They will try again

Well, that's very Christian of you, Van Tassel. I wish I could have a front row seat when you pass over .... I just want to see the look on your face. Priceless!

It is the undauntable thought, my friend. The one that says, "I'm right!" ~Bobby Sands

""Parallel"

sleeping on a time bomb, staring into space
there's an ocean of unpleasantries we are not prepared to face

sitting on the fence post to watch the storm roll in
and terrified of the damage it will bring when it begins
it will begin

splintered dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
so far from reality (our lives are parallel)
independent trajectories (our lives are parallel)
separate terms of equality (our lives are parallel)

our lives are parallel

is there no redemption? no common good?
is there nothing we can do for ourselves? or only what we should?

comes the hard admission of what we don't provide
goes the insistence on the ways and means that so divide

they so divide

side by side suffering loneliness (our lives are parallel)
phony collective progress (our lives are parallel)
accepting that it's all such a mess (our lives are parallel)
gesturing without hope of redress (our lives are parallel)

our lives are parallel

forging little plays of deception and pain
as we watch our foundation crumble away
staggering like birds against a hurricane
and trying all the while to stay out of each other's way

broken dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
independant trajectories (our lives are parallel)
screaming out for understanding (our lives are parallel)
turning inward and suffering (our lives are parallel)
-----Bad Religion, off their disc The Gray Race
I think it's fitting.

there are more letters to the editor and blogs about this now then there were before the vote...when will you idiots....GIVE IT UP FOR AWHILE?????

Mr. Van Tassel is what appears to be a walking, talking oxymoron.

No matter what argument I may try to make, his head is obviously firmly implanted in his own @ss.

With voters like him, God Help Us!

Mr VanTassel lost any credibility with his opening statement of: "For the third time, Maine voters have made it clear that marriage can only be between a man and a woman." This is the first and only time there has been any vote in the State of Maine regarding Same Sex Marriage. Admittedly, there were two votes regarding anti-discrimination laws but marrige wasn't mentioned in either of those issues.

Considering his opening statement was a falsehood to relay misinformation, I didn't bother to do anything more than skim his letter. When one starts a statement with a bald faced lie, I can only expect them to go hill down from there.

Disagreeing with something obama does or says makes you a racist.
Disagreeing with something a liberal or homosexual does or says makes you a bigot.
Oh, well. Sure glad I'm a Pirate.

'marriage can only be between a man and a woman'-Who has the RIGHT to dictate that!?! You use terms like perverted-shows that you chose to ignore what this country/state should stand for.

This has GOT TO BE one of the most discriminating remarks I have ever read on SJ... 'Question 1 had utterly nothing to do with equality or marriage. The Vote No ads were sick jokes full of lies and deceit. The gay marriage movement has everything to do with individual and familial dysfunction, adulterous sex, companionship and the perversion of God's design for gender identity and its natural function.' I think that there is no question or doubt that NO on 1 supporters want equality for everyONE in Maine. I bet that there are more homosexuals that got the sh*t together-home, education/career, monogamous relationships... how can one who chooses to use 'GOD' be so stereotypical of ALL homosexuals OR NO on 1 supporters???

'Any so-called church or synagogue that promotes gay marriage practices selective reduced Christianity or Judaism. The concept of a gay Christian is oxymoronic. Real Christians and their God do not hate any individual homosexual, as gay activists like to believe. (They use this falsehood to lend validation to their cause.)' HOW CAN THEY NOT when you use words like perversion and sickness!?! Now I'm not stereotyping-cuz I know some religious people or wanna bes don't share the same views as you... but many do and no matter how you say it/spray it-still sounds like discrimination and fear to me. 'They hate their chosen behaviors and efforts to protect their immorality through media guile and cheap legislation.' Another prejudiced comment... I think that has got to be one of the most ignorant letter in SJ history. 'The God of Abraham will lovingly accept any persons who will turn from their corruption, and his children can do no less.'-Take your own religious rhetoric advice.

'Gays will try again.' AND RIGHTFULLY SO! Everyone deserves the same rights.

EQUALITY FOR EVERYONE!

"...eternally true, transcendent normative standards....." Mr. Tassel. How can that be true when conservatives (Conservapedia) are right now re-writting the Bible removing anything they think is "liberal" like charity. Or are those eternally true, transcendent values only eternal for as long as you believe them.
Jon Albrecht Dixfield

Rinolast, you need to understand that this was the third opportunity that bigots in Maine got to harm gays and their children. The issue was never marriage to them. Its always been their way to eliminate gays.
Jon Albrecht Dixfield

Well the Yes on 1 crowd continues to prove that they are motivated by hate, bigotry, and institutionalized fear. They have never provided a single reason to vote yes on 1. But they are right on one thing. The Gay/straight movement for human rights will be back again. Blacks finally won their freedom more than one hundred years after the civil war. So the human rights movement isn't about to be discouraged by a few bigots.
Jon Albrecht Dixfield

LEWISTON NATIVE - you are quite confused. You can participate in all your unnatural behavior you want - you have that freedom. You and your ilk want special privileges - you want to do whatever you want to including such bizarre behavior as homosexual behavior (remember - only about 3% of the entire population does that) and call it "marriage." You sir/m'am = distort the truth. You want us to say you are O.K. and you want us to put a special "stamp of approval" on your choice of odd behavior. Sorry, you will never get it.
CHOICE CHOICE CHOICE - choose not to get caught up in such behavior as it leads to problems galore!

Hrmmmm. You say it's immoral to allow someone their Freedoms which are granted to them by being in America. I'd say it's immoral to take away those Freedoms. Also, the only thing that the Yes on 1 had for an arguement was religion. Last I checked religion is supposed to be separate from state. I guess most Mainers forgot that.

You were cogent and clear William. There is no gay gene - there is a genetic predisposition to be more feminine or more masculine but that does not excuse the sin. Just like someone who is born with a genetic predisposition to be an alcoholic . . . should avoid bars and liquor. One with a genetic predisposition to be angry is not excused if he gets angry and beats someone. We do not excuse a host of genetic predisposition behaviors yet you try to pull the wool over everyones' eyes about homosexual behavior. You do have a CHOICE. Don't force your bad choices down the throats of our children and those of us who choose not to be fooled.
We are all really fed up and digusted with the hypocritical comments about hatred and bigotry when you spew the vituperative, vile hatred comments every time someone mentions God and our choice not to believe the trope and tripe.
There is help for those of you caught up in the destructive gay lifestyle and the lies they perpetuate. You do not have to enter in such a spiraling-out-of-control life that leads to early death and increased mental and health problems.

This letter is oh so true. Well written and right on the mark. Cranky, a person may be born gay, but then that person CHOOSES to commit homosexual acts, which are against the commandments of God. A gay person is called by God to either remain celibate, or to overcome homosexual attraction and marry a person of the opposite sex. To say that neither can be done is to disparage the grace of God. God gives his grace to all of us, and his grace is more powerful than the human will. We can accept or reject it, but sadly, a large number of people reject it, giving preference to personal pleasure above the desire for salvation of the soul.

Never in my 78 years of life would I think I would hear such fillth and complete lies from you, but then again, I do understand the sickness in your brains, that certainly you were so well brainwashed by the churchs, mainly the catholic church and it's worst Biship in Maine leader it's ever had.
Again, pundits and bigots will continue to lie and lie and lie. John Case of Livermore Falls, Maine

The whole letter is void when the author states "For the third time". This is the FIRST time Mainers have voted on Gay Marriage...

Your whole diatribe is predicated on the false conclusion that being gay is a choice. It is no more a choice than being heterosexual. Unfortunately, your mind and eyes are welded shut and you have relied on others who have indoctrinated you into this belief. Is there a "gay lifestyle?" Sure, just like there's a heterosexual lifestyle, an African-American lifestyle. That part is the choice. Being born that way is not.

Let me reverse the picture and suggest that your religious beliefs are a choice. A sginificant number of people don't like your choice so they craft legislation to ban it. How do you think that would make you feel? Just food for thought.

skullbones Mainers will be voting on this issue every year from now on

William it appears you made a mistake with your last graph. You wrote"Gays will try again. When the number of immoral and amoral voters surpasses those with eternally true, transcendent normative standards, they will sadly get what they desire."

What you meant to write is "Gays will try again. When the number of understanding and non discriminatory voters surpasses those with irrational fear and hatred, they will finally get what everyone else has - equal treatment under the law."

There all fixed! Your welcome.

Any problem that can't be solved with taxcuts, republicans pretend doesn't exist.