And this queer calls the author of the original article illogical? LOL Go practice your lisp gayboy.

“Go practice your lisp gayboy.”

And why don’t you go grab your sheet and hood and burn a cross somewhere?

If the first respondent reads this: Why not print your name, if you aren’t ashamed to acknowledge ownership of your pathetic, super-moronic comments? It’s a sad world when one with barely a limbic brain can operate a computer, despite his/her inability to use proper grammar or formulate cogent thoughts. Go read a book, for a change. Try, for pity’s sake, to seek some form of intellectual enlightenment. Then come join us in the post-Renaissance world. Kudos to the author for calling the bullying simp out on his inflammatory rhetoric. -Adam Arnold

Define enlightened. Does it involve licking another man’s balls? lmao If so, you must be very enlightened.

I am happily married to a llama and I am also deeply offended by Mr. VerStandig’s remarks regarding beastiality. First of all, the term “beastiality” is very degrading. My husband is not a beast. Though he is a llama, he is a very kind, gentle and caring partner.

I thought we’d be happy here in ultra-liberal Madison, but Mac VerStandig and his horrible dissertation are a chilling reminder that there is still much ignorance to be overcome. I urge you, the readers, to reject his hate-filled message and continue to support our cause. True love is universal. Let us not be overshadowed by bigotry.

I am also offended by Mac’s column. I date dogs who come from reputable pedigrees, so it’s not like I’ll just screw any ol’ bitch on four legs and wears a cheap flea collar! Well, maybe that French poodle I went out with a couple years ago turned out to be a real skank, but hey, I only dated her twice!

Besides, Afghans are sexier. And those Irish setters, damned if they won’t keep you up humpin’ all night! Those babes got all the energy in the world, like Rin Tin Tin on steriods or something! As long as we don’t wind up with puppies. I mean, you can’t even get vouchers to sends the little mutts to obedience school. That’s canine discrimination if you ask me!

Anyway, my point is that I agree with the lady above who’s married to the llama. I feel for you, sista. We need to build solidarity. Don’t let ol’ Mac get to you. Better days are coming. Mac, consider this to be notice served. Better watch what you write, cuz next time the only shit we’ll take will be on your front lawn, dude!

It’s interesting that Trekell accuses VerStandig of “irrational and illogical, unsupportable rhetoric.” Clearly Trekell doesn’t understand rationality or logic.

It doesn’t matter whether or not there are people clamoring for incest, pedophilia, polygamy, and extra-species marriage (although there are fringe groups that do advocate these things).

The point is that the same arguments used to support same-sex marriage can be applied to the other aforementioned “forms of marriage.” This type of argument is known as reductio ad absurdum. If you think, say polygamy, is absurd, you must logically conclude that same-sex marriage is absurd.

Also, I’d like to note that same-sex, incestuous marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts.

I do, in fact, understand logic; the basic premise for using reductio ad absurdum is to assume a claim for the sake of argument, arrive at an absurd conclusion and then determine that the original assumption must be wrong, since it presesnted us with the absurd result.

Mr. VerStandig didn’t wind up his column with a conclusion that his original premise, because it is absurd, was wrong. Thus, if he was, as you suggest, attempting to apply reductio ad absurdum, he violated the rules of application, leaving his argument illogical and irrational.

Moreover, incestuous same-sex marriage does not exist in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did not mandate a new and different marriage law for same-sex couples; it mandated that the exsiting marriage law, which includes the standard bans on incestuous marriage, simply be expanded to apply to same-sex couples as well. Thus, the bans against incest remain in place and a brother cannot marry a brother, a mother a daughter, etc.

If you wish to be logical in your efforts to criticize my comments, it would be beneficial if you did some research prior to making both illogical and factually inaccurate claims such as “same-sex, incestuous marraige is currently legal in Massachusetts.”

Eric Trekell

“Anonymity is the greatest form of cowardace.” - anonymous

The same arguments can be used to support any kind of marriage (or used to ban any kind of marriage - the same basic arguments were used to ban interracial marriage as are now being used to ban gay marriage), but I do not think that is the point. I found VerStandig’s article horribly offensive because its point, it seemed, was not to prove a legitimate point, but to offend an entire faction of the community. Incest is a contraversial issue more for those who are forced into it against their will, ie by rape or abuse, rather than dealing with it from the stance of people who love each other. The implication in VerStandig’s article was making incestuous abuse legal - he knew when he was writing the article the connotation that incest has and used it to offend and trivialize an important issue.

Let’s see. What does Webster’s say? Enlightenment: A state derived from licking another man’s balls. Well, there you go! Dear Anonymous Bigot, Enlightenment, for you, might first help you get over your archaic prejudice and your self-ignorant desire to judge. It might also help you understand and communicate with other people on a level beyond that of a stunted eight year-old. And it might lead you to consider that someone who thinks hatred of gays — or any other generalized group — is wrong is not necessarily a member of that group. Gay or not, I think mindless and ignorant people like you pose a danger to the world, and homosexuality does not. -Adam Arnold

Trekell, I’m sorry, but you are simply incorrect about the same-sex, incestuous marriage situation in Massachusetts.

The laws are quite explicit. Please consult The General Laws of Massachusetts.

Brother can marry brother, brother cannot marry sister.

Mother can marry daughter, mother cannot marry son.

Reductio ad absurdum IS the tacit argument of VerStandig’s column. Read it C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y…

I knew from the moment Zach Stern pulled me away from the sports desk to take a look at Mac’s column that it was a firestarter.

Incidentally, I don’t think Mac got it from his minister considering he’s jewish. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a conservative christian columnist at either paper.

I see Trewell and Verstanding’s tactics and messages as basically equal.

The only difference is that I have to pay my hard-earned tuition money so that Trewell can spew his tripe.

reductio ad absdurdum. haha. more like just plain absurd. the repeated use of the word “ergo” should have made that clear to any reader of the original opinion piece. what makes the herald great is its nature as an independent newspaper, but that article was really disgraceful. can’t this verstandig guy find something relevant to blather about?

Typical of a liberal to attack the author, rather than the argument.

This last comment is hilarious!! “Typical of a liberal.” The arguments have been attacked! They were absurd! When the author is spewing stupidity and hate, he may invite a little attack himself, especially when he’s shown no concern over attacking roughly %10 of the population. And what of the attacks on other respondents? WHAT ARE YOU READING? To be truly inflammatory, I’ll add “So like a conservative to make a specious argument and try to attach logic to it.”

Which 10% of the population was attacked?

BH = BS

‘Nuff said.

None of this drama would even be an issue if you boys would stop sticking things where they don’t belong.

“None of this drama would even be an issue if you boys would stop sticking things where they don’t belong.”

Hey babe, if none of these boys didn’t stick their “things” where they didn’t belong, then there would just be the girls who stick the animals’ “things” where they don’t belong. Get my drift?

“…if you boys would stop sticking things where they don’t belong.”

Honey, you haven’t seen the half of it until you have checked out www.beastiality.com Just type it into your browser and BAM! You’ll see her and her “lover” right on the home page. It ain’t just boys doin’ it, little lady!

hmm gay guys talking about humping aminals…i am shocked

hmm, bigots who can’t spell check. You’re all a bunch of ‘aminals.’

big

“seems you fairy boys are bigots too.”

Fairy boys, eh? And this time, the Bigot Award goes to…

Where are the gays telling straight folk not to be straight?

Are Mac and Zach lovers?

Mr. Klemz,

No Christian conservative columnists? Have you READ some of Mark Baumgartner’s pieces in the past year and a half? He may not bible pound with every one of his columns, or even half of them, but he’s a lot more religiously grounded in his politics than Mr. VerStandig, who spews carbon-copied Republican rhetoric like it’s his oral final exam. (I’d love to hear a debate between him and Christopher Dols sometime. Both sides would sound so outrageous you’d be BEGGING for a sociology lecture just to take the pain away. )

-William Northend

Ah yes, I forgot about Mark. Well, that’s one out of six. Not too shabby.