No editor statement.
MATTHEW SHEPARD: Matthew Shepard murder still haunts town
Look, the argument is alwasy made that since very few people actively victimize those they like, that all crimes are "hate crimes" but the definition is very simple. If a poor guy robs a rich guy to get his money, that's a crime of greed, not hate. If a poor guy beats a rich guy just because he's a rich guy and that's the sort of guy he wants to hurt, then that's a hate crime. He beat him not for who he is, but because he represented a certain group, in effect the assailant was trying to hurt the group, not the guy. Gay-bashing is a hate crime because the bashing is aimed at all gay people, not at a specific guy. The hatred for gays is what made the guy do the crime. If I hate you for something you say to me or do to me, then I hate you, just you. If I hate you for your Jesus fish car decal or your skin color or your gender, then that's a whole group I hate, NOT just you. Get it? Now, as to your original question, I throw it back at you. How do you know the killers' minds? Hey, all I know is what I've read so if you have some inside knowledge then convince me that you're more credible than every other account I've heard. (4 hrs ago | post #8)
Dear Crystal - Thanks for Writing
Remember me if you end up anywhere from Omaha to Chicago! (4 hrs ago | post #30)
Dear Crystal - Thanks for Writing
Ah, the old "We don't make you feel like crap with our oppresion and denial of basic human rights. GOD makes you feel like crap as consequence for being, um, you," argument. I know it well, and I've heard it often. And it still makes no sense and serves only as fanatical one-sided self-superior double-talk. Oh, and to get it out of the way before name-of-the-day shows up (and because I'm from Illinois so apparently it's my stately duty), here it goes: "No signifigant percentage of homosexuals has ever gotten married in any country where it's legal. I'm secretly gay myself but can't admit it because I suspect my penis may be inadequate. My name is Will and I'm a chronic masturbater and I still live with my parents. Blah blah blah. Gays are bad because they really don't all secretly want to convert me. Leviticus Leviticus Leviticus." There, now there's no need for him to post it. (Friday | post #5)
Five Dead In Central Texas Murder-Suicide
Linda, I'm sorry to hear it ended for you this way. I'll always remember you fondly. Rest in peace. (Thursday Oct 9 | post #1)
http://www.asexual ity.org/home/index .php?option=com_co ntent&task=sec tion&id=6& Itemid=28 (Monday Sep 29 | post #41)
What about asexuals, people with no sexual interest in anyone or anything? For you to claim that there are only 3 true orientations is kind of the same as the people who say there is only one true orientation and that we choose to deviate from it. (Friday Sep 26 | post #35)
I can't say I've shared your experiences in the workplace, but I have in my extended family. I have several relatives who are Christian to a cultish degree, like they won't buy medicine until they've paid their tithes. Anyway, I'll eat the food they bless, because I don't believe it does anything. It is no more offensive to me than if they asked the ghost of Sammy Davis Jr to smile on dinner. I take umbridge when they try to convert me and preach at me, but their prayers don't change the food any so I still eat it. I also figure that they're probably worshipping the same powers I do, just by a different name and with an awful and misguided set of rules. (Tuesday Sep 23 | post #5)
I am bi, and monogamous. I am happily married and see no reason to assume I will ever be with another person in my life, but I will always take notice of both sexes. I suppose I could go all right-wing and claim to be ex-gay, but behavior and inclination are two very different things, and no preference dictated my decision to marry a member of the opposite sex anyway. I happened to fall in love with this person, regardless of (not because of) gender and sex. Bi doesn't mean we want to bang everyone. It just means that when we shoot you down or chat you up it's because of who, not what, you are. (Friday Sep 19 | post #15)
New Age Ideas And Mass Murder Go Hand In Hand
Hmmm, how new age was Timothy McVeigh? This argument, relying purely on picking and choosing which coincidences to cite, reminds me of the "God Hates Fags" explanation for natural disasters. Sure, it might explain California and Louisiana, but not so much Kansas and Iowa. The fact is, mass murders are explained by psychosis, not by religious beliefs. (Jul 26, 2008 | post #2)
Serving Dixon, Sterling & Rock Falls
They need to get Spencer out. if he hadn't come so close to violating Sheley's right to a speedy trial, by doing nothing until they had to let the guy go or try him that day with no case built, then there wouldn't have been a killing spree at all. You can't take a lifetime offender and just sit on your hands when you have him in custody for robbing old people under threat of death, and then act shocked when they get released and kill old people during robberies! (Jul 25, 2008 | post #1)
Breaking News! Lindsay Lohan Comes Out As a Lesbian
If only she'd made this grand confession while she was still hot, rather than wait until she's a wasted out addict. Oh well, one more out of the closet is still better than one more in. Now if Anderson Cooper would speak up . . . (Jul 7, 2008 | post #12)
Of course it was weird to you. As a child (or teen or whatever you were), you valued fitting in and conforming above all else. One of the main reasons Christianity is so accepted without question is because "a hundred million people can't be wrong." But they can be, if accuracy or truth were even the question. If they are or they're not, it's not their numbers that decide it. What is so weird about believing that god is in everything? That every tree, rock, sunset, shooting star, and blade of grass is part of what made it? I personally believe that I can't bear a child or shed a hair without it being made from me and therefore part of me, and I see no reason a creator would do it differently. Science teaches us that at an atomic level, everything is energy. I just believe that that universal energy is god. And because of that, I call it The All. Naming it God just confuses it with Christianity so I call it what it is (to me) with The All. As for spells and such, it's a ritual. It's no different for me to light a candle and ask for help than for a Catholic to light a candle and ask for the same help. And the various gods and goddesses are just like the patron saints. Now paganism it a broad brush to paint with, so I'm not claiming that my beliefs are the same as other pagans, but I can and do try to explain my beliefs. I can't defend the actions of every pagan ever, but no one can really defend the actions of any anything ever either. All I can say is that I don't like being called a nasty bad pagan, or that the words were linked together as though it they shared some commonality, any more than a Christian would like someone to say "The nasty bad Christians committed the holocaust." Were the nazis Christian? Well they thought they were, but that doesn't mean that they have anything in common with Christians today or that their bibles had anything to do with them being nasty and bad. KLG made it sound as though one can't be pagan without being nasty and bad, and that is what we take offense at. It's a far-reaching label that doesn't make sense. (Jun 30, 2008 | post #37)
Paganism May Not Pass Religious Muster
If Mormonism, which was seen the same way at first, can "pas muster" (Mitt Romney, anyone?) then paganism can too. Just give the rest of the world a chance to come around, and keep fighting the good fight so they don't forget until they do. It's a tried and true method for changing closed minds. (Jun 29, 2008 | post #7)
DA: Wife's Electric-Shock Death Was Murder, Not Sex Accident
Another man who blames women for his problems. Let me guess, girls don't like you and so you blame it on their "man-hating " training? It can't be that you're maybe a misogynistic jerk or that you try to "keep them in their place". No, it's gotta be that they're all bitches. Yeah, how's that philosophy workin for ya, sport? (Jun 29, 2008 | post #24)
