Points By Drew Pritt

Well its happened again. I have ended up in a fight with someone I am close to, this time my older brother, because I have been told being gay is a choice. Hmmm, when and where was I given the choice?

At one point was I offered by the genetics fairy a choice between being attracted to, being safer, being inclined, being able to decide between a boy and a girl? IF this is some choice, then why did all my attempts at dating a female fail miserably and yet my relationships with a male has flourished and been easy.

Where in the Holy Bible can you find me Jesus Christ condeming homosexuality? Please do not refer me to the Kosher Laws or to the Apostle Paul. I am not an Orthodox Jew, nor am I am Paulinian, but a CHRISTIAN….meaning Christ-like. So tell me, where did Jesus Christ even once condemn homosexuality?

Where in my life did I have a choice to say, I will live a life against what a plurality of the world says is “normal.” Where in my life did I have a choice to say my life is now endangered, I am a 2nd Class Citizen, and I am being reduced socially from the “norm” all in the name of a “choice.”

Where is it a fact that being homosexual is all bad and pervasive, violent, drug-induced, and cheap forms of clothing that is leather. Where is this land of straightville where theres no violence, nothing bad ever happens, theres no drugs, and everyone looks like they stepped off the cover of Good Housekeeping?

Where is the right you are given that everytime you hold to your beliefs does it say its okay to dismiss me, discriminate against me, and treat me without respect?

Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity? Where is your love?

Where is the Choice!

Well I stepped away from this blog for awhile because I focused on personal issues in my life. What shocked me was the choice of Biden and Palin. Now, I liked Sarah Palin and I did defend her. I am a liberal and a Democrat, but I have worked for a number of women and I thought she wasn’t getting a fair shake. This happens with many female candidates.

Well….the shine is off the apple and I am not as protective of her. Making women pay for rape kits when she was Mayor of Wasilla and her fundamentalist church really concern me. Its not lack of experience. Its the fact that after she lost her first race for Lt. Governor in 2002, she didn’t return to this Church till 2005, by her own admission. At that point it was to get a “blessing” from a fundamentalist Kenyan evagelist who once chased a woman from a village for being what he called a “witch“.

So….my support swings back to Barack Obama. Yes, I have concerns about Obama, but I love Joe Biden. I am a Democrat and a liberal. But I am not going to vote for someone based on hype or the chance to “make history.”

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It may not be the same as the Great Crash of 1929, but the financial seizure suffered by our nation in the last two weeks has developed into a full fledged financial cardiac arrest. The US Government alone will end up spending trillions of dollars dealing with the problems, whether or not $700 billion dollars of bad debt by private firms is bought by our tax money. Do not be swayed by the friendlier sounding term “bail out“. A “bail out” suggests its a short term loan. With gasoline at $3.50-$4.00 a gallon and with unemployment at 6% and expected to rise now, we are in a period of great financial distress.
 
Some say this isn’t the Great Depression because in the Great Depression you had thousands of banks failing, people losing their life savings, 25% unemployment, social unrest, and tent cities of the poor. I ask you, how close are we getting to those types of conditions. Two of the oldest financial firms in the nation have gone under. Everytime I look at the stock market, I feel like the Count off of Sesame Street as the market dives 100…..200….300….400 points, ha ha ha…..sob sob sob.
 
So far, many of the firms going bust have been in the financial sector, but if things get worse there are many other vulnerable sectors. Look at the businesses with the most debt. They will be the next to go under. Of course, more companies going under would mean hefty job losses and higher unemployment. Many non-financial companies use the derivatives market as a sort of insurance policy. Airlines use it to protect themselves against the price of aviation fuel rising while exporters may use it to offset movements in currencies.
 
This $700 Billion “Buy-Out” plan is the biggest problem because it may deal with our problems in the short term, in the long run there is the same problems being pushed to later. Somebody will have to pay and that….is us, who are in college, who will pay taxes. It means less of a paycheck then before. It means we will pay for the greed of a privileged few. What is this precedent also we are setting now. If we buy out banks that have made bad decisions now then it will just encourage them to take even greater risks in the future.
 
We are in for a rough time….a slimmer and less fun time for all of us. All so a few CEO’s could make millions and George W. Bush could go back to a deficit spending policy. This could have been averted many years ago. Long story short, my generation now has a debt, that will take us a long time to pay off.

The Financial Times has confirmed what this blog has speculated for months….Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) is on the short-list as a running mate for Senator John McCain (R-Az.)

 As one McCain staffer has pointed out, “[McCain] loves Lieberman. And he is on the [short-]list because Lieberman has never embarrassed anyone, never misspoken. The first rule is, don’t take someone who costs you votes,” said one McCain adviser.” (more…)