The Dude went afk and as he headed outside for a smoke the television caught his eye...a reporter was interviewing his senator, Rick Santorum.
SANTORUM: We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that [have] sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family. And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold - Griswold was the contraceptive case - and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you - this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family. You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong, healthy families. Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.
"Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality
At this point, even the unnerved reporter tried to rein in Santorum. "I'm sorry," Jordan interjected. "I didn't think I was going to talk about 'man on dog' with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking
me out."
But the man was on a roll and there was no stopping him. "And that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately," Santorum said. "The idea is that the state doesn't have
rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there
are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire. And we're seeing it in our society."
http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair05012003.html
The Dude sneered until he frowned.
He switched the channel to "The Bernie Kristi Show" and she was saying:
http://www.deepfun.com/interview1.htm
"Kristi: He is. He asked me a question about how I got interested in play. And when I really thought about that question and, he encouraged me to kind of go as far back with it as I could. And, what I came to remember or realize was that in kindergarten, I was selected into a program in my school district which was Downingtown area schools. It was called the DEEP program, Downingtown Educational Enrichment Program. It was for "gifted children."
Bernie: Oh, you were a gifted.
Kristi: Yeah, well, all children have their gifts. Some show up on IQ tests and others don't.
Bernie: But if you get to be in one of those places you get special things. That's wonderful.
Kristi: It was. But what was so great about it was that once a week I would go off with a couple of other kids, into a special classroom and almost all of the learning that we were doing there was play-based. It was very exploratory,
Bernie: You know what? This is what I started to do with a teacher when I had to teach fifth grade, before I got into this theater thing, that's what I was doing. I was trying to do this play-based stuff and sometimes it worked and other times parents hated me for it.
Kristi: Well, I loved it. And some of the things that I learned there, or those learning experiences, have stuck with me in a way that the normal academic curriculum learning did not.
Bernie: That's just wonderful.
Kristi: And, what I'm really interested in looking at is by the time I got to Junior High, they still called it the gifted program, but it was just more work in the same classes that other kids were taking. And it was some independent study kind of projects or an extra assignment or two so that we could get extra credit. But all of what was really great for me and helped accelerate my learning as a child was gone by the time I got to Junior High.
Bernie: Right.
Kristi: Why is that? Why is it that children are allowed to play and at a certain point in adolescence, and certainly as we go through adulthood, it is no longer okay? And, what does that do to us?
Bernie: Well, you know, here's another way of looking at it. Are you ready?
Kristi: Yes, please.
Bernie: Have you ever noticed how kids play being grown up?
Kristi: Yeah.
Bernie: They get very serious.
Kristi: Right
Bernie: Well, I think what happens is that as we get older we learn how to do that better and better. I don't think it is so much that the world takes away our childhood. I think we do that to ourselves. We get so damn good at pretending to be serious
Kristi: Right
Bernie: That's my theory.
Kristi: Well, I think you are on to something here."
The Dude was in the gifted program as well as a child. From second to eigth grade one day a week he was bussed to a nearbye school for special instruction. He had always resented it for alienating him from his peers.
The 2008 Presidential campaign of Grandmother Lee started small, and by accident.
