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Posts Tagged ‘LGBTQ Rights’
RSS Roundup 5-21-8
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: 2008 Election, Economy, Good Science, Kansas Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Reproductive Rights, Ted Kennedy, Tolerance, Voter Suppression
Happy hump day everyone. Were half way to a long holiday weekend. After 3 years in corrections when I never had holidays, or even weekends, off I am so looking forward to this summer. Being a month away from finishing up with school I hope to never ever have to do shift work again. Anyhow, lots to cover so lets get to it.
Senator Ted Kennedy Diagnosed with Brain Tumor
Ted KennedyI really wanted to write about this yesterday as the news came out but didn’t have time. As you probably know Kennedy was taken to the hospital after having seizures on Monday. Obviously a malignant brain tumor was not the news the nation was hoping to hear. We are all pulling for him and his family.
Kudos to Kathleen Sebelius!
I feel kind of embarrassed that I haven’t been covering this as well as I should. I have a project in the works for a local Kansas news site so I apologize. As a Kansan I am incredibly proud of our Governor. She has consistently made the right choices even when they were not the most politically expedient. Since I have dropped the ball on her recent acts here are links to others who are picking up the slack.
Kathleen Sebelius Vetoes Voter ID Law. Read Think Progress and Crooks and Liars. Everything I said about the SCOTUS ruling on the Indiana law applies here. Reading local news and blogs it is apparent that most Kansans are unaware of the true effect of these kinds of laws. Either that or their a bunch of assholes. The jury is still out on that distinction.
All the Rest of the News thats Important
- A federal appeals court has ruled Virginia’s late term abortion ban unconstitutional!
- Openly gay Sam Adams has been elected mayor of Portland making him the first openly homosexual mayor of a major American city. It seems like every day I get to write about another accomplishment in LGBTQ equality.
- On the other hand LGBTQ hate crimes rose by 24% in 2007 over the 2006 rates. This just proves that there is still a long way to go. It also shows how needed hate crime protection is.
- A top aid for McCain has stepped down out of respect for Barack Obama. I haven’t followed politics long but can anyone remember this happing before? More at The Carpetbagger Report.
- Tim Haab has a good piece up at Environmental Economics about what we as consumers can do about $4 gas. Read the comments.
- Bush has issued a formal apology after a soldier apparently shot a Koran. Keep telling yourself that its our freedom that they hate.
- I have found out why American schoolchildren compare so poorly to children from other countries. 16% of biology teachers are young earth creationists. The same survey shows that 48% of the general population believes that “God created human beings pretty much in their at one time within the last 10,000 years or so”.
Video of the Day
Henry Waxman Threatens to Have Rep Issa (R-CA) physically removed from hearing. Awesome.
Thats all for today folks. I’ll try to have something up over my lunch break. Also Summer finally had a chance to comment on a story yesterday. If you havn’t been reading long it may surprise you to know that this is a multi-author blog.
In fact we accept story submissions from anyone with a progressive viewpoint. Writing for us couldn’t be easier. Just sign up for an account then when you log in you will have the ability to write a story. We will then post it assuming that its appropriate for our viewers.
Have a wonderful day
William ~ WWJV4.com
California Overturns Ban on Gay Marriage
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: LGBTQ Rights
The California State Supreme Court has overturned the states ban on gay marriage. In a close 4-3 decision the justices decided that “separate but equal” domestic partnerships were not good enough. I twittered (tweeted?) this but its a big enough story that I wanted to post on it here too. Do we dare hope that this outbreaking of rationality in California will spread?
Literally everyone is talking about this on their blogs already. I really can’t overstate how good this ruling is. More on this later. In the mean time feel free to post your thoughts below.
Thanks and if you use Twitter my username is Adammair
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-15-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Barack Obama, Free Speech, George W. Bush, John Edwards, LGBTQ Rights
I apologize that this is going to be really short but I am still feeling a bit under the weather. I promise that as soon as I get over whatever this bug is I will be right back to posting several good articles a day. Well, good or not I’ll post several articles a day. I’ll admit I have barely followed the news the past couple days so I only have a few things to post today. Both are from this morning while I was waiting to go to the Dr. I didn’t read the news at all yesterday.
John Edwards Is Endorsing Obama
It was really just a matter of time before Edwards endorsed someone and I honestly think that had Clinton been in the lead it would have been her. All in all Edwards gives a great speech that I strongly recommend everyone watch. (h/t Shakesville)
Keith Olbermann Special Comment
I’ll admit I never watch Olbermann anymore for a lack of time but his special comments are so good that I always make sure to catch them after words. This one is just as good. (h/t Pandagon)
The Rest of The News
- I can’t remember if I mentioned this yesterday or not but Travis Childers (D) 8 point win in MS-1 (an R+10 district) is HUGE. America is finally waking up to how badly the Republicans have screwed our nation. Come November no Republican seat is going to be safe.
- ACLU wins case against Florida school that was trying to limit free speech by forbidding rainbows. The principal apparently believes that since rainbows cause the gayness he was somehow saving teenagers souls or something. This is the same state that released a teacher for wizardry so really at this point nothing could surprise me coming out of Florida.
- Fox and Joe Leiberman apparently feel that John Hagee is a stand up guy for throwing aside his religous convictions for political purposes. Good thing John Hagee doesn’t have the moral fortitude to stand up for the beliefs that he was selling to his followers. Oh and that he’s not black.
- Democrats are now trusted more on all 10 issues that Rasmussen Reports tracks. No surprise since Republicans have run the country into the ground. (h/t DemfromCT @ Daily Kos)
- Since the Republicans can’t run on any of the issues guess what they are hoping will pull them through? Fear Mongering and pandering to ignorant people. Bush is warning that the Dem’s plan to pull out of Iraq could mean disaster. Sigh.
Video of the Day
No Video today since I posted 3 above and the John Edwards speech is pretty long. If your going to watch anything today thats the thing to watch. Instead I am going to leave you with this picture. Read the sign and if you can’t spot what is wrong with it then read about the 1936 Summer Olympics.
RSS Roundup 5-13-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Big Business, Good Science, Honesty, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, Republicans
Good morning everyone, this issue of our RSS Roundup is going to be really short as I have a project that is taking up all my time. As you all know this is an open thread so please feel free to comment on anything that is currently in the news. I’m also playing with a new format so let me know if its more readable.
No NASA Has Not Found Aliens
Retrofitted HubbleEveryone has been excited about a cryptic announcement made by NASA about “the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years”. NASA was waiting until the Hubble was modified but PZ Meyers had to ruin the fun. Creationists discovered Russell’s Teapot and are planning on putting into space.
The Rest of the News
- Republicans and the Bush Administration are once again backing big business over average Americans. This time its by fighting to prevent Kansas based Creekstone Farms from testing all of its meat for mad cow disease.
- Opponent not saying anything controversial? Then lie about it. Thats what Republicans are doing. Just ask Al Gore or Barack Obama.
- 18 year old resident of Austin openly lesbian Randi Shade easily defeated incumbent Jennifer Kim with 64% of the vote for Austin City Council. (Thanks for the correction Dan)
- 82% of American’s now say that the country is seriously on the wrong track. Or if your an optimist 18% say things are going great.
- Leading Republican Roy Blunt agrees that McCain offering third Bush term on economic policy. (and 18% of Americans cheer?)
- 5 of the (at least) 112 lobbyists working inside John McCains campaign have been tied to ruthless dictators. 2 of those who represented the Burma regime in Myanmar have already quit the campaign. There is now a petition for the firing of 3 more here.
- The Bush Administration has been hyping Iran’s involvement in weapons for Iraq without evidence for a while now. Here is yet another article on how the media is covering up this lack of evidence.
Daily Video
Today’s video is from Brave New Films and it exposes once again the Republican Yacht Party’s true interests. In California Republicans are fighting to keep open a tax loophole that lets them buy yachts tax free. If closed this would bring in around 26 million to a state that is being forced to lay off teachers. Read More about this issue here.
Thanks for reading,
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-9-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, National Security, Support The Troops, Voter Suppression
Its finally Friday and whats even better its Mothers Day Weekend!!! I hope you all have made plans to thank the many mothers in your lives. Well lets get right into the news from the past 24 hours or so. I flagged a lot of stories but from skimming it looks like today is going to be a pretty fast one. As always this is an open thread to talk about whatever.
How does John McCain, the Republican Nominee only get 74% of the vote with no one else campaigning?
Somehow I missed this yesterday. Crooks and Liars has published their top 10 list of McCain’s Out of Touch Moments. My favorite is still the “I’m not running on the Bush presidency.” joke. That one makes me laugh every time.
Here is something that shouldn’t surprise anyone. McCain’s “maverick” image is entirely made up by the media.
John McCain is refusing to release his wife’s tax records. So much to say on this topic that I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to what he may be hiding. I will say that this is so offensive that even some right wing magazines are attacking them over it.
A Michigan State Supreme Court ruled that “Michigan’s 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies affecting gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers.”
The over stretching of our military caused by the needless war in Iraq has been reported many times. Yesterday we learned via Newshoggers that over 43,000 injured troops listed as medically unfit for duty have been sent anyhow. If I had voted for Bush it would be time to put another “Support The Troops” sticker on my car so I could feel better about myself.
This was under CBS’ Strange News but its really not strange at all, in fact for those in law enforcement its so common that it made me wonder why it’s even news. Suspect Surrenders After Cop Yells ‘Taser, Taser, Taser!’. In many situations the presence of a taser will be enough and this story is about just one of the hundreds of examples that happen across the country every single day.
Bloggers Unite for Human Rights on May 15th. I’ll have more information on our sidebar (today) and you can read more here. (h/t Alas, a blog)
And finally one more …
12 nuns in Indiana were unable to vote because of the states restrictive voter suppression registration laws. Whats worse is that these horrible laws are being pushed throughout the nation by conservatives under the lie of “voter fraud”. Anyone want to guess which party the poor, disabled, and elderly who are disenfranchised by these laws vote for?
This may sound like a good idea at first,” stated Sister Sandy Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary regarding voter ID requirements, “but once you stop to think about who would really be affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being able to vote.
Thats enough for today, its Friday and I have a lot to do. Have a wonderful weekend and make sure and thank all the moms you know. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY SUMMER!
p.s. I didn’t forget about Clinton’s comments. I have a story in draft about it that I will try to get out today. If not I’ll cover it on Monday’s RSS Roundup.
William ~ WWJV4.com
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