North Carolina (in before MrFun!)

[giblets]

I think it would be fair to deny it based on the fact that it pays people to not work.

They couldn't have gotten the unemployment benefits if they hadn't been employed in the first place.

[regexcellent]

Incentives matter. Maybe we should give the South another incentive to stop oppressing minorities. Who's up for razing Raleigh this time?

No, that's a horrible idea. Cisco has major offices there.

Edit: well, not to mention, you know, all the people who live there

[kentonio]

Because most people consider them to be different things?

Since when was majority supported discrimination ok?

If Ben is a teacher, does he now know that 'matriculating' doesn't mean he has a degree?

He's a history teacher who knows next to nothing about history. If he can spell 'degree' then I'd be shocked.

[Hauldren Collider]

Incentives matter. Maybe we should give the South another incentive to stop oppressing minorities. Who's up for razing Raleigh this time?

I'm guessing that most of the people that opposed the amendment live in Raleigh and the Research Triangle. This would probably be counterproductive.

[The Mad Monk]

Should be one heck of a convention this year.

[SlowwHand]

It's utterly ****ing bizarre that most Americans seem proud of the fact that you can have Westboro disrupt soldier's funerals with their hate speech and propaganda, but they think it's okay for the government to step? _,,in and regulate personal relationships.
Serious untrue.
Do they not see the ridiculousness of that scenario? Wake up, America -- your priorities are truly ****ed.

Untrue. The protests are seen as disgusting by the vast majority

[Hauldren Collider]

They're seen as disgusting by everyone not in Phelps' stupid church.

[The Mad Monk]

You're missing his point. It's that we're proud of the protests, it's that we're proud that we are willing to uphold Freedom of Speech that far. Which, for the most part, we are.

I would take issue with comparing that to gay marriage, unless he means that marriage is a form of political speech.

[Asher]

Untrue. The protests are seen as disgusting by the vast majority

It doesn't matter if you think it's disgusting.

Americans are in a lather trying to stop two people in love from marrying eachother on the basis of their genitalia while people like Phelps are free to ruin funerals and spread hate. It's a matter of ****ed priorities.

[SlowwHand]

They're seen as disgusting by everyone not in Phelps' stupid church.

Which is a grand total of how many? 30 or so?

[klesh]

It's terrible and an injustice to be sure. The state I live in has full on gay marriage, and I felt pretty proud when I attended my first one for a former boss and her wife.

To me, if people want the legal rights afforded by what is called marriage, they should go to town hall and get a civil union... for everybody.
If you want to call it "marriage", find a church that is willing to perform the ceremony and you're then "married". Some churches would refuse you if it were a gay couple, that's that church's loss.

[rah]

I used to think that way but listening to all the people here, I've changed my mind. As long as hetero couples can go to town hall and have it called marriage, who am I to say that gay couples shouldn't have exactly the same right. If it were called a civil union for everyone, then I would have less of a problem with it.

[MrFun]

[klesh]

I used to think that way but listening to all the people here, I've changed my mind. As long as hetero couples can go to town hall and have it called marriage, who am I to say that gay couples shouldn't have exactly the same right. If it were called a civil union for everyone, then I would have less of a problem with it.

Think what way? That's what I mean by "for everybody".

The government registration bit, for anyone, should be at town hall being called civil union. This gets you your rights to act on behalf of your spouse for medical stuff, lets you do joint taxes and all that jazz. You can be a gay couple, straight couple, whatever.

Government no longer has anything to do with the word "marriage", that can be a church function if you want it.

There is absolutely no reason the government should be regulating morality.

[rah]

But in all fairness, I don't think that churches should have the monopoly on the term marriage.