Peach at U.S.A Peach at World.
The 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama took center stage tonight to a cheering crowd estimated to be over 125,000 where he addressed America. Indeed a historical speech which made many reminisce Martin Luther King’s speech before the day he was assassinated. In what is a day that will go down in the history books, Barack Obama said, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place that all thing are possible who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time who still questions t he power of our democracy tonight is your answer.” In a humble speech Obama went on to say, “it’s been a long time coming but tonight because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment change has come to America.” In regards to his opponent, Obama called him a brave and selfless leader. He also congratulated Governor Palin and looked forward to working with them. Obama thanked his partner Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama who he called the “love of my life.” In regards to his grandmother Obama said, “I know my grandmother is watching along with a family who made me who I am and I miss them tonight, I know my debt to them is beyond measure.” Obama lightheartedly told his daughters that they would have a new puppy to join them in the White House. The crowds full of emotion and tears included Oprah and Reverend Jesse Jackson. In regards to the challenges he will face Obama said, “the road ahead will be long, lour climb will be steep we might not get there in one year or in one term but America I will never been hopeful, I promise you we as a people will get there.” Giving America a chance to hope for a better future… To a crowd cheering, “Yes We Can” Obama stated, ”Let us remember that if this financial crises taught us anything we can’t have a thriving wall street while main street suffers.” To those Americans who didn’t vote for him he had a message, “I will be your president too.”In a comforting speech that will go down in history, President Obama brought hope and invited all of America to join him. What are your thoughts?
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7 Reasons I love Obama:
1) His lucious black skin shines brightly even in the darkest of economic times.
2) He can actually speak english. (unlike Bush)
3) He is not from Texas
4) He is against the war that Bush started.
5) He did not need to cheat to get elected president.
6) He helps the poor by giving health care to everybody.
7) My friend Will also loves Obama, and I want to be just like Will.
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…
I am excited to hear that Barack is possibly going to get rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
Hope he does this. As a gay man, that would mean a lot to me. We gays love America just as much as everyone else.
It is because I love America, that I voted for Barack Obama.
I'm already feeling a change and it isn't the one I wanted. I'm hearing and reading from others how they're already beginning to feel disillusioned with Barack Obama because of his decision to elevate hate at the upcoming inauguration. I say no way, no how will this victory be stolen from those of us who are looking to this new President to lead this country back to the course we must be on to fulfill our obligations to each other and the world. But just like Obama told us, we can't rely on just his rhetoric, his appointments, and his decisions. We must also participate in the change and with that in mind, I'm looking for like-minded individuals who want to find an organized way to express our outrage during the inauguration about the decision to include hatemonger Rick Warren.
I am very disappointed with the Rick Warren invitation, but I am not ready to write Obama off -- far from it. Instead I want to essentially follow his repeated calls to get more fully engaged. Had this been a policy decision I would not have been as surprised. After all, Obama ran opposed to gay marriage. Instead, and most perplexing, Obama chose to do this -- offend gay Americans and their friends and family -- over a strictly symbolic matter and sometimes symbols can be exceedingly important. This is one of those times. The man was elected because enough voters were swayed by his argument that the time for divisiveness was over. The very survival of the nation being at stake -- so we had to set aside things like the culture wars and deal with the fundamentals of national security, economics and environment. I totally agree with that premise.However, elevating a hatemonger to deliver a prayer on the stage at the nation's big day is a symbol of exactly the opposite: that we're not really setting aside those culture wars. Instead we're lending them more credibility. Just as I would not have expected Obama to select Gene Robinson (the openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of New Hampshire) to deliver this prayer, so I would have assumed his choice would have been any number of clergy who have a far less public profile of the culture war issues such as gay marriage, abortion rights and stem cell research (all actively opposed by Rick Warren).While I hope the invitation will somehow be rescinded, having already made my plans to attend the swearing in, I and many other like-minded citizens need to prepare now for an organized action while the whole world is watching. Rarely will gay activists and their supporters have such an incredible stage to show ourselves and discuss our issues. For those of you who believe that doing anything like this on the occasion of the swearing in of our nation's first bi-racial President could be a PR disaster for us, I disagree. We can be forceful and respectful, especially if we plan this in advance. Those who agree that hatemongers should not be elevated in our society in this way need to have a way to express themselves right then, right there during the ceremony.
Having made my own personal case for organizing, I'd like to hear from others and especially get some ideas on what could be done in Washington at the Mall during the ceremony and/or the parade that follows. I'm sure many of you will write about how wrong this is as a strategy, but this blog is about taking a pro-active stand to speak out at the inauguration, not about debating whether we should be silent. As they once shouted in the Reagan years at ACT UP demo's, "Silence equals death." And this queen is silent no more!
The self-promoting Southern Baptist pastor, Rick Warren, has not only insulted gays and compared abortion to the holocaust, but especially hates people like me, who identify as Humanist and atheist.
In interviews with Newsweek and BeliefNet, Warren responds like a bigot when conversing with opposing views. Sam Harris gives thoughtful reasons, which Rick Warren blows off. He is a slippery snake.
I think a key to understanding Warren is his view of religion as marketing. In the book, "Ideas that Stick", Warren's approach is described. He tells his staff to think of a Saddleback Church person -- of a particular income and education level. His church is then tailored to market to that person.
Warren is sometimes praised for promoting environmental causes for Christians. But he appears to thoughlessly blow off other issues, like abortion and gay rights. Was it really so easy? Or did he run it past a marketing poll for which issues to modernize? Enough people hate gays that he doesn't have to love them either?
Please, Barack, ditch this guy.
LAT
UNITED NATIONS – Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.In all, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution.Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign.See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_us/un_gay_rights
UNITED NATIONS – Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.
In all, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution.
Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign.
See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_us/un_gay_rights
Finally, there is common ground: gay sex! And I was predicting the coming of Armageddon. It's huge blow to my ego, to be sure.
Let me say this up front - I am not gay. I have been happily married for over 20 years now.
I make a point of saying that I am not gay because I do not want what I have to say here being dismissed as coming from 'just' another gay person infuriated over the choice of MegaRick to speak at Mr. Obama's inaugural. It is not only gay-folk that are outraged but also straight folk who oppose giving hate-mongers and extremists like Warren the limelight at what is shaping up to be one of the biggest media events ever.
Even though some pundits are saying that the context of inviting Mr. Warren to speak has allowed Mr. Obama to issue his strongest and highest profile statement yet in support of both abortion rights and civil unions - both of which Warren vehemently opposes - I say that you do not have to sit down with dogs to say that you are against fleas.
I can well understand Mr. Obama wanting to expand the Democratic base into the evangelical community and to show the world that he is a uniter rather than a divider - however he appears to be in the process of forgetting that the support of the liberal/progressive wing of the Democratic Party that worked so hard and passionately to get him elected is not to be taken for granted.
What I am beginning to be concerned about is that Mr. Obama is essentially saying to gays/lesbians and social progressives is that he would rather alienate a bird in hand than risk not reaching out to two in the bush.
We have also yet to see a gay/lesbian appointed to a high profile position in his administration. That would go a long way, in my opinion, towards Mr. Obama showing through actions and not just words that gay folk are truly part of his A-team and not just another constituancy to be held at arms length and supported only through certain issues.
Obama himself is a powerful symbol of change/hope based upon content of character vs. color of skin. He has the chance to make one of many qualified openly gay/lesbian leaders in our country a powerful symbol of change as well on the national level through their appointment to a high profile position in his government. Such a historic appointment won't apparently be at the cabinet level, but there are other chances to do the right thing down the line.
But getting back to the main point of this post. Mr. Obama needs to have the courage to admit that he made a mistake in choosing Warren and then withdraw the invitation. We have had far too many years recently where refusing to admit that one has made a mistake and then refusing to withdraw has ended up costing this nation dearly.
Now that Obama and Biden have ridden to a victory partially on the back of the GAY and LESBIAN community, he has chosen to kick all of us in the teeth before he is even president by having "Trick Warren" (disgraceful homophobe) give the invocation at the INAUGURATION?
Barack, C HOW U R ? You give us a MARCHING BAND for our work for the Party?
This is a good place for human beings affected by Obama's monstrous injustice to unite and share ideas on how to provide feedback to King Barack, the last. Something to share with his magnificent, all-hetero family over the holidays and in the months to come.
As I listened to his droning monotone, DEFENDING HIS BIGOTY CHOICE, I thought, O God, 4 or 8 years of this? This is why we united once more behind the Dems just to be slapped down?
WHO WANTS TO REGISTER INDEPENDENT WITH ME TODAY? Let's hear from you.
Funny Star Studded Musical video on Proposition 8 - Jack Black and many more
Hosted on Funny or Die
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones
Here in Akron Ohio, My Partner and I waited 7 hours to vote, It wasn't even election day and we waited this Long.
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...
