Random Liberals

We are random liberals (who knew?). Collectively, we make up the greatest blog in the history of ourselves. We will blog about anything that suits us; mostly politics, with a little bit of religion and randomness to make the blog exciting.

Contributors
Rob
Joshua

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Some actual reporting!

Tomorrow, this will be a headline on the front page of the Washington Post:

"Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on Terrorism"

No kidding. Good to see that the pundits are slowly catching up with the times. The article references a speech that Condoleezza Rice was to give on September 11, 2001 on the threats that the White House deemed important. Terrorism was to be mentioned, but in the context of "rogue nations" such as Iraq, not cells such as al Qaeda. The main focus instead was to be missile defense. Good to know that this administration is 'fessing up to their early stupidity.

Robert

Monday, March 29, 2004

Equal rights revisited

The Massachusetts legislature today gave initial approval to an amendment that would ban gay marriage but allow for civil unions. In the words of Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees (R), "We are providing every right, responsibility and benefit for same-sex couples with the exception of the word marriage." The amendment still has to gain the approval of the next legislative session and be passed in a referendum in November, 2006, so it will be at least two and a half years before the amendment takes effect.

Now, I don't know about you folks, but to me, this is just stupid and vindictive. What's the point of having an amendment at all if all they are going to disallow is use of the word "marriage"? This means that the legislature just wasted a good week of debate over an amendment that will, in effect, do absolutely nothing. I just don't get it. It's just a word. Yes, words do have a powerful meaning, but allowing homosexuals to legally call themselves married will not deny heterosexuals the right to call themselves married. So why this oppugn over a word? Why not, if they are going to allow homosexuals to have marriage rights, allow homosexuals to call themselves married? This makes no sense.

Robert

Lawsuit filed by the descendents of slaves

A $1 billion lawsuit was filed today in New York by descendents of slaves against eight U.S. and British corporations for profiting on the genocide of their ancestors. This is going to be tough to win. According to the story, a similar suit was dismissed by a federal judge in Chicago in January.

The anti-corporationist in me really really wants this suit to succeed. However, I just don't see how the plaintiffs are going to be able to get a judge to allow this suit to go through. Fair or not, most judges are going to say that too much time has passed, and that old wounds don't need reopening. The public will also be hostile to the claims of the plaintiffs, by and large. Unfortunately, I do not think the suit will even make it to trial.

Robert

Senatorial convention

I'm finally back to the blog. It was a very busy weekend for me, which is why I have not been updating the blog. My apologies.

Saturday, I went to the Tarrant County Senatorial Democratic convention. I was one of ten delegates from my precinct. In my (not very good) estimation, there were probably somewhere between 500 and 1000 people who attended. It started at a little after 10:00 AM, local time. The keynote speaker was former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Jim Wright, who represented part of Fort Worth, and has been involved in the Democratic Party for over 50 years. Before the convention was officially called to order, we liberals who hate the United States stood and recited the pledge of allegiance (I was careful to leave out "under God," for reasons made clear in this post), and then sang the Star-Spangled Banner. After that token display of our patriotism, we heard prayers by four different ministers. That's right; we liberals who hate Christians listened to four different prayers. Four very different prayers. The first invocation was by an African minister. The second was by a Hispanic minister, who I believe was Catholic. He prayed first in Spanish, and then in English. The third was by a Muslim cleric. He sang two verses from the Qu'ran in Arabic, then recited those verses in English. He then prayed in English. The final prayer was lifted up by a female Protestant reverand. It was a very special moment to hear these diverse prayers from people with an obvious and abundant love of God, whatever form God takes for them.

After the prayers, former Speaker Wright said a few words. Following that, we were introduced to the Democratic candidates from Tarrant County. One candidate in particular, Ruby Woolridge, spoke with an unmatched enthusiasm, speaking of the importance of education, and what effect education has on workers. She said that it was her job, as a teacher, to make sure that her students always strove for the best in all they did. She accused Republicans of keeping the lower classes down, so that they could have a drone working class. When she had finished her speech, the entire convention was on its feet. It was a beautiful sight.

Following the speeches, we broke into our precincts to choose delegates to the state convention and submit resolutions for the county platform. I ran for a place as one of two delegates, but lost in a run off. I then ran for an alternate's spot, and won, so I will be going to the Texas Democratic Convention in Houston on June 18-19. I also talked to Darrel Cox, who is running for State House of Representatives, about volunteering for his campaign, and signed an e-mail list for the Kerry campaign. More on that on a later date.

After a short lunch break, we adopted resolutions to submit as a senate district to the state platform. I do not remember most of them, but I do remember one that apologized and asked for forgiveness for Jim Crow, racism, and all around stupidity from African-Americans. There was also one calling for universal health care.

I will be posting more in the near future about the local campaigns, as soon as I am able to start volunteering for Mr. Cox. Hopefully, it will be an interesting read.

Robert

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Pledge of Allegiance

Y'all know what time it is. Please rise and put your right hand over your heart, and recite with me:

I pledge allegiance to Queen Fragg, and her mighty state of hysteria...(Sorry folks. It's a Calvin and Hobbes joke.)

The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over whether the phrase "under God" is a violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment. It has already been ruled that students cannot be compelled to say the pledge, but if a teacher leads a class in the pledge, there is pressure for everyone to say the pledge, even if it goes against their beliefs. There are religions that prohibit pledging to the flag because they see it as idol worship. There was a girl I knew in 5th grade who believed this. Fortunately for her, all of her friends and her teacher understood, and she was not ridiculed. There are others who would not be so lucky. Because of this, I think that the entire pledge, not just "under God," should not be allowed to be led by public school teachers, in much the same way that they cannot lead prayer. However, I will take what I can get, and removing "under God" is a start.

I hope that the court rules in favor of the plaintiff, but I'm afraid they are going to punt by declaring that the plaintiff, who does not have custody of the child on whose behalf the suit was filed, does not have the authority to file suit. The upside to this punt is that it does leave the door open for another to file suit.

Robert

Monday, March 22, 2004

New blogger

Starting sometime in the next two weeks, I am going to have a guest blogging here from time to time. My guest is a very good writer who pays very close attention to current events. This will be the first blogging opportunity for the writer, as it was for me, and so our hope is that we can critique one another and improve our writing and analysis skills. As soon as possible, a better introductory post will be written by the guest, whereupon you will find out more. I will still post regularly, but this will present a slightly different perspective. I hope that you enjoy it.

Robert

Marriage

My dad and step-mom's wedding on Saturday was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony was in my home church, a large Baptist church that looks more like a Catholic cathedral. It was a mostly traditional wedding, but included some details that were new, at least to me. There were no groomsmen or bridesmaids, at least not officially. My dad and step-mom actually sat for most of the wedding, during the first part. They processed to the front together, instead of my father already being at the front and having her meet him. Before they processed in, a rather large group of people who are important in their lives or had served a special role in during other times in their lives came down the aisle, bearing important artifacts from our lives. I brought in a family Bible, written in the 1670s in the Netherlands. My little sister, wearing Converses under her gorgeous pink dress, brought in a Horned Frog statuette, representing TCU, where my step-mom is finishing her doctorate, and my father is a staff member. Other old friends and family members brought in candles.

The ceremony itself was unforgettable. We sang what is probably my favorite hymn of all, Be Thou My Vision. Various friends read scripture, prayed, and blessed the marriage. Before the vows were exchanged, we took Communion. During Communion, my step-mom's brother and sister, along with my two sisters and I, went to the front to be with our dad and step-mom and the two pastors. We stayed for the rest of the service as they exchanged vows and slipped on their rings. After they were pronounced husband and wife, they moved to the center of the sanctuary, where the entire congregation performed a laying on of hands. This is a form of blessing, where each person places a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them. The people who can reach the couple place their hands on the couple. This connects everyone. It is a powerful symbol.

This wedding brought to conclusion a long, stressful, wonderful week. Even with all of the rushing around and worrying, happiness and love could be felt everywhere. Even cramming my dad's entire family into our house was wonderful. I only hope that someday I will love someone as much as my dad and step-mom love each other.

Robert

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Iraq

Last night marked the one year anniversary of the beginning of the campaign in Iraq, as everyone knows by now. I don't have much to say on it right now, but I would like everyone who does read this to observe a moment of silence (and pray, if you're a praying person) for those who have lost their lives. Not just the Americans, but also the Iraqis, whose lives have been needlessly lost.

Robert

Charges dropped against Yee

Captain James Yee, the Muslim chaplain arrested last September on suspicion of espionage, has had all charges against him dropped.

This case smelled to me from the start, though I can't really put my finger on why it smelled. He was officially charged with mishandling of classified material, disobeying orders, making a false statement, and, of all things, adultery. He was charged in military court, which is why he could be charged with adultery. Later, he was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, for allegedly downloading pornography onto his government computer. When that charge came down, I had a feeling that the military's original case was not holding up, and they wanted something to be able to continue to hold him.

All in all, I can't say that I'm very suprised at this announcement.

Robert

Madness in Kosovo

As most people will recall, NATO went into Kosovo about five years ago in an attempt to keep the peace after what was then Yugoslavia was bombed into oblivion for trying to clense Kosovo of ethnic Albanians. It is for this that Slobodan Milosevic is on trial in The Hague, Netherlands for war crimes.

Now comes this. This week, the ethnic Albanians appear to have tried to turn the tables on the minority Serbian population in Kosovo, after some Serbians were accused of siccing dogs on three ethnic Albanian boys. The boys were chased into a river, where two drowned and the third was missing. In the ensuing violence, about 31 people have been killed. Fortunately, according to the Reuters story, the killing looks to be subsiding. Let us hope that the people come back to their senses.

Robert

Finally, I'm back

I am finally back to blogging. I've been out of commission for the past week because, frankly, this has been a frantic, long, and weird week for my family and me. My father is getting married to a beautiful, incredible woman today. We his family are all very happy for both of them. We have spent most of the last two days meeting the rest of her family, and last night, our family came over from Florida and Georgia. They had already met my dad's fiancee over Christmas, but yesterday they met her family. Everybody has been great. It has not been like one of those nightmare weddings I have seen joked about in movies, such as Meet the Parents.

Today, at 4:00, they wed. It is going to be a different service, to be sure. It will be mostly traditional, but they have added some beautiful liturgy that I want to be sure and remember. I will probably post more on this later today or tomorrow. I cannot wait.

Robert

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Vacation

That's right folks, I'm headed down to beautiful Waco for a couple of days. Chances are less than good that I'll get to update my blog during that time. Don't worry, I'll be back Tuesday with more of my biting(?) commentary on politics, religion, and whatever else I feel like posting on.

Robert

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Debates

John Kerry today formally challenged President Bush to eight debates, one per month from now till November. Not surprisingly, the Bush campaign said no.

Now, I understand that Shrub is afraid that Kerry will beat his face in if they were to debate every month, and that he would like to have no debates at all. (Fortunately, he's obligated to participate in three debates, if for no other reason than he'll look like a complete pansy if he doesn't.) It seems to me, however, that Bush is ceding the high ground on the discourse issue by not agreeing to participate in these eight debates (or, at least, more than the three he participated in four years ago). Both sides are now complaining that the opponent is dragging their name through the mud. Each side has called for an elevation in the discourse, and a cleaner fight. Now, John Kerry has the upper hand, because he is calling for a series of debates "on the great issues before us," and the Bush campaign (in the person of campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt) is responding with a snide "Senator Kerry should finish the debate with himself before he starts trying to explain his position to voters."

There's no way Kerry didn't know that this would be the response from the Bush campaign. However, even if for some reason Bush had accepted, Kerry knew that he could have walked all over Bush, all while not sighing through the debate like Gore four years ago. (Gore's sighing was one of the dumbest non-issue issues in a campaign full of them, but it is something that Kerry cannot do. Apparently it is doubleplusungood to let a professional politician know when you think they are full of it while they're still talking.) This was another calculated move, designed to make Bush look like a wuss, and that he doesn't really care about the issues. It is yet another smart move by a Kerry campaign that looks more and more like the Dean campaign every day.

As a side note, I do like that Kerry picked the site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates for the announcement of his challenge to Bush.

Robert

Friday, March 12, 2004

Spain

I haven't posted on Spain yet because I really don't know what to make of it. However, I found this very interesting. 8 million people took to the streets in peaceful marching throughout Spain today. According to the article, 2.3 million people gathered in Madrid alone. I have never heard of a protest/vigil this large. Ever. This is a tremendous, incredibly moving show of solidarity in Spain. There were marches of support in other cities around the world, including in Washington, D.C. These attacks, as horrible as they were, are unifying the world in a way not seen since the days after September 11, 2001. We must be careful; we cannot politicize the attacks. We should continue to show our support for Spain, and for all of Europe, just as they did for us in the aftermath of 9/11. We should help them in any way needed, or stay out of the way if they wish us to. This is their moment, and we should respect that, while standing with them.

UPDATE: According to the paper this morning, March13, the number was 12 million people.

Robert

Thursday, March 11, 2004

More on Kerry

Conspicuously missing from all of the analysis I have seen is the connection between Kerry's statement and the fact that he met with former candidate Howard Dean yesterday. If Kerry hadn't known that his mic was hot, then I would say that it was a coincidence. With the revelation by the Kerry campaign that he did in fact know that his mic was on, however, I don't think it was pure chance. Rather, it was a calculated attempt by Kerry to show Dean that he will keep the spine given to him. According to this article, Kerry met with Dean after he called his critics a "crooked...lying group..." It would appear to me that he wanted to go into his meeting with Dean and be able to say "I can dish it just as well as you can, and with more tact." And he would be right.

The more I think about this, the more it becomes apparent to me that this was an absolutely brilliant move by Kerry.

Robert

Unequal rights

Today, the California Supreme Court ordered the city of San Francisco to halt same-sex weddings immediately. The Court decided not to wait for the lower courts to rule, but instead to immediately to hear arguments on whether Mayor Gavin Newsom has the authority to issue same-sex wedding licenses in the absence of a ruling on whether the law banning such marriages is unconstitutional. The Court will hear these arguments some time in May. In the meantime, the 3700 couples already wed will be left in limbo, as the Court did not say whether or not those marriages already performed were valid. In addition, the Social Security Administration said that they will not "accept any marriage licenses from San Francisco as proof of marriage until the legal dispute was resolved."

The Supreme Court said that they will leave the question of the constitutionality of the state defense of marriage act to the lower courts.

I was expecting the courts to put a stop to the marriages, but this appears to me to be a cop out ruling. I don't understand why the Supreme Court decided not to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the defense of marriage act. I'm almost certain that the court will rule in favor of the anti-marriage rights groups, because the executive branch does not have the authority to judge the constitutionality of a law; only the judicial branch can do that. The best hope for marriage rights for homosexuals lies with the lower courts, and San Francisco's lawsuit saying that denying these rights is unconstitutional.

Robert

Sound bytes

John Kerry had a really good sound byte yesterday. I don't think he intended for the world to hear what he said. According to NPR, Kerry didn't realize that his microphone was still on when he called his critics in the Republican Party "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," and when I heard him say that, it sounded like it was a private conversation, not part of a speech. His campaign stood by the statement when questioned later, and I applaud them for that. Unfortunately, he did back away when asked if it applied to Bush as well.

Of course, Marc Racicot, Dubya's campaign chair, immediately denounced the statement, saying, "Senator Kerry's statement today in Illinois was unbecoming of a candidate for the presidnecy of the United States of America..." The Bush campaign would know about "statement[s]...unbecoming of a candidate for the presidency..." Presidential candidate Bush made one himself four years ago, calling New York Times reporter Adam Clymer a "major league asshole," while he was unknowingly wearing a hot mic. Maybe it's just me, but I figure that calling someone an asshole is much more unbecoming than calling a group of liars for what they are.

UPDATE: According to this story on cnn.com, Kerry knew his microphone was still on. This reminds me of an episode on The West Wing when President Bartlet said something about his opponent in the upcomng race not having the brains to run the country to a reporter while the camera was running. It was brilliant, because it brought Bartlet's politically incorrect views out into the forefront, but in an unofficial way. This shows me that Kerry is ready to fight. Up until now, I knew that he wouldn't be a softy, but this proves to me that he has taken the best from Howard Dean's campaign in fighting back, but without the perceived bluster. I think that this was a perfect move. Time, of course, will tell.

Robert

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Ugh

Yeah, so I stumbled onto an Ann Coulter column today. I didn't mean to, honest. I had never actually read her before, so I figured I ought to see what she wrote. After all, she couldn't be all that bad, could she?

Yeah she could be. After that, I need to go through some sort of ritual cleansing.

Gack.

And no, I'm not going to link to it. Nobody should have to read that junk. If you really want to, go find it yourself.

Robert

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Doing my civic duty...again

As I said I would, I went to the Democratic caucus here in Arlington. There were ten available seats from our precinct to the senatorial/county convention, and as it turned out, there were only 11 people that showed up to our caucus. (What can I say, I live in Texas.) One of them was Darrel Cox, who is running for the state House of Representatives. Candidates for office cannot be delegates to the convention, so the other ten, myself included, will all be representing our precinct at convention.

I'm kind of excited about this. This is my first opportunity to actively participate in politics. I'm also thinking of volunteering for Mr. Cox's campaign. The problem with that is time. I'm not sure if I will have enough of it. If I do, however, I will definitely volunteer. This is an election that I really want to be involved in.

Robert

Today's primaries...

I'm going to the precinct caucus tonight. I think I'm going to run for the senatorial delegation (I think that's what it's called...I probably should know what I'm running for before I run). I'll have a post tonight about how that goes.

Yes, I did already vote, but I can still go to the caucus...I just can't vote again.

Robert

Learn something new every day

Today is an important anniversary in the history of journalism. Specifically, TV journalism. 50 years ago today, Edward Murrow, on his show See It Now, called Senator Joe McCarthy on his bullcrap. Up until then, McCarthy had run almost unchecked with allegations of Communism in the United States. He ruined countless lives with his unbased accusations. Murrow spent months researching for the show, and came up with an incomparable catalog of McCarthy's abuses. He finally showed the country what McCarthy really was: a ruthless man who didn't give a damn who he hurt.

One month after Murrow's show, McCarthy claimed that Murrow himself had been involved in pushing Communist propaganda as far back as 20 years before. The accusation was of course unfounded, and two weeks later, the U.S. army hearings took place. These hearings broke McCarthy.

This got me to thinking: why can't our media today be so bold? Murrow risked a lot in airing this piece, but the reward was the doom of McCarthy's witch hunts. If we had a media that was so bold today, maybe the people of the United States would know exactly how dishonest our current administration is.

There is a wonderful piece by the matchless Walter Cronkite on today's All Things Considered. This is where I learned about the anniversary. The audio can be found here. I'll try to remember to link to the archived version when that comes out.

UPDATE: Here is the archived link.

Robert

Thursday, March 04, 2004

The Ashoura bombings

River at Baghdad Burning has a wonderful post about the attacks in Karbala and near Baghdad. I think it captures perfectly the sense of tragedy in Iraq, but also the way it has united the Sunnis and Shi'a, at least temporarily. This is not a reaction that I expected from the Iraqi people, but now that I think about it, I should have. Catastrophe tends to bring people together, at least in the short term. I believe that it is now in the hands of both the United States and Grand Ayatollah al Sistani to help this unity grow beyond the near term in a way that our president could not in the days after September 11. I think there is a wonderful opportunity here that must not be missed.

Robert

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Campaign 2004

With the Democratic nomination wrapped up by John Kerry, I'm going to focus on a couple of points. First, after listening to parts of a speech that GWB gave yesterday, I believe, I think I finally have put my finger on what exactly is so irritating about our "president". It has nothing to do with his political views or anything of substance. Those things upset me about the man, but they don't irritate me. My irritation only comes when I hear him speak. Four three years, it has eaten at me. I could not hear his voice without becoming inexplicably angry. It seems to me that he could have been pushing a liberal agenda, and I still would have been irritated. Obviously, that's not very logical. Now, that's not to say that I'm a completely logical person. I do like to at least have all of my feelings be logical, though; that is to say, I like to be able to explain why I feel a certain way, without appealing solely to emotion. However, for the longest time, I could not logically explain my irritation with Shrub's speaking. Of course I knew there was a better than 50% chance that he was lying his head off, but that didn't justify my intense aggravation.

As I said, I believe I have found the source of my anger: the man does not enunciate. He leaves off his G's on -ing words. He leaves the "th" off of "them". He says "Amurca" and "turrist". Now, I'm not a grammar bitch, but I think that the leader of any nation should be able to pronounce every syllable, and at least sound semi-educated. Instead, this man sounds like he just got out of third grade at Podunk, TX Elementary School. (No offense to people who went to a Podunk school; my sisters are at one, and it is a fine school. I was there myself for a couple of years, before my mom kicked me over to my dad.) If the POTUS would learn to talk good, I might be more willing to listen to the guy. Might.

On a completely unrelated front, David Brooks is a moron. In an interview on NPR's All Things Considered, he claimed that John Kerry has yet to be tested. It was quickly pointed out to him by E. J. Dionne that Kerry started out ahead in most polls last year, then fell far behind, and was written off by many pundits as few as two weeks before Iowa, then pulled off a stunning comeback that left everyone in his wake. It was also pointed out that the 1996 Massachusetts Senate race between Kerry and then-governor Bill Wells was one of the toughest (yet cleanest, as far as personal dung is concerned) campaigns in recent memory. Kerry was behind for most of that race, but pulled ahead in the final weeks and won reelection.

Also, Brooks said that, among other things, the Republican strategy was to label Kerry as a Massachusetts liberal. Who knew?

Robert

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Edwards drops out

It is not yet official, and will not be until a press conference or some such tomorrow, but John Edwards has decided to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination.

It's a crying shame. He is charismatic, a wonderful speaker, and from all accounts, a good person. We need more of those in politics. Here's hoping he gets the vice presidential nod.

Oddly, my man Howard Dean won the Vermont primary, albeit two weeks too late.

POSTSCRIPT: I think this could turn out to be bad for Kerry. With Edwards out, and Kerry the nominee in all but name, the focus of the media is no longer on the race for the Democratic nomination. There's no reason for the focus to be there. Now, all of a sudden, Bush has the spotlight back. While he may completely flub the opportunity, I have my doubts. He's a dumbass, yes, but he and his campaign team are still as shrewd as ever. The attacks on Kerry start on Thursday, with the release of the campaign's first television ad. (Yes, I know, the attacking started a couple of weeks ago, but now it's official.)

All that said, and while the campaign was not as long as I would have liked, I do believe that the campaign was long enough. If it had ended two weeks ago, I would have thought differently. However, in the last two weeks, some of the candidates (I'm talking about you, Edwards) finally starting attacking Kerry. He finally had to fight off his opponents. It wasn't near what the Bush administration is going to do, but it was enough to allow Kerry to get his feet wet in defending himself. He defended himself well enough to put aside at least some of the doubts that I had. He proved that he could use his experience to defend himself, and also to set policy.

To sum up my thoughts, I still think Bush has to pull a miracle to win re-election. Unfortunately, that miracle resides in Afghanistan (or Pakistan, depending on the day). While I genuinely hope that Osama bin Laden is caught very soon, I very seriously hope that the people of the United States still see Shrub for what he is: a lying bastard. I have faith in the people of the U.S.

Robert

Death...death...

I was horrified when I first heard about the attacks in Iraq. Hell, I still am horrified. To understand how truly terrible this was for Shi'ites, imagine someone killing hundreds in the Vatican on Good Friday. Ashoura, which is what all of the people who were in the shrines for, holds the same significance for Shi'ite Muslims that Good Friday does for Christians. It is an observance of the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed. I cannot really describe the day any better than that, but River can. River is the pen name (I assume it's not her real name) of the writer of Baghdad Burning. She is Iraqi, but she is very fluent in English, and writes more beautifully than almost anyone I know of. The post I link to is a wonderful explanation of Ashoura.

I'm utterly speechless about today's events in Baghdad and Karbala. I don't know how to put into words what is going on in my head. Iraq is screwed. When the American forces leave on June 30, it will only be a matter of time before Iraq decays into civil war.

I'm going to post more on this later. Hopefully, I'll be able to sort through my thoughts and write them down coherently.

POSTSCRIPT: I neglected to mention: there were also attacks on Shi'ite Muslims in Pakistan today. I don't have anything else to add. I just thought that that was noteworthy, also.

Robert

Monday, March 01, 2004

Equal rights

BUMP and UPDATE: According to this Reuters article, the Governator does not back a Constitutional amendment banning marriage rights for gays. This isn't too significant, except insofar as Ah-nold is not following the right wing line of GWB. Good for him. He's still a horse's backside.

---Original post---

The rights continue to spread. Now the push for marriage rights for homosexuals shifts to New Paltz, NY. The mayor, Jason West, is the first Green Party mayor in the state of New York, today has performed marriage ceremonies for 19 people so far. Unfortunately, the town clerk is not issuing marriage licenses, and the State Department of New York gave a statement in which it said that New York will not recognize the marriages.

It seems to me that Shrub is going to be fighting a losing battle this summer as far as marriage rights for gays goes. The FMA appears to be dead on arrival, especially in the Senate. I think that the city of San Francisco has a decent chance at winning their court cases, and that the state laws banning gay marriage will be overturned in California. Once that happens, it is only a matter of time, I think. It may be a long time, but eventually homosexuals will have the same marriage rights as heteros.

Here's hoping that it's sooner, rather than later.

Robert

Interesting...

This has little to do with politics or religion, but science, and especially astronomy, absolutely fascinates me. According to this story from the United Kingdom, NASA is set to announce that they have found significant evidence that there once was abundant water on Mars sometime tomorrow (the story says today, but in the UK, it is already March 2). If there was once water, that means that Mars at one time could have sustained life, which right now is next to impossible. I'm not sure what the philosophical significance of this is, but scientifically, it would be huge. I for one hope that someday, we do find life on some other planet. As Ellie Arroway (played by Jodie Foster) says in one of my favorite movies, Contact, if there wasn't life elsewhere, it sure would be a big waste of space.

Robert