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Hate Behind the Mask of Religion

In October 2001, a group of nonprofits in Utah sponsored a conference entitled Hate Behind the Mask of Religion.  I attended that conference and have periodically referred to the contents over the...

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Hate Behind the Mask of Religion: About That Standing Ovation For Charles Worley

Hat tip to John Aravosis at Americablog for catching this one.So a week after delivering a sermon calling for gay people to be put into concentration camps, pig ignorant bigot Charles Worley got a...

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Judge Orders "Eye For an Eye" Punishment: But was it justice?

The story itself bothers me.  Two teenage girls befriended a 3 year old while she was at a McDonald's playland, then cut off a huge chunk of the three year old's hair.  They were identified and sent to...

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Nixon's Ghost, Missed Opportunities and Political Gridlock

I've long thought that American politics - and economics - went sideways in the 1970s and we've never recovered.  The ghost of Richard Nixon continues to haunt American politics.  Nixon's resignation...

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I feel like I'm driving through Mordor

For the last week, the Facebook posts and communications from friends and family in Colorado have grown increasingly worried as wildfires consume vast chunks of the state.  The weather remains hot and...

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Things That Need to Change: Punitive Attitudes Toward the Poor

A nice catch by my friend Gina Cornia, of Utahns Against Hunger.A recent article from New Orleans included a photo of a boy living in the projects who happened to own an iPad.  As you can imagine, all...

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Things to think about: Food Justice

For reasons I'll explain at another time, I've spent the last few weeks alternating between a vegetarian (melted cheese is tempting - evil and possibly addictive) and a vegan diet.  There have been...

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Creating An Inclusive Society

The Inclusion Center of Utah, formerly NCCJ Utah, hosts an annual adult residential retreat known as the Inclusion Summit.  I had the opportunity to attend this year's summit, at Camp Tuttle in Big...

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Seriously - this Chick-Fil-A Nonsense Won't Go Away

Crossposted at OneUtah.Hatin' the gays and eatin' fried food.  That's what passes for patriotism for way too many Americans(watch this video of people singing God Bless America while waiting in at...

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An Epidemic of Hostility Toward Religion or an Epidemic Christian Cry-babies?

The Family Research Council (a group the SPLC identified as a hate group for its ongoing use of lies, distortions and untruths about glbt persons) and Liberty Institute, another right wing...

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All Wheel Drive and Cup-Holders

The popularity of the SUV fascinates me.  The size of the average family is smaller today than at any other time in American history.  Yet, our houses and our cars are bigger.  A family with two kids...

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A Somber Speech for Serious Times

President Obama's acceptance speech last night is being appraised as not one of his best speeches.  It lacked the soaring poetry of his 2004 keynote, it didn't have the eloquent, rousing universalism...

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Mitt Romney: Wobbling From His Carefully Constructed Equilibrium

The Mitt Romney who is running for president simply cannot be the same Mitt Romney who ran Bain or even the Olympics.  The Mitt Romney who did those things had to be clear, decisive, and gaffe free....

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Getting Lost in the Woods is Optional

As a resident of Salt Lake, I live a short drive from national forests and wilderness areas.  The mountains of Utah are some of the most beautiful country you'll ever see.  However, on a regular basis,...

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Gay Men and Our Bodies and Our Selves: Some Thoughts on Acceptance of Self...

I read this articleat HuffPo in which the author, Jacob Tobia, issued this call:Gay men of the world, I think it's time that we stop trying to make the world love us through our bodies and start loving...

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Does a Candidate's Religion Matter?

And if so, in what ways?In 2008, Republicans did everything they could to make Barack Obama's religion an issue.  Fox had 30 seconds of Jeremiah Wright on endless loop for ages.  This year, with Mitt...

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A Good Idea About Sexuality Education from a Utah Republican?

Cross-posted at OneUtah.Utah State Senator Stuart Reid (R-Ogden) recently floated a proposalthat would create a program to educate parents about sexuality in the belief they would turn around and teach...

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Fundamentalism Feeding Polarization

In an article at Alternet,Katherine Stewart observes:There is an obvious answer, and it is, in a sense, staring you in the face every time you watch a political debate or read about the latest antics...

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Government isn't a business

About a decade ago, Washington Monthly published an article comparing the decision making styles of the Bush administration (dominated by the business mindset) and the Clinton administration.  The...

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Our Multidimensional Crisis: Institutional Breakdown

The signs are all around us - our crisis continues to deepen and to engulf us in its complexity.Manuel Castells, in the introduction to The Power of Identity:   The Iraq invasion was the return of the...

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Can the Christian Church Become Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist, and Anti-Homophobic?

Please note, I'm using the term homophobic to indicate bias against sexual minorities; the terms heterosexism (bias against non-heterosexual persons) and genderism (attitudes, conditions, or behaviors...

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Walk Away From the Negotiation Table - do it now

Back in the day, my mother was an antiques dealer.  She got great stuff and great deals at yard sales.  Her trick was to pile up everything she wanted, offer a price.  If they rejected it flat out,...

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Children are Often Oppressed in Religious Households

"Children are often oppressed in religious households"; when I read that line in Mark Galli's op-edover the weekend, I literally stopped reading mid-sentence.  Here's the whole passage:   But the fact...

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College Life, Rape and Public Discourse

I've been struggling with this topic for a few days.  I posted this originally at One Utah.There's a major discussion happening right now about sexual assault on college campuses (i.e. it's made the NY...

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"Nobody Knew"

FWIW, I've been sitting on this diary for almost a month, debating whether or not to publish it.For most of the last two years, I've been dealing with depression.  At first, I tried to manage it - you...

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The Age of Disruption: Impact on the Military Industrial Complex

Also posted at OneUtah.Watching conservatives oppose military intervention in Syria has been entertaining to say the least.  We all know that if the occupants of the White Hosue were a Republican,...

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Affordable Care Act, Misinformation, Disinformation and Blinding Panic

This month, millions of Americans will receive letters from their employers explaining the state health insurance marketplaces (formerly known as exchanges).  I know because my job required me to send...

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No, The Republicans Have Not Gone Crazy (even though their tactics look crazy)

Well they actually did it - they shut down the government.  The howler monkeys also known as House Republicans got their wish.  They're making their principled stand to end the scourge of America also...

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The Republican Base is the Identified Patient in our National Family System

The American right has transformed from conservative to reactionary to revanchist in an incredibly short period of time.  Today's Republican base voters feel a toxic mix of anger, frustration, and...

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Are We Doing Young Persons a Disservice by Teaching them No Means No?

I've been teaching sexuality education to teens for a decade now.  In that time, I've seen a huge shift in the way young women respond to the issue of date rape, although almost no change in the way...

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Privilege, Sexuality and Date Rape

My earlier post (Are We Doing Young Persons a Disservice by Teaching them No Means No?) garnered over 380 comments.  When I had a chance to delve into the comments, I found myself wanting a graphic...

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Why do we collectively create results nobody wants?

Despite having a wealth of knowledge and skills, we keep collectively creating results nobody wants.  To me, that reality is the biggest problem of our era.  Whether it's governmental systems that...

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Shared Ideological Ground Between The Militia Movement and the Tea Party

I'm sure some very smart person has written about this topic and I didn't see it.  What the heck, I'll plunge boldly ahead.Manuel Castells' three volume study The Information Age: Economy, Society and...

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Are conservative Christians harmed by compliance with nondiscrimination laws?

Are conservative Christians harmed by compliance with nondiscrimination laws?   It's a more complex question than it appears at first blush.I'm glad I don't have to adjudicate any of these cases.  Like...

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Utah Marriage Equality Update

Here's a great photo gallery of the couples waiting in Salt Lake County to marry.  I'm hearing that couples in Cache, Davis, Grand, Morgan, Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele, Washington and Weber counties are...

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Utah County Clerk Goes Full On George Wallace - in a very Utah way

No surprises there, really.  The Attorney General's office said:A spokesman for the Utah Attorney General’s Office says that while his office isn’t advising county clerks at this time, the law now...

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Is marriage equality good for the whole community or mostly just gay white men?

I've been thinking about the question of "Who benefits from marriage equality?" for a while.  I recognize that I'm wading into deep water here and I hope it doesn't get over my head.  As I've been...

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America's Political Autism and Obama's ISIS Response

The President's approach to ISIS is a symptom of national failure, intellectual, institutional and leadership fatigue engulfing the US.  The idea that we can do something, anything, about ISIS is an...

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Kim Davis and the Religious Right's Perpetual Culture War

The basic outline of this drama could have been predicted (and was predicted) months ago - someone objects to same-sex couples marrying; in their business or government position they refuse to issue...

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The Purity Culture's Stew of Terror and Misinformation Boils Over

I've been trying to make sense of the antics on display at the Omaha Public School hearing about making changes to their thirty year old sexuality education program.It had the hallmarks of a moral...

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The Deviousness Within The Mormon's Church's Recent Policy Change

Last week, the Mormon church announced a change in policy with regard to children being raised by same-sex couples. The basic policy itself sounds anodyne — children of same-sex couples have to wait...

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Is anyone surprised an anti-abortion Republican is afraid of research into...

To be honest, there are so many gob-smacking details in the story it's difficult to know which deserve the most mockery.Let's start by noting that the Missouri state senator involved is chair of the...

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We know how to do what we have to do

We’ve been here before — from 2003 to 2007, George W. Bush was President and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. We know what to do — organize, protest, VOTE, and work the system from every...

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Apartheid Calculus or Utterly Amoral? North Carolina Republicans Post...

I've been trying to make sense of the power grab by North Carolina Republicans.The basic outline of their power grab is that having lost two key statewide races (governor and state supreme court),...

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The Failure of Republican Health Care "Reform" Is a Sign of Bad Things to Come

Despite the fact that it deserved to fail, the failure of the Republicans' American Health Care Act (AHCA) is a bad thing.The bill was horrible - Obamacare 0.5, a giant "screw you" to anyone not rich,...

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The Immediate Liberal Project; Building a New Party System

Donald Trump's minority presidency is a return to form for the Sixth Party system. Every aspect of his presidency is the same in form if not degree with presidents dating back to Richard Nixon. Trump's...

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About that "orchestra" comment . . .

When I was a child, my mother and I watched the film Playing For Time, starring Vanessa Redgrave, based on the autobiographical book by Fania Fenelon The Musicians of Auschwitz.  I was 11 at the time...

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Firing a Pastor, Impeaching This President - same problem, same solution

In  2014/5, I was chair of the church council at my congregation.  I had to lead the church through the painful and difficult process of firing our pastor. We also requested a professional review in...

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The Chaos is the Point

Let’s play a game.You and I are competing. Let’s say we play in a community soccer league. Your team is better than mine. You have stronger, more aggressive players and you beat us bad.Since I can’t...

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The Supply Chain is Way More Complex Than You Think It Is and It's Way More...

(Image found at www.newdesignfile.com/...)For most of my career (over 20 years now), I’ve worked for distributors. I spend a significant amount of my time thinking about supply chain — how it works,...

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