Tuesday, January 26, 2010
From Belirico: Pending bill to protect same sex married couples in Washington
Filed by: Joe Mirabella
January 25, 2010 9:30 AM
Washington state Representative Jamie Pedersen introduced legislation that would protect same sex married couples under Washington's domestic partnership law.
Under the law approved by voters last November, registered same sex domestic partners from other states like California and Oregon are protected while in Washington. However, same sex married coupes are not protected.
Consider the potential legal ramifications for a married lesbian couple from San Francisco who flies to Seattle for a weekend get away. If one of them is injured in a freak Pike's Place Market accident by getting whacked in the head by a flying salmon and has to go the emergency room, her spouse would have absolutely no right to visit her loved one in the hospital while she recovered from her fishy injury. That just stinks.
Continue reading "Pending bill to protect same sex married couples in Washington" »
Monday, January 25, 2010
Today's Double Post
...just so you know, in case you don't already. Last week the Supreme Court gave free speech rights to corporations, making our country a fascist state run by corporatists. Corporations can now speak out for or against any candidate for office without fiscal or other restraints. A corporation owned by Communist China can support media advertising for the candidate of their choice. Big oil, big banks, big insurance can spend billions and write it off as an investment...
Honestly, this is more important than health care reform, education, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan war, cap 'n trade and global warming COMBINED...this is not a partisan issue and it isn't a free speech issue. It is a ruling that made property persons, subject only to commerce and making profit. Morality, love, joy, raising children do not apply to property that is lawfully a person that can say whatever it wants in media advertising. Corporations are not subject to the death penalty, even if they pollute water sheds harming or killing thousands. Monsanto will still make genetically modified corn and alfalfa, even if it bankrupts persons fighting them in court or killing children with round-up infused food sources. If I bad-mouth my neighbor, it's slander. If a corporation supports a candidate for office, throwing millions in advertising their way, who will legislate to overlook liability for oil slicks, that advertising is now lawful and unrestrained, complete with catchy slogans, slick packaging, glitzy special effects all wrapped up between segments of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
Please send this e-mail to as many of your friends as you wish and EVERYONE, please call your Congress People right away. Without restraint national and multi-national corporations will inject their political advantage so completely into our democratic process that our representative government of, for and by the people will no longer exist and we will see it happen now in the 2010 election cycle. We are at the mercy of profit driven corporations who by law represent their own interests, regardless of whether or not it is in the peoples' best interest or the over-all good of the country.
This is serious stuff...
From JMG: Prop 8's "Smoking Gun" Revealed
“Ron Prentice, Andrew Pugno and their Prop 8 team -- with the highly capable and apparently deeply cynical leadership of Frank Schubert -- created a permanent campaign to scare voters into believing that same-sex marriage would threaten children, undermine America and lead to every form of illicit behavior imaginable. This evidence is not just a smoking gun. It was an arsenal of incendiary devices directed at the LGBT community and voters. This is how the Prop 8 side won -– through fear and lies.”A campaign of lies, indeed.
“Finally, this morning we saw indisputable, documented evidence in the form of emails and videos that Ron Prentice and Protect Marriage coordinated closely and relied upon the Catholic Church, the LDS Church, the Family Research Council, Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown and the National Organization for Marriage to get Prop. 8 on the ballot and to win through a campaign of lies.”
“Last week, the Supreme Court erased decades of precedent by ruling that corporations have the same rights as people when it comes to speech. Let’s hope that the court will as readily see that LGBT people have at least the same rights as corporations and surely the same rights as other people.”
From JMG: Obama To Make DADT Announcement At State Of The Union Address?
The Senate Armed Services Committee expects to have a series of hearings, one focusing on the views of military leaders, another on the views of outside witnesses and possibly panels of junior officers and noncommissioned officers, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman. Levin said Monday that an announcement of the hearings has been delayed at the request of senior Defense Department officials until after President Obama’s speech. Levin said he does not know what Obama might say, but he expects it will be an announcement of the administration’s intentions. Hearings were supposed to start with military leaders, Levin said, but he might change the order to get hearings underway if senior military officials need more time to prepare. “I am willing to switch things up,” he said. “I am committed to starting the hearings in February.”Earlier today many progressive blogs were critical of the lack of announced dates for the DADT hearings. Can we hope that this is the reason?
From JMG: Exposing The Lies About Gay Pedophilia
JMG: Rob Tisinai sends us another of his excellent videos, this one prompted in part by the Prop 8 trial lies of Hak-Shing William Tam, who infamously claimed that the ultimate goal is gay activists is to legalize sex with children. Read Rob's accompanying post and watch this excellent deconstruction of the lies used against us.
From JMG: Prop 8 Film Debuts At Sundance
Yesterday the documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition debuted at the Sundance film festival in Utah as two dozen anti-LDS protesters rallied outside the venue. The activists were there to show their support for the film and to protest the efforts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to pass Proposition 8, the successful 2008 California ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state. Conservative Christian groups opposed to the film also had been expected to demonstrate, but none showed up. "We are not here to be anti-LDS," rally organizer Eric Ethington said Sunday, outside the documentary's premiere at the Racquet Club venue in Park City. "We are here to share our own stories." During the 2008 election season, the LDS Church was part of a coalition of religious groups that pushed the "Yes on 8" campaign. The church encouraged its members in California to donate time and money to the effort, sparking protests near LDS temples after the measure passed. "We think it's a shame -- a very big shame," demonstrator Joe Baker-Gorringe said Sunday. "If [Mormons] would have channeled [their time and money] into something more constructive, they would have helped a lot of people."
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Quote of the Day
found on JMG
From JMG: Olsen & Boies To Rest Case Monday
Perry vs. Schwarzenegger lawyer David Boies tells the Wall Street Journal today that his side will rest their case tomorrow. "We're pleased with the way it has gone," said David Boies, an attorney for the gay couples who want to wed. He said he set out to prove that marriage was an important right, that gays were harmed by being denied that right and that marriage wouldn't be hurt by extending it to same-sex couples. "We've proven all three of those," he said. Judge Vaughn Walker will decide whether the 2008 voter initiative that limited marriage to a man and a woman codified discrimination or protected a legitimate state interest. This is the first federal challenge to state gay-marriage bans. Defense lawyer Andrew Pugno said his side would present evidence from experts that traditional definitions of marriage between heterosexual couples have special benefit for children and for society.The bigots are expected to present a short defense as four of their six witnesses have withdrawn over claims that violent homosexuals will attack their families if they do.
Dolly Parton says gay rights are a 'human' issue
Dolly Parton has said she believes gay rights are "human rights", rather than being a political issue.
The singer told The Times: "I'm not a poster child for gay rights by any means.
"But I have so many gay and lesbian friends and they’re just so pure and so true. That's not politics to me. That's human rights."
Saturday, January 23, 2010
From Belirico: Subject: Long Hair, Rifle Sights, & Gay Corporations
The Prop 8 trial continued this week and we kept up our daily coverage and live multi-source Twitter feed. That wasn't the only major story this week though. Check out some of the great posts we ran this week:
Sunday
A Problem and a Proposal
Filed by: D Gregory Smith
http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/the_problem_with_bisexuals.php
Hair, gender, and power
Filed by: Alex Blaze
http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/hair_gender_and_power.php
Monday
Donor-Turned-Boyfriend after Break-Up
Filed by: Michele O'Mara
http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/donor-turned-boyfriend_after_break-up.php
Educating Congress
Filed by: Dr. Jillian T. Weiss
http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/educating_congress.php
Tuesday
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition... Literally Filed by: Waymon Hudson http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/praise_the_lord_and_pass_the_ammunition_literally.php
Caster Semenya: Sports Authorities in Gender Gridlock Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/caster_semenya_gender_gridlock.php
Wednesday
IN Marriage Amendment Moves Forward
Filed by: Bil Browning
Massachusetts Is Not Invincible
Filed by: Sara Whitman
http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/massachusetts_is_not_invincible.php
Thursday
Iowa Catholic Church Fires Woman Over Transgender Counseling Filed by: Betty Greene Salwak http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/iowa_catholic_church_fires_woman_over_transgender.php
More Queer/Trans Maine Activists Speaking Out Against Equality Filed by: R. Conrad http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/more_queertrans_maine_activist_speaking_out_agains.php
Friday
Now That Corporations Are People, Can They Marry Each Other? What If They're Gay?
Filed by: David Badash
Rep Paul Scott Blows Smoke on Transgender Michigan Filed by: Keri Renault http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/rep_paul_scott_blows_smoke_on_transgender_michigan.php
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Friday, January 22, 2010
A Message from PFAW
Subject: Stop the Hostile Takeover of the Constitution
Yesterday, by a single vote, the conservative majority in the Supreme Court staged a hostile takeover of American democracy on behalf of corporations.
Alternatives like public financing can help a little, but no matter how many tax payer dollars the government uses to try to offset corporate influence it will never be enough to compete with the bottomless coffers of corporations. For this reason and many more, we must amend the Constitution.
As you may know, People For the American Way has spent many years fighting against destructive amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Right Wing around issues like flag burning, school prayer and banning gay marriage, (you remember those) so our decision to support an amendment to the Constitution in this instance was not taken lightly. As you also know, People For the American Way has spent almost 30 years fighting hard for freedom of speech. But yesterday's decision is a perversion of the First Amendment and a departure from over 100 years of established legal precedent. The very foundation of our democracy could depend on our ability to overturn it.
Here's what you can do to help:
1. Help build the petition calling on congressional leaders to pass a Constitutional amendment: http://www.facebook.com/l/d13cd;bit.ly/6OC9aa
2. Become a "fan" of our effort on Facebook and tell your friends about it: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amending-the-Constitution-so-Corporations-Cant-Buy-Elections/257229177966
3. Donate to the campaign to overturn this radical decision: http://www.facebook.com/l/d13cd;bit.ly/4MFecY
Thank you for standing with us. Together we can stop corporations' hostile takeover of our democracy.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Keegan, President