Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Barack Obama is gay
Well, of course Barack Obama is gay. You wouldn't support civil rights for other people, would you?
Obviously, you wouldn't support civil rights for blacks and Hispanics if you're white. You wouldn't support women's rights if you're a man. You wouldn't support freedom of religion if you're a Christian. (Oh, you'd support freedom of religion in majority Muslim countries, just not here.)
I mean, it just goes without saying that your own civil rights are all that matter to you, right? At least, if you're a right-wing nutcase, anyway.
The rest of us recognize that our whole society benefits when civil rights are extended to everyone. And yes, we live in that society, so we tend to benefit, too. But does that mean I don't care about people in other societies? Of course not!
But we're seeing more and more of this libertarian attitude that nothing matters but your own individual benefit. Greed is good. Selfishness is good. No one else matters, just you.
These aren't exactly the same kinds of right-wing crazy, but they're very close. (That's why Ron Paul is a Republican.) We'd still have slavery if we'd always thought like this. And that would be just one of our problems today, if our forefathers had thought like this.
The religious nuts want to force everyone else to think as they do. The secular libertarians just fail to recognize that we're a social animal, that our society is critical to our well-being, that we all benefit when each of us benefits. Both lack empathy. Both lack common sense.
Why can't a person be prosecuted for saying these sorts of things in public? Does america have any laws at all that would make this sort of thing feasible?
To make such outrageous lies and just be completely free of any consequences - that's so not right.
There are limited protections for private individuals, but it's virtually impossible to slander a public official, no matter what you say about him.
But there are reasons for that. In a democracy, we want to be able to criticize our government - and other public figures - so the courts bend over backward in free speech cases, as they should.
This is one of the downsides, but it's not as bad as censorship would be.
(From what I hear, Britain's censorship laws demonstrate that. Haven't homeopaths been using Britain's libel laws to censor legitimate criticism of their quack treatments? I know I was supporting that free speech campaign, awhile back.)
I thought Obama should have come out for gay marriage right after his first election. I'm glad he came out now, instead of waiting until after the second election. I already thought he had no balls for not supporting gay marriage sooner. I want my liberal leaders to be liberal.
It also bugs me when Christians go around throwing stones. I want Christians to be Christians and show some compassion.
"There are limited protections for private individuals, but it's virtually impossible to slander a public official, no matter what you say about him."
Do you suppose this is why Susan Fluke hasn't sued Rush Limbaugh yet? Did she make herself a "public" figure by testifying before Congress? I don't know.
That's certainly part of it, Jeff. And I suspect that it's deliberate. The right-wing has punished Sandra Fluke for testifying. That will make other people think twice about getting involved and becoming 'public figures' themselves.
It might be, too, that Limbaugh was careful to express opinions, rather than make deliberate lies about facts. After all, what's a 'slut'? That's just a value statement, isn't it?
And what would happen if she did sue him? Limbaugh would just get more publicity, which he revels in. And Fluke would be inviting even more slander, as his lawyers attempted to prove that 'slut' label by digging through her private life.
No, even if she could win such a suit, she'd probably still lose.
Jim, I don't think that Barack Obama is as liberal as his supporters or his detractors would wish. And I really do think that his opinions on gay marriage have been evolving, along with the rest of the nation.
Coming out now took balls enough, since it will probably hurt him in the election (though maybe not too much). And if you can't get elected, then it doesn't matter much what your positions are.
There's a balancing act here. I recognize that. Still, I do wish he'd used the bully pulpit of the presidency, right from the start, to push this and other liberal issues.
PS. I expect Christians to be Christians, which is why I don't expect compassion - not from all of them, anyway.
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true. - Robert Wilensky
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong - Richard Feynman
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. - Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
This is not about proof. Science does not use proof. We favor evidence, and the work consists largely of the slow accumulation of evidence in support of ideas, not magically potent proofs that establish an idea as unassailable. - PZ Myers
No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. - President Barack Obama
The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs. - Carl Sagan
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. - Sam Harris
To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. - Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in 1553
Democracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can't take root. - Thomas L. Friedman
We cannot absolutely prove that those are in error who tell us that society has reached a turning point, that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us and with just as much apparent reason. - Thomas Macauley, 1830
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle. - Molly Ivins
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. - H. L. Mencken
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill
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6 comments:
Why can't a person be prosecuted for saying these sorts of things in public? Does america have any laws at all that would make this sort of thing feasible?
To make such outrageous lies and just be completely free of any consequences - that's so not right.
Free speech, m1nks.
There are limited protections for private individuals, but it's virtually impossible to slander a public official, no matter what you say about him.
But there are reasons for that. In a democracy, we want to be able to criticize our government - and other public figures - so the courts bend over backward in free speech cases, as they should.
This is one of the downsides, but it's not as bad as censorship would be.
(From what I hear, Britain's censorship laws demonstrate that. Haven't homeopaths been using Britain's libel laws to censor legitimate criticism of their quack treatments? I know I was supporting that free speech campaign, awhile back.)
I thought Obama should have come out for gay marriage right after his first election. I'm glad he came out now, instead of waiting until after the second election. I already thought he had no balls for not supporting gay marriage sooner. I want my liberal leaders to be liberal.
It also bugs me when Christians go around throwing stones. I want Christians to be Christians and show some compassion.
"There are limited protections for private individuals, but it's virtually impossible to slander a public official, no matter what you say about him."
Do you suppose this is why Susan Fluke hasn't sued Rush Limbaugh yet? Did she make herself a "public" figure by testifying before Congress? I don't know.
That's certainly part of it, Jeff. And I suspect that it's deliberate. The right-wing has punished Sandra Fluke for testifying. That will make other people think twice about getting involved and becoming 'public figures' themselves.
It might be, too, that Limbaugh was careful to express opinions, rather than make deliberate lies about facts. After all, what's a 'slut'? That's just a value statement, isn't it?
And what would happen if she did sue him? Limbaugh would just get more publicity, which he revels in. And Fluke would be inviting even more slander, as his lawyers attempted to prove that 'slut' label by digging through her private life.
No, even if she could win such a suit, she'd probably still lose.
Jim, I don't think that Barack Obama is as liberal as his supporters or his detractors would wish. And I really do think that his opinions on gay marriage have been evolving, along with the rest of the nation.
Coming out now took balls enough, since it will probably hurt him in the election (though maybe not too much). And if you can't get elected, then it doesn't matter much what your positions are.
There's a balancing act here. I recognize that. Still, I do wish he'd used the bully pulpit of the presidency, right from the start, to push this and other liberal issues.
PS. I expect Christians to be Christians, which is why I don't expect compassion - not from all of them, anyway.
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