Gay Marriage upheld in California

And Conservatives are already preparing a counter case to strike it down.

Honestly though, what does it hurt?  This is just about as moronic as men striking down women’s rights in recent history, or looking back, the South supporting segregation.  Or just look at any idiotic motion to support any sort of discrimination at all throughout history.

Gay marriage does NOT affect straight marriages AT ALL.  The biggest complaint I’VE heard is that people will just do it for tax breaks.  Well you know what?  There are a great deal of white (majority) straight (majority) couples popping out kids for welfare money.  There are a great deal of straight couples that can stay married just to get tax breaks.  Is this a game of who can outsmart the government and who can’t suddenly?  Frankly people who would do this sort of thing are going to find a way no matter what.

Seriously.  These people look like monsters.  “Ok, yes, this is the land of the free.  But what about FAMILY VALUES?!”  Yeah?  What about them?  Last time I checked this was not a country that was supposed to have a government influenced by a SINGLE religion, let alone any religion at all.  The founding fathers did NOT approve of that model and that is what we ESCAPED from in England.  He who fights the monster must becareful lest he become one.  America, observe said proverb.  In fact we make a big deal about the Muslim government in middle eastern countries…yet we’re fine with being hypocrits.

I think at some point during my travels abroad I saw how backwards Americans really are.  No wonder almost every other country in the world hates us.  There’s a reason folks.  I’m not even sure if we can reverse the pervasive ignorance around us.

Grow up folks.  Intolerance was so 1800s.  We’ve made it through slavery, we’ve survived through women suddenly wearing pants (GASP- THE HORROR!), we’ve stumbled through Japanese internment, now we just need to jump through the recent immigration discrimination and the treatment of homosexuals.  I still think love is love and people are people.

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My town has no commen sense

From the beacon:

To the editor:

I just want to say a BIG thank you to Representative Steve Drazkowski and his work on health care.

America has the greatest health care system in the world and if anyone has their doubts, go to Canada or England and they will tell you how they have to stand in line to get to a doctor. When a friend of mine from Canada told me that she had a problem with hemorrhaging and the doctors told her to get in line and she said she was so “thankful” she could come to the states to get help. How much blood can you lose before you are dead?

Well, it seems under government controlled health care you can die and that’s just too bad! I am so thankful for people like Representative Drazkowski who has some common sense and really cares about people and not just an agenda like so many do today in government.

E. Salzman

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.

Then also also a Mr. Ed Nobach has again proven that some conservative people have their heads screwed on backwards.  He constantly assaults Democrats for the country’s problems, completely ignoring the fact that Bush started a useless war or decimated our economy or destroyed public relations, etc.  It’s irrelevent who caused the problems right now because we have to remedy.  I would GLADLY vote for whatever party has the most comprehensive plan to restore America to what it should be.

Democrats vs Republicans is not what is supposed to be going on.  We have parties in this country so that citizens have more choices in a democratic process and the party not holding office has the responsiblity of being ‘watchdog’ in government.  They were never meant to be good vs evil or, even worse, actually HINDER the political process because they cannot agree.  We’re all here to work for the betterment of our country so I would say people should start acting like it.  Both parties may have different ideas, but that’s part of the process and how things become refined throughout the process with input coming in from both sides.  And hopefully the end result is a more balanced piece of legistlation that represents the most people possible.

It is completely irresponsible to start mudslinging from any party to any party.  That makes YOU part of the problem and can only delay a solution.  If people stopped and took time to actually use their brains to construct something together then perhaps our world would not be facing so many crisises.  Instead we all see to like to get what we want and we all want to be right.  But what’s right for us may be wrong for everyone else.

COMPROMISE.  It’s a bipartisan term.

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Tomorrow is day of silence

Students who want to support the fight against school bullying based on sexual orientation are encouraged not to talk tomorrow for the entiretly of the school day.  I’m participating, as are many students at my school (we’re liberal folk for the most part).

Cannon Falls has a big issue with homophobia.  It is a very conservative and religious town for the most part and likes to keep itself firmly entrenched in past beliefs.  In fact Cannon Falls has a problem with bigottry in general.  Racism pops up when teachers leave.  I’m not sure if the administration actually cares about any of this, I know some teachers do, but nothing is really done.

Whatever.  Keeping your mouth shut for a day may be hard, but living as a minority every day is infinitely harder.

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Please open your eyes

Right now we are facing a crisis in our country.  A political crisis.  At this point I have to honestly wonder how our populace can simply go along with out government.  It has never been our responsibility to unquestioningly follow our government and their decision.  It has never been our duty to be the sheep that unquestioningly follow a sheperd.  It has never been our patriotic obligation to unquestioningly accept what is fed to us through our media and political outlets.  If you think that’s what being a citizen entails then that is a grave miscalculation of political duties.

We’re essentially at a crossroads now with our country.  We can follow the lead of previous political leaders and run the United States of America into the ground or we can forge a new path and try to fix what has been broken.  This is a crucial point for us, that point cannot be stressed enough.  This isn’t to advocate Obama or Clinton or Democrats, this is to tell you that if we make a mistake at this point we may be beyond saving.  I’m sick of the political tug of war that our country has been going through.  America is facing the biggest defecit in its history, we are continuing to fund a war that has not been won and will not be won, and finally we are facing domestic threats to our freedom, the most prized American value, straight from our President’s desk.  This is not time to debate conservative or liberal, this is time for positive change for the country.  Whoever can bring this ship back on course is the person who deserves to lead our country.

We suffer from global hate right now for past military actions.  We suffer from domestic unrest in the wake of decisions made by our politicians.  We suffer grave abuse of power in the forms of our own terrorism and illegal spying, not on terrorists, but of our own citizens by our elected officials.  What has our media done about this?  Nothing.  They have decided to go after a monetary goal instead of doing their duty to report what is going on to the American public.  What is most important to us right now is not what is going to give the highest ratings.  CNN has failed us.  Fox has failed us.  MSNBC has failed us.  It’s downright sickening honestly.  If the media cannot get its own priorities straight, how are even the most dedicated people to get any useful and unbiased information about the wrongs being committed right here in our own country?  What’s the solution to that?

It’s time for citizens to actually get together and voice their unrest.  This isn’t something that is entirely Bush’s fault.  Our Congress has lead us astray, our media has negelected it’s duties, and finally much responsibility falls on our own shoulders for being so passive about the events that have transpired.  If we stay silent we are simply accomplices to our own demise.  And if it were simply America slowly caving in on itself, fine.  We have other countries to go to or we could simply be blissful in our simple American ignorance.  But no, that’s not the situation right now.  America is falling apart at the seams…but it is affecting the global balance of things to boot.  The Middle East has already been punished for our own stupidity, countries have had to send their sons to fight our war which was from the start misguided.  And there are 4,000 families and counting that will not have a son or daughter come back from overseas alive.  Can you fathom the pain they must be in?  I don’t think so, because if you did, you would not be content doing nothing.  That is 4,000 families that will only have memories of a 1st grade painting or a craft made in 5th grade to remember their precious child by.  That is 4,000 families that will not get to see one of their children have a family of their own.  And that is 4,000 too many.  Get a fucking clue America, this is not ok.  I am also not ignoring the loss of countless- COUNTLESS innocent Iraqi families that face the same tradegy on even a larger scale.  They are just like us.  Just. Like. Us.  And if you can fool yourself into thinking that they aren’t, that they’re simply a faceless enemy, you have dehumanized them and have disrespected humanity at large.  We are people, they are people, and on either side…it is a tradgedy.

Have we found any signs of weapons of mass destruction?  No.  Have we even caught the man responsible for the terrorist attacks that sparked a ‘War on Terror’?  No.  Why not?  Can we not ask that question yet, after almost 8 years?  WHAT ARE WE DOING?!  You’ve been fooled.  I’ve been fooled.  Fooled into thinking that we were safe.  Fooled into thinking that our freedom was secure.  Fooled into thinking that we were doing the right thing.

But I am not content to be fooled any longer.  I am not content to stand by and let people die.  And finally I do have the audicity to ask you.  Are you willing to stand on the side with your eyes and ears closed?  At the end of the day it will be yourself that you’ll have to live with.

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THE RAPTURE IS HAPPENING!!

Wait…wait…false alarm.  Bush just rounded up the next band of suspected American terrorists.

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Wal*Mart’s new policy discriminates against ‘UGLY’ people

In what some would call a stunning move, Wal*Mart now allows employees to give preferential treatment to people who are “pretty”, “handsome”, or otherwise “look generally good”.  This comes at a time when K’Mart recently began offering its services at cheaper prices to people who are able to be described as “more fashionable” and “with it” than some of their other staple customers.  Market analysts forsee many discount brands trying to change their image by attracting a cooler demographic to their store and offering perks for those people to shop their.  Stocks in both the corporations rose by at least 2.5% on the NASDAQ following the new policy implementations.

According to other news sources, McDonalds and Burger King are now considering offering discounds to “significantly underweight” customers in a similar move.  Old Country Buffet had already tried this tactic last month in what could most certainly be considered a last ditch effort to offer tables to people who were not obese.  Unfortunately their press release left it ambigious whether this was a brand image issue or a money saving tactic for their chairs and flooring after the heavy wear they were seeing.  Even with the incentive though, OCB could not attract a large enough skinny customer base to make continued efforts succesful.

I’ll report any other news from corporate America if I catch whiff of it~

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Internet Explorer 8 is AVAILABLE! (Beta, of course)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Install.htm

For any of you who are willing to valiantly try out new software, there it is, the download page is finally up!  I’m going to try it out.

Right now it appears they don’t have an option for those of us on XP SP3, but I will get to the bottom of that and report on it.  If it does work, I’ll post screenshots on this post.

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Is being gay immoral?

Or, is that a completely outdated question?  Because to call it immoral would hinge on us having an accepted set of moral standards.  In some ways, we do.  Obviously people do not normally accept, say, murder as a moral thing to do.  In other ways though we project some of our religious beliefs on others and hold them to the same standards that we voluntarily (read: VOLUNTARILY) submit ourselves to.  it seems to interfere a disturbing amount with American politics even though we’re now in the 21st century.

Yes, most Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin.  Or at least giving into homosexual desires.  And I’m completely willing to defend their right to believe that because I believe that we live in a free society and I value individuality and free thought.  The problem arises when these Christian groups try to put their values into motion through legislation.  A perfect example would be the proposed amendment that tried to define marriage as between a man and a woman.  Why, if I do not accept a certain religion’s beliefs should I have to care or conform to them?  This is AMERICA!  Land of the FREE!!  That is the beauty of the whole situation.  If I want to tell you Satan created cats to be his spies and we should never keep them as pets because they would corrupt us, I can totally do that.  But would it be appropriate to propose an amendment outlawing cats as pets?  Does that really seem reasonable at all to you?  So while I fully respect the view that homosexuality is a sin and immoral, I don’t personally believe that.  And I refuse to follow any law that would condemn the biological process of love simply because a group would love to play ‘high and might, I’m right you’re wrong’ with America.

If we did evolve as Darwin hypothesized, there are always going to be little offshoots of a species that either survive or die off.  I would not be the one to argue that being gay is normal.  I think it’s just another human oddity such as depression, schizophrenia, genius level intelligence, or artistic ability.  It’s just something you’re born with.  The four aforementioned things can also be factors of life of course, just as being gay might be.  Does a male become gay if he sees a vagina too early ala lactose intolarents having drank milk too young?  I don’t honestly know and I think if the public is seeking an answer it’s a misguided waste of time.  You can ponder and ponder and ponder how Stephen Hawking comes up with his theories, but he’s already published his thesises.  Now it’s time to look at the information in front of you and try and make the best of it.  I think I’m simply getting at the fact that I don’t understand why a religion would want to make someone feel even worse about their life if they can’t even help something.  But, y’know, congrats anti-gays, we have the highest suicide rates.  You must be doing something right.  Show God’s love, huh?

We only get a limited amount of time on earth.  Obviously.  Because we are going to die.  So what’s the point of wasting time judging each other when we could just spend more time making the quality of life better for each other?  That is more imporant than making money.  That is more important than making sure you have a cookie cutter American Dream family.  Whatever you can do to make your life and the lives of those around you better is what you ought to be doing.  Not condemning and literally wrecking lives.  Religion is being abused and ruining lives.  That’s what it comes down to.  If you want to argue your point, look no further than the verses that explain how God gave us free will.  He did not appoint anyone to rule the earth in his stead.  In fact God made the very same point I’m making: make life better for those around you.  That doesn’t mean appealing for legistlation that goes against your beliefs, but that definitely does not call for advocating legislation that ruins lives for millions of Americans.

I don’t think half the people who call themselves Christians in this country understand the religion they think they belong to.  And you will be in no better boat if God does end up coming down from a cloud and smiting anyone who didn’t believe in him.  God doesn’t want lukewarm Christians, remember?

Posted in Back Home, GAY, Politics, Rant | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

A Mystery is a Mystery is a Mystery

So I got this envelope today with no return address and my name && address written in a male high school-esque script.  And I opened it.  And there was nothing in it.

Clues:
- Male writing (high school?)
- Post marked Feb 20, 2008 / Denver, Co
- Envelope type that is opaque (blue lining inside)
- No mistakes on my address, the person was looking at my address while they wrote it or had it memorized

Anyways, yeah, just pondering for kicks and giggles.  I don’t know where or who was writing to me, but I’m going to count it as fan mail.  The first physical fan mail I’ve gotten.  Unless it was hate male.  Oh well.

Second order of business is geeky.  Does anyone here want me to run through the beta versions of Digsby (instant messaging program), A.viary (free online image editing suite), Microsoft’s Download Center beta, and WordPress 1.4 beta?  If no one tech-y actually reads my blog it wouldn’t do much good.  So I have to ask.  Comment or email me if you want me to…

Third order of business is TAKASHI SENSEI’S EMAIL.  If you still read my blog (doubtful, but hey?) I want your  携帯電話のメール.  It’d be really cool.  Yay.

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My Job

So I haven’t really mentioned my new job. I am now a salesfloor working at Target. Whoo! It’s near to my new school so pretty convenient for me. Orientation was last Saturday and I worked both Wednesday and Thursday. Weds was cashier training (everyone does it) and then Thursday I got to work in Electronics, which was fun.

Overall I think that I underestimated how much behind the scenes stuff goes on in retail. Like if you leave a product out in an aisle it doesn’t belong, someone has to go around and pick that up. Or if you ask for a gift receipt while you’re paying, it’s frusterating. On that last bit, it’s good to ask for a GR when the cashier scans the item. It’s pretty fun to see so many different people and help them. Didn’t take long to get the hang of the routine either. So yeah, I’m pretty happy to be working their and the rest of the staff seems to be very nice too.

Now I have more serious issues to discuss. Lenovo has a new ultraportable laptop to rival the Macbook AIR. Lenovo’s model has the much less interesting name X300 though. My only thought on this is “Do they even have a design team?”. The laptop fails to capture any aesthetic pleasure at all. It’s RIDICULOUS. I’m all for someone taking on Apple, but don’t you think if you’re fighting fire with fire you could at least look as stylish as the other guy. Ugh.

Posted in Back Home, Tech, job | Tagged , , | 2 Comments