Gary From Bloomingdale, WNBZ and Kathy Griffin

Our moral majority friend, "Gary from Bloomingdale", is once again up in arms on this mornings WNBZ "talk of the town" call-in program. It's along his usual line about how "the left is ruining this country". This is a direct insult to me because I am a member of the "evil commie left" and I would argue, at least in my case, that I am not trying to ruin our country.

The issue this morning is comedian Kathy Griffin's speech at the Emmy Award Broadcast. Here is what she said:

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award," Griffin said in her speech. "I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

She went on to hold up her Emmy for best reality show and add: "This award is my god now!"

Now I can certainly understand how this would offend a devout Christian, but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of "devout Christians" that I have met over the years (although I've met an innumerable number of good people).

"Gary from Bloomingdale" goes on to point out how "the left" was outraged when a newspaper in Denmark published a cartoon of Muhammed (PBUH, see I'm being respectful). Michelle Malkin, however, couldn't wait to link to as many websites as possible that were publishing the cartoons. I sympathized with the muslims because it is against the ten commandments to make graven images (a commandment by the way that most Christians do not follow). But to me our Constitution and free speech trumps religion.

So "Gary from Bloomingdale" is outraged. This type of speech is destroying our country. "Gary from Bloomingdale" forgets something important. Free speech is guaranteed under the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. You see the framers were a bit worried that guys like "Gary from Bloomingdale" might try to destroy our country by prohibiting free speech.

Oddly enough, Kathy Griffin's irregligious comments are going to be censored when her speech is aired in a few days.

I'm not sure what the uproar is all about. "South Park" and "Family Guy" (two of my favorite tv shows) have treated both Jesus and Muhammed (PBUH), and just about everyone else, far more irreverently than Kathy Griffin did at her emmy acceptance speech. I guess "Gary from Bloomingdale" doesn't watch those tv shows, which is not surprising since they too are obvious indicators that our country is going to hell in a handbasket.

I guess the more serious question here is this: Did Jesus have anything to do with Kathy Griffin winning an emmy award? Well, as an atheist I have to say that I doubt it, but you can decide for yourself.

The laugh line from "Gary from Bloomingdale" this morning is this: "Listen to Fox News if you want to know what is going on in this country" (seven US polls have shown that people who listen to Fox News get things wrong). In any case, I hardily disagree with "Gary from Bloomingdale". If you want to know what is going on in this country you need to listen to John Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

Saranac Lake: A Community of Socialists or Communists?

An interesting morning on todays WNBZ radio Talk of the Town. One caller basically accused the supporters of the Saranac Lake Community Store of being Socialists and another caller accused special interests groups petitioning village government officials of being communists.

It isn't real clear how a group of people getting together and investing money to form a company can be called socialistic. It seems like it fits more with the definition of capitalism.

As for local progressive groups attending local government meetings and voicing their opinions....how exactly is that communism?

This actually all about opposition to a proposed two year retail store size limit and support for that limit by groups such as Sound Adirondack Growth Alliance and Save Saranac Lake Coalition. The proposed limit under discussion is similar to the one instituted in Lake Placid in 1998 that limits a single store to 40,000 square feet (the size of a football field) and a retail plaza to 68,000 square feet.

UPDATE: There has been some confusion as to the definition of socialism. A whole bunch of definitions of socialism can be found here. The common theme seems to be government ownership and control(socialism) versus private ownership and control (capitalism) of industry and business.

Rev. Gary (from Bloomingdale) on Homosexuality

From the "intolerance section" of todays Daily Enterprise. A letter from Gary "the good ole days were better" Shene professing his "facts" on homosexuality. Here it is.

The debate of whether gays should be allowed to marry in New York has jumped to the forefront in the last few days. I listened to “Talk of the Town” and the many comments on this subject and came to the conclusion that there is really no answer to the debate.

Firstly, is it a sin? Only if there is a God, and if so, only he knows whether it is or isn’t. So any debate cannot come from a religious point of view, as the Bible teaches that such would be considered judging, and it says that judging others is wrong.

Is being gay natural? Is one born gay? Putting God and religion aside, I do not know of any other form of life on earth that practices homosexuality; anyone that believes that thing about the penguins in the New York zoo, I got a bridge to sell you. I personally know people who WERE gay and now aren’t, and vice versa, so that sort of tells my common sense that no one is born gay.

I believe the general public has a view of homosexuality that is very clouded. It is a choice, not a condition; it is something someone DOES, not who or what someone is.

Loving someone of the same sex is not unnatural; we love our sisters, cousins, people who aren’t related to us. The question is, where do we draw the line on our sexual yearnings that have nothing to do with love?

Should one’s sexual yearnings dictate the laws of our society? If so, we had better hope, as a nation, that pedophiles and child molesters don’t get any more support, or we’ll be legalizing them; after all, their desires are of a sexual preference just as gays’ or straights’ are. What if one wants to marry both a man AND a woman? Where does it end?

If the law gets passed by the Senate, so what? Laws change, and we must obey them, no matter how we feel. I can remember when abortion was considered murder, as many of you can. A law may not be right, but it’s the law all the same, and to live in this society we must obey them.

Let’s face facts: Society is changing, sex seems to be the most important aspect of life nowadays, self-indulgence and narcissism seem to be the direction of our culture, and these trends and fads will only grow and grow. Whether or not these changes are for the good of our country, only time will tell, although as much as I try, I can’t shake that feeling that it’s the start of a slippery slope and we’d better give much, much thought to the decisions we make that will have far-reaching consequences on our children and the future.

The only way anyone can change things is by voicing your opinions to your representatives, although that doesn’t seem to go as far as it used to. Like it or not, the liberal left seems to shout much louder than the conservative right.

In the end, if there is a God, he’ll sort it all out. If there isn’t, it won’t matter, will it?

Garry Shene

Bloomingdale