Gay Marriage Ban in Massachusetts

Greetings Ossbuco,

It's great to have a site like this one available on-line. A2k is helpful, informative and thought provoking, The membership is chock full of intelligent people, willing to clearly state their opinions and beliefs but open minded. all together a2k is a rare and wonderful place. It feels like home.


Sam

c.i. - you're quite the progressive guy. gotta love ya. (((((((c.i.)))))))

The baggage issue is good. Looking at history, we appear to have been able to toss several pieces of useless luggage, ie the inferiority of people of color, interracial marriage will produce monsters, the inferiority of women (sort of), the idea that the,"mentally retarded" (archaic term) will produce children with the same abilities. All left by the way side.
The same sex marriage issue will be resolved sooner or later. In the mean time the more open minded cultures will continue to smile sadly and shake their heads over the backward USA.
I just hope it happens before my teeth rot out or I get really sick. :wink:


Sam

ci

Great post.

Sam

just one short comment before signing off for the day : "the government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation". pierre e trudeau (1919 - 2000), former prime-minister of canada

It is quite a site. I wish I had one that was done so well. It's very informative. Considering that a Pathfinder's combat life expectancy (12 minutes in Vietnam) is so short, I found it amazing that we have so many members. Other Special warfare people from the US Special Warfare groups (US Army Special Forces "Green Berets",US Navy SEALS, US Marine Force Recon, US Airborne Rangers, US Army Long Range Recon Patrol, US Air Force Search and Rescue ) always ask the same question when they discover what I did in the military. "What? You're still alive?" It's always good for a laugh with us. I'm just a survivor.

Wiyaka - I looked at the Pathfinder site yesterday evening. Really interesting - and links going everywhere. I love sites like that - putting lots of connections together.

And now you know a bit more than when you visited that site. Actually, I spent all of my time in a basecamp, sitting in an air conditioned room drinking cold beer and watching movies every night that I wasn't carousing with the local women. At least that's what I tell people that ask what I did in the war. It really stops them short, my saying that I never actually saw field duty. Of course most people have heard of us, even in the military...unless they needed to know.

We used to say, "If you have to ask, you don't need to know." If it was a civilian, we'd sometimes add, "And if you find out, I may have to kill you." and mean it. We meant it, even though I hated to even say it.

The unit signs for most division units, in a basecamp, was a full sheet of plywood. That of the Pathfinder units was only half that size and the detachments were well off the main thoroughfares or walks. It wasn't that we didn't like visitors, but anonymity seemed important. Was it that there was an automatic bounty of $1000 for our beret as soon as we hit Vietnam or "mystique"?

I think is was that most of us liked our indepenence and ability to be creative in how we did things. Being noticed made us susceptible to more strict discipline by those that didn't understand the intensity of the job or the teamwork we used to. Rank wasn't mentioned in normal duties, except when someone from the outside and a higher rank than the lieutenant was there. With us, it was all nicknames, even the lieutenant had one. Being in such a small unit (13 in a division of 80,000-100,000 men) meant that most wouldn't understand or believe our duties. So the anonymity gave us freedom few even dreamt of, both in the field and in basecamps. We were told what to do, not how to do it.

I'm proud to be the only woman member of that group. If interested, my membership number is 35. The membership roster will give some more information about me I think, if you're curious. I've only met five others, in since my discharge from the Army in 1970! That's face-to-face, not online.

This thread has taken a fascinating turn! What a treat.

Littlek, Don't you ever play the game of "tangents"? This thread is a wonderful example of that game.

"Tangents" is actually a abbreviation of transgression on a2K.

uh, explain that to me, ci?

Uhoh!

Ok, ok, I get it, digression as a pleasure or transgression.


Sorry, carry on. you too, CI!!

Yuze a vewy smat lady, osso. I wudda neva gessed it.

High five!

(Made me laugh, anyway)

I just want to say, it bugs me when anti-gay is attributed to homophobic, or when homophobic is equated with homosexual. There really isn't a substantial basis for that. And that statement is well-founded in experience, therefor the opposite could not possibly be.

Could you expound on this?

Of course. I know a lot of people who are against homosexuality, for religious or ethical reasons, and yet they have nothing against the homosexuals themselves. I for one do not support homosexuality, but I'm certainly not afraid of it, or those who practice it.

I'm sorry, but I just can't understand how your 'anti-gay' and homophobic aren't the same thing. {shrug}

How about changing the subject. Do you think that saying that you're against black people is not racist?