To give you an idea of my political views (these are very broad examples.. yet I am only trying to “paint a picture”.. so to speak).. I feel that mirage (in itself) is unconstitutional.. and that “Civil Unions” should be institutionalized in place of “Mirage”… Same sex unions should be (and I am shocked that they have yet to be) protected under the constitution.. I also feel that the legalization of Prostitution (although not my interest) should be addressed.. along with numerous other things.
My point (I guess) would revolve around a discussion. Do you see things this way as well? I feel as though our society is still very .. (for lack of a better word) “immature/primitive”.. and I can not understand why “we” as Americans, or as a “people,” don’t do more to step toward a more desirable future (For everyone!)…
With that being said, I am absolutely disgusted with Religion!
I can plainly see that we are (in a way) digressing as a society.. It sickens me to know that Religion is/has being/been labeled as the absolute “baseline” for our nation.. and I cannot believe how it is being manipulated to control the government. I am tired of religion being made law.. and I feel that it is only going to worsen. .. I mean, for christ sake.. God wasn’t added to the “Pledge of allegiance” until the mid 1950’s (a full 50 something years after it was written) and I had to endure (I don’t know how many) quotes within the past week that were worded in such a way as to which it seemed that the “Pledge of Allegiance” was designed in order to “glorify/magnify/and pronounce” GOD!
I am sorry for any grammatical errors (run-ons, poor wording.. etc.) I do hope you understand my viewpoints.. and I’d love to discuss them with you.
Do you feel that any of my thoughts are likely to happen in the distant future? I feel that any progress will likely be “halted” due to religious fanatics.. If there is a bigger picture.. please feel free to fill me in.
Thanks,
g
The only reason the US even has laws respecting marriage stems from post-Civil War Tennessee when the legislature passed a law requiring all marriages to be approved and registered with the state. This was sneaked in under the protection of the Tenth Amendment in order to prevent freed black men from marrying and “mixing seed” with white women. Once the law passed, the rest of the former CSA followed suit, passing marriage registration laws along with the infamous Jim Crow laws that prevented freed black and other non-white men from enjoying the same liberties as white men. After enough time passed to distance marriage registration from the rest of the Jim Crow laws in the minds of the public, the northern states followed suit out of conformity. Before then, the only records kept of marriages were handled internally by churches. In the few circumstances that courthouses kept copies of the records, it was not an official role of the state and local governments so much as it was a convenient public service. Few people realize that all legislation regarding marriage is simply a legislative relic of the Jim Crow laws. Knowing this, it is hard to miss the irony of the current storm of anti-gay marriage legislation; almost all marriage legislation is used to discriminate against minority groups, and that has been true for over a century.
As a gay man, I don’t need an official paper to tell me that I (will) love my (future) partner. The only reason marriage is an issue with the gay community is the tax breaks offered to married couples by the Internal Revenue Service (again, a relic of the Civil War as the IRS wasn’t even a glimmer in Abe Lincoln’s eye until 1862) and the incentives offered to married couples by private insurance companies. There are a few other laws that respect and protect the status of married couples, such as the laws enacted to prevent domestic abuse and laws governing the handling of the estates of the deceased, but all of those laws can be easily replaced by notarized contracts between couples. As a citizen and a property owner, I should be allowed to enter into a contract with anyone of any relation to me to allow hospital visitation, power of attorney, and estate rights. The main points of contention are insurance benefits, which should be handled solely by the insurance corporations and not the federal or state governments, and income and property tax benefits, which would be made moot through the FairTax plan and the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service.
While religion is the driving force behind anti-gay marriage legislation, the problem was born out of racism and is best solved through repealing legislation instead of amending or creating new legislation. Focusing our arguments on forcing the government to allow gay couples the right to enter into a religious union, or any approximation thereof, is ludicrous. The only rational argument for equality in this field is to argue against any government involvement at any level of personal relationships. And that is something I believe that religious and non-religious people can agree on. The battle is not between religion and the rest of us; the battle is between the people and the government who has overstepped their boundary.
The debate is centered around religion wrongly; as a religious institution, it is wrong for people not accepted by the religious entities involved to insist on taking part in marriage. Because, as secularists, the church should not be involved in our relationships, we have no use for marriage. Because the government should not under any circumstance be involved in our relationships, we have no use for civil unions. If I chose to enter into a life-long relationship with a man, a woman, two men, four women, or a refrigerator, the government shouldn’t have any authority over that decision.
The same argument applies to prostitution. The government protects the right of young supermodels to marry old rich men for their money. (And most men who enter into those relationships are not victims. They know that the young woman is attracted to the man’s money, but it is worth it to them to continually lose money on having a hot young wife.) The only difference between that and prostitution is the length of the relationship and the rate of pay. The trophy wife gets paid less but the money is steady and, after the husband dies, it ends in a large lump sum. The hooker gets paid more, but the money depends on how often they are willing to ‘work’. Both examples are types of relationships, and the government shouldn’t interfere with either of them. The primary purpose of our government is to protect its citizens, but no one in these scenarios needs their Big Brother’s protection; they know damn well what they are getting into and what risks, if any, are involved.
Approached as a matter of shrinking the government’s influence on our personal lives, instead of as a matter of shrinking the church’s influence on those who choose to be involved with the church, I believe we can quickly and smoothly reach an agreement within our society to live and let live… which is the closest approximation to absolute equality that any human society is capable of. Equality does not come out of legislation; equality comes from a lack of legislation—The fewer laws there are, the fewer opportunities for oppression.
P.S. - I’m not interested in the wording of the pledge of allegiance to the flag, since I shall never pledge my allegiance to any piece of rectangular polyester.
Do the Shatner!
Shatner Of The Mount
Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain, why is he climbing a mountain?
(via vibranium)
So… Michael’s been dead a year now. Meh.
R.I.P. Farrah!
Last video for today’s Flamboyant Friday.
‘For the “Make Em Laugh” number, Gene Kelly asked Donald O’Connor to revive a trick he had done as a young dancer, running up a wall and completing a somersault. The number was so physically taxing that O’Connor, who smoked four packs of cigarettes a day at the time, went to bed (or may have been hospitalized, depending on the source) for a week after its completion, suffering from exhaustion and painful carpet burns. Unfortunately, an accident ruined all of the initial footage, so after a brief rest, O’Connor, ever the professional, agreed to do the difficult number all over again.’ - IMDB
Also: The whole scene was shot in one take.
This, friends, is what a real goddamn actor looks like!
