Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
The Ohio GOP war on women continues as Attorney General Mike DeWine quickly does the bidding of Ohio Right to Life when Toledo’s last abortion clinic successfully complied with one of the state’s draconian anti-abortion laws. The forced birth crew is now trying to change the rules yet again.
White conservatives, led by FOX ‘news’, have tried to spin the Charleston shooting as an attack on Christians. It continues their effort to marginalize and trivialize African-Americans and their experiences. Of course the issue this time isn’t debatable. Don’t let white conservatives try and distract from the real reasons for the shooting.
The evidence for this being a terrorist attack on blacks comes from the mouth of the shooter himself:
For the first time in 16 years, a Findlay police officer shot and killed a suspect. When the press asked if there was body camera or dashboard camera footage of the stop the police said no. Findlay Police don’t have cameras and Mayor Lydia Mihalik said cameras are not cost effective. Obviously the Mayor has a short sighted view of cameras for police officers.
Editor Note: I will say first off that I am not hating on the Findlay Police Department. The incident on Tuesday is still under investigation so I have no reason at this time not believe the official version of events. My concern, in the current climate of eroding trust in the police in general, that body or dashboard cameras would add accountability and would improve citizen trust in the police here in Findlay. I disagree with the Mayor’s position on cameras.
Being a Humanist and an atheist, I get exposed to a range of views on religion. On the strict atheist side I hear about how religion should be left in the dustbin of history while on the Humanist side I tend to hear that religion is just pretty words that make people feel good. I’ve always found the idea that religion is just pretty words to be at best naive and ignores the reality in the world.
Last Wednesday, Reza Aslan, writer and scholar of religious studies, was on the Daily Show for an interview.
State Rep. Robert Sprague, R-Findlay, is using the typical Ohio GOP trick of adding terrible legislation to the state budget so the nasty part can’t be repealed through a referendum. The terrible law he doesn’t want to expose to the ballot box? Extra rules on the placement of community drug addiction recovery homes. Which is ironic because addressing drug abuse is one of Sprague’s causes he trumpets in his press releases and through normally introduced legislation.