Open Thread: Double standards, Tiny Britches, and your mom.
Angry Guy 
What do those 3 things have in common?
1st Amendment
Once again, the Argus Liar only prints what they want….
I don’t understand why they didn’t just print Katrina’s whole letter.
I assume it’s because the AL editorial staff has some hidden agenda to suppress dissent and criticism.
Here is Kat’s piece in it’s entirety.
Governor Rounds set goals in the 2010 Initiative to double visitor spending and develop SD’s quality of life as one of the best in the nation.   Without the foundation of the South Dakota Arts Council, how will these goals be met? Cultural tourism revenues and the creation and development of vibrant, creative, economically progressive communities is a residual effect of government support of the arts.Â
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I was one of those Gen-Xers that wanted to get away from the rural life of South Dakota as soon as I graduated from SDSU. That was, until I discovered that I could find a career in the arts here.Â
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I’ve worked for a non-profit arts organization for the last eight years that receives a grant from the South Dakota Arts Council. Each time my organization produces an event our patrons and vendors positively impact the state through sales tax revenues.Â
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A report from Americans for the Arts shows that as of January 2008, South Dakota is home to 1,287 arts-related businesses that employ 6,368 people and it is estimated that these businesses and arts workers create a local economic impact of $48 million. Â
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The foundation that the SD Arts Council provides my organization keeps one more young person in this state to pay taxes, buy a home and start a family.
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My life is a microcosm of the trickle-down effect of how funding the SD Arts Council benefits our communities.
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I’m tired of the argument that funding the arts is frivolous and meaningless. Ideas like this are millions of miles away from the reality of how government funding of the arts truly does benefit us all, not only intrinsically, but in regard to our economy.
Itzhak Perlman & Yo-Yo Ma, the Milli Vanilli of classical music?
l3wis 
They decided not to play the real thing. They pre-recorded the piece due to the cold weather and it’s affect on their sound and instruments. But this stinks. Aretha Franklin did not sound her best, but most people understand what cold weather does to sound, and she pulled off the real deal. What bothers me about this is that Yo-Yo talked about how he was nervous about the performance a few days earlier. WTF were you nervous about? You couldn’t do your best Ashlee Simpson impersonation? On top of that, it does not look good for the Obama administration. First HBO censors a gay bishop’s prayer, than these guys lipsinct classical music, and when Obama decides to take the oath over, he does not allow in TV cameras and forgets his bible. All in a couple of days.
Here’s the deal, Barry, we elected you because we were tired of censorship and GW Bush. Live up to your promises, let’s be transparent. I can’t take another 4 years of this kind of bullshit.
SF Neighborhood; ‘Jesus can park here, but not Allah.’
Every once in awhile a Sioux Falls City Councilor surprises me. Bob Litz did this yesterday when he asked Mike Cooper from the Planning department this question (Jan 20th info meeting), in reference to the zoning of the NEW Islamic Center,
“Why is there a disparency between what the fire code requires in occupancy and what the zoning commission requires?â€
Cooper responded, “It’s very complex.†And he added that the fire department has different standards. Uh, well duh, Mike, that’s why Bob asked the question. Shouldn’t the fire department and Zoning commission be on the same page?
But this isn’t about occupancy, it’s about bigotry.
Cory from Madville writes a great post about the veiled bigotry that I have been concerned about for awhile towards the new Islamic Center.
It all started a few weeks back at a SF city council informational meeting (Jan 5th) when a ‘concerned citizen’ (Ignorant/Hypocritical Protestant) took pictures and shot video of African-American immigrant Muslims protesting Israel’s attack on Gaza across the street in a public park from the other Islamic center on 6th street. Councilor Staggers asked the gentleman what his feelings were on the First Amendment, and the guy seem to be confused about it’s meaning and started talking about city ordinances, etc. Staggers reminded the citizen that the U.S. Constitution trumps all municipal and state laws and as long as their protesting was peaceful he couldn’t do anything about it.
Later at the City Council meeting I thanked Staggers for reminding the citizen about the First Amendment and I also said publicly if any of these protesters feel threatened or intimidated by the local authorities that need to contact the National Coalition Against Censorship or the ACLU for legal advice.
This is flat out bigotry because of their faith, that’s it, and it is pretty obvious. I will say the city and council have been doing their best to handle the zoning issue as smoothly as possible, it’s the citizens in this neighborhood that are causing problems and continue to hassle the city about restricting them, even though most (Christian) worship facilities in Sioux Falls are in residential areas.
I don’t belong to any religion, so I don’t care if people are dancing naked around old sprint car tires in their churches, just as long as they follow zoning rules they have the right to do whatever they want to in their church, the First Amendment guarantees it.
I suggest the Islamic Center contacts the ACLU and get some legal advice before this thing blows up into something bigger.
Censorship of the Obama presidency has already begun
This prayer was censored from Sunday’s HBO broadcast of a pre-inauguration event.
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers†we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed†anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN.
© Copyright 2004-2006 by The Diocese of New Hampshire, The Episcopal Church