17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists...by Michael Moore

[mackro]

The major faux pas of the drive to help get Kerry elected is to alert the rest of the country that these other propositions were being passed too.

I couldn't have been alone in my surprise on Election Day when I heard about those gay marriage ban propositions, right?   I mean, I'm not surprised they were put on the ballots in most of those states, but I think having heard about them long before or publicizing the existence of those ballots outside the 11 states in question could have nudged a few more people to the voting booths... perhaps.

[crystalcakes]

i definitely agree.  

that is why i am disappointed that, that ball was dropped.  it is also a pretty cheap shot.

i was working on the campaign and i didn't hear about it!

[milly balgeary]

it sure as hell brought out people who normally wouldn't vote, and i think it likely made bush president again.

[mackro]

There are few barely possible federal repercussions when it comes to basic civil liberties at stake.

....as it stands now, even people on the right who want to overturn Roe Vs. Wade aren't really expecting to succeed (IMHO, yay, crossing fingers), and neither on the front of the Federal Gay Marriage Ban, unless there are a LOT of compromises (IMHO, yay again, with crossed fingers.)

HOWEVER...

I think we're seeing a trend where there is strong evangelical control of certain states, and these United States are going to soon become more like these United But Sharply Differing States soon.  Living in one state as opposed to another will be more like living in a different country as opposed to another, basically.  That's somewhat been the case for a loooong while, but this will only be accentuated in the coming years, I think.   We'll have lefty states, righty states, and states with split personalities...  As it stands, almost all of our states have split personalities, but I think people will be starting to move to places that fit their ideologies, essentially.

(This is just a bullshit long term projection on my part, so never mind me.)

[Marie]

It's too bad I live in Pennsylvania, and love it too dearly to ever consider transplanting.  We were only given the privilege to buy bourbon on Sundays a year or two ago.

[davy]

this discussion is making me less excited to be returning to georgia next month. but returning to athens isn't really "returning to georgia". athens is that state's saving grace, and i wouldn't dare live anywhere else, except maybe certain neighborhoods in atlanta.

but colorado ain't no picnic, either. we were supposed to be a swing state this year. some "swing" that turned out to be.

[mackro]

If it's any comfort, fyg, Georgia seems to be the only state where there's a big movement to try to fight the gay marriage ban proposition passing on constitutional/legal grounds... which is not surprising at all, given Atlanta's humongous homosexual population.  (and those in Athens too, of course.)

[Andrew_TSKS]

i don't know... i think it's easy to talk about some states being radically different from others if you don't have the viewpoint that comes with living in a so called "red state". i mean, sure, plenty of my fellow virginia citizens are republicans (my boss, my parents, etc), but that doesn't mean that living in virginia makes me feel like a fish out of water. this is my home, and some of these republicans around me are friends or even family. most of those people that i know who voted for bush seem like perfectly normal, reasonable people, who i like living near and want in my life. i think if they were a little more politically informed, a lot of them might not vote so knee-jerk conservative, but then some of them (the richer ones) probably still would. i don't know for sure. all i do know is that virginia is my home, and i'm not leaving. maybe someday the younger, more enlightened people i know here will begin to outnumber the entrenched republicans, and we'll swing back blue (it wasn't that wide a margin in 2004), but even if not, i'll still live here, and probably enjoy it more than i would living in some "blue state" i fled to.

a song by the south carolina hardcore band assfactor 4 always comes to mind when i discuss this issue with people. i've quoted it on the internet before, but i don't think it was on this forum--however, if it was here, and i'm repeating myself, i apologize. here goes:

"sometimes i wonder what it's like getting out of here, and what the rest of the country thinks of where i live--if all y'all see is segregation and civil war. before you buy the hazzard boys and jim crow, i hope you meet fried okra, goofy smiles, and sweet iced tea among folks i call friends, in a place i call home." --"i reckon" by assfactor 4

ok, sorry if that was slightly off-topic, it's just a subject i have strong feelings about as a politically liberal person who loves the south.

[Lalitree]

Yep, exactly! What Andrew said.

[milly balgeary]

assfactor? what on earth.. are you listening to.



let's just hope that bush gets in there and kicks some ass. he's the president by majority. fuck it. crying over spilt milk solves nothing. none of us is a straight anything anyway. its impossible. everyone just move to the center. all this talk, blue, red, gay, straight, fuck it. no "being" and i use that in the loosest most heidigger-ish sense, is ever 'one" thing. let's be green.

[peacocks]

by green do you mean... environmentally conscious?  :wink:

[milly balgeary]

yes! what's up with bright eyes hittin the billboards? answer me!

[crystalcakes]

i live in nyc and it is hard to remember that we are very different than the rest of the world not to mention the rest of the country.

luckily (maybe) i am from kansas and have to go back there at least once a year.  it is amazing to see the difference.  this christmas i am going to kansas then driving to oklahoma to see the grandparents then to dallas for more of the middle eastern side.  in other words, my family pretty much all lives in red states and are all as liberal as i am.  they have such a different experience than i have.

number one, a cousin turned 18 this year and went to vote in dallas.  someone asked her (just some random old lady) who she was voting for at the polling place and she was promptly yelled at with "this is bush territory, kerry supporters aren't welcome!".  i have never experienced that.  my dad also said that people put signs in their yard like "french people for kerry" and "canada supports kerry" as a way of smearing him.  i found that shocking!  i would take both of those things as compliments.

i also don't think it's right to call everyone who voted for bush dumb or an idiot.  there were 4 billion dollars spent to mislead people in this campaign.  imagine if you didn't have the internet and just watched the 6 oclock news everyday and then lived in a state like kansas where they played anti-kerry ads nonstop.  

i am sure that a good percentage of people that voted for bush aren't dumb and aren't evil but actually thought they were doing the right thing and that people would die if he wasn't president.  being wrong and being dumb are not the same thing.

[jebreject]

I think I'm back to stockpiling assault weapons and preaching revolution.  I mean, why the fuck not?

[milly balgeary]

whatever! french people do suck! chirac is disgusting. he sold iraq weapons prohibited by the UN charter and then he .. yuck! nuke france!

[peacocks]

yes! what's up with bright eyes hittin the billboards? answer me!

bright eyes?

[crystalcakes]

whatever! french people do suck! chirac is disgusting. he sold iraq weapons prohibited by the UN charter and then he .. yuck! nuke france!

didn't we do something similar with both iraq and iran in the hope that they would kill each other?

[mackro]

For the most part, world leaders suck.

There.

As for the topic itself, I was completely let down by the 17 reasons thing that Moore posted.  His previous entry was far more powerful.

The U.S. is seemingly Superman vs. Bizarro right now... who you interpret as Superman or Bizarro is up to you.

The problem is, both sides have completely different ideas of who this guy represents in the world:


..and this is the challenge.

[Scott CE]

....as it stands now, even people on the right who want to overturn Roe Vs. Wade aren't really expecting to succeed (IMHO, yay, crossing fingers),

I think it's basically a toss up at this point.  If O'Connor retires, or Ginsburg or Stevens has to retire for health reasons (Stevens is very healthy, Ginsburg less so) chances are VERY good that Roe gets overturned, seems to me.    

Without one of these three leaving the court (and I'm just ASSUMING here that Breyer and Souter don't have some tragedy befall them), there is basically NO chance Roe gets overturned (replacing the Chief with a conservative doesn't change the equation), in my opinion.

[Good Intentions]

I dunno about the Superman - Bizarro comparison, the more I watch the news (a bad idea, I tell you) the more it reminds me of Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless.  Superman doesn't smile as much as Bush does - he seems to be going for that boyish charm of a blonde querterback saving the world.  And Tony Blair as Brian Blessed with angel wings has a certain appeal.  And every evil opponent of the New American Century gets played as MING the MERCILESS, but not as cool as Max von Sydow.

[Good Intentions]

If Roe vs Wade were to be overturned, what would be the next in line?

[milly balgeary]

http://www.werenotsorry.com/


WTF!!

this is absolutely hilarious. i don't know which one is worse
we're sorry or we're not sorry....com
i love the huge fat dirty guy with the message "four more years hippies!"

[jebreject]

four more beers

[Tsahkratis]

This is pretty funny...

http://fuckthesouth.com/

[Andrew_TSKS]

i think it's lame because it overgeneralizes. sorry.