Revolting Uniting

[Harmonikater]

This is not a bad idea actually. I have to think outside of the box more often.

maybe if you had done more thinking inside the box, you might have thought of drinking inside the box

(unless you decide to beerbath instead)

[Flyboy1942]

Shots and shave?

[Tedacious]

Anyone other than me worried about Obama's statement on gay marriage?
From a prejudiced perspective, never having been to the US, I fear this will all but help him in the coming election.
Brave thing to do so close to the election, but perhaps foolish.

[Paasky]

The people who are against gay marriage wouldn't vote for him anyway, but the ones for it/don't care either way might be turned off if he was against.

[Flyboy1942]

It's a political football move. I'm for gay marriage but am not moved by this statement. Even a little annoyed that he's obviously using it to drum up attention and solidify votes. When it comes down to it, this is not a question of Executive policy, this is a matter of the Supreme Court. What the president thinks about it has no effect on the matter, just like what I think about it. Or what the Supreme Court thinks about it really. Their job is to lay aside personal opinions and consider the rights objectively.

[Dukat]

Random question: Do you guys ever have a shower beer? Like, do you drink beer while showering? I asked the same question to a couple of friends and they all do the same when preparing to head out to the pub.

That is the strangest idea I've ever heard. But then I googled and it seems like it is only strange to me.



Ánd I always thought coma drinking is already the end of the development line. As Thorondor said already, the logically next step is a direct injection. Which wont happen, because you'll need much less alcohol, which will annoy the brewery lobby. And you can't win against the brewery lobby, otherwise the brewery lobby would not have been that successive branding every other drug illegal.

[Fuchs]

Drunk showering is one of the biggest crimes within the walls, it's like drunk driving.

[VonMudra]

Yeah, I'll pass on drinking whilst in the shower....

[LHeureux]

So happy about Obama's support for other humans.

48% of people in USA are against gay marriage
52% of people in USA are for gay marriage

Seriously?! So happy to be born in the cold north then, sharing human rights with my human brothers and sisters.

[Fuchs]

I don't think Obama really cares about gays and marriage LHeureux, he just wants votes. It's politics, he's not supporting anyone but himself and his financers.

[Smiles]

exactly what you said. Sometimes when im preparing myself to go out, i take my beer with me everywhere, shower or toilet, garden or neighboors.

[Surfbird]

I don't think Obama really cares about gays and marriage LHeureux, he just wants votes. It's politics, he's not supporting anyone but himself and his financers.

No matter if it's pure populism, in this case it's probably even less populism than in most other statements. Best thing would have been to say nothing probably. I like it when he takes a stand, no matter if it hat just a political background or not. We all have opinions about this and a president is allowed to have them aswell.

Germanys Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel is the complete opposite. As soon as parties are discussing things or there is criticism, she does not say anything to that. Imo that's a lot worse. She stays in the background while everyone is waiting for a statement from her and tries to stay out of general discussions. Its the job of politicians in the most important position of their country to give away their opinion. They are the reason for a lot of votes, so they are responsible for their electors. Merkels behaviour makes me sad

To me, the argument of populism a bit weak, because everything a politician does is usually populism. If Obama says nothing its populism too, because he prevents his prestige from taking damage. Note that the opinions are almost 50/50 and a president takes a risk by telling the people his opinion.

But as soon as a president gives away his opinion close to the elections it's suddenly pure populism to everyone. Apart from that, I like that he said that because I share this opinion and there are definately people in the US that look up to him and think about such themes and maybe change their minds.

I just think that people should appreciate it when the president shares his opinion, there is some kind of  political and populist background anyway, but in this case he risks something and supports freedom of minorities.

I do not say that to you Fuchs (I know what you tried to express and you are often right with that, but it just does not for this case imo), it's more of a general thing I noticed when elections are closing in and people are permanently trying to discredit politicians for populism, ignoring the effect that statement has on the population.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's his personal opinion to allow gay marriage as well.

[Fuchs]

You can't compare the US President to Germany's Federal Chancellor, two very different jobs. You also have a President, Merkel's job is just to hold the government together and the President needs to be the face of the whole nation.

This thing Obama did, was all a part of his campaign. I do believe he personally doesn't really care if gays get married, he'd just allow it, but he's a politician so before he states he's supporting it he needs to wait for the perfect moment to say it. What better moment to do than when so many conservatives have angered progressive Americans by stating they hate gay marriage etc. Obama doesn't take risks, he's the most skilled 'politician' I know. Not that I agree with his views but the way he acts in public, makes his statements, all those things. Obama can now count on even more votes. And probably will win since a lot of people I know, even Republicans, are now voting for Obama since he's, and I quote, "the lesser evil".

And you are totally right, basically all things they say are populism. Those who truly hold only to their opinions are very rare and most of the time extremists. And I'm not trying to discredit Obama, I think he's doing his campaign very, very well seeing his goal is to get re-elected.

[VonMudra]

Fuchs is absolutely correct about Obama.  He has played gay rights as politics for his entire term.  For instance, gays in the army.  Don't Ask Don't Tell was an executive order given by Bill Clinton.  Executive Orders can be overturned at a whim by any sitting president just by issuing another executive order.  At ANY POINT, Obama could have just issued the executive order and it would have been gone.  Instead, he did nothing, and let congress bitch and fight about it for over a year.  It was all just a political game, a distraction, that left LOTS of the gay community feeling upset about Obama.  So this is just another political ploy, a way of trying to drag back the gay support, without actually having to commit to anything.  He went out of his way to state that his "support" of gay marriage is purely a personal point of view, and still believes that it "should be up to the states to decide."

Also, if you research his views on gay marriage, one finds that he spent most of his life going back and forth  between supporting it and being against it, so he absolutely plays this purely for politics.

[Flyboy1942]

Obama has no authority over the issue, so him saying it "should be up to the states to decide" is meaningless, because that's exactly the way it is. The thing is, if you look at this without the filter of personal bias, it becomes an issue of personal rights, which puts it in the domain of the Supreme Court, which means neither the President or the States have any say in the matter.

So, in a way, him saying it's for the states to decide isn't actually saying nothing, it's also denying gay marriage as a right, framing it as a regulatory matter for the states.