Motivated by love
I know a lot of people are upset and discouraged because of the outcome of the Amendment One vote. I hope it will motivate them to work harder to overcome the prejudice that affects their lives. But I hope they will retain their generous nature and not be overcome by the temptation to resort to distortions and deceit to win.
I wrote to the Journal a month ago saying that proponents of Amendment One were liars, that they would say anything and use any distortion to get their way. I realize now that not all of them are like that. Many opponents of homosexuality are motivated not by hatred but by love. Right or wrong, they're trying to save people from hellfire. Their religious beliefs are deeply ingrained and probably won't be changed by reason or even appeals to fairness. I don't know how they'll be changed; maybe they never will.
It took decades to remove ourselves this far from the institutional racism that once was prevalent in America, and its effects still linger. The same will be true, unfortunately, for homosexuals. There will always be those who oppose justice, with legitimate and illegitimate means, thinking they're right.
The fight never ends.
BOBBY FIELDS
Winston-Salem
Changes
Immediately after the approval of the gay-marriage ban, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James started moving to cut off benefits for same-sex and unmarried couples who work in his county's government.
But proponents of the amendment said it wouldn't change anything; they ridiculed claims that it would be used to change anyone's insurance or protection status.
So was that a misunderstanding or a lie?
BETH PARE
Winston-Salem
Accusations of racism
The writer of the May 11 letter "Standing up for the Brunstetters," defending Jodie Brunstetter from accusations of racism, mentions: "By the way, I am black. So I guess I am a racist and a bigot, also. Ponder that."
So he's saying, sarcastically, that since he's a black person who is defending a white person, he's not a racist or a bigot.
But I don't have to "ponder that." I'm quite aware of the fact that black people can be racists, too. After all, I watch Fox News, which constantly keeps us informed about reverse racism.
JAMES T. FULLER
Winston-Salem
Reframe the debate
It seems to me that we need to reframe the gay-marriage debate a bit. There are plenty of gay couples who stand in front of clergy (Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, even some Baptist ministers, among others), buy houses together, raise children together. These couples are as married as my husband and I are. The difference is that my marriage has been recognized by the state of North Carolina, and theirs won't be. This makes it a civil-rights issue, not a religious one.
Let's repeal this shameful amendment to our state constitution and stand on the side of love.
JOY IRWIN
Winston-Salem
Sold
President Obama and gay marriage. He literally sold his soul. It wasn't worth it.
KAY ANDERSON
Winston-Salem
Proud of the president
I am so proud of President Obama for taking a stand for same-sex marriage and human rights. Anything less would have been a step toward the past rather than the future. Presidents as far back as Gerald Ford have been saying that we need to treat gay people with equality, but it took this long, and a Democratic president, to call for full, true equality.
Lest anyone forget, our president has accomplished much, despite the state America was in when he arrived on the scene and the opposition he faced from Congress these last two years. He rescued the auto industry; killed Osama bin Laden, the perpetrator of the 9/11 attack; and lowered taxes for everyone. And he's not the radical some try to portray him as. In fact, if Mitt Romney had been president these last three years, he would probably have done the same things Obama did.
Or perhaps not.
But we have a sharp, intelligent, understanding president, and despite the dissent and disrespect he faces from some segments of the public — which, I'm convinced, is much smaller than the media would have us believe — except for Congress, of course — I believe history will see him as one of the best presidents we've ever had.
STEVEN ALDO
Winston-Salem
And in six months, voters there (Minneapolis) and across the state will decide whether to amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/politics/minnesota-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
__________
With everybody's discontent with Obama, this looks a bad time for these votes to come up. At least for gay activists that is.
A lot people try to make this out to be a civil rights issue. That's a good play on words. But we don't let people that engage in other deviant forms of behavior push their behavior off on us, why should we let these people do it.
Everybody always says: What are they hurting? Are they hurting you? What goes on behind closed doors is none of your business....etc.
Well, gays don't just stay behind closed doors all of their lives in case you haven't noticed. In fact, they are outside, and in your face and other places you don't want.
I'm even starting to hear church members chattering about gay activists, at where else, church. It's becoming a hot topic because of the hatred gay activists employ anytime there's any issue relating to homosexuality and religion. The activists go off, in a very public and hatefilled way, when they don't like something. Some church members are concerned for their safety. And who could blame them? After all, didn't some gay radicals call up a local gun range and tell them to take a billboard down or else?
This issue is just a LITTLE more complicated than just saying that it's okay if a few people want to engage in sex in different
way.
That's Bucky's take on it anyway.
P.S. I hope that wasn't 'La Sombra' real picture that she put up last night. Whoa!
Tim Britton: I'm so GLAAD to know that I've effected your life in such a HUGE way that you're COMPELLED to REACT to ME in such a manner. Truth be told, YOU are the one that's CONSTANTLY proving MY point(s) about YOU, your short-lived tenure as a volunteer at FCSO, your INABILITY to carry a reasonable, rational, intelligent conversation, your REGURGITATING CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY, and your UNCONTROLLABLE need to demean a HUMAN BEING in order to uplift your own feeble, weak, PUNY LIMP DICK existence. And even though you claim not to BE Tim Britton, an OFFSPRING of Tim Britton or an ACQUAITANCE of Tim Britton, the FACT that you ACT like Tim Britton STILL says ALOT about YOU!!! You might even say that what I have written here says a lot about me, but the ONLY thing that it says about me is that I have been ONE PATIENT MUTHA FUCKIN BITCH.
DeleteI did take the time to post in your forum last night. It looks like you'd be a little appreciative? Did that post get appoved by the way? The message I got said it was still in your inbox.
DeleteJust continuing what you started yesterday, Tim.
DeleteOne would think, you would have learned something from Spike Lee's boneheaded mis-identification of Zimmerman's home recently. But, oooooooooh no, you're liberal Democrat, so things that make sense, just don't sink in, do they?
DeleteThere are many things that I don’t like about the Obama administration, the chief one being his failure to take on the foolish Tea Partiers in Congress and expose them for what they are, obstructionist jackasses willing to sacrifice the national economy for their extreme ideological BS.
ReplyDeleteBut Mr. Aldo’s LTE makes some good points about matters that have been obscured by the growing landslide of lies coming from the increasingly fascist right.
1. The Affordable Care Act: despite the most intense propaganda campaign in American history, the only aspect of the act that is opposed by most Americans is the requirement to purchase insurance. All other aspects of the law are supported by between 58% and 84% of Americans.
Even though the arguments made against it are ridiculous, it is likely that the Supreme Court will throw out the requirement to purchase. Because it is an essential ingredient of the overall plan, it will somehow have to be restored.
2. The automotive industry: Mitt Romney told us what he would have done: “Let Detroit die.” Now he is trying to claim that he somehow “saved” Detroit, in much the way that Carl Rove claims that W “saved” the economy. Fairytails.
Under intense criticism, the President crafted the deals to “save” Detroit, and unfortunately for the critics, it worked. GM is back as the #1 auto builder and Chrysler just announced that they will cancel the traditional two week summer hiatus at some of their plants because demand is too high.
The Obama plan saved 1.4 million jobs on the front end and will add another 160,000 or so on the back end.
3. War on terror, etc: CheneyBush failed miserably in Afghanistan and Iraq. Having used the “get Osama” argument to promote the invasion of Afghanistan, within months W was saying that he had lost interest in Osama, for a very good reason…he had no idea or plan as to how to find him and he was already busy destroying another country.
Osama is now dead.
And in Egypt and Libya the Obama administration played an important role in actually promoting change in the Arab world…done without the loss of a single US soldier…not to mention the first time that the US has been on the winning side in an international conflict since 1945.
4. The economy: In the best of times, the President has little positive influence on the economy. He can however have a negative influence. We saw that in 2008 as the culmination of the deregulatory policies of a series of Presidents, beginning with the great charlatan Reagan and continuing through W.
In the current case, any hope that President Obama might have had to improve the economy has been killed by the Jihadists in the House and their mindless refusal to consider any sort of tax increase.
------------------------------
There is one negative, of course. To save Stab the trouble, I’ll say it for him: “Obama has turned the nation over to the labor unions…even as we speak, the whole country is being run by the 12.4% of workers who belong to unions. Forget special interest lobbyists and mega campaign givers like the US Chamber of Commerce and any big business who outspend labor 100 or more to 1. Money doesn’t matter any more. Union evil rules.
Vote for Gary Johnson for POTUS in November. That will teach them all a lesson.
The motto of 'Change we can believe in' has developed into 'Change we don't believe in, and we want him out!'
DeleteHe needs to GOOOOOOOOOOOO! And he needs to take his loony Democratic friends like: Eric Holder, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Geithner, and the muppet lady-Napolitano, just to name a few. Out! Out! Out! Out!
"There are many things that I don’t like about the Obama administration, the chief one being his failure to take on the foolish Tea Partiers in Congress and expose them for what they are, obstructionist jackasses willing to sacrifice the national economy for their extreme ideological BS."
DeleteI absolutely agree, but I also think some just want to torpedo the recovery to help Romney's chances. If Willard does win, watch the TP fiscal rectitude go out the window.
Mitch McConnell already admitted that he was not interested in governing...that his only purpose in the senate was to defeat the president.
DeleteAndy Jackson would have had him hanged for treason.
Thank goodness the Republicans took over the House in 2010. We'd probably all be riding bicycles by now if they hadn't.
DeleteHannity had a real expose on his program last night. Obama was attending, by his own admission, socialists meetings at Cooper Union in his youth.
He wants retribution for the mistreatment of African Americans in the past, and he is attempting to move us toward a socialist government in order to obtain it. That's what the whole 'Affordable Health Care Act' was. A big fat RUSE!
But the Democrats don't get it! They're too busy trying to push the care out of the ditch and over the cliff.
OT, you're being a bit cute with numbers. The 12.4% workers you mention run nothing. It is the handful of hacks who have the White House's ear who exert disproportionate influence. The 12.4% have next to no voice in the unions in which they are (sometimes unwillingly) members or dues payers. What percent of that 12.4% are the half dozen or so union honchos who have access? It is a vanishingly small percentage, far less than the dreaded 1% we hear so much about.
DeleteMost of the bosses are not directly elected and have no accountability for the funds they spend on politics. Members in non-right-to-work states still have to pay dues, and the Obama administration seeks make it easier for unions to organize workers without their consent. Then there was the NLRB using taxpayer dollars to keep Boeing from hiring 2K SC workers while Boeing was hiring at the same time in Everett WA. But but all of that is industrial democracy and social justice, liberal style, nevermind individual rights.
The AFL-CIO capo and former leg breaker Richard Trumka brags that he speaks with the WH 3 times a week. The former president and treasurer of the goonocracy known as the SEIU were making visits to the WH on more than a weekly basis. How many times did the head of the C of C have access like that? Organized labor will spend > $100MM (probably much more) this cycle to try to keep their agent in the WH.
Excerpt from Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire, writer and lawyer Eric Berkowitz
ReplyDeleteIn the period up to roughly the thirteenth century, male bonding ceremonies were performed in churches all over the Mediterranean. These unions were sanctified by priests with many of the same prayers and rituals used to join men and women in marriage. The ceremonies stressed love and personal commitment over procreation, but surely not everyone was fooled. Couples who joined themselves in such rituals most likely had sex as much (or as little) as their heterosexual counterparts. In any event, the close association of male-marriage ceremonies with forbidden sex eventually became too much to overlook as even more severe sodomy laws were put into place.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/15/sex-and-punishment-eric-berkowitz/
Delete" . . .but I also think some just want to torpedo the recovery to help Romney's chances. If Willard does win, watch the TP fiscal rectitude go out the window."
ReplyDeleteTwo things:
1. I wouldn't be surprised if some R's might want the economy to delay recovering, but they wouldn't be the first. The Dem controlled Congress did the same thing in 1992, giving us President Lewinski.
2. Willard is former President Lewinski's first name.
The A listeners in 92 were out of the loop then...Cuomo and Bradley didn't get the memo; the governor of Arkansas did. Funny how that works.
DeleteAnd Clinton's first name is William. Romney's IS Willard. Facts is facts.
Listers
DeleteAnd how exactly did the Democrats subvert the economy in the 90s, only to engineer a boom two years later?
DeleteI'm sorry, but we're just not that brilliant.
I always find it funny when someone tries to correct someones honest and obvious mistake, and then that person makes one themselves. I guess it's a liberal, Democrat thing. You're right Joe. We JUST DON'T GET IT!
DeleteMeh...typos happen. Especially if you're typing with your thumb on an iPhone keypad.
DeleteThe economy was shaky going into 92. GHW Bush cut a deal with the Dems, who were uncharacteristically keening about the deficit. The deal was Bush agreed to raise taxes and the Dems agreed to cut spending. The Dems reneged, but they got their economy sapping tax increases and William Clinton as President. It was indeed a short recession, for which WJC took undue credit, as usual.
DeleteYes, I am aware of Clinton's real first name, and you being interested in facts, probably know why I refer to him as Willard. Did not know Romney's real first name.
Using iPhone myself, typos are part of the typing.
DeleteHa, ha. I have no idea why anyone would want to try to type on those tiny keys. I am very much in favor of the iPhone, because I own a good bit of Apple stock, dating from the 1980s, but I doubt if I will ever own an iPhone. I paid about $10 for my cell phone and make and receive about a dozen calls per month, at a cost of around $10. if you want to contact me, use e-mail, which is free.
DeleteBTW, Apple has a huge cash surplus, which they are getting ready to use to launch yet another new product…something left behind by Steve Jobs...which will almost certainly be another huge success. The stock is a bit stagnant at the moment, so buy while you can. I make the usual disclaimer here…my buying advice has no basis in fact, but I'm buying.
As to Clinton's "economy sapping" tax increase, here are a few simple facts:
When Clinton came to office, 10 million Americans were unemployed, the country faced record deficits, and poverty and welfare rolls were growing. Family incomes were losing ground to inflation and jobs were being created at the slowest rate since the Great Depression.
Under Clinton, economic growth averaged 4.0 percent per year, compared to average growth of 2.8 percent during the Reagan-Bush years. The economy grew for over 100 consecutive months, the most in history, a record that will probably never be touched again.
During that same period, more than 22.5 million jobs were created, another record that will never be touched. The unemployment rate fell from 6.9% in 1993 to 4.0% in 2000, the lowest in 30 years.
Clinton inherited a 4.7% inflation rate, which fell to 2.5% at the end of his administration, the lowest since the JFK years.
I could go on and on, but why bother. Those who believe believe whatever they want.
I never confuse my personal opinion of a president with my evaluation of his performance.
"Mitch McConnell already admitted that he was not interested in governing...that his only purpose in the senate was to defeat the president.
ReplyDeleteAndy Jackson would have had him hanged for treason."
Andy Jackson is responsible for the deaths of untold thousands of Indians ('scuze me, Native Americans), so citing his probable response loses a bit of whallop.
That said, McConnell is a poster child for what's wrong with our body politic today, along with some of the folks Bucky named elsewhere, Pelosi and Holder in particular. McConnell is one of the reasons I changed my registration to Unaffiliated, with strong assists from his fellow Congresscritters and the new NC Legislature.
Every President has his good points and his bad. Jackson's record on Indians was horrible, although, as with slavery, in synch with his times. That policy began with the first settlers in Jamestown and has continued ever since, the most shameful record in our history, with more bad presidential stuff than good.
DeleteRemember that most of our revered Founding Fathers owned slaves. But had Jackson been elected in 1857 instead of 1827, we almost certainly would have avoided the greatest American disaster, the Civil War, because in December 1860 he would have been hanging traitors in Charleston.
Eisenhower wasn't a bad president, but he made a huge mistake by pushing all of our transportation funds into the building of the interstate highway system, thus killing the railroads and setting us on course for our current dependency on the petroleum industry.
LBJ could have been one of our greatest presidents. He arm twisted his way to two crucial civil rights acts. But his ignorance of foreign affairs led us into another great disaster, Viet Nam, from which we are still feeling the effects.
Nixon had China and Watergate. Clinton had huge success domestically and overseas, probably the best president since Truman, but he also had Monica Lewinsky.
If you want to start judging Presidents by their lowest points, we can easily reduce them all to loser status, even George Washington, who was not a saint and had his own shortcomings.
Clinton was the best President the Chinese ever had.
DeleteCome on, Stab, that comment is way below your usual thinking level.
DeleteIn the late 1970s, Li Xiannian and Deng Xiaoping came to power in China. Unlike Mao, Deng and Li were pragmatic leaders, known less for their ideological commitment than for their slogan: "Who cares if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mice." Once they consolidated their power, they began to put their pragmatic policies to work, determined to bring China back from the devastation that the Cultural Revolution had wrought.
By the end of the GHW Bush administration, they had created the fastest growing economy in the world at a rate over 10% per annum. Any action that Bill Clinton took was merely a belated recognition that we were up against a new irresistable phenomenon. Too bad that Reagan and Bush I had not seen it coming. Clinton inherited a situation that was more than a decade behind the times. Ironic that Nixon had seen it coming more than 20 years before, yet the "Great Leader" Reagan was totally blind to what was happening, focused as he was on the already dead Soviet Union.
We can join the Tea Party and deny reality, or we can begin to deal with what is really happening, in China, and now, in India. I believe that there used to be a popular soap opera called "As the World Turns". It still does.
Reagan ranks above Clinton in economic performance by most experts.
DeleteChina came out their economic slump because it had nowhere to go but up. Plus, they were stealing our technology and techniques hand over fist during the 90s. Clinton was too busy getting his horn tooted to care. I guess that part of history just flew right over your cuckoo's nest, huh?
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