Respect for Marriage

 Well, according to some people, we have passed the Hump day, Wednesday is now in the past.  I got up extra early this morning, not because I have big plans, rather both dogs decided they needed to go 'potty outside' at 10 minutes of 5.  So, this is getting written a lot earlier, as well.  Keep in mind that even though I am scheduled to work, at this hour I have absolutely no problem in going back to bed for a nice little early morning nap.

I finished painting the trim in the new laundry room yesterday.  The walls are next.  Knowing my penchant for bold colors, I'm, going to shock everyone by going with a pastel.  The room is small.  Painting the walls something shockingly deep would make the space smaller.  Eventually, I will bring that color out into the bathroom.  That won't happen until after I remove a sunflower boarder.  

I went to see Wakanda Forever, last evening.  It was good... though I thought a little too long.  Too much emoting over the death of Chadwick Boseman.  The film was very entertaining, though I had pretty ascertained before sitting down how the plot line needed to go.  I would not be remiss in saying Wakanda Forever is about life, and death, and the transitions we all go through after death, how the finality of won life leads to both anger and grief.  For those hating subtitles, be forewarned there are quite a few, however they are in different colors, depending upon the language being spoken.

Two things of importance yesterday:  the Republicans took control of the House by a slim margin.  Will they reflect upon the midterms and the red tsunami they were expecting and act accordingly, or will they squander their tiny advantage by being petty is up in the air right now.  I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being petty.  By now, that might be part of their DNA.

The second thing was the Respect for Marriage Act, which, with help of 12 Republican Senators, passed the filibuster hurdle in the Senate.  There will be a second, and final vote, that's almost certain to pass.  A majority of Americans have no problem with this, however, a number of Cracker Jack Crazies are flipping shit burgers over the idea that couples, black, white, and brown, whether male and male, female and female, or male and female will be able to legally decide how they want to share their lives.  This is probably the essence of Freedom of Religion, that your beliefs allow marriage between two individuals no matter what their genders.  Many Evangelicals hate this.  They want America to follow a Christian path that they dictate.  This is a freedom they despise.  It takes away their control.  Thinking minds make choices and they don't want anybody to think, just live a life of rote.  I believe the final vote might be as soon as tomorrow.  At that time, their choke hold on America will be weaker.  That is a very good thing.

The Truth

So, did everybody have a nice Christmas?  Quiet?  Fun filled?  Mine was both.  The dogs each got a toy; Lily will play with them, Biggie probably not.  That doesn't mean he won't walk around with one of them in his mouth or lay on top of one to prove ownership.  The weather here in Central PA was fairly meh.  Drizzle until mid-afternoon, and then rain, with a high in the 50's (F).

I didn't hit the treadmill yesterday, not did I put any miles in on the bike.  I will compensate today, even though I'm scheduled to work.  Yepper, I'm supposed to be at the Flooring Desk from 1330 until 1900.  Those 5.5 hours are going to be excruciatingly slow.  Fear not, I shall endure knowing that I'm not scheduled to work again until Thursday.

Later on this morning I'll be hitting the treadmill while watching this.  Treaders, who's worked in Switzerland, has probably already been to Bern.  I haven't, so this will have to make do.

I have been thinking quite a lot about the Universe and how it shatters any theology claiming to have a deity responsible for it's creation.  Keep in mind, these theologies were developed when mankind believed the Earth was not only flat, but was indeed the center of the Universe.  I would have thought someone would have told these theologians our solar system is actually located on the spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.  Oops.  So much for divine knowledge.   

I also found this nifty little article on how a certain group believes Religious Freedom only applies to Right Wing political agendas.  One of these groups is being sued because an employee chose to wear a mask, claiming it was his religious freedom.  He was eventually terminated from his position because his religious freedom was as important as his employer's religious freedom.  Kind of sounds like hypocrisy, don't it?

Tit for Tat?

Well, from everything I've been reading, it looks as though the Idiot in the White House is going to be signing another Executive Order tomorrow, the dreaded Religious Freedom Order.  I have no doubt that this is his Tit for Tat.  I don't even question it because he's such a small minded man.  He's petty.  His budget got kicked to September, the Democrats pretty much dictated what they wanted and... get this... he signed it.  He approved 'no boarder wall.'  In fact, there are a whole bunch of "no's"  in there that he wanted, and in his mind it's payback time.  He's going to make the majority pay by allowing a minority sect of Christianity discriminate against... gays, because they don't like gay marriage.  But rest assured, this order allows them to discriminate against more than just gays.  If you're a devout Evangelical you believe Catholics worship idols... well, this order is going to let you treat them like shit... and get away with it.  If you're dark complected and might a Muslim... "we're sorry, we don't serve you here."  The same thing goes with Hindi's, I mean, holy crap, Hindi's have more than one god!  And you never know, every Asian out there just might be a Buddhist.  Which is why this thing will be signed and then head off towards the Supreme Court where they're praying Gorsuch will give it his nod of approval.

The sticking point for the might be the fact that even though Gorsuch's a social conservative, he's also a constitutionalist, meaning that his interpretation would have to be that "Freedom of Religion" applies only to Christianity.  I suspect this hot potato will be punted back to the courts, which means he's going to resort to more tit for tat.  One of these days the Idiot might understand that America is growing tired of him shaking his sagging, old man boobs every time things don't go his, and that's just going to piss him off more.