Hi folks.. some of us in the Great White North have been watching certain Republican members of your legislative and executive branch with some amusement try to revive the so-called "threat" to the very social fabric of American society. One of our affiliates posted this on the topic, and I wanted to share it with you on the Republican's
manipulation of the topic:
There are relatively few things these days that either a) inspire or b) irritate me enough to post - I've been busy with prep for the LSAT and it just has fallen through the cracks.
However, last night I was treated to a cornicopia of Republican talking heads reminding us that apparently the very fabric of American morality and society is under attack by monogynous gays who want to get married.
We've been treated to these reminders before (although not since just before the 2004 Presidential elections...) but there was one talking head that for me truly stood out - Republican strategist Jack Burkman. On Fox News Mr. Burkman stated "This issue and American moral fabric are more FIVE TIMES more important than the War on Terror and the War in Iraq combined." Whoa! That's pretty important.
So to get an idea of just how important and pressing this issue is, I decided to find out how important something would have to be to be five times more important than the War on Terror and War in Iraq combined.
Here's my methodology - firstly we want to have as conservative an estimate as possible just to give Mr. Burkman the benefit of the doubt. So let's take JUST those who died in 9/11, American military deaths in Afghanistan, and American military deaths in Iraq.
9/11 - 2986
US Military Losses in Afghanistan - 295
US Military Losses in Iraq - 2475
This doesn't even begin to include factors such as wounded, emotional trauma of those involved, economic losses, losses by other countries, deaths on innocent civilians, etc. Like I said, we want to give Mr. Burkman the benefit of the doubt in this calculation.
So, 2986 + 295 + 2475 = 5756
5756 deaths if we total up just those three criteria. So let's now multiply that by five as Mr. Burkman suggested:
5756 X 5 = 28780
Wow...so, with our very conservative estimate of the importance of the War on terror and War In Iraq, we discover that to be five times more important, gay marriage would have to have cost at least 28780 lives.
My God...there's been a war out there and none of us have even realized it. 28780 people have selflessly and anynomously given their lives in defence of an institution that heterosexual couples have desanctified on their own.
So I call on Republicans in the Senate & House, and President Bush himself, to rise and honour our brave ...soldiers(?) who have given their lives in defence of marriage. To declare this "National Die for Marriage Day".
All because Mr. Jack Burkman says at least 28780 people died so far making sure that monogynous gays can't stay monogynous.