On 11/24/2013 8:45 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 11/24/13, 8:35 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/24/2013 8:25 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 11/24/13, 8:17 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/24/2013 8:11 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:


The resentment and subtle activism you display makes you as
guilty as
the "hate-filled, ignorant religious assholes" that you despise.

The bottom line is you have the right to ignore them, same as anyone
else who do not believe in their preachings. Conversely, those who
choose to believe have an equal right to do so.

Not much can be jammed down your throat if you keep your mouth shut.





Oh, really? Try explaining that to a woman in Texas denied access to
women's health resources because the assholes who run that state
decided
allowing that access would be in violation of their religious beliefs.


Why are you concerned with who is elected in Texas and the beliefs of
those who elected them? You live in Maryland, last I knew.


1. Religious ignorance spreads like cancer. Texas sends legislators to
Washington, D.C., and some of those legislators try to infect the rest
of their country with their sicknesses.

2. The women of Texas are being oppressed by their ignorant lawmakers.
Texas is still part of the United States, for the moment, anyway, and I
think it behooves us to try to eliminate oppression in this country. I
was concerned with the blatant segregation and oppression of blacks in
the South during the middle part of the last century, and I am concerned
about the oppression of gays in this country now. Just because it is
Texas that is a septic tank of oppression doesn't mean it is ok for me
to ignore it because I live in a different state.


Uh huh. So, were do you draw the line? What reasoning says oppression
of women that occurs in other parts of the world are their business, not
ours. Same with gays. Following your logic and sense of modern day
manifest destiny, we should be active in eliminating lawmakers all over
the planet, including people like Putin who doesn't like gays.





Many of us worked to try to eliminate racial oppression in this country.
Progress has been made, but there is much left to do. Gay rights have
been extended, but there is much left to do. Womens' rights have been
extended, but there is much left to do. Perhaps you are satisfied with a
country that makes no progress in terms of rights for the oppressed who
live here, but I am not. Following your logic, we'd still have slavery
in this country, eh?

I think we should put our own house in order and set an example for
other countries around the world. Sending troops around the world to
resolve oppression in other countries doesn't work too well.

Religious beliefs seem to be at the root of much of the oppression in
this country. "Scripture" was misused to perpetuate slavery, and it is
being used these days to oppress women, gays, and other groups.



I think you know I fundamentally agree with you. The only thing I really
have a problem with is the expanding dominance of federal mandates over
state's rights. I disagree with your belief that the concept of state's
rights is obsolete and should be abandoned in favor of total, uniform
federal laws. Changes in thinking occurs slowly and it will take time
for some parts of the country to adapt to more "modern" thinking.