Currebt U.S. Foreign Policy

[Elston]

[maxxy]

Okay, I think I get what you're going at. This would be an interesting topic for me to research in my spare time.

[joannajewsom]

maxxy, check out, if you haven't already:

Manufacturing Consent (book and documentary; documentary is also partly a Chomsky biography), Outfoxed (2004 documentary about Fox News), and Control Room (documentary on coverage of the Iraq War).

[Elston]

From Democracy Now!

Obama Picks Anti-Gay Marriage, Anti-Abortion Evangelical for Inaugural Invocation

Meanwhile, Obama is drawing criticism from gay and lesbian activists for his choice to deliver the invocation at next month’s inauguration. Obama has selected the Reverend Rick Warren, a leading evangelical opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Warren supported California’s recent gay marriage ban and has compared abortion to the Nazi Holocaust. He’s also backed the idea of assassinating US foes, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a letter to Obama, Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign said, “Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans.”

[Elston]

US Opposes UN Declaration Affirming Gay Rights

At the United Nations, the General Assembly has approved a historic measure supporting gay rights worldwide. On Thursday, sixty-six countries voted to approve a declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality and guaranteeing equal rights for gays, lesbians and transgendered people. Most of the support came from Europe and Latin America. The Bush administration refused to support the measure, joining Russia, China, the Vatican and several Arab states.

[JohnnyRocketFingers]

The discrimination against gays disgusts me. 50 years time we will all look back at this as a perfect example of ignornance and history repeating itself from the 50's and 60's when blacks did not have the same rights as whites.

Also i couldn't believe that in CA most of the black population voted against gay rights after going through the struggle themselves (maybe not directly them but their fathers and grandfathers). Hypocritical? I think so.

That is not to say that a white person voting against gay rights is not as bad. It is equally appalling but I would have thought that a group of people that had gone through the struggle themselves would not do the same to another group. It just goes to show that human nature is pretty ugly.
_________________
"The future is unwritten."
~Joe Strummer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F10tP5HIpaA

[Elston]

Well put Johnny.

The arguments used by most people for denying gays equal marital rights are pathetic. The most cited one I hear is that the definition of marriage has been between a man and a women for thousands of years and in hundreds of cultures across the world. The logic there is: if something has been around a long time that means it's right and we shouldn't question it. What about oppression of women? Slavery? Capital punishment? The list goes on. These are all things that had been around a long time and were essentially universal, but today regarded as atrocious.

Another argument is because the Bible says it's wrong. The Bible also says to rape your daughter, to be racist, to murder people, but you don't do it just because the book says so. The Bible (when taken literally) is not a legitimate moral compass for modern life.

And another one is that gay marriage doesn't produce children, and therefore legalizing it will mean the end of the world! But in fact, we're facing the opposite problem in that we have too many people. We're not able to sustain life on the planet at this rate, so that's not a valid argument either.

Everyone should get equal rights.

Oh and I know exactly what you're talking about in the end of your post; when an oppressed minority turns around and oppresses another minority! It makes me laugh at first, but I see it all the time, which is quite sad. In fact, the barrista at Starbucks (who is a gay man) was cleaning the crumbs off a table that an Indian family left. He turned to me while shaking his head and said, "Fucking Brown people."

[maxxy]

This is one of three things that piss me off about the general state of American ignorance (along with climate change and fear of everyone who looks middle-eastern).

Totally agree with both of you. It's kinda funny hearing people try to defend denying equal marriage rights because, in reality, they have no valid argument (for example, Mike Huckabee on Jon Stewart the other day. Jon Stewart, who supports gay marriage rights sincerely argued with him, and, in my opinion, kicked his ass).

Discrimination against sexual orientation is an equivalent of racism, but some people don't seem to understand that.

And Elston, you're right. Discrimination hurts. Why do you think black people, especially in the cities, hate whites so much? Hundreds of years of oppression. Duh. Even if you're religious, it is always right to "do unto others what you would have them do unto you." We are the United Stupid of America.

[Elston]

Iran Closes Shirin Ebadi’s Human Rights Organization

The Iranian government has closed down the country’s main human rights organization, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. The Center for the Defense of Human Rights in Tehran was shut down on Sunday hours before it was scheduled to hold a ceremony to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The government accused the organization of carrying out illegal activities, such as publishing statements, writing letters to international organizations and holding news conferences.

Hey, I'm glad I live in a part of the world where telling the truth is not illegal.

Oh, and Noam Chomsky's wife died. That's unfortunate because he may follow her in the near future. Noam Chomsky is about 80 years old. Sniffle.

[Elston]

What do you think, is Barack Hussein Obama a war criminal? Although he didn't commence the Iraq War, he is continuing the operation (some would say intensifying).