"VOICE" YOUR OPINION

So, TheFiancee forwards the following email to me:

Subject: same sex marriage poll
>
> The [California] Governor's office is taking a poll on same-sex marriages.
> Apparently, conservatives are flooding the phones with negative
> responses. So please call now and forward this to your friends.
>
> Just call the office at 916/445-2841.
>
> Then hit 5 for hot issues then 1 for same sex marriage.
>
> Then hit 1 again to support same-sex marriage.
>
> Please call and take a moment to vote. I just did it and it takes
> about 10 seconds.

I think, that's fine, so I call the number and get this great recording about how I've called the office of Arnold Schwarzenegger (sp?) and it then gives me a list of options. Among other things, I can invite Arnold to an event, I can get his email address, I can even "voice my opinion on a hot issue." I hit the "5" button and then another recording asks that if I want to "voice my opinion on same sex marriage, press 1." So, I press the "1" to get to "voice my opinion." Yet another says "If you are for same sex marriage, press 1, if you are against same sex marriage, press 2."

So, I press "1." Then, another recording tells me thanks for contacting the governor's office and hangs up.

WOW, so that's what it's like to "voice my opinion" to the governor's office!

DEMOCRACY AT WORK!!!

And here I was trying to work up in my mind how I was going to give them a mini speech about how legistlating against gay marriage just equates to more big government telling us how to live our lives. I'd ask if, as a conservative governor, does Arnold really want to support legislation that will open the door to things like gun control?

That's what cracks me up about conservatives. They're against gay marriage but GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GUN!!

Uhhhh... get your hands off my penis! Unless I'm gay, in which case, keep doing that... only faster...

Well, I'm not gay, the point is, it's okay to legislate what a man does with his penis or what a woman does with her vagina but not okay to make laws controlling other things we use like guns?


YES: I have a RIGHT to defend myself by maintaining the ability to kill anyone who threatens me!

NO: I don't have a RIGHT to make other people of my gender experience pleasure in the privacy of my own home!

Whaaaaat?

Back to the governor's recording (that was not Arnold's voice, God dammit!), when they phrase the options as they did ("If you are for same sex marriage, press 1."), I felt like I was being pigeon holed. In actuality, I'm not "for" same sex marriage. On the one hand, I'm straight. On the other, I'm not a big fan of the marriage institution in the first place. In other words, I'm not completely "for" marriage of any kind, straight or gay. On the third hand (??), I don't want to have a "pro" or "con" opinion on it, I just want it to be available to those who want to take advantage. Does that make any sense?

The argument I like to mount against conservatives (or anyone) is that it shouldn't matter what is done in the privacy of someone's home as long as it doesn't harm the rights of another person. I think we should all feel this way (ideally) and therefore it shouldn't matter if any of us are "pro" or "con" just that we acknowledge a person's right to do what he or she wants in their own home.

I don't think gay couples need some sort of social "approval" from me or anyone else. I bet they'd just like to get married and move on with their lives.

Who can blame them?

Oh and one last thing. Nowhere on the recording did it say "you can only voice your opinion if you are a resident of California." So, if you aren't in California, YOU CAN CALL, TOO!!

So, call 916/445-2841 and VOICE YOUR OPINION!

They won't know where all of these "voices" are coming from and it LITERALLY takes SECONDS to call.

So, DO IT NOW, so gay couples can live their lives the way they want and conservatives can stop bitching about it.