Friday, July 04, 2014

A New Hobby: Lobbying!

Businesses began providing health-care benefits to their workers as part of their pay.  In order to delay payment of cash to their workers the big businesses (railroads, coal mines, etc) began providing delayed payment for a "benefit" that their workers really didn't want.  The unions had to sell the idea to their workers.  Now, many years later, Hobby Lobby has objected to the idea that they might be "Responsible In Their Own Minds" for providing contraception for any of their workers.  So, therefore they took their objection to the U. S. Supreme Court and won a split, 5-4 decision proclaiming that they don't have to pay for their worker's contraception.  This clearly opens the issue that the "Word of God" trumps the U. S.  Constitution, AND any state's constitution and its laws.





Today, the Fourth of July, 2014, only a couple of weeks after that ruling by the Supreme Court, a full page advertisement appeared in the Charlotte Observer newspaper proclaiming "In God We Trust", with a sub-headline from Psalms stating "Blessed is the Nation Whose God is The Lord".  The rest of the advertisement apparently presents supporting statements by "Presidents", "Founding Fathers", "Congress", a big comment in the center of the page for "Supreme Court Justices", then "Education", then "Supreme Court Rulings", and finally "Foreign Opinion".  I glanced through the comments looking for Thomas Jefferson among others (not there), and noticed the comment on "Education" referred to the Harvard Student Guidelines in 1636 – well, I knew that Harvard was founded by Puritans for the purpose of training ministers – so, I wondered why the people who had provided the advertisement hadn't gotten a modern quotation.  Then I flipped the page and went on.




A few minutes later I was glancing through the Hickory Daily Record and ran into the SAME PAGE! Another full page advertisement proclaiming "In God We Trust"  Who put this thing out?  Now I went to the  bottom of the page and found there in "fine print" the name Hobby Lobby!  Apparently Hobby lobby has two affiliated stores, Hemispheres which sells "luxury" products and Mardel which sells Christian and educational products. 



Hobby Lobby has spent a lot of money on these advertisements, as they did in their legal pursuits.  So what is going on now?  What can we expect next.  One thing we do know – for certain – is that Money Speaks, Money Votes, and Money Rules in the United States.  Hang on.  Get ready for an impressive show.

A New Hobby: Lobbying!

Businesses began providing health-care benefits to their workers as part of their pay.  In order to delay payment of cash to their workers the big businesses (railroads, coal mines, etc) began providing delayed payment for a "benefit" that their workers really didn't want.  The unions had to sell the idea to their workers.  Now, many years later, Hobby Lobby has objected to the idea that they might be "Responsible In Their Own Minds" for providing contraception for any of their workers.  So, therefore they took their objection to the U. S. Supreme Court and won a split, 5-4 decision proclaiming that they don't have to pay for their worker's contraception.  This clearly opens the issue that the "Word of God" trumps the U. S.  Constitution, AND any state's constitution and its laws.





Today, the Fourth of July, 2014, only a couple of weeks after that ruling by the Supreme Court, a full page advertisement appeared in the Charlotte Observer newspaper proclaiming "In God We Trust", with a sub-headline from Psalms stating "Blessed is the Nation Whose God is The Lord".  The rest of the advertisement apparently presents supporting statements by "Presidents", "Founding Fathers", "Congress", a big comment in the center of the page for "Supreme Court Justices", then "Education", then "Supreme Court Rulings", and finally "Foreign Opinion".  I glanced through the comments looking for Thomas Jefferson among others (not there), and noticed the comment on "Education" referred to the Harvard Student Guidelines in 1636 – well, I knew that Harvard was founded by Puritans for the purpose of training ministers – so, I wondered why the people who had provided the advertisement hadn't gotten a modern quotation.  Then I flipped the page and went on.




A few minutes later I was glancing through the Hickory Daily Record and ran into the SAME PAGE! Another full page advertisement proclaiming "In God We Trust"  Who put this thing out?  Now I went to the  bottom of the page and found there in "fine print" the name Hobby Lobby!  Apparently Hobby lobby has two affiliated stores, Hemispheres which sells "luxury" products and Mardel which sells Christian and educational products. 



Hobby Lobby has spent a lot of money on these advertisements, as they did in their legal pursuits.  So what is going on now?  What can we expect next?  One thing we do know – for certain – is that Money Speaks, Money Votes, and Money Rules in the United States.  Hang on.  Get ready for an impressive show.