Prop. 8: a brick in the wall of hate

Insufficient attention is paid to deviousness on the part of the Religious Right.

They wanted to "win" Prop. 8 but just barely. Not by the two-thirds it would have taken to approve an LCA, but by a simple majority. This leaves the door open to further legal challenges by the gay community. These further challenges can then be pointed to as an example of gays using the activist courts to create privileges which did not previously exist.

Strategic offense, tactical defense. Perfect political strategy.

The Religious Right is in it for the long haul. A counter-offensive is called for:

1) taking away the tax-exempt status of churches who participate in politics

2) outlawing automatic employer payroll deductions which go to religious groups (Mormons in UT)

3) Imposing strict civil liability on churches and pastors who counsel vulnerable populations, when a person commits crimes or suicide and bad counseling was a contributing factor in the crime and/or death. If a teenager kills himself because a priest says that his sexual orientation is offensive to God . . . is that priest a contributing factor in the teen's death? Shouldn't the priest be held accountable?

4) cutting down on the extent to which private religious school attendance ("madrassas" as I like to call them) can be used to substitute for secular K-12 education

They want to indulge in hate speech? Let them pay for the privilege.

(no subject)

drewkitty

McCain threw the election for reasons which remain to be seen.

alohawolf

If he threw it, its not obvious to me that he did it.

drewkitty

1). Sarah Palin

2). "Rushing back to D.C." For the bailout, then voting for it.

3). Vicious negative campaigning; he knows better.

4). Failure to move to the center to woo moderate voters, and reassure them on abortion rights and other single-vote social issues.

5). Grossly inadequate efforts at saying "I'm no Bush!"

McCain is Presidential caliber. He knows these things. Therefore he took a fall or was made to take one.