V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They Said

[Twistedup]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

being an aussie? unfortunately you all are probably more hip to what's really going on here than most americans...

 

[cm98059]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

Actually, Palin has only been Governor of Alaska since 2006 and has a track record of being opposed to gay rights. She has never tried to contact any of the state's gay rights groups, and in 2007, she attempted to derail a state supreme court decision to allow health benefits to same sex partners of state employees.

I am afraid her record isn't living up to the words she used during the debate.

 

[Twistedup]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

well i've never heard about the aussie elections. i'm pretty sure it go no coverage in the us. the sad thing is though, that us politics do matter outside of the us. if our economy goes to shit, unfortunately, we will bring all our allies down with us.

and i hate to minimalize...thats not a word but...what goes down with aussie politics affects aussies. what goes down with us politics affects everyone.

the aussie pr can say what he wants, but the reality is that what goes on here in wall street and in our offices has a very big impact on aussie life. and it sucks because the people who can change this BS are the ones who don't realize that.

that said i apologize in advance for how fucked up everything is about to become because of US politics.



but you cannot escape them. better, you are, for helping spread said messages amongst us.

 

[BigJackStudBoy]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

Gwen asked no follow ups and I'm pissed!

 

[BigJackStudBoy]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

They should have changed MODs!!!

 

[cm98059]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

Oh I assumed she'd been Governer of FrogFuck Alaska for more than an hour.

I suppose that the Republican Party would like everyone to think that she has experience in politics, but the reality of the situation is that she really doesn't have that much experience. Alaska is the largest state in land mass, but it's ranked 47th in population. The city she was Mayor of before she was elected Governor has a population somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000. She started her political career in 1992 when she was elected to Wasilla's city council. She was elected Mayor in 1996 and served in that office until 2002. She was chairman of the Alaska gas and Oil commission from 2003 to 2004. She was elected Governor in 2006. (information courtesy wikipedia).

There is a pretty good article about her political career on wikipedia. I would suggest that everyone who is actually interested in the election should read it, along with articles on all the other candidates both local and federal.

 

[cm98059]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

I am not really sure that equality is an issue that the average american thinks about. I think that joe sixpack's biggest fear about sex is that the old lady is going to get pissed at him and cut him off.

We are really going about this backwards, we should be using a different tact, if we begin the debate on gay marriage with the facts that hetero couples have to get an attorney, divide the assets, fight over the Golden er... the children, go to court, and get a divorce, while we just have to look at the partner and say "we're done, hit the road, and take your damn cat" those opponants will be jumping on the bandwagon trying to get this enacted so they can think we are just as miserable as they are.

 

[rareboy]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

Thank goodness for civilized countries in Europe and for Canada.

 

[HawaiiBum]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

The stance taken by Sarah Palin verse Joe Biden are very different. I do not understand why everyone is acting so surprised. Sarah Palin is talking about contract law.

But in that tolerance also, no one would ever propose, not in a McCain-Palin administration, to do anything to prohibit, say, visitations in a hospital or contracts being signed, negotiated between parties.

Sarah Palin is saying the McCain-Palin administration will not do anything to prohibit gay couple from entering into a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, a Living Will, a Durable Power of Attorney for Finances or holding title to property as Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship. The McCain-Palin administration will not do anything to prohibit gay couples from entering into a contract. Gay couples already have these rights. Joe Biden's opinion is different.

Joe Biden is talking about constitutional law.

Look, in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage
Impact on same-sex couples: Badgett finds that exclusion from legal marriage has an economic impact on same-sex couples. According to a 1997 General Accounting Office study requested by Rep. Henry Hyde (R), at least 1,049 U.S. Federal laws and regulations include reference to marital status. A later 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office finds 1,138 statutory provisions "in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving 'benefits, rights, and privileges.'"[98] Many of these laws govern property rights, benefits, and taxation. Same-sex couples are ineligible for spousal and survivor Social Security benefits. Badgett's research finds the resulting difference in Social Security income for same-sex couples compared to opposite-sex married couples is US$5,588 per year. The federal ban on same-sex marriage and benefits through the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) extends to federal government employee benefits. ... According to Badgett's work, same-sex couples face other financial challenges against which legal marriage at least partially shields opposite-sex couples:
potential loss of couple's home from medical expenses of one partner caring for another gravely ill one
costs of supporting two households, travel, or emigration out of the U.S. for an American citizen unable to legally marry a non-US citizen
higher cost of purchasing private insurance for partner and children if company is not one of 18% that offer domestic partner benefits
higher taxes: unlike a company's contribution to an employee's spouse's health insurance, domestic partner benefits are taxed as additional compensation
legal costs associated with obtaining domestic partner documents to gain some of the power of attorney, health care decision-making, and inheritance rights granted through legal marriage
higher health costs associated with lack of insurance and preventative care: 20% of same-sex couples have a member who is uninsured compared to 10% of married opposite-sex couples
current tax law allows a spouse to inherit an unlimited amount from the deceased without incurring an estate tax but an unmarried partner would have to pay the estate tax on the inheritance from her/his partner
same-sex couples are not eligible to file jointly or separately as a married couple and thus cannot take the advantages of lower tax rates when the individual income of the partners differs significantly

It is worth repeating "in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple." The Obama-Biden administration will work for:
1)Same-sex couples to be eligible for spousal and survivor Social Security benefits.
2)Same-sex couples to be eligible to fill joint tax returns with the IRS.
3)Same-sex spousal health insurance when offered by employers for heterosexual couples.
4)Automatic granting of health care decision-making, and inheritance rights for Same-sex couples.
5)Repeal of DOMA.
6)Inclusion in all of the 1,138 statutory provisions regarding marraige.

IFILL: Let's try to avoid nuance, Senator. Do you support gay marriage?

BIDEN: No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that. That is basically the decision to be able to be able to be left to faiths and people who practice their faiths the determination what you call it.

The bottom line though is, and I'm glad to hear the governor, I take her at her word, obviously, that she think there should be no civil rights distinction, none whatsoever, between a committed gay couple and a committed heterosexual couple. If that's the case, we really don't have a difference.

IFILL: Is that what your said?

PALIN: Your question to him was whether he supported gay marriage and my answer is the same as his and it is that I do not.

IFILL: Wonderful. You agree. On that note, let's move to foreign policy.

Here Sarah Palin is not talking about the question of "Do you support, as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples?" Sarah Palin is only responding to the question of "Do you support gay marriage?" Palin carefully clarifies her response by repeating the question in her answer.

 

[beachguy22]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

i dont believe in gay marriage, simply cus marriage is a religious union between man and woman, that doesnt mean same sex couples shudnt be treated equally as heterosexual ones, it jus mean, two men or two women therefore do not qualify for marriage... but they do qualify for all benefits envolved. i also think, if marriage is so religious, and they want to keep it that way, atheists shudnt be allowed to get married... cus they arent relgious, so y shud they bask in a religious sacrament

 

[JUB]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

I think that Mrs. Palin's true thoughts came out there a little bit. "Tolerate". Someone needs buy her a thesaurus. You tolerate a screaming two year old in a restaurant. You'd rather it wasn't there, but it's something you deal with. It kind of makes you wonder about those news reports that surfaced a while ago that suggested that she was trying to ban books from the Library in Wasila. It has been said that McCain supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. If that is true, he would probably find a running mate that supports his views, if you are running for office, would you want a running mate that would reverse everything you have worked to accomplish?

The second plan on palins list of things she wants to accomplish while she is in office in washington is to ban gay marriage, civil unions, and the like completley. Her SECOND plan, I mean she must really not like homos if that is the second plan of action in her proposal.

 

[Joshua_me]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

I think that Mrs. Palin's true thoughts came out there a little bit. "Tolerate". Someone needs buy her a thesaurus. You tolerate a screaming two year old in a restaurant. You'd rather it wasn't there, but it's something you deal with. It kind of makes you wonder about those news reports that surfaced a while ago that suggested that she was trying to ban books from the Library in Wasila.

Yes, it makes me wonder as well.

That really pissed me off when she started with the "I'll tolerate their lifestyle" bullshit.

I was yelling at my TV.

Oh, *thank you* Sarah for sharing your vision of earth with us homo's. Sorry for inconveniencing you..."

I mean really. The nerve, the short sightedness, the sense of entitlement this woman has...

Well, tell ya what, Ms. Palin. I've decided to tolerate Mothers who don't have the good sense to teach their own teenage daughters birth control.

I sure hope with all this tolerance we can both get along.

 

[Joshua_me]

Re: V.P. Debate - Issue Gay Marriage - What They

Yes.

And Sarah is all in favor of letting us visit one another in the hospital.

I feel blessed.