September 11th:
Gay Victims And Heroes
-- And Victims
Michael Lombardi-Nash
From: "Michael Lombardi-Nash"
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: September 11, 2001: Gay Victims & Heroes
Date: March 17, 2002 3:15 PM
Dear Cliff,
I was wondering if you would be interested in my webpage: "September 11, 2001: Gay Victims and Heroes." My intention is to inform and educate the public on current events.
I certainly did enjoy reading your page about religion being the problem! Marriage sure appears very much like a religious rite if we examine it in light of the religious affiliation surveys: marriage is all but unheard of among atheists and nontheists!
Here is a most shocking example of the married individual getting clear advantage over those of us who will not marry (or cannot marry).
According to Kenneth Feinberg, Head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, lots and lots of people will receive compensation under his plan, including children, babies, and even fetuses. And as an indication of how generous the fund will be, even illegal aliens, who aren't American citizens and who are in the US in violation of federal law, will receive benefits. Feinberg even says that the Attorney General has promised that if undocumented aliens come forward, they won't be kicked out of the country, and their employers won't be penalized: "undocumented aliens who come forward, the families will not suffer any consequences. They are covered by this program. They will get a check. The employer, where we need the economic information about the undocumented alien, will not be penalized," Feinberg told "Meet the Press."
Yep, the Attorney General is himself willing to overlook US law so that every victim of September 11 can be fully compensated. But when it comes to gay Americans who lost a loved one to Mohamed Atta and his band of thugs, Feinberg's and the Department of Justice's well of generosity suddenly dries up:
"[Gays and lesbians are] left out of my program to the extent that their own state doesn't include them. I cannot get into a position in this program, which has a one-and-a-half or two-year life start second-guessing what the state of New York or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the state of Virginia or New Jersey, how they treat same-sex partners, domestic live-ins, etc. I simply say this: What does your state law say about who is eligible? If your state law makes you eligible, I will honor state law. If it doesn't, I go with the state. Otherwise, Tim, I would find myself getting sued in every state by people claiming that I'm not following how the state distributes money. I can't get into that local battle. I've got to rely on state law." |
With best wishes,
Mike (and Paul)
Michael Lombardi-Nash, Ph.D.
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
From: "Positive Atheism Magazine" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: "Michael Lombardi-Nash, Ph.D."
Subject: Re: September 11, 2001: Gay Victims & Heroes
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 22:14:22 -0800
I posted the Feinberg quip in Scary Quotes the very day he uttered it. Here it is. This link is permanent, and will always take you (ahem!) straight to the quote:
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/feinbgframe.htm
In case you don't have Microsoft Internet Explorer (hold the mouse over the lower picture of him), the caption for the lower picture says,
|
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Six-and-one-half years of service
to people with no reason to believe
Mychal Judge Bill Killed
at Behest of White House
Sammi Ruth Fowler
May 24, 2002
This is from today's Wall Street Journal.
"Mychal Judge" bill, named for the gay firehouse chaplain who died on September 11, is yanked from a House vote. "The White House had a problem with it," a GOP aide says. The bill, which the Senate passed unanimously, would amend a 1976 law giving federal benefits to slain public-safety officers' families; it would extend benefits to Judge's sisters and to estates of nine other victims without spouses, children or parents. A Justice Department memo says the change is unneeded. |
Knowing that Dubya was raised in a bigoted home we can be assured that his reason for having a "problem with it" is not that the guy was a member of the clergy, but that he was gay. Does he hate gays more than he loves members of the clergy?
Sammi Ruth Fowler
Cliff Responds:
Please keep in mind that atheists are the least likely of any social class (besides homosexuals) to have undergone the particularly religious ritual known as "marriage," currently restricted, by law, to heterosexual couples.
Please see my write-up on this fact in my recent piece, "Atheists Come to Power."
By pointing out the vast differences in marriage rates between religious and nonreligious people, and by suggesting that marriage is, in fact, more of a religious rite than anything else, perhaps we can put the brakes on this move to define "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman, which would be fine except that the amendment takes the additional step of forbiding states from granting to unmarried people benefits that have traditionally been enjoyed by those who have "been to the altar," as they say.
Cliff Walker
Material by Cliff Walker (including unsigned editorial commentary) is copyright ©1995-2006 by Cliff Walker. Each submission is copyrighted by its writer, who retains control of the work except that by submitting it to Positive Atheism, permission has been granted to use the material or an edited version: (1) on the Positive Atheism web site; (2) in Positive Atheism Magazine; (3) in subsequent works controlled by Cliff Walker or Positive Atheism Magazine (including published or posted compilations). Excerpts not exceeding 500 words are allowed provided the proper copyright notice is affixed. Other use requires permission; Positive Atheism will work to protect the rights of all who submit their writings to us.
Kenneth Feinberg, indicating how much the partners of 911 victims who have not undergone (or who, by law, cannot undergo) the religious ritual of marriage will receive from this "Christian Nation."