Slippery Slope of Gay Marriage (Reaction & Re-post)

Wow, Pat Robertson is now most definitely swimming eyebrow deep in his own arrogant bigoted BULLSHIT! Is this guy fu@$ing for real? My head hurts just contemplating the fact that people actually listen to this shite standby and believe in it! REALLY!? How does this piece of shit live with himself!? Who are these people that support him? "Slippery slope" leading to polygamy!, bestiality!, child molestation! and pedophilia! WTF! REALLY!?

That is beyond preposterous to even have a thought such as this. Come on! Just because no other society has legalized same sex marriage doesn't mean that WE as the great nation of the United States of America can't be the leading trailblazers of social equality in the world. God damn you filthy socially conservative prats for even considering this so called "slippery slope" that Mr. Robertson is suggesting. Your ignorance of legally documented love is completely unjustified with NO merit in this ever changing world. Tell me this, what is someone who loves, truly loves, someone else of the same gender going to matter in YOUR life? They aren't taking your money, physically harming you or enslaving you to build monuments to some demonic god!? What is the problem? I truly DO NOT understand.

How the hell can it be better to have two people who are NOT in love be married and not allow two people who genuinely ARE in love suffer because the ignorant conservative pricks on the right have the power to keep it that way...for now.

There is NO logic what so ever conveyed by the denial of same sex marriages. The only thing that I see here is complete and undeniable; ignorance, arrogance, closed mindedness, brain washing, fear, mental simplicity, de-evolution, failure, unwillingness, ugliness, evil, bigotry, hatred, immorality, Nazism, Fascism and above all LACK OF PATRIOTISM.

That is all.

~ Ky

Repost from www.dailykos.com

Slippery Slope of Gay Marriage: It's all about contract law

by CatM

Sat May 09, 2009 at 10:07:30 AM PDT

How many conservatives have claimed that permitting gay marriage constitutes some sort of "slippery slope" that will extend rights to perversions such as bestiality and pedophilia?

This past week, conservative evangelist Pat Robertson made the slippery slope argument:

On the Christian Broadcasting Network today, Pat Robertson responded by claiming that the "ultimate conclusion" of legalizing same-sex marriage would be the legalization of polygamy, bestiality, child molestation and pedophilia. "You mark my words, this is just the beginning in a long downward slide in relation to all the things that we consider to be abhorrent," said Robertson.

And who can forget former Republican Senator Rick Santorum's comments in 2003 on gay marriage:

In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.

• CatM's diary :: ::

In supporting a Texas law against sodomy, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote:

State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices.

Mike Huckabee in 2008:

Well, I don't think that's a radical view to say we're going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we're going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what's been historic.

These are only a few in a long string of arguments absurdly asserting that gay marriage will somehow lead to the legalization of such degenerate acts as bestiality and pedophilia.

What is marriage? Marriage is a legal contract, entered into by consent of two people. Let's address some of their arguments.

Bestiality:
Can dogs, horses, goats, or any other animal enter into a legal contract in the United States? No.

Pedophilia:
Can children enter into legal contracts of their own accord? No. Can pre-adolescent children get married even with parental consent? No.

There is, therefore, no reason to think that marriage between two consenting adults equates with marriage between one consenting adult and a non-consenting animal or child.

Polygamy:
Marriage equality implies a legal right for two adults of any sex (two men, two women, one man/one woman)to elect to enter into a legally binding contract that confers certain rights and obligations. If the law does not permit more than two people to enjoin into this contract, gay marriage will never lead to legalized polygamous marriage. People with polygamous inclinations retain the option everyone individual has--to marry one person of their choosing.

Incest:
The law prohibits people of certain genetic relationships from entering into a marriage contract, regardless of gender. Gay marriage does not nullify this legal provision. What if an adult brother and sister want to marry one another? Can the law refuse or does that deny them marriage equality? Prohibiting incestuous marriages does not violate marriage equality, because the incestuous person is not prevented from marrying someone--of either gender--but only from marrying family members.

If gay marriage is legalized, a brother cannot marry his brother nor can a sister marry her sister, and so on. Even gay incestuous people will not be able to marry. This is marriage equality.

There is no evidence to suggest incestuous people are only able to form relationships with the small number of people in their family. For example, if the incestuous person's family died suddenly or was not receptive to his/her advances, it is doubtful that person would remain celibate lifelong, unable to partner with anyone else. It is not that he/she is only able to have incestuous relationships but that they have developed an intense attraction to one specific person. A mental state of only being able to be attracted to one person, no matter what (if they died, rejected you, etc), by nature indicates a mental health problem. Gay people do not have that problem.

The Dominos Collapse:
Any argument that legalizing gay marriage means legalizing every type of union between consenting adults is inherently flawed. The only way this argument has validity is to operate from the perspective that homosexuality is a willful deviancy. Of course, the conservatives above and those making these arguments have adopted that view.

Most of us who know gay people, however, know they are not deviants and that homosexuality and gay marriage is about more than sex. Homosexual relationships do not consist of one person forcing him/herself on someone/something incapable of consent or being psychologically restricted to forming a relationship with only one other person, ever.

Who knows whether there is an inherent "right" to marry. Contracts, after all, do not exist in nature. If the US government, in its wisdom, has decided to legalize contracted unions between two people, however, everyone in the US should have the opportunity to enter into these contracts for a (theoretically) lifelong partnership.

While the government can set conditions on who can enter into a marriage contract, the decision to force homosexuals to choose a partner from among the opposite sex denies them the opportunity to select someone with whom they could potentially build a lifelong relationship and is therefore discriminatory.

Civil Unions:
Calling marriage between gays something else (civil unions) is silly. If one person who gets breast implants calls it a boob job and another person calls it breast augmentation, does it somehow mean they had different procedures? It is an artificial distinction and therefore unnecessary.

Conservatives love false distinctions. Calling torture "enhanced interrogation" does not make it any less torture. And giving gays all the rights of marriage but calling it Civil Union does not make it any less a marriage. The reason the distinction is objectionable is that it is unnecessary and has its roots in bigotry.

Applying the label "Civil Union" is nothing more than an effort to signal homosexuals out as somehow less than "real" Americans and so that bigoted heterosexual people can assure themselves that their marriages mean more than those deviant "civil unions."

True Equality:
Telling gay people they cannot fornicate with animals or children, they cannot marry more than one person at a time, and they cannot marry a close relative is not discriminatory. These rules hold true for all Americans, gay and straight.

Letting gays marry does not force us to abandon all moral justifications for objecting to things that cause others or society harm. So far, the only individuals who seem to be harmed by the existence of homosexuality in our society are homosexuals, thanks to the bigotry of some heterosexuals.

**UPDATE**
A lot of people seem to have difficulty with the argument I have made on polygamous marriage, so I want to clarify.

1. First, you cannot equate polyamory with gay or straight. A polyamorous person is a gay or straight person, which means that polyamory is a subset of heterosexuality/homosexuality, not an equal third class of marriage partners.

2. I take no position on the morality of polygamy. One could argue it is Biblical and allowed in some societies and therefore not immoral. The morality of it is not relevant to the argument.

3. My argument is that denying people who want to marry more than one person the right to do so does not deprive them of the right to enter into a contract with someone with whom they plan to form a lifelong, fulfilling relationship. A polygamous person forms one relationship at a time. One marriage comes "first." Therefore, that person does first select some one with whom they believe they can share a life, independent of a prospective subsequent marriage. Refusing to allow all people the right to marry a second person with whom they believe they can share a life does not violate the principle of marriage equality.

4. Denying a gay person the right to marry another gay person absolutely denies this segment of the population the right to enter into a marriage contract with a person with whom he/she has the possibility of forming fulfilling lifelong relationship. Ergo, you violate the principle of marriage equality.

UK publishes list of 'least wanted' people

I must say that I give a thousand praises to England's Home Secretary Ms. Jacqui Smith! Keep up the fine work keeping England clean of social bigotry (i.e. Michael Savage & Rev. Fred Phelps) it's a beautiful thing and you deserve a a big pat on the back!

updated 10:42 a.m. EDT, Wed May 6, 2009

LONDON, England (CNN) -- White supremacists, Islamic clerics, a controversial Kansas pastor and a U.S. talk show host are on a list of 22 people banned from Britain for "stirring up hatred," the British government said Tuesday.

Britain's Home Office said it decided to exclude the 22 in the last several months. The decision follows measures introduced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last year against people "who have engaged in spreading hate," the Home Office said.

The Home Office named only 16 of those on the list; it said it was not in the public interest to disclose the names of the other six. A spokeswoman declined to elaborate on why the Home Office would not publicly identify six of the 22.

One of the most recognized names on the list may be U.S. radio talk show host Michael Savage, who is listed under his real name, Michael Alan Wiener. The conservative's daily show can be heard nationwide in the United States.

Savage is on the list for "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence."

Savage lashed out at Smith on his Web site, calling her a "witch" and asking how she knew of his show when it isn't syndicated in England.

He also questioned why six names on the list weren't released and why North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez didn't make the list.

In an audio clip on his Web site, Savage said he had seven attorneys working on a defamation lawsuit against Smith and encouraged his listeners to call off any travel plans to England and boycott all British products.

"She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people," he said. "How could they put Michael Savage in the same league as mass murderers when I have never avowed violence?"

Outspoken Kansas Rev. Fred Phelps and his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, are also listed for "engaging in unacceptable behavior and fostering hatred."

Phelps and his followers at Westboro Baptist Church oppose homosexuality. They picket the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, saying their deaths are God's way of punishing the United States for supporting homosexuals.

They have expressed similar views about the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

The church's slogan is "God Hates Fags."

Phelps did not issue a response on his Web site. However, he linked to a British news story on the ban and wrote his own headline, calling Smith a "neo-Nazi dyke" and "filthy God-hater."

Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Don Black, who has said he despises U.S. President Barack Obama, is also on the list. Black established the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, which the Home Office called one of the oldest and largest hate group sites.

Eric Gliebe, chairman of the National Alliance, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the United States, is on the list for "justifying terrorist violence, provoking others to commit serious crime and fostering racial hatred."

The Home Office cited Gliebe's "Web-radio broadcasts in which he vilifies certain ethnic groups and encourages the download and distribution of provocative racist leaflets and posters."

Several Islamic clerics are also on the list, including Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Amir Siddique, Yunis Al Astal and Safwat Hijazi. Prolific speaker and writer Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim is also listed.

The list includes Mike Guzofsky, the leader of a militant Jewish group. He has ties to Kahane Chai, a group that the U.S. State Department lists as a foreign terrorist organization.

Russian skinheads Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky are also on the list. The Home Office says they are "leaders of a violent gang that beat migrants and posted films of their attacks on the Internet."

Samir al Quntar, a Lebanese man who spent three decades in prison for killing four Israeli soldiers and a 4-year-old girl in 1979, is also on the list. In an exchange with the militant group Hezbollah, Israel freed al Quntar last year for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.

Al Quntar is "engaging in unacceptable behavior by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence" in order to provoke terrorist acts, the Home Office said.

Nasr Javed and Abdul Ali Musa round out the 16 names made public.

"Coming to the UK is a privilege, and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life," Smith said. "Therefore, I do not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views, as I want them to know that they are not welcome here.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms and I am determined to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country," she said. "This is the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behavior."

America's Most Overpriced Cities

By Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes.com

May 7th, 2009

Twenty metros where Americans have a hard time meeting expenses.

Vexed by gang wars and rising real estate prices, late rapper Tupac Shakur mused in 1996 that the overall cost of living in Los Angeles was so high that he would almost rather "live life in the pen[itentiary]."

Though East Coast-West Coast gang violence has since subsided, life in the City of Angels remains far from affordable. Thanks to bloated housing prices, lofty living costs and unemployment rates among the highest in the nation, the Los Angeles metro area tops our list of America's Most Overpriced Cities.

At least residents of Los Angeles and the third-ranked Miami metro get to enjoy balmy evenings and sunny days at the beach. Residents of the second-most overpriced metro area, Chicago, get sweltering summers and near-Siberian winters on top of a 9.4% metro area unemployment rate and a cost of living trailing only Los Angeles and New York.

The Big Apple ranks fourth on our list; it's weighed down by high costs and an 8.8% unemployment rate. Those factors overwhelmed the considerable earning power of New Yorkers with bachelor's degrees--$69,200 per year, on average, according to PayScale.com--a figure rivaled only by those in Washington, D.C., and Bay Area locales, including San Francisco. Still, it's not enough to bridge the price gap.

"For the average professional, New York's premium is not as high as you'd expect, given the cost of living," says Al Lee, director of Quantitative Analysis at PayScale. "The premium for a software developer in New York is actually less than it is in Seattle, and about the same as it is in Atlanta."

Even those in less-sprawling cities have it tough. Along with fifth-ranked Providence, R.I., Cleveland(No. 8) is one of the smallest metro areas among the 10 most overpriced cities. Though both boast low home prices and living expenses, they're dragged down by high unemployment and relatively stingy salaries of $56,000, on average.

Behind the Numbers

To compile our list, we looked at earnings potential and living expenses in the 50 largest continental U.S. metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

We ranked these metros using four measures: average salary for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher, with data from PayScale.com; annual unemployment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; cost of living, according to Moody's Economy.com; and the Housing Opportunity Index from the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo, which measures the number of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the local median income, based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria.

Far from Heaven

Los Angeles' troubles can be tied to many of the systemic problems currently plaguing the nation. With a whopping unemployment rate of 10.3%, the City of Angels and nearby Riverside, Calif., are among five of the country's 50 largest metro areas with double-digit unemployment.

Both have suffered as a result of the housing bust. Though neither ranks among America's emptiest cities, L.A. and Riverside have seen new residential building permit rates plummet 82% and 80%, respectively, over the last two years. The national unemployment rate for construction workers is now 21.1%, up from 12% a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"The unemployment [in Southern California] is definitely driven by the housing bust," says Lee. "Prices are collapsing, but if you're looking at buying a house, it's still expensive."

Indeed, though the median home price in the Los Angeles metro area has dipped from $525,000 to $319,000 over the last two years, Angelinos still face one of the least affordable housing markets in the country. According to the NAHB/Wells Fargo's Housing Opportunity Index, only New York, Long Island, N.Y., and San Francisco are more expensive.

Of course, living well in Los Angeles isn't impossible, as long as you have the funds. The aforementioned Shakur probably wouldn't have any trouble making ends meet in L.A., or anywhere else, for that matter. The rapper makes about $15 million per year in residuals--despite the fact he's been dead for 12 years.

In Depth: America's Most Overpriced Cities

Bring your own wine to restaurants to save money!

"Looking for an easy way to save money while dining out? Try bringing your own bottle of wine. Spending about $15 at the store and paying $10 for a corkage fee is a lot cheaper than buying a $40 bottle at a restaurant. Bringing your own bottle of wine to a restaurant twice a month can save you an estimated $360 over the course of a year."

I wish that there was more about this story :(
There is also no embed tag for the video!
So here is the link (it's unfortunately really short)

http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=7418

Happy May Day From the Ninja's on North & Prospect!

Ninja's

Bruegger's Bagels

More Bruegger's Bagels

Smoke Bomb

More Smoke Bomb

Barricade Clean Up

Qudoba

More Qudoba

Group dressed in ninja-style outfits vandalizes east side businesses

By Lisa Sink of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May. 2, 2009 10:16 a.m.

A group of 20 to 30 people dressed in black ninja costumes and masks vandalized east side businesses Friday night, causing thousands of dollars in window damage, police said Saturday.

"They were yelling 'Black Knights,'" Milwaukee Police Lt. Milan Stojkovic said.

That's apparently what the group calls itself, and it may have been involved in two to three other vandalism incidents in the past couple years, Police Lt. Michael Robertson said.

Windows were smashed at US Bank, Whole Foods, Qdoba and Bruegger's about 11 p.m. Friday.

Police were investigating whether the vandalism may have been related to a protest earlier Friday evening by a group of self-titled "anarchists" in the Riverwest area, police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said.

No arrests had been made. Some acts were caught on business video surveillance.