Doug's Views – Page 45 – Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist

April 21, 2013April 18, 2020

Separating fact from fiction for the Boston and Texas tragedies

famous image of Police going into action after Boston Marathon bombing

Police go into action after Boston Marathon bombing

It was a rough week for a lot people last week. Two bombs were set off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. A fertilizer plant blew up in Texas on Wednesday. The manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects heated up early Friday morning then concluded with the final suspect captured Friday evening. It is still early in these events and we don’t have all the information but I wanted to share some thoughts on the week where the known facts don’t match what is being said by other people.

April 16, 2013April 18, 2020

How Not To Write A News Story About Rape

The home page for my browser shows the news feed for Yahoo News. Imagine my shock when a front page story’s headline talked of the family of a victim of an “alleged rape” filing a civil lawsuit for wrongful death against the suspects after she had committed suicide. Luckily the article wasn’t a news report but a blog post about a news story because this was an excellent example of how not to write a news story about rape.

April 9, 2013April 18, 2020

Christian Business Owner Reneges On Agreement To Allow Camp Quest Fundraiser

Camp Quest Oklahoma set up a fundraiser at a BBQ restaurant in Broken Arrow. Ten percent of food and beverage proceeds would be donated to Camp Quest. The restaurant even signed off on the flyer people would use to initiate the donation. Just as the event was to take place, the owner pulled the plug because Camp Quest’s “beliefs” did not align with the Christian philosophy of his business. It didn’t matter the group didn’t hide its “beliefs”, the owner just didn’t like the fact that Camp Quest caters to atheist, agnostic, and freethinking families.

Text of the notice posted at the time the fundraiser was to take place:

April 8, 2013April 18, 2020

Holocaust Remembrance Day: Heeding The Warning Signs

Eternal flame at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

April 8th 2013 is Holocaust Remembrance Day (aka Yom HaShoah) and begins the ‘The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust’ here in the United States. This year’s theme is Never Again: Heeding The Warning Signs which is a good idea no matter the reasons. Just as humans are capable of great kindness, we are also capable of great evil. We all need to heed the warning signs to try to prevent an immense evil like the Holocaust from happening again.

April 6, 2013April 18, 2020

Obama’s Grand Bargain Nothing New

Speaker John Boehner and President Obama

The media heated up on Friday reporting that President Obama’s new budget deal will include cuts to Social Security and Medicare (GASP!!!!). It was reported that the “left” exploded at the idea of cuts to earned benefits. If the media would do their jobs they would know the President has been offering these “cuts” for a couple of years now and the Republicans have always refused the offer because they don’t want to increase taxes. They don’t want the President to have a win of any kind. Right now there is a lot more heat than flame.