I have no patience
…for people who claim “religious freedom” means that they don’t actually have to do their jobs.
The House GOP spending $500,000 in taxpayer money to defend DOMA
With the half million dollars you are paying to defend discrimination, you could do some better things! For example…
Put it towards family planning programs. Result: Save the government nearly $2 million down the road. Prevent about 520 unintended pregnancies and nearly 220 abortions.
Put it towards the Pell Grant program. Result: Help 100 additional students from low-income families get a higher education.
Put it towards SNAP, the federal food stamps program. Result: Ensure about 1,700 families of four living in poverty don’t go hungry this month. Stimulate over $900,000 in local economic activity.
Donate it to a few randomly selected bars in the U.S. Result: 125,000 lucky Americans unexpectedly get a free pint after a long day at work.
Commission an artist to create a paper mache sculpture with the dollar bills. Result: DC gets some new public art. Local artist gets a job. Government doesn’t defend discrimination.
Give it to these eagles to build their nest.
More at the Nation and the Maddow Blog.
“It Gets Better,” the music video.
“ They knew they could count on the strength, might, power, and cohesion of the U.S. military to intervene whenever and wherever necessary to pull their fannies out of the fire and squash the forces of tyranny wherever they raised their ugly heads around the world. Those days are now gone. We will no longer be able to bail out these other emasculated armies because ours will now be feminized and neutered beyond repair, and there is no one left to bail us out. We have been permanently weakened as a military and as a nation by these misguided and treasonous Republican senators, and the world is now a more dangerous place for us all.
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Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association reacts to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Apparently, this is the moment the United States “consigned itself to the scrap heap of history” and “sealed its own demise.”
It’s actually kinda heartening to read stuff like this because it sounds so totally off the deep end. Like, dude, did you not hear that nearly 80% of Americans and the military leadership itself supported repeal? Didn’t someone give you that memo? God knows, homophobia is alive and well—in so many pervasive, subtle ways and also in big, scary ways in many corners of this country—but still there is a real sense that the days of open, blatant homophobia are numbered and that those who opposed repealing DADT—and those who oppose marriage equality—are so clearly on the wrong side of history that even they kinda know it. So when you say shit like that, Bryan Fischer? You sound like a ridiculous, delusional old man who has spent the last 15 years talking only to his cats.
The Daily Show notes how John McCain seems downright determined to be on the wrong side of history when it comes to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
“ While I’m sure it helps gay teens to know there are straight Americans who care about them, those of us who don’t experience discrimination based on whom we love are in no position to assure kids that their lives will get better without pledging to make equality a reality. When straight people focus solely on schoolyard bullying without acknowledging that anti-gay bigotry is pervasive in the adult world, they’re essentially making the “just wait it out” argument about gay rights: Demographics are on our side, so marriage equality and nondiscriminatory policies are inevitabilities. While that’s certainly true — America will no doubt be a better place for LGBT people once these teens have reached adulthood — “It Gets Better” only works if it is a promise we keep, not just something we say into a webcam and then promptly forget about. It’s easy to hate high school bullies. It’s a lot harder to change the culture that created them.
— Ann Friedman on the message straight people should be contributing to the “It Gets Better” project.
“ And all I hope for my kids, and yours, and those of Moms ABC, are that they are happy. If a set of purple sparkly tights and a velvety dress is what makes my baby happy one night, then so be it. If he wants to carry a purse, or marry a man, or paint fingernails with his best girlfriend, then ok. My job as his mother is not to stifle that man that he will be, but to help him along his way. Mine is not to dictate what is ‘normal’ and what is not, but to help him become a good person.
