Chick-Fil-A responds on Facebook to PR disaster from its bible-based, homophobic business screed: #FAIL

Too late, Chick-Fil-A, the blowback begins. You donate to anti-gay causes, and believe in a biblical business model that does in fact discriminate against marriage equality. Perhaps its leadership forgot all of the states where gay and lesbian couples are indeed legally married. And a lot of homos (and allies) will keep their green dollars out of your establishments. From its Facebook post, trying some damage control: 

The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.

Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.

Try seeing how Chick-Fil-A is leaving "the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena" after what Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told Baptist Press:

“Well, guilty as charged,” he said in the interview when asked about Chick-fil-A’s backing of families led by a man and a woman.

“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,” Cathy said.

The chain, according to the report, has 1,608 restaurants, sales of more than $4 billion and employees who are trained “to focus on values rooted in the Bible.” Chick-fil-A's across the country shut down on Sundays.

“We don’t claim to be a Christian business," Cathy said. "But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles.”

Last year, protesters accused Chick-fil-A of supporting an anti-gay agenda with donations, which the company has steadily denied. The company could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

A report from LGBT advocacy group Equality Matters concluded that Chick-fil-A donated more than $3 million between 2003 and 2009 to Christian groups that oppose homosexuality. In 2010 alone, the company gave nearly $2 million to such causes, according to the report.

 

UPDATE: Here are the charities Chick-Fil-A donates to -- clearly the company doesn't deserve your hard-earned cash (via Talk About Equality)

 

WinShape Is Chick-Fil-A’s Charitable Arm. The WinShape Foundation is Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, created by Chick-fil-A founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy in 1984. WinShape has received a substantial amount of funding from Chick-fil-A: in 2009 alone, WinShape received $7,814,788 from Chick-fil-A Inc. [Winshape 2009 Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed10/28/11] 

WinShape Gave Over $1.7 Million To Anti-Gay Groups. In 2009 alone, WinShape donated $1,733,699 to multiple anti-gay groups:

• Marriage & Family Legacy Fund: $994,199
• Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
• National Christian Foundation: $240,000
• Focus On The Family: $12,500
• Eagle Forum: $5,000
• Exodus International: $1,000
• Family Research Council: $1,000

[Winshape 2009 Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed 10/28/11]

And (ThinkProgress):

Chick-fil-A is one of a very small number of major national companies that refuses to offer any employment protections to LGBT employees. In fact, the company received a 0 rating from the Human Rights Campaign and has a record of firing employees it believes engage in “sinful” behavior. This is hardly a tradition of treating everyone “with honor, dignity, and respect.”

Hat tip, Truth Wins Out.

It was a magic time for W: 'Eight years was awesome, and I was famous and I was powerful'

Oh sh*t. This man can give an entire nation PTSD. He just doesn't get how he f'd it all up - the sociopath just had a kick-@ss time in power. And here we are, picking up the pieces from his eight years of terror.  (HuffPo):

George W. Bush finds life as a former president just fine and dandy. "Eight years was awesome, and I was famous and I was powerful. But I have no desire for fame and power anymore," he said in a new interview with the Hoover Institute's Peter Robinson. The former president is promoting a book on economic growth -- "The 4 Percent Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs" -- put out by the George W. Bush Institute.

If you can stomach it, here he is...

Romney campaign: clueless, incompetent…or are we just missing some well-hidden brilliance? | Pam's House Blend

The flaming pile of #FAIL that is the Romney campaign of the last week is a gift that keeps on giving. The pathological lies excuses about his days at Bain from 1999-2002 are mind-boggling, and fooling no one. And the call for his tax returns to be released grows from people in his own party. Of course the only possible reason for this prolonged PR disaster is that whatever is in those returns has to be worse than Mittens looking like a phantom CEO, a lying CEO, or well, stupid. CNN tonight just got to the bottom line. An actual graphic that aired (via Americablog):

How it was laid out on Erin Burnett’s OutFront on CNN:

And Bain? I guess no one was running it while Mittens was shepherding the 2002 Olympics. Teddy Partridge in the post “Bain Must Now Produce Its CEO from 1999 to 2002“:

Who ran Bain? For that matter, where are the Board minutes supporting Ed Gillespie’s claim that Romney ‘retroactively retired‘ in 2002, effective 1999? Board minutes must support this contention, right? And they also must support all Romney’s other contradictory contentions regarding his tenure, I would imagine. For instance, the purchase of the abortion-profiteer company that burned up dead babies: that profitable enterprise’s absorption into the Bain borg must be approved somewhere. The Board must have approved Romney’s request for a part-time leave of absence. Whose signatures are on those papers? Was the Board vote unanimous approving these actions by Romney? If Bain wants their man Mitt in the White House, if Wall Street has decided the non-prosecutorial bent of Team Obama isn’t fealty enough, if the Masters of the Universe want one of their own in the Oval, they can produce these documents and clarify everything.

Speaking of the Olympics, it appears the 2012 Romneybot model has fooled his campaign into believing that  he’s the job creator, the believer in the market forces pumping the economy, and evangelist in the belief that government is the problem, not the solution. It did not inform the campaign about Romneybot 2002 model’s propensity for sucking at the teat of the U.S. taxpayer — and bragging about it on video. After talking to the NAACP about all the freeloaders lovin’ Obamacare last week, watch the then-governor of Massachusetts go after every dime he could get from the federal government for his state and the Olympics. This was obtained by ABC News, a video shot undercover by a Dem opponent:

Bonus brilliance:

* Mitt Romney-helmed olympics outsourced uniforms to Burma.
* Mitt Romney Ad Taken Down Over Copyright Claim.
* A new economic analysis of Mitt Romney’s jobs plan found that his proposal to eliminate all U.S. taxes on foreign profits made by U.S. companies could lead to the creation of 800,000 jobs—overseas.

Rheumatoid Arthritis diary entry 6/23/2012 - the ever-decreasing paycheck

Injected third dose of Enbrel on Saturday. It's taken once a week. I'm not queasy about needles since I already take several a day (I'm on 3 injectibles for insulin-dependent diabetes) and have since my early 20s. 

I do have to say the Enbrel shot hurts like hell, as in the medicine burns going in and the delivery device takes about 10-15 seconds to deploy all of the drug, so you're pressing down on it for what seems like an eternity while your leg (or abdomen, the suggested injection sites) is on fire.

That said, if you're in as much chronic pain as many folks with RA are, dealing with 10-15 secs of acute pain is worth it if there's relief. My rheumatologist said it may take about a month to experience relief, which is less than the six months I've been on Plaquenil to what seems like little effect. With the latter it's hard to tell whether it's not working at all, or just mitigating the progression of the disease to some degree. 

The first week I took Enbrel there were no bad side effects; I got a low-grade fever and felt like I was going to catch a cold (I've not had a cold or the flu in over a year), but those symptoms went away after a couple of days. When I took the second shot that didn't happen. Aside from the leg I injected in being sore, I actually felt some relief in my joint pain on day 3 or so, but I did notice by day 6 (day before the next injection), I was feeling about as poorly as usual. What's really tough is that weather/barometric changes affect my RA and fibro so profoundly, overriding any meds or PT, that it's hard to tell what is working or not.

So dose 3 of Enbrel this past Saturday kicked my ass. The injection site was my right leg this time, and it was really sore Saturday. The nausea and dead-grade fatigue was heinous. That was complicated by the fact that, for whatever reason, the neuropathy in my feet (unrelated to RA) spiked -- the burning and stabbing feeling prevented my from sleeping, even though I was dead tired. That made for sheer misery. Sunday was the first day I really felt like I needed to use a cane (I stubbornly refrained and hobbled around). I went to bed around 7:30 PM and woke up around 3AM (I'm writing this around 4AM Monday).

The neuropathy was not as bad overnight; I actually upped my evening Lyrica (which I'm taking to help with the neuropathy -- it was a scheduled change anyway), and that may be what helped. I can't take a very high dose of Lyrica because it makes me dizzy and sleepy. I recall starting that med and thinking how on earth could I drive on this crap. It took a couple of weeks for the room to stop moving and to figure out what dose could help without rendering me useless.

The conundrum

Of course with many of these meds, in order to get real relief, I probably need to be on higher doses of some of these drugs, but I cannot tolerate feeling drugged or half-awake, since I need to be sharp to write and work. The end result is I'm probably undermedicated, and thus why I have to tolerate a constant level of pain. My guess this is the purgatory for chronic pain sufferers who have to continue to work because they are not 100% disabled -- you're not sick enough to be disabled, but you find yourself struggling to hold down a job in a level of pain that many people probably couldn't handle, and find yourself burning through paid time off (if you have any left) accommodating only the absolute debilitating pain days. 

Deformity starting

My wrists and hands, which are my livelihood, seem to be bearing the worst of the progression at this time, the joints in a couple of places seem to be larger and hot, which is why I have them wrapped in Ace bandages most of the time, and I wear pressure gloves at work. The outer wrist bones are getting larger. The doc said it's a favorite place for RA to attack in her experience. Nice.  

I get by; even though the hands and wrists are parts of my body most prominently affected, they are certainly not as painful as what's going on in my knees, ankles, hips and feet now. It's just that you can't do much about the other parts of the body -- I can't wrap myself like a mummy every day. I think the critical factor is being able to maintain the ability to drive. Between the neuropathy and bad flare days of RA, those are the most horrendous days because even the thought of driving hurts. Those days aren't numerous, but when they occur, it's almost a level of despair for me, a loss of independence.

It does make me glad I'm not living in NYC now. I don't think I'd be able to work much if I had to negotiate walking to and taking the subway and all those stairs as I effortly used to; and with Enbrel suppressing my immune system, taking public transportation is almost asking to be sick all the time. I think on my last post about this a commenter mentioned that she had to stop taking Enbrel for that reason -- she was catching everything from everyone on public transportation.

So for now, I have to work through this course of Enbrel (I have another 3 weeks on this script) to see if there's benefit that's noticeable. Fingers crossed. 

Rheumatoid Arthritis diary entry 5/21/2012 - Enbrel, week 3 - feel the burn

Injected third dose of Enbrel on Saturday. It's taken once a week. I'm not queasy about needles since I already take several a day (I'm on 3 injectibles for insulin-dependent diabetes) and have since my early 20s. 

Your blogmistress meets some of her Journey rock stars!

Disclaimer – this is a blogmistress fangirl post; back to regular political programming later…

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What a night! I’m on cloud 9. Yes, reliving my teen years while I still can!
Sorry for the lack of Tweets, but many of us had trouble b/c of poor cell connections. But I did REPRESENT, my fellow Plokkers!

The other good news is I have a ton of pix and good video (up later). I was able to get into a Meet & Greet and did in fact meet lead singer Arnel Pineda and Jonathan Cain! But first…
I met Arnel Pineda Rocks administrator Nicole (Coley) — thanks for getting (Kate in so she could take the M&G pix).

We also met Neal’s wife Ava, who was outside the M&G area. We discussed them getting hitched in Paris, as well as our (Canadian) marriage. She and Neal have to get married here in the States for it to be legal. Ours is not legal in NC (it is in the 6 states where SSM is legal). Someday…

It was a thrill to meet Jonathan Cain — the man responsible for penning many of the hits most of you know, including Don’t Stop Believing. He was mellow, kind and thoughtful.

And yes, Arnel is as wonderful as can be. I brought him a Durham Bulls baseball shirt. The Bulls and my town were featured in the movie Bull Durham, and wanted for him to have something local to remember us by:

He also signed my photobook of shots from the Vegas concert! He didn’t have to take the time (they said no autographs at the M&G) but he did.

Journey founder and guitar god Neal Schon and powerhouse drummer Deen were not at this Meet & Greet (or I missed them); bassist Ross Valory was there but occupied so I didn’t get a pic with him. Darn! Guess this means I have to try again!

But Neal did get a surprise during the concert when I held up this poster (we were in the 6th row, just far enough to miss getting a high five, but when you see the pix you’ll see just how close we were. Neal saw the poster, squinted and read it, then gave a big smile to us! Here’s what the poster said:

I flashed my “Plokker’s Ride” and “Eclipse Rocks” posters during the concert and AP pointed it out, and made eye contact and smiled several times during songs, most prominently during DSB; the guy in front of me turned around and said “he’s singing to you!” and gave me a fist bump…
Makes me want to go to another concert soon! Plokkers ride!

Here are some pix from my album…

Deeno sitting in to play skins for Night Ranger during Sister Christian:

Jon doing a hot jam:

Neal rocking the house:

Arnel was working hard in some serious humidity. We were all soaked.

The last bow…

More commentary on the concert later. Just wanted to get this up…now off to b-e-d!

Eclipse tour hits Raleigh 8/20 + a look at Journey then and now

Right: Has she lost her mind? Your blogmistress with her limited edition Italian 2-LP gatefold album release of Eclipse, (still in the shrink wrap)!

It’s a Friday post – and naturally it comes with the usual disclaimer – if this doesn’t interest you, there is plenty to read below – or you can take a gander at my updates on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

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The Raleigh Journey concert is on August 20 (next Saturday) and your blogmistress is getting stoked.
While many fans of the 80s iteration of Journey know about vocalist Steve Perry and his tenure, they forget about Robert Fleischman and Gregg Rolie, their considerable — and quite different — vocal talents to the band.
Along with Neal Schon, Rolie was a founding member of the band, handling keyboards, harmonica, as well as vocals (1973–1980). Schon is the only original member that has been Journey from the beginning up to the present day. Bassist Ross Valory had a break in tenure (1973–1985, 1995–present), and during the late 80s, various session musicians played — including future American Idol judge Randy Jackson.
The following video includes the Journey lineup with both Rolie and Perry onboard, with Aynsley Dunbar on the drums (he was soon replaced with Steve Smith, who was with Journey during its heyday – 1978–1985, 1995–1998); the massively talented Deen Castronovo has been on the skins since ’98).
This is from 1978, during a TV appearance on Midnight Special. (Rolie’s smoky voice may be familiar to you – he was vocalist on “Black Magic Woman” with Santana.) He and SP (with his amazing countertenor — and the man could sing the blues!) sound great together on this classic two-for-one:
Journey: Feeling That Way / Anytime (Rolie, Perry vocals)
Those two songs are chestnuts from the Journey catalog; hardcore fans like yours truly love to see these revived live; more casual fans of the band are there to hear “the dirty dozen” as the band calls them — the songs most of you know – Open Arms, Separate Ways, Faithfully, etc.
Occasionally the way-back classics are performed live as a surprise — including one concert in Houston where Gregg Rolie actually came on stage to do the above with current lead man Arnel Pineda. What a treat that had to have been to witness.

While in the AP chat room the other night (transcript here, thanks Sachiko!), webspinner/admin Fabb posted this same pairing of songs with Arnel helming the Steve Perry vocal and keyboardist Jonathan Cain the Rolie vocal. And guess what? The song still shines, and it was a spectacular performance (2008).
The video and much more below the fold.

Journey: Feeling That Way / Anytime (Cain, Pineda vocals)
I asked AP in the chat room if they could do this in Raleigh and he replied, “I’ll have to ask the boys…” :) Wouldn’t that be an awesome blogmistress treat if they did it?
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I think it’s taken time, but Arnel has won over most of the critics with the release of Eclipse, since the music is quite different – straight up rock on most tracks, or going the other direction, acoustic songs, that highlight his tenor and own style.

What’s kind of odd to me is that there are Journey fans who find the meatier rock of Eclipse as a radical shift. If you listen to Journey’s early work, it’s more 70s prog rock w/hint of blues than anything else, an offshoot of Santana (even a little like Chicago to me on some stuff). It sure doesn’t sound like Don’t Stop Believing. In fact, Steve Perry’s voice evolves over the period with the band, losing more of his top range over the years — he had little-to-none of that familiar rasp in the early days, when he could hit glass-shattering high notes, and by 1996 his rasp was more pronounced, with much more rich deeper tones. Some seem to miss this, but the YouTube record’s there for all to hear.
That aside, the musical evolution of the band, given the various lineups and influences only makes Journey more interesting to me. One constant is that the harmonies and songwriting, paired with Neal’s axe, make it great melodic rock. I love all of it. I don’t have to choose one flavor. My musical tastes are way too eclectic for that.
Most people tend to favor the period of music you grew up with anyway, and a large demographic blip happened to coincide with the

late 70s-80s period of the band. There’s no denying the cultural impact of the Schon/Perry/Cain songwriting during that period. I don’t have a problem with people who love the tone, nuance and delivery of Steve Perry (I love him too!), but that poses a dilemma – he’s retired, and the rest of the band is still in demand to perform that back catalog.

Thus you want someone who sounds enough like Steve Perry to do justice to the tracks laid decades ago, yet this poor chap following in his shoes has to be able to stand on his own two feet to forge in whatever new direction the band embarks upon. And eventually they lucked out with Arnel Pineda (I covered the Augeri/Jeff Scott Soto period in an earlier post), a tenor with a set of pipes that is unreal.
Honestly, I don’t know how Journey can fit enough songs in a setlist to satisfy everyone – particularly on a triple bill with Foreigner and Night Ranger on this tour. Since they are selling out all over, I’m pretty sure they could carry a tour by themselves, but I don’t roll the business dice.
Related:



* Blogmistress music overload: my Journey immersion weekend

* Blogmistress heaven: five new songs from ‘Eclipse’ debut in throw-down set by Journey in Vegas

* Journey’s new CD, Eclipse: a group revitalized, energized and rocking hard

* The blogmistress trip to NY to see Journey on The Today Show