Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Daddy on the Edge of Countdown


Daddy loves me some Keith Olbermann.

I don't know what happened at MSNBC; I don't care. Olbermann has a new home on CurrentTV - here's his take on the whole marriage thang;










Welcome back, Keith.

Daddy

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Daddy on the Edge of Weddings, Equality and "Evolving"


This past Friday, history was made. This past Friday, Republicans and Democrats came together and voted "YES" on same sex marriage in New York. The lead up to this was something to behold. On one hand, Republican Senator Roy MacDonald said,

"You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn't black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing," McDonald, 64, told reporters.

"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing.

"I'm tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I'm trying to do the right thing, and that's where I'm going with this."


Wow. Just...Fucking...Wow. Watching a Republican come around to that way of thinking, and say something like that so openly, so honestly - well, it makes Daddy a little less jaded.

Than we had this;

At a White House briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney stressed that the president had been nothing but consistent in saying that his position was "evolving" on the topic.

"What I know is what his position was during the campaign and what it is now," Carney said. "He’s been very clear about it. He was very clear in the campaign. He’s very clear about the fact that his position is evolving. I don’t have anything to add to that."

Wow. Just...Fucking...Wow. Evolving? Really, Mr. President? That's such an incredibly "un-Progressive" way of putting it.

In this same article, it says that Obama believes that gay marriage is an issue best addressed by the states. Well I gotta tell you, the states have been doing a bang up job of it so far. Here's a map of how the states feel about gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships;




Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in the United States

Same-sex marriage1

Unions granting rights similar to marriage1,2

Legislation granting limited/enumerated rights1

Same-sex marriages performed elsewhere recognized1

No specific prohibition or recognition of same-sex marriages or unions

Statute bans same-sex marriage

Constitution bans same-sex marriage

Constitution bans same-sex marriage and some or all other kinds of same-sex unions


1May include recent laws or court decisions which have created legal recognition of same-sex relationships, but which have not entered into effect yet.
2Same-sex marriage laws in California are complicated, please see the article on same-sex marriage in California.


Looking at this map, I think I may slap the next person who uses the phrase, "Separate but Equal". Separate? No Doubt. Equal? No Chance. And how could there be real equality? I mean, look at what people have said about gay marriage;


(This is a direct re-print of an article written by Eric Zorn for The Chicago Tribune - Check it;)



MARRIAGE ISSUE JUST AS PLAIN AS BLACK AND WHITE

By Eric Zorn

Statement No. 1: Same-sex marriage must be forbidden, said the Republican senator from Wisconsin, "simply because natural instinct revolts at it as wrong."

Statement No. 2. An organization opposed to gay marriage claimed legalizing them would result in "a degraded and ignoble population incapable of moral and intellectual development," and rested this belief on the "natural superiority with which God (has) ennobled heterosexuals."

Statement No. 3. "I believe that the tendency to classify all persons who oppose gay marriage as 'prejudiced' is in itself a prejudice," grumped a noted psychologist. "Nothing of any significance is gained by such a marriage."

Statement No. 4. A U.S. representative from Georgia declared that allowing gay marriages "necessarily involves (the) degradation" of conventional marriage, an institution that "deserves admiration rather than execration."

Statement No. 5. "The next step will be that gays and lesbians will demand a law allowing them, without restraint, to . . . have free and unrestrained social intercourse with your unmarried sons and daughters," warned a Kentucky congressman. "It is bound to come to that. There is no disguising the fact. And the sooner the alarm is given and the people take heed, the better it will be for our civilization."

Statement No. 6. "When people of the same sex marry, they cannot possibly have any progeny," wrote an appeals judge in a Missouri case. "And such a fact sufficiently justifies those laws which forbid their marriages."

Statement No 7. Same-sex marriages are "abominable," according to Virginia law. If allowed, they would "pollute" America.

Statement No 8. In denying the appeal of a same-sex couple that had tried unsuccessfully to marry, a Georgia court wrote that such unions are "not only unnatural, but . . . always productive of deplorable results," such as increased effeminate behavior in the population. "They are productive of evil, and evil only, without any corresponding good . . . (in accordance with) the God of nature."

Statement No. 9. A gay marriage ban is not discriminatory, reasoned a Republican congressman from Illinois, because it "applies equally to men and women."

Statement No. 10. Attorneys for the state of Tennessee argued that such unions should be illegal because they are "distasteful to our people and unfit to produce the human race. . . ." The state supreme court agreed, declaring gay marriages would be "a calamity full of the saddest and gloomiest portent to the generations that are to come after us."

Statement No. 11. Lawyers for California insisted that a ban on same-sex marriage is necessary to prevent "traditional marriage from being contaminated by the recognition of relationships that are physically and mentally inferior. . . . (and entered into by) the dregs of society."

Statement No. 12. "The law concerning marriages is to be construed and understood in relation to those persons only to whom that law relates," thundered a Virginia judge in response to a challenge to that state's non-recognition of same-sex unions. "And not," he continued, "to a class of persons clearly not within the idea of the legislature when contemplating the subject of marriage."

To sum up: Legal recognition of such marriages would offend tradition, God, the sensibilities of the majority and the natural order while threatening conventional marriage, children and the future of our
civilization.

The quotes are culled from a Boston University Law Review article and a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, though I did take the minor liberty of changing the subject of the strangled rage, fear and righteous indignation.

Everywhere I quoted the speakers referring to same-sex marriage, homosexuality and heterosexuality, they were actually referring to interracial marriage and their views of black people, white people and the proper interaction thereof. And yes, that includes statement No. 6, which in original form articulated the old white supremacist belief that offspring of whites and blacks were--like mules that result when horses mate with donkeys--sterile.

The quotes date from 1823 to 1964 and, though the sentiments look hatefully ridiculous to us in 1996, they had sufficient appeal and staying power that 15 states still criminalized black-white marriage until the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned those laws in the appropriately named 1967 case, Loving vs. Virginia.

Those whose unaltered words today resemble statements 1 through 12 above, take note. The stench is familiar. The future is listening.

I guess it's a good thing that certain states "evolved" before others; otherwise, the President's parents wouldn't have been able to get married.



That was candidate Obama who said, "My job as President is going to be to make sure that the legal rights that have consequences on a day to day basis for loving, same sex couples - that those rights are recognized and enforced by my White House and my Justice Department". Those rights have not been recognized to the degree that they should, Sir. Half measures do not work. More needs to be done. More always needs to be done.

While I agree that you have gone further than most Administrations, the fact still remains that a very large portion of Americans are legally treated as second class citizens, because of nothing more than who their brain chemistry tells them to be attracted to, and their courage to not hide that part of themselves from a hating, self-important, incredibly self-righteous faction of fellow Americans.

There will always be those citizens demanding that we continue to discriminate against the LGBT community. They are fashioned from the same material that went to war over the right to keep slaves, felt completely justified denying women and blacks the vote, and saw themselves as chosen by God to keep blacks and whites from taking the vows of marriage. They are the simple minds, the spoiled children of this country - and it's high time we stopped catering to their every whim.

Liberty and Justice For ALL, Mr. President. Time to start living the message.

And, if all that wasn't enough, here's the Golden Girls.





Be Proud,

Daddy

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Daddy on the Edge of Pride and Prejudice

Daddy has been working on a big ass blog post that summarizes the news and views of today's Republican Party - the working title is "Daddy on the Edge of the Republican Caca" and I should have that for you shortly.

In the meantime though, i had to put this out there; in researching Republicans and the darndest things they say, I came across this little gem. At first, I honestly thought they were joking, but it's all too real how they feel. Here it is - the latest, greatest Republican Talking Point:



The White Man is being Oppressed.


Don't believe that they're saying this? Here ya go - from CNN:

• A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll found 44% of Americans surveyed identify discrimination against whites as being just as big as bigotry aimed at blacks and other minorities. The poll found 61% of those identifying with the Tea Party held that view, as did 56% of Republicans and 57% of white evangelicals.

You can read the whole story here.

It makes me wonder if the whites who think they're being oppressed (Rush Limbaugh among them), have a clear understanding of exactly what the word oppressed really means. Here's a little lesson of oppression, good people of WhiteTopia - tell me if any of this rings true for you -


White people are not federally protected from workplace discrimination in the private sector. In other words, you can be fired just for being White.

White people are not allowed to give blood. White blood is suspect and cannot be trusted.

White people cannot adopt in most states. If a White couple were to adopt a child, it would increase the likelihood that said child would become maladjusted. White people have poor judgment and are bad role models.

White People's children cannot go to certain schools. Catholic schools will deny a child entry if the parents are White. Being White is a sin in the eyes of the church.

White people can't live in certain communities. The Fair Housing Act lends no protection to Whites when purchasing, renting, or leasing a home. Landlords can deny you a place to live, or make you pay more because you are White.

White people cannot marry in most states. This affects the following areas of your life - Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law.

White people cannot be Scout Leaders. I know; why the heck would you want to? But there it is. White people are a bad influence on...tying knots, I guess.

White people cannot serve in the military as White. You can serve, and die for your country, but if you admit that you are White, we will boot you out. Maybe we'll kill you.



Now, you have to know that if any of this were true, the entirety of FOX News, the KKK and the Koch Brothers would have waged war. Things like this don't happen to The White Man.

But they happen to gays, lesbians and the transgendered very day.

Daddy comes from a long history of WASP's - my family has been a part of this country since the 1600's and, although there are plenty of tough times, I could never, ever say that we have been oppressed - that we have been so actively denied the rights and privileges afforded to every American, simply because of who and what we are. The idea that this nonsense is being injected into the public debate is ludicrous, and it has no place in serious, adult discussion.

But, as I said, there are people in this country that are being discriminated against on a daily basis. I'm going to their Pride celebration shortly. For those not in the know, from Wiki -

"LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The movement has three main premises: that people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity, that diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered."

In a world that tells them they should be ashamed, they stand proud. In a world that tells them to change and be normal, they stand as God made them, being true to their Maker and themselves. In a world that tells them that they are less than, they stand up and show that, not only are they not "less than"...



They're Fabulous.




Happy Pride Y'all,

Daddy