The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

There's been a great deal of controversy swirling around HB2, a bill recently passed in North Carolina and signed by Governor Pat McCrory. The law prevents transgender individuals from using public restrooms of the gender with which they identify. This has led to a series of boycotts, ranging from businesspeople to athletes to musicians and beyond. One musician who cancelled a show in North Carolina due to the controversial bill was "The Boss" Bruce Springsteen. In response to his cancellation, several conservatives criticized the rock star for being hypocritical, as he cancelled a show in the U.S. due to anti-LGBT legislation yet didn't do so in foreign countries which possessed far more extreme anti-LGBT laws. I've heard this line of reasoning on multiple occasions from conservatives, especially with regard to the LGBT community: "Things aren't so bad here. Just be grateful you don't live in Africa or the Middle East" or "Why do you critic...

It seems as if more and more articles in recent days and weeks have sprouted up about GOP candidate Mitt Romney's religion - Mormonism. In the majority of these articles, the writer author asks the question, "Will Romney's religion hurt his chances in the election?" or it flat out states that Evangelicals will not vote in as large of numbers for Romney as they would for a Christian Republican candidate, like Herman Cain. I read an article today that 20% of Republican voters and 27% of Democratic voters would not vote for a Mormon. I have to say, that's disappointing. I'd refer to myself as a liberal more so than a Democrat, but given the choices, I typically vote Democrat. Now, I don't know how many of those very Democrats would vote against a Democratic candidate who was Mormon. I have to imagine those numbers would decrease and the Republican numbers would increase, but that's mere speculation. For the time being, those are the only numbers we have...