| Political Podcast & Blog | Asheville News & Sports

Following the law

Kim Davis

Kim Davis was holding fast to her beliefs. Good for her. I’m proud of her. I think that if you believe in something you should stick to it. Unfortunately, you also need to think about your job choices. If you don’t belief in violence, you probably shouldn’t be a Navy Seal. Kim Davis should have known that gay marriage was going to be the law of the land. I could see the writing on the wall. Why couldn’t she? She should have had a plan. Her plan shouldn’t be to defy the law of the land. Instead, she should have held a press conference and stated her beliefs and then resigned.

Look, this isn’t an attack on Christianity. It simply isn’t. This is an attack on someone who has decided to defy the law. If you break the law you go to jail. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said, “Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country.” This is simply wrong. The statement is wrong. I’m a Christian and I don’t feel under attack.

When you sit back and look at the Bible, I mean really study the Bible, Jesus is telling us to take care of the poor. He is telling us to love our neighbors. He is telling us to love and obey God. If you read the Bible and think one of the most important tenets of Jesus’ teachings has to do with gay marriage, you have read the Bible incorrectly. Read it again. There are at most four or five passages that may have something to do with gay marriage or homosexuality. (Personally, I don’t think that any of those passages have squat to do with homosexuality. I think that the passages have to do with obeying God.) If you are Christian then you believe that Jesus came to earth to clarify the Old Testament. When you look at the red words… the words of Jesus, what did he say about homosexuality? Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. I rest my case.

Ms. Davis needs to resign. She has become a hero to the Right. She can join Sarah Palin on the lecture circuit.

By ecthompsonmd|2015-09-09T12:38:12-04:00September 4th, 2015|Civil Rights, Ethics, Religion|6 Comments

News Roundup – Malaysian airliner, Russia, Rick Warren

I’m sorry, but I have a significant problem with all of the media coverage of this missing Malaysia airliner. It would be different if we actually had some information or news. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any new information in over two weeks. It was over two weeks ago that we learned this airliner was missing. Currently, that’s all we know. We have people who have seen debris here and seen debris there … so far, the debris has turned out to be nothing. We have wild speculation that the Chinese government has somehow done something nefarious. Maybe they have. I don’t know. All I know is the ratio of speculation to the facts is way too high for me to follow the story with any bit of intellectual curiosity. This is a tragedy. In this great big world of ours there are millions of tragedies which happen every day. Maybe the problem is our 24/7 news cycle. Maybe the problem is that we have instant answers with smart phones and Google now. CNN, a company which has made a living over the last 30 years of jumping from one disaster to another, seems to be leading the charge of wild speculation.

The tug-of-war between the United States, the EU and Russia continues. The G7 met yesterday and voted to exclude Russia from future meetings. The G8 was planning on meeting in Sochi, Russia later on this year, but this meeting has been canceled. It appears that the G7 will continue to put financial pressure on Russia. Investors and their money may be leaving Russia.

Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of several best-selling religious books decided to write a piece for the Washington Post on contraception. Of course, the Supreme Court is now deliberating over the Affordable Care Act and the contraception mandate. I would like to take just a second to look at the first several paragraphs of his op-ed. Pastor Warren opens with a flurry of questions – “Does our Constitution guarantee freedom of religion, or does it merely allow a more limited freedom to worship? The difference is profound. Worship is an event. Religion is a way of life.” Anybody who studies the Constitution knows that there are no freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution which are absolute. All of our freedoms have some limits. The classic example is freedom of speech. We simply can’t say anything, anywhere, at any time. For example, you can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater if the theater is in fact not on fire. Specifically, this could cause undue injury to other theatergoers. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2014-03-25T20:03:17-04:00March 25th, 2014|Foreign Affairs, Religion|8 Comments

News Roundup – Bob McDonnell, cold weather, California drought, Syrian peace talks

California Dought

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife have been charged with dozens of counts of accepting gifts and loans. Of course, he says he’s innocent. In my mind, this is a big deal. Bob McDonnell was on the fast track to the White House. He was young and energetic and extremely conservative. He had the whole package. Cracks in his exterior began to surface early. He was given a wonderful platform, rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union address, in which he failed to capitalize. I don’t think that anyone thought that his performance was stellar. Anyway, one of the back stories to this whole ordeal is the fact that former Governor McDonnell was having financial troubles when he moved into the governor’s mansion.

A huge Arctic blast is hitting the Northeast. From North Carolina all the way to Connecticut we’ve seen large snowfall and Arctic temperatures. Everyone, please be careful. Please drive safely. Please be smart.

Once again, California is in the middle of an awful, desperate drought. Governor Jerry Brown has announced water restrictions. Water restrictions are a temporary solution for a long-term problem. It is like placing a Band-Aid on an ulcer which is really cancer. The Band-Aid is a temporary solution. Simply put, California needs more water. I don’t think it’s reasonable for us to transport water from other parts of the country to California. We’ve tried that and, again, it was a temporary solution. We need a more permanent solution. Since we don’t know how to control the weather, the only solution that seems reasonable is desalination, removing salt from seawater. With California’s huge agricultural industry, this is a national problem and not only a problem for California. We need to sit down with smart people and figure out the quickest and safest way to begin desalination. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2014-01-22T20:58:21-04:00January 22nd, 2014|Environment, Party Politics, Religion|4 Comments