Prayer in Pickens County

Note the specific wording of the following report from the Anderson Independent Mail. There will be a quiz later.

Pickens County school board changes prayer policy

PICKENS COUNTY — The Pickens County Board of Education passed a new policy Monday to allow only nonsectarian prayers at the beginning of school board meetings.

People turned out to the school board meeting Monday night to make final pleas for the school board not to change the policy that had been in place. The school board was strongly divided in its vote, which was 3-2 with one member abstaining.

“Please vote to be right, not safe,” Pickens County resident Vicky Gibson said.

Another resident said, “The point I’m trying to make tonight is we are giving up without a fight.”

School board member Jim Shelton said, “This board has sold your soul to protect themselves.”

Discussion about the new policy began after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue the school district regarding the practice of student-led, sectarian prayer.

“Taking a stand like you’re suggesting will be a legal defeat, and it will be costly,” board member Alex Saitta said to those who wanted the district to keep the past policy despite the threat of a lawsuit.

The new policy doesn’t satisfy the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and it still may sue the district.

And now, note the title of this Facebook page, created in direct reaction to this event: I Support the Pickens County School Board Continuing Student-Led Prayer. The page is described as: Let's share to help get the word out. We can make a difference. Let's continue contacting Board members to voice support for the student-led prayers. (1324 'likes' so far.)

Do you see the discrepancy between the news account, and what the Facebook page claims? This deliberate misreading has been going on throughout upstate South Carolina media, since Monday night.

Nobody said they couldn't PRAY, they just have to be NONSECTARIAN prayers. But to some Christians, unless it is Christian prayer, it doesn't even count as prayer. It is rendered utterly invisible. (Or maybe they are illiterate and really do not understand the difference?)

And doncha love that "Please vote to be right, not safe"? If someone gets beat up for not having the same religion as the majority of Pickens County and not bowing their head on cue, oh well. BETTER RIGHT THAN SAFE.

When you are in the majority, you don't have to worry about safety, do you? Let those nonChristian punks worry about safety, galdurnit! This is PICKENS!

Stay tuned, sports fans.

Amazing Race lays Hanoi-sized egg

If you have ever watched "The Amazing Race" TV show on CBS network, you know the protocol. A diverse collection of two-person teams race around the world at breakneck pace, stopping at various tourist traps, landmarks and special events. At these colorful pit stops, they are usually required to participate in various contests and exercises: scaling mountains and walls and ladders into the stratosphere; dancing some intricate local tribal dances or engaging in some arcane ceremony; answering questions and quizzes about the history of wherever they are, and so forth. After they perform some telegenic activity (whilst inevitably arguing with each other about who is going to do it, who is right, etc)... they pick up the sacred clue to the next location, and off they go. The last pair to arrive at each locale is eliminated, until finally, there is one pair left, who are thereby proclaimed the winners.

Needless to say, it probably isn't easy to find distinctive, cool places to send the contestants. There is a bit of a travelogue on each show, as narrators quickly explain local history and customs, and provide interesting details, such as how many feet into the air they will have to climb, or how far away they are from such-and-such or so-and-so. It all tends to run together, so the challenge is to make each new location stand out and become uniquely interesting to the viewer.

Sometimes a locale is obviously chosen strictly for its emotional or political value, to stop viewers from getting bored and picking up that deadly remote. Or to get some drama going from the contestants' reactions to such a place.

On the March 17th show, it was Hanoi. HANOI.

H.A.N.O.I.

I was somewhat dumbfounded.

As soon as I saw the smashed-up B-52, I thought, oh shit. I saw that coming like a freight train.

And then I instantly wondered... who is working for CBS? Who is working for "The Amazing Race"? Do they not associate with regular people out here in the American heartland? Do they understand the emotional reaction to a downed American B-52 from The Vietnam War? Good Lord.

Well, John McCain did, and a bunch of other veterans did, too. The shit hit the fan in short order.

From Yahoo:

Usually, it is "Amazing Race" contestants with loose lips that stir up controversy for being insensitive, offensive, or ugly Americans while dashing around the less scenic or underprivileged countries of the world on the competition reality show. But with last week's Vietnam-based episode, it was the producers and network that found themselves on the receiving end of public backlash.

Veterans, conservative newscasters, politicians like Arizona Sen. John McCain, and plenty of the show's fans were upset that the show filmed at the site of a crashed U.S. B-52 bomber, and featured a segment where players had to listen to a pro-communist anthem being sung in front of a portrait of Ho Chi Minh and then find one of the song's lyrics in a sea of propaganda posters. Vietnam War veteran and American Legion National Commander James E. Koutz sent a letter to CBS Thursday, asking that the network apologize for "its disgraceful slap-in-the face administered to American war heroes. We only wish that the network would not be so eager to broadcast anti-American propaganda."

And yes, they got their official apology.

From the National Post:

Senator John McCain is among those who have accepted CBS’ apology for a passage on The Amazing Race where contestants visited the wreckage of an American B-52 bomber in Vietnam, writing on Twitter that the “issue is closed.”

The national commander of the American Legion, James Koutz, has also accepted the apology. Commander Koutz said said he believed it was sincere and heartfelt.

The segment aired March 17 and angered many veterans, particularly those who served in the Vietnam War. As part of its scavenger hunt game, contestants on the show had to visit the site in Hanoi, which Vietnamese authorities turned into a memorial.

Before this Sunday’s edition of The Amazing Race, host Phil Keoghan read a statement apologizing to veterans and families who may have been offended.

For my part, I continue to be amazed at the mainstream media's general cluelessness about such matters. I could have easily predicted this reaction, as everyone I know could too.

As I asked, above: WHO works for these people? Didn't anybody on the show's staff speak up and say, "Hey, ya think maybe this isn't such a good idea?"

Greenville Candlelight Vigil for Marriage Equality

... tonight at the Unitarian Universalist church.

Candlelight vigils and supportive demonstrations are taking place throughout the nation tonight, and all week long. Legal arguments before the Supreme Court will begin tomorrow, for and against the constitutionality of gay marriage. From NBC:

The U.S. Supreme Court this week takes its first serious look ever at the issue of same-sex marriage, considering two cases that raise a fundamental issue: does the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection allow legal distinctions between same-sex couples and those of the opposite sex?

The greatest potential for a ruling with nationwide implications comes in a case from California, to be argued Tuesday, brought by proponents of Proposition 8. The following day, the court will hear a separate case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages in states where they are legal.

Approved by 52 percent of California voters in 2008, Prop 8 amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. It was placed on the ballot after 18,000 couples had been legally wed there.

A federal judge in San Francisco declared the ban unconstitutional, and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the ruling. Once a state grants a fundamental right like marriage, the appeals court said, it cannot later take it away, even by voter initiative.

Photos of our vigil below, and you can click to enlarge all photos.

I hope you will also take part in one locally. Like the signs say, "Equality means everyone."

Another Bob Jones University sex scandal

From WSPA--Bob Jones Administrator Suspended For Soliciting A Prostitute In 1991

Greenville, SC - An administrator with Bob Jones University has been indefinitely suspended from his position for having a prior criminal background.

University spokesman Randy Page issued a statement saying that Dr. Joseph Bartosch was suspended from his position as Chief Brand Officer on Friday, March 15 by school officials. Page states that school officials learned on the same day that Bartosch had been charged with soliciting a prostitute in another state two decades ago and prior to his employment with Bob Jones University.

Bartosch confirmed the allegations to school officials and put himself at their disposal, Page stated. School officials will gather facts about the incident and reach an appropriate decision as soon as possible about Bartosch's employment status.

According to online records obtained from the Superior Court of California, Bartosch was arrested and charged with misdemeanor solicitation of a prostitute in 1991. The records indicate he served three days in jail and was later sentenced to three years of probation.

Bartosch's biography indicates that he graduated from Bob Jones University in 1982 and joined the Administration in 2012. He finished with a Master of Counseling degree in 2006 and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction in 2007. He lived in Sacramento from 1990-2004 and was Head Master at Sacramento Preparatory Academy.

The official statement from BJU can be read HERE. If you wanna listen to edifying sermons by the fascinating Dr Bartosch, they are HERE.

This new sex-scandal comes directly on the heels of multiple scandals plaguing the school since the 2011-12 academic year, during which rape-apologist Reverend Charles Phelps resigned from the BJU board, amid protests, outrage and general disgust. Accompanying this media-foofaraw, student Christopher Peterman organized a demonstration in support of sexual abuse survivors, and was summarily tossed out of BJU, just a few days before his graduation... supposedly for watching "GLEE" on his laptop. This incident made it to CNN and beyond.

After that blew over, more or less, there were alarming accounts of sexual assaults at Bob Jones University, made public and demanding immediate follow-up. On January 10th of this year, BJU called on a non-profit Christian outfit called GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to do an independent, third-party investigation. This investigation/inquiry will continue until April 30th. However, it seems to be proceeding in the usual BJU-half-assed manner; although the school dutifully posted this info on their website, it is benignly-labeled a review rather than an investigation. In addition, they haven't alerted students and former students, nor parents, faculty, staff or alumni, that there is a survey being actively conducted. [*see edit below]

According to multiple accounts, the BJU-admin was asked to publicly announce that there was a survey and investigation underway, but they have declined to do so. (sigh) Well, of course they have.

~*~



Minding my own business in a shopping mall, when ... YOW! Accosted by Bob Jones University yet AGAIN!

As I have said here many times, they virtually RUN the upstate.

~*~

Bob Jones University, bane of our existence here in upstate South Carolina, has reacted to recent, multiple sleazy scandals (and persistent rumors) by feverishly gussying up their image. They suddenly have billboards everywhere, featuring fresh-faced, happy kids who could be students anywhere... and these groups of laughing students/poster kids invariably include ONE STUDENT OF COLOR. ((shock)) If anything shows how hard the unrelenting criticism of the past decade has hit BJU, that might be it.

When I moved to Greenville 25 yrs ago, there were NO billboards (and what kind of worldly nonsense is THAT?) and absolutely no advertising for BJU. The overriding sentiment was, they didn't want just ANYbody attending their exclusive fundamentalist enclave. If you called the place to ask admission questions, they would not answer you. You had to be recommended by godly personages and go through specific channels. They kept the majority of people out, and they were proud of it.

When BJU finally produced some cursory mainstream ads, websites and the occasional billboard--the all-white student line-up was blinding. Embarrassing, too, since Greenville is only 62% white. Apparently, BJU didn't notice the discrepancy. It was a joke all over town. People joked that you could tell whose billboards they were from a half-mile down the road: the kids are all white, must be BJU.

They have changed that, at long last. They got the memo. (At least, in the billboards and advertising; I am doubtful the school itself has integrated in any real way.)

Next up, they sold their weird radio station (that once specialized in a strange fundie-android mix of 50s-muzak and KJV-only scripture). BJU also decided to get some SPORTS going on, which they hope will draw more students and sports fans:

[Bob Jones University] plans to become part of the National Christian College Athletic Association and have intercollegiate sports in place by the 2012-2013 school year.

"We really look at intercollegiate sports as rounding out the educational opportunities here for our students here at Bob Jones University," Brian Scoles, spokesman for the university, told WYFF. "Not only will it help them for developing Christ-like spirit on the athletic field, but it's also an opportunity for the community to come to campus to view one more program that we have here."

By next school year, Bob Jones plans to have men's and women's soccer and basketball programs. The athletic opportunities are expected to grow from there, starting in the fall of 2013.

So, they are tarting themselves up! They are getting their act together and taking it on the road.

Specifically, they are trying to pump up enrollment, which is currently dropping like a rock. Various reports (all fiercely disputed by BJU officials) claim that the school now has only a third of the enrollment it had during its pre-internet heyday.

And the fact that they can't even provide decent background-checks on their own employees, isn't going to help. Apparently, the students and food-service employees are subjected to stricter background checks than Bartosch was.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

~*~

*EDIT: 3/24 - Sometime in the last 10 - 14 days, BJU updated the front page of their website's link to the investigation page to read "G.R.A.C.E. Independent Investigation" instead of the completely dismissive and confusing "G.R.A.C.E. Initiates Review" that had been the previous link since January. (thanks to Jeffrey Hoffman for the correction!)

First Caturday of Spring

This is my very BEST photo of Cyril yet, by far! (Yes, Mr Daisy's man-legs are in the photo, but I think that's why Cyril is so mellow, too; he likes to sit by Dad.) The second kitty is the venerable Peace Cat, official cat of DEAD AIR.



Here we have Peace Cat AND Cyril together... Again, pardon the man-foot.




I finally remembered to post kitties on Saturday... and I was wondering: who decided the old tried-and-true feline meme, Friday Cat Blogging, needed to be updated? And why was it moved up one day?

And yeah, I got ANSWERS!--

Actually, they appear to be dueling memes: Friday Cat Blogging is clocked from March 14, 2003 and just celebrated its 10th anniversary as an internet meme. It was even written about in the New York Times.

Caturday dates from December 12, 2006, when cat photos were posted every Saturday on 4Chan. (A personal blog by the name CATURDAY dates from 2005, but does not appear to be connected to 4Chan.)

So, I guess you can pick whichever day you prefer. I am moving to Caturday since I love the sound of it.



As always, you can click photos to enlarge. Happy Caturday, everybody!