In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations.
A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24.
The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9.
The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death.
Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan.
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia
(It would be a damn shame if we couldn't own a Canadian)
Making original street tacos for H-Town neighborhoods is a true labor of love for Boombox Taco Truck co-owners Jessica Villa-Gomez and Alex Martinez.
That labor took on a deeper meaning when they decided to reach out and feed more than 800 Houston families without power and water during the Texas winter storm.
"We have been struggling as well, but we're not struggling as much as other people," Villa-Gomez told Chron. "And if we have the resources to help others out, why not? We decided to give the food to people in need."
Villa-Gomez and Martinez made more than 2,400 tacos to give out to families in more than eight apartment complexes in Southwest Houston during the winter storm. Villa-Gomez said she didn't do this act of kindness alone. She collaborated with Adam Beckham of Axelrad, and other Houstonians pitched in to help.
"These apartments hadn't had any power for days," Villa-Gomez said. "We were in the cold as well. We will able to stay a bit warmer because we had a gas stove and a generator. Those people didn't have any of that. We decided to go and give back."
Boombox Tacos handed out approximately two tacos per person, and hundreds of people showed up to get nourishment during the storm.
"They were extremely grateful to receive the food that we gave them," Villa-Gomez said. "We just had the willingness to do this. We were fortunate to be able to donate the food we had."
Villa-Gomez said that just the act of giving back to help Houstonians in need made it all worth while.
"It's just good to come out of this--not just thinking about yourself, but thinking about others," Villa-Gomez said. "From a personal perspective, I'm so grateful I was able to do that. I'm not doing it alone. It just feels good to help someone out in need, if you can."
Villa-Gomez said she plans to do other taco hand-out events in the future.
"If there is more need after this, we're willing to go out another day," Villa-Gomez said. "That's the least we can do. This city has given me a lot. Everything I have is because the city has given it to me. It's only fair that we give a little bit back."
The National Rifle Association has found itself ta
The gun group is facing a New York state lawsuit that alleges "fraud and abuse."
Plagued by infighting and targeted by a sprawling investigation, the National Rifle Association has found itself entangled in a legal web of its own making, several experts told ABC News, as a federal judge considers the fate of the organization's widely scrutinized bankruptcy case.
Prosecutors in New York sued the NRA last summer in a bid to dissolve the gun lobbying juggernaut, accusing it of being "fraught with fraud and abuse" -- a claim the NRA has repeatedly and vehemently denied. The NRA subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced plans to reincorporate in Texas.
The bid for a restructuring in the Lone Star State is one in a series of high-risk moves that the NRA is undertaking in a fight for survival, legal experts say, as the organization tries to maneuver around the threat posed by New York Attorney General Letitia James' probe. The organization did so in part to free itself from the "toxic political environment of New York" and to "streamline costs and expenses, proceed with pending litigation in a coordinated and structured manner, and realize many financial and strategic advantages," according to a January letter penned by CEO Wayne LaPierre.
Judge Harlin Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas is now weighing motions filed by James' office and others to dismiss the NRA's bankruptcy case claim. Legal experts interviewed by ABC News posit that the chances of a dismissal are strong, particularly given the NRA's insistence that the organization remains financially viable -- a position that undermines the traditional purpose of a Chapter 11 claim.
Adam Levitin, a bankruptcy professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the NRA's plan to seek bankruptcy protection amounts to little more than a "Hail Mary pass."
"If the alternative is that the New York attorney general shuts down the NRA, what do they have to lose with this strategy?" Levitin said. "They are out of ammo."
But another scenario could pose an entirely different threat to the beleaguered gun group: If Hale allows the NRA's bankruptcy claim to march forward, he may then choose to appoint a trustee to investigate allegations of fraud -- or even assume control of the organization.
"The first thing a trustee would do would be to, in effect, take over control of the organization, all of the assets, and all of the records," said Jay Westbrook, a bankruptcy scholar at the University of Texas-Austin. "That would be a very undesirable development from the point of view of the people now controlling the NRA."
Pamela Foohey, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of Indiana, suggested that the appointment of a trustee or an examiner could further imperil the organization.
"The most likely scenario in bankruptcy when a trustee is appointed is a plan of liquidation, then dissolution," Foohey said.
In its motion to dismiss the NRA's bankruptcy claim filed earlier this month, the New York attorney general's office requested the appointment of an independent trustee in the event that Hale allows the bankruptcy case to move forward.
William Brewer, counsel to the NRA, called James' request for a trustee "another transparent move in a partisan crusade to shut down the NRA."
Regardless of whether Hale dismisses the bankruptcy case, experts say the NRA faces increasingly long odds of reconciling its legal woes and regaining its foothold as one of the most powerful forces in U.S. politics. The group’s decision to seek bankruptcy has a clear end -- reincorporation in Texas -- but the means it pursued to arrive there have broadly confounded legal experts.
"What is it possibly thinking with the bankruptcy filing? If there's a clear strategy, I cannot deduce it," Levitin wrote this week in a bankruptcy blog. "Maybe I'm missing something and the NRA is crazy like a fox, but it really looks like a move done out of desperation."
Among other allegations in its lawsuit, the New York attorney general accuses the NRA's leaders of using the organization's funds for personal use. The NRA has vehemently denied these claims.
In addition to the New York attorney general's attempts to have a trustee assigned, a separate effort spearheaded by other forces within the NRA is seeking additional court-ordered oversight of the organization.
Phillip Journey, a Kansas state judge who was recently elected to the NRA board of directors, asked the court last week to appoint an "independent examiner" to determine "the veracity of the alleged fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, and gross mismanagement that has plagued the NRA's reputation." Experts said the appointment of an independent examiner would likely lead to the appointment of a trustee.
"I think it's in everyone's interest that these questions be resolved quickly, and that the fratricidal behavior continue for as short a period of time as possible," Journey told ABC News. "Let's try to get to the bottom of this."
In his court filing, Journey also suggested that NRA leadership failed to properly inform board members of its plan to file bankruptcy -- a possible violation of the organization's bylaws. Brewer pushed back on Journey's assertion.
"Unfortunately, [Judge Journey] seems to mistakenly believe the NRA reorganization plan did not follow board and internal protocol," Brewer said in a statement. "This plan was undertaken in full compliance with NRA policy. The plan has been widely endorsed by NRA board members, NRA members, elected officials, and other key stakeholders."
On Wednesday, the U.S. government's bankruptcy office moved to dismiss Brewer as a "special counsel" to the NRA in the case, saying that Brewer is "deeply entangled in numerous disputes at the core of the NRA's bankruptcy cases" -- including some of the "billing improprieties" cited by the New York attorney general's office in its complaint.
Charles Cotton, chairman of the NRA's audit committee, denied the allegations in the government's filing, which he said "reflects a misinformed view of the Brewer firm, its billings, and its advocacy for the NRA."
Experts said they believe Hale will first rule on the motion to dismiss the bankruptcy case before undertaking the question of a trustee or examiner.
The New York attorney general's office, in its motion to dismiss, accused the NRA of "fleeing or seeking an end run around a pending regulatory enforcement action in New York." The ad agency Ackerman McQueen, which claims to be the NRA's largest creditor, made a similar case in its motion to dismiss, accusing the NRA of filing for bankruptcy in "bad faith" as part of an effort to avoid legal scrutiny in New York state.
Both filings cited public commentary from NRA leaders, who have repeatedly said that the organization remains financially stable and that the bankruptcy litigation is meant to circumvent scrutiny in New York state.
Robert Lawless, a bankruptcy professor at the University of Illinois, said both points "immediately raise questions of a bad faith filing."
"Big cases tend not to get dismissed for bad faith issues," Lawless said. "But there's a strong chance of that here."
Brewer said that any allegations of a bad faith filing reflect "another transparent move in a partisan crusade to shut down the NRA."
And some of the gun group's most high-profile supporters are applauding the organization's attempts to restructure itself in Texas.
In August, reacting to news of the New York attorney general's lawsuit, then-President Donald Trump suggested the NRA move to Texas and "lead a very good and beautiful life." And in a tweet last month, Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott, told the NRA, "Welcome to Texas -- a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment."
Russian Mariia Butina charged as foreign agent who eyed NRA, pols Her goal was to establish "back channel" lines of communication and push Moscow's agenda, authorities charged. Mariia Putina via Twitter July 16, 2018
