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Virginia Coffee House


rusthebuss

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I know former senator Allen is a good man, not one of my favorites, but I wish him well. I've known a lot of people that have had dubiouse past, but we all are a work in progress. Lets hope he realizes his flaws and is able to build towards being a positive representative of the people in what ever venture he seeks in the future. As for Webb, I hope he is the centrists he claimed to be.

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Well. Interesting past 3 pages I would say.

Firstly, everything I voted for came to fruition except for one thing -- the marriage amendment. Anyone who says it is not mean-spirited towards gays is deluded. I don't mean to offend -- I've conversed with everybody on this forum for well over a year and I find this to be some of the most intellectually and creatively-oriented conversation I have ever been a part of -- however, this bill is merely designed to present another obstacle to the legalization of civil unions, and perhaps at a later date, gay marriage. It is already written into Virginia law that gays cannot marry, so why do we need this amendment? It's just supposed to be more red tape for future movers and shakers in Virginia politics to cut through, which will be damned hard if and when that time comes to pass.

The very wording of the amendment was designed so that anybody with religious conviction would immediately see the top sentence : "That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions" and then immediately vote "yes" without even reading the latter portion. The latter portion is the portion with relevance to straight couples, and in particular, women. I cannot fathom any informed woman voting yes for this amendment had they understood the jargon of the lower half.

"This commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approsimate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."

Ridiculous. The passage of this amendment nullifies protection from domestic violence for anyone who is not married, by that wording. "Domestic violence," according to Virginia law, is only applicable to straight married couples, and therefore, such protections as restraining orders will be considerably more difficult for unmarried women (or men) to obtain. In addition, the legal jargon of the lower half -- indeed, the more substantial and utterly useless half of this amendment -- can eliminate medical and dental benefits for unmarried couples and leave thousands of Virginians without health insurance, as well as keeping the courts from enforcing any legal agreements between unmarried couples (for reasons of child guardianship, medical reasons, etc.). What a lot of people were not aware of is that this has a serious, negative impact on straight couples as well. If you truly believe that only the top half of the amendment is dead-on, then you should let existing Virginia marriage laws against gays stand and speak to that -- leave the bigoted, imbecilic bottom half to the mentally-handicapped minds that conceived this ridiculous bill.

As for our two illustrious Senators who ran... well... we were at a lack for great options. There's Allen, a cocky, bigoted, and pretentious Northern transplant who pretends to be a 'good-ol' boy', and there's Webb, a formerly-viciously sexist man (whom my mother -- a 31 year veteran of the Air Force -- loathes because he said women 'have no place in the military') who annoys me in general. Seems kind of lose-lose... Politics. Ugh. Good thing I'm a political science major!!! :D

I said my (lengthy) bit, and if it offended anybody, I'm sorry. My language was terse, but this was solely informational. Hope everybody got something out of it... AFTER the amendment got passed. Blah.

PS: I'm sorry I'm beating a dead horse... Don't hold it against me too long.

Edited by PeninsulaKiddo
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One of the reasons I moved from Virginia was to get away from the Homophobes. This vote just proved I was right. I don't hold it against those who voted a yes. Forgive them lord, for they know not what they do. Only time will change the attitudes and beliefs of people. Hell, their are still people who don't approve of bi-racial relationships. Times are changin slow, but they are a changin.

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I was a history major turned urban planning grad student.

erdogs, I'm with you. I enjoy this forum because it keeps me aware of all the wonderful growth and development going on in my home region (HR), but I'm definitely glad to be watching from a distance. I just really feel I couldn't live as happy a life there as I could somewhere else. It's a shame. I know HR has been dealing with a brain drain problem for a long time. I wonder if all of Virginia is dealing with the same (although NoVa certainly isn't), and if we can quantify that.

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  • 1 year later...

Btw, if you look at the past 10 years of voting we've been fairly evenly split between conservatives and liberals in this area with conservatives holding the edge. Lets not forget that this a a fairly urban area and anytime you have that you're going to have a sizeable liberal contingent even if it's not the dominant political force region wide.

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:lol: I saw you lurking back there and was waiting for your reply. I knew that would ruffle the feathers a bit. Using the blanket term "socialist" to describe the policies of the left is just like using "fascist" to describe the policies of the right. Both are extreme terms that fail to capture the nuanced positions of either party. I don't see anything wrong with you keeping your right to bear arms so long as gun owners agree to some measure of responsibility in when and where to carry. For example, that NRA nut who decided to openly carry to Harbor Fest last year, while legally within his right to do so, was irresponsible in the way he handled the situation. He did so simply to make a scene, and that is not what the second amendment is about. Conversely, wanting healthcare that covers all in our society, including the disadvantaged, is not the inherently evil desire that the term "socialism" implies.
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Actually the sheriffs dept handled very unprofessionally. First of all the city wrote a ordinance that violated state law and knownly did it. They harassed a honest citizen and Norfolk pd has had many cases they harassed law abiding citizens. Why aren't they harassing people that are violating the laws instead of people that are abiding by them

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In other news Pat Robertson contemplates purchasing the Virginia Pilot

This would be absolutely disasterous. :o If you think the papers bad now, just wait until Robertson has management control and the paper starts pushing his views. Not only that, but I fear the way that our region would be portrayed by the national media if Robertson got his hands on our most prominent local paper.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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