Dear non-biblical readers: What book would YOU use to take your oath of office?

Well, it DID change my life.

An interesting conversation nearly broke out yesterday at a familiar "closed group" discussion site on Facebook. Someone asked if there were other atheists in the group, and the ensuing remarks were surprisingly civil until later in the evening, when an older white male felt compelled to write "get the hell out of my city."

YOUR city? My dear man, it's HIS city -- and you'll never forget it again once the Anchor Chip is implanted into your brain.

My demographic cohort continues to regularly embarrass me with such attitudes, which isn't surprising given how few of them were ever properly toilet trained, but I digress.

My contribution was this comment.

Speaking personally, I’m a non-proselytizing atheist. There’s nothing to talk about absent a belief system, so it seems pointless. At the same time, I see benefits to a separation of church and state, because that’s the best condition for all religious beliefs to survive — or none. I’ll talk about THAT, but it’s not as fruitful to discuss a negation.

I returned this morning to affix the following article to the angry white male's eviction notice; alas, the moderator had removed the post.

Consequently, let's view it here (emphasis mine).

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Took Her Oath of Office on a Lawbook, Not the Bible, by Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist/Patheos)

When Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was sworn into the U.S. Senate today, she placed her left hand on an Arizona “lawbook” (to use Getty’s terminology) instead of the Bible. It’s precisely what you’d expect from the only officially “Unaffiliated” member of the new Congress.

I imagine Vice President Mike Pence, who administered the oath, died a little on the inside.

To be sure, Sinema isn’t an open atheist, and there were a lot of books other than the Bible this year for newly elected members of Congress. But it’s still nice to see a government official show people that her allegiance is to our country and our laws, not a holy book or the Ten Commandments. Sinema did the same thing in 2013 when she was first sworn into Congress ...

DACA and Congress: "The repeated failure to pass bills has left America with immigration laws that are unenforceable."

Here is a dispassionate and rational editorial stance on DACA and the Dreamers, but will Congress act rationally?

What a wretched place we've become.

Donald Trump is right: Congress should pass DACA (The Economist)

The repeated failure to pass bills has left America with immigration laws that are unenforceable

IF YOU could design people in a laboratory to be an adornment to America they would look like the recipients of DACA. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an executive action issued in 2012 by Barack Obama to protect most of those who were brought to the country as children from deportation, covers about 800,000 people. They are a high-achieving lot. More than 90% of those now aged over 25 are employed; they create businesses at twice the rate of the public as a whole; many have spouses and children who are citizens. They are American in every sense bar the bureaucratic one.

Correcting that ought to be about as hard politically as declaring a new public holiday ...

 ... But the choice on DACA is not between the rule of law and rule by presidential edict. It is between two different types of legal failure—executive actions that are possibly unconstitutional and a set of immigration laws that are definitely impossible to enforce.

The solution ...

 ... is for Congress to write DACA, or something like it, into law. Yet the long-running saga over DACA and its recipients, whose average age is now 25, has been another sign that Congress’s default setting is to inaction. Mr Obama issued his executive action after years of waiting for Congress to write legislation. Congressmen ducked the decision, leading the president to take it unilaterally, on questionable authority.

A sensible conclusion.

Better if the lawmakers who spent years denouncing Mr Obama for grabbing power from Congress now choose to exercise that power themselves. The alternative is an act of economic and moral self-harm, in which Congress would further undermine both itself and the standing of the law.

"Todd Young eager for conservative agenda."

What's done is done. Evan Bayh entered the Senate race in midstream to the hosannas of the not-so-Left in Indiana. Todd Young regrouped, busted his tail and out-hustled Bayh, riding the big wave to a decisive 52-41 win. You needn't like Young or agree with his positions to respect his work ethic.

This outcome strikes me as deeply symbolic of the 2016 election as a whole, and even if I'm stretching, it certainly points to a generation gap manifested by the absence of young, vital blood in Indiana's Democratic Party.

I'd suggest the Democratic Party get started with the process of progressive reform. In the meantime, Young's going to be your senator for a while, so get to know his positions. If you're opposed to them, whining on social media isn't going to cut it. Either use the system, or step outside it, though first, it helps to know the risks and rewards embodied by your choice.

If you'd like to write about it, either way, then consider becoming a columnist at NA Confidential.

Todd Young eager for conservative agenda, by Amy Bartner (Indy Star via the C-J)

About 13 hours after his unexpected win over Evan Bayh for Indiana's open U.S. Senate seat, Todd Young spoke to reporters on being an “unapologetic conservative,” his intention to help repeal Obamacare and whether he supports Donald Trump’s push to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S.

The 45-minute conversation, at Downtown's Le Peep breakfast restaurant, also touched on Trump’s surprise win, Young’s focus on bipartisanship and what Mike Pence would be like as vice president.

"Crazy night," Young said, sitting down at a table in a reserved room in the breakfast restaurant with a green Starbucks cup in hand. "Is anyone here not tired?”

Marine versus saccharine ... or Young, Bayh and Mr. Disney's acid reflux.

And Bayh was our best hope to take Mr. Disney to DC with him. 

Sharing an astute observation from a friend.

"(Evan) Bayh said he watches PBS and the Disney channel to escape the negative advertising."

I'll leave it to you to judge whether he's more PBS or Disney. By the way, Todd Young is a Marine. Bet you hadn't heard.

"We are presiding over the destruction of the traditional retailer."

The words in the header were uttered by a Republican. Perhaps Todd Young is reading?

Senate OKs Internet sales tax, by Jim Puzzanghera (Los Angeles Times)

The Marketplace Fairness Act allows states to require large online retailers with no physical presence in those states to collect sales taxes. The legislation now moves to the House.

WASHINGTON — The Senate gave strong bipartisan approval to landmark legislation that could largely lead to the end of the nation's decades-long Internet sales tax holiday.

Now the issue shifts to the more skeptical, Republican-controlled House, where the debate will revolve around one fundamental question: Does helping governments collect an existing and owed tax constitute a tax increase? ...

... some Republicans are pushing back on his interpretation. They said the legislation raises no new taxes and just helps level the playing field between online and traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers.

"There are people on my side of the aisle admittedly who are not going to be favorable to anything that may even hint of a tax increase," said Steve Womack (R-Ark.), the lead House sponsor.

"And that's regretful," he said, "because we are presiding over the destruction of the traditional retailer that has been the backbone of American business for a long, long time."