Oh so its not true then, the reason the coasts are ‘blue’ is because they are waiting for the evacuation ships from the rest of the world?

DOF I expect you do know what its like being a midwesterner and Les too.  It’s posts and comments like the above that reinforce my own life experience that people on the coasts are faster to make and believe bad stereotypes than other people elsewhere in the country (or at least faster than upper midwesterners).

(for anyone whom it may help) With disrespect:
Don’t let it get to you and don’t spread it yourself (even in retaliation), break the cycle
That is the only way it’s ever going to end

(I’m sick and tired of everyone being sick and tired with everyone else, I want everyone to be at peace.) Why does it always have to be a negative spiral? If you don’t endure this negative feeling then you’ll get an even more negative punishment (ie shunning)…etc, people also sometimes seem to use their free will to restrict the free will of others, through the threat of negativity

Every part of the country gets disrespected, Theo.  Californians are stereotyped as flaky sandal-wearing tree-hugging socialists.  When I lived in East Tennessee, people from Illinois all thought Johnson City was Dogpatch. People in Tennessee all thought that everyone in New York got mugged once a week.  Here in Illinois we get about as much respect as you do in Iowa.

It gets worse when you talk about other countries, too.

I guess I’m just saying; “welcome to the club.”  The best answer to stereotypes is to patiently answer them with a better picture, and of course not to fit into them.

Zilch, of course not.  Iowa is not the Bible Belt.  The Bible Belt does not vote democrat and is much farther south.  The northern “border” of the Bible belt fades away somewhere in Missouri.  If people were aware of Iowan politics they wouldn’t have been as surprised and ready to shout precedent as they were.  If people were aware of Iowan politics they would have acted about as energetically as they would had this news come from New York or California.  Because Iowa is a flat state in the middle of nowhere and nothing spectacular happens there, Iowa gets lumped unfairly with the Bible Belt.  If the liberal snobs on the coastal states would get their lips off their asses long enough they might realize the midwest is not filled with backwards hicks but that they have quite a few allies over here.  The amount of unwarranted disrespect the midwest gets from the coastal states really grinds on a proud born and bred Midwesterner after awhile.

What makes a person republican is often similar to what makes a person christian

Hmmm… so theocrat, you’re saying in effect that belief in the Bible is incompatible with being liberal?

As one who grew up in IA I find it offensive that everyone jumps to the conclusion that “Iowa is the Bible Belt.”  You are clearly stereotyping and not at all familiar with Iowan politics.  To remind everyone, they voted for Gore in 2000 and Bush only won Iowa by 0.67% of the popular vote in 2004.  Iowa has consistently been one of the few liberal “strongerholds” in the Upper Midwest along with Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Well, but it didn’t last long.

This is unfortunate, to say the very least, but as we know from history, the fight for justice and equality is a long and embittered one. Mark my words, the day will come when federal and state bans on gay marriage will finally be abolished. In the meantime we have to keep standing up for equality in any way we can.

Damn. 

Gotta love this ironically-named fellow:

The flurry of activity in the courts prompted a quick response from some lawmakers. House Republican leader Christopher Rants called on Democrats, who hold a majority of seats in the Legislature, to respond.

‘‘The Democrats should call a special session immediately to take up such issues and to introduce a marriage amendment for Iowa’s constitution,’’ he said in a statement. ‘‘House Democrats need to start leading or get out of the way.’‘

Of course by “leadership” he means an amendment that would be satisfactory to his constituency but not necessarily to the Democrats’.