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Comment Re:First blacks, (Score 1) 917

Should a Black Photographer be forced to take pictures at a wedding of two outspoken White Supremacists? At a Klan rally?

Probably not, because his or her safety might be endangered.

Should a Jewish deli owner be forced to cater an openly anti-Semitic Muslim...or an avowed Nazi?

Yes, unless his or her safety were endangered.

Should a Muslim waiter be forced to server pork ribs? Or, Jewish for that matter. How about a vegan?

Yes, yes and yes. Islam, Judaism and Veganism prohibit the consumption of pork. They don't prohibit the serving of pork, so there's no undue hardship.

But when you start in on all these other things...

Fortunately, the West is becoming more enlightened and sexual orientation is widely accepted as an invalid basis for discrimination, just as color has been for many years.

Comment Re:First blacks, (Score 2) 917

Should a business be COMPELLED to accept customers in a non-discriminatory way?

Yes, definitely. A business should be COMPELLED to accept customers in a non-discriminatory way unless it can prove that this would cause undue hardship, and infringing on "sincerely held religious beliefs" most certainly does not qualify.

So getting back to your examples, a hotel could refuse to host the KKK and the Black Panthers at the same time out of legitimate fears for security, or it could demand both organizations to fully fund the large numbers of security guards that would be needed.

A sex worker could refuse a homosexual client because that would qualify as undue hardship for a heterosexual sex worker.

But a bakery certainly could not refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple... where's the undue hardship?

Comment Re:Cannot disagree (Score 1) 134

Nothing is free, not least of all when you are obviously paying for it.

Well, yes. Let me rephrase that: I don't have to pay when I need medical care; it's already paid for by taxes. And more cheaply than in the US, I might add.

Assertion without evidence. Correlation is not causation.

If you want to let the private sector take care of education, road maintenance, defense, and health care, then move to some place like Somalia or Afghanistan where that's effectively the case.

And I'm not. But do I get a choice in the matter?

No, you get no choice. That's the price of living in a society with civil institutions. Again, if you don't like it, Somalia beckons... go there for a taste of anarchy.

If I don't like the way a business operates, I stop buying its products, and it ceases to affect me.

Completely untrue. That business could affect you in many other ways: By polluting, through monopolistic market manipulation, through buying legislation, ... I'm sure you can think of many more.

What little say I get in the government, a single vote on occasion, is always discarded in favor of the majority opinion. It is not accountable to me at all.

Yes, that's the cynical view that's easy to promote via sound bites. However, I would much rather live in a society like Canada's with our democratic system (flawed though it may be) than in any other society. And migration patterns show that most people agree and vote with their feet.

Comment Re:Cannot disagree (Score 1) 134

After busting your asses for your paychecks, why are you so willing to hand over so much of it to the state?

I live in Canada and I'm quite happy to pay taxes. That's because I get services in return, including free medical care, which is huge. There are some things that simply can't be done effectively by the private sector (education, road maintenance, defense, health care) and I'm very happy to pay the government to do those things. After all, the government is run by elected officials who (at least in my opinion, and at least in Canada) are certainly more accountable to the public than CEOs of private corporations.

I would certainly not be happy to pay taxes to a country I don't live in and that doesn't offer me any useful services in return for my taxes.

Comment Re:US Acts of War (Score 2) 134

Banks in New Zealand cannot be compelled to comply

Sure, except that non-compliant banks face a 30% tax on every single transaction in and out of the US. The US government could probably even prohibit US banks from dealing with non-compliant banks, which is the kiss of death.

Legally and morally, the US cannot compel foreign banks to obey US laws. But practically speaking, it can.

Comment Extraterritorial jurisdiction (Score 2) 134

This is affecting Canada as well, and according to one article, this may affect Canadian citizens as well even if they have never been US residents or citizens.

Could you imagine the uproar if (say) Iran threatened to trawl through US bank records for details on Iranian Americans? Totally disgusting. And yet the US can get away with it.

Comment Re:Sorry but... (Score 3, Insightful) 544

Sorry but why is creationism something that shouldn't be taught?

Creationism should not be taught in science class because it is not science.

It can be taught in a class on mythology. Or comparative religion. Just not in a science class.

Has it been disproven?

It's not science, so it's neither provable nor disprovable. You can't disprove the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Great Green Arkleseizure or ancient Egyption creation myths. Should those be taught in science class?

As such it's still valid to teach it as a possibility

No, it's not. Science class is for teaching scientific theories, not creation myths.

Once you start banning ideas and theories from being taught you go down the path of censorship and book banning.

So it's OK to teach about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Great Green Arkleseizure, etc? Or are you one of those steekin' censors?

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