Equal Rights @ MindSay

Telling the truth when
everyone agrees may feel good,
but it's pretty useless.

 Telling the truth is far more important
 when it goes AGAINST what most people think.
  So I will.

 prepare to be offended by the following.



Morality does not change based on birthplace or citizenship.
  Whether something is good or bad doesn't depend upon
whether it's an American doing it, nor does it depend
 upon where in the world it is being done.

"This is war!"
"Right and wrong don't count right now!"
 


Suppose there are criminals in your town.
 (This won't take much imagination for most of us.)
 Now suppose that a bunch of cops with machine-guns
 are barging into one house after another, at random,
 looking for the crooks.

 Would it be ok with you when
they showed up at your house?

 Well, that sort of thing wasn't ok with
the people who wrote the Constitution. 
The Fourth Amendment in particular stated
that law enforcement has no right to come into
your house without your permission, unless they
 have probable cause to think that a crime is happening,
 or that evidence of a crime is there.


Of course, a cop's job would be a lot easier
if he didn't have to respect individual rights.

  He could barge in where ever he wanted and rummage through
 everyone's stuff (contrary to the Fourth Amendment), randomly
 stop people and forcibly interrogate them (contrary to the
Fifth Amendment), take peoples' stuff or punish people on
a whim, lock people up without charging them with anything
 (contrary to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments), and so on.
 
 Of course he'd be an evil fascist,
 but his job would be a lot easier.



Now watch some footage of U.S.  troops on Iraq.
 What are they doing?  Barging where ever they want,
 with guns drawn no less, randomly stopping people
and forcibly interrogating them, detaining people
 without charges, taking property and punishing
people without a warrant or even probable cause.

So, why is that stuff good over
there if it's bad over here?

  The sad but accurate answer,
 for most Americans, is that the
victims are not Americans, so their
rights don't really matter.



  Ever wonder how that would feel?
 Wouldn't it be swell if,  for our own good, if it
 was decided to send troops to drive tanks around
our cities and towns, setting up random road blocks and
 check points, questioning people at random, searching
where ever they wanted, and so on?

 Would you feel good about that?
would it make you feel more secure?
After all, you have nothing to hide do you?

How about if they said, "Well this is WAR on (Fill in the blank)
 or this is for your own protection and safety
so we HAVE to do this!". Would that make it ok?


The American troops in Iraq violate
 individual rights on a daily basis.

 Of course, the excuse is that they're going
 after really nasty people, and they NEED to
be able to do that stuff.

 Right.  And that's what every tyrant in history
 has used as an excuse for depriving individuals
of their rights. 

It's been the default excuse for theft, torture
 and murder since the beginning of recorded history.



Committing evil in the name of combating evil
is both hypocritical and patently stupid. 

Incidentally, it's also EXACTLY the same excuse
that the foreign terrorists use to justify their atrocities.
It's the creed of U.S. troops and foreign "terrorists" alike.

 
Once upon a time, some radical extremists
 declared that they believed it was "self-evident"
that ALL men are created equal, and endowed with
certain inalienable rights.
 Wouldn't you consider that a good thing?

 Since then, some have opined, with good reason,
 that what they MEANT back then was that all white
 males are created equal.

  Well, we've come pretty far since then,
but today it just means "all Americans are created equal."
 How about Iraqis?  
 Were they out sick or didn't care enough to show up
 the day inalienable rights were handed out.



Killing lots of civilians, in order to
 force people into changing there ways
When Arabs do it, it's called terrorism.
 When Americans do it, it's heroic and righteous. 
The ones who kill civilians ALWAYS say it was necessary,
and think that the ends justify the means, or they wouldn't do it.  


So do I support "our" troops.  No.
  The fact is, "we" don't have troops.
 GOVERNMENTS have troops, and they are
 always used, first and foremost, to provide
 power to the governments they serve. 

They certainly don't represent me, and I don't
 want their "protection," if the price is the
constant violation of individual rights.

  And this is true even if "our" troops only
violate the rights of people who have darker skin,
 wear funny clothes, and talk funny.

 I guess that makes me un-American.


 November 21, 2008
by Larken Rose edited a lot by me

The person in the above photo was the only negative in the entire day, at the March for Equality - or marriage equality - no on Prop 8 march.  Incredibly, this man, and two bible-bearing women came from Michigan, to try to convince the people in the march that they were...what?  Sinful???  Not Christians?  Had more rights than he has?  (I swear - that's what he said)...I have to say, he certainly had balls of brass, though he might have been just plain stupid.  He was surrounded by alot of anger and sometimes hatred.  My husband wanted to stay there, to kind of protect him,though we certainly didn't agree with him.  While he spouted his nonsense bible verses and the reasons he was against marriage equality, those who were in the march surrounded him and shouted back.  It was getting pretty ugly when a young rightfully enraged man started yelling that he was a fat old bastard and to take his fat old self out of there.  He almost began poking the man.  I reached out and touched the young man's arm and pulled him away from the guy with the flag tie and said not to respond in anger.  The young man retreated...I was surprised at myself - that I had that much courage still for an old lady...But the rest of the day was superb and I am very encouraged by the turnouts all over the country.

to be continued with our concert in the evening - Joan Baez...maybe tomorrow

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 -- Declaration of Independence

"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

-- Virginia Declaration of Rights


I love this idea... that all people, no matter where they come from or who they are have inherent, unalienable rights. It was a great and progressive concept. I think we've come a long way from this sentiment in modern society, however. Not only do we not seem to recognize these rights in ALL people, or even ALL people IN our country, but we don't even recognize them in ALL of our citizens. Where did these simple truths become moot points? When did we decide that only some people in the world have these inherent rights, while others are worthy of bullets and no mercy?

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I
am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away
from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I
wish they could adopt me.

I
am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me
in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able
to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I
am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore,
nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now
live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor
who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they
found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I
am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better
person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.



repost this if you believe homophobia is wrong