12th February 2004, 11:14 AM
Quote: I seriously doubt it. Conventional wisdom, common sense, and scientific evidence so far says otherwise.
You're right, except for the common sense and evidence parts.
Quote:How on earth would it strengthen the bonds of marriage? Marriage is between a man and a woman. Again, we have the liberals of the sixties to blame for damaging marriage to the point it's at, and now the next generation of quasi-commies wants to finish the job, replacing it with something quite different.
Ah, good old "the good old days were better"... always said, by conservatives, throughout history... and generally not correct...
Quote:Not enough, apparently, that you would transform it, and the other 49 states, into a similarly-socialist, anything-goes empire of political correctness.
Huh? Maine's doing fine... Democratic governor, Democratic state house (both branches), two Democrats in the House, and two moderate Republicans in the Senate... :)
And we came very close several times to adding homosexuality to the list of things that you can't discriminate about. Too bad it failed... by a couple of percent...
Quote:How on earth would it strengthen the bonds of marriage? Marriage is between a man and a woman. Again, we have the liberals of the sixties to blame for damaging marriage to the point it's at, and now the next generation of quasi-commies wants to finish the job, replacing it with something quite different.
Marriage is about monogamy and it would strengthen that if these people were formally joined. Civil Unions are a okay alternative that isn't good enough but will have to do for now, I think.
Quote:You never do. I would greatly prefer you never make any points that you aren't willing to back up. Then, I wouldn't care if you didn't feel like it.
You don't either. Not that it would matter, given that I know (either of) you would never listen for a millisecond...
Quote:There are a myriad of things that make some people happy, yet are legally banned from doing. Why should we make an exception for one particular group of people based on that criteria?
Laws are based on harm... if we (as a society) looked at this objectively we'd see that no one is hurt by allowing homosexual unions.
Quote:I love how you support banning polygamy and incest for reasons that you want gay marriage, and for reasons that apply to homosexuality, respectively.
By the way, polyamory isn't illegal, it does not involve marriage, and has nothing to do with women and multiple husbands. It's essentially another term for group sex, though polyamorists consider it more of an emotional thing than sexual.
Polygamists only don't marry because it wouldn't be allowed... it's illegal in Utah of course but elsewhere it'd be banned if there was a problem with it. And you don't give any convincing reasons there why my reasons for those things are wrong while yours for homosexuality are right...
Incest... that is a extremely ancient ban, going back well before human civilization and probably before modern humans existed. Why? Okay, so a one-off incestious relationship won't do much harm, that is probably true... but it becomes a serious problem if it's common. Just ask the European royalty... they aren't called 'blue bloods' for nothing. :)
Quote:They mean everything. Very few Southerners were wealthy enough to own slaves, the idea that they would all fight for the preservation of a system that did not benefit them is a stupid and ignorant one. The main reason for the southern secession was economic, as the South's economy relied heavily on slave labor, and the issue of states' rights.
One other thing, I'm annoyed on how you assume the moral high ground because, as you think, I hate gays. Yet, you share a similar, and much deeper hatred of Christians. You also have definite problems with white people and heterosexuals. Being a White, Heterosexual, Christian, Conservative Male, I think I embody what you believe to be the ultimate combination of the groups who have a right to be hated, discriminated against, and demeaned. Of those traits, you definitely hate conservatism and Christianity the most. You're as hateful as you claim me to be.
You're right, in the Civil War most soldiers of the South were poor whites who fought either because they were spept up in the anti-North sentiment, or because they wanted to keep the blacks down -- I mean, look. These people have nothing. They are on the bottom... or would be if not for blacks. That gives them a class below them, and they want to keep them there... that was true in some of the North as well -- see the draft riots in New York City, where the Irish hated the blacks because the blacks were taking Irish jobs on the bottom rung of the ladder for less money...
Oh, and I don't hate christians or religion. I don't have a problem with people going to church (I went to one for most of my life after all), or believing what they think is right... the problem is when you take your morals and apply them to everyone without stopping to think if your morality SHOULD apply to everyone (ie, all morality is not objectively right)... just keep your beliefs to yourself and believe whatever you want. Like most people do in New England... we just don't discuss religion much. One reason I dislike Bush is because he's so religious... prayers, constant Biblical references... that I do not like at all. His faith I may disagree with but can't say "you are wrong and your belief system is totally wrong" because there is obviously no way to prove God doesn't exist... it's shoving it in our faces I dislike. Leiberman has a similar problem, IMO. Too religious, too openly.