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. :)

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I do want to point out that there's a big difference between perceivced self-interest and actual self-interest. There are a lot of mix-ups between the two.

The law will not survive its first brush with a courtroom. The GOP trying to overrun the checks and balances should not be allowed. Of course, if *they* do it, they have opened the door for a whole big bunch of cans of worms.

Good rant, BTW.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And I agree completely with the "perceived self-interest" idea. There are so many things so much more important than the shit we focus on, especially things driven by "morals" and "values" and other things that the Constitution is specifically intended to keep personal, private, and unlegislated.

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.

[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]

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.

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. ;)

[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.

[docwebster.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.)"

Sounds like filk material to me!

Re: Republican = asshat.

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

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

Somewhere, Moonwulf Longcor is clutching his Tom Smith picture in hope. ;)

[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.

[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.

Re: Republican = asshat.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Nah. We've kissed on the lips twice, and both times it took crowbars to separate the beards and moustaches. The Velcro Effect, y'understand.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Tom DeLay can't be Saruman. Saruman started out good and was turned to the dark side. Perhaps Powell as Saruman.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Point. We can swap those two.

Re: Republican = asshat.

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

Which brings up incredibly ugly mental images and I think I'll stop right there.

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.

Re: Republican = asshat.

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

Well, there's no reason you can't keep your lady friend and pick up a guy friend as well. It's all groovy.

oo!

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

Do we get "Sexecutioner" Jim Edgar?

[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.