looking hopeful

Check out Zogby (click on post heading). His final prediction before the returns is Bush: 213, Kerry: 311, with Nevada (5) and Colorado (9) too close to call.

my ideal solution to gay marriages

my feeling is that inequality is wrong, wrong, wrong. i can’t say it enough. and my feeling is that there should be a true separation of church and state. i don’t want the government to mandate my beliefs and i don’t want the church to run my government. (sidenote: i also believe in a true separtion of corporate interests and state, and think this really needs to be addressed asap.)

i think ALL unions that have any sort of legal benefit or binding effect should be civil unions, for gay, straight, whatever. there is no reason that a religious ceremony should have any legal ramifications or protection insofar as a life partner. (i had to put in the caveat because i believe in the conscientious objector status for people who are raised in or convert to a pacifist doctrine, which has nothing to do with unions or marriages.) i think that a marriages should have the protections and rights granted it repealed henceforth, with those rights going squarely under the umbrella of a civil union.

i think if a person wants to get married in a church or synagogue or other place of worship, or get married by a person of some religious or other faith, they should go find someone who will marry them in their faith. but it should have no legal bearing on their partnership status. at all. none. it should just be something they do because it’s personally important to them in some way.

i know that that’s not how it’ll be in the US. people who don’t understand freak out and believe that somehow the sanctity of marriage is being threatened. don’t you see? it’s not. if marriage is a civil, state-run thing that you can vote on, then it’s a violation of civil rights to deny it to consenting adults, with all the good and bad that come from marriage. if it’s purely a faith issue, and it bothers you, then go worship where they don’t perform marriages for gays, and let the ones that do continue on their way. faith is a matter between you and God or whoever you think is the head of your faith. work hard to decrease the divorce rate and “protect families” by encouraging environments that are open to communication, where there are people around to help if something goes wrong. work to be a personification of your beliefs (er, unless you are like the KKK or something) — take the example of Buddha, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus. don’t take the example of people who point and fear and taunt and judge. be an example to those you want to believe in the things you believe.

i’m going off-topic, but i don’t care. believe in the golden rule and live it out. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. first remove the beam that is in your own eye, then you will see clearly how to help your brother remove the little sliver that is in his eye. he who is without sin cast the first stone. love covers over a multitude of sins. and this means your own, not other people’s.

gay people are not going to molest your children. how is it that in middle america, when you write “gay”, people read “child molestor”? this shocked me when i first heard someone make the false connection. i’m baffled by it.

voted

today, i cast my first presidential ballot. if you have to ask me who i voted for, i have to say that you must be a stranger.

there were a good handful of people, with an average line length of 8 or so people, getting processed at a good rate. in the past, it has always been about 2 people, so it looks good. i asked for a paper ballot and was so nervous that i would screw something up that i took forever to fill out the little bubbles.

my stomach hurts.