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Sa-Spence

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Apr 11 Sa-Spence commented on Today in Legislative Developments.

Let the horse saving/ cowboy riding begin!

Feb 26 Sa-Spence commented on Not Capitalism but the State Is the Solution.

Oh God. This is the absolute worst possible example you could have used to make your point, Charles. Battery swapping is a pointless, unneeded technology that is extremely expensive to enact, requires costly engineering that no one wants, and that, in an age of improving battery efficiency and supercharging, is already technically obsolete. In 20 years these swapping stations will be albatrosses, signs of a bad government bet. That Agassi, a slick, superficial salesman who has since been ousted from Better Place, managed to use his family connections and charisma to keep this con job running is a testament to the wooly-headed thinking that can happen when non-expert politicians drive technical policy. They are pulling out of the US and Australia because it's dawned on even these gullible lawmakers that this was a bad idea sold well, not a new disruptive technology. Agassi might have well ended his pitch with "Monorail!!!". You just made the best possible case against what you were saying, which is sad since I think you are right in many other much more solid cases. Do you homework next time and talk to people who actually know about the challenge of implementing the widespread use of electric cars. They were on to Better Place years ago.

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Dec 14, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on Walking Down Broadway the Other Night, I Passed Three Different Couples Smoking Weed on a Single Block.

I actually live in Amsterdam, across the street from a "coffee shop", and you rarely see anyone smoking pot on the street (btw, the Dutch use pot at about 1/3 the rate of Americans). Public drunkenness is much more common (thanks England!). It's not that you will be arrested, it's more that it's a social faux pas to be blowing skanky weed at people who just want to get home from work. Also, since it's been effectively legal here for so long, no one is impressed. Part of what you are seeing in Seattle may be a bit of showing off; at least it was for me when I last smoked weed in front of a club on Market Street in SF (I always seem to smoke more when I'm in the States).
BTW, the exception in Amsterdam is Queen's Day, when you can smoke whatever you want and no one is bothered.

Dec 11, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on Savage Love Episode 320.

I'm a gay man, and when I was 13 my parent's marriage was broken up when my Mormon mother, with five young children, found out that my dad had a hidden second gay life. This was of course devastating to her, destructive to the family, and an absolute bomb to me, wrestling as I was with my own sexuality. I held off coming out for years because I hated the idea of being the same "thing" that broke up my family. It was years of pain and self hatred. I blamed and hated my father, myself, and gay men everywhere. Yeah, eventually, I got over it and came to understand the impossible situation my father had found him in (btw, if you ever want proof that gay people can't change...). But I will never date a married man, ever, who is cheating on his spouse. If I ever caused that kind of pain, just shoot me. There's plenty of other options. I don't fuck Republicans, racists, druggies or married guys. The end.

Oct 3, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on Is Tony Perkins Threatening to Sue Me?.

Punching the nose of a bully does not make you a bully.
Keep punching, Dan.

Jul 3, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on A Slog Poll: Are We Doomed?.

I wish we could get us some global warming over here in Amsterdam. 65 and cloudy is officially tiresome now.

Jun 26, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on Polygamous Marriage.

This isn't an attack on Mitt Romney for what his ancestors did, this is an attack on Mitt Romney for what he does. It's a crime and a sin to not learn from the suffering of your ancestors; like the West Bank settlers who talk in eliminationist rhetoric about the Palestinians, Mitt Romney refuses to learn the lesson of compassion from his forebears. Mitt Romney's family was persecuted and chased from the country for practicing thier form of marriage. The default position of anyone who is a descendent of Mormon polygamists (as I am0 should be that the government should stay the hell out of people's private lives. Mormon polygamy was the "gay marriage" of the 19th century; a political football fed by hysterical intolerance. How Mormons, in their desperate need for acceptance, forgot the lessons of that bigotry and have now become the bigots is where it all went wrong. Mormons believe (they still do, theologically) that plural marriage is god's plan. The government persecuted them for that. Now, gay people, and many of the churches they attend, hold that marriage for them is god's plan. But it is the descendents of the once persecuted, like Romney, who are leading the charge to keep their rights from them. Why can't Mormons learn from their history and stand up for the right of the individual to decide who they wish to marry, instead of the state? They once got this, and now they do not. Mitt Romney dismisses what his ancestors fought for, and betrays their memory.

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Jun 12, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on Gay Man Marries Straight Woman, Enjoys Fucking Her, Writes Blog Post About It, Internet Explodes.

One of the greatest unintended consequences of being gay is that it serves as a genuine eye-opener to all the bullshit you get fed as a child. When you realize that much of what you were taught by authority figures about sex and relationships was wrong, it gives you the freedom to question all kinds of received wisdom, not just that about sexuality. What's sad in Josh's case is that he failed to use this opportunity to question the very absurd superstitious bullshit with which he happened to have been raised. As someone who was also gay and raised LDS, I will always be grateful that my love of guys led me to question, think about, research and discover the fraudulent nature of my religious belief, and indeed of all supernatural claims I've run across so far. Josh had an opportunity to walk out of the door of religious error but he instead chose to continue to believe the teachings of a widely discredited 19th century charlatan. The best thing that could of happened to him was to be freed by his sexuality. Instead, he found another way to stay in the closet of irrationality.
One other point. Josh is lucky to come of age in a time he did. If he had lived in Brigham Young's Deseret, or even the electroshock therapy BYU of the 1970s, he would have found a whole different, and more ugly reception to his statement. Can you imagine how someone like Cleon Skousen would have taken to Josh's statement in 1950's Utah? He'd probably be in jail. Josh is free riding on the coattails of all those who prised freedom from the iron grip of religion, including the grip of those old men in Salt Lake City, who are still trying to grasp it back. He's chosen to ally himself with an organization that still practices bigotry against those like himself. He should be on the outside, with the rest of us, throwing bricks. Lucky for you, Josh, that you found a loophole for yourself and exempted yourself from the obligations all gay people share. The rest of us will keep fighting for you, whether you continue in the bosum of your bigoted church or not.

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May 9, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on The Selfish Gene Goes to War.

Once again, Mudede, you try and cram everything through the filter of your pre-baked politics. Sociobiology isn't really about 1970s trends in economic policy; beleive it or not, it's a family of hypothosis based on observations in nature that may reflect some light on very basic human instinct, if not complex behavior. You always remind me so much of the religious fundamentalists of my youth; I'm sure Wilson, raised himself southern baptist, would also recognize the type.

Feb 28, 2012 Sa-Spence commented on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Champions of LGBT Equality!.

@24 Since I made no claim to a particular rate of suicide amongst LDS youth, only that gay Mormons have committed suicide, it isn't incumbent upon me to prove that LDS youth commit suicide at a rate higher then, say, their Baptist neighbors. What is clear is that LDS kids have committed suicide and attempted suicide based on the abusive teachings and accompanying feelings of worthlessness taught to them by the church. I could care less if it's ten or ten thousand. When your doctrine kills young people, it's time to render account.