Gay High School Basketball Player Excluded from Yearbook

In going two steps forward, perhaps sometimes unfortunately we much go one step back, this time in the sexual orientation hierarchy.

Gay Kentucky high school basketball player Dalton Maldonado, the starting point guard, was removed from the Betsy Layne High School yearbook tribute to the boys basketball team, the only senior not included.

Earlier this year, Maldonado came out at a game after being called a gay slur. When the opposing team chased him on the team bus in a car, his team rallied to his defense. Supposedly the team all joined together to support him.

But someone, somewhere did not get the message.

http://www.outsports.com/2015/8/12/9135377/gay-basketball-kentucky-yearbook-dalton-maldonado

http://www.outsports.com/2015/4/1/8316867/dalton-maldonado-gay-basketball-kentucky

African Americans and the Presidential Race

According to an article today in the Washington Post, generally, as Republicans become better known with African Americans, they are less popular. Generally, as Democrats become better known, they are more popular.

Since the Republican agenda maintains and builds hierarchies, people are less impressed.

As Democrats have traditionally worked to break down hierarchies, voters approve.

Clinton is very popular among black Americans. Eighty percent of black Americans view Clinton favorably -- only four points below where President Obama polls right now. One of the most prominent differences in the bases of support for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is in racial composition. Part of that difference comes in familiarity with the candidate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/12/bernie-sanders-big-challenge-explained-in-1-chart/

Keeping Lower Groups at Bay – Ask Donald Trump How

Being professional women who have been in the workplace for many decades, we have experienced all sorts of ways that people keep women lower in the gender hierarchy and out of contention for getting their fair share.

In an article in Vox describing Donald Trump in the Republican debates, Amanda Taub provides us with five ways that Trump used to keep the hierarchy intact, but these don't just apply to women. Any hierarchy will do. All in a day's work.

Step 1: Claim that the complaint is an exaggeration in order to imply that the complainant can't be trusted. A tried and true way to keep those on top in their in own separate group and outsiders out, making sure the top is not held accountable for their actions as life goes on as usual AS even though we are taught otherwise, the top can't be trusted to act for anyone but themselves.

Step 2: Dismiss demands for respect and equality as mere "political correctness." Fairness and equality break down hierarchies, and though they appeal to our better nature, they can be disregarded when trivialized, implying those with the power and in the know will not be fooled AS the top usually doesn't understand the need for issues they call "political correctness."

Step 3: Insist that this complaint is too minor to bother with when there are more important things to worry about. Yes, keeping the hierarchy intact and power and resources flowing to the top is the top priority AS the top believes they deserve all they have for playing the game successfully.

Step 4: Say it was just "fun." When people in lower groups start to make a lot of sense, they can be written off as not serious, and the conversation is not serious – all part of a joke that anyone dare to question the authority of the hierarchy AS the top has control of the situation, and they enjoy it with a smile.

Step 5: Pretend the complaint is really just about personal animosity. The top of the hierarchy is clueless, believing that statements made about the problems of the hierarchy can't really be true, so obviously the person bringing the message must have a problem AS because the top believes that if the person complaining were as talented as are they on top, he or she would be on top too.

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/7/9114943/donald-trump-sexism-debate

Schools Serve Farm to Table and Healthy Eating

In support of local businesses, healthy eating, and teaching children that food does not have to come from mega corporations, Oregon leads the nation in farm to school funding, with funding increasing to 4.5 million in the latest legislative session, expanding the program from 19 school districts to the entire state.

Rick Sherman, a Farm to School specialist with the Oregon Department of Education told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), “The locally grown and processed food can tend to be more expensive. And rather than encouraging folks to buy stuff from who knows where, we really wanted to encourage people to buy Oregon.”

Beyond supporting the local economy and helping schools gain access to healthy food, 20 percent of the grant will also go toward funding garden-based education. Oregon already hosts no fewer than 650 school gardens, including ones from the successful School Garden Project in the city where we live.

Yes, it is true that factory farming and large mega-company food processing plants can be less expensive, but empowering people to be as self-reliant as possible to become less dependent on passing our resources up the hierarchy brings a better quality of life.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-farm-to-school-funding/

Same-Sex Couple Survivor Wins in Texas

--> When the sexual orientation hierarchy took a humongous hit with the nationalization of same-sex marriage, opponents predicted problem after problem. But all has been kind of quiet on the same-sex marriage front.

But in Texas, Republican leaders had continued to refuse to recognize John Stone-Hoskins as the surviving spouse on the death certificate of James Stone-Hoskins. Today they were ordered to name John on the death certificate.

These Republicans may be held accountable for clinging to old outdated hierarchies. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio ordered defendants (including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, the state's acting health commissioner, Republican Governor Greg Abbott, and a county clerk) to appear in his court next week as he considers whether they should be held in contempt.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/05/usa-marriage-texas-idUSL5N10G4J720150805

Hierarchical Religions Losing Their Political Power

Religions that claim to be the only way to their God (on top of a religious hierarchy and everyone else is lower) and who are part of right-wing politics in this country appear to be losing clout, if the Southern Baptist Convention is any indication.

Only two declared Republican candidates showed up to court the 13,000 pastors – Jeb Bush in person, and Mario Rubio via satellite. Both are Roman Catholics trying to get the vote from evangelicals. Russell Moore, head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, interviewed the candidates. As we previously reported, he came out earlier this summer in support of the sexual orientation hierarchy with his prediction doom concerning Same-Sex Marriage, but showed he, in some way, gets the race hierarchy by calling for South Carolina to remove the Confederate Flag from the statehouse grounds.

A press release for the SBC conference stated that they had sent invitations to GOP candidates polling at 10 percent or higher, which likely means that hierarchy heavies Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee were not even invited, even though they are both Southern Baptists.

Organizers acknowledged that Hillary Clinton, a proud Methodist, declined to attend.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/08/04/3687481/why-evangelicals-need-bush/

Men - Way On Top of the Sports Hierarchy, Just Follow the Money

As proof that men's sports are on top of the hierarchy of sports in this country, how about a look at the highest paid people by state. Football is only played by men, and of course the basketball coaches are for men's teams too.