Jump to content

mickey1952

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    404

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by mickey1952

  1. mickey1952
    The Arizona state legislature recently passed a bill purportedly to help protect the religious beliefs of business owners. The following column is based on my understanding of that event, and if I've misunderstood or misinterpreted anything about the situation, I welcome any corrective responses, as well as general responses.
     
    The way I understand it the bill is intended to protect, at least in part, businesses who wish to not do business with parties whose views or practices might conflict with their religious convictions. But it has turned into a broad permission slip for businesses to be able to refuse to serve LGBT potential customers. First, what about those signs that say, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."? " is this actually legal to enforce? And, if it is, why isn't this enough without this ridiculous bill?
     
    But the real danger of such a bill is that it opens a potential Pandora's Box. What's next, or more specically, who's next? What if someone claims they don't want to serve members of the public because their religious views clash with the business owner's? Or some fringe elements could claim their religious views don't agree with people of another skin color, or some other such silliness.
     
    The governor has until the end of the week to either sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law by doing nothing. Even three of the Republican lawmakers who voted for the bill have seen past their short-sightedness and urged her to veto it. There also seems to be a groundswell of general public and business opposition to the bill. What I don't understand is how these legislators can say that this wasn't their original intent. How could they not have seen the broader implications of this bill in the first place??
     
    Finally, I have a more personal reason for scratching my poor, mostly bald, head over this. I had decided very recently that Arizona was going to be my retirement location of choice next year. Now I don't know what to think. A vast majority of everyday folks, from the looks of the reaction to this bill, don't share the views of those who support it. And you find prejudice, to one degree or another, almost everywhere. But do I want to give my retirement dollars to a state that might be prone to future actions? Any GA members from Arizona who care to share their opinion?
  2. mickey1952
    There's so much incredible material here on GA to enjoy, but I'm sure that most of us enjoy reading books outside of the site as well. How about sharing our favorites and maybe steer others to more great reads? Right now, for fiction, I'm reading James Patterson's Second Honeymoon. Nonfiction has me engrossed in David McCollough's John Adams. And in my spare time (hehe) I'm finishing up reading Dean Koontz's Darkfall. It's the final reread of four of his classics (Strangers, Watchers, Whispers, and Darkfall). So how about you? What's currently tripping your literary trigger? I'd espescially be interested in what you GA authors like to read. BTW, I'm on my third Nook Reader. I upgraded the first time, but literally wore out the second one! ROFL!
×
×
  • Create New...