Gay Rights: Another Chapter of the Civil Rights Movement

Well, as with any blog I posted, the ideas for this one came after reading yet another news article online. This one was about a pastor who has taken up the fight against homosexuality. Maybe you’ve heard of him? This pastor had, at some point in the recent past, attempted a national boycott against major corporations, like Microsoft, that supported the rights of gays and lesbians. This Reverend Ken Hutcherson had taken credit for pressuring Microsoft into dropping it’s support for a gay rights measure that, so far, has been making it’s way through Congress. I guess the pressuring wasn’t all that effective, since Microsoft is back up there supporting it.

Anyway, the new tactic of this pastor is to get as many people as he can to buy stock in these major corporations that are supporting the measure, such as Boeing and HP, and then turning around and having everyone dump the stock all on the same day to hurt prices of stock (I’m assuming). Seeing as this was his plan all along (funny how this was his plan all along….after his first plan failed miserably), I can’t imagine how it can’t work with so much careful planning.

Ok, I’m starting to get slightly cynical and sarcastic in all this, and I apologize. But in all seriousness, I can’t understand people like this. I mean, I do, but at the same time, I can’t. If that makes any sense. It seems that members of the cloth/faith/whatever seem to do more to preach hate and intolerance than anything else these days. Allow me to clarify before you all get all pissy with me: Rather than try and gain national attention for something POSITIVE that we ALL can benefit from, these people tackle controversial issues and topics, normally picking the side that supports taking rights, or keeping rights, away from individuals.

In the end, just like the abortion issue I went into just a blog ago, this is all about people’s rights in this country. It’s all about civil rights, isn’t it? I seem to remember hearing/reading/learning how bad it was for a black and a white to get married, there were even laws to keep it from happening. These days, the majority of Americans would probably find that absolutely ridiculous, just like the concept that people of African descent were just much less intelligent than us white folk (scientifically proven, as a matter of fact). You look at all the “facts” and all the propaganda and scare tactics that racists, and even non-racists, people who truly believed that African-Americans were inferior to whites, used to try and keep African-Americans as second-class citizens. What these religious groups and politicians are doing now is no different.

Gay marriage will ruin the sanctity of marriage. Civil unions and gay marriages will drive up my insurance premiums. God hates fags. Homosexuality is a sin. Etc. Etc. Etc. People will look back, hopefully, 50 years from now and see all that was said about gays being given the same rights as the rest of us heterosexuals have and scratch there heads just like we look back at the original Civil Rights movement in the middle of the 20th century.

Simply, opponents of gay marriage, and basically any other kind of marriage-esque rights, oppose these measures like the one currently in Congress on religious grounds. That’s great, good for you. Gays can’t get married in your church, I can’t argue that freedom of religion should just be thrown out the window because certain people desire it. BUT, I don’t understand why religious reasons should be used to keep American citizens from enjoying ALL the freedoms every other American can enjoy. Is it legal to say “No, gays cannot marry and cannot receive the same benefits that straight couples receive, mostly under law”? I don’t see how it is. Last I checked, the U.S. Constitution was designed to protect the rights of the people, hence, the Bill of Rights. And subsequent laws are not generally written to diminish people’s rights in this country.

On a final note, the pastor is actually against a measure that only adds “sexual orientation’ to a state law that already bans discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, religion and marital status.” Basically, the good pastor is for discrimination of people based on who they are and how they are wired. So, maybe the pastor should throw in an extra prayer for himself at the end of the day, what do you think?

Anti-abortionists

The other day, the President proclaimed that anti-abortionists will “prevail” (he also through in the “we”, so I guess WE know where he stands on this issue, if it wasn’t already obvious). He wants Americans that oppose abortion (I don’t like to use “anti-abortion” since it makes it sound…militant or something not all that healthy) to help “convince” the rest of America that supports Roe v. Wade and, in a sense, abortion OR the right to choose (I’ll get into that later) that abortion is wrong, evil, etc etc. He spoke on this issue at a rally on the anniversary of the 1973 decision by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, while, somewhat ironically, saying they also seek common ground with those of us who don’t oppose abortion or the right to choose.

Obviously, abortion is a topic, once thrown out there, that could thaw the polar ice caps faster than global warming could ever dream possible. The nation is, as with anything and everything these days, divided on the issue. Well, maybe not entirely divided, I think there’s slightly more people who support Roe v. Wade than people who oppose it. The biggest issue on abortion seems to be that neither side can agree on when life begins (and when it ends, but, again, that’s a whole other discussion waiting to explode). Not even scientists can seem to come a consensus on this one.

I’m thinking Lewis Black’s idea on locking the scientists up until they figure it out, and shoot them if they can’t, is a good one. How can one side claim to be right when no one truly knows, from a scientific standpoint, when life truly begins. Kind of like the chicken and the egg, you can go around and around and never find the answer. At least, not yet. Until that day comes when scientists say “Ah ha! Life begins once the sperm enters the egg!” or “Eureka! Life starts when the third trimester begins with the development of the blah blah blah!”, we’ll know for certain. Until then, hunker down people, it’s going to be a long one.

I respect every person’s opinion, for the most part, and their beliefs, for the most part. I just looked at some pictures from this rally, supporting Bush’s “anti-abortion” stance, and I noticed something. The people they have at the front are all young and smiling. These are people who, if they ever were to get pregnant when they didn’t want it, had options available to them. Or they seem to be people who are way too young to really understand this whole thing, “Daddy and Father say it’s bad, that’s why I’m here!” I know, I know, I’m probably not seeing the whole picture. It’s true, but, I have yet to meet a non-male who opposed abortion that was truly knowledgeable about the whole thing.

Which brings me to my bashing of the “anti-abortionists.” You know what the difference between people who are Pro-Life and people who are Pro-Choice? Pro-Life want to take the decision away from women altogether, and Pro-Choice people want the freedom to choose to remain for women. Every single Pro-Life person is against abortion. Not every single Pro-Choice person thinks abortion is good. There are plenty of people who are Pro-Choice but do not like, believe in, would follow through, etc. abortion. Those are the people who don’t see this as some religious issue, those are people who are concerned with civil rights. And that’s all this thing is, when you boil it down: the right to choose, a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body.

Another thing that gets me all hot under the collar with Pro-Life people (or anti-abortionists) is that while many of these people are championing against a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy because they think every fetus/cluster of human cells has a right to live, they also couldn’t give a shit what happens to that same cluster of cells after it’s born. That cluster of cells can be born into poverty, go hungry every night of it’s life, not get an education and end up on death row, but anti-abortionists couldn’t give a shit as long as that cluster of cells isn’t aborted. Oh, they care about that cluster of cells, but they don’t want a single dime coming out of their pocket to help that cluster of cells if it’s born into a family that’s unable to get by without some sort of social welfare program. That’s the hypocrisy of the situation, now isn’t it? These are people that want every mistake to be born, that want every unwanted child to be pushed out the ol’ pink canal, but they don’t care if that mistake or unwanted child goes hungry or gets a shitty education, if it gets one at all, or if it dies of some preventable disease because it was neglected, shunned by society.

The issue of Roe v. Wade is so much more than left vs. right, Democrats vs. Republicans, religion vs. whatever. It’s a matter of a right to choose for people.

The latest Terry Schiavo drama

Just when we though that the whole debate and drama surrounding Terri Schiavo was over, her sister speaks out. She has been quoted as to say that our society has “lost sight of the value” of human life, as was seen with her sister. I actually agree with this. But, I don’t see it in the same way her sister sees it. Her sister believes Terri was not terminal (which was proven by the autopsy). She believes that we have lost sight of the “sacredness” of life, which I agree with as well.

What everyone outside of Terri Schiavo’s circle family and friends saw was a bunch of people being selfish. Her parents were probably the most selfish of them all, letting their emotions get in the way of their daughter’s well-being. No one wants to have to watch their child die, it’s just not right, let alone natural, to do that. But, wanting to keep their daughter “alive” in the state she was stuck in just wasn’t right. Which leads to what Terri’s sister was saying about the value of human life, it’s sacredness.

Obviously, we have medical technology which can prolong the lives of many sick and terminally ill people. Technology has expanded the doctor’s oath to do no harm to almost unlimited possibilities. It’s a doctor’s job to do anything he or she can do to keep someone alive. But, since we’ve gotten to the point where we can keep someone like Terri Schiavo alive indefinitely, in a state that does nothing but trap a soul in an empty shell, we should reexamine how we look at preserving life.

Does it do more harm than not to prolong people’s lives? Is an extra couple years, an extra 5 years, an extra decade worth it if that person will be in constant pain and misery? Is is treating human life as something sacred to keep a shell of a person alive for our own comfort, or is it some sort of perversion of sacredness? Yes, some people do recover from being in comas or being in some kind of vegetative state. Sometimes it’s not all that expected, sometimes it’s, well, basically a miracle they recovered. But, more times that not, when a doctor says there is no hope for recovery, that person will never recover. For every heart-warming story we hear about so-and-so coming out of some sort of vegetative state to defy all logic, there are hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who don’t.

Because of today’s medical technology, people are forced to make their wishes be known through legal documents in case something happens to them and they are unable to make decisions for themselves. Families square off against families, husbands versus parents, parents versus wives, wives versus husbands. Fighting over someone’s best interests always seems to cloud the basic facts and the general issue:

What is truly the best for the patient? For the human being? For the human soul? As we saw with Terri Schiavo, emotions cloud judgement. Yes, we indeed have lost sight of the value of human life, it’s valued in selfishness.

What exactly is up with USF?

Seriously, it seems that there are a number of people who work for this place that have no business working at a university. This school also seems to have some problems, in general, with some fairly simple things that you’d think they wouldn’t dare to do or be able to screw up. It seems that this university just likes to find ways of getting the bad out into the open, rather than the good, don’t you think?

Of course, I’m thinking more about the recent screw up here at University of South Florida. You know, where hundreds of thousands of dollars apparently had been “stashed away” in the English department. Or was it misplaced? In the end, does it really matter? Of course, this isn’t the only thing I’m referring to. Throughout my long, and sometimes tedious, stay here at USF, there have been some interesting happenings with administrative issues and such.

I seem to remember some time ago (maybe about 2 years ago?) when it appeared that documents that happened to contain students’ personal information wasn’t being properly disposed in all cases. You know, the kind of information that makes it easy for all of us to become victims of identity theft. I wonder if it’s problems like that one case that caused the University to switch to the U numbers. I for one wasn’t all that thrilled with having my social security number being posted next to my grade, or having to write it down and bubble it in on a scantron form numerous times in almost all my classes, or having it being used for every little thing when dealing with this university (Oasis, payments, etc).

Of course, who could forget the time that some individuals in admissions, I believe, who were caught fudging some of the SAT scores of some of the recent acceptees to the university. I wish someone had done that for me, at University of Florida, that way, I could have gone a perfect 5 for 5 on school applications and acceptances. Not really a big deal, if you think about it. Based on many of the people I’ve had the pleasure of sharing some classes with, it’s a wonder how most students here have managed to get dressed without killing themselves. Then again, I do hear it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get into this school, something about “standards” being raised. Which makes me glad I got in when I did.

How about that time when the university fired Al-Arian when he was arrested. Not that Genshaft seemed to be itching for an excuse or anything. Of course, it seemed the gun had gone off prematurely, seeing as the trial wasn’t such a slam-dunk that the feds had led us to initially believe. I see a long and drawn out lawsuit for USF in the future. What do you think?

But, back to the topic on hand: lost money. Does this honestly surprise any of us who have been here longer than 2 weeks? I’m sure almost all of us have some kind of story about tuition and/or dormitory payments that had made us want to bang our head against the wall at the time. I for one had one of those lovely experiences…well, I’ve had more than one, but most of those were partly my fault, but it wasn’t helped by the fact that the average non-academic employee here has no clue as to what the hell they’re doing. Last year, I had a hold placed on my registration for the next semester because apparently the Residence Services (such a lovely little department that makes you want to scream) never got a payment for one month of dorm fees. No big deal, maybe someone forgot to cut a check or something along the line. So, a check was sent, and all was taken care of. Right? Wrong. Apparently, my parents had sent them a check, Residence Services never cashed it. *This is where I insert the smack-your-head emoticon*. Need I say anymore?

Of course, we all find the things that are wrong with the place you work or go to school or shop or whatever. If I had gone to UMass Amherst like everyone else in my graduating class, I’m sure I’d be crying in my beer about such stupidity there, too (they have bars on campus, how messed up is that?). But, you just can’t help but wonder….why?

So, I have some suggestions…well, A suggestion, to be more specific: You know that payment option they have on Oasis that is user friendly as Windows ME? Why don’t they develop that into something a little easier to use. You know, where you can check off what you want to pay at the time, that sort of thing. Know what I’m saying? Because, if anyone else is like me, they have 3 separate people paying for different parts of my wonderful education: me, my dad and my mom. And since my mom and my dad don’t really get along all that well (as in, not at all), it would be great if they could go in and check off what they need to pay for, rather than have to actually talk to one another. I know, it sounds horrible when I say it out loud, but trust me, the idea in my mind is glorious.

The world just got a little smaller…and stranger…and sadder

I’ve always thought that human beings have just become lazier and lazier with each new technological advancement. These things that are supposed to make our lives easier just make our lives more hectic because we are able to get more work done in a shorter period of time and, well, it just makes us lazier. Every once in a while we all come across these news stories that make us scratch our head, or shake it. You know, the kinds that make you wonder what exactly is wrong with people and what has the world come to.

The other day, I ran into this story. Basically, it’s a story about a man and woman who met online, and after some months, decided that it would be a good idea to get married. Of course, one would think that when I say “get married,” they finally got together, in person, and tied the not. But, I’m sad to say that they did not, in fact, get together. They got married over, you guessed it, the internet. One of these people is living in California (which, believe it or not, explains a lot about this whole story), and the other lives in Malaysia. Apparently, they plan on seeing one another, in person, soon. I’d love to be present for that first meeting.

This brings me to a larger issue that, as a I said, is known as laziness. Ok, I can tolerate people who use those dating services to find their “match” or their “soulmate” or whatever else crap you want to call it. I guess I can tolerate people who meet online, start their relationship there and bring it into the physical world. I still say these kind of people are just, well, losers, in some small way. It’s like calling up an 800 number for phone sex or having internet sex. It’s sad, it’s pathetic, get out into the real world, have fun, meet real people, mingle. And this is coming from the guy with agoraphobia. When I say you people need to get out and socialize, me, the guy who can’t do much of that and comes up with excuses as to why he can’t (other than I have agoraphobia), that’s saying a lot. I guess I can understand why obesity is a growing problem, why diabetes is becoming a popular trend amongst Americans.

We’re lazy. We’d rather get off while talking to someone online than to go out and get drunk and pick up some random person for a night of horrible, horrible sex. We’d rather have a computer find our significant other for us rather than go out to a bar and have to get shot down night after night until we finally hit the jackpot. We’d rather sit on our asses and watch other people living their lives on “reality television” than live our own reality. We’d rather call up some nasty slut and pay her $5 a minute to talk dirty to us while we rub one out.

You can’t see it, but I’m shaking my head at all of you. Yeah, me, the guy who’s biggest fear is being amongst people. Even I can manage that one.