Saturday, November 8, 2008

Pelosi to Voters: "You're Idiots"

From today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Pelosi says voters misunderstood Prop. 8

"Unfortunately, I think people thought they were making a statement about what their view of same-sex marriage was," the San Francisco Democrat said. "I don't know if it was clear that this meant that we are amending the Constitution to diminish freedom in our state."

Yeah. It was so difficult to grasp:

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

And of course nobody was aware that the California Supreme Court, by a 4-3 margin had redefined "marriage" so as to include same-sex couples. That wasn't in the news at all. Nor did anyone know that these "marriages" had actually taken place. Not a word about it in the press.

His Excellency Archbishop Niederauer still has an open invitation extended to Speaker Pelosi. He invited her to visit so that he could make sure she understood the Church's teaching on abortion, one of the Church's non-negotiable issue. Perhaps he could add the defense of natural marriage, which is another non-negotiable issue, to the agenda.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr.Gibbons Cooney, Can not you see that Pelosi was doing her best to interpret the vote to strip Californian citizens of their rights in the most positive spin she could conceive of. Unlike your glee, she has deeply conflicted trying to comprehend the bigotry expressed by the majority of Californians in acting in such blatent disregard for other Californians. You see it as a battle against possible godlessness. Your views date back to the Inquisitors and those onlookers cheering the burning flesh of heretics.

Mr. Cooney, it is not just your mind that is closed, but your heart, as well. In your world view Scripture and religious doctrine trump my civil rights and the civil rights of thousands of gays and lesbians. Your inability to comprehend that there are others who have lives and families different from yours but equally valid has succeeded in stripping us of our right to marry and be equal under the law, placing our families at risk. In effect you have declared war on our families.

In earlier times your world view would have us gay people tortured before we were burned alive while justifying the horror by your God. To you, it does not matter in the least that others are not beholden to or even care about your religion yet you advocated to shove your religion onto our lives. No one demeans you because you adhere to the belief that a human is infallible, infallible! because he is elected to the position of Pope. Let me take the time know to tell you and your religion in no uncertain terms that NO human is infallible!

Any world view which elevates its ideology above the lives of human beings causes a great evil.

Mr. Cooney, your lack of empathy and human regard for others, and your inferred glee in our suffering due to your advocacy is stunning and reveals the darkness in your soul. I could never vote to strip you of your rights to marry the person your love. Even though you have stripped me of mine, there is something inside of me that would speak loudly that doing so is wrong and even cruel. In this regard, even though i couldn't care less about being a Christian I believe I am a better one that you because i could not, BECAUSE I WOULD NOT EVER stoop to the cruelty that I may want to now in retaliation. If I were a Catholic I would cringe at the bigotry you profess.

Francis Salmeri

Anonymous said...

Mr. Salmeri,

Your contention that my view of marriage is based on religion is incorrect. Marriage is the foundational institution of society--any society, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, atheist, because marriage is the institution that binds generations through time.

Thus, the defense of natural marriage is based in natural law and the common good of society. You write "in my (Gibbons')world view Scripture and religious doctrine trump my (Mr. Salmeri's) civil rights and the civil rights of thousands of gays and lesbians."

Not true. I respect your right to vote, to associate with whom you will, to live with whom you will, etc., etc.

Mr. Salmeri, you don't HAVE a civil right to "marry" another man. You have a natural right to live with that man, to love that man, to spend your life with that man. But civil rights are rights recognized and granted by the civil society. You don't have the "right" to demand that society recognize your relationship with that man as a "marriage" just because you want it.

Society makes that decision. That is what Proposition 8 was about. And I, for one, and everybody I know who voted for Prop 8 did so not because we don't like gay people, but because we (including some gay people) see how unique marriage is. Note what the amendment says:

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

That obviously addresses more than gay "marriage." It addresses polygamy & polyandry as well.

Gibbons in SF

Anonymous said...

Have you not noticed there is supposed to be seperation of church and state? How is defining marriage by religious standards keeping it seperated?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous November 10, 9:53AM:

That is a non-sequiter.

The PEOPLE of the State of California recognized that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Are you requesting a separation of people and state?

Gibbons in SF

Anonymous said...

My Cooney,

I just have to express I am impressed at the time you take to answer all of my posts. I am also impressed with the time you must take to blog so proficiently. You are dedicated to the cause of right wing Catholicism. I also wonder what your position or standing is in the Catholic Church?

But I have to correct you when you say that I do not have a civil right to marry. It would be more accurate to say that I did have the civil right to marry (I have the marriage certificate to prove that indeed I DID have had that right)and that you and the Catholic Church fought hard to take my right away and you won.

Mr. Cooney, I felt devastated and I now I don't know the status of my marriage. I feel deeply about the wreckage our families have to now deal with which you have helped to bring about.

In this post or any of the other posts in which we've had the pleasure to address each other you won't talk about the consequences of what you have done, nor will you talk about how you feel about the families you just put at legal risk.

I don't know you so I wonder, are you proud of your accomplishment, joyful at winning a war against gay families? Unless you tell me and your readers we can only guess at what kind of man you are and what kind of heart beats in your chest.

Francis Salmeri