He fought to force two mentally retarded Florida women to give birth to children of rapists

This just makes me sick.

Right in the fundies’ front yard. Well, well…

I’m not only happy for the gay and lesbian citizens of that enlightened state, but I’m also laughing my ass off at the poor, “oppressed” Christians who will wring their hands and gnash their teeth over this for a long time to come. No doubt people like Tony Perkins, Donald Wildmon and our old friend James Dobson are firing up their computers at this moment to send out an “alert” to their sheep, while simultaneously using this emergency as a convenient excuse to beg for more money.

As we watch our society undergo a progressive change toward tolerance and acceptance of our gay brothers and sisters, the fundies sputter about in apoplectic fits of bigotry, showing the world how ignorant and hateful they are. I love it.

I would prefer that PR gimmic would go away. We should certainly do things to help those addicted to drugs to get off drugs. We should certainly do what we can to prevent another terrorist attack, including, possibly, waging war on regimes directly responsible for terrorism. But declaring war on a concept will always fail.

But, yes, we should be promoting education around the world. It would do much to stamp out extermism in its many forms. Education and also, you know, like, shelter and food and stuff like that too. Food, shelter, and education tend to sway minds better than bombs.

That’s exactly why we need to find a way to show these people that they can have a better life than they currently must endure.

I believe that begins with education, especially for the women of the Islamic world. Naturally, female empowerment would eventually follow, leading to the demise, one would hope, of barbarities such as female circumcision, arranged marriage and permanent subservience. The powers-that-be (you know, men) won’t allow this because they know that’ll upset the whole apple cart and deny them their current positions of power, which is quite analogous to how our own fundies are determined to screw up education here because they are afraid of too many intelligent people poking holes in their collective fantasy.

The “War on Terror” has always been an absurd idea, but then I really didn’t expect anything better from the Bush Administration. A far more accurate approach would be to wage a “War on Ignorance” which is at the root of so many of the world’s problems, especially terrorism and our old friend, religious extremism. I can only hope President Obama realizes this and can take steps in that direction.

I must stress though not to conflate islam with the islamic. I know it’s hard, but they are victims moreso than even our american fundies. These kids grow up in oppressive regimes and don’t realize that there are other possible religious options, let alone non-religious options. In a way, it’s a cycle of abuse.

I’m not condoning islamic extermism, but I am sympathizing with a people that doesn’t realize that allah will not, in fact, come down and smite them should they disobey islamic law.

I also agree with Ron that the Democrats (Obama and a few others notwithstanding) have forgotten how to stand up for what is right. With their numerical advantages in both houses, they ought to be able to pass whatever they want. But I sense they’re already becoming drunk with power by playing by the same rules the Republicans used for years. I actually think Obama will have more problems, going forward, with his own party than with Republicans.

Getting back to the original point of this article, I wish Obama were more enlightened on matters of gay equality, but he’s already light-years beyond his predecessor, so in all, that’s a plus. In other areas I wish he’d move with greater urgency, also, such as prosecuting anyone who tortured or spied on us illegally, despite the obvious political risks. I can understand why he’s not, and I suppose its a good thing that I don’t agree with him completely.

One more thing, at the risk of thread derailment. His interview with Islamic television was a brilliant tactical move. The only way to truly defeat Islamic fundamentalism is to destroy its popular support. I have no more regard for Islam than I do for something I’d wipe off the bottom of my shoe so as not to track it into my house, but I’m glad he’s extending an open hand and not a closed fist. “Bomb them back to the stone age”, is the attitude of so many on the right. Of course, these people in third-world shitholes already live in the stone age which is why asinine concepts like Islam can thrive in the first place.

If a long-term, concerted effort can be made to improve education, health care, industry and the economies of such places as Afghanistan and Sudan, al-Qaeda will have fewer dark places in which to hide.

Of course we have our own fundies to deal with here, as well, but at least they’re not strapping on bombs and strolling into daycare centers to do God’s work. Sure, they’re trying to undermine science, interfere with women’s reproductive freedom, revise history to fit their agenda, and demonize certain groups for their own advantage, and they must be confronted. Maybe Obama won’t go as far as I’d like on that score, but I don’t think he’s going to allow it to get any worse, and that’s a win, kind of.

If Democrats can gain ground and, even more important, good liberal Democrats can gain ground (either by replacing a Republican or a bad incumbant Dem), then I will be even happier than I was in November.

I’ve been thinking about this over the past couple of days. The romance of the inauguration has been over for only a few days, and already the Republicans, including McCain, are opposing him (does that guy have any independent opinions any more?). We may have to wait another two years, and hope that enough people continue to wake up to vote even more of them out of office – but then we’ll only have two years left. It won’t be enough time. I’m not convinced that it isn’t too late now.

The Democrats sold out liberalism years ago. It’s time they’re held accountable.

I don’t disagree with that statement, but it only goes to support my point further: Obama is a “moderate democrat.” The definition of Republican these days (even moderate) involves a great deal of fascist behavior which Obama does not exhibit.

On the bright side, the “radical left” movement seems to have a lot more steam than the “radical right” so hopefully we can continue this trend leftward. It’s common in midterm elections for the president’s party to lose ground. If Democrats can gain ground and, even more important, good liberal Democrats can gain ground (either by replacing a Republican or a bad incumbant Dem), then I will be even happier than I was in November.

Remember that it was a Republican who championed anti-business trust busting and the expansion of the national park service and a Democrat that oversaw most of Vietnam. The great conservative prophet of the 80′s was also the only president to have also have been head of a labor union.