Over the years, Hobby Lobby has devolved into a Michaels that went out on a date with a Radio Shack, and brought in the model section from a local Target to chaperon.
And sadly, since 2000 (about when I quit even walking into the local Hobby Lobby and looking around), I've noticed their floor people have pretty much the same craft and hobby training as an employee of JoAnnes or Michaels; they don't look for experienced craftspeople or hobby enthusiasts to hire, they look for home-keepers and college kids (and maybe the occasional retiree) who are willing to work for retail wages, (even if they are a bit higher than the average).
Their store hours and number of store locations certainly don't give them an advantage over Michaels, Radio Shack, or Target, so if the local craft or hobby store was closed and I needed something that could be gotten at any of the other stores, Hobby Lobby can easily be avoided.
They might possibly have an advantage if I somehow urgently needed craft yarn, cheap balsa wood, clay, tile chips, an RC car and some model paint at 4pm on a Wednesday and they happened to be located in a strip mall down the block and across the street.
Maybe.
And they certainly don't have the right to tell their employees what sorts of medical procedures their doctors can prescribe them.
It's really stupid of them to insist on it. If they get the right to keep their employees from receiving any sort of legitimate medical care, then they're liable for any complications, injury, or death that might be caused from not getting it. Can a bereaved spouse sue Hobby Lobby because the wife could not afford the abortion on her own and she died of sepsis/toxic shock when she finally miscarried the dead fetus at 20 weeks?
One's personal religious rights do not trump any of the rights of others. A corporation or business is not the same as a private club; and despite some of the most contentious parts of the Citizens United ruling, a corporation or business still does not have the same rights as an individual.
If a corporate "religious" right beats the rights of their employees, what's to keep a corporation from forcing anyone they hire from giving up their own legal and personal rights?
I can see it right now - Supreme Court narrowly allows religious exemption from laws and mandates in May, 2014. It's now middle of July, 2016, in a private equity corporation boardroom:
"Gentlemen, our yearly projection is not on track, and Lamas Night is coming up pretty soon. We're going to have to implement our crisis plan to see if we can get this turned around by the next quarter, or heads will have to roll in November.
Time to check HR to find someone who meets our corporate requirements for this year's John Barleycorn..."
- or -
"Welcome to your 11'o'clock news local wrap-up.
Next on a local earlier news follow-up regarding the four employees found stoned to death in a major retail store parking lot after a sunrise store team-building event this morning. After being reported by a mall security guard, the [Major retail Chain store] employees were immediately held for questioning.
The store manger, employees, and the local corporate representative all immediately claimed religious protection from responsibility and prosecution for the deaths, citing 'religiously unlawful carnal activity on premises required punishment as called out in [FITB Holy Text] to be immediately initiated for those religious crimes'.
The [Major retail Chain store] legal representatives immediately petitioned the County Superior Court, which ordered the police to recover physical and DNA evidence that verified the alleged carnal activity occurred, and to have that evidence processed on an emergency basis as evidence of justification for the religious extra-judicial punishment exemption approved by state voters and passed into law three months ago.
All parties to the stoning were released by 6 this evening, and [major retail store] owner's representatives claimed this to be a Righteous Outcome to protect the retail chain's Freedom of Religious Practice."
******************
I've had to interact with fundies of all ilks for a long time. The majority have no problems with participating in capital punishment or human sacrifice so long as:
1) those acts can be displayed as brownie points from GAWD, because it's always a sign of grace for fundies to be holier than thou, and
2) it doesn't happen to them or their immediate family members and friends - well, at least the people they're not currently pissed at.
Haele
= new reply since forum marked as read
