Saturday, July 28, 2012

JC Penney update

I criticized a JC Penney fathers day ad (with followup here). A Catholic site reports:
Simply put, people are not shopping at J.C. Penney. AFA and OneMillionMoms are showing success in the effort to educate people to Penney's aggressive national campaign to promote "gay" marriage.

The company is going downhill fast. Since February, the company stock has lost more than half its value, and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its credit rating on J.C. Penney Co. further into "junk" status.

First-year CEO Ron Johnson's decisions have led to disastrous results for the company. Rather than build on the faith-based traditions of founder James Cash Penney, Johnson has abandoned family values and taken the company into a financial tailspin by embracing social activism.

Families are the backbone of Penney's existence. As long as it pushes homosexual marriage, families will go elsewhere.
Ron Johnson was an Apple Computer hotshot who is apparently seeking an LGBT niche for JC Penney.

I am not advocating a boycott. I just don't like media messages that devalue fathers.

No one is attacking JC Penney's free speech rights, but there are legal attacks on the free speech rights of those on the other side. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh comments on a Chicago Tribune story about fast food fried chicken:
[Chicago Alderman] Proco “Joe” Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A’s effort to build its second Chicago store … following company President Dan Cathy’s remarks last week that he was “guilty as charged” for supporting the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and woman….

The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno’s decision. “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”

But denying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation.
Mayor Emanuel is wrong. Those are Chicago values, and he has no authority to impose his leftist views. Same-sex marriage isn't even legal in Chicago. As Volokh adds, this is appalling. Also on the attack:
Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino has vowed to prevent the Georgia-based chicken chain from opening locations in his city. He said that Chick-fil-A doesn't belong in Boston, an "open city" that is at "the forefront of inclusion." ...

In response to the uproar, Chick-fil-A issued a statement Thursday saying that going forward, they would stay out of the dialogue over gay marriage. "Our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena," spokesman Don Perry wrote in an email to the LA Times.
Not even the Catholics are saying that JC Penney should be blocked from opening stores. But the narrow-minded leftist LGBT advocates don't want people to make up their own minds about eating fried chicken.

Opposing same-sex is a mainstream view shared by nearly all major Democrat leaders. Much of the world is much more anti-homosexual than that. A Boston Herald columnist writes:
Given his stance on Chick-fil-A, would Mayor Tom Menino grant permits to a group that has counted among its leaders a man who has repeatedly called homosexuality a “crime that must be punished” by death?

Actually, he has done that ... and more! Menino effectively gave away city land valued at $1.8 million to the organization, and he gave a speech at its ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It’s the Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque, and when it comes to anti-gay sentiment, one of its early supporters makes Chick-fil-A look like the Provincetown Men’s Chorus.
So why would American liberals be so tolerant of anti-homosexual Moslems, and so intolerant of traditional Christian support for marriage?

The simple explanation is that they hate the Christian values that underlie American culture, and so they do what they can to undermine those values. They would hate the Moslems too if the Moslems were in power, but they are not.

There is plenty of support for pro-LGBT politics. Especially among the super-rich who tend to be liberals, and who have the luxury of being insulated from what is happening to the middle class. Yahoo News reports:
Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has made a high-profile endorsement of same-sex marriage, pledging $2.5 million to support a referendum that would make such marriages legal in Washington state.
I think that he should be more worried about how the Kindle Fire has lost sales and is being passed up by the competition. At least he does not try to censor books based on political viewpoint.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Not even the Catholics are saying that JC Penney should be blocked from opening stores."

Not even the Catholics, huh ? Well that's saying a lot, isn't it ?

Anonymous said...

You left San Francisco out:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/ed-lee-chick-fil-a_n_1711721.html

George said...

Thanks. That's the same San Fran sheriff who is trying to fire the sheriff because he once grabbed his wife's arm. I will be posting more on that story.

Anonymous said...

So now "he once grabbed his wifes's arm." Before, he had admitted to gripping and bruising her arm, right ? And the sheriff was supposed to challenge the mayor to a duel to defend his right to grip and bruise his wife's arm.

Sure, the guy shouldn't lose his job over it, but why minimize what he admitted to, and trivialize it. You're losing what little is left of your credibility.

Anonymous said...

Kameron Slade, New York Fifth Grader, Prohibited From Giving Gay Marriage Speech At School A New York City-based fifth grader's pro-gay marriage speech will never be heard by his classmates after his school's principal deemed it inappropriate.

NY1 reports that Kameron Slade, a student at PS 195 in Queens, had planned to deliver the speech for a schoolwide competition. After winning a class competition, Kameron reportedly worked on the speech with his mother and teacher.

"Like President Obama, I believe that all people should have the right to marry whoever they want," Slade says in the poignant speech, which he delivered in full on NY1. He also speaks about his own experiences with a lesbian couple, who are friends with his mother.

"In conclusion, I hope that everyone understands how important it is to respect everyone for who they are," he says. "I believe that same-sex marriage should be accepted worldwide, and that parents and teachers should start to discuss these issues without shame to their children."

However, not only has Slade been barred from giving the speech, but his principal reportedly also told him he would be removed from the contest entirely if he did not choose a different topic.

Slade's mother, who did not want to be identified, told the news channel she was "really upset" by the school's decision. "[Same-sex marriage] is on the news," she said. "It’s a part of our lives now. They need to open up. The New York City Department of Education need to open up."

George said...

The original Murkarimi incident was trivial. I did not trivialize it; it was trivial already.

I saw the Kameron Slade speech. It was obviously a propaganda speech written by someone else. He had a hard time pronouncing some of the words he was reading.

Anonymous said...

Suggesting that he challenge the mayor to a duel isn't trivializing it ?

Slade admitted that his mother helped him with the speech. The point is that he was stopped from giving it, at first. Conservatives aren't always in favor of free speech when they don't like or agree with what's being said.

George said...

Conservatives did not block the speech. It was liberals who were afraid that another kid would give a speech against same-sex marriage.

Anonymous said...

What's to stop another kid from giving a sppech against same sex marriage now ?

George said...

The PC police. Considering that most voters and politicians are against same-sex marriage, the kids ought to hear the majority view if they hear any view at all.

Anonymous said...

The majority is being censored by the minority ? Maybe what you see as the majority, is actually the minority ?

I thought the polls showed voters were pretty much split on the issue.

George said...

Voters have gone to the polls in about 30 states to vote on same-sex marriage, and they voted against it every time. Including California, twice.

Anonymous said...

So how is the minority censoring the majority ?

George said...

Govt officials try to silence those who oppose same-sex marriage, while propaganda in favor of same-sex marriage is taught in the schools.

Anonymous said...

And the majority can't change this ?

George said...

We are supposed to have constitutional free speech rights, where people can express their opinions and practice their religion regardless of what the majority says. That seems to be being violated with Chick-fil-A. The mayor of Philadelphia is also trying to block the store, in addition to the other mayors.

Anonymous said...

Let the majority vote out the mayors, and the next mayors will welcome Chick Fil A. If they're in fact, the majority, there should be a huge backlash, and a lot of chicken friendly mayors voted in soon.

George said...

Maybe those mayors will be ousted. The Chick-fil-A restaurants were crowded with supporters yesterday. But regardless, the CEO has the First Amendment right to say that he supports the “biblical definition of the family unit.” The mayors are the ones breaking the law.

Anonymous said...

Do you know why Chick Fil A doesn't sue the cities ?

George said...

Sue Chicago? That would be a waste of time.

The CEO has caved in to liberal political correctness, and said, “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

Anonymous said...

So no one ever successfully sues Chicago ? What about all the other cities ? This guy has all the means in the world to fund the suit. All the financial incentive to follow thru with a suit. He has a strong, legal and moral case, public opinion, and the majority backing him, and he now just, " caved in to liberal political correctness" ?

Maybe he's just chicken.

George said...

Chicago is run by a crooked Democrat political machine. No, no one ever sues the machine and wins.

Chick-fil-A is in the food business, not the lawsuit business. Check out this video of an Adam M. Smith rant against Chick-fil-A. It shows who the real haters are.

Anonymous said...

What about the other cities besides Chicago ? Anyone ever sue them successfully ?

Sure , they're not in the lawsuit businesss. Is every co. that's ever sued a city or another entity done it because the changed businesses and entered into the "lawsuit business" instead of whatever business they had been in ?

They're just going to cave in instead of selling more chicken, huh ? That's what you do when you're in the chicken business and want to stand up for something and sell chicken ?

I don't need answers about who the real haters are.

George said...

The Chick-fil-A CEO can make his own decisions. I post this to point how much heat someone can get for supporting traditional marriage.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, he's the boss. The pluck stops here. He's made his decisons about what to say and do, and if he can't stand the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen.

New traditions start all of the time.