Razing Arizona

Just when we think we're making some progress in this country with our 'gay agenda', this crawls out from under a desert rock like a scorpion to sting you in the ass.  Last week, The Arizona House voted 33-27 to give its approval to a bill (already approved by it's Senate) that would allow businesses to refuse service to gays (among others) based on their religious beliefs.  The bill is sitting on Governor Jan Brewer's desk to be signed or vetoed by week's end. 

According to the bill, it would allow businesses sued in a civil case to claim they have a legal right to not provide service to an individual or group because it would “substantially burden’’ their freedom of religion.  Supporters claim that this bill is not targeted at gays and it's not about discrimination, it's about preventing discrimination against people who are clearly 'living out their faith'.  Wait... what?  So, it's not about them discriminating against everyone else... it's about everyone else attacking them?  Opponents say this bill may also open the door to discriminate based on race, familial status, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability, as well, and that it permits discrimination under the guise of religious freedom.  Similar religious protection legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma, but Arizona’s plan is the only one that has passed so far.  And, oddly, even the businesspeople of Arizona don't want this bill passed because they don't want to be involved in lawsuits and see loss of business.  The tourism board is already seeing people cancel their plans for next years Super Bowl, of which Arizona is hosting, and a company that would have been hiring 1000 local people backed out of moving into the area because of the bill.

Personally, this not only disgusts me, it puzzles me.  Someone please give me an example of how the Christian religious (the ones pushing the bill) are discriminated against throughout their day, let alone in a retail establishment.  First of all, if anyone should be backing this bill, it should be all the other religions in America that Christians discriminate against on a daily basis... the religions that aren't allowed to 'live out their faith' because it's not the Christian way... the ones they belittle and protest and picket at every chance they get.  And how, as a gay man coming in to buy a Big Mac, does that infringe, discriminate against or threaten someone's religion freedom?

The problem with the religious is that they don't even follow the true message of Jesus and just can't be happy that they have found the eternal light and salvation or whatever the hell else they are bribed with or promised for their contribution towards the priest's Lincoln Continental.  Instead, they poke and prod and rile everyone else with their absurdities and antiquated ways of thinking, sticking their noses in everyone else's business, until there can't help be a backlash.  It reminds me of the scenario where, if you rattle a bee's nest and you get stung, you have no one to blame but yourself.  If they feel discriminated against (which is laughable), it's because they have brought it on themselves because everyone is sick of hearing them force their beliefs down everyone else's throats.  This is no different than the controversy that surrounds Christmas... they refuse to acknowledge anyone else's beliefs to the point that others have to get forceful to stand their ground and all of a sudden, there's a war on Christmas.  They are the victims.

I get it, it's a scary world when you have to start thinking for yourself because the 'Church' as you know it is crumbling around you and you realize that the world has changed and you are still in the 1950's.   Newsflash:  This is 2014, some 65 years later... the Bible isn't the law of the land, it's the man-made book that your club uses and not everyone's a member.  Your cult leader didn't write the Constitution and our founding fathers didn't want religion anywhere near our laws.  Membership in your club doesn't give you the right to discriminate any more than did membership in the KKK.  There's no difference.

I travel quite a good deal in the southwest, but will avoid Arizona like the plague in the future if this bill passes.  Between building the mile-high wall to 'protect' the border and now this, one thing is clear... there should be a wall around Arizona not only to protect us, but to protect it from itself.  I would, however, love to be sitting there sipping a coffee when an Atheist/gay/Muslim-owned business denies service to a Christian... that would be the show of shows to watch.  Hypocrisy, showing on the big screen.  There would be no bad seats.  It would be a shot heard around the world.

Let The Sun Shine

Coming from an area like Pittsburgh, we have a wide array of weather situations here along with varying topographical landscapes and foliage, so we are lucky in that way to have variety.  When you're used to sunny and cloudy and snowy and rainy, it's hard to get used to all sun, as I had to do when I lived in Vegas for awhile.  I remember feeling almost claustrophobic, longing for some sort of change in the weather from the normal sunny and 100 degree dry heat.  I used to drive about an hour to Mt. Charleston, and on the half hour ascent up the mountain, you could watch the vegetation change and the temperature drop 40 degrees from where you started on the desert floor.  Pittsburgh, at 59 clear days of sunshine per year, pales in comparison to both Las Vegas and Phoenix at around 210 days, which is why I suppose they just opened the world's largest solar thermal plant 45 miles west of Vegas in the Mojave Desert.

At a cost of $2.2 billion, it utilizes 350,000 mirrors (each about the size of a garage door) to reflect the sun to a 459 foot boiler tower, which makes steam and then turns turbines to create electricity and is transported via electrical lines to some 140,000 homes.  And while coal costs roughly $100 per unit to produce, this type of solar is about 2.5 times that to produce, but has a far less impact on the environment.

The President has made it one of his second term goals to reduce carbon emissions and the government has set aside 17 'solar zones' in 6 southwestern states... Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and California.  These states were chosen because of the limited environmental impact this technology would have in these areas.  One of the problems they have seen is how it affects the wildlife, from upending turtles to birds being burned to death when they fly near the area, where temperatures can reach 1000 degrees.  Environmentalists are up in arms over this and some are protesting.  While there are going to be downsides to any technology, some might say that the impact is minor compared to some of the other energy industries and their fallout, such as oil spills, carbon emissions from coal and related chemical spills such as the ones in West Virginia recently as well as what natural gas fracking is doing to the water supply.

The industry employs about 140,000 people over 6,100 companies and has shown a 20% increase since 2012.  Solar thermal is different from rooftop solar in that the panels on the roof collect the sun and convert it to energy used for that particular household, rather than just reflecting the sun in this technology.  Germany, said to be the leader in solar energy at this point, undoubtedly utilizes solar power much more than we do, even though we have almost 4000% more sun in the United States.  I'm guessing that they don't have oil and gas lobbyists running their country like we do and Germans aren't as clumsy and selfish when it comes to impacting the earth, turning an ignorant, blind eye to conservation and preservation like we do.

In light of our recent drastic weather conditions and scientific proof (otherwise known as 'facts'), it's clear that global warming ('climate change', for stupid people who don't take the time to read about how it doesn't exactly mean that the weather is getting warmer, but rather, how temperature increases can affect temperatures in other areas via the air streams, etc., including the producing of colder weather) is definitely a concern.  98% of scientists agree.  Technology proves it.  They are facts.  It always kills me to hear Republicans (mostly) calling it a hoax... even if it was a hoax, what would be the benefit of those spreading the hoax?  To make money off new technology?  So is it just that providers of fossil fuel (we'll call them rapists, to be honest) are mad that they won't get to 'rape' us via the prices that they hold us hostage?  That they won't get to suck off the government's subsides teat any more?  And that it's better to kill the planet to line their own pockets?  Some day, the only green we will see will be money, which will have no value next to a bottle of water or a scrap of burned bird jerky.

Cupid's Got a Shotgun and He's Aiming For My Heart

It's that time of year, with Valentine's Day fast approaching... love is in the air (and, completely unrelated, so is the flu).  The roots of Valentine's Day go all the way back to an ancient Roman fertility festival held in mid-February, called Lupercalia.  Later, the Christian Church chose February 14th for St. Valentine's Day to Christianize the celebration (wow, yet another holiday stolen).  While there were several Christian clerics named Valentine, one of them was sentenced to death by stoning and be-heading (they don't tell you that in the greeting cards) for performing marriages in secret after Emperor Claudius II banned marriage for young Romans, thinking that single men would make better soldiers.  Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as the day to celebrate the soft-hearted Valentine in the 5th Century.  It wasn't until the 1300's that the holiday became associated with love and romance and it was thought back then that February 14th began the birds mating season, as well.  The first written Valentines greetings showed up in the 15th century, and by the 17th century, England began the tradition of exchanging cards or letters.  In the 1840's, the first mass-produced holiday cards emerged and it soon exploded into the major industry it is today.

The myth and legend of Cupid, son of Venus, started about 3000 years ago in Greece, except they called him Eros (which is where 'erotic' is derived).  Supposedly, he was so handsome that he could get both Gods and humans under his love spell, shooting them with his gold-tipped arrows (lead-tipped for 'hate').  The bow and arrow signifies how love wounds and inflames the heart.  The Romans were the one that dubbed him 'Cupid' (Latin for 'desire') and artists painted him as a baby angel, and the image stuck, sometimes with a blindfold to show that love is blind, and winged to show that love is flighty and changes swiftly.

More than 62% of Americans celebrate Valentine's Day by giving cards, flowers and gifts.  An estimated 1 billion cards are sent each year, more than on any holiday except Christmas.  Some 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold and 220 million roses produced just for the occasion. In America, an estimated 20 billion dollars are spent, or an average of $130 per person.  And while cards and candy are the most popular gifts, jewelry is also high on the list.

Personally, I don't stress over having someone in my life for Valentine's Day.  Just because you kiss a bunch of frogs doesn't mean you'll find your Prince.  Often times, I do something to treat myself... a splurge, if you will.  Maybe with my favorite dessert (or a slab of bacon) or by grabbing a few movies and running a nice bath in the tub and enjoying a nice evening with some lit candles.  Of course, it's always nice to have someone there to share it with you... to kiss and cuddle up with... but you can't define love only with someone else...  you first have to love yourself and be ok with being by yourself, otherwise, when it's your turn to be shot by Cupid's arrow, you'll not be the best you can be and love will flee.