Now that marriage equality is law for the LGBT community in IRELAND, of all places, can we just hurry up and get it over all around the world so we can concentrate on fully raw cannibals? I mean, IRELAND is where they let women die of septicemia before they give them a D&C to remove a miscarriage.
Just saying’. We’ve got to clear the backlog before we can start the long hard struggle to give more than half the population of the world equality.
I’m getting impatient.*
*Have you noticed that women’s rights movement proponents in the US have been strangely quiet in the past 7 years? It’s like someone slapped a muzzle on them.
Jesus Christ on a Cracker, Obama is angsting over whether to sign an executive order to make sure that the LBGT community is not discriminated against in federal contracts. The religious leaders involved, RELIGIOUS leaders who you would expect to be above petty shit like this, are demanding to be excluded from working next to people who do “unnatural” things with each other in bed. That would include almost everyone, gay or straight, married or un, over the age of consent. Yes, Rick Warren, married heterosexual couples engage in sodomy of one kind or another. You might even be one of them.
Obama might not be in this predicament if he hadn’t made use of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives to give taxpayer money to churches like Warren’s in exchange for favorable sermons to the parishioners before election day. The rest of us were very skeptical when Obama made an alliance with evangelical leaders in 2008. Remember how women were supposed to consult with their clergy before getting an abortion? Remember how we all were concerned with the signals that Rick Warren’s inaugural presence would send to the LGBT community?
Ok, nevermind all that now. We’re dealing with a crisis situation. We can’t go back and dope slap Obama and his short- sighted campaign droogs, although I did mention back in 2008 that the scorched earth policy against women was going to come back to bite us.
Here’s the correct response to these so-called “Christians”, and I do use that term very loosely. Sign the damn order for the following reasons:
1.) It’s the right thing to do. Treating people like dirt and unequally to make people in your tribe feel superior is the signature hallmark of narcissists. It’s just wrong morally and ethically. It’s very strange for an agnostic panentheist non-Christian like myself to be pointing this out but, what can I say, the country is in the grip of some weird juju right now and the people who should be upholding the rights of others, I’m looking at you Rick Warren, have lost their fricking minds.
2.) It’s for their own good. Slight digression: Alan Turing was a code breaker extraordinaire and computational genius. He was also gay. Without Turing, it would have been very difficult for England to triumph over the Nazi’s. That guy should have been a national hero until he died. Instead, Alan Turing’s life was destroyed by some very nasty anti-gay laws. He was barred from serving his country and his security clearance was denied. He committed suicide. Congratulations, Britain. If Obama doesn’t sign the order because the Rick Warren’s among us stamp their little feets and threaten to hold their breaths, he will be denying the rest of us the talents and gifts of American gays and lesbians. It’s just not a very smart, long term move. But then, when have we ever seen Obama and his campaign guys look to the long term? Amaze us for once.
3.) It’s none of their G-d damned business. Seriously, these evangelical so-called “Christians” need to learn to respect other people’s boundaries. Or at least be consistent. If it’s sodomy they object to, they need to find out what their married employees are doing too. If they don’t like to contemplate what other people are doing in bed, they need to demonstrate some self-control and STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. Get a life. I guarantee you that the liberal side of the spectrum does not drive itself crazy thinking about all of the permutations of what body part goes into what orifice. We drive ourselves crazy thinking about the melting point of the earth and whether we have passed the point of no return. We stay up nights worrying about more important things we can, you know, actually do something about. Ending gay sex forever does not rank up there among our insomnia inducing scenarios.
4.) Ignore the evangelical so-called “Christians”. Obama doesn’t have to run again. And the people who are really freaked out by the fact that might have to work cheek by jowl with people whose cheeks and jowls might have been touching the cheeks and jowls of a same sex person the night before are never going to vote for you anyway. In any case, they will never respect you if you give in to them. That’s because they have been encouraged to become narcissistic and any ground you give will just encourage them to exceed their boundaries in other areas. Today it’s gays, tomorrow they’ll threaten not to vote for you if you don’t eliminate evolution from the school curriculum everywhere. Trust me, they don’t know there is a line. You need to make them see that there is one or the establishment clause will become meaningless.
Like you’ll listen to me. You’re the one who gave us the ACA and how did that turn out? I don’t mean, “how is the propaganda spinning the ACA?”. I mean, how did the ACA actually turn out for the little people who have to deal with it. (Don’t even get me started. It’s a disaster. Someday, the brain trusts are going to correlate the falling GDP with that piece of crap legislation. Mark my words.)
But signing this executive order to protect gays and lesbians is a no-brainer. It’s the right thing to do.
Therefore, I predict Obama will screw it up somehow. He’ll qualify it just enough that he will plant the seeds for further evangelical so-called “Christian” mischief down the road.
Well, that didn’t take long. The ink had barely dried on the Hobby Lobby case before a.) we learned that the ruling actually applied to *all* birth control, not just the ones Hobby Lobby erroneously decided were abortifacients, b.) Rick Warren, the evangelical lite preacher Obama insisted be shoved down our throats at his inauguration decided that asking him and his kind to associate with LGBT people at work was intruding on their “religious freedom” and c.) John Roberts was lying through his teeth when he said employers, like Wheaton College, would simply fill out a form to get their birth control exemption from Obamacare.
I’m guessing that it won’t take long for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to determine that none of its permanent unpaid interns at their Brooklyn and Bethel sites should get blood transfusions. Oh, it could happen.
But the bigger problem is going to be the bureaucratic nightmare that now will descend on the labyrinthine monstrosity that is already Obamacare. And, no, Paul Krugman, it is not all that. The ACA is a horrible piece of legislation and I speak from experience since I don’t watch cable TV anymore. You don’t have to be a Republican to absolutely hate it and every stupid destructive thing it has done to the workplace.
So, yeah. It’s pretty bad right now. On the other hand, this ruling could be the eucatastrophe that spurs the good side to victory down the road. You know, a REAL national healthcare policy that’s genuinely universal and has cost controls. One that doesn’t have holes open for the exploitation of working people and protects the rights of women and LGBT people.
Or not. The Democrats seem to be in some sort of psychogenic fugue these days. You would have thought they would have had a 24/7 internet news outlet where their supporters could go to get the best opinion and strategy but, um, I’m not aware of one. Nor have I seen a line up of liberal clergy condemning this ruling and its implications. It’s like the whole party sort of checked out.
What’s clear is that the Robert’s Court is determined to destabilize the culture in such a way as to create chaos. I don’t think this ruling was motivated by the religious convictions of the majority. I think it was motivated by the ideological convictions of the political party that nominated them. But at this point, I’m not sure what their aims are. Do they even know? Or is it just a power trip without a purpose? Because that’s what it looks like.
What we really need is a Churchill right about now.
Matt Taibbi has a brilliant take down of David Brooks’ latest column on the perils of gay marriage. According to Brooks, marriage is bad for gay people because it imposes constraints on their animal instincts and what freedom loving, irresponsible hedonist would want that?:
Ostensibly, the column purports to make a single ironic point, which is that by petitioning the Supreme Court for the right to marry, gays and lesbians were not expanding their freedoms – and thus continuing, as Brooks implies, a long and perhaps-regrettable winning streak for people’s right to “follow their desires” that dates back to those hated Sixties – but rather constraining them. Brooks puts it this way:
But last week saw a setback for the forces of maximum freedom. A representative of millions of gays and lesbians went to the Supreme Court and asked the court to help put limits on their own freedom of choice. They asked for marriage.
Brooks here apparently expects his gay and lesbian readers to scratch their heads here and think, “Gosh, what does he mean by that? I thought we were seeking new freedoms with this campaign?”
What does he mean? Well, the self-appointed hetero-in-chief is here to enlighten us as to what marriage is – and he’s here to tell you, it’s no bowl of freedom-cherries!
Marriage is one of those institutions – along with religion and military service – that restricts freedom. Marriage is about making a commitment that binds you for decades to come. It narrows your options on how you will spend your time, money and attention.
Gee – really? Boy, those gays and lesbians are sure going to be in for a shock when they find out that being in a committed relationship involves constraints on behavior. That’ll be some unpleasant new ground they’ll be breaking there.
What an asshole!
I can only assume that Mrs. Brooks is illiterate.
Wait, why does David Brooks suddenly remind me of this character?:
I think what we’re seeing here is a glimpse into David Brooks’ blighted soul. The guy would seriously love to lose the tie and let what’s left of his his hair down but it’s been beaten out of him and now he has to play the part of whip kisser extraordinaire for the rest of the world. Maybe he assumes that everyone is like him, secretly harboring desires that dare not speak their names. Without the mental chastity belt, we would all just throw off our chains of civilization and get down and dirty in the mud in a frenzy of orgiastic freedom and never get any work done because, let’s face it, work is drudgery and who wants to do that all day when you could be having lots of sex?
Or, here’s my new theory. Republicans are going to abandon their opposition to marriage equality because they see the writing on the wall demographically and have to make up their numbers, replacing the dying religious conservatives with a potentially large group of voters with money- gay couples. What better way to attract gay couples than with a militantly anti-tax message? And where does that leave David Brooks? Well, there’s always abortion to rail against since women are the LAST people on earth who will ever be allowed a taste of freedom and equality. But people in Brooks’ class think discussing money is gauche otherwise he’d be writing silly, offensive screeds for the Wall Street Journal.
Well, whatever.
His attitudes about gay people and marriage equality are about as informed as any white supremacists and twice as ignorant.
People like Brooks need to be shunned by polite society.
First it was the LGBT community that threatened to withhold money and that choked some (ultimately meaningless) words from Barack Obama about same sex marriage. Don’t get me wrong, he should have said this back in 2008 when he was a candidate because it was the right thing to do, instead of winking to his more evangelical constituents that he opposed it. But it doesn’t really matter because the outcome is zero sum. There’s a brief blip of feeling really good about the guy until you realize that he has no intention of doing anything about it. It will be up to the states to discriminate or not and he’s cool with that.
Then came the hispanic community demanding compassion for the families he’s breaking up and bright students whose lives he is ruining with the disastrous and aggressive deportations. Those students in many cases had no choice in the matter when they came to live here as children. For all intents and purposes, they’re American except that they weren’t born here. If I were king, I’d have found a way to naturalize them by now. That would be the Christian thing to do. All Obama has done is kinda sorta said they won’t be deported but there are no guarantees.
We are hearing more and more stories that one of the reasons he has been so ineffective at getting legislation through is that he doesn’t like the political process where you have to go around and ask people to do things for you or you have to hold things over their head and threaten them. Obama just doesn’t like face to face interactions. It’s not his thing. Maybe he should have stuck to writing autobiographies and dispensed with the detestable politicking. It’s never too late to reconsider…
So, who’s left? Ahhh, yes, we haven’t heard from the women yet.
WHY haven’t we heard from the women?? Have they not sought an audience with the Lightbringer? If they have, did they get one? Why haven’t we read about that? With the latest outrage in Michigan, where female legislators are forbidden from even saying the word VAGINA, one can only imagine that Obama must be determined to stride the halls of the White House to meet with representatives of women’s groups to assure them that This. Will. Not. Stand! And yet… {{crickets}}
You know, women are not really a special interest group. We’re more than half of the population. We’re getting attacked in a way that will affect our ability to work effectively and that will impact our economic situation. And what affects the economic situation of more than half of the country should be something that is pretty high in Obama’s priority list. But the strange silence of women and the even stranger silence of Obama on women, is downright spooky.
This is pathetic. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disgusted in my life.
Unlike the LGBT and hispanic community, women outrank ALL of the supplicant groups. They shouldn’t be grumbling that Obama gave them a half an hour of his time and acted like a pissy little prince. They should make HIM come to THEM. The frostiness should be coming from their side until he gets down on his knees and kisses their asses.
Reclusive Leftist wrote a post four years ago called Archimedes Lever about the power of women to shape elections. They can demand just about anything they want and get it but they almost never do. Like Dorothy, they have no idea that their ruby slippers are capable of transporting them home. They have always had this power.
This is not as hard as you think, ladies. All you have to do is demand representation and justice for your sex- now. Not in a couple of months, not next year, and not with some ineffectual mouthing of words with indefinite content that have no power behind them.
Sure, there will be a bunch of Democrats and pundits who will ask whether it is wise to ask for so much in this bad economy. Guess what, YOU are the economy and if you don’t get what you want, you should pick up your ball and go home. There is no point in playing with people who do not see you as their equals and who do not think they have to work for your vote. Sure it will be tough to fight every single battle all over again. It looks like we’re going to have to do that anyway, apparently without any help from Democrats. It’s been done before and the elderly conservative obstacles who fanatically vote for Republicans over abortion won’t be around much longer. The Republican’s electoral chances are waning and they know it. That’s why they stepped it up this year. But we’ve always known the evil in the Republican party. It’s in the Democratic party where the evil needs to be ferreted out and exposed to sunlight.
Don’t underestimate your power. Rahm Emannuel, Steny Hoyer and all of the other bastards in the Democratic party can’t match it. They can be all macho and tell you no and you can tell them to go fuck themselves in November. It will make them weak in the knees. If they’re not going to do anything for you, the Republicans have won anyway and as I’ve said, the Republicans are on their way out. You can figure out how to use your votes more constructively.
Use your lever and see what happens. The Democrats are in a tight spot. Let me spell it out for you: The Democrats entire electoral strategy, and that which they are pinning their hopes this year, depends on women staying on their side. In fact, you might almost say that all of the new laws enacted against women this year play right into their hands. At this point, they have no reason to try to curtail any of them. All they have to do is nothing and they will look good in comparison. But if you ever decide that’s not good enough for you, they’re going to start shitting their pants. You can get anything and anyone you want this year. Now is the time to ask for everything.
Let this be the summer that they will Remember the Ladies.
MAY 7, 1776 ABIGAIL ADAMS TO JOHN ADAMS
“I cannot say that I think you are very generous to the ladies; for, whilst you are proclaiming peace and good-will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives.
“But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken; and, notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and without violence, throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet.”
My High School alma mater has become famous in recent months. Earlier today, the actor from that new show on NBC I can’t be bothered to watch, The Event, Scott Patterson, posted the address, location and phone number of the guidance office of Mentor High School on his Facebook page. It was wrong of him to do that. Posting addresses online is low, and Scott Patterson knows little about the town he refers to.
I lived in Mentor from the time I was seven to the time I was seventeen. It is typical of suburbia across the country in it’s conformity, simplicity and repression. It is a beach front town, located on the shore of Lake Erie, and sometimes my friends and I would go to the Headlands and climb the rocks near a lighthouse, brushing cottonwood seeds off of our clothes from the trees in the parking lot, hopping over dead fish and cigarette butts.
At times Mentor can be not entirely unpleasant. I still have fond memories of some of my teachers. Mr. Wolski, my history teacher from Sophomore year, was a lefty clown (not unlike myiq) and he and I had a running commentary with each other. When I was a junior and passed him in the halls, I would mutter “Mr. Wolski is a loser,” and pretend not to have noticed him when he turned around. Mr. Raiff, from AP Government, told me I was an anarchist. The Hopkins Airport once had an air show and a few people were photographed protesting the War in Iraq, and he wrote my name above one of the girls carrying the signs. Because of my old English teacher, Mrs. Stucky I can write a three page research paper in ten minutes or so in perfect MLA format. I feel privileged to have been taught by them and others. If it hadn’t been for them I wouldn’t be writing this post right now and I would never know my right to search for my own opinion and stand by my convictions, to always learn and never stop, because you can never really know everything.
But those fond memories, I’m sorry to say, pale in comparison to others. Lately, the media seems particularly interested in Mentor’s secret little world of shit. Out of all the schools we’ve heard about where teens have taken there own lives due to “bullycide,” Mentor has been singled out. In Mentor, four suicides have occurred in the past couple of years, and almost all of them were due to bullying. Here’s an article about it from the AP, it gets most of the facts right, and I recommend reading the whole thing:
Eric Mohat was flamboyant and loud and preferred to wear pink most of the time. When he didn’t get the lead soprano part in the choir his freshman year, he was indignant, his mother says. Continue reading →
Now that marriage equality is law for the LGBT community in IRELAND, of all places, can we just hurry up and get it over all around the world so we can concentrate on fully raw cannibals? I mean, IRELAND is where they let women die of septicemia before they give them a D&C to remove a miscarriage.
So, now that the left is having 
The Confluence 