The INDEFENSIBLE Defense of Marriage Act

[DMT]

Arizona's state government is bat-shit crazy. I can only hope the immigrants will turn this state at least purple and bounce these fucktards out of office. Most of the worst offenders are based out of Phoenix. Also, Brewer is supposedly focused on economic expansion so hopefully she vetos it.

Meanwhile, in Uganda.

https://news.yahoo.com/uganda-newspaper-names-200-39-homos-39-anti-000139038.html;_ylt=AwrSyCOHxwxT.ywAxevQtDMD

A Ugandan newspaper listed Tuesday 200 people it accused of being gay, a day after the president called homosexuals 'mercenaries' and signing one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws.

...

Homophobia is widespread in Uganda, where American-style evangelical Christianity is on the rise.

Gay men and women in the country face frequent harassment and threats of violence, and rights activists have reported cases of lesbians being subjected to "corrective" rapes.

But the passing of the bill has been popularly received in Uganda, where Museveni -- in power for 28 years -- faces reelection in 2016.

I'm sure none of the evangelicals here would support these laws/actions, but when masses are taught a religion of intolerance, this is one of many possible outcomes.

[DMT]

I wouldn't be so sure that evangelicals wouldn't support this. There is significant evidence that places a lot of the blame for this anti-gay fervor right at the feet of American Christian evangelicals in the country. There was a documentary made about this called "God Loves Uganda".

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinion...estotheus.html

Just to clarify, by here I meant the Sportsbar.

[Don Quixote]

Governor Jan Brewer has (perhaps surprisingly) vetoed the bill passed by the Arizona legislature. Guess they'll have to wait for another day to expand discrimination...

There would have been all kinds of bad payback had she signed this idiotic law, not least of which was the possibility of The Great Roger Goodell Himself Live And In Person pulling the next Super Bowl that was scheduled in Phoenix.

Sometimes even a governor as bat-sh** crazy as Brewer can do the math, or at least have staffers who can.

Now we can expect all kinds of posturing about overriding the veto, but IMO that doesn't stand a chance. The Rabid Right has had its turn, they passed their law, their crazy followers can fulminate and express all kinds of self-righteous indignation against Brewer and those who opposed the law, and now perhaps they can get on with something useful.

[DMT]

The Rabid Right has had its turn, they passed their law, their crazy followers can fulminate and express all kinds of self-righteous indignation against Brewer and those who opposed the law, and now perhaps they can get on with something useful.

Hahahah

[bryanbutler]

and another victory in the fight...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/us/texas-judge-strikes-down-state-ban-on-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0

[Judge Jude]

Yes, there's probably a good article contrasting the MN and AZ issues, and I hope someone posts it. not sure they are parallels but would like to know more...

[Hornsby]

In the case of the cabbies - people are being denied service based on the fact that they dont comply with the cabbies religious views (at least this is what I am understanding). Im just saying that not only the Christian right are using reliqion as the whip to deny services to those they may choose not to serve. Im not trying to say that the Muslims or anyone else are making the laws, just that there are other religions using their viewpoints as a means to determine who they may and may not serve.

Again - I dont agree with any of it.

This issue has been settled for at least several years now...the cabbies are NOT allowed to discriminate against anyone. These incidents happened roughly in 2006 and 2007...

This article was written at the beginning of 2007, and for the five years prior to that at least 5,400 travelers were refused service for either having a pet or guide dog, or were carrying alcohol. So airport commissioners were contemplating punishing those cab drivers who discriminate against people for those reasons. They, of course, claimed that they were the ones being discriminated against.
"It is against our faith and the airport is discriminating against Muslim drivers," says a cab driver who would only give his first name, Hashim.

According to Patrick Hogan of the Metropolitan Airports Commission:

"There are times where cab after cab will refuse service, and passengers can be waiting for 20 minutes. We've had complaints of people being asked if they had any alcoholic beverages in their luggage. We were seeing an average of 77 refusals a month," he says, "Now we're seeing between 8 and 20."

That's because, thanks to 9/11, we can't travel with anything larger than 2 or 3 ounces on board anymore.

Licensed cab drivers aren't supposed to discriminate, unless they feel threatened in some way, and surprisingly the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) agreed :

"This is a public access issue," says Chuck Samuelson, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, "Bottom line is we are a secular society, and that's the way it is."

After the commission refused attempts at compromise, CAIR finally stepped in and resolved the issue.

After CAIR-MN facilitated dialogue between the two groups and cleared the misunderstanding, the Muslim taxi drivers offered free rides to attendees of the American Council of the Blind Convention in downtown Minneapolis. Abdinoor Ahmed Dolal, owner of Twin Cities Airport Taxi, said “Islam forbids us to turn away a blind passenger, whether they have a guide dog or not. Their rights come first.”

Apparently, dogs aren't such a major issue for Muslims after all:

An Iman from the local Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre, Javed Jaffri, researched the dog topic and served as an expert witness for a blind man refused passage by a Muslim taxi driver. Jaffri spent long hours on this, and provided an unbiased interpretation of the Koran that indicated “there is nothing saying that one must refuse service to another person because of the fear of contamination by a dog.”

He also said that “there can be exceptions to blanket refusals to deal with dogs, especially if it means helping someone in need. All that would be required in most circumstances would be for a Muslim person to wash their hands before eating if they have been in contact with a dog. That’s not a terrible task to go through,” he said.

http://republicaninthearts.blogspot.com/2012/07/muslim-cabbies-refuse-passengers-with.html

[Judge Jude]

and 13 minutes later, I got an answer!


thanks

[Judge Jude]

Andrew Sullivan, the gay somewhat conservative who confuses people:

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/04/03/the-hounding-of-brendan-eich/

"The guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists. After an OKCupid decision to boycott Mozilla, the recently appointed Brendan Eich just resigned under pressure.........

Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us."

I can see someone disagreeing with this, but at some point there is a line that can get crossed in terms of tolerance. Is the movement already there, and if not are they heading there? Interesting question.

[Erik]

This also has to do with the industry one is in and the internal politics in the boardroom. His fellow bigwigs saw this as a liability and forced him out - and maybe had other reasons for wanting him gone for which this was a smokescreen. The industry he's in fancies itself on being forward-thinking, so perhaps the other bigwigs felt this would hurt them with customers and employees. I doubt this happens if the guy is running Wal-Mart or Chik-fil-a or a tobacco company.

[Pogues]

Gay marriage ban was overturned in court today in my home state of Pennsylvania. That makes 19 states now.

[Judge Jude]

Congratulations and best of luck to you and your friends, eldiablo!

[Erik]

In a few weeks I will be an officiant at a wedding for the third time. First was my cousin, second was my sister-in-law, and this one is for two of the sweetest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

They've been together for more than 20 years. One is sick and they're worried about benefits if the worst were to happen and they were unmarried.


So proud to be a part of this!

That's awesome.

[Judge Jude]

another fun one that Bill could b.s. his way out of, but Hillary?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-17/wealthy-clintons-use-trusts-to-limit-estate-tax-they-back.html

"Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.

To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of U.S. households in wealth. These moves, common among multimillionaires, will help shield some of their estate from the tax that now tops out at 40 percent of assets upon death......

Without the estate tax, Hillary Clinton said, the country could become “dominated by inherited wealth.”

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said in an e-mail that the couple’s finances are an “open book.” He didn’t answer additional questions about their finances or her current views on the estate tax."

[mjl]

enh. it makes sense to me, but I'm rational, and politics isn't.