Showing posts with label Gay Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gay Marriage. Show all posts

Saturday, January 7, 2012

The Upside Down World of Rick Santorum

Jimmy Margulies - The Record of Hackensack, NJ - Santorum support of traditional marriage - English - Santorum, Rick Santorum, Santorum for president, culture wars, same sex marriage, homophobia, social conservatives, legislating morality, gay marriage

When I was growing up, my parents wanted me to go to college. Actually there was no question whether or not I would attend college. Of course, I would. It was the way to attain knowledge, power and higher income. Some kids chose not to go to college and decided to work in factories, or find a trade to pursue. But back then, there were plenty of jobs and the industry was local.

Today, with a college degree, it is hard to find employment. Today, without a college degree, those factory jobs don't exist.

So what did Rick Santorum focus on recently when he was criticizing President Obama? Santorum was outraged that President Obama should want all children in America to go to college. That's right, Santorum thinks Obama's comments are not only an insult to Americans but shows hubris on the part of the President.

“I was so outraged at the President of the United States standing up and saying ‘Every child in America should go to college.’ Well, who are you? Who are you to say that ‘every child in America go’? I mean, the hubris of this president to think that he knows what’s best for you. I have seven kids. Maybe they’ll all go to college. But if one of my kids wants to go and be an auto mechanic, good for him. That’s a good paying job. Use your hands, use your mind.

This is the kind of snobbery that we see from those who think they know how to run our lives.

Rise up America. Defend your own freedoms. And overthrow these folks who think they know how to orchestrate every aspect of your life.”

It's kind of amusing, even hypocritical that Rick Santorum would say that, "This is the kind of snobbery that we see from those who think they know how to run our lives." Really Mr. Santorum? What about you, do you want to run my life? Oh, yes you do.

As an example of Santorum's control issues, here are several statements that prove how ignorant, fanatical, heartless, and dangerous Rick Santorum is.
“Suffering, if you’re a Christian, suffering is a part of life. And it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life … There are all different ways to suffer. One way to suffer is through lack of food and shelter and there’s another way to suffer which is lack of dignity and hope and there’s all sorts of ways that people suffer and it’s not just tangible, it’s also intangible and we have to consider both.”
~Rick Santorum, saying that Americans should suffer because suffering is good.

“I believe that any doctor that performs an abortion, I would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion, should be criminally charged for doing so.”
~Rick Santorum, advocating for arresting doctors that provide crucial medical services to women.

“If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing.”
~Rick Santorum, comparing homosexuality to bestiality, and saying that we don’t have the right to have consensual sex. He’s also saying we don’t have the right to privacy.

“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. [Sex] is supposed to be within marriage. It’s supposed to be for purposes that are yes, conjugal…but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen…This is special and it needs to be seen as special.”
~Rick Santorum, opposing contraception and frighteningly suggesting that he would make pre-marital sex illegal.
The chutzpah of Santorum thinking he can regulate my sexual preferences, practices or desires. Or that he can tell me what I can or can't do with my body, my life. If he wants to suffer, I say give it to him! "Rise up America. Defend your own freedoms. And overthrow these folks who think they know how to orchestrate every aspect of your life.”

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"Traditional Marriage" GOP Style



Glenn Greenwald has an interesting article about "traditional marriage" and Republican hypocrisy. Apparently, Karl Rove was recently granted a divorce in Texas.

Karl Rove is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, citing "5,000 years of understanding the institution of marriage" as his justification. He also famously engineered multiple referenda to incorporate a ban on same-sex marriage into various states' constitutions in 2004 in order to ensure that so-called ""Christian conservatives" and value voters" who believe in "traditional marriage laws" would turn out and help re-elect George W. Bush. Yet, like so many of his like-minded pious comrades, Rove seems far better at preaching the virtues of "traditional marriage" to others and exploiting them for political gain than he does adhering to those principles in his own life:

Karl Rove granted divorce in Texas

Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, a family spokesperson said. Dana Perino, the spokesperson, said: “Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week. The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. . . . A family friend told POLITICO: “After 24 years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage.

Rove obtained his divorce under Texas' "no-fault" divorce law, one of the most permissive in the nation. That law basically allows any married couple to simply end their marriage because they feel like it. Texas, needless to say, is one of the states which has constitutionally barred same-sex marriages, and has a Governor who cites Christian principles as the reason to support such that provision, yet the overwhelming majority of Texan citizens make sure that there's nothing binding or permanent -- i.e., nothing traditional -- about their own marriages. They're willing to limit other people's marriage choices on the moral grounds, but not their own, and thus have a law that lets them divorce whenever they feel like it. That's the very permissive, untraditional and un-Christian law that Rove exploited in order to obtain his divorce. [...]

I've long thought that the solution to the cheap, cost-free moralizing that leads very upstanding people like Karl Rove to want to ban same-sex marriages (which they don't want to enter into themselves, and thus cost them nothing) is to have those same "principles" apply consistently to all marriage laws. If Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and their friends and followers actually were required by law to stay married to their wives -- the way that "traditional marriage" was generally supposed to work -- the movement to have our secular laws conform to "traditional marriage" principles would almost certainly die a quick, quiet and well-deserved death.

Greenwald has a point. Let's not allow those who are opposed to same-sex marriage the ability to espouse rules that they don't follow. They should live by the rules they force unto others.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cheney's Caveat



Former VP Dick Cheney says that he supports 'gay unions.' But there is a caveat. He believes that this is not a federal question but a state's right to determine the legality and definition of marriage.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney was asked about the legality of gay marriage in the US:
"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone. As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
Cheney's statement that "... it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family" speaks volumes!

Monday, June 1, 2009

The Meaning of Traditional Marriage

Via Donklephant

After listening to conservative religious leaders talk about preserving the 5000 years of traditional marriage between a man and a woman on NPR last week, I just had to laugh at the notion that marriage was a true reflection of family values and love. For the most part, marriages were arranged and women were considered property to be bartered like animals or land. Traditional Marriage link…

Marriage as we know it today is a partnership based on love and trust…or so we would like to believe. So why is it hard for some people to understand that contemporary marriage cannot extend itself to same sex couples? Just 40 years ago we had segregated bathrooms. There’s no doubt we have a long way to go as a society to push for equal rights for all members of the human race, I just want to set the record straight on how far we have come since the days of arranged marriages and the feudal system that in some degree still exists today.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Joke on NOM

The National Organization of Marriage, NOM, has released a new ad against same sex marriage.
Stephen Colbert: I love that ad. It is like watching the 700 Club and the weather channel at the same time.
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
In homage to the NOM ad, Stephen Colbert has created his own ad warning about the dangers of gay marriage. WATCH:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorNASA Name Contest

But the joke really seems to be on NOM:
In an unintentional but hilarious nod to gay sex chatters everywhere, the National Organization for Marriage has dubbed their campaign "2 Million for Marriage". Or 2M4M. Whoops!
They should have checked out Urban Dictionary's definitions of M4M: an abbreviation for "men seeking men in an online chat room".