Although the fact he is wearing the same jacket as the guy in Brokeback Mountain and swiped music from a gay composer is so funny it almost makes up for it. He's either just that oblivious or a great troll.

I KNOW, right? Fuck, I hadn't realized that about his clothing and music choices- I've never seen "Brokeback Mountain" (though I kinda want to). Fuck, that's so stupid, it's almost brilliant! I saw a LOT of comments about his rather stereotypical in-the-closet-ness. The guy who plays up being all macho, but EVERYONE knows he's gay, and he's the "last to learn about it"...

Oh, man! that's just so "just desserts"! LOL

http://thedailywh.at/2011/12/10/fun.....of-the-day-10/

It is to laugh XD

LOL Some of the comments are "precious", too- and often totally miss the point. Pfft. Nitwits.

I feel there should be a sense of protection in the military when it comes to the issues of Homosexuality. There are individuals whom take advantage of their positions to make others commit such actions. Those whom speak up against it often find themselves in the not so pleasant situations when it comes to the military. Some homosexual military men bully straight men, some homosexual men in higher ranks make their soldiers commit actions to supposedly get their soldiers " closer". I could care less of what a person decides to do sexually on their own or with others of their interest. Its when they try to force it on others that its a really REALLY big problem. And I know such problems exist, as I have friends in the Army, Marines, Navy and such whom experienced it. So if there is going to be homosexuals in the military, they have to know what is the place and time to express their lifestyles.

And although I do not consider myself complete "Christian" as most my family see's me more of an Agnostic, I believe in celebrating Christmas and say "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at my job without the fear of being fired or penalized.

I feel more cofortable with Rick Perry being President than Obama.

I'm not going to attack the military issues here cause I know it to be true

Sure Obama is a retard on some points of things .. LEAST he trying to make the usa a place where the LGBT feels safe to live

As you know its not a choice to be the way the LGBT commiunty is, They can't help it. .. Sure they push some issues a little hard and sometimes they flaunt it where it doesn't belong .. BUT straight people do the same damn thing.

So ya feel free to feel safer with a gay hater and watch everything people have been working for to fall apart when hes in office ....

Um, I think there is a definite problem with your reasoning on this one- the behaviour you describe happens in all orientations. It's reported among all ranks, all divisions and ALL orientations. It's called being a douche, and it's not limited to being gay. The things you're saying read EXACTLY like the kind of sly but bigoted garbage some people spread around as "facts" (which they aren't, sorry) to keep the "fear of the other" going, so we can continue having some kind of underclass. STOP that.

Do you SERIOUSLY think that all straights are clean of such behaviour? Is the only way you'll accept gays in the military is to have them held to a higher fucking (double)standard? FUCK that. They already have to work at a higher standard, just to get anywhere a "regular" soldier does just by being mediocre. Same thing happened to blacks, and later, women, in the military. I bet the rates of sexual harassment are HIGHER among the straight soldiers! Certainly the alcohol and spousal-abuse rates are high enough.

WHEN ANYONE USES THEIR POSITION TO ABUSE OTHERS, IT'S A REALLY BIG PROBLEM. IT'S NOT JUST THE "EBIL GAYZ".

I'm reasonably sure that you don't want anyone to be an underclass. There are people who do, however, and most of them don't even really want that- it's just tool to keep them in power and in possession of as much money and resources as they can scrape together. Sadly, that sort of misinformation is just one of those tools:

-Keep them afraid- talk up terrorists and how evil Muslims are.

-keep them hungry for status- produce and advertise products no one really needs, all while carefully suggesting to them that they will be more successful, get more girls, be richer or more influential- if they just buy this crap.

-keep them distracted- idolize sports or movie and music stars.

-keep them loyal- step up the propaganda, whipping up nationalistic froth and idolize anything in a uniform...

Does any of that sound familiar to you? It's our television, film and radio programming for the most part. It's in all of our mainstream media entertainment and news-sources. It's stuff that's been slowly added to how we do things so that it's not obvious that it wasn't always like this, all while eroding rights like freedom of speech or religion.

We're the frogs in a pot of soon-to-be-boiling water.

As for having Perry as President, dude, you smokin' sometin' that meltin' yer brain. The man is IGNORANT, BIGOTED, STUPID and FULL OF SHIT. Especially Perry's contention that there is some kind of persecution against Christians in this country. I don't see, or hear of, Christians having to keep their faith a secret to keep from being beaten up, from losing their jobs, refused medical treatment, marriage rights, or being attacked and murdered. I don't see anything like what homosexuals have to go through in this society. Perry is talking out of his butt. He is wrong about prayer in schools, he is wrong about Christian persecution, and he is wrong about gays in the military proving that there is something wrong in this country.

-People like him are the reason there is something wrong with this country.

-People like the super-wealthy using their money to buy influence is what'd wrong about this country.

-It's some of the Republicans who continually vote down things like more funding for schools, forcing polluters to clean up their acts, protections for endangered species or ecologies, and trying to kill things like Medicare and Social Security, yet keep allowing budgets for the military to go up to pay for wars we shouldn't be involved with in the first place- that is part of what's wrong with this country

-GREED is at the base of it all and what's fucking wrong with this country, as all of the above goes back into the pockets of the filthy-rich who bought those politicians, paying them to make policies based on what the Plutocracy wants, not what the People need!

Being gay is a false "talking point" being used as a distraction, nothing more.

...Are you actually in the military? Just wondering.

From what I have seen (ACTUALLY BEING IN THE MILITARY), it's the people who dislike homosexuality that are more dangerous and degrading to morale and good order than homosexuals themselves. In fact, I want you to offer me a single specific example of how homosexuality has been used to take advantage of others.

As with any other lifestyle in the military, there is a time and a place for everything. That's the general accepted standard for ANYTHING in the service.

Exactly. He's using the "we must fear teh gayz- they'z ebil" line. It's claiming to voice a bigoted viewpoint under the guise of a "valid concern". Disingenuous and rather repulsive, I have to say. He's talking about a few incidents in the military as if they were not only common but the norm! It's neither common, nor is it the norm. At ALL.

"I feel there should be a sense of protection in the military when it comes to the issues of Homosexuality." Wait. What!? How is less than five percent of the military any kind of a threat? I think you're closer to the mark: we might be better off, and more honest, to worry about abusive, homophobic straights who are more of a threat, and not just to gay folk, either. Yeesh.

"...express their lifestyles"
"lifestyles"

Stopped reading there.

Gay is not a lifestyle, you are an ignoramus, and get off of my internet. You lose, good day sir.

Gay is in fact a lifestyle, an action made to look like a race. Certain individuals would like to see the comparison of Black, White, Mexican, Gay.

I dont see "Straight" Parades. I dont flaunt that I live my life as to how I choose my sexual orientation. The fact is that there are more straight individuals in the fandom....we just dont have to post on our FA pages that we are of a specific "group". Its sort of a default.

It's not a lifestyle or a race you ignorant fuck, human sexuality is a physical trait that goes along a broad spectrum, like hair color. Plenty of people form groups around having similar characteristics, and if you don't think so then you've obviously never attended high school (which would make sense).

Go back to Texas and polish your gun, or whatever it is that closet cases like yourself do.

Son, I'm going to be polite to you in the interests of not being a jerk to a jerk comment, BUT- no one in the homosexual community is either claiming themselves to be a "race", or even trying to make it seem like it is. Race is genetic, but so is being gay. Race is restricted to various phenotypes (appearance like skin-colour), but being gay runs entirely across the human racial spectrum and is part of the the many variations of being human, just like skin colour. But, community, on the other hand, IS something gays and blacks (for example) have in common: they formed a group, in some cases, for mutual protection, in most, just to "belong" somewhere and be with people who won't, oh, I dunno, try to KILL them for being something other than the precious white race, or for being a "deviant"?

Being black is the SAME as being gay in a number of particulars: neither had the choice to be what they would be at birth- it's genetic. Being gay is not a choice, any more than being black or native American is a choice. I don't just walk into a group of people and tell them "Hi! I'm black, now, can I hang with you guys?" Same deal with being homosexual: you either are attracted to your own gender, or you're not. Period. End of discussion- go look at the science. It's also not a "lifestyle"- lifestyles you choose. You cannot choose a gay "lifestyle" any more than you can choose to live a black "lifestyle". To even suggest it is bizarrely ignorant and really stupid. The other particular is how they've been treated: if I were to tell you about someone being mobbed, beaten up, mocked, prevented from accessing services, even essential ones, or denied jobs or rights simply because of who they were, what would you assume? Something racial, right? Well, gays went through much the same fucking garbage as blacks did, and are still going through them (visitation-rights to their sick lover, being refused jobs or even medical care, marriage, etc). So, really, how the fuck is their experience any different from blacks or any other marginalized group? They are abused by the heterosexual majority, much as blacks were abused by the white majority.

Abuse is abuse, it doesn't fucking matter who is being abused! If you shit on someone because of their race or their orientation, there is one word that covers both asshat positions: BIGOT.

As for Pride Parades- straights don't need Pride Parades. Why? Because, in general, they've never been the oppressed sexual underclass- they were the "norm". We don't have a "white history" month, either. Why? Because whites were mostly the ones- at least in the West- writing the histories, and they had all the privileges- again, they were the "norm" in this culture. Straights and whites can have pride every day- and do, while some of us are happy just to be fucking ALIVE in a world that treats us like we're some sort of disease.

As for "flaunting"- the only flaunting I often see is heteros trying to tell gays how to live their lives, as if what they do in their bedroom has ANY bearing whatsoever on how straights live their lives. The only time I see gays "flaunting" is during those parades, as a joke at their own expense or as part of a Cabaret performance. Most gays are "invisible" in the sense that you often can't tell who is gay, unless they "play up" for the humour of it. Some gay folk do act like the stereotype: effeminate behaviours, certain tones of voice, lisps and so on- either because they're goofing around and making fun of how hets see them, because they think that's how they SHOULD act to "prove" they're gay to fit in with the community (weird to me, too, but there are folks who do this), are older people who have been using those behaviours for decades because it was the fashion then, or it's just natural to them. For the most part, it's a caricature! When was the last time you ever heard anyone use the argument that "I'm tired of black people flaunting their lifestyles. I don't flaunt that I live my life as to how I choose my skin-tone...."? It sounds ridiculous, and it is.

"The fact is that there are more straight individuals in the fandom....we just dont have to post on our FA pages that we are of a specific "group". Its sort of a default."

Wait. Wat? One, it is not a "default"- that is your opinion- please don't confused your supremely messed up opinion for "fact". Also, who cares which orientation or sexual-identity is in the majority? How is this, in any way, going to back up your "argument"? Does the "fact" that there are more hets than homos in the Fandom actually mean anything? Really? It certainly doesn't prove that being gay is wrong, being flaunted or is a threat to anyone. There are more males in Fandom, too- does that mean we ladies should stop "flaunting" ourselves, too? Or be marginalized on FA because there are more males? That's how your "argument" reads, sonny- that because there are more hets, that gays should shut up or go away. LOL Fail.

And, for your information, there are a LOT of individuals and groups that post their orientations, for no other reason than it's a way of letting people know who might be interested in meeting them as possible partners. This site does see some traffic as a way to meet people, ya know. It's a social-networking site, after all, not just for art. Duhhh.

Here's a sample of some groups on FA that identify by orientation/gender:

Straight: (defunct) Interesting that there seem to be more straight groups, hmmm (well, one doesn't exist any more)?

Gay:

Gendered:

Other orientations:

In between genders:

A LOT of people put one of those icons on their page top show their orientation ans membership in a group. They chose the group, but they didn't choose their orientation. Are you seeing the difference, yet?

Lastly, I think you could use an education on a few things, particularly that you should perhaps do something about that bigotry of yours and root out that homophobia and the causes of it, 'cuz you're not only hugely misinformed about so many things regarding gays, you've been fed a LOT of bullshit about them, too. You haven't yet realized they aren't anything like a threat to you, or anyone else, and because you're simply too young to be that much of an asshole.

That prompted a question, later on, from someone in the audience who wanted to know if the governor of Texas wants to be the next president of the United States. “No,” Perry said. “I have no intention to go to Washington, D.C., except maybe to go to a museum, like the Smithsonian.”

Social issues might be in the back seat, but they’re still in the car: “There is still a land of opportunity, friends — it’s called Texas,” Perry said. “We’re creating more jobs than any other state in the nation. … Would you rather live in a state like this, or in a state where a man can marry a man?”


Heres some more stupid shit hes sprouted Murra

Thank you my, friend- were there supposed to be links, though? But those quotes, holy heck, this guy is not only inconsistent (except for being a jerk), he's a blithering idiot.

Agreed

I found these gems today:

Here are some other choice quotes from a man I firmly believe is both a bigot and an idiot who should NEVER being any kind of office, let alone the Presidency. Him as President will set us back more than a hundred years, I'm sure of it:

I actually attribute this one to stage-fright, but anyone who wants to cut funding to Education is a f**king 'tard:

"I will tell you: It's three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see. ... OK. So Commerce, Education and the -- ... The third agency of government I would -- I would do away with the Education, the ... Commerce and -- let's see -- I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops." –Rick Perry, experiencing an epic onstage meltdown during a GOP debate, forgetting about his plan to cut the Department of Energy, Nov. 9, 2011

He's a freaking BIRTHER- if THAT isn't stupid, then I don't know what IS:

"It's a good issue to keep alive. It's fun to poke at him." --Rick Perry, suggesting that President Obama's birth certificate is a fake, Oct. 26, 2011

Ditto on the stupidity for this one, too:

"It's a theory that's out there. It's got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution." –Rick Perry, in response to a child who asked him if he believed in evolution during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, August 18, 2011

This one is pretty awful, too:

"I don't think the federal government has a role in your children's education." –Rick Perry, at a campaign stop in Iowa, August 15, 2011

More proof of his generalized bigotry- this one racial:

“Young Hispanics in Texas can aspire to be the next Rolando Pablos, the chairman of the Texas racing commission; maybe the next Roberto de Hoyos, who heads our economic development shop; and one of my favorites, the head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Jose Cuevas. Is that awesome? That is the right job for that man." –Rick Perry, bombing with a joke about Jose Cuervo tequila while speaking before a Latino convention in Texas, June 23, 2011

I honestly don't think this doofus comprehends what he reads in the Bible, if he HAS read the thing- there is nothing in the Bible that I know of that makes ANY mention of "don't spend all the money", and his take on the enslavement of the Jews by the Pharaoh is unbelievably messed up. He didn't "take care" of the people of Isreal, and nor did they want him to!:

"I think in America from time to time we have to go through some difficult times — and I think we’re going through those difficult economic times for a purpose, to bring us back to those Biblical principles of you know, you don't spend all the money. You work hard for those six years and you put up that seventh year in the warehouse to take you through the hard times. And not spending all of our money. Not asking for Pharaoh to give everything to everybody and to take care of folks because at the end of the day, it's slavery. We become slaves to government." –Rick Perry, June 2011

Geography fail, or thinking that the rest of North America IS "America? I wonder if he thinks that way about the border cities of Canada, too?:

"Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America." –Rick Perry, referring to a city that is across the Texas border in Mexico, February 28, 2011

Uh, hate to break it to ya, dipshit, but the BP spill was caused by negligence, a PREVENTABLE situation, and the very DEFINITION of "act of god" means "couldn't be prevented" Holy Fuck, you utter vapour-brain!:

"From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented." —Rick Perry, on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010

Uh, what? Sorry, buddy, not every American is religious, let alone Christian, so having THIS bullshit as part of country-wide school curriculum is ridiculous. So is putting faith and intellect together as cognates. If you have faith about something, you aren't needing intellect about that topic because you've stopped QUESTIONING THE VERACITY OF IT! Duhhh, Mr. Presidential Candidate:

"I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution." —Rick Perry in 2010

More proof of his bigotry and ignorance of what it means to be gay, taken from the book he supposedly "wrote", and relating homosexuality to a disease is just REPULSIVE:

"Even if an alcoholic is powerless over alcohol once it enters his body, he still makes a choice to drink. And, even if someone is attracted to a person of the same sex, he or she still makes a choice to engage in sexual activity with someone of the same gender." –Rick Perry, writing in his 2008 book, "On My Honor"

And, lastly, the only true words I've ever seen this man be quoted as saying:

"George W. Bush did a incredible job in the presidency, defending us from freedom." –Rick Perry in 2010

LOL

Not a fan of the video but I think it should, by all means, stay up.

1) Just because he does not respect the Constitution does not mean I should not and
2) If he wants to show everyone what a massive dolt he is on the internet that's just fine by me.

There is that- good point. I actually am not a fan of censorship, either, but this hateful stuff should at least be societally- shunned. So hit "dislike", then. Do whichever your conscience allows. >^____^<

Well. I actually saw that the other day and I was pleased by the number of downvotes. I understand that it is hateful and at first I thought it should be taken down, too. It is certainly offensive and encourages/expresses hatred, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that we need not remove these things from our society in order to express dislike or distaste of them.

Perhaps I am idealistic, but removing it, to me, would violate the very tenant upon which this country was founded. One of them, at least. They don't seem to be valued at all any more, though. I will be leaving soon, I think...

HOWEVER.

It does violate YouTube's ToS. I have to give that point.

Leaving? Leaving where? *gives a loong look, hoping it doesn't mean what she suspect it means, and that she is completely wrong and are just meaning Youtube*

I grinned nice and wide at seeing how many downers it got: it's sitting at around 611K right now.

Nothing wrong with being idealistic, hon. With idealists, nothing would ever change, and people would just put up with misery because that's "just the way things are"...

And, yes, it DOES violate YT's TOS- unbelievable that it came from a US-fucking GOVERNOR! O____o Yes, by all means, let it stay, then and point to it with derision whenever someone needs an example of subtle bigotry. It's the quietly-expressed lies and discrimination that is given in a "this is something everyone knows" format that it slips past a lot of people, or they barely notice the shit-sandwich because it's wrapped in really nice bread and nod their heads like the sheeple they are.

I am leaving the country.

Ooh? For a jerb? If so, awesome! Or, looking for opportunities?

(and, holy heck, the reply format has changed- when did this happen? Or is it just on my page? *blinks*)

Well. All sorts of things. Mostly new horizons. I feel I am far too progressive to remain in this country. :<

I hear ya. I though the U.S.' politics was a little weird, seeing it from the outside, but when I actually moved here and saw so much more of it from a more personal perspective, it was no longer weird, but totally fucking INSANE.

I was born here. I am even in the military. I thought there were things worth protecting. Now... now I am not so sure and I just want to leave.

There are things worth protecting, actually, but what soldiers are told they're protecting is a big, fat lie. I suspect that "protecting the nation's interests overseas" is really "protect the investor's money and the oil we want". *sigh* But, there are still things worth protecting: human rights, the environment from our greed and ignorance, education, workers here at home, etc.

Yeah I'm seeing SO many breaches of human rights, let alone simple decency, that it's repulsive. I hope we can fix that little shit-nugget. It's why I like groups like Anonymous and #Occupy for their willingness and creativity in protesting bad government. I just hope that dissent doesn't get so repressed that even mentioning them in passing makes you guilty by association, like it was in the fifties with Communism. I also hope I'm not being "prophetic". *sighs* So MANY protests, all over the world, almost all being about the same thing: fiscal chicanery and greed. China is starting to rumble that way, too, but they're better at hiding their unrest. Mass revolt sounds really interesting... and really disastrous, but what choice do we have when every rule is seemingly stacked against us?

I am under no illusion that we are protecting our nation's interest in the form of protecting vested interests rather than the american people.

As for the breaches of human rights and how protesting doesn't seem to work unless it is on a massive scale: Take a look at the corporate news and how it reported on Occupy and Anon ... and how it has been reporting on SOPA and NDAA (IE Not doing a damn thing.) We no longer live in a country where the people are properly informed of the actions of their government. I am unsure when that died, but I imagine it was some time before I was born; it's just now that they seem to be taking very ruthless advantage over it and it sickens me.

Well, not all news-sources are ignoring the Occupy groups, in fact, they're sometimes cheering them on.

As for when the misinformation campaigns came in and started it's work on destroying the freedom of US citizens (which I am not, by the way, and it still saddens me to see this shit), if you're interested in a doing a lot of research, I'd suggest looking into the firs propaganda campaigns of the early 1900's during Woodrow Wilson's Presidency: Americans weren't interested in the war in Europe, didn't feel the need to be involved in it and were generally more interested in staying at home, working for their families' futures. Someone had advised Wilson to encourage more nationalist fervour, with speeches, radio spots and so on. Radio and early movies were the latest stage in the Information Age, which some people believe truly began in the 1400's with Gutenberg's printing press. The Modern Info Age really began with radio and film, and Wilson's propaganda department pulled out all the stops...

Later, that same apparatus became our bane and doom:all media controlled by those with all of the money, the ones who truly wish to rule us, with the Congress and the President as the figureheads we will all look to, feed us distractions, lies and generally inaccurate and slanted bullshit, cut education and social-programs of any kind...

Man, I try to keep all of those things as separate incidents and not as connected causal forces, but it's freaking HARD. The patterns I keep seeing just don't add up as anything more than a long-established plan of takeover to put us back into the days of feudal lords and serfs. I actually don't like conspiracy-theories very much. I find them entertaining, but not worth believing. But, THIS stuff, if it's true, will mean bloody revolution as possibly being the only solution. If not true, then we have the longest series of shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moments of sheer STUPID that I have ever seen, and I highly doubt we'll survive for long like this.

Thing is, I have no idea which is worse, except that revolution at least offers a possibility of winning and hopefully making things right.

The sad fact is that revolution really does seem to be the only thing that will make much of a difference, especially if things continue down the same road for a decade more or so (though I am not sure we will last quite that long at this rate!)

As for the 'coincidences': I see them not as some overarching plan more as the natural course of things, entities acting out of their own interests adding up over decades and decades. It's cosmic irony.

Derp. That was suposed to read "WithOUT idealists, nothing would ever change..." *head-desk* I hate it when I miss whole frakkin' words like that- completely changes the meaning. Poo.

judging by the amount of red bar i'm seeing on that video, i don't think that dude has a chance in hell at becoming president

Me neither, but an opportunity to mock a well-known political figure's views that's this sweet doesn't come our way all THAT often! LOL I mean, this doofus set himself up! And, as "iconfrogsbreath: pointed out, he's apparently wearing a jacket very similar to one worn by one of the characters in Brokeback Mountain and the music that was chosen was by a gay composer. If Perry didn't make those choices, then his publicist did, and the man must HATE Perry with a passion- probably because he himself is gay. Wow, if that's the case, that publicist is a fucking genius at getting revenge! Imagine,doing his best to get hired for the guy's campaign, then sticking a nice, king-sized wrench in it (not that Perry needed much help to fuck up, by hey, this is like icing)! LOL Frakkin' brilliant!

Ugh. That was supposed to be  frogsbreath

"there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. "

no, there's something wrong when i have to listen to religious music anytime i step inside of a store for two months. don't get me wrong, the only thing i have against the funny christmas songs is that they get old REALLY quickly, but i don't want to have to listen to religious music just so that i can get something to eat. and nobody ever said that kids can't celebrate christmas or pray in school, just that they can't make others do so.

for that matter, when i was in school, we DID have christmas parties, so hey!

LOL Yeah. I'm not a Christian (I'm atheist), but I still enjoy Christmas (or Solstice, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, etc) and share that time with family. It's a fun holiday and a cool excuse to get someone something nice for them.

I don't feel "oppressed" in any way just because there is seasonal music that happens to be somewhat religious in nature. But, if you look at the lyrics of most of the songs they play over and over, you'll see that not many are actually religious, just sappy stuff along the lines of "June, moon, spoon" about romping in the snow with friends, sugar-plums dancing in their heads, Santa, a certain deer with really bad Rosacea, gift-giving, the joys of sharing time with each other and dinners with family. The few actually religious songs I recall hearing on occasion are Little Drummer Boy, Good King Wenceslas, We Three Kings and so on- I like them because they have melodies that are a LOT more listenable to my ear than drek like Jingle-Bells (I'm especially fond of The Carol Of The Bells- it's one of those old Paganish melodies, I suspect- talks about Solstice and the like, anyway). The funny thing is, a lot of the religious ones were melodies taken from the Pagans who'd originally used them in their Yule-tide celebrations, which had NOTHING to do with this drooling infant in barn, surrounded by animals and destitute parents. LOL

Besides, it's only for a while. My only beef with it is, it's supposed to "remind" people to spend money for Christmas, and encourage them to spend more than they did last year- that's all. It's an old marketing ploy.

And, yes, I agree with you about what the ban on prayer in schools actually was- it's in my rant, up there.

oh, i don't find it oppressive, just annoying, and i'll admit that i actually like a few of the tunes on the old ones, like carol of the bells, as you said. or the ones that make fun of the holiday, those usually get a laugh out of me, at least. most of what gets me is hearing the same 5 songs for 2 hours while shopping

Totally agreed! Some of those songs are so gawdzawful. It disturbs me that they get played so often, too! Maybe they're free of copyright and they can be played ad nauseum for free?

i dunno, but it's gotten to the point where i will hunt down 'anti christmas' music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWMTF5fLA6o

*snickers* The guy's voice is more than a bit annoying, but the song is pretty funny. LOL I prefer Weird Al's Christmas At Ground Zero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t039p6xqutU and I think you'll get a laugh over this twisted animation for "The Night Santa Went Crazy": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fiw.....eature=related

personally, i like the bob rivers songs

I'm not familiar with Bob Rivers- guess I'll have to go look him up.

guess you will!

http://cracked.tumblr.com/post/1392.....hristmas-party

Cracked posted a spoof video and it got taken down twice within an hour, but they still won't take down the original. ffs.

Well, that's typical. A satire of a bilious vid gets removed, and the the one by the bigoted Governor stays up. Nice. O____o

Money talks, and Youtube is highly fluent in its language.

Not the first time I've seen them promote or remove videos as necessary to make certain opinions seem more popular than others.
Impartial they definitely ain't!

But this one is surprising because they're owned by google, which is rather gay friendly!

On their public-relations side maybe they appear gay friendly, but like any business these days their opinions probably change to whatever happens to be more profitable that day.

"Loyalty with a price tag attached" is one of the highest items on my "List of Things I Hate About Modern Society", lol.
That list gets longer every day too, maybe I should stop updating it...

I like that there's over 600,000 dislikes on that video =P I disliked and reported =3

Me too! Folks are trying to get it up to a million... Many state-level politicians don't get that many votes to get them into office. Imagine what they might feel when they see how votes to keep them OUT...

*giggles* if I was him, I'd be quite worried =P

I hope he sweats in total embarrassed fear in his bed at night, the cretin.

yeah, that'd be good =3

And I'd be interested to see what jpa2blue's response is =P

See above. He commented before you did. And it's the usual. I gave him one MY "usuals", a wordy ripping of new ones. LOL

Very nicely done, Murra =3 I just wish I was that good at debating and stuff XD still, it's always nice seeing a homophobe get shot down =3 (Homophobia: One of the few things almost guaranteed to piss me off =P)

Well, I'm good on the written-word front, since I can take my time and think about what I want to say, but put me on the spot, in a verbal-social situation, and I become just as stupid as the person I'm trying to throw down on. Gotta love social-anxieties fuckin' wit' mah groove. *grumps* But, I've been getting better, lately- the meds help a LOT.

I just plain can't do it with written word or spoken XD I guess my mind just doesn't work that way ^^" but I know what you mean about being put on the spot and stuff, I remember in Year 9 (dunno what the equivalent grade would be in America), my english teacher had a thing for debating. One time we were partnered up and had to debate about something in front of the whole class! Dx I got obliterated.

Every time I see that video, it makes my skin crawl. What an abhorrent human being! Using religion as an excuse to be a homophobe.. good job, dude. I'm pretty sure he's not going to make it much farther in the runnings.
Michelle Bachmann is another detestable republican runner I hope to see drop out soon. Ugh.

Indeed. She's a complete wingnut! Her AND Palin. Yeesh. I kinda wish that, in order to even consider running for office, a person's sanity be assessed, along with their intelligence. Oy. Mind you, you can be brilliant, even while holding utterly repugnant views... O___o

Though the idea of a "meritocracy' sounds nice: prove you're worthy to lead... (I'm sure that isn't gonna bite me in the butt, later. Nope. *waits*) LOL

O.o Why are we talking about Rick Perry? Seriously? The dude's campaign for presidency is /Dead/. You don't have to ask any of us to help take the fucker down because he has been doing a sublime job of getting his own campaign destroyed. Fuck it, I say let him do and say whatever the hell he wants. It's only hurting him. If we censor him then no one gets to see shit like that's in this video, which is quickly proving to be self destructive on his end.

We want Republicans to self destruct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathon_Sharkey

Personally, I like this chap. He has a sound platform and seems the sanest of them all.

What is this I don't even...



...sadly, this man's presidency would be less damaging to america than Newt Gingrinch

...yes, the misspell was intentional.

Seriously, I think we have enough loony-tunes types in politics. I'm certain we've reached the required quota. LOL

Oops, should have added: while a good portion of his "platform" is interesting, I see how much he is trying to resemble Vlad Tsepes with his impalings, beheadings, torture and his odd mustaches. That, and a guy who wants to ban abortion, yet legalize marijuana (which I happen to agree with- the legalizing of pot, I mean) is a bit screwy and inconsistent. I do like the fact that he seems to be interested in protecting the more... unusual beliefs out there, but I'm not certain how well it would go over if "demons and vampires" are represented. Mind you, Otherkin just might get a say, as would any Pagan or Shamanistic group...

But, no, he's got too many things wrong with him, not the least of which is his rumoured reputation for insisting that his girls all be under the age of nineteen. That's disgusting, in my mind, and far too close to opportunistic paedophilia.

True- I'd already agreed about that point with another commenter- let his vid stay up, so he can continue shooting himself in the foot! LOL But, just because you've seen that his Presidency bid is "dead", doesn't mean I may have, ok? I'm not online as often any more, and I certainly don't watch TV, either, so can you maybe ease up on the "holy fuck, does she live under a ROCK?" stuff, ok? *hugs*

o.o I never meant to suggest you were living under a rock or anything. I simply posted my comment to your original journal. I don't often read the other comments of individuals, so I had no clue someone had suggested the same thing.

The thing suggested was to let his vid stay up. No one, other than you, has mentioned the "his campaign is dead" thing. I kind of like the term "shampaign", though.

I actually wasn't offended: sorry I took so long getting around to letting you know that. Been kinda busy.

Busy is good, at least when your alternative is having no life, no mate and no employment. Go be busy you lovely Kanuck dragoness. I'm patient when it suits me to be.

If you haven't seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3epc2arU4g4

Also:
http://rsrc.psychologytoday.com/fil.....5708-47021.jpg

People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions. Such regimes are dogmatic to the core and generally give rise to personality cults that are indistinguishable from cults of religious hero worship. Auschwitz, the gulag and the killing fields were not examples of what happens when human beings reject religious dogma; they are examples of political, racial and nationalistic dogma run amok. There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.
-Sam Harris

OMFG I like you. Never heard someone say it like that, and it's oh so on the mark.

That I stole from my G+ inbox.

No matter. It's an excellent expression/quote all the same, and I thank you for sharing it.

No problem

Seconded! And the cartoon- egad, it's so true! I don't think I've EVER heard about any Atheists trying to bomb anyone- I think this Sam Harris has it right: the dogmatic Communistic ideologies (like early U.S.S.R, Great Leap Forward China and modern North Korea) are too much like the religions they often sneer at... Makes me wonder if they've even read Marx at all- he said "religion is the opiate of the masses"- what if he meant not just religion, but anything that behaves like a religion or demands religious-like behaviour from it's followers? Hmmm... LOL

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbrI3F7p6-o <======= WATCH EET!

Outstanding.

Imma poke the flames.
The anti-discrimination flag flies both ways. Notice in the video he says he finds it sad that gays can serveopenly *but* kids cannot say merry christmas in school. He used a really dumb example, but I am inclined to agree. Descrimination against *anyone* is wrong. Wether gay, straight, christian, muslim, black, white or hot pink.
Yeah the guy is probably a homophobic dipshit, but I'm not aware of the rest of his statements to make a call on that.
I see the same childish behavior on both sides of the religious debate, both screaming the same thing. Same thing on the gay straight debate. Calling someone's beliefs imaginary is just as unfair as telling a gay guy that he chose to be gay. I'd be just as pissed off on either side.

*takes a deep breath* Cripes I hate formatting that on an iphone.
So. Can we drop the insults a bit, and actually look at the core issue? Both sides feel that their beliefs are threatened. Calling each other names, and saying that another person's values are fake is not fair in either direction.
It's like yelling that little Billy has cooties. (Which he does :D)

...but you can say merry christmas in school. Hell, my school - a public school, mind you, not a religious one - had Christmas parties and decorations. They also had Hanukkah decorations at the appropriate times.

My point is that no one (at least no one that matters) is attacking christmas. People just get offended when someone acts like it's the only holiday around this time. Jews, wiccans, and fuck even atheists all have cause to celebrate around the beginning of winter, and the only thing people are going against is that christmas takes this huge glaring spotlight around this time of year, pretty much sending the message that the other religions and celebrations don't matter. Why does it overshadow the rest like this? Because it's specifically hyped up to do so. Why? Because christmas sells.

...Personally, I have no problem with cashiers saying 'merry christmas', or schools having christmas decorations. None.
Under the provision that it's kept NEAR christmas (within a few days), and that the other winter holidays get similar coverage. Christmas should be kept christmas, I agree. It shouldn't be converted into a generic 'happy holidays', that's not right. Christmas is christmas.
...But november 28th is NOT christmas, and listening to 'holly jolly christmas' for a solid month gets pretty fucking annoying. Throw in some paegan yule songs or SOMETHING. Hell, I'd take Hava Nagila at this point.

You seem like one of the more sensible peoples, oh yesyes.
You'd be surprised how many others have ended up pissy at me when I say merry christmas, or "You're in my prayers".
I suppose I have this odd ability to detach, and see the frustrations of both sides in any argument--seems to be a result of my work in medicine.
I may not agree (and god knows I don't here). But I try to encourage the opening of discussion, rather than OMG HIS OPINION IS WRONG.
Also hiy; nice to meetya.
(Sent from iPhone)

Hi you! Been crazy busy with a commission, so my apologies for not replying to this sooner.

I have no problems with your views on most of what you said, actually. Discrimination is just wrong, no matter who it's aimed at.

My only beefs are regarding these:

"Calling someone's beliefs imaginary is just as unfair as telling a gay guy that he chose to be gay". And-

I actually agree that it is quite possibly unfair- I even agree it isn't exactly nice, but I'm not trying to take a person's right to believe in something I think is imaginary away from them, unlike certain groups trying to use their religion to rationalize total social-discrimination against another group simply because that group wants to be able to marry under the law, with all of the benefits and draw-backs that entails. The religious-not-so-right are using their religions in order to prevent them from having it. I'm not trying to use what power I might have (assuming I were a high-end politician for this) in order to make laws banning any particular religious-belief from having the same legal benefits as any other belief.

"Calling each other names, and saying that another person's values are fake is not fair in either direction. It's like yelling that little Billy has cooties. (Which he does :D)"

When it's bleedingly obvious that these people are utterly unable to walk their talk, often go against their own stated beliefs, then use those beliefs to justify really shitty behaviour to other people, even breaking laws and expecting not to be caught, let alone punished, I have not trouble calling THEM any names I can fucking think up. When someone like Rick Perry's "cooties" are a threat to the rights of other people, I'll yell "Perry has cooties!" as loud as I can!

To reiterate, for me, the only difference between, say myself as an atheist, and the True Believers I have so much difficulty handling, is that I don't expect laws to be made based on MY beliefs, because I understand that not everyone believes in the way I do, and it would be vastly unfair to them, even a breach of their civil-rights. I don't expect the True Believers to change their beliefs, either. I might personally want them to, but I also know it would be unfair, wrong, totalitarian and just plain rude to tell them they should do what I say because I'm just that certain I'm right.

See, unlike the current crop of religious-right wing-nuts (yes, I'm calling 'em names), I understand a very simple premise: law is made to serve ALL, not just one specific group. But, their one specific group is trying to make the ALL (the rest of us who might follow another religion or no religion at all) follow THEIR idea of what "right and true" law "should" be- based on their one, specific religion. When someone, or a group of someones, start going on like that, forgetting that very important principle, then I feel perfectly justified in calling those fools names.

The core issue is discrimination, but it's not discrimination against Christians, like Perry bogusly claims. He's also full of it regarding prayer in schools- kids ARE allowed to pray- no one is stopping them from adhering to their religious dictates in class, or anywhere else on school grounds. It's the SCHOOLS that are not allowed to enforce prayer to any religion: because of the wide-variety of beliefs the students will have, it would be discriminatory to put one faith (Christianity) over all the others, so thus that ban on prayer- to any god- in schools. Perry either lied, or doesn't understand WTF he's talking about in that matter. It's the discrimination against any other belief-system that's not Christian that is at issue here, or even that particular brand of Christian. Perry's homophobia is well-known and very much documented, so I won't bother with that- he's just a garden-variety bigot, who happens to have some clout- clout I'd love to see removed from this carbuncle.

The issue is that politicians are using their personal beliefs (their religions), or their money (from Big Oil or other massive corporations trying to have full control of our economy and government) as a platform to get elected. Some candidates are trying to oust other candidates because their religion doesn't match what they think is "right" (Romney's a Mormon, and some religious-right hate them, even though they are Christians, too). Some are trying to justify their bigotries based on their faiths and attempting to gain political followers using that and refuse to accept that they might actually be wrong in their bigotries, because their religion claims it's righteous. They're trying to get laws passed that serve only the opinions and beliefs of their religious-sects, and that is wrong. That is the way to a theocracy, and we've seen what happens to human-rights in a theocracy: they go into the round-file, along with other religions (or no religion), free-thought, free-expression, and so on.

The whole point of this, whether it covers religious-freedom, corporations buying the political-process so they're allowed to pollute as they will, gain loopholes in tax-law and other perks, or gays being refused the exact same rights as hets, is that THE LAW MUST SERVE ALL, NOT JUST THE FEW. To have one religion come to dominate that law is wrong. To have one gender identity call the shots in law is wrong. To have Big Money purchase power to change law in their favour and turn the rest us into serfs so they can keep filling their pockets is wrong.

All gender-identities should have an equal footing in society- they are human beings first, and their rights should cover that. One gender-identity that happens to be in the majority should not be making law that excludes another gender-identity, just for that gender-identity's existence, or for any reason.

All religious people (or non-religious) should have equal footing in their right to believe- none of those beliefs should be the basis of law that must govern everyone, believers and non-believers alike, particularly law that potentially strips rights of self-determination from any particular group (such as birth-control and access to abortion, if needed, medically, or not. This is a big deal with some of the religious-right factions, right now).

Corporations are not people and should not have the same rights as people- they are businesses. Their right to make money should never be infringed upon, UNLESS that money is being used to take over the governing-process, damage the environment, harm workers or other businesses, or to warp law in their favour at the expense of other people, businesses, the environment, governmental process, or economy. They must be made to follow the same rules we all must follow, in terms of ethics, honesty and fair-dealings, and they should be made to suffer the same punishments we suffer when we break that law. Money should not dictate the form of law.

Go on, fan those flames, hon- maybe they'll spread, and people will start to think about what their actions really mean in a larger world than just their own backyards or their own heads, because we have to start thinking in a less selfish, self-centred way and recognize that we can be the butterfly of outrage that causes a hurricane of positive social-change. Yeah, hackneyed analogy is hackneyed. LOL

Come by any time- I like your "Devil's Advocate" comments. Maybe they'll make some folks think, too. >^___^<

Oh lordy, who the fuck let him out of his cage.

Ugh, it's gonna be one of THOSE election seasons again.

Lemme tell you, this was how I determined my vote for this coming election...
"Ron Paul? I'd give the guy a tinfoil hat if I weren't afraid he'd try to pass it off as god's special metal or something like that. Who's this clown running against, anyway? They must have the easiest jo-
>Newt Gingritch
>Rick Perry
>Herman Kain

...Ron Paul 2012!!"

So sorry I missed this reply, but when I finally saw it, it made my day! LOL

completed <3

and people like him I just can NOT tolerate. My fiance just got accepted into the US Army and as he was in his recruiter's office, he saw an openly gay man signing up. That's incredible.. and yet, this Rick Perry guy thinks that's wrong..

What I don't understand is that I thought the separation of church and state meant that we didn't have to pray in schools.. Am I mistaken?

Not really. You've pretty much got it, actually.

The whole prayer in schools thing was challenged by some people concerned that one faith was being pushed above, and at the expense of, others, so a ban was put in preventing all schools from forcing kids to pray to any god at all- whether one they may not believe in, or even one they were devoted followers of. Kids can still pray, if THEY want to, and to whatever deity, it's the schools who aren't allowed to concentrate on one religion over all the others and make it a requirement for students to pray. Unless the school is a religious school to begin with, no school can tell any child that s/he must pray to just one god; meaning their god. We have people from all over the world in our schools, of hundreds of faiths, and to have to deal with being told to pray to the Christian deity is not only incredibly offensive, it's discriminatory and possibly even blasphemous to those who aren't part of that religion.

Rick Perry is completely wrong on that particular: students are allowed to pray, the schools cannot make them pray, to any god. As for Christians being persecuted in this country, he's full of something brown and nasty-smelling. Christians ARE being persecuted, even to imprisonment or execution, but that's in places like North Korea, rather far removed from the US, I'm afraid.

I seem to recall that Caesar had a similar thing happening: any subject could pray to any god, as long as they prayed to him as a god, too. When the Hebrews rebelled against that, the Romans sent in troops to stomp on it. Thousands died because they refused to pray to Caesar. Hundreds, possibly thousands of Christians, too.

Now, we have Christians telling people of other faiths that not only is their religion going to be ignored, unrepresented or even allowed, in some instances, they seem to to want to have them pray to a being they don't believe in and have the right to persecute other faiths they don't like. And the circle comes around to completion. *sighs* These True Believers never fucking learn...

As an atheist, I don't believe in ANY god. Wonder what they'd do with me? Heh.

haha! yeah! What could they do to you? XD

What i've noticed (and I know it's what everyone else has noticed too, I'm just not very familiar with it) is that long ago, when Christians were being persecuted, around the time of Jesus, other religions were on top. Then, Christians decided to flip the table and take down all other faiths because it wasn't part of the Christian-way. It still seems that way in America. If you aren't Christian, you aren't worth that same brown smelly stuff that Rick Perry is full of.

I wasn't aware that Christians were still being persecuted in North Korea, though! :o
and Caesar was just.. messed up.

True Believers are just close-minded and will never learn because of it. If they could open up a bit and actually listen to others without the bias, things would be better. wouldn't they?

I"m not an Atheist per-say, but I'm definitely not a Christian.

Ah yeah....now I know why I've been blocking him from my mind when I see them all debating.

I haven't tortured myself with any of the debates, yet, but I get little notices from a progressive site with clips of people like him being utter bigots who wish to be in office, hoping to raise up enough outrage to keep them from ever getting any kind of position of power.

I said a long time ago that Rick Perry scares the sh*t out of me. Because he *could* win, if people let him. Scary.

I have very strong hopes and certainty that he won't win, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. Seems the Year of the Dragon is going to be a tumultuous one, as they often seem to be in various records. Heh.

The unfortunate part is that other candidates are so awful...

Well, the other Republican candidates just don't have the ability to connect across the spectrum - Mitt Romney's not gonna carry the South, whereas Perry could. Ron Paul's likely not going to attract middle-aged voters, Santorum and Gingrich and Bachmann are crazy... Enjoy the Year of the Dragon!