The plight of private business in New Mexico

Apparently, in New Mexico, private business owners have no rights to serve whomever they choose and not to serve whomever they choose. Let me set up the story.

A photographer in Albuquerque was asked to shoot the wedding of a lesbian couple. (Gay marriage is not legal in New Mexico, but there is a statute that says a marriage performed in another state or country that is legal in that state will be recognized in New Mexico as valid) The photographer declined to take the job saying she only photographed traditional weddings and would not photograph a gay wedding.

The couple in questions reported the photographer to the New Mexico Human Rights Commission and the commission found that the photographer had discriminated against the couple and ordered her to pay nearly $7,000 in attorney’s fees.

Now, I am all for anti-discrimination laws to an extent. If someone refuses to hire a person or sell them a house. based on race, sexual orientation, etc. that is wrong and there should be protection against that. If a business refuses to serve someone for any reason, that is the business owner’s right. If a photographer doesn’t want to photograph a couple simply because they are gay, that is her right. And I guarantee if a gay photographer didn’t want to photograph straight couples, this situation would not occur. I also know that this is slightly contradictory with believing that a business cannot hire or not hire someone based on race, religion, age, but believing that that same business can choose who to serve based on the same criteria. However, if a business chooses not to serve me because I date women or because I am not a practicing christian, I have the same choice to take my business elsewhere. That is free enterprise at work.

I am all for equal rights, but I also believe a private business owner has the right to pick and choose the people that business serves.

Let this story be a lesson. If you are a private business owner and do not want to serve someone for any reason, just lie. Tell them you are busy, you don’t have the resources to accommodate them, etc. The truth will get you in trouble in New Mexico.

Just my thought for the day.

Here is a link to the story:

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/300004nm04-11-08.htm?splashtop1

Just the stuff running through my head

This is a totally random thing. No real point or deep message, just some stuff in my head.

Britney Spears: She is nuttier than a Planters factory. That being said, her family needs to step up and get her better and keep her away from the press so she can heal. They also need to learn from her and not let Jamie Lyn fall into the same thing. As for her children, it is sad that K-Fed is their best option as a parent, but he seems to have stepped up into the role.

Myspace: While I enjoy the site, I am getting tired of spam-like friend requests from some supposed person who wants me to visit some other site because Myspace will not let them post their naked photos. They do make me laugh because there are always some homely looking guys in their friend lists, and I picture that guy seeing the friend request and calling his homely friends saying: “Some hot chick wants to be my friend on Myspace.”

Gay celebrities coming out: Okay so a few weeks ago, Jodie Foster got an award and thanked her partner in a way that indicated this woman was her significant other and the world went crazy. There were gay and lesbian groups who applauded her for finally coming out (sort of). There were other gay and lesbian groups who were upset because she didn’t say she was gay outright. There were the religious freaks who always freak over that.  There were some actually surprised.  So for years groups have been calling for Jodie to come out so she can become some sort of lesbian posterchild.

My question is this — Who cares? Jodie Foster is an actress. Her private life is her own and it doesn’t make her any more or less of an actress. I applaud her for keeping it private for so long. And look at some of the celebrities who have come out and what a great name they are making for gays and lesbians. Rosie O’Donnell has turned into a complete and utter nutcase conspiracy theory believer. So now those looking for something wrong with gay people can look at her and say look homosexuals are crazy and unpatriotic and hate America.  George Michael has to come out because he got caught with his pants down in a bathroom. Boy George has had very public drug issues. Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer. Anne Heche went from gay, to intergalactic time traveler,  to straight. Maybe Jodie is a good thing. Shows she has a normal life. She works. She provides for her family. She raises her kids. She is in a stable, long term relationship. But why should anyone be required to come out by anyone other than themselves?

Politics: I am sick of the presidential campaign. I wish all the candidates would spontaneously combust with a message from God saying try again.

Okay. That is all for now.

Freedom of religion

Christians annoy me. Not all Christians mind you, but kind of a generalized thing I notice coming from a lot of Christians. This statement came from a conversation I listened to in Karate one night.

This conversation happened around Halloween. There was discussion on an event that was taking places for kids at a local church. The rules were taht there could be no devil or witch costumes. It is a church that is understandable. Similar rules were in place at the high school as to what kinds of costumes students in one class could wear. The discussion then turned to the school allowing religious activities. Someone mentioned that because the High School allows events like See You At the Pole, they would have to allow a satanist event on school grounds as well.

Well the comment was made that freedom of religion is only law if you follow it and a fist was held up.

It angers me to very depths of my soul those Christians that believe that freedom of religion should only apply to them because of some superiority complex they have of being the only right religion. And they may be the only truly right religion, but you know what, freedom of religion gives me and anyone else the right to be wrong whether one or a million Christians like it or not.

Racial Separatists

I have decided, after much thought and consideration, I like the whole racial separatist movements.

Now before anyone goes branding me a racist, hear me out. I came to this conclusion last night while watching Gangland on the History Channel. This was a long-time coming, as I had thought about it for quite a while. Last night’s Gangland was about Neo-Nazi skinheads (white supremacists, white separatists, etc.). And like I normally do when I watch documentaries on the subject, I thought why don’t you go find somewhere else to live. This is why I now think racial separatist movements are good ideas.

White supremacists want to reclaim America for the white race. I have a better idea. Why don’t all the white racists in the world pool their money, go buy an island and live there, all by themselves and create their own little white country. They can let in whomever they choose and keep out whomever they choose. The same goes for any racist movement found in any race. Go find an island and live with like-minded people of your race. That way the rest of us who can actually live with other people in our world regardless of race or ethnicity don’t have to deal with you, worry about your violence and basically just be glad you have gone away.

News

I have read two news stories today that have stuck out to me. One for being, at least to me and my experience, weird. The other filled me with a sense of utter disbelief that something like that could happen.

Story 1: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21768663/?GT1=10547

The gist of story one is about man in India who married a dog to atone for stoning two dogs to death 15 years ago. He believed that act (the stoning) left him cursed. So in his village they dressed up a stray dog (female and after giving her a bath and some grooming) in a sari and had a traditional ceremony. Now this is my question: If he gets another dog, is he committing adultery? If he decides to marry a woman, can he? The Hindu religion is interesting.

http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2007/11/12/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.ii1.txt

The second story is a tragic one of a teenaged girl committing suicide. She was overweight and self-conscious. A “hot” 16-year-old boy wanted to add her as a friend on Myspace. Long story short after a few months of communications, the boy started telling the girl she was mean to her friends and the world would be better off without here and things like that. Well already suffering from depression, the girl hanged herself in her bedroom closet.

It turned out that the boy never existed. The Myspace page was created by the parents of a girl who had been friends with the girl who killed herself. Apparently the two had a falling out and were no longer friends. What kind of adults do that sort of thing? I am not sure if that is immaturity or just plain evil. I mean I understand wanting to protect your child, but you don’t destroy another child in the process. The story says there is no charges for the parents. Which is sad that an adult can’t be held criminally responsible for causing a 13 year old to kill herself. Those adults should be stoned like the dogs in the India story. You just don’t mess with kids.

Horror Movies

Okay, there is nothing I love better than a good horror movie. I love to see the innovative ways directors and screenwriters can come up with to kill someone with as much blood spilling as possible. I have even gotten to have an affinity for the movies some people refer to, albeit negatively, as gore porn or terror porn. I am sure this says something about my psyche, but I don’t really care what. I have found that while I like the older movies, especially the Nightmare on Elm Street flicks, they strike me as silly sometimes.

For instance, the Friday the 13th movies. Every sequel there is a fresh crop of campers at Camp Crystal Lake for Jason and his mom to kill. Now why in the hell do they keep going back there. I am sure there are news reports about what keeps happening there.  Teenagers talk to each other. You have to believe that the first day of school each year there was talk of what happened to the kids that summer out at Camp Crystal Lake, but yet they still keep going back.

Now Nightmare on Elm Street I can  understand. I mean kids can’t control where their parents choose to live. Although I think the parents are stupid to keep moving into that one house on elm street. Again surely there were news reports of what happened.

But I guess if it weren’t for the stupidity of horror movie characters there would be no horror movies. I mean if people in those movies weren’t stupid enough to check out what the strange noise is or turn their back on a killer they think is dead, who would the victims be. Surely no one like me or my friends. We would not be that stupid to go into a creepy house alone or wear heels while at the lake, and all the other things that get people slaughtered one by one.

Maybe horror movies are there to make us all feel better about our own intelligence and survival skills.

Food service and visuals

One of my new favorite news shows is Red Eye on Fox News. The show takes a satirical look at headlines. One of the news stories the panel was discussing last night was about a casino in St. Louis that is hiring waiters and other positions that are in the public eye. The hook was they only want to hire attractive people who will have to sign a contract that they will stay within 5% of their hiring weight. These people must also have a certain height/weight ratio.

At first, I thought to myself that the practice was wrong, and the casino shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate like that.

Then I remembered a waitress I had at IHOP. I immediately classified this woman as a current or former meth user because of the state of her skin, body and mouth. So here I am ordering food that I will eat, and I notice that my waitress has very few teeth left in her mouth. The teeth that were there were rotting away. The gums where the missing teeth went were black and diseased. She literally made my stomach turn with the level of grossness that eminated from her.  All I could think about was god, I hope she doesn’t open her mouth when she brings the food out.

This experience made me think that people who work in the public eye in food service should be moderately attractive. I am not saying drop dead gorgeous, but I want to get the sense that my waiter or waitress is clean and by extension where I am eating is clean. I do not want to think about eating after looking at a disfigured face or a rotting mouth or a huge hairy wart or mole on someone’s cheek. I do not want a drug addict covered in sores and scabs anywhere near my meal — at least where I can see.  I want a waiter or waitress that doesn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out to save my brain from having to comprehend the ugliness in front of me.

Does this make me superficial. Probably, but I can live with that. For those of you who disagree, I can send a whole slew of ugly, dirty people to you, and you can feel morally superior to me by having them wait on you and bring you food.

Global Warming and film

My friends know that one of my all-time favorite movies is The Day After Tomorrow. Quick synopsis, just in case any readers haven’t seen it. The weather goes haywire, new ice age follows.

Now before anyone brands me as one of those global warming freaks like Whitley Schriber or Art Bell (the two who wrote the book The Coming Global Superstorm which the movie was based upon), know that I know that the science and meteorology in pretty much bunk, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. And even as many times as I have seen the movie, I still can find something that just isn’t plausible. I think that is part of the fun.

I know enough about weather and meteorology to know that hurricanes don’t form over land near the arctic circle, and while there are such things as an arctic hurricane they lack power and longevity because they  do not have the one thing that tends to sustain hurricanes — warm water.

And while I know that most of the weather phenomena that takes place in the movie is not all that likely to occur, I also know something else.

If a hurricane forms over Canada, I am moving to Mexico.

Road construction

It is official. I am sick and tired of all the road construction in Hobbs. You almost cannot get anywhere in Hobbs without running into road construction, and it seems the city keeps starting new projects before the current ones are finished. It seems like Grimes and Broadway have been torn up forever. Recently the Grimes project switched sides and now I have to drive several blocks out of my way to get to anywhere except other homes in the neighborhood.

When I am at work and need to get to the southern part of town I have to drive all over God and creation to get there because of road construction on Broadway and Marland which wastes my gas (and we all know that is not cheap). And today was the moment when I had finally had enough. Trying to get to the southside of town for breaking news. It took me more time to get to the highway I needed than it did to find the wreck I was looking for.

I will be so glad when all the road work is done.

Stuff

This post is gonna have a smattering of stuff in it.  Random thoughts if you will.

So there was another school shooting. This one was in Ohio by a self-professed goth kid. The headline of one of today’s stories regarding the shooting was “School shooter had history of problems.” As Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers would say on SNL’s Weekend Update, “Oh really?” Is this really news that the goth kid who shot 4 people and then himself at his high school had problems? Is anyone really shocked that he gave several warnings to fellow students that he might do something like shoot 4 people and then himself at his high school? If anyone is shocked, they have been living under a rock for nearly 10 years. All high school shooters, since the phenomena has been getting widespread media attention have had problems. Nearly all suffered from some sort of psychological disorder, had run-ins with the law and made no secret of their violent intentions if anyone who could have stopped the events would have been paying attention.

See I think when it comes down to it, no one is truly shocked. It is just easier to feign shock after the tragedy happens than to do anything to stop it from happening. Students at the Ohio School said they warned the principal many times about what they thought their classmate was planning to do, but were never given any time to air their concerns.

On a totally unrelated note and a lighter topic. Britney Spears. If she is gonna make videos she needs to get in shape and back to the old Britney because fat Britney makes for the video producer having to blur her out, do weird camera angles, etc to hide the fat and that gives me a headache.