How is it that people in positions of authority can say stupid and beastly things and the people interviewing them don't jump all over them and cut short the interview and apologise to the viewing public for the sentiments expressed, which do not reflect those of this station or its parent company, etc...? Rather, they say, "Thank you for taking the time to speak with us this morning on this interesting development. No doubt this won't be the end of the discussion. Sir, thank you". I really cannot wait for the advent of interactive TV where you'll be able to hit people up the side of the head and call them dumb-fucks, all from the comfort of your couch. You see, the stupid and beastly shit in question came from the Governor of Massachusetts [I don't know if the following details are salient or not, but he's a Republican and his name is Mitt. Am I a judgmental ass?] who was responding to a quite reasonable decision by that state's Supreme Court, which decreed that excluding gay couples from marriage was like, discriminatory. They said that, like, it made them second-class citizens of the state because they weren't like, able to access and enjoy all the rights that citizens of Massachusetts are like, guaranteed by the constitution. Mitt responded 'moderately' to this decision. And he was treated as a moderate. You see, while still denying that gay people have as much right to marry as anyone else [or even any right], Mitt is prepared to extend the hand of compromise to these weird 'non-traditional' couples [was he trying to be inclusive, or could he just not bring himself to say gay?] by promising to table legislation that would grant them hospital visitation rights, which is of course, what all this stink is really about. Those gays aren't protesting about the injustice of the situation at all. All they really want is for the symptoms of it to disappear. Hence, by allowing them traditional 'perks' like being able to visit their spouse in hospital, or being considered 'immediate family' and stuff, Mitt is behaving responsibly and steering his state in the right direction. And, in the right direction, gays still cannot and never can get married. You see, marriage was not ordained for them and so it isn't discriminatory to exclude them from it. Mitt backs up this statement by saying "I agree with 3000 years of human history. Marriage is between a man and a woman". Wow. That is so persuasive. And so specifically researched. So human leaders have been assholes for 3000 years, and if that don't make what he's saying right, then I don't know what will. And if you can't see that, you crazy lady. I love that argument, when people make the point of saying it's not discrimination. They say, "It's not discrimination. I am American. I believe in freedom and equality. I don't support discrimination. I just think that these people shouldn't be allowed to have all the things that everyone else besides them has." And I guess that I can see that some people believe this shit. But what I cannot understand is how such statements can pass under the 'scrutiny' of morning news anchors [and I'm talking to you, Matt] without anyone guffawing, or even gingerly suggesting that, er, "That sounds like discrimination to me". This crap triggers disbelief and despondency in me. Usually, I would counteract this by putting on some Jackson 5 to shoot some pure joy and exuberance into my system, but I'm a little conflicted about that at the moment. Crap crap crap.