For the most utterly asinine fiscal arguement I've ever heard.
Seriously? I LIVE in one of the neighborhoods mentioned and commute into another one. I do not make $250K a year, I clean my own house, and I survive just fine.
The people they're writing about pay more for CONVENIENCE, not necessity. They're living in $750,000 homes; spending $3000 on gifts and $5,000 on housekeeping. The fact that the author suggests that it’s “impossible” for two people who work full time to maintain a home, care for children, and dress for professional jobs without a “big outlay” (i.e., a maid, a lot of dry cleaning, etc) says it all – but what I don’t understand is how the rest of us have managed to do exactly that and not go into debt. Anyone?
I've mostly now learned that folks can't manage their money worth a damn. MSN may argue that these people are not rich, but downtrodden? In debt? Only because they're insisting on keeping up appearances. This kind of thing is why Americans have a reputation as idiots.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
''Whites can hide their sexual preferences and still get all of the rights that society has to offer. I can't hide my blackness and get the rights that I'm due, so to say that this is a civil rights issue upsets me to no end.''
Another gem from Emmett Burns.
News flash - if you have to hide something major in order to get it fair treatment under the law, you're not exactly getting all the rights that society has to offer.
What about the religious? I'm pretty sure they had some civil rights denied, maybe they could've just hidden their religions and everything would've been ok. In Germany the Jews weren't allowed to marry Germans, they probably should've just faked it and maybe they wouldn't have been murdered. /sarcasm.
Another gem from Emmett Burns.
News flash - if you have to hide something major in order to get it fair treatment under the law, you're not exactly getting all the rights that society has to offer.
What about the religious? I'm pretty sure they had some civil rights denied, maybe they could've just hidden their religions and everything would've been ok. In Germany the Jews weren't allowed to marry Germans, they probably should've just faked it and maybe they wouldn't have been murdered. /sarcasm.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
You had an option for a public forum, Delegate, and you squandered it.
I wanted to take a minute to remind public servants that their job is to serve the public.
I was recently reminded of this when my former classmate, now a delegate in Maryland, sort of forgot that he was from a liberal district. He also sort of forgot that he ran on a platform of equality and sort of forgot that he promised a whole lot of people that he was going to vote to allow same sex marriage in Maryland. He also sort of forgot that he co-sponsored that bill. So basically, he lied to a whole bunch of people because he sort of forgot everything he claimed to stand for.
So, I sent him a letter. I told him that when I knew him, he had been a thoughtful and compassionate person that we were fairly well-convinced would run for President one day, due to his commitment to civil justice and public service. I told him that his going back on his word was very surprising to me, and I begged him to reconsider.
I didn’t receive a response. I asked on his facebook wall why he didn’t reply (not even a form letter!), and he unfriended me, and then deleted my post. A number of his constituents asked the same question – and also did not receive a response, and were also deleted. In fact, this delegate has refused to address these issues whatsoever and make a statement to the people who elected him.
And honestly? A form letter would have shut me up. Anything to let us know he was listening.
I just wanted to take this opportunity on my own forum to remind Sam Arora, D-Maryland, that when one’s job is public service and when one was elected by the public to serve the public, they need to respond to their public and take their concerns seriously, because they answer to the public. I hope that this delegate is able to grow up and grow a pair, instead of tweeting about 5-cent bag taxes when his constituents still want answers regarding serious matters.
I’m going to ask you to please send him an email - sam.arora@house.state.md.us – and remind him that it’s dangerous precedent for a politician and public servant to censor the public. He probably won't read it (or respond) but it will make me feel better.
I was recently reminded of this when my former classmate, now a delegate in Maryland, sort of forgot that he was from a liberal district. He also sort of forgot that he ran on a platform of equality and sort of forgot that he promised a whole lot of people that he was going to vote to allow same sex marriage in Maryland. He also sort of forgot that he co-sponsored that bill. So basically, he lied to a whole bunch of people because he sort of forgot everything he claimed to stand for.
So, I sent him a letter. I told him that when I knew him, he had been a thoughtful and compassionate person that we were fairly well-convinced would run for President one day, due to his commitment to civil justice and public service. I told him that his going back on his word was very surprising to me, and I begged him to reconsider.
I didn’t receive a response. I asked on his facebook wall why he didn’t reply (not even a form letter!), and he unfriended me, and then deleted my post. A number of his constituents asked the same question – and also did not receive a response, and were also deleted. In fact, this delegate has refused to address these issues whatsoever and make a statement to the people who elected him.
And honestly? A form letter would have shut me up. Anything to let us know he was listening.
I just wanted to take this opportunity on my own forum to remind Sam Arora, D-Maryland, that when one’s job is public service and when one was elected by the public to serve the public, they need to respond to their public and take their concerns seriously, because they answer to the public. I hope that this delegate is able to grow up and grow a pair, instead of tweeting about 5-cent bag taxes when his constituents still want answers regarding serious matters.
I’m going to ask you to please send him an email - sam.arora@house.state.md.us – and remind him that it’s dangerous precedent for a politician and public servant to censor the public. He probably won't read it (or respond) but it will make me feel better.
An Open Letter to Emmett Burns
..in response to an article in the Washington Examiner, where Burns is quoted as saying: “ “Those who want to ride on our coattails are historically incorrect," and then asking to see the marks, scars, or bruises endured during the struggle gay Americans. “How many of you have had crosses burned on their lawns or been thrown in a police wagon?”
Dear Mr. Burns,
I had the misfortune to come across your recent comments while thumbing through some local newspapers, and I was deeply, deeply ashamed that words like that could come from an elected politician from my home state of Maryland. And then, I was furious.
Lets begin by addressing some of your points. First I’ll give you Matthew Shepard. He’s the poster boy for being beaten just for being gay. They left him on a fence in the freezing cold to die, and he suffered, and then he died.
Then I’ll give you Lawrence King. He was fifteen when he was killed for being gay. He was shot to death inside his junior high school.
And what about Steven Parrish? He was no boy scout, but he was killed for being gay. Jason Mattison, Junior. Fifteen. Raped, gagged, and stabbed to death. Both of these gentlemen were from Baltimore, Mr. Burns, your home district.
They’re all dead, so you can’t see the bruises.
But if you insist, Todd Metrokin’s pictures were published on the website of the Washington, DC City Paper after he was beaten in 2008. They called him a faggot repeatedly while they beat him. They’re still up, if you want to see them. His face is so swollen that he can barely open his eyes.
What about Jack Price? He suffered a broken jaw, fractured ribs, a lacerated spleen, and a collapse of both lungs. Helpfully, the Huffington post has a VIDEO of him being beaten if you want to watch it. If you run a Google search on his name, you find pictures of him in a coma, bruises clearly visible.
When Mr. Price woke up from his coma, he said “I thought I died.”
You want burning crosses? I’ll give you Brandon Waters, from Tennessee. Someone burned a giant cross on his front lawn. How about Roy Kirkland and his partner Doug Sebastian, from Georgia? A 7-foot cross was burned on their front lawn. They received death threats. In the end, their house was burned to the ground and they were forced to move.
These are by no means the only stories like this.
But it does answer your question - that marks, scars, bruising, death, and struggle in the name of equality are not limited to one minority group. And in my personal viewpoint, even ONE incident like any of these, for any minority, is too many, and it tells me that we need to better address tolerance in this country. And I hope that you, as a legislator, will use your time in office to do better for tolerance. I ask that you stop focusing on the ways that we are different, and remember the ways that we are exactly the same.
At least now you can no longer claim ignorance on the facts of the matter. As I think that we can all agree, ignorance is no excuse for hatred, discrimination or inequality under the law.
Sincerely,
TCoMO
Dear Mr. Burns,
I had the misfortune to come across your recent comments while thumbing through some local newspapers, and I was deeply, deeply ashamed that words like that could come from an elected politician from my home state of Maryland. And then, I was furious.
Lets begin by addressing some of your points. First I’ll give you Matthew Shepard. He’s the poster boy for being beaten just for being gay. They left him on a fence in the freezing cold to die, and he suffered, and then he died.
Then I’ll give you Lawrence King. He was fifteen when he was killed for being gay. He was shot to death inside his junior high school.
And what about Steven Parrish? He was no boy scout, but he was killed for being gay. Jason Mattison, Junior. Fifteen. Raped, gagged, and stabbed to death. Both of these gentlemen were from Baltimore, Mr. Burns, your home district.
They’re all dead, so you can’t see the bruises.
But if you insist, Todd Metrokin’s pictures were published on the website of the Washington, DC City Paper after he was beaten in 2008. They called him a faggot repeatedly while they beat him. They’re still up, if you want to see them. His face is so swollen that he can barely open his eyes.
What about Jack Price? He suffered a broken jaw, fractured ribs, a lacerated spleen, and a collapse of both lungs. Helpfully, the Huffington post has a VIDEO of him being beaten if you want to watch it. If you run a Google search on his name, you find pictures of him in a coma, bruises clearly visible.
When Mr. Price woke up from his coma, he said “I thought I died.”
You want burning crosses? I’ll give you Brandon Waters, from Tennessee. Someone burned a giant cross on his front lawn. How about Roy Kirkland and his partner Doug Sebastian, from Georgia? A 7-foot cross was burned on their front lawn. They received death threats. In the end, their house was burned to the ground and they were forced to move.
These are by no means the only stories like this.
But it does answer your question - that marks, scars, bruising, death, and struggle in the name of equality are not limited to one minority group. And in my personal viewpoint, even ONE incident like any of these, for any minority, is too many, and it tells me that we need to better address tolerance in this country. And I hope that you, as a legislator, will use your time in office to do better for tolerance. I ask that you stop focusing on the ways that we are different, and remember the ways that we are exactly the same.
At least now you can no longer claim ignorance on the facts of the matter. As I think that we can all agree, ignorance is no excuse for hatred, discrimination or inequality under the law.
Sincerely,
TCoMO
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