Traditional Families in Danger

I originally posted this on my friend Starla's blog, but I wanted to repost it on my own because I think it's an important thing to discuss. Starla had written that Proposition 8 in California will affect our families and children, and she posted a link to this video. The following is from my comment on that blog post.

One thing I don't understand... is exactly how this proposition affects heterosexual and/or "Judeo-Christian" families.

As far as the family in the video, I don't see what the big deal is about the book that was sent home. It seemed like it is introducing the idea that some people's families are different, not that homosexuality is OK. I don't think teaching children to be tolerant of other people's lives is something that we need to be afraid of.

Still, I do think it's ridiculous that the school administration wouldn't acknowledge these parents' right to choose how to introduce this topic to their child, and I think (at least from what the video showed) that the father was completely justified in his rebellion against the administration.

However, the issue with the school administration does seem like a separate issue from gay marriage itself. Couldn't this same scenario have come up regarding sex education or the teaching of evolution in a science class? Some parents have objections to their children being taught these issues in public schools and want to opt their children out of it. If an individual school decides not to inform parents or give them the opportunity to opt out their children, then isn't that an issue that needs to be taken up on a local level with the school? It doesn't mean that we need to make sex education illegal, but that we need to see that parents are given control over what their children are taught. If the school and/or school board won't accommodate that for whatever reason, there are still private schooling options for parents that want their children taught in a religious way.

I think it's fine that religions have their own way of viewing homosexuality and same-sex marriage and that the state doesn't have any right to change the way religions approach the issue, but also don't think religions have the right to impose their views of homosexuality on people that aren't of their faith. If these same-sex marriage ammendments really do negatively impact heterosexual families then I think it's something we should all be aware of, but so far I haven't seen anyone give an explanation of why traditional families need to be concerned.

I'm reposting this because I really would like to see a discussion about the effects on traditional families. I don't mean any disrespect to Starla or my own church or anyone else that is opposing same-sex marriage in the political forum, but I would like to hear your opinions about how traditional families are affected by these ammendments.

Nobody Panic

So, President Bush gave a speech this week about how to fix the economy.

Good evening. This is an extraordinary period for America's economy.

Good start. "Extraordinary" doesn't sound bad at all.

We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis...

...our entire economy is in danger.

...the gears of the American financial system began grinding to a halt.

...the situation becoming more precarious by the day...

...our country could experience a long and painful recession.

Ok, ok, I get it. He means extraordinarily bad. No need to harp on it.

The government's top economic experts warn that without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic...

Why wait for Congress to cause a panic by inaction when a doomsday speech can do it now?

First, how did our economy reach this point? ... Easy credit... led to excesses and bad decisions. Many mortgage lenders approved loans for borrowers without carefully examining their ability to pay. Many borrowers took out loans larger than they could afford...

So, basically the economy is messed up because some banks made some "bad decisions" lending money to people who couldn't pay it back.

So I've proposed that the federal government reduce the risk posed by these troubled assets, and supply urgently-needed money so banks and other financial institutions can avoid collapse and resume lending.

Great idea. We just need to give those banks that made bad loans a bunch of money so that they can keep making those loans. That should fix the economy in no time.

Despite corrections in the marketplace and instances of abuse, democratic capitalism is the best system ever devised.

Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances.

Right, we only need the best system ever when things are good, not to help us out of a crisis.

The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal.

...the one institution that doesn't mind putting their money behind a bunch of companies that have shown their prowess at losing their own money.

Under our proposal, the federal government would put up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars on the line...

I mean, that doesn't mind put taxpayer money behind those companies.

Denver in a nutshell

This video has everything that you ever need to know about Denver. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they're a communist.

NBC needs to shut up

We're watching the women's individual all-around gymnastics right now, and the announcers on NBC have some serious bias. They complain and harp on every little mistake that the Chinese girls make and they sit silent when the Chinese do well, but they ignore any mistakes that the Americans make and complain like crazy if they don't get perfect scores. Don't get me wrong, I hope the American girls do well, too, but I expect the journalists to keep it to themselves a little more.

Bloggenting

As you may know, it's been quite a while since I've written a blog. I realize that I'm failing the blog community, and that many people are likely depressed and lonely waiting for the next words of wisdom to flow from my keyboard.

Despite the cause for disappointment in my lack of posts I want all of my many readers to know that I have been struggling to make a contribution to the digital community in another form: commenting.

Every blogger knows that the key to blogging is in the comments. After all, if it weren't for the comments from our readers telling us how great and/or stupid we are, then why would we blog at all? If it weren't for the comments, why not just write our ideas in journals like our ancestors did? I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that humankind has evolved past that method of expression.

So, lest anyone think that I am no longer a contributing member of the blogciety, just remember that I'm here every second I have to waste, reading and judging your blog posts, and commenting on them. You couldn't do this without me.