Bush issues fatwa on "the most fundamental institution of civilization"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. The United States Senate this past week began an important discussion about the meaning of marriage. Senators are considering a constitutional amendment to protect the most fundamental institution of civilization, and to prevent it from being fundamentally redefined.

This difficult debate was forced upon our country by a few activist judges and local officials, who have taken it on themselves to change the meaning of marriage. In Massachusetts, four judges on the state's highest court have ordered the issuance of marriage licenses to applicants of the same gender. In San Francisco, city officials issued thousands of marriage licenses to people of the same gender, contrary to the California family code. Lawsuits in several states, including New Jersey, Florida, Nebraska, and Oregon, are also attempting to overturn the traditional definition of marriage by court order.

A great deal is at stake in this matter. The union of a man and woman in marriage is the most enduring and important human institution, and the law can teach respect or disrespect for that institution. If our laws teach that marriage is the sacred commitment of a man and a woman, the basis of an orderly society, and the defining promise of a life, that strengthens the institution of marriage. If courts create their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract, and cut marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots, then the meaning of marriage is lost, and the institution is weakened. The Massachusetts court, for example, has called marriage "an evolving paradigm." That sends a message to the next generation that marriage has no enduring meaning, and that ages of moral teaching and human experience have nothing to teach us about this institution.

On an issue of this great significance, opinions are strong and emotions run deep. All of us have a duty to conduct this discussion with civility and decency toward one another. All people deserve to have their voices heard. And that is exactly the purpose behind the constitutional amendment process. American democracy, not court orders, should decide the future of marriage in America. The process has now begun in the Congress. I urge members of the House and Senate to pass, and send to the states for ratification, an amendment that defines marriage in the United States as a union of a man and woman as husband and wife.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040710.html

[Bluebear]

1. "Fatwa"....brilliant!

[Hekate]

2. Wow. Who appointed him Ayatollah?

We didn't elect him Pope -- or Head Rabbi -- or Dalai Lama -- or Archbishop of Canterbury -- for him to explicate the fine points of religious law for us.

Matter of fact we didn't elect him president, either. That's not a cathedral he's speaking from, it's the People's House, painted white.

Hekate

edited to add text

[Sporadicus]

3. He Believes the Most Fundamental Institution of Civilization

is nepotism.

[Bluebear]

4. As if he could have written this himself anyhow.

They love "activist courts" when they appointing Presidents, I notice.

[Dimsdale]

5. Marriage isn't an evolving paradigm?

So just how was interracial marriage once received in this great country of ours? Haven't we evolved past that? Chimpy will be glad to have American democracy decide the future of all things American, as long as it fits into his agenda.

And just WTF are those people in the pic doing? They're cheering the low-life POS! Christ, if that's in Pa., I'm moving back to Jersey.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. If he wants to 'defend marriage'

then why isn't he doing things like banning divorce? Or making it illegal to have sex out of marriage? Or stigmatizing children born out of wedlock? Sorry, but I don't see how homosexuals have done anything like heterosexuals to destroy the institution.

[durutti]

7. That would be agriculture.

Not that I expect him to know better...

[DianeG5385]

8. why does he look so simian?

I find him very disturbing. I believe it's his high idiocy quotient. These Pubs go for the most irrelevant and emotion grabbing crap to galvanize their base! God forbid thay actually work in the interest of the COUNTRY!

[Toby109]

9. What does his Chimpness have to say

about network television reality shows that cheapen and trivialize his "sacred committment"? Shows that teach greed as a virtue. It is a truly sad world we live in.

[Bluebear]

10. Brittney Spears defines true marriage!

With her drunken four hour Las Vegas "marriage" and now she is engaged again, to someone she has known a few months. Oh, forgot, she also says we should trust Bush in everything he says. I wish I could have a 'real' marriage like hers for future generations to emulate.

[Solly Mack]

11. this defense of marriage crap is some of the most

idiotic tommyrot ever. It's gristle for the terminally stupid.

It's nothing more than discrimination against gays and lesbians dressed up as family values.

I'm sick of Bush. I'm sick of people who embrace this ignorance.



"fatwa" is a very apt description

[madrchsod]

12. who wrote this for him??????

shit this is a fundamental building block for civilization...hmmmmm,isn`t the Mesopotamia the cradle of western civilization? it makes my head hurt to think about how really stupid he is.
oh i`m proud to have a president that thinks only a man and woman can fuck-opps-only married men and women..no one else can fuck..gee i`m proud to be an american today..

[Straight Shooter]

13. "This difficult debate was forced upon our country ..."

Screw you, George. This chimera of gays threatening marriage is being forced down our throats by you and your ilk.

Want to see a real threat to marriage, George? Go to the f*cking unemployment line in any city.

BTW, he walks the way he does because he's trying to balance the rocks in his head.

Edit: "fatwa" Absolutely brilliant summary.