Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Rally Planned To Support Anti-Gay Counseling Student

We talked about this case a few weeks back. There were two counseling students who each sued their schools because their counseling departments were forcing them to learn about homosexuality as a requirement for receiving postgraduate degrees and counseling certification.

They both lost.

The sensible argument is that it is not too much to ask graduate students to learn the material and agree to abide by professional ethical standards. The dumb argument is that they are being persecuted for being Christians.

One of the students, Jennifer Keeton of Augusta State University in Georgia, sued her university for violation of First Amendment rights and viewpoint discrimination after they wanted her to attend remedial training.

From the Augusta Chronicle,, back in August:
Professors asked Keeton to complete the remediation plan after she said she opposed homosexuality and would tell gay clients "their behavior is morally wrong and then help the client change that behavior," according to an affidavit filed in the case. Judge rejects Keeton lawsuit

Well, that's straightforward enough.

There will be a rally in her support October 23rd at the university.
The Ku Klux Klan will hold a rally in support of an Augusta State University counseling student who claims her First Amendment rights were violated when the school ordered her to learn more about the homosexual community.

Bobby Spurlock, the imperial wizard knighthawk and grand dragon of South Carolina and North Carolina, said today the group has met with school officials and plans to protest the school’s treatment of 24-year-old Jennifer Keeton. The protest will be Oct. 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. They will be in full dress and located across from the school’s main Walton Way entrance in the median at Fleming Avenue.

Spurlock said they believe Keeton’s First Amendment rights were violated when the school required her to participate in a remediation program after she objected to counseling homosexuals.

“It's your constitutional right so how could you tell someone you have to do something completely different?” Spurlock said. Klan rally to support ASU student Keeton

Imagine -- imperial wizard knighthawk and grand dragon of both South Carolina and North Carolina! He must be a Very Wise Man.

I don't have much to add here. You see how it lines up. People are fed up, they want their country back.

20 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Birds of a feather flock together"
Could there be anyone left who doesn't understand the thinking, the motives, and the actions of the Christofascists, Tea Baggers, Beckians, O'Donnellites, et al.?

October 06, 2010 10:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is kind of sad when Jim stoops to this type of thing since he once wrote a post denouncing this idea that when a person that agrees with someone on one topic, they're saddled with every other demented view of each other

for example, the Unabomber probably agrees with TTF about big business and environmentalism but I wouldn't want to conflate all the other views of the Unabomber and TTF

that wouldn't be fair to the Unabomber

again, Saddam Hussein probably agreed with Barack Hussein Obama and most TTFers about the invasion of Iraq but we wouldn't want to push the comparison

then, there's Patty Hearst and Squeaky Fromme and Fidel Castro and Jeremiah Wright and all those terrorists that Barack Obama pals around with....

see how this works?

October 06, 2010 11:07 AM  
Anonymous how much does it cost- I'll buy it said...

Matt Sissel of Iowa City proudly served in Iraq as a combat medic. But he objects to being "conscripted" into an overhauled federal health care system.
The uninsured artist is riled about a provision in the new health law that would require him to purchase insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014. Last July, he filed a lawsuit to have the landmark act declared unconstitutional. "I don't want the federal government dictating my personal financial decisions," says Sissel, 29. "It can't even run its own budget."

October 06, 2010 1:06 PM  
Anonymous a word from the Jobs Party said...

The House Republican’s Pledge to America has set the stage for a powerful, closing argument for candidates seeking to unseat the left-wing, big spending, job killing Democrats: paychecks versus food stamps.

In June, more food stamps were distributed by the government than ever before in American history.

It turns out that Barack Obama’s idea of spreading the wealth around was spreading more food stamps around.

In January 2007, when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over Congress, unemployment was 4.6 percent and food stamp usage was around 26.5 million Americans. Today, the unemployment rate is 9.6 percent and over 40 million Americans are on food stamps.

Compare this to the record after Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

In four years, unemployment fell from 5.6 percent to 4.2 percent and food stamp usage dropped by 8 million Americans thanks to record job creation.

This vivid contrast between the record of the Pelosi-Reid Democratic Congress and the last time the Republican Party took control of Congress powerfully illustrates the difference for every American between the Democratic Party of food stamps and the Republican Party of paychecks.

Which future do you want? More food stamps? Or more paychecks?

This is the choice voters have on Election Day.

October 06, 2010 2:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"sued their schools because their counseling departments were forcing them to learn about homosexuality as a requirement for receiving postgraduate degrees"

actually, they didn't object to learning anything

they objected to being forced to help ameliorate the consequences of what they considered sinful behavior

you don't have to participate in enabling homosexuality in order to learn to be a counselor

this is yet another example of how normalizing homosexuality leads to adverse consequences for society

obviously, the KKK stands for a lot of bad things but, in this case, what you've posted sounds perfectly reasonable

is TTF trying to make the KKK look good because you feel a kinship with other three-initial groups?

October 06, 2010 3:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The counseling student didn't object to learning about homosexuality -- she did not want to be forced to treat a homosexual during one of her studen trainings, because she thought she wouldn't be objective. She tried to get another counselor to treat the patient.

Sounds reasonable to me.

October 06, 2010 3:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"She tried to get another counselor to treat the patient."

That's like a squeamish medical student getting another student to draw blood for him or a math phobic CPA candidate getting another student to prepare an audit because he can't do it himself. Those students, like Ms. Keeton, would have failed to complete their courses of study, including practicums and exams required to get the degree and license.

Jennifer Keeton was unable to complete her course of study, which includes a practicum of counseling a gay student. She failed to complete all of the requirements to earn her degree and now demands special treatment, and must be so pleased the KKK is going to bat for her.

Keeton thinks she should have to do less to obtain her degree and license than every other counseling student because of her religiously inspired prejudice against gays.

Keeton: Grade F

October 07, 2010 8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Students opt out of certain parts of the curriculum or are given alternatives for various reasons all the time, so you have a specious argument.

But on second thought...since, as I've learned on this blog, the gay population is in constant need of mental health services, then chances are high that she'll run into a ton of gay people needing counseling. Perhaps it is good that this student finds another line of work.

October 07, 2010 9:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

again, it's sad how gays have blackmailed us all into either advancing their agenda or shutting down the system

every profession has specialization

it should be possible to be a professional counselor without being forced to enable behavior you consider morally objectionable

should students be forced to help KKK members deal with the stress of public disapproval and affirm the behavior and beliefs of the KKK in an objective way?

of course not- some students may find racism morally objectionable and shouldn't be forced to enable KKK members to persevere in self-actualization

same applies with homosexuality

btw, isn't it great when we waste money having the government do a study to confirm what already knew anyway?:

"A presidential commission's reports on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill criticize the Obama administration for "underestimating" the amount of crude flowing into the Gulf, which in turn "undermined public confidence in the federal government's response."

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, formed just weeks after the April oil rig explosion, released a series of four papers Monday, each deeply critical of the federal government's handling of the disaster."

by now, Obama's incompetence is old news

October 07, 2010 9:17 AM  
Anonymous so long, gay agenda said...

good news for patritotic Citizens:

friend of the Constitution, Sharron Angle, has moved into a 4-point lead in the Nevada Senate race

goodbye, Harry Reid

and goodbye, Dept of Education

October 07, 2010 9:41 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

"undermined public confidence in the federal government's response."

Yeah, lots of folks' confidence in the federal governments response to the oil spill dropped like a rock when the GOP's Mr. Sessions had the audacity to apologize to BP for the government demanding BP pay for the clean up of the destruction of our gulf coast caused by their negligence. It's no wonder people didn't trust the government's response with representatives making outrageous statements like that! Sessions made it clear that he and his party do not care about the people living on the gulf coast as much as care about keeping oil industry money flowing into their campaign coffers like this:

Oil & Gas
This industry, which includes multinational and independent oil and gas producers and refiners, natural gas pipeline companies, gasoline service stations and fuel oil dealers, has long enjoyed a history of strong influence in Washington. Individuals and political action committees affiliated with oil and gas companies have donated $238.7 million to candidates and parties since the 1990 election cycle, 75 percent of which has gone to Republicans.

Oil & Gas: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates and Parties
Election cycle: 2010
Total contributions: $17,950,186

1 Koch Industries $1,033,450 Dem=11% GOP=88%
2 Exxon Mobil $755,799 Dem=17% GOP=82%
3 Chevron Corp $623,904 Dem=18% GOP=80%
4 Valero Energy $519,550 Dem=17% GOP=81%
5 Marathon Oil $473,490 Dem=20% GOP=78%
6 Occidental Petroleum $413,250 Dem=18% GOP=80%
7 Williams Companies $397,750 Dem=26% GOP=72%
8 Chesapeake Energy $339,230 Dem=49% GOP=49%
9 American Gas Assn $314,200 Dem=42% GOP=56%
10 Anadarko Petroleum $301,460 Dem=19% GOP=79%
11 Devon Energy $293,420 Dem=9% GOP=89%
12 ConocoPhillips $255,094 Dem=30% GOP=66%
13 Pilot Corp $211,990 Dem=4% GOP=96%
14 Chief Oil & Gas $189,601 Dem=0% GOP=99%
15 Society of Indep Gasoline Marketers $189,000 Dem=62% GOP=38%
16 Plains Exploration & Production $188,300 Dem=21% GOP=77%
17 Tesoro Petroleum $184,133 Dem=45% GOP=51%
18 Mewbourne Oil Co $182,100 Dem=5% GOP=95%
19 Nustar Energy $179,250 Dem=19% GOP=81%
20 Energy Transfer Partners $172,276 Dem=11% GOP=86%

October 07, 2010 9:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Yeah, lots of folks' confidence in the federal governments response to the oil spill dropped like a rock when the GOP's Mr. Sessions had the audacity to apologize to BP for the government demanding BP pay for the clean up of the destruction of our gulf coast caused by their negligence. It's no wonder people didn't trust the government's response with representatives making outrageous statements like that!"

His statement may not have been well-timed but he was essentially correct. We are a nation of laws not extortion and intimidation. The people have faith in our judicial system for remedies to their legitimate greivances. Everyone would have had their day in court without Emperor Obama shaking down private business leaders.

Sessions, btw, wasn't the President.

"Sessions made it clear that he and his party do not care about the people living on the gulf coast as much as care about keeping oil industry money flowing into their campaign coffers."

Thanks for lowering the discourse into demagoguery but the people in the Gulf have made it clear who they support.

It isn't those who tried to stop Gov Jindal from protecting the shore with sand barriers and it isn't those who tried to doom the local economy with a moratorium on drilling.

According to polls, the people of the Gulf rate Obama's response below that of Bush during Katrina.

October 07, 2010 10:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sessions, Barton, ooops, my bad!

The way the Republicans reacted to Congressman Joe Barton's "apology" to BP at the hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reminds you of what happens when a group of teenagers find out that a member of their "secret club" has revealed the secret handshake to the school principal.

Barton had the audacity to say out loud a secret that everyone else in the Republican fraternity knows very well -- that the Republicans are a Party of, by and for Big Oil. From Cheney's secret oil executive populated "Energy Taskforce" to "drill baby drill" -- and for decades before - the oil industry has held the Republican puppet strings.

When the Republicans controlled Congress and Joe Barton chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee, the CEO of BP himself might has well have sat in the big chair at the head of the hearing room. As the Ranking Republican on Energy and Commerce, Barton would be likely to reprise his chairmanship of Energy and Commerce were the Republicans to retake control of the House. That would make the apologist-in-chief for BP the guy in the House who "oversees" the oil industry.

Since Barton came to Congress in 1984, he has received $1.4 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry as a whole -- $27,350 of it from people and political committees associated with BP. Barton has received $100,000 in contributions from the oil industry this cycle alone.

Far from being an outlier in the Republican caucus, Barton simply articulated the point of view that most of the caucus shares. Just a day before Barton labeled the $20 billion escrow fund -- negotiated by President Obama to guarantee that money is available to cover the losses caused by their pollution of the Gulf -- "a shakedown scheme," the Republican Study Group, representing 112 Republican House Members said:

"BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics."

In their statement distancing themselves from Barton after his outburst, House Republican Leader John Boehner and his team referred to the spill as a "natural disaster." Of course oil is a product of "nature," but the fact that it exploded into the Gulf was caused by the drilling bit deployed by BP and its contractors -- not by some "act of God."

Since Obama was elected, the Republicans, with very few exceptions, have been steadfast against passage of a clean energy bill that would begin to wean America from its addiction to oil. They have stood firmly behind the oil industry's desire to force the world to depend on its increasingly scarce and expensive fossil fuels.

Then there is Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who recently fought tooth and nail in a failed attempt to get the Senate to prevent the EPA from enforcing pollution standards against green house gases. Had it passed it would have represented another bonanza for the oil industry. She was joined by all of her Republican Senate colleagues.

And Republican fealty to the oil barons goes back decades.

October 07, 2010 10:50 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Sessions, Barton, ooops, my bad!

That was me!

October 07, 2010 10:51 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Facts for those interested in more than spin:

The sand berms -- paid for with $360 million from BP -- have drawn criticism from coastal scientists and federal regulators. Critics say the work was ill-conceived and would damage the environment. Still, Jindal has made the sand berms a cornerstone to his strategy to fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The state said it has spent $86 million on the project so far.

EPA said there were serious problems with the project.

On May 27, the Army Corps of Engineers allowed the state to build 40 miles of berm, but only four miles have been constructed so far, EPA said.

The four miles of berm have "received only light oiling" and done little to stop oil from reaching wetlands and barrier islands behind them, the EPA said.

Also, EPA said the berms pose problems for sea turtles, birds, seagrass beds, navigation, water quality and the natural flow of sediment along the coast. The agency called on the Army Corps to do in-depth environmental studies before allowing the state to build more berms.

Louisiana officials argue that their proposed projects not only keep oil out of sensitive marshes but also would help build back the badly eroded coastline.

"They're worried about these islands. In the 1930s and 1940s, all these islands were connected," Camardelle said. "What is wrong with us dredging and building these islands back up and trying to connect these islands?"

Gregory Stone, the director of Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University's School of the Coast & Environment, said building back Louisiana's coast is a good idea, but that the work has to be done correctly.

"Anything that would be undertaken to allow for the introduction of sediment onto the beaches and barrier islands is a plus," Stone said. "I'm not opposed from that perspective to the berms."
But he said the state rushed into the sand berm work without considering where the sediment for the berms would come from, what effects the work would have on currents and tides and how they would stand up to storms.

"The next tropical storm or tropical cyclone or winter storm that comes through this area, they are not going to stand a chance," Stone said. "They have begun to disintegrate and they are not doing the job that was anticipated."

So Bobby Jindal decided to spend million of dollars to build 4 miles of berms, which have only been lightly oiled and "are not doing the job that was anticipated."

< eye roll >

How embarrassing for Bobby Jindal!

What a waste of the BP money Obama from BP this summer instead of waiting years for the courts to force BP to do the right thing and pay to clean up the mess they made.

And President Obama got BP to provide another $100 million to cover any job losses caused by the moratorium to ensure another oil rig doesn't explode and pollute our shores again. There were fewer than 400 requests made for this money, which was expected to cover up to 9,000 people. "Grants were expected to be limited to those who worked on the 33 rigs affected by the moratorium. But with so much money apparently left over, the charity plans to offer a second round of grants — this time to workers who support the deepwater rigs, such as people on supply boats and pilots who provide helicopter transportation to rigs."

Interesting coincidence: Fortune Magazine reports: Update: BP's advertising budget during the spill neared $100 million

October 07, 2010 11:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

only Bea and Obama think oil companies are demonic

the rest of us think they are profitable companies that provide a vital commodity and employ many Americans

few of whom would ever vote for a Democrat again

October 07, 2010 3:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Anonymous"
Other than GLBT folks, who else do you hate? Who is next on your agenda to excoriate and preach hatred toward? Old folks? Methodists? Child-care providers?
Susan Collins? Proprietors of girlie, sex-show venues?

October 08, 2010 9:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

other than people who create jobs, who else do you hate?

October 08, 2010 10:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gosh...I don't hate anybody (even though I really have to work hard at it when it comes to what you say and what you stand for)!

October 10, 2010 12:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Gosh...I don't hate anybody..."

Gosh, Anon, that's why you are the very embodiment of the term "the banality of evil"

October 10, 2010 1:18 PM  

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