History – Page 12 – Doug's Views

August 19, 2012April 18, 2020

To My Freethought Friends: You Are On Notice

Can’t we all just get along

There has been a serious issue with discussing diversity and sexual harassment within the freethought community. I have written a post or two about the matter and it seems that even a year since the biggest blowup – elevatorgate – the sexism and misogyny has not abated. It seems some immature boys can’t let go of the fact that their harassment is stupid and wrong. I’m declaring right now that I will quit any group that ignores or condones harassment and I will personally shun any person who harasses for any reason or continually makes excuses for such behavior. I didn’t come to this decision lightly but it seems some just can’t move forward and they are holding our freethought movement hostage. Enough is enough.

The other day on the Atheist Revolution blog there was a post about an Atheist blogger filing a DCMA complaint against another “Atheist” blog. The name of the blog is “Elevatorgate”. When I saw the site my jaw dropped. The entire site was devoted to Ad Hominem attacks on several bloggers and activists in the Freethought community who complained about diversity and sexual harassment in the movement and those who supported the bloggers who complained.

August 1, 2012April 18, 2020

If You Support LGBTs Then Don’t Spend Money That Will Be Used To Hurt Them

There has been a lot of ink and electrons spent about the controversy over Chick-fil-A and its CEO supporting anti-gay groups and causes. I’ve known for a couple of years that Chick-fil-A was not a friend of the LGBT community and have chosen not to spend my money at any of their stores. There has been the typical conservative backlash. My feeling is if you support LGBTs then don’t spend money that will be used to hurt them.

The controversy got started earlier in the month when owner Dan Cathy made public statements against gay marriage which also brought out the fact that the company donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups. The public relations dust up caused the Jim Henson company to pull out of a kids meal promotion and the outrage overflowed onto many articles in print and on the Internet from the LGBT community and its allies.

July 30, 2012April 18, 2020

‘You didn’t build that…’ not a new idea – ask Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Republicans went apoplectic when President Obama stated July 13th that people don’t build businesses in a vacuum. He said the government and indirectly all Americans help build those businesses. That idea isn’t a new one. Back in 2011 Elizabeth Warren expressed the same thoughts and it seems that even founding father Thomas Paine stated that idea in a pamphlet published in 1795.

As a reminder here is what President Obama actually said on July 13th:

July 17, 2012April 18, 2020

Boy Scout’s Anti-LGBT Policy Drips With Religious Right Bigotry Code Words

On June 7th the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) reaffirmed their policy to deny membership to LGBT people. There was a chance they would reconsider but the consensus of a secret committee decided it was “absolutely the best policy” for the organization. Once again religious right bigotry trumps the actual American values that the BSA claims it is teaching to the boys.

July 11, 2012April 18, 2020

Your Extended Power Outage Might Not Be Just Due To A Storm

Downed power lines Hamilton Rd Columbus Ohio June 2012

On Friday June 29th our area experienced a severe storm with 80 mph winds that knocked out power for over 600,000 American Electric Power (AEP) customers in Ohio and it took a week or more to get the power back on. AEP claimed the storm was more than their system could handle with the amount of damage not seen since the remnant of Hurricane Ike passed through in 2008. There might be another explanation as to why restoration is taking so long in recent years. Power companies seem to be more interested in profits over service and they want you to pay for their cost cutting.

The storm that blew on June 29th is called a derecho: