This Is Not A Democracy

Dear People's Front of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland's People's Front Wankers,

What now? Chocolate Digestives too expensive? Please, this is so ten years ago!

Unimpressed, of Brighton.

P.S. Continuity? Continuing what? Continuing to be tossers? Because you're nailing that but not much else.

According to the agenda just published on the new White House website, this is what our new President claims he's going to fight for:

- Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.


- Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

- Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

- Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.


- Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

- Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

- Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

- Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

So, it started like this:

trohman http://www.cnn.com/2009/WOR... give it up for the rich racist guy 32 minutes ago from web

icedmaple @trohman This is all being completely twisted. A guy can't poke fun at his own mate using a nickname he gave himself? Weak. 20 minutes ago

trohman @icedmaple yea, but he also dressed up as an SS soldier for halloween. I think he has some issues past the point of just poking fun. 16 minutes ago

icedmaple @trohman Granted, that was a really, really dumb thing to do, but it's a different context completely. 15 minutes ago

icedmaple @trohman I'm going to elaborate on this, actually: I understand why you'd be pissed off by his behaviour, but I spent years involved >< with the British military, and there is an entirely different attitude relating to acceptability between soldiers/airmen/etc. >< In this case he used a term most deem racist. He could have called him fat, or ginger, or a Paddy, and it would still have been >< with the same level of malicious intent: none. The guy himself used the nickname 'Paki', just as I call myself a "wop" because >< my father is Italian. Yes, he has done some horrendously offensive stuff, such as the SS uniform, but as far as I can tell his >< biggest flaw is to be too thick to think his actions through, or realise that he might hurt people's feelings. I still think >< that even if he has truly been a complete pillock, there is no real racism to it, just very, very, very poor judgement and >< lot, in this case, of deliberate media melodramatics. His friend didn't complain - who has the right to say how he should feel? 3 minutes ago

---

Now, if you're here, you probably know I adore Joe. But this is such a media-manipulated way to look at this that I want to smash my head on the nearest hard surface.

Before we get wound up - of course he probably took the Nazi uniform thing really personally, and I appreciate and understand that; Harry most definitely had a serious, serious judgement failure there (even if the party was something along the lines of 'Imperialists & Natives' themed - which, is a bit of a crass concept in itself - and it was an in-joke with his friends; because let's face it, we all take the piss out of the Royal Family for being Germans and/or Nazis. It's a comedy TV staple). But this is a completely different context and situation.

Harry was talking about a good friend who had addressed or nicknamed himself as 'Paki'. He did so as a joke, in a situation where he almost certainly assumed only people who would 'get' the joke would be privvy to it. It's worth noting that this whole thing happened THREE YEARS AGO and he's had time to grow up since then. He's acknowledged that for a lot of people it could be deemed offensive, but has stressed that in the context it was used, it was not intended in such a way.

It's like me calling Julie a 'Paddy' or a 'Mick' (which, oh hi - is actually used in the title of a FOB song, Joe, even if it is apparently a quote), which I do on a regular basis. She just comes back with something about kicking the English out of her country. As I said to Joe - being half-Italian/Sicilian - I regularly refer to myself as a "wop", which could be considered an offensive and old-fashioned word for Italians.

I also come from a background where I was involved with the British military in my teens; for four years, I hung out with cadets of all ethnicities and backgrounds, I stayed on military bases and was instructed by real current and former members or the British Armed Forces. In that environment, the rules are different. Social conventions are different. People call each other fat, or ginger, or stupid, or poofs, or Paki's or black, and it's really not in the same way it's used on Civvy Street. It doesn't hold the same depth of connotation - it's broadly accepted and just a matter of bravado and familiarity. It's like saying, "Your mom!" to your own sister. These people probably called Harry a "rich, ginger prick" themselves. If not worse.

Unless you've been around people who have called each other things like this, in this sort of context, it may well be hard for people to understand or rationalise - but given that the relationship between military personnel is so different from what most of us are used to, it shouldn't really be an outsider's place to judge.

The boy in question did not complain at being referred to as a 'Paki' - he didn't find it offensive, because, again, it was apparently a term or name he'd used for himself. Who the hell are the rest of us to judge what a guy says about his friend, in affectionate jest, in said friend's presence, if the friend is not offended by it?

In the very same video, Harry takes the piss out of HIS OWN GRANDMOTHER. Come on. Can any of this video honestly be taken seriously at all?

As for the "raghead" aspect - please. He's a soldier. He's expected to shoot and kill, or guide airstrikes/mortar attacks on this very enemy and people freak out because he used the term "raghead"? It's a nickname for an opposing force - a force most of us would deem 'terrorists' and who are believed to be behind the attacks which killed thousands of people. No one complained when we called the Nazis "Jerries" because their helmets looked like jerry pots (that's an old word for potty, to you and me).

The biggest problem Harry has, in my opinion, is being too thick to have the foresight to think his actions and how they will be perceived/impact other people through. I don't believe this kid is any more racist than the rest of the average population; I just think he's insensitive and dim.

Personally, I like the kid and I think his dedication to his role in the military, and to pulling his own weight in said role, is admirable.



The ultimate issue here, is that hating or maliciously disparaging ANYONE based on their race, creed, sexuality or appearance is not acceptable; but racism is largely in the intent, not in the words themselves. Affectionately teasing your own friends without intending any malice is not racism, it's boys being boys, even if it is a dumbass thing to do - whether you're third in line to the throne or not.

Yesterday, there was a huge step forward for the USA, but at the same time there seems to have been a huge step back, as Prop 8 and several propositions like it, seem to have been passed across the country.

Well, that is depressing. It is. It's fucking atrocious that people will allow such small minded hatred to dictate and destroy the futures or others. But I find hope in this document and this statement:

Obama Supports Complete Repeal of DOMA.
Obama believes we need to fully repeal the
Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation
that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal
rights and benefits currently provided on the
basis of marital status are extended to samesex
couples in civil unions and other legally recognized
relationships.

We may have lost those battles, but we haven't lost the war, and the Democrats now hold the Senate and the House by some margin. There's still hope.

THIS IS MY ELECTION WATCH POST. TALK TO EACH OTHER HERE.


Who's watching the coverage outside of the US?

AIM CHAT: ElectionWatch2008

I actually applauded at the end of this:



I think the thing that blows me away about the No on Prop 8 movement, is how so many people who are not directly affected by it - who are heterosexual, married, have kids of their own or are from outside of the US anyway - really are throwing their weight behind it. People are speaking out and putting their names up there (along with their cash) in support of something that has the potential to harm their public standing in order to fight for equality for other people.

That blows my mind. It's amazing. It restores some faith in humanity.

I find myself so proud of the people I look up to and the musicians and artists that I like, for stepping up to the plate and making statements or doing what they can to speak out on equality, on human rights and on basic decency toward our fellow human beings. For literally putting their money where their mouths are, in support of other people.

If nothing else, this situation has really shown that the world is changing. 2008 has largely been a shitty year, but in a socio-political sense, it has been an amazing year. I hope that the next 48 hours really do see something enormous coming to fruition.

It's time for Change, people, and I kind of feel like it's already rolling.

[Poll #1286869]


Edit: where the hell are all the people not on my flist COMING FROM?!

Earlier on today, JoeTroh made the following post on his Buzznet. Now, I'm sure that nobody on my flist feels the way the people he's talking about do (and if you do, I don't want you here) but I want everyone to read this, especially if you're in America, or more importantly California.

a bunch of grade A bigots...

So, I was doing what could only be considered as a virtual leafing through a website I peer at from time to time, and came upon an FOB related post. It had to do with something we strongly believe in, supporting the right to same sex marriage. Though there was plenty of positivity throughout the thread, I noticed a high volume of negativity on a 10 to 1 scale. Or maybe it seemed that severe due to how much it bummed me out.

Now, I expect the hateful remarks and a close minded attitude when it comes to social and political topics. These ones particularly make me feel sick and think "Just how far have we come?", but I know it's just a matter of time before those comments come to life. The exceptionally moronic ones are usually not worth paying real attention to, as the more attention brought to those, the more power those people wield in the end. What actually bothered me more were the questions/comments such as "Why support this lackluster cause? It's a waste of time". Not only did the uninformed nature of these comments bother me, but it was this different sort of apathetic close mindedness that I felt warranted me to write a little.

At the end of the day, whether you're the ultra bohemian who believes marriage is an institution constructed by "the man" to bog us down, or you're just the number one homophobe on the block (aka the major fuck head), try to put yourselves in the shoes of those who are truly in love, and would like to honor that with marriage, but legally can not. Now, whether or not you feel marriage makes a difference, just the fact that people in same sex relationships do not have the basic right to choose whether to get married or not is unjust. It is truly criminal, and a violation of a relatively basic human right. You don't have to be the most open minded person in the world know the error in violating the rights and freedoms of fellow human beings. Or maybe you do, and if that's the case, we're in really deep shit.

You can research CA prop 8, and you can look at this as human beings being denied the right to have basic freedoms. We are a country built on just the opposite. Voting for the ban would be a step back for everyone in my opinion. I feel we, as the new generation, have the ability to make a positive change in more ways than one, and here's a pretty amazing place to start.

Posted by theoneandonlyjoetrohman on 10/06/2008 12:37 AM Brownie: 8

[the post]



I feel we, as the new generation, have the ability to make a positive change in more ways than one, and here's a pretty amazing place to start. - Never forget this statement, because we are that generation, and if we don't do as Joe suggests, and instigate the change - who will?

Sarah Palin just nearly killed my best friend with some cake by commenting that some world leaders were putting women's rights at risk.




Woman, you are not a world leader yet.