En Esperanto

Nu, ĝi estas certe post tempo por mi eldoni novan blogon (sed, vere, ni ne trompu sin … ni ĉiuj scias ke mi ne ofte blogas ne plu).

Estas laŭ mi, tamen, ankaŭ tempo por mi ekzerci mian Esperanton iel krom Duolingo. Do, mi decidas ekzerci per alia esperanta blogo. Estas ĝuste ke neniu da mia amikoj eblos leĝi ĝin, sed estas ankaŭ ĝuste ke neniu vizitas mian retejon do … ĉio estas en ordo! Se mi estos tre kuraĝa, mi ankaŭ afiŝos sur Facebook (sed kutime me estas malkuraĝulo, do … ku scias. )

Unua rajtu min memorigi vin: Mi estas komencanto. Mi faros erarojn, kaj mia vortstoko estas malgranda. Mi simple esperas du aferojn: unua ke vi eble komprenas min (se vi estas esperantisto), kaj dua ke ĉi tiu blogo uzas pli bonan esperanton ol mia unua esperanta blogo. (kaj ankaŭ eble ke mi ne estos tro embarasinta poste pro mia malbona esperanto. ) Fine mi bonvoligas komplezajn korectadojn pri mia esperanto.

Nun ni realvenu al la blogo …

Jen la plej blogtaŭgajn novajojn mi havas:

Ni Iros al Disney World!

Antaŭ malpli du semejnoj ni iros al Disney World! Mi estas tre ekscitita sed mi sencas ke mi havas tiom multe fari por pretiĝi. Bedaŭrinde, nuntempe, mi ne estas tre bona kun … farantas aferojn. Kun ĉi tio rapideco mi estos fini paki la horo antaŭ ni foriras! Sed, preta aŭ ne, ni iros!

Feliĉe ankaŭ mia kunulo estas tre ekscitita, kaj li estas tre bona faranto. Ni havas bonegan planon por kiam ni alvenas al la parko. Vere, estas ne eble vidi ĉio eĉ kun semajno, sed ni havas bonegan planon kiun havas sufiĉan tempon por kaj adventuro kaj ripozo.

Ni jam postdatigis nian vojaĝon dufoje pro la pandemio. Je ankoraŭ ŝajnas strange vojaĝi, sed ni ambaû havas nian vakcinadon kaj la parkoj tre zorgas. La antaŭa du kaj duono jarojn estis tre malfacilaj kaj ni tre bezonas tio magio de Disney.   

Mi volas vidi kaj fari ĉion en la parko, sed eble mi estas plej ekscitita pri Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge! Ĝi ŝajnas mirinde!

Aŭ eble mi plej ekscitita ĉar ni restos ĉe mian preferatan lokon: La Sovaĝa Loĝejo (aŭ “The Wilderness Lodge” en la Angla)!

Ĉi tio loko estas tre bela! Mi memoras restas tie en proksimume 2010 kiam ni vizitis la parko kun mia gepatroj. Mi, mia ĝemela frato kaj sia familio, mia paĉjo, kaj mia panjo ĉiuj restis ĉe La Sovaĝa Loĝejo. (Ni ĉiuj havis apartajn ĉambrojn, feliĉe.)

Mi ne povas pensi pri La Sovaĝa Loĝejo sen vidas mian patron tie. Li mortis antaŭ unu kaj duono jaroj, do mi bonvoligas ĉi tiujn memorojn … kaj nun ke mi pripensas ĝin, eble kion mi plej volas el la vojaĝo estas ke ĝi alportas al mi fortajn rememoraĵojn de li.  Jes.

Ni revojaĝis kun panjo kaj paĉjo al Disney World en 2016 kaj restis ĉe Port Orleans. Tio loko ankaŭ estas bonega, sed nenio estas pli bone ol La Sovaĝa Loĝejo laŭ mi.  Nenio inspiras memoroj tiel La Sovaĝa Loĝejo.

Ĉi-jara vojaĝo estos nur mi kaj mia kunulo. Ni ĉiu vizitis Disney antaue, sed ĉi-jara vojaĝo estos nia unua kune. 

Ni ankaŭ vizitos La Sorĉistanta Mondo de Harry Potter ĉe Universal. Mi supozas ke ekzistas aliajn aferojn ĉe Universal, sed sendube mi plej ekscitita pri La Mondo de Harry Potter. 

Ĝi certe estos interesa vojaĝo – konsiderantas la nunajn tempojn, kiam la lando klopodas reveni al normalo post la pandemio. Mi esperas ke ĝi estos magia!

Eble mi verkos novan blogon kiam ni revenos kaj rekontos al vi ĉion pri ĝi!

English Translation

Well it’s definitely past time for me to publish a new blog (but, really, lets not fool ourselves … we all know that I don’t often blog anymore). 

It is in my opinion, however, also time for me to practice my Esperanto in some way other than Duolingo.  So I’ve decided to practice with another Esperanto blog.  It’s true that none of my friends will be able to read it, but it’s also true that no one visits my website so … all is in order!  If I’m really brave, I will aslo post this on Facebook (but usually I’m a coward, so … who knows. )

First allow me to remind you: I am a beginner. I will make mistakes, and my vocabulary is small. I simply hope two things: first that you can understand me (if you are an Esperantisto), and second that this blog uses better Esperanto than my first esperanto blog. (and maybe also that I wont be too embarrassed later by my poor Esperanto ).  Lastly I welcome kind corrections to my Esperanto.

Now, let’s get back to the blog …

Here is the most blog-worthy news I have:

We’re going to Disney World!

In less than two weeks we will go to Disney World! I am very excited but I feel like I have so much to do to get ready. Unfortunately, currently, I’m not very good with … doing things. At this rate, I’ll finish packing the hour before we leave. Ready or not, we’re going!

Thankfully my partner is also very excited and he is a very good doer. We have a great plan for when we get to the park. Really, it’s not possible to see everything even with a week, but we have a great plan which has sufficient time for both adventuring and relaxing.

We already rescheduled our trip twice because of the pandemic. Indeed it still seems strange to travel, but we are both vaccinated and the parks have been very careful.  The last two and a half years have been very difficult and we really need that Disney Magic.

I want to see and do everything in the park, but perhaps I’m most excited about Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge! It looks amazing!

Or maybe I’m most excited because we will stay at my favorate place: The Wilderness Lodge!

This place is very beautiful! I remember staying there around 2010 when we visited the park with my parents. Me, my twin brother and his family, my Dad, and my Mom all stayed at The Wilderness Lodge (we each had separate rooms, thankfully.)

I can’t think about The Wilderness Lodge without seeing my dad there. He died a year and a half ago, so I welcome these memories … and now that I think about it, perhaps what I most want from the trip is that it brings me strong recollections of him.  Yes.

We went back to Disney World with Mom and Dad in 2016 and stayed at Port Orleans. That place is also great, but nothing is as good as the Wilderness Lodge in my opinion. Nothing inspires memories like The Wilderness Lodge.

This years trip will be just me and my partner.  We each have visited Disney before, but this will be our first together.

We will also visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. I suppose there are other things at Universal, but without a doubt I’m most excited about the World of Harry Potter.

It certainly will be an interesting trip – considering the current times when the country is trying to return to normal after the pandemic.  I hope that it will be magical!

Perhaps I’ll write a new blog when I return and tell you all about it!

Jes, ĉi tiu estas mi Dave – kaj, ne … ĉi tiu blogo ne estas en la Angla.  Ĉi tiu blogo scribigis en Esperanto! I nun lernas Esperanton kaj mi tre ŝatas ĝin. Mi volas diri al vi ĉiu pri ĝin, kaj mi bezonas eksercizi mian Esperanton, do mi elektis skribi blogon en Esperanto.

Kio?! Vi ne scias kion estas esperanto? Esperanto estas lingvo sans lando. Ĝi estas lingvo por ĉiu homoj. Esperanto estas konstruita lingvo, ne naturala, kaj estis konstrui esti tre facile lerni. Sed kial estus ium kreas novan lingvon? Ĝi estis konstrui por solvi problemoj.

Ĉe la tempo (prokseme 1887), la mondo ekpostlasita la industria revolucio.  Tiam, kiel ili fari nun mi suposas, homoj tre pensis ke kia ajn la natura solvo -homoj povas fari pli bone per inĝenierado kaj scienco. 

Ĉevaloj estis anstataŭigitaj per aûtoj, trajnoj, ktp. Lignaj velŝipoj estis anstataŭigitaj per vaporfunkciaj ŝipoj, kaj la Rajt fratoj baldaŭ alportus al ni la aviadilon.  Ĝi sencas ke iu loĝas ĉe tiam pensus ke se existas problemon kun lingvo, eble inĝenierita lingvo pli bone solvus ĝin ol la naturalaj.

Do, kiajn problemojn Esperanto solvas?  Ĉi tiaj problemoj, pri kia vi povas lerni en ĉi tiu filmeton sube. 

(This film is in English and is a great watch even if you don’t speak Esperanto.)

Esperanto estas tre mojosa, ĉu ne?! Estu civano de la mondo, lernu Esperanton!

Mi ankoraû estas komencanta esperantiso. Mi certas ke existas multajn erarojn en ĉi tio blogo. Pardonu min, mi petas.

Mia Esperanto ne estas tre bone, sed mi pli boniĝos rapide ĉar Esperanto vere estas tre facile lerni ka studi.  Mi nur eklernis ĝin nelonga poste kiam la pandemio trafis kaj ni ĉiuj bezonis resti ĉe hejmo. Mi ne vere certe, sed eble ekde meze de Marto? 

Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? Ĉu vo volas paroli Esperanton? Diru min! Mi volas parolas kun vi esperante.

Ĝis la revido!

I recently found my old video blogs and as awful as they were, they made me miss doing it. It also reminded me that my first “official” video blog was on July 4th! So I’m celebrating both Independence Day and my video blogging anniversary by posting a video from last night in old school video blog fashion.

Last night I, David, Ted, Heather, Jamie, Jon, and David’s Mom (along with about 8,000 other people) all went to the “Symphony on the Prairie” at Conner Prairie to enjoy a picnic concert by The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra celebrating Independence Day. It was a great show, great company, and we had a pretty great picnic feast going!

There were lots of great moments from the night I didn’t capture, naturally, but I hope this roughly 3 and a half minute recap gets you all in the 4th of July Spirit!

Like … literally wild-life.  Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard what sounded like a rather bothered bird ‘screaming’ at something. Concerned, I looked out all of the windows but couldn’t quite make out where it was coming from.  I gave up and went on with my day and headed off to work.  When I got home from work that night however that screaming throaty squawk was still going on, and as I walked through the downstairs of my home I realized … this thing was in the walls of my house.

I immediately called a few wildlife removal services and got everything from no response at all to “eh … it’ll be dead soon enough, I’d not worry about it.”  (which, frankly, seemed to me to be an odd business choice compared to the option of “for the low low price of all-of-your-money, we’ll get rid of it for you” – which I happily would have agreed to – but whatever)  I called a number of places, but apparently nobody could (or would) help me (or the bird) last night.

Determined to reclaim my home as place for humans (and specifically invited animal guests), I worked from home today so that I could find ‘experts’ who would come over to remove whatever it was. The good news is that I did find a company willing to come out and they chased away a bird that had gotten in. Somehow a vent got uncovered or something and there was a nice new bird entry to the attic.

They chased off a bird, removed a nest, and covered the entry point.  However … one or more birds somehow also got into the wall spaces that are (apparently) not easily accessible from the attic.

The experts climbed around in the attic for a while but just couldn’t find ‘him’ (the bird).  I was frustrated that they were having such difficulty, but after hearing several muttered “fuck this fucking bird” from them – I was feeling some real team spirit with them and we collaboratively started thinking outside the box.  

Eventually we all agreed he was in a particular area of the wall/ceiling in my downstairs bathroom … so they cut a hole in the ceiling to get at him.  (mind you – these people remove animals, they do not do drywall repair … but this is a one problem at a time sort of day, so … what the hell).  

Still, after a good long period of standing on my bathroom sink with heads poked through a newly crafted hole in the ceiling, they still couldn’t find or get at him.  Relentless, they retrieved a ‘snake camera’ from their truck and started remotely exploring the inside of the walls.  They still couldn’t find him.

We considered cutting new holes, but we were no longer confident in his location and were more confident that he could move around relatively freely.

So …. the experts left.  They’re giving the bird some time to think about what he’s done. They’re coming back this evening – with the hope that the bird(s) will have chosen freedom and gone through the new hole they made … and into my downstairs bathroom … which is simultaneously my hope – and my 3rd worst nightmare.

In the meantime I’ve become 100% convinced there are many many birds up there.  With the experts no longer hunting them and their space having been violated they are getting restless and vocal.  They are screeching back and forth at each other now (and apparently square dancing if judging from the movement sound) … and now … they have access to the bathroom.

The downstairs bathroom is clearly off limits.  I just now heard a new chirping voice terrifyingly loud in the upstairs master bathroom … so that’s now off limits too.  I have one bathroom left … and I’m afraid to check it out.

Seriously WTF.  I’m WAY too sober for this … and I’m gonna need much more than bourbon.  I need to find a friend with some much stronger recreational drugs … or who is a realtor.

I hear them – moving around up there – screaming at each other – fluttering around the new hole in the ceiling – toying with the idea of moving into the downstairs bathroom.

cant.take.it.burn.it.down.move.to.new.house.

…. I have to use the bathroom.

The document also does a really nice job of walking you through “how we got here” (all the court drama prior to this ruling) and explaining what each of the parties were subsequently arguing before this court.

Contrary to what the the White House has tweeted, it’s not a political ruling.  The court references a wealth of established case law for every position taken in the finding with regard to the many arguments made by the parties.  

The finding doesn’t directly rule on the constitutionality of the Executive Order – only the question of whether the injunction should be lifted until the appeals process completes.

Whatever your thoughts on the Executive Order might be, the many references to case history in this ruling are fascinating.  The checks and balances in our constitutional democracy are powerful … here’s hoping that an age where facts and precedent are decried as a liberal conspiracy won’t undermine them.

How do I summarize a year like this? In doing so, it would be unfair to not write about some of the ways this year has been deeply transformative for me. Do I want, however, to post some deep soul-baring retrospective?  I don’t think so; besides, I’m not under the delusion that anyone wants to read a play by play of a year in the life of David Meade.

Similarly, how can I justly describe my (many) hopes, goals, plans for 2016 without going into all the amazing but personal challenges, victories, and failures in 2015 that set them all up?  Even if I were to try … I don’t like laundry lists of ‘resolutions’.

Goals, however, seem a good thing to have in mind for the path ahead.  Objectives?  I guess. I dunno.

I decided several times over the past week that I just wasn’t going to write a ‘New Year Post’ – but the thing is: 2015 was a big deal year for me, and it feels like it deserves a wrap-up post.  I should write something about it.  Something. Meanwhile, I am anxiously excited and deeply nervous for all the things coming in 2016 … it feels like it deserves some sort of affirmation if not a promise …. so I’m going to make an attempt.  I’m not posting this because I feel the need for the Internet to keep me accountable, but simply as a future reminder to myself of where I was at the end of 2015 and what I truly wanted to get out of 2016.

I’m going to try and keep it very high level.  Tricky … but let’s just dive into it and see what happens ….

Bottom Line on 2015: I’m calling 2015 an epic year.  2015 offered me a ridiculous amount of personal growth through some truly great moments as well as some deeply challenging moments.  Success, failure, pride, regret, fear, and bravery; it’s been a messy and wonderful year – but what made it such an important year for me was not all of the individual moments, but rather that all of that chaos was collectively aligned with very targeted personal growth and transformation.  Honestly, in this regard, the only year that compares with 2015 was 2014.  In a way 2015 was Act II to 2014’s Act I.  You can imagine then, perhaps, how excited this makes me for 2016 – Act III of transformation and growth?

One of the Truth’s I’ve reaffirmed this year is that you grow and invite transformation by getting out of your comfort zone.  You take risks.  It doesn’t always work out – but that’s how you grow.  You find Truths by facing down fears that limit your perspective. This proves to be both terrifying and rewarding. It also seems to me that every time you break through one fear, there’s another – usually larger one – to target next; at least that how it’s been for me the last few years. In 2015, I’m proud to report, that I faced many fears and I came out stronger for having done so. I’ve also (terrifyingly) lined up even greater challenges for 2016.

… and that brings me to my bottom line statement looking ahead to 2016.  There’s all sorts of very tactical things I want to accomplish in 2016 (become more physically fit, expand social circles, deepen both new and old friendships, etc), but really … I have only one objective that I want to be able to look back on 2016 and feel like I succeeded at.  At the start of 2017, I want to be able to say that I spent 2016 taking risks and not letting fears prevent growth, transformation, acceptance, and Truth.

For 2016 to be a success it’s going to have to be a little bit terrifying and probably more than a little messy.  My ‘resolution’ is to go in knowing that and not cower from it.  Success, failure, pride, regret, fear, and bravery: it’ll all be there – all over again.  If you can forgive my being human in 2016, I’ll do the same for you – and we’ll have a messy and awesome 2016 together.

As I was opening the bottle, the cork was being a bit of a … well a bit of a bitch, and so I put a lil’ bit more of the ol’ heave ho into its extraction. As my corkscrew hand pulled the recalcitrant cork up and out of the bottle, my bottle hand naturally and uncontrollably moved downward (it’s physics, look it up). Unfortunately I had underestimated the amount of recoil that would take place and the bottom of the bottle (moving downward remember) tapped the counter top of the kitchen island. It was but a mere tap … but the bottle shattered into countless pieces and a flood of red wine was instantly everywhere. Everywhere. It covered the island, and the surrounding floor. It soaked at least portions of every piece of clothing I had on. It ran down the sides of white cabinets throughout my kitchen, and down the front my new refrigerator. I stood there in disbelief for probably four or five seconds before I realized nobody was going to come clean this up for me.

I guess I should be signing stuff, but I’ve never been sure what to sign. Maybe if I post my private key, I can crowdsource my decisions about what to sign.

That’s a good thing for the Feds, as even the ‘standard’ offerings out there have been problematic for them.  It’s things like Apple’s iMessage and Facetime that forced the issue. Both iMessage and Facetime offer end-to-end encryption.  End-to-End encryption means that the two end devices have the keys and no middle-man (such as Apple) does.  In theory then, even Apple cannot access (or provide to others) unencrypted chat history from iMessage and Facetime sessions since Apple doesn’t have the decryption key for those historical messages.  This is a problem for law enforcement which wants to be able to eavesdrop / wiretap on any and all conversations.

Apple’s use of end-to-end encryption, I think, generally gives people the level of privacy they reasonably expect/assume to have in their personal communications, but it’s not foolproof.  The biggest (but not the only) issue is that Apple’s end-to-end encryption only works if all parties are using Apple’s products.  If you send a standard SMS message (or use another chat service) as you would have to do for any of your contacts that use an Android phone, for example, you lose the benefit of end-to-end encryption; and that means that your wireless carrier or some other third party could have access to (and provide to others) your chat history and essentially provide a historical ‘wire-tap’ of all your communications. Even if you wanted to use only iMessage and Facetime, Apple hasn’t released apps for Android … so unless every single one of your contacts uses an iPhone … the protection remains fairly limited.

Google’s service (Hangouts) does have a cross-platform app available for each major smartphone, but (believe it or not) it is far worse from a privacy standpoint in that it does not offer end-to-end encryption.  Google may not typically do ‘bad’ things with your data, but even if we grant them that … they certainly at the very least have access to the (unencrypted) data, and could easily provide it to others if compelled to do so.

Now, I have nothing to “hide”, but I personally – on principal – I don’t feel I should be giving Google or AT&T (or those they might deal with) my personal communications.  I need them to be a platform/conduit, but I reject the idea that they need access to the message content in order to provide that service.

In a perfect world both Apple and Google (and Microsoft once they are a major player again – it’s coming just wait) would offer end-to-end encryption AND allow for key exchange and encryption of messages between their respective services.  These companies aren’t likely to play that nicely together left to their own devices, so (surprise surprise) this is a good job for a third party like Open Whisper Systems (https://whispersystems.org/).

I’m really not sure why more people (who I know) don’t use the apps from Open Whisper Systems. They seem to work really well and offer end-to-end encryption for both messaging and voice calls while being available cross platform. (The system doesn’t secure standard SMS (anymore) but can provide secure cross platform messaging through the app.)

These apps allow for secure communications with your friends, family, etc regardless of which smart phone system they use, and the platform is ‘open’.  Open in this case means it’s cross platform, developers can fork and build off of it, and its security/code is auditable.  How great would it be if Apple, Google, and others decided to contribute to Open Whisper Systems, make their systems compliant – and give us all cross platform end-to-end encryption?!  (Answer: very)

Until they do, at least we can use the third party Whisper System apps.

I’ve got the current apps installed but (even though I have lots of security geeks in my social circles) only one other person I know appears to be running them.  Wow.

I really think Open Whisper Systems should be running a huge marketing campaign right now to capitalize on all the news we’re seeing about how the Feds want backdoor access to all our communications.

Anyway … go get yourself some secure private communications at https://whispersystems.org/.  Send me a secure text once you do.

Look, I’m not naive enough to think Indiana is a blue state; nor do I fail to realize that there are hateful people in the world.  I’m also aware that there are a shocking number of people who confuse a person’s right to worship with some fictional right to persecute others.  I see evidence everyday of people who willfully maintain a rose-colored ignorance of the potential impacts of a position just because a bullet pointed summary dripping with politically-spun propaganda sounds on the surface to be inline with some more general party position or dogmatic belief.  I get it.

But there are things I don’t get.

I don’t get how in this country … even in a ‘red state’ … elected officials and public servants can (along party lines) enact a law whose origins and intentions are so clearly designed to ensure that business can discriminate against other citizens whose religious beliefs don’t match their own.  Religious Freedom Act indeed.

I’ve heard the very frustrating claims (based in either willful ignorance or lies) that critics of this law simply haven’t read it.  Let me be clear:  I have read it.  All of it.  I’m also fairly well practiced in reading legal documents. (I am not a lawyer.)

It’s an awful law … it’s designed explicitly to permit social discrimination – outside of religious contexts – so long as the oppressor claims his discrimination is part of his religious practice.  “Oh … well then carry on, by all means.”

The core of the bill (I’m using the language of the bill as it’s not yet been added to title 34 of the Indiana Code website yet)  boils down to section 8(a) which reads:

Sec. 8. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a governmental entity may not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.

Above section 8 is a bunch of definitions and scoping statements, and below section 8 are qualifications under which the government can indeed ‘substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion’ (which requires a very heavy burden on the state).  Go read it yourself – but remember in legal documents the devil is in the definitions and cross references of sub-points in alternate paragraphs.

Lets examine Sec 8 with that mind.

First, you might be wondering “what is ‘a rule of general applicability’”?  It’s rather hard to explain (because the case history is complex), but basically it has to do with the difference between laws that may impact free speech or religious practice vs. laws that directly attempt to regulate those activities.  As an example consider a law that outlaws animal sacrifice vs a law that criminalizes animal cruelty.  The latter doesn’t attempt to regulate religious practice but could arguably impact it.  The principle of general applicability parallels equal protection jurisprudence; to require laws to be generally applicable corresponds to the requirement of equal treatment under the law.

What this means is that if an act argued to be protected by this law is found to be discriminatory, no action to end or remedy the discrimination can be enforced so long as the persecutor claims the act to be somehow related to their exercise of religion.

‘Person’ is defined in the document as any natural individual (a human being), an organization (churches, clubs, etc), companies and corporations, and basically anyone or anything that can be sued (as it relates to the civil court).

Here’s the real kicker, I think, … section 5:

Sec. 5. As used in this chapter, "exercise of religion" includes any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.

In other words … it doesn’t matter what it is.  A discriminatory act for example.  The discrimination NEEDN’T be compelled by the religious beliefs, NOR need it even be central to religious beliefs or systems in order to be protected.  So long as the discrimination is claimed in some nebulous way to relate to religious belief (as defined by the persecutor, not the religious doctrine itself), the persecutor is protected from any endeavor to end or otherwise remedy the discrimination. Religious leaders and scholars themselves may affirm fervently that the discrimination is neither compelled by nor central to their religion … but that doesn’t matter.  The bigots get to decide who can sit at the lunch counter all over again.

“Really,” you ask “we could be back in a ‘lunch counter’ situation again?”  The law allows the government to intervene and protect where it has a compelling interest to do so.  There are some federally protected classes (based on things like race, gender, etc) for which the government would have a compelling interest to protect from discrimination.  Sexual orientation (for example) is NOT currently one of those protected classes – so yes … get ready for the “No Queers Here” signs.

This law doesn’t “restore religious freedom” – it codifies the ability of people to persecute others based on their own religious beliefs, and says that the government is not allowed to protect individuals from that discrimination so long as the discrimination is done in the name of religion.  This law doesn’t “restore religious freedom” – unless you believe religious freedom was lost due to America’s historical refusal to codify the ability for members of one religion to persecute others … in which case I invite you to find your nearest Jr. High School and retake a basic civics or American history class.

So … for all of you “willful rose-colored ignorance” types, let me address the thought that’s now bubbling up to the surface of your mind: “Oh come on,“ you say, “just because something could be used as a tool for discrimination, that doesn’t mean it will be.”

To that I offer two thoughts:

1. What exactly is the admittance fee to the perfect world you live in?
2. Given the fact that the law could (and will) be used to justify discrimination, and given that a federal protection against government interference in religious practice already exists … there must have been some other serious problem that this law was meant to fix.  Some great injustice – so egregious that its remediation warranted the risk of abuse this additional law now presents.

So … what “problem” was this law trying to fix?  What had to be remedied?  Here’s the simple basic facts:

1. This laws origin stems from a case where a business wanted to refuse service to a homosexual couple.  Period.
2. The lobbyist working to get this bill passed proudly bragged that this was in response to losing the the effort to outlaw same-sex marriage.
3. Pence (and the authors of this law) knew very well what is and isn’t a protected class, and Pence had stated explicitly that including sexual orientation as a protected class was not on the agenda.
4.  This bill was authored in order to allow for businesses to target members of the LGBT community. Period.

Mike Pence is lying to you. This law is purely and solely designed to ensure that discrimination is allowed in this country so long as the oppressor claims to be doing so in the name of religion.  It was created and passed as an attack on the LGBT community, but it’s far reaching nature impacts everyone.

Don’t like The Gays? Indiana is the place for you!  See a guy holding another guys hand in your store – kick them out!  Feel spiritually bothered by …. people shorter than 6’2″? Feel free to exclude them from services here.  Religious Freedom Act indeed.

… sigh …

You know … I recently got into a rather serious disagreement with a very good friend because I felt he was too frequently ripping on Indiana and Hoosiers based on what I felt were largely unjust stereotypes.  The passage of this law reinforces every negative stereotype Indiana and Hoosiers suffer under; that we are a backwater, socially insulated, ignorant group of bible-beating hicks who don’t understand the larger world we live in.

I still don’t believe that.  I see the outrage over this law. I see it in my fellow hoosiers.  The disgust HOOSIERS feel over this is very real … but the bottom line is that this law passed in Indiana.  It’s a shame and an embarrassment.  It is a backwater, socially insulated, ignorant act by a government which came to pass not because hoosiers are stupid hicks, but thanks to a party line majority action which serves a hate-based political game at the expense of the people.  It supports discrimination, and it harms the image of our state and our populace.  It makes it harder for state, national, and international companies and industries to have faith that they can live and work here.

Mike Pence and every single person who voted for this bill is a DISGRACE to Indiana and to hoosiers.  We should vote every single one of them out of office.  Every. Single. One.