Or Qatar, after they promise to build snow-covered mountains for the event. And I’m sure they’ll do just as well building those as they’re doing building the air-conditioned stadia for the 2022 World Cup.
And for the record, Qatar is already taking flak for its treatment of homosexuals in the context of an event that is still more than eight years away. I don’t think Obama has weighed in, but then I don’t think most Americans notice that international soccer competitions even exist. (Note also that the 2018 World Cup is in – wait for it – Russia.)
I’m not aware of this convention you speak of. Is it a crime to use the president’s middle name?
So, what you’re saying is that when Barack Hussein Obama said
“I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in a way that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”
what he MEANT to say is that is
“ I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in a way that intimidate them or are harmful to them, if the country is hosting the Winter Olympics. Otherwise, my patience is pretty much infinite.”?
I’m familiar with Russia’s so-called so-called “anti-gay legislation” and I’m thinking that someone (perhaps, Miller) needs to educate himself on the points I’m making?
Homosexual intercourse is legal in Russia. Billy Jean King can go to Sochi and engage in as much or as little lesbian sex as she desires. While she’s at it, she can also fuck straight males, or gay males. She can even fuck midgets. Russia simply doesn’t have any laws prohibiting homosexual intercourse.
Saudi Arabia, one of the closest US allies, on the other hand, most surely does have laws explicitly prohibiting homosexual intercourse. The punishment is up to and including, death penalty.
Yet, Barack Hussein Obama, curiously enough, does seem to have patience (and lots of it) for Saudi Arabia.
Would you care to comment on that, Miller, since so far the only argument I’ve heard is “well, Saudi Arabia doesn’t host Winter Games, so it’s totally ok for them to imprison/execute gays”.
But wait! The more I read Barack Hussein Obama’s musings on homosexuality and Olympics (while simultanesouly proclaiming that he doesn’t want Olympics to be about homosexualy at all), the better it gets.
Allow me to quote:
"And if Russia doesn’t have gay or lesbian athletes, then it probably makes their team weaker.”
Now, someone reading this might think that there’re poow Wussian homosexuals out there, who are not being allowed on the Olympics team, because they’re homosexuals. Needless to say, there’s not a single case of a Russian athlete being denied a spot on the Olympics team because of his/her/it/whatever sexual orientation. This is another lie from the president, who actually seem to enjoy habitual lying. Not as open and blatant as “if you like your insurance, etc”, but a lie nevertheless.
So, to sum up:
No one in Russia will “get” the “message” of Billy Jean King being sent to Sochi. Mainly because the vast majority of people never heard of her, and the few ones that have, don’t know (and probably don’t care) that she prefers to fuck women.
The President of the United States, one Barack Hussein Obama, has no problem in whipping the degree of homosexual propaganda to another level, by lies and distortions, while proclaiming that the games should be about “athletes, not about their sexual orientation” (which is exactly what Russia is doing…ensuring the games ARE about athletes, and not about homosexuality…).
All this Goebbels-like propaganda leads to hysterical (and quite idiotic) statements, from “the defenders of poow homosexuals” like this little gem:
As I said, not only Billy Jean King will be allowed in the country, not only will she be not arrested, she can engage in as much homosexual fucking as she wants. Once the games are over, and she flies back to the US, she can go on Oprah and regail us with the stories of her brave homosexual fucking in the country where the punishment for said fucking is…oh, wait…nevermind…
Eh…I would probably fail miserably …
But I can rattle off the names of the previous 5 Russian presidents like it’s nobody’s business (assuming for a second here, of course, that USSR==Russia && Gensek==President)
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Dmitri Anatol’evich Medvedev
Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
Now, just to satisfy my curiousity, Silophant, what exactly does this have to do with the topic at hand (namely, attempts by one Barack Hussein Obama to homosexualize the Games, while simultaneously loudly proclaiming that on no account should the Games be about athletes’ sexual preferences)?
Actually, upon further reflection, I think I should apologize for something I’ve said in this topic…
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was NOT preceded by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov. In fact, his predecessor was Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko.
Apologies all around, once again.
Still a bit puzzed why we went off on this tangent, though, instead of discussing the actual topic in question…
Burunduk it looks like you genuinely don’t know this (it looks like you’re not American yourself which would explain it) so take this as friendly advice. Referring to the current president as “Barack Hussein Obama” (i.e. with the middle name) generally marks you out as being critical of the president on account, either of his race, or his purported muslimness, or just his general otherness. Using his middle name will make people in the states assume a lot of negative things about you–because here in the states, people who use his middle name are intentionally trying to communicate those very things about themselves.
What’s particularly confusing about this affectation is that it’s really inefficient. Sure, some presidents are referred to by three names, some aren’t. Other than where there is a chance of confusion (John Adams or George Bush), I don’t know why it’s done. But what’s the point of typing so many words when one will do?
Sidenote: I remember a story about after Obama clinched the nomination and a bunch of Clinton staffers come over to work for him. And they were used to referring to her as HRC and were roundly condemned when they used BHO. But, whether or not they were racists, at least it was shorter.
Why, thank you, Frylock, always glad to hear friendly advice. While I have no doubt your explanation is sincere, it, frankly speaking, reeks of political correctness (of which I’m not the fan in the slightest ) taken to absurd levels.
There’s nothing wrong refering to anyone by his/her name.
It does, however, explain this tempest in the teapot we’ve got on our hands here, and moves it from incomprehensible to hilarious.
( I did make the last two up, but you get my drift)
The ones outlined at the end of my post #42, and labeled 1, 2 and 3. Since I already duplicated them twice, I’ll just provide you with convinient linkie, instead of repeating those points again (don’t want to clog up the thread anymore, since it’s already overrun by people who are horrified, absolutely **horrified **that someone dared to call Barack Hussein Obama Barack Hussein Obama…I wonder where the moderators are, since the discussion about appropriatness of calling people by their name should be moved to separate thread, IMO).
Here’s the linkie.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.phpp=16958542&postcount=42
I will, however, make an additional point. As pointed out earlier, Barack Hussein Obama made the following hypocritical point:
"And if Russia doesn’t have gay or lesbian athletes, then it probably makes their team weaker.”
while at the same time insisting that the games should be only about athletes’ performance and NOT about their sexual orientation.
This simple phrase, however, reaches a kafka-esque level of absurdity.
Allow me to explain.
Firstly, Barack Hussein Obama is probably one of the least qualified persons to advise on what the composition of Russian Olympic team should be. Any average Russian sports fan would provide infinitely better advice. In fact…drop “average”, “sports” and “fan”… Any Russian. Period. Is more qualified than Barack Hussein Obama, simply because an average Russian at least heard the names of some of the Russian olympians, and it’s safe to say that the hypocrite-in-chief hasn’t.
Secondly, the Russian Olympics team is formed on the bases of athletes’ performance. No consideration is given to their sexual orientation whatsoever. So, of course, any inclusion of homosexuals would weaken the team considerably (if you’re aware of any case, where a deserving athlete was denied a spot on the Russian team, because of his/her/it/whatever sexual orientation, please do let us know. I’m unaware of any such event taking place)
So, it’s completely opposite of what Barack Hussein Obama is saying: including homosexuals in the Russian Olympic team would make it weaker, not stronger.
Taking the president’s absurd statement to its logical conclusion, here’s a little one-act play I wrote, describing what would happen, if Russians were actually dumb enough to listen to Barack Hussein Obama (please forgive any rougness of the style–a writer I am not)
Disclaimer: all protagonists mentioned below are real (well, except one). All events are based on real facts (if what Barack Hussein Obama proposes were to become a reality).
Protagonists:
Victor Victorovich Maigurov: vice-president of Russian Biathlon Union. Not a homosexual.
Evgeni Romanovich Ustyugov: a Russian biathlete, gold medalist in Vancouver 2010. Not a homosexual.
Olga Alekseevna Zaitseva: a Russian biathlete, gold medalist in Vancouver 2010. Not a homosexual.
Ivan Pedrilov: a fictional personae. Homosexual.
Act one
[ A knock on the door at Victor Victorovich Maigurov’s office ]
VVM: Come in! Come in! Oh, it’s you, Zhenya. Sit down, sit down…
[ Evgeni Romanovich Ustygov enters the room and takes a seat ]
VVM: So, Zhenya, I understand you recently qualified to participate in Sochi Olympics, based on your performance in the December stage of Biathlon World Cup.
ERU [beaming with pride]: Yes, yes, Victor Victorovich! Can’t wait to defend the honour of our country!
VVM: Well, Zhenya, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. You won’t be going to the Olympics. We’ve replaced you with a more qualified candidate.
ERU [stuttering]: Mo…Mo…More qualified candidate? I’m an Olympic gold and bronze medalist. I have medals from both World and European biahtlon championships. Who’s more qualified than I am???
VVM: It’s Ivan Pedrilov.
ERU: Ivan who huh what ? Never heard of him!! What makes him better suited to the Games than me??
VVM: Well, for starters he’s a homosexual. And the president of the United States says that including homosexuals will strengthen our team. Now, this doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever, but he’s clearly more qualified than I’m in such matters, since I’ve only dedicated my whole life to biathlon, while he’s the President of the United States. If he says not including homosexuals makes our team weaker, then we damn better to have one on our team. Maybe even two. And Ivan Pedrilov, if nothing else, is definetely very homosexual. Why, just last year, he’s engaged in homosexual intercourse with 3 men, and this year he has regular sex with his new boyfriend!
ERU [astounded]: Does this Ivan character have any qualifications to be a biathlete?
VVM: Well, he’s seen a biathlon race on TV once or twice. That, plus the fact that he’s homosexual, should be good enough. His homosexuality should play out better on the race track than your sporting achievements.
ERU [exploding in anger]: You’re an idiot if you actially listen to anything Barack Hussein Obama has to say! He’s a certified retard, didn’t you realize that by now?
VVM: How dare you! How dare you to call the president Barack Hussein Obama! Rule number one of biathlon club: You do NOT call the President of the United States of America by his middle name or all hell will break loose!!! Get the hell out of my office, you disgusting bigot, you!
[ ERU gets up, and leaves the room, slamming the door behind him ]
VVM [muttering to himself and rummaging through the papers on his desk ]: Now, where the hell am I supposed to find a lesbian to replace Zaitseva…
I think it’s a bit of pathetic sel-aggrindisement by the US Olympic committee. In general, the rule is ‘When in a country, obey their laws’.
If you are visiting another country, I think it is polite to observe their customs. If, while in that country, you choose to make a protest against their customs or politics (like bull-fighting in Spain, sharia law in Saudi Arabia, Japanese whaling, treatment of boat people in Australia, the use of the death penalty in the US or homosexual propaganda in Russia - for example), you can expect to face sanctions in that country. If you choose to make a protest through normal accepted International Channels (your own government, UN etc) - that’s fine.
But if you go under one pretence (ie sport) and then use your position to make a protest - well, you’re just grandstanding. Protest to the IAAF for organizing the event in a country that has customs and policies you don’t agree with - and don’t bloody go.
Rodham is her “maiden”/birth surname. Not her given middle name. Some women who marry retain use of their birth surname name intentionally, whether via hyphenating or not.
(namely, attempts by one Barack Hussein Obama to homosexualize the Games, while simultaneously loudly proclaiming that on no account should the Games be about athletes’ sexual preferences)?