I’m a straight woman, married for 25 years now, and I’m shocked and disgusted by the religious fervor ripping across my home state in favor of Proposition 8, which would pass a state constitutional amendment eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.
I don’t understand why anyone considers it any of their business whether two other consenting adults decide to marry. I consider marriage a basic right, something we all take for granted from the time we’re small children — that when we grow up we can find someone to love who loves us, and we can marry that person.
I’m not anti-religion, but this stuff is scary! The scariest thing is that it’s happening in my home town:
The Call, California (video link found at: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/content/thecall)
I don’t know of any gay person who would deny religious people the right to practice their religions as they see fit. Yet these religious people are attempting to tell others who they can marry, as well as, it’s clear to me, telling the rest of us in California what our religious as well as political views about marriage should be. I find that presumption offensive.
A same-sex couple marrying in no way threatens the sanctity of my, or anyone else’s, marriage.
An article posted at Snopes reports on an anti-Palin rally held in Alaska in September, attended by 1,400 people, mostly women who wanted the world to know that Sarah Palin doesn’t represent Alaskan women. Apparently 1,400 is a huge turnout for any political demonstration in Anchorage. See the article for more, including a video with interviews of some of the women in attendance, and photos of the signs carried by these Alaskans who call Sarah Palin the “Alaska Disasta” and a “dangerous Northern extremist.”
Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally
Sarah Palin makes for some mesmerizing and entertaining news, with all her quirks — her expensive designer wardrobe, her hunting, the scandals trailing her in Alaska, her extreme “spiritual warrior” religious leanings, her winking, and her cutesy, hockey-mom serving cupcakes manner of speech. But is Sarah Palin really someone we want a heartbeat away from the presidency? The Vice President is not someone we hope to be entertained by, so much as we hope for rock-solid dependability. We want assurance that if, God-forbid, something should happen to the President, someone we trust will be there to step in and take over to lead our country in the best direction. Not someone who isn’t sure at this point what the Vice President’s job really is. Having lived through the Kennedy assassination as a child, what I hope for in a Vice President is someone American children today can feel secure with as a President managing global challenges should a tragedy like that occur again, or should an aging President simply die of natural causes. Sarah Palin doesn’t give me that secure feeling. But she sure is entertaining!
Capability … entertainment. Which is more important in a Vice President? And what about political ideals? Palin’s seem more conservative than McCain’s.
On C-SPAN last night I watched Palin give a speech in which she accused Obama and his campaign of a lot of things, including pushing socialist ideals.
In contrast to Palin’s view, I consider Obama one of the most center-leaning of the Democratic candidates who ran for the nomination — and his running mate even more so. My favorite candidate from the outset, as I mentioned several times here, was Kucinich, who has decidedly more socialist goals than Obama, such as a true universal health care system — not insurance, just health care. Now I’m planning to vote for Obama because he plans to get us out of Iraq, responsibly and as soon as possible. He’s pro-choice, he reacts well under pressure, and he doesn’t appear to consider war the answer to every conflict with American ideals or goals. He has reasonable plans to help our economy recover, and he wants the wealthy in this country to pay their fair share. He’s the centrist answer, not an extremist in any way, shape, or form.
I also have to question McCain’s past close association with Phil Gramm as a campaign adviser. Gramm was behind getting Credit Default Swaps legalized in 2000, and in the process immunized them against coming under state gaming laws. Many economic experts have cited Credit Default Swaps as a leading cause of the recent credit market meltdown that is adversely affecting the entire world’s economy. All to make a few gamblers in the market rich beyond your and my wildest dreams. These weren’t people operating honest businesses that produced products or services. These were people gambling on whether you and I would lose our homes. In July of this year, Gramm had the gall to tell Americans the recession was all in our heads, and that those who said there was a real recession were just a bunch of whiners.
I’m sure I don’t know why John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, but I have to question his judgment, and how well and how seriously he thought that out, when he had so many more qualified and less extremist Republicans to choose from. To date, in this campaign, his cavalier trend when making important choices in associates doesn’t make me feel secure about his critical thinking skills or his character judgment. It’s almost as if the Maverick has Mad Cow Disease.
