don't want to talk about. The primary way organized crime syndicates make money is through the sell of drugs. Now the logical thing to do would be to prohibit them in a country so the citizens can't buy them. But sometimes the most logical (or easiest) answers are the best ones. By making them illegal you now gave the entire market to the cartels, gangs, terrorists, etc. Now they can make ALL the money to supply their groups to do other horrible things. Think about it, if you legalize it you give the market to the legal owners who don't do horrible crimes like murder. People will pay taxes on them bringing more money to the states and federal government. You can argue that this will cause children to become drug addicts at a much higher rate. I don't think this would be true at all because by the time I was 11 I knew what every drug was called due to schools giving drug awareness classes. Just because something is legal doesn't make it easier for children to get their hands on. It was really hard trying to get LEGAL alcohol when I was a teenager, almost impossible, that's why I then turned to marijuana, an ILLEGAL DRUG. Illegal drugs are easier for children to get a hold of because they are on the street and trust me dealers don't check I.D. The "drug war" cost the U.S billions upon billions of dollars each year. You can check the drug war clock in real time at http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock. Why would you spend all the money each year on a war that's been going on for decades when the majority of the population believe will never be won. All that money could go to better use like giving addicts free rehabilitation.
 Looking back to the time of prohibition when alcohol was illegal, people then claimed to stop drinking because the without the sin of illegality it just wasn't "fun" anymore. Practically overnight mass shooting and crime related to underground liquor disappeared. Without the profit from alcohol people like Al Capone faded into history as a mere memory of America. By legalizing all drugs you open up a whole new category of workers and business man all paying taxes and being paid legal money in turn spending that money into our economy. Think about all the people that go into the distribution of alcohol, bartenders, waitresses, bar owners, executive distillers, etc. Drugs are the only reason traffickers are in business. Society needs to open up their eyes and see that the drug war is not working and hasn't worked for decades. There are millions of non-violent offenders still in our prisons being kept in bars like an animal because of possession charges. They are addicts and need society's help to get clean. If legalized AND decriminalized we can then focus on helping addicts overcome their addiction and change their lives. Prison won't help them, and even if they overcome their addiction they wont be able to get a good job and start a good career. A potential employer will do a basic background check and see that they have a drug charge and wont even give them a chance. If you would like to sign a petition to legalize drugs click here. The war on drugs should end and their should be a new war declared. The war on addiction. The first step in battling this foe should be to legalize and decriminalize all drugs to take out a major source of income for traffickers. With drug related crime and trafficking under control we can focus our attention on rehabilitating addicts. Its time America!
Drug Legalization = Drug Liberation!