Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category
The "Moral Concerns" of Marines
On a different, but related subject, [Marine Corps Commandant General James] Conway suggested that if the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law is repealed, the Marines may consider allowing Marines not to share quarters with homosexuals. Conway said the Marines may make such housing arrangements “voluntary” to accommodate any “moral concerns.” He said many Marines are […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
"Enthusiastic Approval" for Prop-8 Decision
The American Humanist Association (AHA) expressed enthusiastic approval with yesterday's ruling by a federal judge that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional [American Humanist Association, "Humanists Celebrate Proposition 8 Ruling", 5 August 2010; my bold.] I quite like that: "enthusiastic approval", and I think I will express some of my own enthusiastic approval, right here. I see […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Welcome, Argentina
I will never understand those who proclaim love as the foundation of life, while denying so radically protection, understanding and affection to our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, our colleagues. What kind of love is this that excludes those who experience their sexuality in a different way? –Spain’s Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Kincaid on "Republican Activist Judges"
Judge Joseph Tauro, who just found DOMA unconstitutional, was the chief legal counsel to Republican Massachusetts Governor John Volpe until he was nominated for Federal Judge by President Richard Nixon. It kinda takes the wind out of the “liberal activist judge” claim, doesn’t it. [Timothy Kincaid, "Another Republican Activist Judge", Box Turtle Bulletin, 9 July […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Federal Judge: DOMA Unconstitutional
Today Federal Judge Joseph Tauro of the District Court of Massachusetts ruled on two related cases and found that the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act", passed during the Clinton Administration, violated the US Constitution in at least two instances. Since 1996, the so-called 'Defense of Marriage Act' has defended no one, while imposing senseless and […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Everybody Has a Sexual Orientation
Oklahoma has not been known recently as a leader in liberal thought or human-rights advancement, but Tulsa has bucked the indigenous trend. Thus, rather the way we said, not so long ago, "But, in Iowa!", we can now exclaim "Really? Oklahoma!" Last night, by a vote of 6 to 3, the Tulsa City Council approved […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Perry v Schwarzenegger: Closing Arguments Arrive
Closing arguments in Perry v Schwarzenegger, the much-watched trial in the District Courtroom of Judge Vaughn Walker, are due to be heard tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 June 2010. It has many of us anxious with anticipation; we know how empty the arguments of the anti-marriage-equality groups are; we know how much trouble they had finding any […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Scheffler: An Embarrassment to Iowa
What is it that makes some Republicans so angry all the time? It must be taxing to spend all of one's time and effort opposing change that one knows is going to happen anyway. Is it really that gratifying just to slow things down and gum up the works? Iowa’s Republican National Committeeman sent an […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Such a Gay Day
This is the International Day Against Homophobia; I like the fact that it's referred to as "IDAHO", a name not usually associated with diversity. Speaking of IDAHO, I just learned in my reading today about the origins of the Russet-Burbank variety of potato. This is also the day when marriage equality arrived in Massachusetts, six […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Granderson on "Gay Uncle Toms"
The gay and lesbian community has plenty of Uncle Toms trying to blow us up from inside, but what we don't have is our own word or phrase to identify them. Some call them "closet cases," but there is a difference between someone who is unwilling to live openly and honestly, and someone who takes […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events, Faaabulosity
SPLC on AZ's New Anti-Hispanic Law
Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law was written by a lawyer at the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed as an anti-immigrant hate group since 2007. The law, a recipe for racial profiling, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Current Events
Those Gay Priests
The catholic church and its not widely loved leader has been making headlines lately, a combination of an outburst of child-abuse complaints about priests, cover-ups by the church and the Pope, and plenty of cardinals telling us that the Pope is a nice guy, he didn't know anything even though he signed the papers, and […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Fantasies of Unintended Consequences
Following the signing by President Obama of the new health-insurance bill, and trailing off the spectacle of "freedom"-loving teabagging bigots pelting elected representatives with various slurs and epithets in the name of do-it-my-way-or-else "democracy", we have the new spectacle of states' attorneys general rushing to join a federal suit against the legislation. This, of course, […]
Violence is not a Tool of Democracy
Armed insurrection has a mythic status in the US, with good cause. The emphasis, of course, is on "good cause". We have founding notions about our American revolution as an escape from tyranny and a bid for liberty and the freedom of self-government, all deemed a "good cause". Residing inside the ivory tower of establishment […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
Dancing with Humanists
There are many times–unless I can think of a really snarky and sarcastic approach to take–that I take a pass on talking about the seemingly endless stories of self-righteously hypocritical homophobes and ultra-fundamentalist anti-science wackos responsible for many recent headline. There are several good reasons but largely it's because I really prefer to take a […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Reflections
Tutu: Lesbians & Gays in Africa Living in Fear
Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear. And they are living in hiding — away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events, Faaabulosity
A Day for Smiling
On the "Marriage Bureau" page of the Superior Court of [Washington,] DC, there is this note, rendered in red at the top of the page of instructions on how to get a marriage license in DC (thanks Jason): NOTE: Pursuant to the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, A18-248, effective March […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
No Stay in DC
The news has just this moment reached my ears that the Supreme Court today (meaning, in this case, Chief Justice Roberts) refused to grant a requested stay of Washington DC's implementation of marriage equality starting tomorrow, Wednesday, 3 March 2010. Take all the negatives out of that sentence and it means that, starting tomorrow morning, […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Moyers, Boies, & Olson
I've just listened to the segment of Bill Moyers Journal in which he talks with David Boies and Ted Olson about their case for marriage equality. He talks to them for nearly fifty minutes, not just two minutes for the juicy soundbites. I don't think I can embed the video, but here's the link to […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
Truth in Snark: Justice Stevens on Corporate Personhood
While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics. [US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, dissent to majority opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, quoted by Mary Hall, State of the Union: Obama Walking in the […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events, Feeling Peevish