Federal Marriage Amendment

[angus]

I oppose this amendment, and most others which have been recently proposed.

As an aside, it has long been illegal for whites to marry nonwhites.  According to Harvard Law School Professor Randall Kennedy:  From the 1660s to the 1960s "At one point or another, 42 states passed laws prohibiting marriage across the race line."  Many states eventually made marriage across the color line a felony.  In the Commonwealth of Virginia, until 1910, you were white so long as you were not more than 24 percent black.  But in the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, anyone with any African ancestry would not be considered white.

There was also a question about what to do with Native Americans.  Many of the leading families of Virginia were very proud to trace their lineage Pocahontas and John Rolfe, so Virginia created the Pocahontas Exception, allowing the slightly "tainted" WASP aristocracy to marry other virginia aristocrats.  This caused a tremendous furor because the Anglo-Saxon Club of Virginia said, "Listen. This is terrible.  Light-skinned colored people are now just popping up everywhere and talking about how they're Indians.  And this is leading to the contamination of all white people."

[angus]

fine.  I wasn't going to go there anyway, except to point out that there may be misunderstanding about intermarriage, which, but I'll allow that it is beside the point.

The question is,  Do you want to amend the United States Constitution for the silliest of reasons:  to win?  Can you see it that way, or is President Bush and Company beyond reproach?  Because the continuation of the Nixon strategy, even in light of its exposure as a major cause of the current political bigotry on both sides, seems like a very bad idea to me.  Particularly when we start to tweak the highest law in the land.

[angus]

I don't know that it is homophobicity that is the only reason to support it.  I certainly oppose it, and I have attended same-sex union ceremonies, but I don't call myself homophillic.  It's just that I have some gay friends.  There's lots of narrow-mindedness on both sides of this issue.  The best reason to oppose this amendment is the federalist reason.  The best reason to support gay marriage in general is based on equal civil rights, and the best reason to oppose gay marriage in general is based on traditionalism.  This argument need not be homophobes versus homophiles, as many of us are neither.

[angus]

freddy mercury  

"She keeps moet et chandon
In her pretty cabinet
’let them eat cake’ she says
Just like marie antoinette
A built-in remedy
For kruschev and kennedy
At anytime an invitation
You can’t decline

Caviar and cigarettes
Well versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice

Chorus
She’s a killer queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?

To avoid complications
She never kept the same address
In conversation
She spoke just like a baroness
Met a man from china
Went down to geisha minah
Then again incidentally
If you’re that way inclined

Perfume came naturally from paris
For cars she couldn’t care less
Fastidious and precise

Chorus

Drop of a hat she’s as willing as
Playful as a pussy cat
Then momentarily out of action
Temporarily out of gas
To absolutely drive you wild, wild..
She’s all out to get you

(Chorus)

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?
You wanna try..."
 
  --Queen, Killer Queen


Well no wonder.  LOL.  Great song, still.

[angus]

reminds me.  we rented "The Guru" last night.  very funny and cheesy if you're into a cross between a spoof of Hindi song-and-dance movies and a love story like Grease.  

Ha!  Man, that sounds gay, I have to admit, looking back over it.  Anyway, the indian guy was so cool, definitely straight, and very funny.  and something of a ladies man, but you wouldn't know it for the first 20 minutes or so because he's so quirky.  he meets a porn actress and they fall in love, sort of.  and his illegal alien friend is also guru ji.

anyway the movie was a very funny East meets West.



any of youze know any Hindi or Urdu and can say whether the goofy illegal alien friend was saying "Okay Guru G." like a homeboy, or "okay guruji" like a native speaker of hindi??

[angus]

Personally I find the idea of marriage repulsive.  

it's notable that gay marriage is a two-word phrase.  the first time I ever heard it, it was the second word which struck me more askew.  surely it was strange that someone who was 'off the hook' in terms of one's family nagging them to settle down.  why change that?  I thought, "you have it made.  why rock the boat?"  but I guess they want to deal with all the ups and downs too.  at least that's how I see it now that I am engaged to be married to a woman.  Does DOMA affect states' rights to define marriage in a way the federal government finds uncomfortable?  Do the extreme libertarians and state's righters allow for the federal government to define things for them only when the definition is appealing?