Mike Huckabee: Selfish 'Redefinition of Love' is Destroying Marriage

The antigay Republican presidential hopeful claims marriage equality has redefined love itself, making it more selfish and destructive.

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Jase Peeples

www.advocate.com/politics/2015/07/05/mike-huckabee-selfish-redefinition-love-destroying-marriage

My New Declaration of Independence
The original Declaration of Independence, declared 239 years ago, was a philippic against King George and his tyranny. I am no fan of King George. But the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution laid most of his tyranny to rest, and what remained was then laid to rest with him.

We need a new declaration of independence. FDR took a stab at this, with his “Four Freedoms.” Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear. That’s a good start.

But now, eight decades later, we need to declare our independence from other forms of oppression.

We hereby declare our independence from bigotry, in all its evil forms. We declare our independence from racism, sexism, homophobia, language discrimination and chauvinism. Everyone has equal rights, no matter where you’re from, what you look like, what language you speak, and whom you love. Everyone deserves respect.

We hereby declare our independence from narrow-minded, extremist or violent religious fundamentalism. We live in a land where church and state are separate. Religious belief, no matter how sincere, is no license to dictate to others whether to terminate a pregnancy, whether to use contraception, or whom to marry. Earlier this year, I placed my hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution; I didn’t place my hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.

We hereby declare our independence from the greedy. Malefactors of great wealth have no right to buy and sell elected officials thorough the legalized bribery of “independent expenditures.” They have no right to despoil our land and our water, the air we breathe and the food we eat. They have no right to manipulate or gut our laws in order to increase their lucre. They have no right to jack up the price of what we buy, or determine what we see on TV or on our computer screens.

We hereby declare our independence from 1984-style surveillance. Neither the government nor a private company has any reason to monitor the activities of innocent people, without their express, informed and freely given consent. Who I’m with, what I say, what I buy, what I read; that’s none of anyone else’s business. Privacy — the fundamental right to be left alone — is an essential part of what it means to be a human being.

We hereby declare our independence from exploitation. Bad bosses are today’s King George. They want to work employees as hard as they can, and pay them as little as possible in return. They call the difference profit. If workers are organized, they can fight back. But if not, then they need legal protection from exploitation. If you have a job, you should have a living wage, and time-and-a-half for overtime. If you have a job, you should have health coverage. If you have a job, you should have paid sick leave. If you have a job, you should have a pension. As John Mellencamp would say, “Ain’t that America?”

We hereby declare our independence from misinformation. Fox News is a lie factory. Special interests used to lie to us about the dangers of smoking; now they lie to us about the dangers of pollution and climate disruption. They claim a right to “free speech,” but we have a right to honest speech. We have to be part of what a Reagan aide once dismissed as the “reality-based community.”

We hereby declare our independence from hubris. No, we can’t bring peace through war. No, we can’t force our way of life or our way of thinking on seven billion other people. No, we aren’t going to end the 1200-year-old civil war between the Sunnis and the Shia. No, we aren’t going to go and kill everyone everywhere in the world who harbors some harsh views of us. And no, they won’t greet our soldiers with flowers, bake apple pies for them, and salute the American flag with a hand on their hearts. They want to be them, not us. We can care for victims, protect ourselves and help our friends without sticking our nose into every else’s business.

We hereby declare our independence from a rigged system of fake trade. We buy their stuff, creating tens of millions of jobs in other countries. But they don’t buy an equal amount of our stuff. Instead, they buy our assets — $11,000,000,000,000.00 of our assets. They not only rob us of our jobs, but they drive us deeper and deeper into debt. When did Uncle Sam become Uncle Sap? If we don’t declare independence, the endgame is national bankruptcy.

And me? I hereby declare my independence from the corrupt system of campaign finance. I will not carve up the law into little pieces, and sell it to the highest bidder. I will not make “friends” with lobbyists and special interests and the minions of multinational corporations, and then “help” those “friends.” I will not forsake my real job — doing something good for the 700,000 people who chose me to be their Congressman — in favor of begging millionaires and billionaires for a few crumbs from their tables.

In fact, I already have declared my independence. In 2012, I was the only Member of Congress to draw most of his campaign funds from contributions of less than $200. And in 2014, again. This coming year, whether I run for the House or the Senate, I hope to do it again — I’ll get by with a little help from my friends, my supporters, the progressive community.

We declare our independence. We are not cattle. We are not sheep. We are human beings.

Happy birthday, America. Let freedom ring.

Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson

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REVIEW: The Perryvale – Forest Hill, London

Forest Hill is one of the leafy, residential neighborhoods of South London.

The Perryvale is a new restaurant that has opened on what can only be described as the wrong side of the tracks – most of the shops and restaurants of Forest Hill are found on the main entrance side of the railway, you have to take the rear exit in order to get to The Perryvale.

This is a space that used to be occupied by a Nigerian restaurant – there was never anyone in there. However, with a simple but stylish fit-out, a menu that offers fresh, season, modern-British cooking, The Perryvale is now packed with eager locals excited by the new addition to the neighborhood.

We had lunch there on a sunny date, snacking on dressed crab, whole prawns, and crisp white wine.

Forest Hill is definitely on the up.

Read more from Gareth Johnson

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The post REVIEW: The Perryvale – Forest Hill, London appeared first on Gay Star News.

Gareth Johnson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/review-the-perryvale-forest-hill-london/

Rick Santorum Explains Why SCOTUS’ Marriage Ruling ‘Disrupts The Foundation of the World’ – VIDEO

On Face The Nation Sunday, Rick Santorum explained his previous statement that the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage “potentially disrupts the foundation of the world.”

Saying that the ruling was unconstitutional, decided on “a whim”, and constituted an assault on religious liberty, he asserted that by legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, the United States has furthered eroded the “foundational building block of society, that is the nuclear family.” Santorum sees the United States as “the moral leader of the world”, and it is because of that belief that he see this ruling as having “profound consequences not just for America but for the world.”

Apparently ignorant of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dismantling of arguments that marriage is chiefly about promulgation of children, Santorum also reaffirmed his belief that marriage is in fact about raising children. He decried that marriage has become disconnected from this imperative and is now just “about adults.”

As for whether same-sex couples are capable of raising children who turn out to be good citizens, Santorum would only say, “I think what we have to do as a society is orient ourselves towards what’s best.”

The anti-gay former senator also took time over the 4th of July to share with Facebook that he is joining the fight to defending traditional marriage–a fight we’re pretty sure he’s already been a part of for some time.

Still, Santorum said Sunday that divorce and problems within heterosexual marriages pose a bigger threat to his precious nuclear family than same-sex marriages. A fact you might miss if you were simply to listen to his campaign rhetoric.

Watch his interview below:

[h/t The Guardian]

The post Rick Santorum Explains Why SCOTUS’ Marriage Ruling ‘Disrupts The Foundation of the World’ – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Rick Santorum Explains Why SCOTUS’ Marriage Ruling ‘Disrupts The Foundation of the World’ – VIDEO

BBC takes homophobic comment out from Top of the Pops episode

The BBC has been criticised for censoring a homophobic comment from The Who frontman Roger Daltrey

In a rerun for The Top of the Pops on Thursday, Daltrey introduced The Village People with the quip: ‘Watch your backs’ – an allusion to the band’s camp aesthetic.

The comment was removed from the 30 years old episode and lead to accusations the BBC was ‘airbrushing’ history.

The twitterati swooped in to comment on the cut: one Twitter user @craigblack639 said ‘It’s PC gone mad :(‘

Thought they would cut it. Cowards. Hope they get sacked soon #totp #bbc4

— HTW Central (@htwcentral) July 2, 2015

Others approved of the decision as a sign of progress.

Roger Daltrey’s homophobic “watch your backs” as Village People came on #TOTP in 1980 edited out of the version shown last night, thankfully

— PressOfficePete (@PressOfficePete) July 5, 2015

@TOTPFacts good. Quite right they took it out.

— Dean Asker (@deanasker) July 2, 2015

A spokesperson for the BBC told the Metro: ‘Repeat showings of Top of the Pops are regularly edited for technical, running time or other editorial reasons.’

Here’s the original clip:

The post BBC takes homophobic comment out from Top of the Pops episode appeared first on Gay Star News.

Jack Flanagan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/bbc-takes-homophobic-comment-out-from-top-of-the-pops-episode/

Ted Cruz: The Supreme Court Declared Themselves the Rulers of America – WATCH

Republican Senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz accused the Supreme Court on Sunday of declaring themselves the rulers of America.

In an interview with Meet The Press‘ Chuck Todd, Cruz said the justices “violated their judicial oaths” and, using Justice Scalia’s own language, carried out “an assault on democracy” because they upheld Obamacare and ruled in favor of same-sex marriage rights.

Said Cruz,

“[F]ive unelected lawyers [declared] they are the rulers of 320 million Americans….They rewrote Obamacare, forcing that failed law on millions of Americans, and then the next day, five justices disregarded the text of the Constitution and purported to strike down the marriage laws of all 50 states.”

Chuck Todd challenged Cruz on his opinion that marriage is a states’ rights issue given that the federal government offers benefits based on marriage. But Cruz was having none of it:

“If you want to change the marriages laws of your state, the Constitutional mechanism is to convince your fellow citizens to change the marriage laws.”

Cruz also accused the justices of politicizing the court and advocated again for a Constitutional amendment that would instate periodic judicial retention elections as a way of reducing that politicization.

Watch the interview below:

The post Ted Cruz: The Supreme Court Declared Themselves the Rulers of America – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Ted Cruz: The Supreme Court Declared Themselves the Rulers of America – WATCH

Hillary Clinton Offers Support To Young Gay Boy in Viral Facebook Photo

A young gay boy scared about his future shown in a Facebook photo that went viral over the weekend is receiving some love and support from Hillary Clinton.

Popular Facebook page Humans of New York posted a photo of the bereft-looking young gay boy (above) with the caption, “I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me.” The photo quickly went viral with many offering words of support in comments posted to Facebook. One of those commenters was none other than Hillary Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton wrote,

“Prediction from a grown-up: Your future is going to be amazing. You will surprise yourself with what you’re capable of and the incredible things you go on to do. Find the people who love and believe in you — there will be lots of them.”

The comment was signed “-H” to indicate that the comment came directly from Mrs. Clinton.

The New York Times reports:

But the nature of Friday’s post — a young gay person who appeared little more than a child, and Mrs. Clinton’s comforting response — gave it a lightning-in-a-bottle charge that helped it spread rapidly. Within 24 hours, it had been liked by more than 530,000 people and shared over 47,000 times, with more than 33,000 people scrolling through the comment thread to like Mrs. Clinton’s response.

The post Hillary Clinton Offers Support To Young Gay Boy in Viral Facebook Photo appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Hillary Clinton Offers Support To Young Gay Boy in Viral Facebook Photo