First They Came For The Gay Married Couples....

[filkertom]

Just so we all know what's at stake here: Your House Of Representatives has voted in favor of a bill that would not only outlaw gay marriage on the national level, not only prevent federal courts from ordering states to recognize gay marriages from other states... but would specifically prohibit any court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, from challenging the law.

Never mind that, out in the real, non-fundamentalist-evangelical world, no one seems to think that marriage is threatened by gay people. Never mind that, once again, the Republicans are discriminating against an entire class of citizens. Never mind that it probably won't go through.

These bastards are trying to disrupt the basic checks-and-balances system of the government.

Simple translation? And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the evidence is piling higher and deeper every single day: If you vote Republican, you are un-American.

Update: I looked at my rhetoric above, and I was going to tone it down. Too harsh.

Fuck that.

I'm sick of watching the nice, polite, Dems and progressives try to be rational while the Right Wing runs roughshod over pretty much everything good about this country. And I've got a few dear friends -- and when I mean "dear friends", I mean Bill Roper and Pete Grubbs, okay? I mean my mom -- who are die-hard conservatives.

Fuck that. It's time to save the country, save the world, from these evil shits. And I will offend even close friends by taking this tack, but that's tough.

Trust nothing the Republicans say or do. Not even John McCain. Especially not Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney, or anybody in the Cabinet, and that definitely includes that scumbag milksop quisling Colin "I Regret Lying To The U.N." Powell. If a right-wing commentator, especially on Fox News Network, says anything, they lie.

I'm serious. The United States of America itself is in dire danger, and we're letting these assholes herd us to the edge of the pit.

No More.

Second Update: A good for-instance on Repub lying, from the indispensible Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.

Comments

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say Republicans as a whole lie. That's tarring with an awfully large brush, and I refuse to lump these scumsucks in with the party of Abraham Lincoln. Neo-cons, though? Oh, hell yeah. Fsck 'em and the horse they rode in on. Lying bastards, one and all.

I hope you don't mind awfully, but I just posted this to my journal with some slight mods here and there.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Nope, don't mind awfully. I don't even mind your substituting "neocons" for "Republicans". However, I stand by what I wrote, for the simple fact that the entire Republican party are not neocons, the vast collective of Right-Wing commentators and evangelicals are not neocons, and the great bulk of people who have been misled by BushCo's rhetoric are not neocons... but they all think and talk and act with the same damn script, time after time after time after time.

Therefore, the problem, to me, is not neocons. It's something in whatever mindset it takes to become a Republican, to actually vote against your own self-interest again and again.

If you don't mind, I'll cross-post this in your LJ. :)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

One last small thing I have to mention. Sorry, but I don't cotton (ha ha) to the "party of Abraham Lincoln" thing anymore. Lincoln would shrink in horror from these pricks. (Hmmm. Must remember that rhyme.) They have co-opted a glorious political tradition, and they are perfectly willing to turn reality on its ear in a desperate attempt to restore the Good Ol' Days of robber barons, inhuman working conditions, and a damn near feudal economic-political system.

My theme for years on this has been: The Dems are on one side. The Repubs are on the other side. Various Independents are on that side. It's all supposed to be our side.

Republican = asshat.

[seanmonster.livejournal.com]

A straight friend of mine recently noted that it's not gay couples getting married that's the 'threat' to marriage. It's all the damn heteros who keep getting divorced.

Re: Republican = asshat.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

In Canada, there is a Lesbian couple trying to get divorced. I gather the problem is that when the marriage law was amended to permit sam-sex marriages, the divorce law wasn't similarly amended.

Re: Republican = asshat.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Roger that. No offense to any gay or lesbian posters, but seeing all those lovely joyous wedding pictures on the courthouse steps still hasn't compelled me to dump my lady friend and marry a guy.

(It is possible I simply haven't yet found Mr. Right. ;)

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, my congresscritter didn't vote on the issue one way or the other (although I assume if he had it would have been in favor of the damned bill). On the minus side, he was playing host to Bush about two miles away from my office. On the bigger minus side, I've been listening to my co-workers complain about the traffic situation for the last ninety minutes. One guy sat in view of his house for 90 minutes on the way home because he wasn't allowed to cross a major artery. When he tried to exit his car to walk to a nearby store, a policeman stopped him and told him that if he left his car in the road, the policeman would have to call the bomb squad and the car would be impounded.


On the other hand, only two morons in the house voted for the possible delay of presidential elections. One Democrat (Brian Baird-WA) and one Republican (Scott McInnis-CO).

As for all Republicans lie, I'd like to point out some Republicans such as Lincoln Chaffee, Peter Fitzgerald, Ben Campbell, Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, Susan Collins, Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and yes, John McCain, who I feel I can reasonably trust even when I disagree with them. Hell, I'd rather trust any of them than, say, Zell Miller.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with your list, but I don't trust even them. Not all the time. McCain has let himself be used to promote Dubya, and had to grit his teeth and spew outright lies to do it.

On the other hand, I do like the serendipity. Lessee... nine lone figures, banding together to fight evil from within... they travel to the east, to fight the awesome evil of an overlord with no physical form (or at least only an undisclosed location) and match the forces of Condi, Colin, Wolfowitz, Perle, Ridge, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Snow, and the Witch King of Rove. Not to mention Dubya ("my precious-s-s-s")....

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been done. But I don't think anyone's picked up on Scott McClellan being the pinch-hitter for Ari Fleischer, the true Mouth of Sauron, or Tom DeLay being Saruman, or the three bearers of the Elven Rings being Al Franken, Jon Stewart, and Bill Maher, or Theoden being played by Michael Moore....

... But I think we all imagined Rush as Grima Wormtongue and O'Reilly as Bill Ferny.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to believe that this law will not in and of itself be found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. While I'm not a lawyer, it seems to me that no law can protect itself from scrutiny by the Supreme Court; I believe to do that would take a Constitutional amendment. This is another smokescreen, albeit a nasty one, to divert attention from the real issues in the upcoming election.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

You're not wrong in any respect, but you might also want to peruse this post by Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004355.php). I'm not scared, but I am concerned.

Taxes

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Come April 15 there is an interesting twist in all of this. DOMA states that a same sex couple can't file taxes as married. However if a couple is legally married (and marrage has been a state function since 1789) and check of the "Single" box on their tax form they have just commited perjury. As the Tax code states that it is illegal to lie on your tax forms.

Now the IRS had traditionally taken the opinion that where the law is in question go with whichever increases tax revinue. Now in many cases esp if both partners are high earners it will be the married option that has the higher tax rate.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

I heard this and immediately got sick to my stomach. Not only has the current ruling party and their trained monkey made a mockery out of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Geneva Convention, they just attempted to overturn the very system of checks and balances that's supposed to keep the other two branches in line!

Can the supreme court overturn this law?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, it's not a law yet, only a bill, and there is almost no chance it would make it through the Senate. Moreover, even if it became a law, while the SCOTUS could ostensibly not rule on the issue, they could rule on the law's Constitutionality, and would most likely toss it.

I'm just cheesed on the principle of the thing. How dare they keep pulling shit like this while calling themselves "good Americans"?

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

"A straight friend of mine recently noted that it's not gay couples getting married that's the 'threat' to marriage. It's all the damn heteros who keep getting divorced."

Damned straight. Divorce is prohibited in the New Testament, too, and far more frequently than homosexuality is. Let them outlaw divorce, if they're that concerned about the sanctity of marriage. Of course, they WON'T, because they're goddamned hypocrites...

(BTW, I'm both pro-gay-marriage, and, well, one doesn't want to say pro-divorce, but certainly not anti-divorce, either..)

"Can the supreme court overturn this law?"

Oh, you bet they will. I can't see ANY of them dissenting, not even Thomas.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Divorce is prohibited in the New Testament

I'm curious as to where they got that from, since it's always been permitted under Jewish law.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Heh. The first gay divorce filed in Canada. And, of course, since the marriage laws but NOT the divorce laws were amended to cope with same-sex couples, this is causing something of a legal furor.

But it'll all sort itself out, the same way straight marriage has. Um, it has, hasn't it? :-)

[poltr1]

First I gotta quote the Frantics, "People voting Republican, give 'em a boot to the head!"

Yeah it really sucks that such a law would even pass the House, especially with the "Untouchable" clause, that it's beyond review or scrutiny by the Supreme Court. That alone should render this law null and void. The Magna Carta said that "Not even the King is above the Law". Well, the Law shouldn't be above itself either.

But it's yet another example of the GOP pandering to the wishes of the Religious Reich.

And now a yellow card. As you said, not all Republicans are neocon scum. But you're lumping then all together. Isn't that what stereotyping is all about? And isn't stereotyping a form of bigotry? Where's the shadow in all this?

Time for Mr. Smith -- that's you -- to go to Wahington. Smith for Congress! (But I'm outside your jurisdiction and therefore can't vote for you. Sorry.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Interesting thought. Your phrasing recalled Alan Moore in Swamp Thing: "Where is evil, in all the wood?"

I admit at this stage to being adamantly against Repubs. I would do my best not to treat anyone as less of a human being or anything because of their politics, but if we could not agree I would likely tune them out.

And I do lump the Repubs all together -- they're all following the same scripts, they're all advocating the same policies, and they seem to see nothing but power for the Right Wing. Ya want really scary? Check out the messge boards on Yahoo! News. I think some of those people are frickin' dangerous.

Yeah, the Magna Carta is a primary source in this. The entire point of having a system of laws such as ours is to protect the powerless from the whim of the powerful. And, if there is a God, if he/she/it/they isn't powerful enough to withstand some guys kissing, he/she/it/they isn't much of a god.

And... Thanks, but I'd be a lousy legislator. Half the time I want to compromise with every-damn-body, no matter how much they don't want to compromise, and the rest of the time I'd be governing by fiat because these assholes can't see I'm right.... ;)

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

There are a few (damn few lately, but a few) Republicans who, as individuals, are very reasonable people that I respect and would want to vote for. And there are a depressing number of Democrats who, as individuals, are scum and/or nutcases that I have no respect for and hate the idea of voting for. But the unfortunate problem is that as long as all of these individuals vote to put their party in charge of the house they serve in and tend to support their leadership, their individual competence, integrity, and views are very nearly irrelevant.

The rules that Congress has written for itself -- which are completely outside of the Constitution -- make it so that couple of people in the party with the majority in each house have near total control over what happens in that house. They may not be able to pass legislation that enough of their members oppose, but they have no trouble squashing legislation that they don't like regardless of what the members feel.

What this comes down to is that when Congress convenes in January, they'll take one vote (in each house) to determine which party gets to be the majority party for that session, and the outcome of that single vote on the first day will make more difference in what happens in Congress for the whole term than anything else that any of them individually or collectively do (with the exception of enough of them switching party affiliations in mid-term to force a new leadership election -- which has happened, AFAIK, once in my lifetime).

The point I'm trying to get to (and I apologize for being long-winded) is that whether the guy you vote for is a criminal or a saint is trivial; what matters is whether he will vote to keep Tom Delay in charge.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I believe we can all agree on that last point. DeLay needs to go down, hard. Long prison term, utter disgrace.

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

"Now I've got The Capital Steps' "Loonies of the Right" running through my head."

BTW, is anyone else seriously disappointed in the Capitol Steps' recent albums? They struck me as very Dennis Miller....

[jss]

Yes. I'll go back and listen to the Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton I eras much more than most of their current stuff.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

[In passing.]

I highly recommend Dave Neiwert's essay (http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003_11_23_dneiwert_archive.html#106970848149574609), "The Personal and the Political", as an extended exploration of this topic.

It is, I think, important to remember that the faction currently in charge of the Republicans is not conservative by any reasonable construction of the term. The true conservatives and the loyal party members are being kept in line by fear of liberalism. The ascendency of the neo-conservatives will end in one of two ways: by the abandonment of that fear, or the failure policies after a further excursion into bellicosity and tyranny. I hope for the first, still.

Finally, let me point out that Fox News is not a news network; it is, in fact, a neo-conservative propaganda organization, where political talking points are sent around to the news staff every day in a memo. As a news network, they have a small audience compared to NBC; as a propaganda organization, they are huge.

[legoman10.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine posted your Journal Post in her Livejournal, I read it over and agree emphatically. It boggles my mind how people can sit down and actually view the legislation and views that are held by many Republicans as not downright bigotry. We are denying a certain group of people their right to be happy. Same sex marriage doesn't hurt anyone, so why is it illegal ? Those who state that these marriages will produce children who will be ridiculed, and "messed up" themselves, also confuse me. I do not entirely understand what they imply by "messed up", is it that they might be gay. Oh good heavens ! THE COUNTRY WILL END IF THERE ARE MORE GAY PEOPLE !!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, THE SKY IS FALLING !!!!!! (sarcasm is hard to convey in writing) If you think more kids are gonna be "fucked up" coming from a same sex parented family, then I hope you take a look that the staggering divorce rate in this country of ours and the thousands of children who are affected by it, not usually for the better unfortunately. In closing, I would just like to think on what a major basis of the founding of this country was, the SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. REMOVE BUSH, and NEVER TRUST A REPUBLICAN.

*ready to march on the white house*

[sparklingkijo.livejournal.com]

:kisses and hugs tightly: mwuah! i love you! The problem -isn't- the gay marriages messing up kids! i've seen plenty of kids "fucked up" from hetero-marriages. myself included. Jeeez, when i first read this post i was like "No... they couldn't have... Dammit they did." then i got really angry and i'm just about to go comment else where's, namely to my congress people, and other such persons. I just can't believe they dared to do this! Grrrr. It is soooooo agianst everything America stands for! or at least what it used to stand for...

And if that changes.. well... i'm not sure i want to be proud to say "I am American" in any of my many languages

Love is Love is Love is Love. Does anyone see in that phrase anything about gender?

[bluebloom2.livejournal.com]

Hey sorry I didnt ask for permission first but I was bored and journal surfing in a friend's friendlist who had a friend who posted your rant, and I thought my friends would like to hear what you had to say. I figured that since it was a public post you wouldnt mind... hope I wasnt amiss. Thanks for posting it though.

Well, I don't know for sure if you're amiss -- maybe if you wore a skirt

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

WHAT!? You STOLE MY BRILLIANT RANT!?!? HEAVEN FORFEND! YOU HEATHEN! HOW DARE Y-

Oh yeah. That's right. I don't mind.

Sorry, sorry, it's the caffeine. :)

Seriously, you're welcome, and go right ahead and let people know -- not that I think it's so wonderful, but ya gotta start the discussion somewhere.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

This just keeps getting worse... what are these people thinking?