Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted decided to support recent GOP talking points to justify suppressing the vote. In a letter sent to President Obama, Husted claims the President’s executive action to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation will lead to voter fraud. Too bad Husted’s previous comments and actions contradict his letter. I guess he hopes we all have brain damage and won’t remember what he said before.
The Wrangler, the best selling nameplate for Jeep, which has been produced in Toledo Ohio for decades, might be produced elsewhere. Fiat Chrysler (FCA) owns Jeep and at the end of last year CEO Sergio Marchionne indicated that it might move Wrangler production due to changes in the model planned for 2017. On Monday, Marchionne pretty much asked for a payoff in order to keep the Wrangler in Toledo.
In his remarks at the 2015 Automotive News World Congress, in Detroit, Marchionne stated how FCA’s concern about keeping Wrangler production in Toledo could go away:
The massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris this week showed the breadth and width of views and comments on ridiculing religion. A lot of Muslims think that killing someone who ridicules their religion is a good thing while other Muslims and non-muslims don’t think that is rational. Of course you have some people who want to blame the victims for their own deaths or complain that Charlie Hebdo was being racist. Ideas should be allowed to be expressed even if those ideas are stupid and need to be ridiculed.
Comedian and atheist Bill Maher said in a recent interview:
The news came out the other day that Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen in living in the Cincinnati area had died after getting hit by a truck on I-71 near her home. Later it was found out that Leelah had committed suicide. I have never been able to wrap my head around the use of suicide as a solution for change. The real sad part for me is she didn’t have to die to bring attention to the issue of support for transgender teens.
Leelah’s story is heartbreaking even without the suicide. She wanted to transition to female and her parents, who were very religious, resisted Leelah’s wishes. They even sent her to Christian therapists to force her to live the way they wanted her to live. In her suicide note she said she had no real friends and no escape from her depressing life.
On Christmas Eve, a letter to the editor in the Coloradoan newspaper caught my eye. Titled ‘Democrats force secular-humanist views’ kind of gave away the view point of the letter writer. The letter gives a good example of faulty irrational thinking and is a good opportunity to show how one can debunk such thinking.
Here is the letter that was published on 12/24 (emphasis is mine):