Posted on 05/07/2005 8:47:41 AM PDT by woodb01
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050507/microsoft_gay_rights.html?.v=3
Microsoft Will Back Gay Rights Legislation
Saturday May 7, 5:29 am ET
By Elizabeth M. Gillespie, Associated Press Writer
Microsoft Changes Course on Gay Rights Legislation; CEO Says Company Will Support It SEATTLE (AP) -- After being criticized for quietly dropping support for a state gay rights bill, Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer told employees Friday that management would publicly back such legislation in the future.Ballmer's commitment came two weeks after activists accused the company of caving to pressure from an evangelical pastor who had threatened to launch a nationwide boycott of the software company.
"After looking at the question from all sides, I've concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda," Ballmer wrote in an e-mail.
In late April, Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, asked Microsoft to return a civil rights award the group had given the company four years ago. On Friday she said Microsoft should keep the honor.
"Few of us have not made a misstep. This was a misstep. It was a big one. But Microsoft has done the right thing, and we would be proud to have them keep our award," Jean told The Associated Press.
Ballmer said he would not discuss what prompted Microsoft to take a neutral stance this year on a bill it had actively supported in the past.
Microsoft, one of the first companies to extend domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples, claimed that its decision came before a meeting with Ken Hutcherson, pastor of a local church who has organized anti-gay-marriage rallies in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Hutcherson could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. He has said he pressured Microsoft after hearing two employees testify in favor of a bill before the state Legislature that would have banned discrimination against gays in housing, employment and insurance.
The bill died by a single vote in the state Senate April 21.
Liberal bloggers called the company a corporate coward and posted rallying cries for their own boycott of Microsoft products. Gay rights groups said they'd keep pressuring Microsoft until the company once again came out in support of the bill.
State Rep. Ed Murray, an openly gay Seattle Democrat who sponsored the bill, said he was thrilled Microsoft had decided to support the legislation the next time it's proposed. "Microsoft knows diversity is just plain good business. And they know that discrimination is bad for business," he said in a statement released Friday afternoon.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, applauded the shift.
"We are proud that Microsoft did the right thing and has come down squarely on the side of fairness for all employees," Solmonese said in a statement. "It is clear from Mr. Ballmer's statement that it is a business imperative to value a diverse workforce and support public policy that reinforces that principle."
In his e-mail Friday, Ballmer said the company would continue to focus its lobbying efforts on issues that most directly affect Microsoft, such as Internet safety, intellectual property rights, free trade and a healthy business climate.
"I'm proud of Microsoft's commitment to non-discrimination in our internal policies and benefits, but our policies can't cover the range of housing, education, financial and similar services that our people and their partners and families need.
"Therefore, it's appropriate for the company to support legislation that will promote and protect diversity in the workplace."
Microsoft shares slipped a penny to close at $25.22 in Friday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/
Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/
MAKE MICROSOFT GET OUT OF GAY POLITICS OR MAKE THEM CEASE TO EXIST! SEND A MESSAGE TO EVERY OTHER CORPORATION IN AMERICA THAT SUPPORTING HETEROPHOBIA WILL BE THEIR END!
http://www.nodnc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=293
There's a VERY easy way to stop MUCH of the Microsoft supported liberal garbage, simply notify Microsoft that because of their financial and name support of liberal corruption that you are going to openly publicize and promote freeware replacements to their software products.
FREE OS - Linux (to replace Windows)
http://www.linux.org/
MS Office replacement (to replace MS Office)
http://www.openoffice.org/
WEB Server products (to Replace MS IIS Server)
http://www.apache-asp.org/
Linux Applications (many are free) (additional free applications)
http://www.linux.org/apps/index.html
Web Mail replacement for MS Exchange
http://www.squirrelmail.org/
PHP-Nuke Content Management System
http://phpnuke.org
Combatting Microsoft Liberal Media Corruption through MSNBC, NBC, and MSN
Let Microsoft know that because THEY have their name associated with NBC / MSNBC / MSN that you will stop buying their products in the future, but that many of the great opensource (i.e. FREE) products below that work as Microsoft replacements will be promoted to friends, family, and businesses everywhere.
U.S.-based news media needing information on topics not specifically addressed in the list below should contact the Waggener Edstrom Rapid Response Team at
rrt@wagged.com
or 503-443-7070.
Additional PR contacts can be seen here (do NOT accept any excuses, THEY SUPPORT MSNBC AND NOTHING BUT STOPPING THE LIBERAL RANTS IS ACCEPTABLE. PERIOD!!)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp
This is apparently what large amounts of money do to your brain -- as if Hollywood was not enough of an example.
--- and Linux is getting better all the time!!! to say nothing of the MAC OS-X !!
Microsoft crashes well enough on its own. That's why I use Mac OS X.
Hard to believe Microsoft would side with gey liberati after the hell they went through with the Clintonistas and the lesbian Reno squad. Maybe Bill Gates or whoever is running that company now should try to remember that it was the `Rats who deemed Microsoft more threatening than Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden in the `90`s, and it is the `Rats who constantly curse out corporations like Microsoft even though those corporations create jobs.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mb?s=MSFT
PUT YOUR MESSAGE ON THE MICROSOFT MESSAGE BOARD ABOUT THE SHAREHOLDER VALUE COLLAPSE!
Too many Americans believe that all business decisions should be subservient to the policy goals of government. A business that eagerly offers to put a collar around its own neck and hands the leash to government is despicable. When that business claims an entitlement to assist in placing a collar around the neck of all Washington State Businesses then that business, Microsoft, should be a target for boycott by all freedom loving Americans.
I wonder what is their real reason.
If you think Apple's politics are going to be any better than Microsoft's, boy are you in for a rude awakening.
So Microsoft sold it's soul to the devil. They'll get just what they've sown. Sell your stocks now, folks, and bank them if you have any.
Unfortunately, companies that have strongly supported the homosexual agenda include Microsoft, Apple, Hewlitt Packard, IBM, the big three automakers, several of the larger airlines, and more. Keep up the good work against this foolishness, but at least know what the score is right now...
It might be easier to list the big corporations that don't support the agenda.
Off hand, I can't think of any.
Extortion. It works for Jessie Jackson. Now that the fetishist have jumped on the black bandwagon, they get a free ride (literally).
Certainly lots of companies support Heterophobia INTERNALLY, but to my knowledge, few if ANY of them have openly agreed to POLITICALLY LOBBY FOR THE HETEROPHOBIC AGENDA!! IN THAT RESPECT, MICROSOFT IS UNIQUE AND MUST BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!!
Downloaded Fedora Core 3 this morning. Will likely install it this evening and see what's up with Linux. Since I use my machine primarily as a DAW I need pro-sound apps. In the past there weren't any. However, now it seems there might actually be some viable alternatives.
I don't relish the idea of learning a new OS though. But as a converting Catholic and a conservative, I'm running out of reasons to continue using M$ products.
Linux Journal has had several good articles about sound processing software over the past year. Don't know if you can read them if you're not a subscriber though. Subscribers have access to all the content though. If you're going to do Linux in a serious way, a subscription to a quality publication is probably a good idea. LJ is a little bit on the technical side at times, but my wife, who's not a serious unix user like myself gets a lot out of the articles even if she doesn't fully understand it all.
(I'm not affiliated with LJ in any way.)
Another good resource for Linux distributions is LinuxISO.org. Different distributions are aimed at different target audiences. Fedora Core 3 is good, (it's my primary at the moment), but there are others, and it might be worthwhile for you to make a decision based on the differences between them.
All,
One link I didn't see above is important: Mozilla.org has replacements for IE, (Firefox), Outlook (Thunderbird), and has a nice Calendaring program.
8 posted on 05/07/2005 11:05:53 AM CDT
by Libertarianize the GOP (Make all taxes truly voluntary)
Some of the Greek City States managed to fiance public works by appealing for voluntary contributions from the wealthy. You are on a website that is voluntarily financed. The tradition of tithing originally funded both the Jewish church and state functions. I work with civic organizations that are entirely funded by voluntary contributions. It would eliminate any potential for government power being abused by stealing from disfavored groups in order to give to favored groups.
Morality and all of its associated concepts are from the belief that some higher power defines what is correct in human behavior. Today, "morals" are a pagan religious philosophy based on esoteric hobgoblins where a pantheon of fantasies are the medium of infinitization. Others are derided for having an unwavering Judaic belief in Yahweh or Yeshua, while their critics and enemies wil advocate phantasmagoric fetishisms into secular law.
Perhaps the advocates of homosexual marriage, civil unions, et al, could conclave to enshrine their own phantasmal state religion and consecrate Michael Jackson as their first pope!
Should we really be granting special social benefits based on idolatrous fetishes as a matter of secular law?
Morality and all of its associated concepts are from the belief that some higher power defines what is correct in human behavior. Today, "morals" are a pagan religious philosophy based on esoteric hobgoblins where a pantheon of fantasies are the medium of infinitization. Others are derided for having an unwavering Judaic belief in Yahweh or Yeshua, while their critics and enemies wil advocate phantasmagoric fetishisms into secular law.
Perhaps the advocates of homosexual marriage, civil unions, et al, could conclave to enshrine their own phantasmal state religion and consecrate Michael Jackson as their first pope!
Should we really be granting special social benefits based on idolatrous fetishes as a matter of secular law?
How much of stockholder money will be spent on politics that have NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS?
What will stockholders say?
Some of the Greek City States managed to fiance public works by appealing for voluntary contributions from the wealthy. You are on a website that is voluntarily financed.
Life requires structure from beginning to end.
That would seem to bring us back to the topic at hand. Do you propose that government should set national goals and then forcibly enlist business and Citizen to serve the government's goals? Are we properly just cogs in the machine serving no other purpose than that set by government?
Ok, so now Microsoft is a "gay" operating system, Apple has been a "gay" operating system for years, Linux is a "socialist/communist" operating system.......
Isn't there a conservative operating system out there somewhere?
"Speaking of highway engineering, it was bridges that the Greeks financed by appealing to the wealthy."
And as with all things comes change and the super highway of change passed Greece right by.
"Are we properly just cogs in the machine serving no other purpose than that set by government?"
People govern people no matter what you would like to label it. Government is made up of people put there to direct structure by and for people who want to pursue other careers. So if government were eliminated today it would be immediately replaced by another group of people supervising structure. I know you would like to refer to a new governing body of people as libertarians. They would still be governing(directing) people. Go sell Utopia elsewhere. America has enough free loaders.
Your the one who brought it up and yet you seem reluctant to discuss the idea. As for utopia have you read Plato's "The Republic"? You would seem to share his vision for utopia. Voluntary taxation is an idea worthy of discussion but it is more of an academic pursuit. Public private partnerships are the closest attempt at a practical application.
"Your the one who brought it up and yet you seem reluctant to discuss the idea."
Not true, Your tagline brought it up. And post #30 is proof that I was anything but reluctant.
"As for utopia have you read Plato's "The Republic"? You would seem to share his vision for utopia"
Yes I read it. Everyone has visions. Visions are always utopian in the safety of ones mind. It's when it hits reality is when it gets narrowed down. Too many chefs ruin the stew cliche'
Why not simply link paying taxes and being able to vote? Not only should only taxpayers be allowed to vote, but in my view one should be able to opt out of paying taxes by giving up the right to vote.
In this way, the true citizenry would be revealed. The role of government would be decided only by those committed enough to put aside immediate self-interest. I would venture a guess that such a system would have much tighter limits on government that we have today.
Certainly structure and order are necessary for the continuation of civilization; the question is what social institutions impose it? Assuming that the state is given a monopoly on coercive power, and considering that being able to use force and the threat of force is likely to corrupt, I think we should be very careful about handing the state too large a role in our lives.
Yes, Slide Rule 2.0...
The last slide rule company folded years ago. (Tee Hee)
exon mobil doesn't. wal mart and mcdonalds have "non discrimination" in hiring, but don't give benefits, as far as I know, to boyfriends and girlfriends.
bottom line - it is a mess and a tragedy.
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