Tuesday’s Quick Hits

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Due to some appointments, I am posting a little earlier today. Here are the topics that caught my attention:

  • Define Sex in Montana Law
  • U.S. Senate Montana 2024
  • Does God Exist?
  • One More Thing

DEFINE SEX IN MONTANA LAW:

It seems the latest Montana Legislature with the Republican supermajority decided that nothing is off-limits. Often they embarrassed the state with their silly bills.

The Montana Free Press (MTFP reported that Montana Governor Greg Gianforte’s office announced Saturday that the Republican governor has signed into law Senate Bill 458, legislation that inserts binary, reproduction-based definitions of “male,” “female” and “sex” into dozens of parts of state code.

MTFP reported that the bill, drafted in part by the conservative Montana Family Foundation, passed through the Legislature earlier this year largely along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The bill sponsor, Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, and other supporters framed the policy as a response to a rise in people identifying as transgender and said it would help ensure that Montana law defines residents based on their “biological” sex as identified at birth.

I suspect that we’ll see a challenge to this law very soon. The law seems ripe with discrimination.

Read the complete report from the MTFP HERE.

U.S. SENATE MONTANA 2024:

In case you missed it, the Washington Post (WaPo) ran a story about U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) who is up for reelection in 2024.

WaPo reports:

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection next year, has bedeviled Republicans since 2006, winning reelection twice in a deep-red state whose other senator, Steve Daines, is now in charge of gaining back the majority for Republicans as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

WaPo also says Daines and his longtime top aide Jason Thielman, the NRSC’s executive director who is also from Montana are working to recruit a top-flight challenger to Tester and using their expertise to plot his defeat from their perches at the organization.

Isn’t it about time for Daines and Thielman to reveal the “top-flight” challenger? Or is it a “sacrificial lamb?” I’m beginning to think that nobody outside of Matt Rosendale will take on Tester and he’s already had his ass beaten by him even with the whole Trump family living in Montana during campaign season.

As they say, “time’s a-wastin’!”

The WaPo story may be behind a paywall, but you can check to see HERE.

DOES GOD EXIST?

I believe that God does exist, but I am not one to shove my religious beliefs down anyone’s throat.

I enjoy studying the beliefs of different religions, not to judge, but to learn. I love to listen to the Bible being read when I am going to sleep. I pray often.

A very wise person once told me when I asked him about which religious denomination was correct and said, “I guess we’ll find out in the end.”

The Hill recently reported about a new poll that found not quite 50 percent of Americans say they have no doubt about the existence of God. This was according to the 2022 survey, released Wednesday by NORC, the University of Chicago research organization. As recently as 2008, the share of sure-believers topped 60 percent. Thirty-four percent of Americans never go to church, NORC found, the highest figure recorded in five decades of surveys.

Those findings are pretty sad, in my opinion.

Religion has been severely tarnished over the years. From sex scandals to child abuse, it’s no wonder that people have doubts about the existence of God and don’t want to associate with religious organizations.

It would be great if churches and people of faith would get back to the basics of religion, which are contained in the ten commandments.

You can read the article from The Hill HERE. It has a link to the survey.

ONE MORE THING:

This Tweet is a little old, but still worth reading. It from U.S. Representative Jason Crowe (D-CO 6th District) who is a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient:

I grew up a hunter and served as an Army Ranger.

I didn’t take my deer hunting rifle to Afghanistan, nor did I take my assault rifle deer hunting.

Don’t be fooled by the gun lobby. The type of gun matters.

Weapons of war have no place in our communities.

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9 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Quick Hits”

  2. The whole issue of religious affiliation has been tainted by the incessant, public bigotry and false piety of most of the more fervent denominations. It has been a bleeding ulcer of organized religion for millennia.

    Matthew 6:6 – But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

    It’s difficult to accept the tenets of any religion that violates its own most fundamental strictures. “Love thy neighbor.” Unless, of course, you disapprove of how they choose to live and love. Then you get to hate and attack that neighbor.

  3. I appreciate your definition of values based on the ten commandments. In my own life I have chosen not to allow the ten commandments to guide my life as much as the quote from Jesus where he speaks of having fulfilled the law and that he has given us a new commandment. That is the commandment I try to live by. Love God and love your neighbors. Let love be the commandment that we all try to follow.

  4. There is so much to be learned from religion (organized or otherwise). Certainty always ruins the inquiry. The three major monotheistic religions invalidate themselves because of the way they treat women. The historical record is plain. Pedophilia? How could anyone be a catholic. Certainty creeps in again.

    • Interesting your comments about how churches treat women. Saddleback church in California, which used to be led by Rick Warren and who had retired, was kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention due to Saddleback ordaining women as pastors.
      Your comment “How could anyone be Catholic” is probaby how Catholics feel about other denominations. Lots of it depends how one is raised. Thanks, JmB

  5. Also on the religion subject, Politico had a recent story about the decline in the number of Americans who are associated with organized religion. One of the notes of the story was was that religion is fading fast in Rust Belt swing states, which could help Democrats, but rising in southern states with lots of Hispanic immigrants who arrived with religion, which could help Republicans. (Guess that also depends on how many are legal and can vote – kind of a curious reverse “great replacement” effect.) They also noted that almost 50% of Gen Z, our largest generation and also quickly maturing to voting age, has no religious affiliation at all.

    Like you I suspect a big if not the biggest reason for the decline in religious belief and affiliation is the constant torrent of stories about clergy, religious educators, and other “trusted” church officials grooming and sexually abusing kids. Not just the Catholic church, but the Baptists and all sorts of evangelical denominations as well.

    That’s the real story of grooming and pedophilia in America today (along with the evergreen story of straight stepdads and boyfriends and foster dads and so on). There’s no doubt at all the right’s recent strident cacophony about a supposed threat from drag performers and so on is intentional smokescreen to take the heat off the documented abuse by religious officials.

    Politico story:
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/14/democrats-religion-census-secular-00095858

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