I hate the news


sorabji.com: Are there any news?: I hate the news
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By TBone on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 03:40 pm:

    I made the mistake of picking up an old newspaper today and paging through it. Being gone for a week made me forget.

    Missoula was in national news recently. What a joy.
    I lot of people have been pushing the University sytem to extend the same benefits to same-sex partners of faculty that they do to traditional spouses. The more public of the proponents started getting threatening letters with white powder in them. Of course, it was just detergent or something...

    Then someone burned the home of a lesbian couple and their baby son. They were at home, in bed.
    If they could figure out who did it, they'd be facing arson and attempted murder charges.

    If that's not bad enough, our fucker of a local newspaper (more like a franchise) published a front-page article that strongly implied that the police thought that the women burned their own house down in order to further their political cause.

    Of course, the religious idiots around town all jumped on that particular bandwagon and started spreading the "news". I got to hear one someone spit the word "faggot" on the radio.

    Missoula's a great place most of the time. What a great reason to put Missoula on the map.


By Nate on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 03:56 pm:

    i think the 4B's restaurants put missoula on the map.

    http://www.4-bs.com/

    heather and i ate at the one in grants, nm. but missoula is the mothership. a montana family tradition since 1947.


By eri on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 04:00 pm:

    I have no idea where Missoula is. I have never heard of it. I think that the word faggot has no business on the radio, not that I am against freedom of speech, but it is just plain rude.

    I hate it when sexuality of homosexual people is used as ammo in any case. Esecially something like this. It is like saying that the woman in San Fransisco wanted to be killed by dogs to further her cause. Bullshit. There has been a lot of media on this shit lately and it bothers me.

    In Tex-ass things are different. The catholics and others are looking into rewriting certain books of the bible so that they could be understood as originally intended. They are saying that in 1856 the word homosexual didn't mean the same as it did today and is therefore being taken out of context by religious people. They want to rewrite it so that people see that God didn't have any issues with homosexuals. There haven't been any burnings or bombings or even anything said about this topic. Here they almost seem afraid to say anything.

    Either way, though, I do think that sexuality of individuals needs to be let up on. If the issue is about sexuality or staight vs. gay, then report it in that context, but if it is an arson case, who the hell cares if they are straight or gay? It has nothing to do with it so why even bring it up?


By Antigone on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 04:16 pm:

    Uh, which Texas are you living in again?

    Methinks you're a bit too close to Ausin.


By patrick on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:10 pm:

    "I have no idea where Missoula is. I have never heard of it"

    Geography is one of the most under taught subjects.


By patrick on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:19 pm:

    "If the issue is about sexuality or staight vs. gay, then report it in that context, but if it is an arson case, who the hell cares if they are straight or gay?"


    Also....

    in some states, they have "hate crime" laws. Don't know about Montana Laws which carry stiffer penalties if crimes were committed under the cape of bigotry. So it could matter.

    Some argue that these laws diminsh the impact of already existing laws. You kill, you're charged with murder. "You kill a queer for jesus" you still committed murder.


    Here's the article we published back in Feb. on the matter of workplace benefits at the Univ.


By patrick on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:22 pm:

    oh and one more thing....regarding my colleagues...our company and its 3 publications were recently nominated for the following awards. This is unprecedented in the 30+ years of publishing here. We're competing with some other quite notable publications.....


    *gleam*

    POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
    * The Advocate, October 23, (The Gay Heroes of the Terrorist Tragedy)
    * HIV Plus, December/January (That's My Baby)
    Competing against: Mother Jones, Sierra

    ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES
    * The Advocate, July 17, (Why Are We Gay?)
    * HIV Plus, December/January, (That's My Baby)
    * Out, December, (Out 100)
    Competing against: Genre, URB

    BEST REGULARLY FEATURED ONLINE COLUMN
    * The Advocate, Family Matters
    Competing against: Business 2.0, Business 2.0, PC World, PC World, CNET

    BEST FEATURE ARTICLE/CONSUMER
    * Out, June, "Going to Extremes"
    Competing against: Diablo, Islands, Phoenix New Times, Red Herring, VIA,
    Yoga Journal, Ziff Davis Smart Business, Ziff Davis Smart Business

    BEST INTERVIEW OR PROFILE/CONSUMER
    * The Advocate, November 6, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Anne Heche"
    Competing against: Business 2.0, Movieline, San Francisco, Yoga Journal

    BEST SIGNED EDITORIAL OR ESSAY/CONSUMER
    * Out, November, "Queer Like Us"
    Competing against: Cowboys & Indians, Genre, Men's Fitness, PC World, PC
    World, Westways, Westword

    SPECIAL THEME ISSUE/CONSUMER
    * HIV Plus, April/May, "20 Years Into the Pandemic: What Lies Ahead?"
    Competing against: Diablo, Fit Pregnancy, MacAddict, Red Herring, San
    Francisco, Shape, Texas Parks & Wildlife

    MOST IMPROVED PUBLICATION/CONSUMER (CIRC. OVER 50,000)
    * HIV Plus
    * Out
    Competing against: Next, Road & Track, Sports Afield

    The winners will be announced April 26 in Los Angeles.


By eri on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:43 pm:

    Antigone, I am only about 80 miles from Austin. I would guess that that is too close.

    I NEVER EVER had any geography classes in school. I studied some on my own, but don't know what cities are where. I am luck I know the capitols to the states. Gotta love our education system.

    "If the issue is about sexuality or staight vs. gay, then report it in that context, but if it is an arson case, who the hell cares if they are straight or gay?"

    Patrick, are we agreeing again?


By patrick on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:52 pm:

    i dunno. thats your statement.

    if there are hate crime laws on the books in montana, then no...we don't agree. It would matter if their house was torched because they were gay because a more harsh sentence could be delivered.


By eri on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 07:53 pm:

    Saying that someone torched their own house to further their political cause is much different than saying that their house was torched because they were gay.

    If their house was torched intentionally due to their sexuality, then it is a gay vs. straight issue. If it was not, then why bring it up. Two different things altogether.

    Or are you just scared to admit that we agree on a topic?


By semillama on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 09:39 pm:

    What awards are you talking about, Patrick?


By TBone on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 10:02 pm:

    Their house was torched because they were gay. That's pretty well agreed upon by everyone 'round here. Even the people who think they did it themselves ("They torched their own house to further their gay agenda.") They were some of the recipients of the hate letters as well.

    Montana has hate crime laws, but a crime based on sexuality is not a hate crime by Montana law. This is something that has been and is being debated heavily, but the rest of the state is so deeply Conservative Republican that I don't see that changing any time soon.

    We still have a law on the books in Section 45-2-101 of the Montana Code that makes "deviate sexual relations" illegal. Its sandwiched between indecent exposure and incest, and mentioned in the same breath as bestiality.

    It was declared unconstitutional in the mid-90's, but the majority of the Legislature is still unwilling to actually take it off the books even though it's unenforcable.

    And damn. I didn't know 4-B's came from Missoula. I've never eaten at the one here.


By Nate on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 11:19 pm:

    hate crime laws should be abolished. what a load of crap.


By spunky on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 09:54 am:

    amen brother nate.


By Czarina on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 10:38 am:

    Hate crimes should be abolished.


By Dougie on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 10:43 am:

    Amen sister.


By spunky on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 11:07 am:

    Hmmm
    Aren't most assults, batteries & murders a form of hate?
    Why create a special set of laws that distinguish between victim's nationality or sexual preference?
    I think drowning your own son should carry the same weight as drowning a black bisexual.
    I think that any law that continues to propose the idea that there is a differnce between black and white should be abolished.
    You should be in the same amount of trouble for killing or beating someone or burning someone's house down regardless of victim's skin or sexual prefrence.
    I think it is insulting that a criminal would get a smaller punishment for killing a white man versus a black man.
    Is they white man's life worth less then a black man's?
    Why should there be any difference?


By dave. on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 11:13 am:

    yes. white men's lives are worth much less. they should be killed at every opportunity.


By J on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 11:15 am:

    Because of the nature of the crimes,that a person was murdered just because of the color of their skin or their sexuality,targeted because of that as opposed to some husband who wanted his wife out of the way for the insurance money and his mistress,or the boyfriend of a mother that kills his girlfriends baby on impulse,or being killed over a robbery when you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.


By patrick on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 11:53 am:

    sem they are the Maggie Awards. Sorta like the grammy's for publishing.



    spunky by that post you are clearly clueless about what hate crime laws are.


    "I think that any law that continues to propose the idea that there is a differnce between black and white should be abolished."

    this is absolutely, without a doubt NOT what hate crime laws are about.

    anyone can be convicted for hate crimes. white, black, hispanic whatever.

    a hispanic killing a black man because of his race, if proved in court, could be sentenced under a hate crime.

    most conservatives, like nate, disagree with hate crime laws because it poses the question

    "whats wrong with the current murder laws?"

    I understand that.

    Objection to the law also has to do with motivation....its a legal juxtaposition because in murder, motivation (or lack thereof) can mean the difference in your conviction.

    Well if it can be proved that johnny slaughtered billy because he was gay....that could weigh more on his conviction.

    determining motivation can be a difficult difficult thing and proving someone killed someone based on hate could be entirely based on heresay and speculation.


    "I think it is insulting that a criminal would get a smaller punishment for killing a white man versus a black man."

    again trace. get a fucking clue. where did you get this spew from kkk.com?



By sarah on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 11:56 am:


    hate crime laws apply to other people besides white males.




By Nate on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 12:26 pm:

    hate crime laws are still bunk.

    like spunky said, these crimes already involve some level of hate. so in essence hate crime laws determine that certain kinds of hate, racial, gender, sexual bias, deserve punishment.

    thought crimes.

    if you beat the hell out of someone you hate because he is an asshole, you get x years in prison.

    if you beat the hell out of someone you hate because he is a cracker asshole, you get x years for the beating and another y years for your unpopular viewpoint.




By patrick on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 12:31 pm:

    for the most part i tend to agree with you on this, im merely playing along.

    it is one step closer to the thoughtcrime


By Nate on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 02:44 pm:

    it is thought crime. what is this step crap.


By Czarina on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 02:55 pm:

    Crimestep.

    Its on the local news,every evening at 6:00 pm.


By patrick on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 03:11 pm:

    aye!!!

    one more step towards TOTAL though control nate, in all realms of life. not just in this context.


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