The expectation of Christian privilege and entitlement runs deep in this country. The people behind this unconstitutional grant would likely go out of their minds at the mere suggestion a similar grant be given to any non-Christian religious entity. It just never ends, and it needs to. Legislators need to be held personal liable for defending measures like this in court.
You know it, oraxx. Not only is this transaction illegal under WV law, they appear to know it was by making sure it was done in the dark. Whoever gave the go-ahead for this 'grant' needs to be held officially and personally liable for violating WV law.
This deal reeks like 3-day old fish on a hot summer day. Ohio's constitution has a similar prohibition on state funding of private religious schools [Article VI, Section 2]. I wonder what the citizens of WV would think about $5M being boosted from a state agency that's supposed to upgrade their water system but instead ended up in the coffers of a shady, storefront catholic school in OH. I think we're about to find out. Thank you to the AHA and ACLU for bringing this righteous suit.
Sadly, Ohio also has a considerable school voucher program, aimed primarily at religious schools of one stripe or another, so any objection you might hear from Ohio government will be perfunctory at best. 😝
Important to note that OH's constitution [Article VI, Section 2] also bans all but 'common schools', i.e., public schools, from receiving state funding. Those voucher programs have been a large contributor to the degradation of public schools in OH.
Which REALLY makes you wonder how the voucher program has so much as one leg to stand on ... until you realize what a tool for religion Mike DeWine is.
Kasich was bad enough. DeWine is flat over-the-top.
I wonder if anyone has even bothered to challenge school vouchers on constitutional grounds. The plain language of OH's constitution makes state funding for religious schools illegal.
Christian Fucking Privelege! We all know that's why the rules don't apply here. I mean, it would be (gasp!) 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 if they had to follow the rules everyone else was required to.
Well, you see, a Christian school in Ohio every once in a while gets a student from West Virginia. They just want to make sure they have enough money to tell that student to drink more water. Does it make sense now?
I understand that the American Humanist Association is focused on religious freedom, but I think the winning strategy is to look at the way the funds are supposed to be allocated, the process the applicants are supposed to go through, and the fact that sending this money to the out of state religious school who is not going to spend the money on providing safe water is actually stealing money from taxpayers as well as being complicit in poisoning West Virginians through the theft. Bring up the unconstitutionality of the grant, but at least don’t forget to address the other concerns. Especially in the media.
If you market this as solely a religious freedom case, by what most folks would consider atheists, you won’t win over the support you need. But pointing out that the citizens are being robbed, and poisoned, in the name of religion might get the attention of the population.
That’s the route I would take, though. I wouldn’t ignore the religious aspect, I would bolster it with the corruption.
No paperwork? Tsk tsk. What is it that William S. Burroughs taught?
"If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit, not with the good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal."
-- From Burroughs' "Advice for Young People" September 28th 1993
My dad always said: if someone starts telling you what a christian they are, break off the deal immediately, and back away, holding onto your wallet with one hand, and protect your ass with the other.
And here I thought that stealing and coveting were forbidden in the 8th and 10th Commandments (or in the Catholics case, the 7th and 10th Commandments). Christians want everyone else to follow their rules while they cheerfully violate them.
On top of this, they were being deceitful when they applied for/took this grant. That's a no-no because their book says that their god hates deceit/lying. Forever we are being told by them to "Fear God!" They seem to have no fear of him.
About the only thing they fear is getting caught ... which they did. The question now is whether they will pay a price or get a slap on the wrist and go right back to doing what they did before they were caught.
Being that it's West Virginia, I'd say the answer to that one is pretty obvious.
According to the Catholics, if you even THINK about sinning, don't bother with following through. You're guilty of the sin you were thinking about. Doesn't stop them from doing it anyway.
Maybe deep down, they know there's no god or eternal punishment awaiting them.
Well if they’ve thought about cheating you or being dishonest, then they might as well just go through with it - makes no difference to the level of the sin in question.
Don’t they have the Ten Commandments posted in their school? I mean, if the Ten Commandments are the answer to all the problems in public schools, wouldn’t they keep the folks in the Christian schools honest too?
"Political Christianity." Interesting terminology, especially in the light of State / Church separation. Christianity of various flavors has become entirely TOO political, especially in the wake of FDR's New Deal, never mind Reagan's embrace of the Religious Reich, which was essentially a public endorsement of political Christianity.
It actually goes back further, to the conservative response to Roosevelt's New Deal. Read Kevin M. Kruse's One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. It is one hell of an eye-opening read, as well as very engaging.
The damn god-botherers can’t keep their noses out of ANYTHING. 🙄🙄🙄🙄 They don’t even see their own arrogance and immorality, not to mention that they would rather use the Constitution as toilet paper than actually honor it.
No, they are not blind to their own action. The Republicans and their followers enjoy the pain and suffering that their actions causes and more pain and trauma it does to the people that they hate, the more they revel in it. Remember cruelty is the point and the end goal for Republicans and their followers.
I expect that the number of these suits will rise sharply in the next few years as the attempts to force religion into all aspects of US life rise. The rightwing catholics and the dominionists will be busy little moles.
No paperwork, not related to the grant conditions...sounds like a backroom deal. I'd bet money the WDA is simply doing what some legislator told them to do.
So, when some WV legislator steps in to defend the deal or 'make it legal' by magically finding the signature and rewriting the grant conditions, we'll know whose pockets got lined.
Only because it was almost certainly meant to be a backroom deal. Problem is, could those handling it expect to be able to explain away $5 million going POOF?
Unfortunately, by the time the suit reaches a courtroom the money will all be p̶o̶c̶k̶e̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶a̶d̶m̶i̶n̶i̶s̶t̶r̶a̶t̶o̶r̶s̶ spent, with no way to get it back. The people of West Virginia will continue to suffer because of religion.
The question becomes whether or not those funds have already been distributed to St. Joseph or not, and whether any court judgment can compel the college either to return the money or attach their properties until those funds are recovered.
In other words, how much does the judge in this case want to play hardball.
I mean, how about using that money on the purpose it was meant for, providing clean water to West Virginia.
As noble as it is to want to help the folks affected by the hurricane, or fires, or freeze, other money is being sent for that. These are immediate issues, true. But the water issue is still an immediate issue for many as well.
We all agree that it should absolutely not be going to a Christian think tank that is thinking up ways to subjugate women. Even if it wasn’t for religious purposes, the school shouldn’t have even applied as it has nothing to do with water.
Yes. I don’t have stats at hand but I recall reading that a lot of WV water sources are lousy with heavy metals and other mining-related pollution— and it just keeps flowing downstream.
The expectation of Christian privilege and entitlement runs deep in this country. The people behind this unconstitutional grant would likely go out of their minds at the mere suggestion a similar grant be given to any non-Christian religious entity. It just never ends, and it needs to. Legislators need to be held personal liable for defending measures like this in court.
You know it, oraxx. Not only is this transaction illegal under WV law, they appear to know it was by making sure it was done in the dark. Whoever gave the go-ahead for this 'grant' needs to be held officially and personally liable for violating WV law.
This deal reeks like 3-day old fish on a hot summer day. Ohio's constitution has a similar prohibition on state funding of private religious schools [Article VI, Section 2]. I wonder what the citizens of WV would think about $5M being boosted from a state agency that's supposed to upgrade their water system but instead ended up in the coffers of a shady, storefront catholic school in OH. I think we're about to find out. Thank you to the AHA and ACLU for bringing this righteous suit.
Sadly, Ohio also has a considerable school voucher program, aimed primarily at religious schools of one stripe or another, so any objection you might hear from Ohio government will be perfunctory at best. 😝
Important to note that OH's constitution [Article VI, Section 2] also bans all but 'common schools', i.e., public schools, from receiving state funding. Those voucher programs have been a large contributor to the degradation of public schools in OH.
Which REALLY makes you wonder how the voucher program has so much as one leg to stand on ... until you realize what a tool for religion Mike DeWine is.
Kasich was bad enough. DeWine is flat over-the-top.
Sounds like DeWine has gone sour.
He’s come uncorked
I wonder if anyone has even bothered to challenge school vouchers on constitutional grounds. The plain language of OH's constitution makes state funding for religious schools illegal.
𝐼𝑓 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑠.
Christian Fucking Privelege! We all know that's why the rules don't apply here. I mean, it would be (gasp!) 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 if they had to follow the rules everyone else was required to.
A water agency in West Virginia is giving money to a Christian school in Ohio for reasons that have nothing to do with water.
For some reason, the logic of this escapes me.
Well, you see, a Christian school in Ohio every once in a while gets a student from West Virginia. They just want to make sure they have enough money to tell that student to drink more water. Does it make sense now?
I should have understood that.
Shame on me.
I needed that laugh.
My pleasure.
Mysterious ways indeed.
I understand that the American Humanist Association is focused on religious freedom, but I think the winning strategy is to look at the way the funds are supposed to be allocated, the process the applicants are supposed to go through, and the fact that sending this money to the out of state religious school who is not going to spend the money on providing safe water is actually stealing money from taxpayers as well as being complicit in poisoning West Virginians through the theft. Bring up the unconstitutionality of the grant, but at least don’t forget to address the other concerns. Especially in the media.
If you market this as solely a religious freedom case, by what most folks would consider atheists, you won’t win over the support you need. But pointing out that the citizens are being robbed, and poisoned, in the name of religion might get the attention of the population.
That’s the route I would take, though. I wouldn’t ignore the religious aspect, I would bolster it with the corruption.
No paperwork? Tsk tsk. What is it that William S. Burroughs taught?
"If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit, not with the good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal."
-- From Burroughs' "Advice for Young People" September 28th 1993
For years I thought Mencken said that
Does sound like him.
He was a curmudgeon, but he understood assholes.
My dad always said: if someone starts telling you what a christian they are, break off the deal immediately, and back away, holding onto your wallet with one hand, and protect your ass with the other.
And here I thought that stealing and coveting were forbidden in the 8th and 10th Commandments (or in the Catholics case, the 7th and 10th Commandments). Christians want everyone else to follow their rules while they cheerfully violate them.
On top of this, they were being deceitful when they applied for/took this grant. That's a no-no because their book says that their god hates deceit/lying. Forever we are being told by them to "Fear God!" They seem to have no fear of him.
About the only thing they fear is getting caught ... which they did. The question now is whether they will pay a price or get a slap on the wrist and go right back to doing what they did before they were caught.
Being that it's West Virginia, I'd say the answer to that one is pretty obvious.
Yup.
According to the Catholics, if you even THINK about sinning, don't bother with following through. You're guilty of the sin you were thinking about. Doesn't stop them from doing it anyway.
Maybe deep down, they know there's no god or eternal punishment awaiting them.
Well if they’ve thought about cheating you or being dishonest, then they might as well just go through with it - makes no difference to the level of the sin in question.
At-sa what I say. :)
as I posted earlir:
THEY started the fraud, so they know gods are not real.
It’s more that if you even think of sinning you have already committed the sin, so might as well go through with it, you’ll be punished either way.
At least enjoy the sin!
I K, R?
Clearly the folks at St. Joseph the Worker don't have enough Ten Commandments Historical Displays up on their walls. Time to add some more.
Don’t they have the Ten Commandments posted in their school? I mean, if the Ten Commandments are the answer to all the problems in public schools, wouldn’t they keep the folks in the Christian schools honest too?
THEY started the fraud, so they know gods are not real.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ericengle/p/political-christianity-now-matters?r=q0kw7&utm_medium=ios
"Political Christianity." Interesting terminology, especially in the light of State / Church separation. Christianity of various flavors has become entirely TOO political, especially in the wake of FDR's New Deal, never mind Reagan's embrace of the Religious Reich, which was essentially a public endorsement of political Christianity.
And under Trump, it will only get worse.
It all goes back to the segregation academies.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/
It actually goes back further, to the conservative response to Roosevelt's New Deal. Read Kevin M. Kruse's One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. It is one hell of an eye-opening read, as well as very engaging.
Wrote this piece recently on this travesty and it gained a lot of traction.
The damn god-botherers can’t keep their noses out of ANYTHING. 🙄🙄🙄🙄 They don’t even see their own arrogance and immorality, not to mention that they would rather use the Constitution as toilet paper than actually honor it.
Like trumpy they are blind to their own actions.
No, they are not blind to their own action. The Republicans and their followers enjoy the pain and suffering that their actions causes and more pain and trauma it does to the people that they hate, the more they revel in it. Remember cruelty is the point and the end goal for Republicans and their followers.
Water, water everywhere, but none for West Virginians. 🙄
I expect that the number of these suits will rise sharply in the next few years as the attempts to force religion into all aspects of US life rise. The rightwing catholics and the dominionists will be busy little moles.
And all intended to exhaust the limited resources of the groups fighting these illegal activities.
🎯
No paperwork, not related to the grant conditions...sounds like a backroom deal. I'd bet money the WDA is simply doing what some legislator told them to do.
So, when some WV legislator steps in to defend the deal or 'make it legal' by magically finding the signature and rewriting the grant conditions, we'll know whose pockets got lined.
"Sounds like a backroom deal."
Only because it was almost certainly meant to be a backroom deal. Problem is, could those handling it expect to be able to explain away $5 million going POOF?
I tend to doubt it.
Nobody said all grifters were good at grifting.
If the budget is big enough, then $5 million is a rounding error.
And whose got picked.
Oh wait, we already know that...
Good. Sue the #@&* out of 'em!
Unfortunately, by the time the suit reaches a courtroom the money will all be p̶o̶c̶k̶e̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶a̶d̶m̶i̶n̶i̶s̶t̶r̶a̶t̶o̶r̶s̶ spent, with no way to get it back. The people of West Virginia will continue to suffer because of religion.
The question becomes whether or not those funds have already been distributed to St. Joseph or not, and whether any court judgment can compel the college either to return the money or attach their properties until those funds are recovered.
In other words, how much does the judge in this case want to play hardball.
How about sending all that money to help the people who have lost their homes?
THAT'S SOCIALISM!!!
Or one of those other -isms.
I mean, how about using that money on the purpose it was meant for, providing clean water to West Virginia.
As noble as it is to want to help the folks affected by the hurricane, or fires, or freeze, other money is being sent for that. These are immediate issues, true. But the water issue is still an immediate issue for many as well.
We all agree that it should absolutely not be going to a Christian think tank that is thinking up ways to subjugate women. Even if it wasn’t for religious purposes, the school shouldn’t have even applied as it has nothing to do with water.
Yes. I don’t have stats at hand but I recall reading that a lot of WV water sources are lousy with heavy metals and other mining-related pollution— and it just keeps flowing downstream.
Seen on fb...
New acronym I just heard.. start using it FOTUS (Felon of the United States)
We can still use CiC, only now it will stand for Crook-in-Chief.
Or Conman-in-Chief.
Convict
Criminal
Cretin
Clown
Coward
Yep.
Sound familiar?
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am not a crook. I have never been a crook. I do not even know what a crook looks like."
I like BLOTUS, bigoted liar of the US.
maybe FFOTUS? First Felon OTUS?
St. Joseph the Union Organizer wouldn't qualify for funding. Too liberal.
st joe for billionaires paying no taxes?