April 29, 2005

• This just in... Alabama's state officials bigoted and intolerant. Nation shocked. Film at eleven.
• I don't live in the US, so I am surprised such a poorly thought out bill could even be considered. It would probably be unworkable even if it passed.
• Yeah...what is this agenda they keep talking about? And as my friend states: reading something on Sheppard wouldn't convert someone into being gay--it'd scar them for life.
• Are books with characters who murder and rape still acceptable? Assuming, for the sake of argument, 1. Homosexuality is an unhealthy lifestyle that we do not want children to emulate. 2. Works of fiction which feature homosexual characters are likely to make children become homosexual. 3. Removing works of fiction will help to prevent children from becoming homosexuals. How can he not advocate the removal of any book which features characters who sin on an equal or greater level by using the same logic? Does that mean that being gay is a greater sin than murder?
• Actually, no books will be removed from school libraries. The bill died. Look...these things happen all the time in every state's legislature. Representatives present nutjob bills that have no chance of passing. Everyone knows they have no chance of passing. They do it so they can go to their nutjob constituent lobbies and say "Look...I tried...I'm on your side but the city folks' reps wouldn't go for it...keep up the good fight."
• You know, sometimes the media's insistance on being "fair" to any viewpoint, no matter how absurd, just astounds me. "First Amendment advocates say the ban clearly does amount to censorship." I mean, jesus christ, how could it NOT be censorship? Some sort of Scaliaian uber-constructionist reading of the Constitution that ignores 200 years of precedent and says the *states* have the right to censor whatever they want? And since when are they just ADVOCATES? Accused murders have advocates. 2nd-class citizens have advocates. Those concepts central to a people's philosophy have defenders. They have protectors. The media is the FOURTH ESTATE! NO FUCKING ONE should be more concerned about the first amendment than them! But no, we have to be FAIR and BALANCED. We have to pretend that the government pissing over our literary history MIGHT be a good thing. That the pros and cons of book burning is a matter to be discussed by cooler, more enlightened heads - not to be decided upon in public. Of course. That must be it.
• The Gay Agenda.
• Also, what rocket88 said. This was political grandstanding so he looks to his Jim Crow constituents like he's doing something. Pandering to the crowd, this was.
• Plus, while we're on the subject, I would so love to have the power to ban something, just once in my life. I'd like to ban, I don't know, cheap copy paper or Dixie cups or roll-on deodorant or those fucking twist ties they use to lash children's toys down to the boxes or something.
• InnocentBystander: Hear hear! That's hitting the nail on the head! Somehow it's become "biased" to call out even the most clear-cut issues for the freakshows they are. I live in Ohio, which overwhelmingly passed the most vicious and unnecessary of the many state anti-gay-marriage amendments in the 2004 elections, and which more recently passed the incredibly stupid "ebay bill," prohibiting Ohio residents from selling items on ebay without a license. I don't think anything a state legislature does or considers would surprise me any more. The actions of local governments and the national government are (barely) a part of the electorate's consciousness; the state governments, somehow, have slipped off the radar.
• The Gay Agenda.
• No no no. Here's the real Gay Agenda: 6:00 am Gym 8:00 am Breakfast (oatmeal and egg whites) 9:00 am Hair appointment 10:00 am Shopping 12:00 PM Brunch 2:00 PM 1) Assume complete control of the U.S. Federal, State and Local Governments as well as all other national governments, 2) Recruit all straight youngsters to our debauched lifestyle, 3) Destroy all healthy heterosexual marriages, 4) Replace all school counselors in grades K-12 with agents of Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels, 5) Establish planetary chain of homo breeding gulags where over-medicated imprisoned straight women are turned into artificially impregnated baby factories to produce prepubescent love slaves for our devotedly pederastic gay leadership, 6) bulldoze all houses of worship, and 7) Secure total control of the INTERNET and all mass media for the exclusive use of child pornographers. 2:30 PM Get forty winks of beauty rest to prevent facial wrinkles from stress of world conquest 4:00 PM Cocktails 6:00 PM Light Dinner (soup, salad, with Chardonnay) 8:00 PM Theater 11:00 PM Bed (du jour)"
• Most homosexuals I know prefer a drier Pinot Grigio to the Chardonnay. Better with fish or poultry.
• I don't live in the US, so I am surprised such a poorly thought out bill could even be considered. It would probably be unworkable even if it passed. See above. There are a lot of crackpots who propose crap that would never stand a chance, even in Alabama. Then people on the internet hear about it anyway and get their panties in a bunch. And of course if it did pass, any court, even the ones in Alabama, would strike it down as blatantly unconstitutional. While its easy to read this as "AmericaIsStupidReligousFundalmetalistsBushIsHitlerBlahBlahBlah", to me it says: we have some insane crackpots who propose silly things and a very very good, time-tested system to prevent those silly things from ever becoming law.
• agree with rocket88 and drjimmy11 Huh, I thought I had more to say, but I guess I don't...
• "When the time for the vote in the legislature came there were not enough state legislators present for the vote, so the measure died automatically." These people are being paid to not turn up to vote on bills? Not even our politicians are this lazy!
• William Shakespeare was GAY??? It was the sonnets that gave it away, wasn't it? Midsummer Night's Dream wasn't exactly subtle, either, now that I think about it.
• Don't forget Ariel from The Tempest. Spirit of the air indeed. snap
• we have some insane crackpots who propose silly things Yes we do. They're called Republicans.
• I think I've said it before. Republicans do not have a monopoly on crackpots.
• But they do hold several patents.
• The Republicans can't have a monopoly of crackpots, as Turkmenbashi, the North Korean government and our own Reverend Fred Nile amptly demonstrate.
• I've been known to off a few of them Republicans. I don't call it murder, though. It's just protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children.
• "from ever becoming law" No system is perfect, best to not make it seem like it is.
• But they do hold several patents ROFL!
• "[we have] a very very good, time-tested system to prevent those silly things from ever becoming law." Yeeesss, of course you do. Just keep on saying that over and over and maybe one day a magical fairy from pixy land will make it all come true. Sheesh. Talk about fuckin delusional.
• I've been thinking about getting a big "FAG" shirt. I know some martial arts, so... I could relieve some stress!
• I say: BURN THE CLOSETS OF ALABAMA! I'm sure the legislators would come out before being burnt.
• A good friend of mine made a huge detour during his trip to Germany just to get official post-it notes and stationery from these guys. Perhaps they might have T-shirts for you, Astragalus.
• boy, agreeing with rocket and f8x. Hm. Maybe I'm wasted. No matter tho. Live Your Dreams MCT.
• It's funny how these politicians keep talking about protecting the hearts and minds of our children. If that's what they really cared about then they'd be reassuring the legality of same-sex marriage, not persecuting people who don't manufacture worm-children. Bloody hell, even then there are already more than enough Earth-monkeys here to cover Botswana some six hundred and fifty feet deep. Nice brain-meats, Gerald. Reeeeal nice and smooth-like.
• It's important to ban homosexual works from our public libraries! You can't have Gerry Allen gettin' a hardon every time he opens a gay book in publc, can you? Newsflash to the South: This is why the North thinks you're retarded. It might not be fair
• "These people are being paid to not turn up to vote on bills? Not even our politicians are this lazy!? I suspect they don't show up so they won't be seen as voting against a silly bill which some of their constituents favor. Discretion is the better part of valor, or something.
• Alabama's state officials bigoted and intolerant. Nation shocked. Film at eleven. Why do people have to piss on others' posts? Why not just move on to a post you are interested in? (Not trying to be overly confrontationaly; in fact, I'm trying to use this as a mantra myself, in my own posting of comments.)
• Also, rocket88 makes a good point.
• I'm not so sure about the innocuousness of efforts to pass such laws. These legislators are looking for a tiny foot in the door, anything to get thier "State Senator Buford T. Festus Defense of Family and Children Act of 2005" into law. Sure it sounds absurd, but look at what absurd lengths the drug laws have been extended. To that crowd, banning gay marriage is just the first step. They want some form of the sodomy laws back, and I'm wondering who in the current political climate of "shock and awe" is going to stop them.
• Why do people have to piss on others' posts? Because this website was created on the assumption that a large number of people would comment on other people's posts; and the universe of possible comments contains the element "the post is not very interesting to me". The question "why do people have to piss on others' comments?" could be answered the same way.
• I joined in the week of urination posts, so I always thought that pissing was an integral part of the MoFi experience.
• A black day, indeed! *pours urine on the ground*
• urine or myine?