This is a world where no one is smart enough to say "hello" to me without directions. (All interactions with me - not involving unpaid work, are set up by the U.S. government).
This is a world where sex is a prerequisite for employment (as determined by the men in charge) and all phones are wiretapped.
This is a world where E.N.D.A.(even if it is passed) will never be enforced.
This is a world where a suit is more important than a brain.
Unfortunately, the Justice may be half right. I've worked with divorced and single fathers for 20 years, and I can say the a marriage between an African/American male and a Caucasian female have a high rate of failure, resulting in the mothers trying to alienate the children from the father. There's a much lower rate with them marrying a Asian woman. For Caucasian males marry an African/American woman, the failure rate of the marriage is much lower than marrying a Caucasian woman. I hate using the term race as we are all a part of the human race.
Now for this couple, if they were both virgins, their chances of a long marriage would be much greater due to their ages. Both were fully mature. Over 85% of divorces involve couples who cohabit or marry prior to age 24. The best age for a male to first develop a relationship, and get married, is when he passes age 30.
I appologize if this appears as a duplicate post under my blog as I am new to blogging and was not sure how it works. Post begins below
Back track to early 2007. I had met the most wonderful woman of my life. We shared equal values and dreams. I was 46 at the time and she was 44. We began our plan to merge our lives. I here in Melbourne FL and she 2700 miles away in LA County CA. We married in April of 2007 and in less than a month the economy began it's decent and began to take our hopes and dreams with it.At the time I was earning enough to support myself plus plan for our retirement. Although we lived in separate parts of the Country when we married we thought things would go smoothly. The plan was either for me to sell my home and move to her or her to move here. I did not lose my job but, lost overtime pay, half my retirement fund and ongoing investment income. Then as bad luck would have it my 17 year old cars engine seized up and I was forced to lease a new car. Ironically we could hardly live in two worse States. I in Florida and she in California. Both have horrible housing and employment markets now. I cannot sell my home even though I am not upside down as of yet. No employer in CA will even call me. Probably because I am still in Florida. My wife could not find work here in Florida either. We are still living apart and for two years she has helped support me. We tried to visit each other when we could. Mostly she came to see me as I could neither afford to go to her or would risk my job by taking so much time off. However she does not get paid time off so the costs are heavy on her. I have been a financial burden and source of stress to her and I know this is hardening her heart. Other issues have happened on her end that have made things worse for her. She is now working 7 days and almost 14 hours each day. She is making herself sick and I can do nothing to help her. Just the other day she got sick with the flu. Because we are on opposite coasts all I could do was tell her what medicine to take and to say I hope she gets better soon. I can't begin to describe how awful I felt because that is the best I can do right now. Life is not fair sometimes. I have nothing to offer beyond my health insurance. I in turn feel like a horrible failure as a husband and a man because I can not provide for her as a man should. I love her more than life itself and as such hate myself for being the burden I have been. I believe that when the economy improves I can change this but, when will that be and how long will it take? She has told me very recently she wants to divorce and this is tearing out my heart but, what can I say? I have told her to stop doing things for me and just worry about taking care of herself. I want her to keep the marriage for now so at least she has health benefits which she does not otherwise have and can remain my beneficiary. At least in this way if something were to happen to me she could finally be secure financially. How ironic that in life I am a burden but, after I would be the opposite! I have tried everything I can think of short of just abandoning my house and moving out there to be by her side. I have even tried finding a second job here or even a part time one so I would not be a burden but, my present work schedule makes me an unattractive candidate for either. I tried to apply for a mortgage modification but, I missed the minimum qualification of my total mortgage expense having to meet or exceed 31% of gross income! It did not matter that it exceeded 51% of my net income or that all other living expenses combined exceed 110% of my total net income. Another irony here is that when my old car died had I taken a home equity loan to by a new one instead of leasing one I would have qualified for a mortgage modification!In a previous career I was a fully certified ASE Master Automobile Technician with 100% dealership experience. I thought maybe I could go back to that as the pay could be better and overtime chances greater. So I decided to retest to see if I still held the knowledge necessary to pass at least some of the qualifying areas. Imagine my personal surprise and satisfaction when upon receiving my results I discovered I had passed every single test and was once again a fully certified master technician. I thought things might finally be going my way. That maybe the tide would turn. I updated my resume to reflect this achievement and posted it on many job boards as well as directly responding to job postings. So what happens? GM and Chrysler decide to close thousands of dealerships! That puts thousands of automotive technicians out of work and sends me to the very bottom of any candidate pile as current on the job experience is going to trump older regardless of certification level. I am now at a complete loss as to what to do or try next. Maybe that's why I am posting this blog. Not just to share my personal recession experience but, also to see if perhaps there is something I missed, some other ideas I could try to change my circumstances and in turn possibly save my marriage which is what is most important to me. Maybe I am a die hard romantic at heart and I know many people would call me a fool but, I believe that with out someone special to love and share your life with then how can life have meaning? Even if I were by some miracle to become a wealthy man it would be meaningless to me if it meant I lost my marriage. I guess what I am saying in a way is that I would do anything. I would truly move Heaven and Earth if I could just to be with her as the husband and provider I was supposed to be. So I am open to ideas and suggestions. I will not let pride get in the way of asking for help so I am asking. You may ask what is it I want or think I need? I need to be with my wife or at least not be a burden any longer. In a perfect world that means I would be able to sell this house and also find a good job in the LA County area. I don't suppose there are any employers reading this blog that are willing to take a chance on me are there? I am probably as motivated as they come. Now back to my marriage and us.We do not fight and otherwise have similar values. I have told her that no matter what happens I will always love her and that I will find a way to make everything up to her even if she does divorce me. I cannot live with myself knowing the burden I have been. I will find a way to repay all she has done but, she tells me no! I tell her I must. That I cannot go through life without her unless I know I can some day make it up. Sometimes the world is very cruel. I ask every day why someone so wonderful was brought into my life only to have her taken from me. I really do feel a failure as both a husband and a man. She deserves a far better life than she has had with me. I was supposed to give her that life and I still want to if I can. Please feel free to share this blog. Perhaps the more people that see it the greater the chances that I will find the help I need. Thanks to all for taking the time to read my story.
Contrary to the claims of Maggie Gallagher, polygamy is not about "an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children" - it is for the *production* of children, but beyond that, what it is primarily attempting to do has little else to do with children, and everything to do with the desires of the adults and, more specifically, their sectarian culture. Religious sects always emphasizes the *production* of children - but once those children are produced, the main focus of religion becomes, not safety, not security, not self-fulfillment or personal growth, but *obedience* to the patriarchy.
As for "traditional" marriage: If a relatively tiny proportion of the population can in *ANY* way "destroy" it, then the fact of the matter is that "traditional" marriage was/is already on its death-bed and cannot be resuscitated by Gallagher's hysterics about "making babies to preserve the culture" (which sounds to me like "code" for *white* society, since her speeches imply she is not in favor of adopting Asian, African, or Middle-Eastern children...).
Further more, if marriage is, as Gallagher and her acolytes claim, ALL (i.e., only) about *producing* children, then the inevitable extension of that is: once those children reach the "traditional" age of adulthood, these marriages should be dissolved - as should any childless marriage; and *any* people unable to have children should be prohibited from getting married. This would of course include such "lifestyles" as Genetic Mosaicism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_mosaicism) and Intersexuality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex) - which, given Gallagher's sectarian so-called "logic", must, contrary to any and all known biological science, also be "a lifestyle choice" because "God does not make junk".
Like other obsessive paranoid narcissists, however, Gallagher is incapable of following through to the consequences of her, and her followers', own so-called "reasoning". Given that men still generally have shorter lifespans than women, one wonders what she and her cabal plan to do about "single people in nursing homes" - perhaps follow the ancient "tradition" of "send the wife into the afterlife along with her husband"?
If "traditional" marriage is "in danger", it is because
1) too many people are pressured to marry at too young and age;
2) absurd romanticized pap about "white knights" and "riding off into the sunset" continue to supercede real and practical information about things like how to budget, how to share finances, and how to maintain one's own personhood within a relationship;
3) women are still too often treated as subservient to the husband, and too many "traditional" marriages are not any different at all from the Koranic implication that a woman is worth 1/2 of a man;
4) there are still far too many loveless marriages;
5) and several other well-documented stresses within "traditional" marriage that lead to things like the 50%+ divorce rate, sd well as battered spouses and children.
It is NOT "under threat" because a rather small minority of people wish to practice their civil Constitutional right to enter into the contract known as marriage. Just as it is not "under threat" because, in addition to priests, pastors, rabbis, and so on, *the State* also grants people such as Justices of the Peace, in some rare cases Notary Publics, and so on, to pronounce closure of the contract - which must also be registered with City Hall in order to be considered legal. This is why even a religious representative says: "By the power invested in me by the state of [insert state name], I now pronounce you..." In other words, marriage is a legal contract, and the Constitution grants equal rights to all citizens under the law - most especially concerning contract law. Again, Gallagher and her ilk invoke the Constitution in the same selective way that they invoke the Bible: when it suits *their own* purposes - meaning, their own egocentrism.
The things that are wrong in "traditional" marriage will NOT simply disappear even if the agents provocateur of intolerance and hatred *did* manage to prevent gay marriage (or fulfill their end-goal of wiping out all GLBT people...) If anything, that sort of obsessive narcissism, funneled into hatred of anyone and anything that is not an exact clone of the narcissist, and leading to a compulsion to control others to force them to be "appropriately" compliant, *is* one of the problems in "traditional" marriage. Were this not the case, Gallagher and her ilk would spend more time addressing the psychoemotional, physical, and even sexual abuse that, distressingly to the rest of us, is not all that uncommon in the much-vaunted and supposedly-perfect "traditional" marriage and family. At elast some of those who have endured, and survived, such abuse consider this deliberate oversight to be, at best, disgusting and serving nothing but their own narrow-minded obsession.
Everyone should see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHyy8gkNEE&fmt=18
The constitution of the United States clearly separates politics from religion. Therefore, all religions need to stay out of Hawaii—and national—politics. I would never think to enforce the lifestyle I lead engendered by my beliefs on you or your family. Therefore, I find it offensive when any church—and these days, although many of my friends are Mormons, I’m specifically talking about the Mormons—tries to tell me how I have to live.
More after the jump…
The below article was in the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado in 2004. I bring this story to you because it is still a ongoing situation. I am back working again with the City of Denver and has had 2 major surgeries. I still need more medical attention. Thank God for my persistence and I didn't give up. Some people are not as lucky. Please read. I hope Obama and his wife will read what I went through to help others like myself. We also need to educate of what "Marriage" is all about. Marriage is sacred and nobody thinks it that way. Attitude of Marriage for example: You gain weight so I need to trade you in for a new model! In matter of fact they don't tell you, they just do it. Read below.
Recently a Rocky Mountain newspaper reporter took interest in a story about Darlene Jones and it was printed in the May 1st issue. We are hoping that others take the interest in this delicate situation.
We're writing this letter in support of one of our very close friend name Darlene Jones. Ms Jones is presently working but making minimal wage and has a renal tumor at the lower pole and a possible Renal Mass in her right kidney and several small cysts on both kidneys. Every-time she ends up in the emergency room because of the problems stemming from her kidneys; they request Ms Jones to see a Specialist. Due to Ms Jones' financial status she can't afford to see the renal specialist to get the proper care she needs. All doors are closing on her at this moment. Darlene tried to buy health insurance however due to most health insurance companies won't insure a person if they have pre-existing conditions or the cost of the coverage is extremely high for someone who is unemployed. Darlene has also applied for Medicaid and the indigent program in Denver Colorado from what we understood her condition has to be critical. Darlene was told that she needs a biopsy to find out if the possible renal mass is an actual renal mass and the cysts are cancerous. Due to her not having any health insurance Darlene doesn't know in what stages or how critical her condition is. Darlene Jones needs help in getting some type of coverage and we volunteer to help her by writing a letter to you or anyone that is listening. Ms Jones was told if she has an existing problem but hasn't been diagnosed NO insurance company will insure her. Than yet NO specialist will see her to diagnose her because she lacks medical insurance. This is a double standard and I feel for everyone that has gone through this. Does this make sense? We're asking congress to please help Ms Jones and others who are going through this unfortunate situation to come up with something that will help. Indigent programs are only good for routine visits. One of the hospital representatives stated, "Cancer patients can't see a medical oncologist without some type of medical coverage". Senator Bob Hagedorns’ office has confirmed with the hospital in Denver that the above statement was indeed true. I ask, how many USA citizens have died or will die because of this? An insurance company stated to me that the Government couldn’t control how they run the insurance companies. Is this true? Thousands of people are without jobs in this economic time and without medical insurance. Some of these people have pre-existing conditions. Some of these people cannot afford the Cobra program that is set up with their previous jobs. Most of the people that are unemployed are senior citizens and this is a tragedy in its own-self. We protect the children and we forget about the senior citizens. What has the future hold for any of us when we get to the age where people don't want to hire you because of your age and you can't prove it but you need to work just to have that medical insurance? It is easy to get insurance or Medicaid if you have children living with you. God Forbid if you don't have any children living with you like Ms Jones. What than? What happens to citizens like Darlene Jones and others in her situation? Ms Jones states “I have nightmares at night, thinking that my Death Certificate will read “Death due to No Medical Insurance”. We are reaching out for help Ms. Jones and others like her in need of medical attention. President hopeful Senator John Kerry has voiced his concerns on Health Insurance but what about “pre-existing” conditions? Health Insurance Companies shouldn’t turn down citizens that have beginnings of what could be a critical or one who has advance critical pre-existing condition. These citizens should have the right to have medical insurance no matter what existing conditions they have and be able to have affordable insurance. Did you know a “kidney stone” is a pre-existing condition and insurance companies are turning clients away because of it. I ask you ladies and gentlemen could this be a beginning of what you may call or define as a "legal homicide" (death sentence) within our society? Did the government/society find a way to get rid of the baby boomers? As a citizen of these United States I am compelled to say "I feel very ashamed that Health Insurance Companies now control the doctors’ oath “May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help”. Help what help when citizens are being turned away for not having medical insurance. What happened to hospitals that have policies in place and states "no patient will be turned away no matter what their injuries are?" True as Ms Jones found out, the hospital won’t turn you away and will treat you but not fully treat and in the interim they suggest that you seek a specialist. What good is a specialist if you can't see them because you can't get medical insurance companies to insure you?
There should also be a law in place that husbands/wives who abandon their spouse while they are sick forcing them to pay for medical insurance until the spouse either remarries or dies.
We implore that this situation not be ignored and pre-existing conditions be investigated within the Medical Insurance policies and procedures along with affordable health insurance for senior citizens without children and single persons with devastating sicknesses, thank you in advance for taking the time out to read this letter.
I am giving PE Obama the benefit of the doubt on all of his decisions but Warren giving the invocation at the inauguration has me troubled. Here is some background on Warren...
http://www.americablog.com/2008/12/obama-picks-homophobe-pro-prop.html
The first amendment"all men are created equal"
So to all those who think bigotry is over let me remind you, that if you voted in CA,FL or AZ and voted against gay rights YOU NEED TO CHECK YOUR CONSCIOUS....
Especially after watching the people crying on TV saying I cant believe this finally happened about Barack being elected...HOW DID YOU VOTE IN CA OR FL... I guess gay people are not considered people to you.....
Religion is not part of the constitution and after 200 years of waiting for a black president its mind boggling how so many of you had no problem discriminating against another minority..
We are NOT one......yet .... as Barack has hoped .... it is truly staggering to me how one minority can discriminate against another as the vote showed in CA and FL..... when the black vote was 70-30 to take away gay rights on the props....
yep .... how soon people forget what they are voting for ..i guess they cant even remember after they voted for the president, in the election booth....
For all of you who feel gays are not people according to the first amendment....remember how you feel when you are discriminated against and the thoughts that ran through your own minds on why you weren't considered as good as anyone else....
Im white... alot of my friends are white and we all voted for Barack and never even considered race..... but after the election it really became evident amidst all the hoopla on TV that these same people I watched crying in happiness had no problem taking away the rights of another minority....
Its truly amazing....listening to all the people on TV so happy when there is another minority who was thrown under the bus without a second thought...
Marriage itself is unconstitutional. The only type of arrangement between people legally from the State is a civil union - period. The State is outside of 'separation between church and state' by regulating the institution of marriage which is clearly a religious act or endeavor. Religions created marriage and it is defined differently by each religion.
Personally, I never understood why I had to go to the county clerks office for a marriage certificate - it seemed so empty. I would rather discuss my marriage idea with a trusted religious leader, go through counseling, get the peer pressure to maintain it appropriately, and have it aligned with my basic beliefs.
The court / State can keep record of civil unions and let the church keep track of marriages. In fact, a person should be able to be married by church law and never get a civil union. A little de-regulation here may be best. A binding contract could be created through the church legally that only the church can dissolve. The State makes it way to easy to get a divorce anyway.
Now, if you are not religious, you really don't care about the church rules. You can just get your civil union and your civil divorce willy nilly as we do with marriages now.
I can tell you the exact moment when things shifted: we were standing talking about how cold it was, and she reached down and took both my hands to show me how cold they were. We stood there for a moment, and while I was looking into her eyes – the universe shifted. I felt a tingle, a tug just behind my stomach that I hadn’t experienced before; colors became sharper; falling leaves suddenly had brakes, hanging in mid-air and then languidly, almost casually moved toward the ground. The conversation became meaningful just as the words became meaningless, because we were sharing a moment, a sense of destiny, an inkling of the possibility of future joys and triumphs, of happiness and tears, of two bundles of joy, energy and excitement – everything that we’ve built came from that single moment of eye contact.
People have been texting me and emailing me since Senator Obama hit 294 last night. Several of you told me today that you checked the blog right away; I am honored and I am touched. But I couldn’t bring myself to write, barely could bring myself to speak about the moment. It was too precious. It was too rare. It is as I sit here, still unreal. The dream of working for, calling for, writing for, HOPING for the election of the first black president IS real. The dream of helping to elect a president that represents the interests of the United States of America, who represents the people of this nation and will work for their benefit has come TRUE.
His definitive victory in the electoral college (I think the number stands around 349 electoral votes), though, is meaningless. The same way that how we as a nation elected him is meaningful. I talked to people I don’t know, both in the calling offices and on the phone, for hours. Thousands of us have been blogging, writing, researching, reaching out with billions of words for years. But last night, the numbers were lost as I sat with my parents, my brother and his family, my wife and children, my in-laws, my aunts and uncles and cousins. We were sharing a moment, a sense of destiny, an inkling of the possibility of future joys and triumphs, of happiness and tears, of energy and excitement – everything from a single moment of “I contact.”
But I can only speak for myself tonight, which is something I couldn’t do last night.
I am scared. I am scared today the same way I was ten years ago when my girlfriend and I walked all the way down Main Street in Santa Barbara to the end of the pier. I have the same butterflies in my stomach, the same nervous twitching in my fingers, the same out-of-body sensation I had as I played with the ring in my pocket and contemplated how much I wanted my life to change, and how much she had the power to change it. She asked me “what’s wrong?” and “why are you being so quiet?” The same questions friends and family have been asking me all day today. I knew then, like I know now, that I was on a precipice. All I had to do was jump. But that first step . . . oh, that was the hardest.
We as a nation took that first step last night. We played with the ring in our pocket, looked around at a few other partners, and then we took a walk down Main Street. I knew when I heard President-elect Obama (you like how that sounds, I know. So do I.) speak four years ago at the convention that something was different – that I was going to work as hard for him to become president, to become My President, as I possibly could. That was my moment of eye I contact.
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was elected the fourty-fourth President of the United States last night. Millions of us worked hard to make that happen. We asked him to walk with us through the next four years, or he asked us if he could walk with us, and we as a nation said YES! YES WE CAN.
I’m still stuck on one knee, though, still savoring the echoes of yes and the flush in her face as she recognized the changes that we had both committed to; still drinking in the beauty of a clear, cloudless, star-filled night with waves lapping at the pier, gently feeling the ground say back and forth, being filled with a sense of wonder, a sense of possibility, a sense of what lies just around the bend.
“This victory itself is not the change that we seek. It is merely the opportunity to make that change.”
I would be a different man if my girlfriend had not said yes. But she did, and the joys we’ve shared have made my life an adventure that we work to nurture and protect each day. And like she and I have built a home over the past decade from that one moment of eye contact, I am excited to work and see what we as a nation will build with President Obama over the next four (or eight) years.
Because I know that my I contact isn’t unique. The thousands of callers, writers, readers, bloggers, citizens, civil servants, children, taxpayers and activists are still here, still working, still excited that we’ve taken back what is rightfully ours.
We’re all holding hands, gauging the temperature, breathing in the sharp colors, watching the leaves fall. And the possibilities, if we work for them, keep working together, are endless.
YES. WE. CAN.
Cross posted at Spreading the Word (www.powerfulbeyondmeasure.wordpress.com) on November 5th, 2008
Yep. I'm a liberal libertarian. Let's break it down a little bit to let people know how exactly someone can be both of those at once, but first a little bit of history about myself. I've lived in rural Colorado for many years now, previous to that I lived in the fairly large city of Denver Colorado. I have both large city and small town values instilled in myself. Second, my parents where foster parents for as long as I can remember (I am their real son), I've seen more kids than I can remember flow in and out of my home, all of which expanding my knowledge and open mind to so many different point of views and ways of life. I've seen people from every corner of the country, richer kids from corperate America, struggling people on the verge of bankrupcy, and as hard as it was, the worst side of society, abusive parents or families, physical, sexual, menally, all of the above. I know how bad it can get, and yet I know how good it can get as well. My parents raised me to be open to other way of living, to other points of views, to accept people for who they are, and finally, to respect everyone I come into contact with. It is that which makes us different that makes us great was the philosophy that I was raised around, and I've lived my life by it.
Enough about myself now. Back to my original point, Liberal libertarian follows two normally different views, but I've found the way people. Liberal, the dreaded L word and one that's normally associated with Democrats and the left wing. I've very liberal an social and human issues. Torture, any form of it should be banned. Gay Marriage, I think it should be allowed but my views on that are completely personal (more on that later). Discrimination, why are we still living in the past?
this one I'm going to rant on a little more. Libertarian now, a term previously given to republicans(although I don't think the current generation really can use this term anymore) and the conservative right wing. It's pretty obvious, I support the smallest government possible. A government that doesn't get into anyones lives at all or as little as possible. The Patriot act, what ever happened to the Right to Privacy and the Constitution? The recent Bailout or Rescure, whatever. Obama keeps saying that it's an important first step and that we need to look back on how we got into this situation to begin with, I humbly disagree, but I don't agree with McCain either (as he voted for it then showed a stance against it later saying, "We need to get the government out of the business of bailing out banks"). What we need to do is bring the budget under control and have no use for 700 billion dollars, the government shouldn't have that much in it's yearly budget to begin with. Cutting spending by reforming or eliminating projects is the way. Ron Paul, look him up, ridding us of the IRS, cutting earmarks to almost nothing, a non-interventualism policy saving billions in the military, starting fair trade to encourage economic growth, eliminating the income tax, all fo these are brilliant ideas and can easily be acomplished with a reduction in beurocricy and over bloated and inefficient government policies. There is a reason the IRS is slow in calculating taxes, and obviously we can do better in a way that spends less money. I am tired of paying someone to take my money and then to mismanage it later. This libertarian view is also the reason I can't say "legal" or "illegal" about Gay marriage, now if I had to chose either, yes I support gay marriage 100%. )One of my foster brothers came from lesbian parents and was one of the best kids to ever cross my threshold, bankrupcy and the loss of their house was the reason he was placed in foster care.) Now sit down and think about it, where in the Constitution does it say that the supreme court can say *anything* about marriage or who can marry? It's simple, it doesn't. First of all, nothing government related should have anything to do with gay marriage, it should be a church issue since marriage is from a religious foundation. Second, why is it that being married effects your standing with the government, example the income tax? It shouldn't, and never should have. Being married in a religious ceremony should have nothing to do with the government. I want to go the other direction with the government and say that, "anyone can be married as long as the church is willing to accept it, but in order to effect standing in any way, shape, or form, you must apply for a domestic partnership." What this would basically do is to reduce the title Marriage to just that, a title. If your married but don't have a domestic partnership, your treated like two individual people, if you have a domestic partnership but not married, then you get the same benefits as a current married couple does. This sets everyone on equal terms as people cannot be turned away from a domestic partnership, and the religious sect can not be upset because it doesn't give the government the power to say that gay marriage is legal or not. It keeps the LGBT community happy because they have the same equal rights as everyone else, and gives the religious side nothing to complain about. Now that's one of my most extreme possitions on things. This stance puts me at some opposition to both the religious side as I'm reducing the idea of Marriage, and many LGBT people want to be able to marry people, I understand this, but like abortion, I can see no simple "yes" or "no" that will please anyone, logically this is the best solution I can find myself.
Now the reason I'm supporting Obama is because my social and humanity issues take priority on how the government is run. As long as the government is sensitive to our rights, it can be as big as it wants for the time being if that's what it takes to mend the economic crisis.
The following information will be included in the November ballot materials.
Ballot Title and Summary
Proposition 8:
ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.
On August 8, 2008 Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ruled that the Attorney General's Title and Summary of Proposition 8 is accurate.
Samuel and Julia Thoron
Ballot Argument
OUR CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION -- the law of our land -- SHOULD GUARANTEE THE SAME FREEDOMS AND RIGHTS TO EVERYONE -- NO ONE group SHOULD be singled out to BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY. In fact, our nation was founded on the principle that all people should be treated equally. EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW IS THE FOUNDATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.That's what this election is about -- equality, freedom and fairness, for all. Marriage is the institution that conveys dignity and respect to the lifetime commitment of any couple. PROPOSITION 8 WOULD DENY LESBIAN AND GAY COUPLES that same DIGNITY AND RESPECT.That's why Proposition 8 is wrong for California.Regardless of how you feel about this issue, the freedom to marry is fundamental to our society, just like the freedoms of religion and speech. PROPOSITION 8 MANDATES ONE SET OF RULES FOR GAY AND LESBIAN COUPLES AND ANOTHER SET FOR EVERYONE ELSE. That's just not fair. OUR LAWS SHOULD TREAT EVERYONE EQUALLY.In fact, the government has no business telling people who can and cannot get married. Just like government has no business telling us what to read, watch on TV or do in our private lives. We don't need Prop 8; WE DON'T NEED MORE GOVERNMENT IN OUR LIVES.REGARDLESS OF HOW ANYONE FEELS ABOUT MARRIAGE FOR GAY AND LESBIAN COUPLES, PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE SINGLED OUT FOR UNFAIR TREATMENT UNDER THE LAWS OF OUR STATE. Those committed and loving couples who want to accept the responsibility that comes with marriage should be treated like everyone else. DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS are NOT MARRIAGE.When you're married and your spouse is sick or hurt, there is no confusion: you get into the ambulance or hospital room with no questions asked. IN EVERYDAY LIFE AND ESPECIALLY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS, DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS ARE SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH. Only marriage provides the certainty and the security that people know they can count on in their times of greatest need.EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW IS A FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE. Prop 8 separates one group of Californians from another and excludes them from enjoying the same rights as other loving couples. Forty-six years ago I married my college sweetheart, Julia. We raised three children -- two boys and one girl. The boys are married, with children of their own. Our daughter, Liz, a lesbian, can now also be married -- if she so chooses. All we have ever wanted for our daughter is that she be treated with the same dignity and respect as her brothers – with the same freedoms and responsibilities as every other Californian.My wife and I never treated our children differently, we never loved them any differently and now the law doesn't treat them differently, either. Each of our children now has the same rights as the others, to choose the person to love, commit to and to marry.Don't take away the equality, freedom and fairness that everyone in California -- straight, gay or lesbian -- deserves.Please join us in voting NO on Prop 8.
"Proposition 8… would eliminate the fundamental right to same-sex marriage. The very act of denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry – traditionally the highest legal and societal recognition of a loving commitment – by definition relegates them and their relationship to second class status."Los Angeles Times Editorial, August 8, 2008
Regardless of how you feel about this issue, we should guarantee the same fundamental rights to every Californian. Vote No on 8.
Let's remember that gay and lesbian people are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers and our family members. They are nurses, firefighters and small business owners. Same-sex couples are loving and committed couples who want to get married. They care for each other, they pay taxes and they want to protect each other and take responsibility for each other, just like other couples. We should not hurt same-sex couples in California by eliminating their right to marry.
It's not the government's place to tell couples who have been together for years whether or not they are allowed to marry. In California, we let people decide what is best for themselves – without government interference. Eliminating fundamental rights for same-sex couples treats them differently under the law – AND THAT'S WRONG. Vote No on 8.
Domestic Partnerships are NOT the same as marriage. Domestic partnerships are just legal documents. They don't provide the same dignity, respect, and commitment as a marriage. In a marriage, a paramedic doesn't tell you that you cannot get into an ambulance with your spouse. Married couples can automatically make life or death decisions for each other in these crisis situations, no questions asked. Vote No on 8.
Regardless of how you feel about this issue, it's wrong to eliminate the fundamental rights of fellow Californians – and hurt our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members. THAT'S WRONG.
Here's what's fiction and what's fact:
Fiction: Teaching children about same-sex marriage will happen here unless we pass Prop 8.Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education, and no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it, and the Yes on 8 campaign knows they are lying. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley has already ruled that this claim by Prop 8 proponents is "false and misleading."
Fiction: Churches could lose their tax-exemption status.Fact: Nothing in Prop 8 would force churches to do anything. In fact, the court decision regarding marriage specifically says "no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs."
Fiction: A Massachusetts case about a parent's objection to the school curriculum will happen here.
Fact: Unlike Massachusetts, California gives parents an absolute right to remove their kids and opt-out of teaching on health and family instruction they don't agree with. The opponents know that California law already covers this and Prop 8 won't affect it, so they bring up an irrelevant case in Massachusetts.
Fiction: Four Activist Judges in San Francisco…Fact: Prop 8 is not about courts and judges, it's about eliminating a fundamental right. Judges didn't grant the right, the constitution guarantees the right. Proponents of Prop 8 use an outdated and stale argument that judges aren't supposed to protect rights and freedoms. This campaign is about whether Californians, right now, in 2008 are willing to amend the constitution for the sole purpose of eliminating a fundamental right for one group of citizens.
Fiction: People can be sued over personal beliefs.Fact: California's laws already prohibit discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with marriage.
Fiction: Pepperdine University supports the Yes on 8 campaign.Fact: The university has publicly disassociated itself from Professor Richard Peterson of Pepperdine University, who is featured in the ad, and has asked to not be identified in the Yes on 8 advertisements.
Fiction: Unless Prop 8 passes, CA parents won't have the right to object to what their children are taught in school.Fact: California law clearly gives parents and guardians broad authority to remove their children from any health instruction if it conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.
Regardless of how you feel about the issue, we should not eliminate fundamental rights for ANY Californians. Please vote NO on Prop 8
http://noonprop8.com/campaign_updates?id=0001
We need your help and we need it now. There are so many ways you can help fund the fight against Prop 8. You can help to raise much-needed funds and educate your friends and family about why it is so important for Californians to vote NO on Prop 8.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathlyn-and-gay-hendricks/the-obama-relationship-a_b_128896.html
And
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/02/obama-reveals-anniversary_n_131305.html
Videos:
**Barack & Michelle: Happy Anniversary**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QAvfXeISzI
**Barack and Michelle: 16 years**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9-bCSfH1XU&feature=related
**Barack Loves Michelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdFLJXkG0_w&feature=related
**An Obama Love Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPYMaF2vAmg&NR=1
** Barack and Michelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeuJwNP8zCU&feature=related
**Barack and Michelle Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grwX34qqpLA&feature=related
And of course Who Could Forget This Moment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAmLwiGkma0&feature=related
The differences were clear in the VP debate, as it relates to civil rights for GLBT people and their families.
