Clack

Federal Court OKs Ban on Sale of Sex Toys

from Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a 1998 Alabama law banning the sale of sex toys in the state, ruling the Constitution doesn't include a right to sexual privacy.

In a 2-1 decision overturning a lower court, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state has a right to police the sale of devices that can be sexually stimulating.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented merchants and users who sued to overturn the law, asked the appeals court to rule that the Constitution included a right to sexual privacy that the ban on sex toy sales would violate. The court declined, indicating such a decision could lead down other paths.

"If the people of Alabama in time decide that a prohibition on sex toys is misguided, or ineffective, or just plain silly, they can repeal the law and be finished with the matter," the court said.

[...]

[begin sarcasm] How proud am I of my home state? [end sarcasm]

Gay Teen's Brutal Slaying Nets Killers $65

365gay.com:

Two men and a woman have been charged with the killing of an 18 year old Gadsden, Alabama man who police say was beaten, cut, strangled, and then set on fire in what appears to be a hate crime.

Scotty Joe Weaver was attacked and probably murdered in his trailer home. His body was then carted to a quiet dirt road where his killers set it on fire and then casually drove off, after robbing him of between $65 and $80. A man driving an all-terrain vehicle discovered Weaver's severely burned and decomposed body.

In an interview with the Mobile Register, Capt. Huey "Hoss" Mack Jr. says it appears that Weaver was killed because he is gay.

Although Alabama does not include gays in its hate crime law, Mack said that prosecutors will likely seek the death penalty because of the extreme violent nature of the crime and the fact the killers stole less than $100.

Two of the accused, Ryan Gaines, 20, and Nichole Kelsay, 18, were Weaver's roommates. 18-year-old Robert Holly Lofton Porter is described as a friend of the pair who spent a considerable amount of time at Weaver's home. All three are being held in a Baldwin County jail without bond.

Mack said all three suspects were out of work, and Weaver was paying the bills at their home.

Gaines and Kelsay apparently had a romantic relationship with each other, Mack said. The veteran investigator said that it appears they plotted Weaver's death several days before the killing.

Update: 365gay.com is incorrectly reporting this murder as being in Gadsden, when in reality, it happened in Minette Bay according to the AP.

FBI rescinds health benefits for gay agent's partner

This is exactly why there should be no constitutional amendment and there should be federal recognition of gay marriage! Letting the states set their own rules and regulations as to which couples to recognize as "married" is unfair and incongruous, as is no federal level of recognition for the same-sex couple who do manage to find a state that will recognize their partnership.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The FBI has rescinded health benefits that had been provided to the same-sex partner of a special agent since just after the couple wed in Massachusetts in May.

Katy Gossman, a special agent with the FBI in New Haven, received an e-mail from the bureau informing her that her wife, Kristin, would be removed from her health plan. The Connecticut couple were married in Worcester, Mass. on May 20 and had been receiving spousal benefits since May 30, Katy Gossman said.

[...]

After their small marriage ceremony, the Gossmans returned to their Meriden home and Katy immediately filled out a health benefits seeking benefits for Kristin, whom she listed as her spouse. She sent the form and a copy of her marriage license to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"I didn't try to hide it," Katy, 40, said Tuesday.

The New Haven office called over to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. to give them a "heads up" about the situation, she said. She received a form back from the Human Resources Department in Washington approving the benefits.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Tuesday the approval had been a mistake and an oversight, and noted that the agency receives thousands of benefit requests each day.

The U.S. government does not allow same-sex spousal benefits, and only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman, Carter said.

"When the form was submitted, it had been granted, not realizing that it was this situation, but then after further determination, after rechecking it, it was determined that the person would not be eligible for the benefits based on OPM regulations," he said.

[...] (newsday.com)

In related news, Donald Henneberger, formerly Donald Smith, has been denied a request for a name change on his passport by the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, N.H.

A man who married his partner of 23 years after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts now is having trouble getting a new passport.

Donald Henneberger, formerly Donald Smith, recently received a letter from the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, N.H., denying his request for a name change on his passport. The center said it would not recognize a marriage license for a same-sex couple as proof of a name change.

The center addressed the letter to "Mr. Henneberger."

Henneberger married his partner Arthur Henneberger in May, when same-sex marriages became legal in the Bay State. On the marriage license, the couple checked a box that automatically changes the last names of the partners to whatever they request.

The letter from the National Passport Center cites the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which states a marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and a spouse can only refer to a person of the opposite sex.

[...] (Mercury News) (registration or bugmenot.com required)

Ellis Rubin Joins The Equality Campaign, Inc -- DontAmend.com

from Yahoo Finance:

TAMPA, Fla., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellis Rubin has joined The Equality Campaign, Inc. -- DontAmend.com, as Senior Legal Counsel.

The famed Florida attorney, who once supported Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade in the 70's, has become a staunch supporter of equal legal rights for gays and lesbians.

"During the past few months, lesbian and gay couples in Florida who have wanted to sue for equal marriage rights, have approached the Equality Campaign, to help them seek legal representation," said Robin Tyler, Executive Director of the organization.

"Because of his national stature and tenacious commitment to his legal clients, we approached Mr. Rubin to represent these couples. To date, he has taken every case presented by The Equality Campaign on behalf of same-gender Florida couples and has done so pro bono," noted Tyler.

"To have an attorney of Mr. Rubin's stature, willing to fight in the legal system on behalf of equal marriage rights for our community has been a tremendous asset to this civil rights struggle," said Tyler. "Three decades ago, Mr. Rubin and I were on the opposite sides of this issue. Along the way, he experienced a genuine change of heart and now supports full equal rights for lesbian and gay people. He has not just made public amends for his anti-gay actions, but is working actively on our behalf.

[...]

Good for you Mr. Rubin! Good for you!

The Simpsons' Springfield To Legalize Gay Marriage

from Eonline:

A Simpsons toon is coming out of the closet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Speaking during a weekend panel at San Diego's Comic-Con convention, show producers dropped a bomb: An upcoming Simpsons story line will focus on what happens when Springfield legalizes gay marriage.

"We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield legalizes gay marriage," producer Al Jean told comic book fans. "Homer becomes a minister by going on the Internet and filling out a form. A longtime character comes out of the closet, but I'm not saying who."

[...]

The gay marriage-themed episode is scheduled to air in January.

[...]

German Opposition Leader Comes Out

Story from LifeSiteNews.com:

BERLIN, July 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - German opposition leader, Guido Westerwelle, last week announced publicly that he is a practicing homosexual and that he is intent on attaining greater license for homosexuals, including the option to "marry."

With full media fanfare, Westerwelle spoke publicly Saturday on the subject. He said that homosexuals should be given the same right to adopt a child as married heterosexual couples. Westerwelle criticized the ruling coalition government's increased "rights" for same-sex couples as "half measures," including a proposed law allowing same-sex partners of a parent to adopt their partner's children.

Bush Anti-Gay Stand Not Resonating With Voters

from 365gay.com:

A new survey of voters in Florida, the nation's largest swing state, and one of the most important battlegrounds for control of the White House, shows that voters are not rallying to the President's anti-gay campaign.

Only 2 percent of likely Florida voters named same-sex marriage as an important issue in the election, according to a poll for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Florida Times-Union that was released on Sunday.

[...]

When asked to name the most important issue determining their vote for president, the largest number, 26 percent, named jobs and the economy. The second most important issue was Iraq, named by 16 percent of eligible voters.

[...]

"Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other."

The biggest battle we have as homosexuals in the battle for equal civil rights is people with similar thought processes as David Katz equating gay civil marriage to "Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other."

The most contentious non-issue facing the American voters this fall is gay marriage. It is contentious because it brings societal and intimate personal definitions into a charged political realm. On the other hand, its a non-issue because whenever it’s brought before the voters, it’s crushed. Consequently, its advocates work to prevent voter participation in any debate of its merits.

[...]

Lastly, the cultural. And this is where rational, libertarian-liberal thought breaks down. When someone mentions gay marriage, there arises a mental image which forms and disappears as quickly as a wisp of smoke caught in a ray of sunlight.

Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other.

Sorry for being graphic, but that’s the bottom line (no pun intended). If you want to equate homosexual to heterosexual marriage, you’re asking me and everyone else to believe that two men, in bed, sodomizing each other is equal with a husband and wife relationship.

It isn’t.

Maybe it should be legally equivalent, maybe not. But it isn’t equal.

Part of the problem for the radical left promoting this agenda is that mental image. It strikes a chord of rejection and distaste deep in the brain of us heterosexuals. Every grandiloquent intellectual exercise the liberals produce has to avoid this, basic, intimate, and encompassing rejection. Sorry. It hovers over every argument.

''Civil rights'' - Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other.

''Government benefits'' - Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other.

''Individual freedom'' - Two men. In bed. Sodomizing each other.

See what I mean.

Civilization began when men and women bonded together to produce families. Families produced extended families which produced clans and tribes and villages and towns. Towns produced counties, and counties, eventually produced states and nations. It was, is, and remains a bottom-up process (ouch, the allusions are hard to avoid, sorry). A diktat from on-high won’t change that.

Most Americans don’t oppose one homosexual partner visiting the other in the hospital, or getting insurance benefits. Many Americans don’t oppose some form of legally equivalent status, like civil unions. Most Americans don’t want to be politically involved with this issue. With court declarations and mayoral proclamations, benign neglect is no longer possible.

Affirming homosexual marriage’s equality, proclaiming that it is indistinguishable from heterosexual marriage, declaring that two men in a committed relationship qualify as equal to husband and wife, that’s one validation that I and many other Americans won’t give. (chronwatch.com)

I don't understand. Just as heterosexual marriage isn't always (or even primarily) about sexual relations (there's shitloads of trivial bullshit that goes on in any relationship... cooking breakfast, cleaning the house, going out to eat dinner, having dinner guests over, arguing about who's going to take out the trash, getting ready to go to work, bitching about all the pet hair on the carpet, arguing over what to watch on TV, throwing a fit when the Mastercard bill arrives, ad nauseum), neither are gay relationships.

Yes, we have sex. What difference does it make to David Katz or anyone else for that matter? If it's the though of "Two men. In Bed. Sodomizing each other" that David Katz has a problem with, maybe Mr. Katz would be better served if he didn't dwell so much on the sexual part of our relationships (or are there deeper seated issues at work?).

Roughed Up - currently reading

amazon.com says

About the Author M. Christian and Simon Sheppard previously edited the book Rough Stuff. Christian's other books include Dirty Words, The Burning Pen, and Speaking Parts. Sheppard is the author of Hotter Than Hell, and his short stories have been widely anthologized. Both men live in San Francisco.

Book Description

In the tradition of Rough Stuff, this is an all-new collection of erotic short fiction celebrating the darker side of desire. Well--written, intelligent and sexy, these stories will expand readers' horizons and stretch their limits. Includes writing by Bill Brent, Ian Phillips, Greg Wharton and more.

M. Christian and Simon Sheppard previously edited the book Rough Stuff. Both men live in San Francisco.

Bush Attempts to Block Consumer Drug Lawsuits

Link via MeFi:

from SFGate.com:

The Bush administration has been going to court to block lawsuits by consumers who say they have been injured by prescription drugs and medical devices.

The administration contends that consumers cannot recover damages for such injuries if the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In court papers, the Justice Department acknowledges that this position reflects a "change in governmental policy," and it has persuaded some judges to accept its arguments, most recently scoring a victory in the federal appeals court in Philadelphia.

Allowing consumers to sue manufacturers would "undermine public health" and interfere with federal regulation of drugs and devices by encouraging "lay judges and juries to second-guess" experts at the FDA, the government said in siding with the maker of a heart pump sued by the widow of a Pennsylvania man. Moreover, it said, if such lawsuits succeed, some good products may be removed from the market, depriving patients of beneficial treatments.

[...]

MTV Gay Network 'LOGO' Unvels Schedule

from 365gay.com:

[...]

Meanwhile, over at LOGO, the MTV vehicle has announced that it is working with Cher, Alan Cumming and Margaret Cho on new shows.

Brian Graden, MTV/VH1 Entertainment president who's also working on LOGO, said the outpouring of support has been thrilling.

Cher and her daughter, Chastity Bono, are working on "Family Outing," a series telling the stories of celebrities who came out as gay and lesbians.

Cumming has signed on for a musical cabaret series and Cho is expected to star in her own series, for which few details were available.

Kathy Griffin will be cruise director for "Fantastic Voyage," a real-life "Love Boat" played out on an ocean liner in the Caribbean.

The two wedding-themed series play off a newsmaking topic. "My Fabulous Gay Wedding," with actor Scott Thompson as host, follows about-to-be-married gay couples as they plan their wedding.

"Do I?" brings gay and lesbian couples contemplating marriage before a relationship expert.

"The Big Gay 100," is a countdown show of the greatest people, places and things in gay culture.

In addition the network says it has acquired more than 150 documentaries and movies popular with gay audiences, including "Mommie Dearest," "Philadelphia" and "Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story."

The Minister of Fear

The Minister of Fear

Bush Vs. Kerry: Track The *REAL* Winner

from MeFi:

According to multiple recent nationwide polls, the presidential race is a dead heat, with the spread within the margin of error. Some have Bush by a couple points, some say Kerry by a couple. But take a look at the way the race is represented by www.electoral-vote.com, which tracks polls state-by-state and takes electoral votes into account.

Top 10 Weapons of Mass Distractions

kottke.org points us to NPR's Top 10 Weapons Of Mass Distraction. There's commentary associated with each one on NPR's site, so go there and read all of them.

Number 10: Corporate Show Trials

Number 9: Donald Trump's TV Show The Apprentice

Number 8: Bush's Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

You'd think that marriage were somehow in imminent danger from gay infidels. But this is nothing more than a cynical wedge issue to increase the voter turnout of Christian evangelicals and cover broad failures of the Bush administration -- three million jobs lost, the biggest deficits in U.S. history, a failed war in Iraq and Osama bin Laden stronger than ever. GOP operatives manufacture a fake constitutional crisis over imaginary gay insurgents, and they aim for the brain stem so that we won't think about the bigger failures.

Number 7: Tom Ridge's Terror Alerts

No one knows what they mean. The last one warning that Bin Laden intends to attack this summer made no sense -- except to disrupt the Kerry-Edwards rollout. They are now rolling out plans for postponing the November election if an attack occurs.

Number 6: Rush Limbaugh

Number 5: Tax Cuts

Number 4: Ralph Nader

Number 3: The Cult of Celebrity and Entertainment

Number 2: The Invasion of Iraq

Number 1: The Republican Convention Lineup

Bob Barr criticizes House gay marriage ban

WTF? When did Bob Barr become more "liberalized?"

Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr criticized his former colleagues Thursday for passing anti-gay marriage legislation he said was unnecessary and possibly unconstitutional.

Republicans pushed legislation through the U.S. House on Thursday to prevent federal courts from ordering states to recognize same-sex unions sanctioned elsewhere.

Barr, who has expressed opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, said the House bill was "just as dangerous."

Barr, a Republican, has been a fierce opponent of gun control and abortion rights, and also opposes gay marriage. However, he said the constitutional amendment would take away from states the power to define marriage.

"They raise an awful lot of red flags," Barr said of the proposals.

The conservative perhaps best remembered for leading the charge to impeach President Clinton spoke on a panel about gay marriage at the National Conference of State Legislatures. He served four terms in Congress before losing a primary campaign in 2002.

Barr was the primary sponsor of the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which defined marriage federally as a heterosexual union and allowed individual states to deny recognizing marriages performed elsewhere.

[...]

Lynne Cheney told not to mention gay marriage

365gay.com:

The wife of Vice President Dick Cheney will address the state Republican convention this week and participate in at least one fundraiser for the party, but some members of the GOP are telling her not to ring up her views on gay marriage.

Lynne Cheney caused a maelstrom within the far right of the party last week when she voiced her disapproval of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Cheney, the mother of Mary, an out lesbian, told CNN's Late Edition Sunday that marriage should be left up to the states.

Her view mirrored those of others in the party, and is at least partly credited for the defeat of the proposed amendment in the Senate.

"I just hope she doesn't address the gay marriage issue" in her remarks to the state GOP convention, said Mike White, a Republican and the head of the Oregon Family Council, a conservative group that supports the state gay marriage ban that's expected to qualify for the Nov. 2 ballot.

[...]

Bush Seeks Gay Makeover Ban

In today's The Borowitz Report (yes, it's satire), Andy Borowitz reports

Angry metrosexuals march on Washington WEB EXCLUSIVE By Andy Borowitz Newsweek Updated: 7:13 p.m. ET July 20, 2004

July 20 - President George W. Bush today said that he would seek a constitutional amendment banning so-called "queer eye" or gay makeovers in an effort to protect the institution of heterosexual makeovers in America.

"Our country was founded on the principle of women making over the slobs they date and marry," Bush told a Republican rally in Erie, Pennsylvania today. "Only a constitutional amendment can protect the sanctity of those traditional makeovers."

Bush said that a disturbing increase in the number of men seeking manicures or using professional salon products in their hair indicated that the time had come for an amendment banning gay makeovers.

While some Republican insiders believe that a ban on gay makeovers could be an effective wedge issue in the fall election, others fear that it could energize angry metrosexuals, who marched today en masse in Washington.

Police estimated that over twenty thousand metrosexuals marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, stopping every 500 yards or so to apply additional styling gel to their bed-head coiffures.

[...]

Right-wing backlash coming?

Something I'm beginning to see more and more of are people that are disgusted and dismayed that our congress critters aren't paying attention to the real issues. For example, this article in the Finger Lake Times in Geneva, New York says:

Regardless of their personal feelings about gay marriage, several of the Times? election panelists were glad a constitutional amendment banning it was defeated in the Senate last week.

More than anything, some panelists were surprised and a little annoyed that important issues have taken a back seat to the topic.

"I find it a little bit perplexing that with all the problems we have in this country, our elected representatives are discussing it ... It's not my chosen lifestyle, but I believe that if two people want to do that, that they should be permitted to," said Democrat Doug Lippincott, adding that amending the Constitution is a "dramatic move" that should only be made for compelling reasons. "The [New York] Senate vote was a clear signal the country is not looking for this."

[...]

RAID 5 on linux

OK, this is more for myself than anybody else, but I've struggled with this since late last week, and six months from now, if I need to do this again, I'll at least have a record of it.

As some of you know, I have a pretty massive machine that I use as a videoserver here at the house. It's running hardware RAID5 (using an LSI Logic MegaRAID i4 controller). Things have been great with the controller, would highly recommend it!

The RAID 5 in the box consists of five 160GB drives giving a total of 0.6 Terabytes available. I've reached that limit over the past year, and needed to add a new drive to the array. Hey, that's one of the benefits of RAID5!

Scott and I went to Best Buy and I picked up a Seagate 160GB drive for $149.00 with $50 in rebates.

I popped the drive in the machine, reconfigured the RAID controller to include the new drive in the array, and let it rebuild the array (which incidentally, took almost two days!). Booted Linux back up (I run SuSe 9.0 Professional on this box) mounted /dev/sda1, and ..... the array showed the same size as before. Major frowny face for me. The hardware controller reported the correct size of the array (781,352,660 MBytes), but df showed only 620,000 MBytes of that as available.

I should probably note that I'm running ReiserFS on this array as well. Repeated google searches for various combinations of linux, suse, "df returning incorrect values", RAID, RAID5, megaraid, i4, ad nauseum, returned nothing seemed like it would help. I did however, find out about reiserfs_resize and cfdisk...handy utilities, but nothing that would help me in this situation.

Poking around tonight in YaST (Yet another Setup Tool...SuSE's administration interface), there's Disk Partition Manager. I didn't have high hopes for anything useful, but, low and behold, there it was... dum da dum! "Resize Partition".

Crossing my fingers and clicking the button brought up a screen that showed me the existing partition, and a block of green (free) space labeled "Unused Disk." There's a nice little slider widget that can be used to adjust the amount of free space. Slinging that sucker all the way to the right so that all available space would be used for the existing partition, I said a little prayer and sacrificed a virgin chicken (while standing on one foot and humming the theme song to Green Acres), and clicked the Apply button.

After the requisite "Warning: this may be a bad thing to do" messages, away it went, happily resizing the partition. When it finished, a mount /dev/sda1 /raid command mounted the raid array back up. A quick check revealed the pre-existing data still existed....WHEW! ('cause there's just no practical way to back up 0.6 TB of data).

The end result?

videoserver:~ # df

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/hda2             38305816  13869196  24436620  37% /

shmfs                   192592         0    192592   0% /dev/shm

/dev/sda1            781352660 619039280 162313380  80% /raid

The size of the RAID array has increased by 160 GB to a total of 0.78 TB! I've got two more drive slots open in this case (and coincidentally, one more IDE channel on the controller). Two more drives are going in the machine to bring the total size of the array to 1.12 TB.

How did your senator vote on the FMA?

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Yea	Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:	Murkowski (R-AK), Yea	Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Yea	McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Nay	Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:	Allard (R-CO), Yea	Campbell (R-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Nay	Lieberman (D-CT), Nay
Delaware:	Biden (D-DE), Nay	Carper (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Graham (D-FL), Nay	Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Yea	Miller (D-GA), Yea
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Nay	Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:	Craig (R-ID), Yea	Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:	Durbin (D-IL), Nay	Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Yea	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Yea	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:	Breaux (D-LA), Nay	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Mikulski (D-MD), Nay	Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Nay	Kerry (D-MA), Not Voting
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Coleman (R-MN), Yea	Dayton (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Yea	Lott (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Yea	Talent (R-MO), Yea
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Burns (R-MT), Yea
Nebraska:	Hagel (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Yea	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Sununu (R-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Corzine (D-NJ), Nay	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Domenici (R-NM), Yea
New York:	Clinton (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Dole (R-NC), Yea	Edwards (D-NC), Not Voting
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:	DeWine (R-OH), Yea	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Inhofe (R-OK), Yea	Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:	Smith (R-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:	Santorum (R-PA), Yea	Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island:	Chafee (R-RI), Nay	Reed (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:	Graham (R-SC), Yea	Hollings (D-SC), Nay
South Dakota:	Daschle (D-SD), Nay	Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Yea	Frist (R-TN), Yea
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Yea	Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Jeffords (I-VT), Nay	Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Virginia:	Allen (R-VA), Yea	Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Nay	Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Yea	Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Enzi (R-WY). Yea	Thomas (R-WY), Yea

Nothing Grows Under A Bush

http://www.viciouspit.com/

Gay Marriage Issue Fails To Excite Voters

Evangelical Christian supporters of President George W. Bush hoped their drive to ban same sex marriages would become a defining issue in this year's presidential campaign but so far this has not happened.

Political analysts and advocates on either side of the issue, interviewed as the Senate rejected a White House-backed bid to amend the U.S. Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage, agreed that so far the issue had failed to catch fire in the country at large. The Senate vote on Wednesday likely killed the proposal for this election year.

"It has not caught on. By forcing the Senate vote, supporters of the gay marriage ban may hope to generate enough publicity to make it more of a galvanising issue," said John Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron who studies the evangelical Christian community.

reuters.co.uk

Also, the following op-ed piece appeared in the Arizona Range News

A Closer Look: Public outcry against gay marriage surprisingly limited By TERRY MAXWELL/Arizona Range News

The U. S. Senate is preparing to vote on a constitutional ban on gay marriage in a couple of weeks. A vote that many senators would prefer to ignore because of the political ramifications that surround this emotion-packed issue.

Interestingly, the American people are quite taciturn about the issue, even though the majority opposes gay marriage.

A nationwide Gallup poll in May found that 55 percent oppose same-sex marriage, which is down from 65 percent in December; and 42 percent support gay marriage, up from 31 percent in December.

Why is there growing support for same-sex marriage in the United States? Perhaps the Iraq war and the demonic practice of beheading innocent American and foreign workers plays a role. As shocking as this barbaric practice is, beheading is a form of capital punishment in Saudi Arabia.

The concept of "live and let live" has apparently more appeal in these troubled times. Possibly, the lack of interest centers on how the debate has been presented by pro-gay marriage advocates. They have appealed to the American peoples' sense of fairness, the right to the pursuit of happiness, and equal protection under the law.

On the other side of the controversial debate, we routinely hear the concerned voice of the religious right and the Catholic Church's hierarchy. Irrespective of their sincerity and religious beliefs, their voices are apparently falling on millions of deaf ears throughout America.

Whatever we may think of same-sex marriage religiously, philosophically, morally, and culturally, the position proposed by same-sex advocates that a redefinition of marriage will have no real effect on society is void of objectivity and realism.

The controversial issue isn't restricted to just love and affirmation or closing our eyes to cultural implications. All of us should think about the possible societal ramifications before taking a position for or against same-sex marriage.

Eleven states are expected to vote on constitutional amendments aimed at banning gay marriage during the November presidential election, according to Kristie Rutherford of the Family Research Council in Washington D.C.

If the U.S. Supreme Court recognizes gay marriage as equal to heterosexual marriage, then churches, the state, and individuals must legally recognize gay marriage. Any opposition to deny homosexuals their equal rights, including gay marriage, will be unlawful.

Many religions and denominations teach that homosexuality is a sin against the teachings of God. Therefore, some people would wrongly suggest that parishioners who believe in or preach scripture is a bigot.

Homophobia exists throughout America whether a person is affluent, indigent, or middle class, a religious person, an agnostic, or an atheist, a college graduate or a high school dropout, male or female, black, white or brown or a Democrat or Republican.

Some attorneys and theologians have voiced concern that if same-sex marriage becomes the law of the land, it will provide a legal foundation for numerous civil suits against religious leaders and institutions.

Senate Republican leaders indicate that they plan on bringing the constitutional amendment ban on same-sex marriage to a vote in mid-July. This is a move evangelicals hope will energize supporters around the country, even though the amendment appears headed for defeat. President Bush has endorsed the amendment, but it is at least 15 votes short of the 67 needed for passage.

Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic challenger, has said that he is opposed to gay marriage, but he does not favor a constitutional amendment.

Same-sex marriage is a troubling concept to millions of heterosexuals who believe that marriage is a sacred union between a male and female to procreate and raise a familly according to acceptable societal norms.

This reaction to same-sex marriage is to be expected to some extent. However, the final decision will be made by the U.S. Supreme Court, who is charged with the responsibility of basing legal opinions on the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Although difficult to do, we should at least try to put aside our personal preferences and allow the political process to run its course. But, whether we agree or disagree with the concept of same-sex marriage may be of no consequence whatsoever in the long term. It is fundamentally a constitutional question that needs to be answered by the highest court in the land.

Rosie O'Donnell Receives Key To Key West

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) _ Rosie O'Donnell will receive the key to this city next week when her cruise, billed as the first that caters to gay and lesbian families, stops at the popular island port on its inaugural voyage, officials said.

The Norwegian Dawn docks in Key West sometime between Wednesday afternoon and leaves that evening. The seven-day trip departs New York on Sunday and is the first cruise of R Family Vacations, the O'Donnell-backed company that promotes family-friendly vacations for gay and lesbians, according to its Web site.

Newsday.com

Anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment likely dead for this year

President Bush on Wednesday failed in his attempt to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage when a divided U.S. Senate blocked the measure, virtually killing it for at least this election year.

On 48-to-50 vote, proponents fell 12 short of the needed 60 to clear a Democratic procedural hurdle and move to a vote on passage of the proposed constitutional amendment. Sixty-seven votes would be needed to approve the measure.

White House hopeful John Kerry and fellow Senate Democrats accused Bush and many of his fellow Republicans of pushing the proposal merely to rally their conservative base for the November presidential and congressional elections.

Democrats also charged that four days of Senate debate on it could have been better spent on such issues as health care, the economy, education or national security.

"The floor of the United States Senate should only be used for the common good, not issues designed to divide us for political purposes," Kerry said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said: "Nobody wants to discriminate against gays ... Gays have a right to live the way they want. But they should not have the right to change the definition of traditional marriage. That is where we draw the line."

OK, let me get this straight (no pun intended). Orrin Hatches doesn't want to discriminate against gays and lesbians, but is implying that we're forcing him to discriminate against us. I couldn't give a rat's ass whether or not any church in the country recognizes gay marriages, performs gay marriages, or allows married gays and lesbians to list their partner as such in their church bulletin. BUT marriage in this country is a civil right, not a religious right. Exactly how does Mr. Hatch feel that extending the same rights to all this country's citizens is drawing a battle line?

Lynn Cheney Speaks Out Against the FMA

Breaking away from the status quo of the standard Republican fare and from her husband Vice President Dick Cheny, Lynn Cheney spoke out against a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage

Lynne Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's wife, said Sunday that states should have the final say over the legal status of personal relationships.

Her position is at odds with her husband on the constitutional amendment, now up for debate in the Senate, that would effectively ban gay marriage.

"I think that the constitutional amendment discussion will give us an opportunity to look for ways to discuss ways in which we can keep the authority of the states intact," Lynne Cheney told CNN's "Late Edition."

The Cheneys have a lesbian daughter, Mary, who is director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the GOP recruit gay voters during the 2002 midterm elections. She has been less visible this year while traveling with the vice president or working at campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va. As the election nears, she will play a more public role, campaign aides say.

President Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday that legalizing gay marriage would redefine the most fundamental institution of civilization. A constitutional amendment is needed to protect marriage, he said.

Startribune.com

We Hate Because We Care

A New Mexico church has reinstalled a sign promoting intolerance and hatred toward gays

A sign at a Mexico church is getting new life, but the same reaction.

The sign, which reads "Gay is not ok," was put back in front of the Lighthouse Mexico Church of God after being vandalized last week. Pastor Ronald Russell says he put it up to warn people that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin.

"We still care. Someone doesn't want the gay community to know that this is an abomination, they don't want the scriptures out there. They painted over the scriptures last time, but we got to get the message out to them," Russell said.

The sign and its message continue to stir up controversy throughout Mexico. On one side stands Russell and his supporters. He says homosexuality is a sin that will keep people from going to heaven, and says the Bible backs up his claim. He says it's his duty to warn people.

"The scriptures are very plain, if a man lies with a man as with a woman, it's an abomination. And in 'Revelations,' it's very plain that the abominable will not walk in the light of heaven," he said.

James Watts, an associate professor of religion at Syracuse University, says while the Bible does say homosexual acts are wrong and condemns sinners, there is no verse that connects the two, or says anything about sexual orientation. The current debate, he says, is one part of a long ethical debate.

"It starts two to 3,000 years ago but it has been developed through many other considerations that have come into play since then, including, in this case, sexual orientation," Watts said.

Russell says he knows as long as the sign stands, it will generate debate. But he says he remains undeterred by vandals.

"We care enough to put it out there, and we care enough to take the heat," he said.

source

Barber Motorsports Museum

Seeing as how Scott and I are both on vacation this week, we figured we'd take a day trip and do some of the touristy things you're supposed to do when you're on vacation. In May of 2003, Barber Motorsports opened a new race track just east of Birmingham, AL. The track itself is incredible, with the only complaint being that the track is "too technical," (meaning racers can't win by accelerator alone). In March of 2003, the Barber Motorsports Museum opened with very little fanfare, but by July, it was known throughout the world.

The Barber Motorsports Museum houses one of the largest privately owned collections of vintage and current motorcycles in the world. Many of the motorcycles are constantly being rotated out of the Birmingham facility on loan to other museums around the country and the world. The museum has it's own machine shop, paint shop, and several full-time technicians and restorers to work on any new acquisitons that come in.

The Museum and Racetrack are about 150 miles due west of Atlanta, so Scott and I drove over there today to visit the museum. To call the collection and the museum building itself awe-inspiring doesn't do justice to either. For us to have the opportunity to see in person the things that most people only ever get to read about is an incredible opportunity. The building (the front of which is pictured above) is six stories tall, with the entire rear of the bulding solid glass overlooking one of the turns and a straight-away of the Barber Racetrack. Inside the building, a huge spiral walkway with an oversized elevator in the center allows guests access to all five floors of the museum, plus the basement level where the mechanics and restorers work for a total of over 141,000 sq. feet of floor space.

How many of you have ever seen a Norvin? or a Hercules Wankel 2000 (with a rotary Wankel engine) motorcycle? or how about a BMW with sidecar that was actually used during World War I? Or a Cushman Eagle? Or a 1946 Indian Chief (pictured here).

If you enjoy motorcycles, whether it's riding, collecting, or admiring, go to the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham. It's certainly well worth the $10.00 admission price!

I'll get pictures up soon on my other site, and will provide some better links here.

Top Three Auto Insurers in NY To Respect Gay Couples' Marriages

from OutcomeBuffalo.com:

NEW YORK CITY -- The three largest car insurance companies in New York -- which, together, provide insurance to a third of all drivers in the state -- will respect the marriages of same-sex couples, providing them with the same rates and coverage as married heterosexual couples, Lambda Legal said today. In recent months, Lambda Legal has been working with couples throughout the state who were married in Canada to ensure that their marriages are fully respected.

"New York law requires respect for marriages that were validly performed elsewhere. As more same-sex couples get married, it's critical that they receive rights and protections - from the government as well as the private sector," said Alphonso David, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney. "The insurance industry is making a strong statement for fairness, and we're working with other businesses and government agencies to secure similar results."

Allstate, State Farm and Geico auto insurance companies -- which are, in order, the top three providers in New York -- have agreed to comply with state law and respect all same-sex couples who are legally married, David said. Electric auto insurance also treats its legally married lesbian and gay clients equally.

[...]

Gay-union disunity

From TheHill.com:

Bottom line: The proponents of an amendment to ban gay marriage don’t have the votes in either the House or Senate.

When it comes to gay marriage, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) are not on the same legislative page. Frist is intent on bringing up a controversial amendment to ban gay marriage as soon as next week, just before the July 26 Democratic convention in Boston, even though he can’t muscle a gay-marriage bill out of the Senate.

The debate shows a distinct management difference between the two leaders. Hastert knows he does not have the votes in the House for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and he won’t waste House members’ time having a symbolic debate over a measure without enough votes to pass.

“We don’t have the votes on a constitutional amendment right now,’’ said Hastert spokesman John Feehery. Hastert’s approach, revealed Feehery, will be to work on a measure to strip courts from having any jurisdiction over gay marriage. Court rulings — not legislatures — have cleared the way for gay marriage in Massachusetts and several other states.

[...]

Human Rights Campaign Launches TV and Web Ads

From hrc.org

A multi-media ad campaign was launched today by the Human Rights Campaign as part of the effort to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment. A vote on the FMA is expected next week in the U.S. Senate.

“The Federal Marriage Amendment is unnecessary, discriminatory and undermines the Constitution,” said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. “We are delivering this message directly to our elected leaders and encouraging the millions of fair-minded Americans who oppose this amendment to contact their senators today.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has announced his intention to bring up the divisive Federal Marriage Amendment for a vote during the week of July 12. HRC’s new ad campaign began running this week and will continue through next week’s debate and vote, urging leaders not to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.

You can view all of HRC's TV, web, and magazine spots here

Gay Couples To Seek Marriage Licenses in Colorado Springs

From Rocky Mountain News

As the same-sex marriage debate ripples across the country, a group of gay couples will protest in the city that many call a center of opposition to their cause.

On July 16, at least 10 couples will ask the El Paso County clerk and recorder in Colorado Springs for marriage licenses to protest a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban gays from marriage.

The couples know they'll be turned down because of state laws that prohibit such unions, but they're doing it to "fight the good fight," said Kaylynn LaGamma, 44.

"We're not asking for anything else that other Americans don't already get," said LaGamma, who will seek the license with her partner of four years, Barbara Henson, 40.

[...]

Will Kerry-Edwards court the gay vote?

From The Advocate:

[...]

Polls show that voters care far more about fighting terrorism and adding jobs to the economy than marriage rights (or the elimination of those rights) for gay men and lesbians. Still, Kerry and Edwards have the unenviable job of appealing to both gay rights supporters and Americans who are still trying to wrap their minds around civil unions. Both men will probably take gay and lesbian voters to the prom, but they will not go all the way.

[...]

Both Kerry and Edwards have come out strongly against the antigay Federal Marriage Amendment, which the U.S. Senate could start debating by July 12. They both have rock-solid records on funding for HIV and AIDS, favor getting rid of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military, and support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Edwards is a cosponsor of the legislation. However, neither supports full marriage equality, but both favor civil unions. Kerry is also on the record as saying that he would support a state constitutional amendment in Massachusetts defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman as long as the constitution also set up a parallel civil unions system for same-sex couples. Don't look for either candidate to use the word "marriage" when talking about gay unions during the campaign. That word continues to be loaded with religious significance and makes too many Americans squeamish. The candidates will instead use such phrases as "equality" and "human rights." They will talk about supporting the extension of benefits to all couples.

[...]

No gay-union outcry, senators say

It's interesting that several of the "high priority" senators targeted for a "pressure campaign" by right-wing conservative groups are saying they have yet "to feel pressure from constituents to support the ammendment."

According to an article in The Hill (The Newspaper for and about the U.S. Congress),

Despite an intense lobbying effort last week by advocates of a constitutional ban on gay marriage, several senators locked in close reelection contests say they have yet to feel pressure from constituents to support the amendment.

Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) — one of 24 “high priority” senators targeted for a pressure campaign by a coalition of conservative groups — spent the July 4 weekend campaigning across South Dakota.

But although the coalition sent out updates on where Daschle and other senators it considers to be on the fence on the issue would be appearing, Daschle campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said gay marriage was not on the minds of the crowds.

The constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman “didn’t come up once,” Pfeiffer said. “We’ve heard from almost no one.”

As of Friday, Daschle’s Washington office also had not fielded phone calls on the proposed amendment, Daschle spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said.

The amendment is scheduled to come before the Senate next Monday. Although the amendment is likely to fail, supporters hope that the vote will give constituents an accurate picture of where each senator stands on an issue that has energized both conservative and gay activists while making headlines around the country.

[...]

Gay marriages better than dysfunctional ones

The following Op-Ed piece appeared in the Statesman Journal (http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=83011) on July 5, 2004, and is a perfect example of the support gays and lesbians are getting from both inside and outside our own communities.

Why are we aghast at the idea of two people wanting a commitment to one another for life just because they are of the same sex? We deny two people who love and cherish one another, who support each other, are kind to each other, the opportunity to follow through on what most traditional marriages cannot -- forever.

Being of the same sex does not "ruin marriage." What ruins marriage is the indiscriminate unions of couples on a whim. When these unions fall apart because they can’t agree on the type of furniture to buy or what color to paint the bedroom, marriage becomes the first victim.

You're worried about sending your child to their friend's house because they have two mommies or two daddies, and you're not sure what they'll be exposed to. Yet every day in America, children are introduced to drugs and killed by guns residing in the homes of straight families. I ask you: Which is worse?

If you don't agree with gay marriages, don’t participate. Perhaps you’d feel more comfortable attending the wedding of uneducated pregnant meth-heads. There appears to be a waiting list for those.

— Anna Kindred, Salem

Currently Reading

Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Amazon.com Review:

Catherine Ryan Hyde's Pay It Forward takes as its premise the bumper-sticker phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally" and builds a novel around it. The hero of her story is young Trevor McKinney, a 12-year-old whose imagination is sparked by an extra-credit assignment in Social Studies: "Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action." Trevor's idea is deceptively simple: do a good deed for three people, and in exchange, ask each of them to "pay it forward" to three more. "So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.... Then it sort of spreads out." Trevor's early attempts to get his project off the ground seem to end in failure: a junkie he befriends ends up back in jail; an elderly woman whose garden he tends dies unexpectedly. But even after the boy has given up on his plan, his acts of kindness bear unexpected fruit, and soon an entire movement is underway and spreading across America.

Trevor, meanwhile, could use a little help himself. His father walked out on the family, and his mother, Arlene, is fighting an uphill battle with alcoholism, poor judgment in men, and despair. When the boy's new Social Studies teacher, Reuben St. Clair, arrives on the scene, Trevor sees in him not only a source of inspiration for how to change the world, but also the means of altering his mother's life. Yet Reuben has his own set of problems. Horribly scarred in Vietnam, he is reluctant to open himself up to the possibility of rejection--or love. Indeed, the relationship between Arlene and Reuben is central to the novel as these two damaged people learn to "pay forward" the trust and affection Trevor has given them.

Hyde tells her tale from many different perspectives, using letters, diary entries, and first- and third-person narratives from the various people whose lives Trevor's project touches. Jerry Busconi, for example, the addict Trevor tried to help, one night finds himself talking a young woman out of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge:

I'm a junkie, Charlotte. I'm always gonna be a junkie. I ain't never gonna be no fine, upstanding citizen. But then I thought, hell. Just pay it forward anyway. Kid tried to help me. Okay, it didn't work. Still, I'm trying to help you. Maybe you'll jump. I don't know. But I tried, right? But let me tell you one thing. I woke up one morning and somebody gave me a chance. Just outta nowhere. It was like a miracle. Now, how do you know that won't happen to you tomorrow?

Pay It Forward is reminiscent of Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life. Like the film, this novel has a steely core of gritty reality beneath its optimism: yes, one person can make a difference, can help to make the world a better place, but sickness, pain, heartache, and tragedy will still always be a part of the human condition. If at times Hyde stumbles a bit while negotiating the razor-thin line between honest feeling and sentimentality, it's generally not for long. And the occasional lapse into artificially colored emotion can be forgiven when weighed against the courage it takes to write so unabashedly hopeful a story in such cynical times. --Sheila Bright

getting my haircut then heading

getting my haircut then heading to Alabama for a couple of days to visit with my family. I haven't seen them since Easter, so, I'm overdue.

Other than an occasional entry that I make via my Treo, posting will be non-existent as I'm not even taking a laptop with me.

Play nice while I'm gone! :-)

Slate.msn.com recommends Firefox over IE

From Are the Browser Wars Back? How Mozilla's Firefox trumps Internet Explorer (link via /.):

In less than a day, Internet administrators sterilized the infection by shutting down the Russian server that hosted the spyware. But not before a barrage of scary reports had circled the world. "Users are being told to avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft patches a serious security hole," the BBC warned. (Disclosure: Microsoft owns Slate.) CNET reporter Robert Lemos zeroed in on why the attack was so scary. "This time," he wrote, "the flaws affect every user of Internet Explorer." That's about 95 percent of all Net users. No matter how well they had protected themselves against viruses, spyware, and everything else in the past, they were still vulnerable to yet another flaw in Microsoft's browser.

[...]

The problem is that hackers continue to find and exploit security holes in Explorer. Many of them take advantage of Explorer's ActiveX system, which lets Web sites download and install software onto visitors' computers, sometimes without users' knowledge. ActiveX was meant to make it easy to add the latest interactive multimedia and other features to sites, but instead it's become a tool for sneaking spyware onto unsuspecting PCs. That's why the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a partnership between the tech industry and Homeland Security, recently took the unusual step of advising people to consider switching browsers. Whether or not you do, US-CERT advises increasing your Internet Explorer security settings, per Microsoft's instructions. (Alas, the higher setting disables parts of Slate's interface.) Even if you stop using Explorer, other programs on your computer may still automatically launch it to connect to sites.

Want Free Porn? Protest the Pride Parade in Little Rock

From The Advocate

A Little Rock, Ark., radio station removed its regular morning show from the airwaves for two days as Conway police investigated whether a producer had given a sexually explicit videotape to a 16-year-old bystander during a gay rights parade.

Organizers of last Sunday's pride parade in Conway--which could not get under way until after cow manure, which had been spread along the parade route early Sunday morning, had been cleaned up--filed a complaint with Conway police regarding the tape. They claim a producer for KABZ-FM and a woman accompanying him offered pornographic videos to protesters lining the parade route. A teenager received one of the tapes. "It was triple-X, hard-core male-on-male action," parade organizer John Schenck said.

10 couples in Florida sue for right to marry

10 same-sex couples filed suit in Florida today, saying the state's ban on gay unions sends a "stigmatizing message ... [that leads to] legal, social, financial and psychological injuries."

"We want the same basic legal and human rights that straight people have," said Nagle, 63, one of several plaintiffs on hand when the suit was lodged in the 15th District Circuit Court by flamboyant Miami attorney Ellis Rubin, who has filed similar challenges to state law in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in what he says is a pro-bono attempt at atonement for representing anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant more than two decades ago.

See the Sun-Sentinel for the full article.

Church in Springfield, MO opposes gay marriage ban

As Missouri voters get ready to vote on whether the state constitution should essentially ban gay marriages, the National Avenue Christian Church steps up and says it's against the state constitutional amendment.

Many Missouri churches have gone on record as supporting the amendment.

But leaders of the National Avenue Christian Church say it's one thing for churches to oppose gay marriage, but it's another to legislate against it.

National Avenue is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. According to their website, the Disciples of Christ is a protestant denominiation with 800,000 members in the United States and Canada.

source: ktvotv3.com

Bushies giving churches campaign "timeline"

According to this news article on Yahoo!, (link via MeFi) the Bushies are circulating an "instruction sheet" to religious volunteers that lists 22 duties to be performed by specific dates! I've blogged about this before, but until now, we didn't have the specific.

By July 31, for example, volunteers are to "send your Church Directory to your State Bush-Cheney '04 Headquarters or give [it] to a BC04 Field Rep" and "Talk to your Pastor about holding a Citizenship Sunday and Voter Registration Drive."

By Aug. 15, they are to "talk to your Church's seniors or 20-30 something group about Bush/Cheney '04" and "recruit 5 more people in your church to volunteer for the Bush Cheney campaign."

By Sept. 17, they are to host at least two campaign-related potluck dinners with church members, and in October they are to "finish calling all Pro-Bush members of your church," "finish distributing Voter Guides in your church" and place notices on church bulletin boards or in Sunday programs "about all Christian citizens needing to vote."

The document was provided to The Washington Post by a Democrat. A spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites), Frank Keith, said, "It would be inappropriate for the IRS, based on a limited set of facts and circumstances, to render a judgment about whether the activities in this document would or would not endanger a church's tax-exempt status."

He pointed out, however, that the IRS on June 10 sent a strongly worded letter to both the Republican and Democratic national committees, reminding them that tax-exempt charitable groups "are prohibited from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office."

That warning came one week after The Post and other news media reported on a Bush-Cheney campaign e-mail that sought to identify 1,600 "friendly congregations" in Pennsylvania where Bush supporters "might gather on a regular basis."

The IRS letter noted that religious organizations are allowed to sponsor debates, distribute voter guides and conduct voter registration drives. But if those efforts show "a preference for or against a certain candidate or party . . . it becomes a prohibited activity," the letter said.

Anybody wanna play "Legal or Illegal?"

Cassini-Huygens

A group of friends and I were sitting around a table in front of Starbucks this morning discussing the Cassini-Huygens probe's orbital insertion (huh huh huh, I said probe's insertion) around Saturn.

Cassini is about 934 million miles from Earth now and has been sending back some incredible pictures.

Inevitably, when you have a bunch of engineer-y type folks chatting, the conversation eventually turns techy, and this conversation was no exception. Talk eventually turned to how long it takes for the spacecraft to send the images back. Assuming the entire image could be sent in one packet (unrealistic, I know), and the speed of light to be 186,000 miles per second, a image taken by Cassini at this very instant wouldn't be received by the Earth stations until almost 84 minutes later (83.69 minutes)!

Oh, what to do with myself

Beginning Monday, I'm taking two weeks off from work. I need it, too. I've become even more bitchy, moody, and tempermental than I normally am.

I know Clack has been slow lately, and all the stupid people at the office are the reason. By the time I get home every night I don't want to do anything.

I'm hoping a couple of weeks off will let me unwind and get back to being a little more grounded..