Thursday, December 01, 2005

Lethal Weapon 2, we hardly knew ye

Sixteen or so years after the release of Lethal Weapon 2, one has to look around the world and wonder if Riggs and Murtaugh would recognize it.

Back in the wacky world that was 1989, South Africa was one of the evil empires of the world. The evils of the South African policies of white supremacy wrapped up in the Apartheid system made America's deep racial problems of the time pale in comparison.

Now, in the arguably wackier world that is 2005, state after state in America are moving to put up roadblocks to any attempts to expand civil rights for homosexuals, especially in the area of the benefits of marriage. As America (on balance) moves to create barriers to the civil rights of homosexuals, South Africa moves in the opposite direction. South Africa has become the fourth country in the world, and the first on the African continent, to legalize all monogamous marriage. South Africa's supreme court has moved by a 'near-unanimous ruling' to strike down a law that limits marriage to intra-sex couples.

Good on ya, South Africa.

2 comments:

lunchstealer said...

Yup, the Democrats shivering in their boots about a Permanent Republican Majority haven't noticed the deep divisions brewing within the GOP.

lunchstealer said...

Actually, it's worth noting that in the mid '90s the Democrats DID try to pass most of the provisions that ended up in the PATRIOT act. At the time they were aimed at going after money laundering and fighting the War on Drugs (which has been about as effective as the War on Terror and the War on Poverty). John Kerry was a big booster for it. John Ashcroft argued against it.

So yeah, I voted straight ticket Libertarian in '02, and for divided government in '04.