Washington state made National news earlier this year when the state legislature passed a bill legalizing same sex marriage in the state. The Governor signed the bill into law in June of 2012. As I was personally celebrating my own joy at having a state government that is walking so boldly forward into the 21st century, a few people had a completely different reaction. And so, due to a very vocal minority of "residents", the state of Washington finds Referendum 74 on the ballot this November 6.
Referendum Measure No. 74
The legislature passed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6239 concerning marriage for same-sex couples, modified domestic-partnership law, and religious freedom, and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill.
This bill would allow same-sex couples to marry, preserve domestic partnerships only for seniors, and preserve the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform, recognize, or accommodate any marriage ceremony.
Should this bill be:
[ ] Approved
[ ] Rejected
https://wei.sos.wa.gov/agency/osos/en/press_and_research/PreviousElections/2012/General-Election/Pages/Online-Voters-Guide.aspx
I copied the above text from the site linked there, part of Washington State's Voter Guide Online. I wanted the exact verbiage they used so that everyone can see it for themselves.
If you have followed me for any length of time on any site, or paid even the slightest bit of attention over the course of the last year and a half that I have been speaking out publicly, you will know which way I voted on this issue. But that is not really what I wanted to address with this post.
This election season has brought to a head to the most egregious offense America has to offer her citizens. Propaganda and misinformation! It is just infuriating to turn on the TV and have lie after lie after distortion after lie shoved in my face continuously all day and all night. It is bad enough that the giant corporations can get away with showing pictures of sandwiches that are so unlike what you will receive inside their restaurants that they might as well be showing you pictures of a filet Mignon. But the blatant lies and obscene fear mongering used in these "political" ads are beyond insulting. They are dangerous!
The vast majority of my fellow citizens think they were educated by our public school system only to remain grievously ignorant, unable to differentiate between facts, and contrived and manufactured propaganda. The potential consequences of combining these factors truly terrifies me.
The lies and distortions being propagated by the forces in opposition to Referendum 74 are just disgusting. Every time their commercials come on the TV I find myself telling them off in the most colorful language I can come up with. They make me so angry! I cannot wait for the day my children will look back at these sick twisted fools and marvel at how ridiculously foul they and their beliefs truly are.
Fortunately, for me, that day is already here. My oldest son admitted to me the other day that he reacts to those vile commercials exactly the same way I do! I am so proud.
If there is one thing I would hope to see come from this extremely loathsome election season of fabrications and misrepresentations, above all else, it would be to institute some truth in advertising and accountability in "News" reporting laws! It damn well should be a crime what these people are doing, and they certainly should not be getting away with spreading their propaganda and misinformation without being held accountable for it.
It is time for some serious reform in this country. Our politicians need to worry less about what individual citizens do or do not do with their own bodies and their lives, and start paying some damn attention to what the corporations and religious organizations are doing to us against our will and without our knowledge! It is time that WE THE PEOPLE stand up and demand accountability from our government and our leaders! It is time to GO VOTE!
Wow Mother, I couldn't possibly agree with you more. I am completely baffled on a daily basis by the misrepresentations, words taken out of context, fear mongering, and outright lies told and perpetrated by news media in our country. I would actually go so far as to say that it is one of, if not the biggest, danger to our nation's sanctity and sanity.
ReplyDeletePoliticians are no longer slinging just mud, but poison tipped arrows. They don't want to win, they want to literally destroy their opponent. And that mentality has spread to the general population. It seems that Americans can no longer "agree to disagree". I live in actual fear that my children may become targets because of my own political and religious beliefs.
The Republicans seem to be especially guilty of the thinking that if you disagree with their political platform, you aren't just wrong, but you will burn in Hell for Eternity and take the innocent souls of your children with you. The debate surrounding the "Death Panels" during the voting for health care reform hammers that message home. Don't vote for health care reform because the Democrats want to kill your grandmother. What. The. Fuck?
It appears that nothing is sacred or even worthy of respect if it gets in the way of the Almighty dollar. It is horrifying to see the way individual citizens are treated in this country by corporate America in the service of the bottom line. Sooner or later, every single one of us will get the shaft from Big Business and I hope like hell that we will all decide that we've had enough of being treated as commodities and will demand that everyone of us be treated with the dignity and respect that all our fellow human beings deserve.
Until then, bend over and prepare to be fucked. Because if you ain't got the money, honey, they ain't got the time.
Well Said! Thank You!
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