Posts by jstalin

67

Born Gay?

by Sam87 in

jw
friends

hi everyone, just wondering what your thoughts are on people that say they are born gay?

ive heard that this isnt actually possible, and that there is no scientific backing to it, im personaly not gay but i was just wondering what some of you think on this matter, and if you have anything to back it up with, thanks,.

.

jstalin

Sam87 - you are badly misinformed. I take it you've never known someone gay, or you've never had a conversation about sexual orientation with someone who is gay. I don't mean to be a jerk, just making an observation.

Believe me, it is not a choice. I am attracted to guys and I have been as far back as I can remember. When I was going through puberty, all my friends were talking about girls, but I just had no interest. Instead, I was looking at my male friends. I had no idea what was wrong with me and I figured that maybe it was just something I was going through. But as I matured and was able to deal with my internal feelings more clearly, I knew I was gay, and not going through a phase. I have no control over who I'm attracted to any more than you do. Actually coming out and telling people I'm gay and being able to act on my attractions was the most liberating thing in my life. I tried to force myself to date women and I hated every minute of it, but I kept telling myself "maybe I just haven't found the right one." On my first gay date I felt like I had an epiphany. I finally felt right. I was finally excited to go on dates. From that moment on, there was no question.

Sam - did you choose to be attracted to women? Did you ever wake up one morning and ask yourself "Hmmm... should I be gay or straight?" No, you didn't. I didn't either.

76

Do You Really "Care" If Someone's Gay Or Not???

by minimus in

jw
friends

so often, you see people all up in arms because it is revealed that an individual is "gay".

do you really care??

personally, i don't.

jstalin

OFF TOPIC - Sad Emo, whenever I see your name and avatar, it makes me sad! Please, be happier!

76

Do You Really "Care" If Someone's Gay Or Not???

by minimus in

jw
friends

so often, you see people all up in arms because it is revealed that an individual is "gay".

do you really care??

personally, i don't.

jstalin

For example, can a gay married couple use the filing status on their Federal tax return as "Married Filing Joint?"

No. The Federal Defense of Marriage Act (signed into law by President Clinton) specifically prohibits the federal government from recognizing state-recognized gay marriages. Gay couple aren't allowed to file joint tax returns, share in federal benefits (like pensions and social security death benefits), or get any other federal benefit allowed to straight married couples.

76

Do You Really "Care" If Someone's Gay Or Not???

by minimus in

jw
friends

so often, you see people all up in arms because it is revealed that an individual is "gay".

do you really care??

personally, i don't.

jstalin

Intended by our founding fathers? The country's founding fathers created the federal government, which has no role in the legal entity of marriage. Marriage is a state issue.

Marriage existed far before the United States government. In fact, marriage existed before government. It's when government got involved that defining marriage had become something for the rest of us to worry about. Government should take a passive role, not authorizing or blessing marriages, but simply recognizing them. Government doesn't go around authorizing and licensing baptisms - why does one need to get a license to get married?

76

Do You Really "Care" If Someone's Gay Or Not???

by minimus in

jw
friends

so often, you see people all up in arms because it is revealed that an individual is "gay".

do you really care??

personally, i don't.

jstalin

"Intended" by who?

Any why shouldn't two same sex adults be able to willingly enter into a legal relationship to allow each other the same legal protections as straight marriages?

10

America, when you go to the Voting Booth, I hope you remember this

by jayhawk1 in

jw
friends

yet another reason i am voting against all but one local incumbent.... exxon mobil posts $10.49b profit in 3q .

by steve quinn, ap business writer 34 minutes ago .

oil industry behemoth exxon mobil corp. said thursday its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49 billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded u.s. company.. the report comes as high crude prices this year have fueled record profits in the oil industry, triggering an outcry from consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in early august.. the largest quarterly profit ever was exxon mobil's $10.71 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2005.. they may beat that next quarter, said howard silverblatt standard & poor's senior index analyst.

jstalin

Ah yes, profits are eeeeevil. I long for the days of Soviet Communism. Things would be so much better...

But seriously. Big (evil) Oil profits about 20 cents a gallon. Taxes add up to more than 50 cents a gallon. Who is gouging who here?

Perhaps you don't understand the mechanics of capital investment. That evil profit is being spent to fund future oil exploration.

14

NJ Recognizes Same-Sex Unions

by lonelysheep in

http://www.cnn.com/2006/law/10/25/jersey.samesex.ap/index.html.

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jstalin

I think they're focused on the perceived joys of marriage, and some will inevitably discover the pain of divorce, as well.

You might be right, but I can tell you that the struggle for gay marriage is much more than just the "joy" of it. We need to be able to have the same legal protections, and that is the primary focus here. Things such as rights of survivorship for pension and insurance benefits, right of inheritance, right of dual child custody (many states do not allow gay couples to have joint custody of children), right to make medical decisions for each other in an emergency, etc. All those things that come with straight marriage are generally denied to gay couples, unless of course, we go through lots of legal wrangling to set things up in a marriage-like legal scheme. Even then, many medical and insurnace benefits can't be jointly shared.

14

NJ Recognizes Same-Sex Unions

by lonelysheep in

http://www.cnn.com/2006/law/10/25/jersey.samesex.ap/index.html.

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jstalin

I'm gay and these sorts of decisions worry me. Courts making a top-down decision rams it down people's throats and gives the right wingers lots of anti-gay ammo. The preferred way, in my opinion, is to change people's hearts and minds and then get the laws changed.

13

JW just gave me a gift for boss' day!

by jstalin in

is this weird, or what?

the jw that works for me just gave me a gift for boss' day... albeit a little belated... but i was shocked!

jstalin

Is this weird, or what? The JW that works for me just gave me a gift for Boss' Day... albeit a little belated... but I was shocked!

69

Resources will be gone by 2050

by oldflame in

jw
friends

beijing (reuters) - humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the wwf conservation group said on tuesday.

populations of many species, from fish to mammals, had fallen by about a third from 1970 to 2003 largely because of human threats such as pollution, clearing of forests and overfishing, the group also said in a two-yearly report.. "for more than 20 years we have exceeded the earth's ability to support a consumptive lifestyle that is unsustainable and we cannot afford to continue down this path," wwf director-general james leape said, launching the wwf's 2006 living planet report.. "if everyone around the world lived as those in america, we would need five planets to support us," leape, an american, said in beijing.. people in the united arab emirates were placing most stress per capita on the planet ahead of those in the united states, finland and canada, the report said.. australia was also living well beyond its means.. the average australian used 6.6 "global" hectares to support their developed lifestyle, ranking behind the united states and canada, but ahead of the united kingdom, russia, china and japan.. "if the rest of the world led the kind of lifestyles we do here in australia, we would require three-and-a-half planets to provide the resources we use and to absorb the waste," said greg bourne, wwf-australia chief executive officer.. everyone would have to change lifestyles -- cutting use of fossil fuels and improving management of everything from farming to fisheries.. "as countries work to improve the well-being of their people, they risk bypassing the goal of sustainability," said leape, speaking in an energy-efficient building at beijing's prestigous tsinghua university.. "it is inevitable that this disconnect will eventually limit the abilities of poor countries to develop and rich countries to maintain their prosperity," he added.. the report said humans' "ecological footprint" -- the demand people place on the natural world -- was 25 percent greater than the planet's annual ability to provide everything from food to energy and recycle all human waste in 2003.. in the previous report, the 2001 overshoot was 21 percent.. "on current projections humanity, will be using two planets' worth of natural resources by 2050 -- if those resources have not run out by then," the latest report said.. "people are turning resources into waste faster than nature can turn waste back into resources.".

rising population.

jstalin

I seem to recall that in the 70's the Club of Rome predicted global famine because of the "unsustainable" growth in the world population. I think they said that would happen by 2000. Hmm. I'm still here.

The free market is a wonderful thing.