measi: made by me (rock.)
Unanimous decision to uphold the ruling that the state ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

And better yet, the ruling is written brilliantly, negating the argument that is a religious (only) intitution:

"Civil marriage in Iowa is the only gateway to an extensive legal structure that protects a married couple's relationship and family in and outside the state," Hanson ruled in Des Moines. "Iowa reserves an unparalleled array of rights, obligations and benefits to married couples and their families, privileging married couples as a financial and legal unit and stigmatizing same-sex couples."

Complete ruling is here:

http://www.iowacourts.gov/wfData/files/Varnum/07-1499.pdf
measi: made by me (portrait)
Conservatives are already whinging, using the retort "well, we listened to you for eight years."

Here's my reply to them, under my "elemenopy" username there:

Here's the irony - the stuff we complained about? We were right about, for the most part. We went into Iraq under false pretenses. We failed to get bin Laden. The "No Child Left Behind" act was not funded, and schools are ridding themselves of music, sports, and other activities that help develop children's minds beyond teaching to a test.

You did not listen to our concerns. Our concerns were brushed off and we were called terrorists, traitors, and anti-American. Since you refused to work with us, we worked together - community organizing, if you will - to change the direction of this country.

Now, we'll welcome you to work with us and find compromises. You'll find that despite some hard feelings, many of us want to work together. And if you don't feel you can work with us to improve our great nation, you're welcome to wait it out, do your own community organizing, and vote another candidate into office.

And we, unlike you, won't mock you or your candidate for doing so.

Your call.


Thread: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3997520
measi: made by me (Default)
Go blue!

(and all is now right with the world. Stewart/Colbert is on... now we can get the real news!)
measi: made by me (vote)
I came, I saw, I voted. And if you're a U.S. citizen, you should today as well.

Rhode Island polls are open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. With our work/commute schedules, we always go first thing, as the polling place is right around the corner from our house.

We arrived at 7:10. Short wait - people had definitely been there for the door opening, as there were a stack of the ballot privacy folders on top of the optical reader already (signifying that people had already cast ballots, for those of you not familiar with them). Rhode Island votes the basic way - pen and paper, draw a line to connect the head and tail of an arrow toward the person you're voting for.

There were six different candidates, plus a write-in line, on our ballot for President. I voted straight Democratic Party ticket, plus yes on both of our budget concerns - we have bridges crumbling (notably... I-95, which now has a severe weight limit on it) that need to be fixed. I pay taxes for civilization - and fixing crumbling infrastructure is a big part of that.

I'm glad I'm done, I did my part. Now I just have to sit back and watch the results. While yes, it looks good for Obama, I've learned never to take anything for granted with some portions of American society.

And I'm damn proud to 1) have survived the nightmare of George W. Bush, and 2) voted for Obama. The last dark eight years are almost over.

Thank Gods.
measi: made by me (Default)
Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.
measi: made by me (hamlet)
Snagged from all over...

As was demonstrated in an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade.

The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic, to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.) For those who see this on your f-list, take the meme to your OWN lj to spread the fun.


FCC v. Pacifica - also known as George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" case. Discussed the difference between "indecent" and "obscene" according to the First Amendment, and granted the FCC broad power to determine what was indecent, and when to prohibit broadcast to protect children from exposure.
measi: made by me (Default)
I'm just curious to know what types of ballots people use when they vote - U.S. or otherwise.

For the definitions of the options I'm using below, go here: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/campaign2000ballot.html

[Poll #1266147]

The polling place where I vote in Rhode Island uses paper ballots - we're given a printed piece of cardstock that has all of the options, along with the point and the tail of an arrow next to each name. To vote for a person, we draw a line to complete the arrow with a provided black marker.
measi: made by me (Default)
http://www.michiganmessenger.com/4076/lose-your-house-lose-your-vote

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

from further down in the article...


The Macomb County party’s plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

measi: made by me (plushie cthulhu)
Hey McCain & Co. - welcome to the business end of my +12 Boomstick of Insult Knockback.

    In the least credible and most vicious corner of the internet, liberal bloggers at the Daily Kos are accusing John McCain of plagiarizing from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The story Solzhenitsyn told was of a prisoner who drew a cross in the dirt in a Soviet Gulag. McCain's story is of a guard who drew a cross in the dirt in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.

    The only similarity between the two stories is a cross in the dirt, but it is hardly an unlikely coincidence that there were practicing Christians in both Russia and Vietnam, or that in the prisons of those two Communist countries the only crosses to be found were etched in the dirt, as easily disappeared as the Christians who drew them.

    But those desperate to discredit Senator McCain's record will have to impugn his fellow prisoners as well. Orson Swindle, who was held as a prisoner of war along with McCain, tells the McCain Report that he heard this particular story from McCain "when we first moved in together." That was in the summer of 1971, Swindle said, though "time blurred" and he couldn't be sure. He said it was some time around then that the Vietnamese moved all "36 troublemakers" into the same quarters, where they "talked about everything under the sun."

    It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others. John McCain has often said he witnessed a thousand acts of bravery while he was imprisoned, and though not every one has been submitted into the public record, they are remembered by the men who were there (one such only recently reported by Karl Rove though it escaped mention in any of Senator McCain's books). But as Swindle said, this is a "desperate group of people trying to make something out of nothing."


(bold emphasis mine)

Source: http://www.johnmccain.com/McCainReport/Read.aspx?guid=181471d0-5456-4434-9f78-2f30ffc39459


Apparently McCain's crew has not learned that gamers are like dragons. Don't meddle with them, for insulters are crunchy and good with ketchup.


(wanders off muttering how stupid McCain bloggers are to actually attempt to cast Magic Missle at the darkness)
measi: made by me (*mwah*)
Now... hopefully those god-forsaken laws across the country that were voted in recently will start falling for the bigoted throwback they are. Welcome on board, California!

California strikes down ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional

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measi: made by me (Default)
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