Strategy

For two weeks now, the entire gay community has been mobilized against the passage of anti-gay measures in several states, Poposition 8 in California in particular.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/16protest.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&bl&ei=5087&en=719e1c29c315aea6&ex=1226984400

Great idea... except it's already passed! Much as it pains me to admit it, the fight's done and lost. Time to start thinking about the next one. And with that in mind, I have a little advice to any and all members of the gay community who may chance upon this... so listen up!

Why didn't you think of this sooner? Why weren't you holding these rallies in the two weeks before the vote on Nov 4th? It's entirely possible that if you had made this much noise before the vote, you just might have been able to sway enough people to your side to make Prop 8 fail! Next time there's a vote on gay issues anywhere in the country, think about how awful it feels right now to have your rights taken away from you, before the vote, and get out there it when it stands a chance of doing some good!

Thoughts on Prop 8

Well, Proposal 8 passed in California... like none of us saw that one coming. So now, despite what the state supreme court ruled, the state constitution has been amended, permanently re-defining marriage as one man, one woman... ironically in the state that has the largest gay population in the nation.

Anti-gay state constitution amendments were approved by the voters in Arizona and Florida as well.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/state.laws/

So this country is enlightened enough to let a black man be president, (and one with liberal policies at that) but still in the dark ages about homosexuality. Go figure.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a very interesting article, about the hidden cost of forcing straight marriage upon everyone regardless of sexual orientation... written by an insider to one such marriage. While I already supported gay marriage on principle, my eyes have been opened to the cost to traditional heterosexual marriage, and the nuclear family, by pushing gays to follow everyone else's conventional lifestyle. It's counter-intuitive, but legalizing gay marriage, it turns out, is the best "defense" of straight marriage.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:37602

Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Abortion Rant!

When I think about abortion, I stop to think "what if I was that woman?"

...which leads to the following...

Me: "Oh gods, what's this hideous parasite growing inside me... it's making my stomach swell... this isn't natural!!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "It's an unborn baby... what could be more natural? Isn't it a wonderful miracle of life?"

Me: "NO! It's making me feel gods-awful... WHAT?! This thing is going to grow to the size of a PERSON?!?! GETITOUTOFME,
NOW!!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "No! That would be immoral, and an act of murder."

Me: "Better it than me!!"

Pro-Lifer: "That's not your choice to make... it's God's choice."

Me: "Who the hell are you to speak for God?!?!"

Pro-Lifer: "Well it says in the Bible..."

Me: "Does the word 'abortion' appear anywhere in your little book?"

Pro-Lifer: *flip, flip, flip* "No, but..."

Me: Then SCREW YOU! Where's that damn suction hose?"

Pro-Lifer: "It's too late for that... we've been talking so long you've reached the third trimester, and partial-birth abortion is
inhumane and ILLEGAL!" *smirks*

Me: F YOU! *glares*

Pro-Lifer: *Smiles, happily reading Bible*

Me: *giving birth* "OH GODS!!! It's tearing me open!!! You wanted me to die!!!"

Baby: "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "Look at your beautiful child! Aren't you glad you decided to bring it into this world?"

Me: "Somebody make that ugly thing shut the F up!"

Baby: "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "How can you say that about YOUR OWN CHILD?"

Me: "I DIDN'T WANT A BABY!!!"

Baby: "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "You don't really mean that?! If you did, you'd have had the abortion right away!!"

Me: *glares*

Baby: "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Pro-Lifer: "Besides, this child is a Gift From God!! Would you reject God's Gift to you??"

Me: "You know what? If you care about this child SO MUCH, you can KEEP IT!!!" *Throws whining newborn at pro-life freak*

Baby: "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Pro-Lifer: *runs away*

(Ever notice how those pro-life folks are so eager for OTHER PEOPLE to have kids?)

Another State Sees the Light

I'm a bit late to the punch, but I'll post about this anyway. Connecticut legalized gay marriage last week; or rather, upgraded from same sex civil unions to marriage.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/10/connecticut.gay.marriage/

This brings the total number of US states with legalized gay marriage up to 3... though I still have doubts about California's upcoming vote. "Two steps forward, one step backward" as they say.

England Becomes A Sharia State

Last month, Britain made the momentous decision to give Sharia courts the same legal weight as the normal courts of the British legal system.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4749183.ece

For the lazy, "The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence. Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims."

It is telling that this was done so quietly, the majority of us Americans are unaware of it. I believe this could, in the long run, turn out to be the greatest threat to modern democracy.

Previously, I had looked upon England, with its large population of Muslem zealots, as walking a tightrope; between a paranoid clamp-down on foreigners, and tolerating them to the degree of total assimilation into Islamic culture. Now England has fallen off that tightrope, into the abyss of conciliation and weakness in the face of hostile religious fanatics.

How much stronger it makes the position of the radical Islamic clerics on the London streetcorners, to know that even an infidel government has been forced to accept the word of Allah as Law! Whatever the intentions of the liberals and multiculturalists in the British government that made this possible, in the minds of the Muslem community, that is the message they are sending.

In hindsight, I suppose I should have expected nothing less from the nation that brought us appeasement in the face of Nazism. Now, a little over half a century later, the British bring us appeasement in the face of militant Islam.

I can't help but wonder: is this it? Is this how modern democracy perishes: by infiltration from within by a foreign, undemocratic culture lacking any sort of civil rights? I don't know of any historical precedent for such a dual legal system, but one thing is certain: a society with a divided legal system cannot last long. I fear England will eventually become a state under Islamic religious law. And how long before the British precendent on Sharia law is adopted by other Western democracies? Will Sharia law replace Western law the world over? Will that be the way our civilization finally ends?

If anyone in Europe or the rest of the world is surprised at America's millitant additude towards the Middle East and Islam, perhaps they should realize it is partly in response to not just the Islamic extremists, but their own conciliation towards those same extremists. Personally, I am more dumbfounded at the British "answer" to the fanatics than the fanatics themselves: meeting all their demands by adopting their Dark Ages beliefs as law!?!

When are we going to stop being Neville Chamberland towards the Muslems and start being Charles the Hammer?

I'll let this video by Pat Condell deliver the closing speech. He's far more eloquent about this subject than I could ever be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9dXGJ2rYdA&feature=user

Financial Bailout Hell!

Well, it's old news by now, but I've been stewing over it for a week, so here goes:

Congress passed the bailout bill last Friday, and tore another chunk out of my faith in our lawmakers (which wasn't too strong to begin with). Even both presidential candidates stood by it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301108.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008100400028&s_pos=

Time has only made me hate this bailout even more. Whereas before, I merely thought it was absolute insanity, I now utterly loathe this bailout. Watching Tuesday's debate, as Obama denounced McCain's tax plans as favoring the rich, I realized the whole notion of "taxing the rich" is just nothing but thinly veiled hypocrisy. The bailout is proof of that.

Millions of dollars are being taken from taxpayers, average joe, you-and-me, people who really are poor, to be given to these financial companies. No, it's not enough that they overcharge us as consumers, treat us like dirt as employees, and are just swimming in cash; to put the icing on the cake, the government has taken yet more money and just handed it to some of the richest people in America: CEOs, and boards of directors.

The government has just taxed from the poor to give to the rich.

As for the proof of that, just look what these executives are doing with their bailout money:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/aig-executives-blow--getting-bailout/

Financial Bailout From Hell

I cannot believe the half-assed short-sighted solution to the financial crisis the Treasury Department has concocted... and Pres. Bush, the genius, is now backing.

Yes, banks are dropping like flies. Banks like Lehman Brothers and even the venerable Merrill Lynch are gone. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now "zombie" lenders, technically bankrupt but kept alive only by virtue of government take-over. Not to mention the insurance institution AIG is hanging on by a wing and a pray... er, government handout.

In the face of this financial storm, it is little surprise banks have adopted a "siege mentality", nearly stopping inter-bank exchanges, each hoping to ride it out on its own. The government's solution? Spend more money of course... to the tune of $700 billion or more. On what? "Illiquid assets." Which is confuse-the-taxpayersese for properties devalued by the collapse of the Housing Bubble, which the banks are stuck with worthless mortgages on.

Yup. The government is going to spend money on worthless chunks of real estate. This is their "brilliant plan" to revitalize the economy.

This is not a "bailout"... this is madness!

Let these banks die, I say. Let them learn their lesson. With this bailout, there will be no consequences from their reckless investments during the Housing Bubble; no lessons learned. As for consumer confidence... knowing my bank is around only because of a bailout doesn't make me feel any better about the way they handle my money!

The United States government is the largest holder of debt in the world, and now it's going to buy more debt?! In the form of devalued, worthless homes?!? The Bush administration has made the largest national debt increase of all time, and now it's going to add even more debt from the financial sector to it?!?!? Hasn't anyone heard of the "straw that broke the camel's back?"

After all the insanity from the Bush administration: the needless war in Iraq, and the skyrocketing national debt to sustain it, the ultra-conservative justices appointed, the attacks on American civil rights in the name of national security, while (irony time!) our border with Mexico remains wide open; this is the final insult. Bush's successor will get handed all this shit, plus more national debt that can't be eliminated by a balanced budget, because it's in the form of ownership of a bunch of worthless real estate scattered about the country.

Let me make it clear: this bailout will make the economy move in the short-haul... any form of government spending always pushes the economy along a bit... but in the long-haul, the price may be more than we can afford.