Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Look next to the tainted baby formula.

This is rich. Apparently the Yes on 8 folks contracted their sign printing out to a Chinese supplier, who has missed the deadline, so their big plan to put one million lawn signs up in unison on Monday morning has been thwarted.

And they thought God was on THEIR side!

6 comments:

Tyler Jorgenson said...

Tom. Thank you for your comment on my blog. You provided some solid points that I will certainly research.

I am a big supporter of individual rights and certainly believe that we need to honor our own freedoms, like you mentioned with pulling kids out of classrooms if needed.

I wasn't attempting to be untruthful, and will do a lot more research before I post on the topic again.

Thank you for your views and respect. I'm always curious where my blog viewers come from... how'd you find me?

Tom said...

Tyler -

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your willingness to look at this issue with an open mind.

Like you, I am a big fan of individual rights, and would gladly fight to protect YOUR rights to believe as you do, and to practice your religion as you wish. (Except the military won't have me -- and not just because I'm too old! But that's another debate entirely.)

I found your blog the old-fashioned way -- with a Google search. Part of my work in fighting Proposition 8 is to search news stories and blogs in order to post comments and write letters to the editor and op-ed pieces.

You might also be interested in a piece I wrote on Mormons4Marriage.com. You can find it here.

Tyler Jorgenson said...

Tom. I'm impressed by google's speed... that was a brand new post you found.

I enjoyed your post you provided. It was a good example of the rights I would like to see in place. I have a client whose partner works for an organization that allows for partner benefits and remember him telling me how important this was for them. It was interesting hearing them talk about how to hold title to the condo I was refinancing for him.

You seem to have done a lot of research, more than me for sure. In your opinion is there any collateral damage that can occur from this not passing? Or is it 100% positive for you?

I'd like to correspond with you a bit more on the topic. Can we email?

Amanda said...

Tom - Is the Prop 8 vote on Nov 4th too? I don't live in CA so obviously I can't vote against it, but I'll want to look up the results.

Tom said...

Tyler -

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. It was a very busy 24 hours.

To answer your question, I've tried to think of negative consequences, but from my point of view, I can't think of any. However, being empathetic, I can imagine that what will be a challenge for many people of faith is that their children will learn that civil marriage is now something different than they as parents would teach. Of course, parents can still tell children that "REAL marriage is only between a man and a woman."

But I hope most will take the point of view of this Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed piece, that said in part:

"Would a married gay couple moving next door create some discomfort for me as I explain it to my children? Darn right it would. I would undoubtedly squirm in that discussion. But life doesn't guarantee my comfort, and whether they keep their yard looking nice is my business, whereas their personal relationship is not.

I've given this a lot of thought, and I think my prior stand against same-sex marriage was based on my personal thoughts about homosexuality rather than individual liberty. Those are two separate issues. My uneasiness may never go away, no matter how many names the enlightened ones call me, but the freedom of same-sex couples does not depend on my endorsement of their lifestyle.

As a conservative, I believe the state should stay out of the business of judging which unrelated adults may and may not make a marriage commitment to each other, that when a same-sex couple chooses to marry, we conservatives should value their liberty far more than any personal or religious disagreement with homosexuality. Conservatives should welcome the contribution of same-sex marriage to the virtues of commitment and family stability we hold so dear."

If you'd like to discuss the issue in further depth, feel free to e-mail me at mistereks@yahoo.com.

Amanda -

Yes, our election is November 4th. I'm sure the news in Houston will have word on the results here. If you have any California friends, remind them that it's VERY important to get out and vote No on 8. The margin will be razor-thin, no matter what the polls are saying now. Polls on this issue are notoriously inaccurate.

Amanda said...

Tom, I have very few CA friends but am doing my best to spread the word. I live in San Antonio (not Houston) where the news tends to focus on local issues - we're like a big small town, still - so I'm not sure if they'll report the results. They've skated over the gay marriage issue before, sometimes with just a quick one-sentence statement about what's happening in CA or Massachusetts. If they do, I have plenty of internet resources to watch, I just wanted to make sure I was watching the correct day. Good luck.