Gay Marriage Legal in New York State

Thank you , New York!

As Kander and Ebb wrote:  “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.  It’s up to you, New York, New York.”

I’m no big believer in marriage- gay or straight.  I’ve often said, my parents had a marriage that made George and Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” look like amateurs.

To me, it’s all about legality.  We need to be able to recognize gay relationships and apply the same legal protections that straight marriage automatically provides.  I want Steve to be able to be by my side if I have to go to the hospital and make my medical decisions if I’m incapacitated. I want Steve to inherit my estate- and vice versa- on the same legal grounds as a married couple.  Without having to present some form…

We have been together almost 15 years.  We are totally financially intertwined as far as property and mutual responsibility is concerned.  The laws need to recognize that….

Screw the Church ceremonies and gift registries -although there is a lot of money to be made there….That should be enough alone for America to embrace Gay Marriage.

Just think how much money the Gay community would spend on weddings…

We would probably just call our friend Vanita over to say a few words in the living room with a few close friends.  Then give one hell of a party!

We already have 6 sets of dishes and that is quite enough.

We just need to have our relationship recognized as legally binding so we are protected if and when one of us gets sick or- god forbid- passes on.

I dare anyone to say our 15 years together doesn’t deserve some sort of legal recognition- without having to pay an attorney thousands of dollars to protect the rights straight peope get with one marriage license.

I don’t want to be “married” as much as I want to be legally recognized and protected.  And New York has realized that point.

Call it what you will…Marriage is a legal condition, not a religious one….

This has nothing to do with Religion and everything to do with fairness and equality.

ALBANY – New York made history last night as the State Senate voted “aye” on gay marriage.

Senators passed the bill 33 to 29 as the normally somnolent chambers erupted in a raucous chant of “USA! USA!”

“As I have said many times, this is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate,” said GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau).

New York joined Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and Washington, D.C., in legally recognizing gay marriage.

“I’m verklempt,” said a nervously optimistic Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-S.I), one of five openly gay state lawmakers prior to the vote. “I’m still in a state of disbelief.”

The Assembly passed the bill last week for the fourth time since 2007.

It was only two years ago that gay marriage was easily defeated in the then Democrat-controlled Senate. Now, the rush to the altar could begin 30 days after Gov. Cuomo, who made gay marriage a priority, signs the bill.

For gay couples, marriage means more than just swapping rings.

For the first time they qualify for the same 1,324 state marriage benefits afforded to straight couples.

via Gay marriage legal in New York State after Senate passes historic bill 33-29.

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Chapter 56: Integration-Part 2: Negroes, Lesbians and Yankees, Oh My! | My Southern Gothic Life

New Post up on my other Blog…

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full post:

Once integration happened, it was really no big deal to most of us.  Some of our parents, however, never recovered.

The South in those days, at least in small towns like ours, was built a lot of unbendable, undefinable, unpublished, unspoken but completely understood rules.  The two biggest one were as follows:

Thou shalt only consort with people just like you.

Never offend the neighbors.

My parents swore by those rules.  My father’s main concern was not pissing off anybody for business reasons.  He really didn’t give a damn about anything else.

My Mother lived for The Rules and to judge others by them.  In her mind, if she had not known someone and their entire family for her entire life- and preferably their family background for several preceding generations-they really weren’t worth knowing.

She also assumed everyone else played by the same rules.  Therefore, she assumed all Black people knew each other and later, all Gay people knew each other.  I’ll never forget the time she said to me:  ”I hope you are running around in public with that Harvey Fierstein person.  I saw him on television and he’s just awful.  I really don’t want to have to try to explain that to my friends.”  It took me a while to figure that out, but then I realized she assumed, just because we were both Gay, we had to know each other and be fast friends.  I wish…I have been in the same New York bar as Harvey, but that was many years later and does not prove her point…

Anyway…

MORE:  Chapter 56: Integration-Part 2: Negroes, Lesbians and Yankees, Oh My! | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Newt Gingrich: Obama Is So Bad, Black People Will Vote Republican

More delusional rhetoric from  the delusional Newt Gingrich and the delusional GOP.

Whatever happened to reality based Politics?  Politics used to be the ultimate game for realists, now it’s the province of liars, misfits, miscreants, the mal-adjusted and, as Cher sang, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves- at least on the GOP side…

The Dems sometimes seem to be trying to catch up….

From TalkingPointsMemo:

 

Newt Gingrich fired up the crowd in this blue state with the promise that President Obama is so bad that he’s made it possible for the Republicans to win over the African American vote in 2012.

Gingrich stopped off at an airport Marriott near Baltimore Thursday to keynote the Maryland GOP’s annual Red, White & Blue banquet. Before the speech, he assured reporters that his campaign was still going strong. When he took the podium, he offered Republican donors a long, dense speech full of red meat and warnings about the state of the world around us.

He also said it was time for Republicans to tell African Americans how terrible Obama has been for them.

He broke out the “Obama is the food stamp president” line that got him in racial trouble earlier in the campaign.

But this time, he spun the line into a suggestion that the African American vote is ripe for the plucking.

Here’s how the line works: Obama is the food stamp president, Gingrich says, whereas he wants to be the paycheck president. The difference comes down to creating jobs or not, and Gingrich says he knows how to create them.

And that’s where the black vote comes in.

“No administration in modern times has failed younger blacks more than the Obama administration,” Gingrich said.

He explained that “in May, we had 41% unemployment among black teenagers in America.” That means if Republicans can put on a brave face, they might be able to turn the African American vote their way.

Think of the social catastrophe of 41% of a community not being able to find a job. But we have to have the courage to walk into that neighborhood, to talk to that preacher, to visit that small business, to talk to that mother. And we have to have a convincing case that we actually know how to create jobs.

“The morning they believe that, you’re going to see margins in percents you never dreamed of decide there’s a better future,” Gingrich said. “It takes courage, it takes hard work, it takes discipline and it’s doable.”

“I will bet you there is not a single precinct in this state in which the majority will pick for their children food stamps over paychecks,” he said.

Gingrich isn’t the only Republican on the trail talking up Obama’s failures when it comes to minority populations. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told an audience of Republicans in New Orleans that Obama “has failed the African American community” on jobs. She said that he’s failed the Latino community — which is also suffering from record unemployment — as well.

Most of Gingrich’s speech wasn’t about wooing minority votes. He spent much of his time on stage talking about a coming “tsunami of violence” from terrorists and warning that Obama’s “vision of the American Constitution is a mortal threat to our freedoms.”

via Newt Gingrich: Obama Is So Bad, Black People Will Vote Republican | TPMDC.

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Delta bans U.S. Jews from Flights To Saudi Arabia

I really don’t believe this….

This is a U.S. Airline!!!

Someone at the Delta Airlines and in the U.S. Government needs to step up and speak up about this…all I can think about is Hitler’s special laws for Jews.  This is so wrong I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face.

And I am sick of the U.S. Government and U.S. Businesses cozying up to the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia, in general, because of their oil and money.

I’ll never forget Bush, Jr groveling and practically kissing the ring of the Saudi’s and then strolling around happily, literally, hand-in-hand with them when they came to visit him.

Oil and money really are trumping everything else today.  That’s got to stop.

Apparently standing up against something that is wrong on principle is a long lost American trait.  Now our government and businesses are acting like hookers who’ll lay down and do anything for the right price.

If these are the conditions of doing business with Saudi Arabia, then Delta should be forced to just say no….

Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly code-share flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line’s new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to begin in 2012.

Although Delta announced in January that the Saudi airline would join its SkyTeam network next year, the implications of the deal only came to light recently, according to people who have scrutinized the details.

Saudi Arabia, which is governed by strict Islamic law, requires citizens of almost every country to obtain a visa. People who wish to enter the country must have a sponsor; women, who must be dressed according to Saudi standards of modesty, must be met at the Saudi airport by a man who will act as a chaperone.

Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, even in transit. Many Jews believe the kingdom has also withheld visas from travelers with Jewish-sounding names.

Religious items such as Bibles that are not related to Islam may be confiscated at the airport.

Colby M. May, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, said his office is trying to determine if the agreement runs afoul of U.S. law.

“The very idea that there is a common carrier airline service that would deny an American citizen in America access to their services because they are Jewish or have religious items such as a yarmulke, a cross or a priestly collar, is deeply disturbing,” May said.

May said he is “trying to get answers” from Delta.

“They have not responded in a way that answers the question,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll do so.”

In a statement to Religion News Service on Thursday (June 23), Delta said it “does not discriminate, nor do we condone discrimination against any protected class of passenger in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.”

The airline, which did not deny the new policy, insisted that it has no control over who may fly to Saudi Arabia.

via U.S. Jews Not Able To Fly On Delta Flights To Saudi Arabia.

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Cooking with the Chippendales?

How did I miss this back in the 1980’s?

Jaye P Morgan, singer and Match Game regular, apparently hosted this “cooking” show….

More like a campfest…

More than one person in the comments at the original site has referred to this as “Cooking with Blanche Devereux”….

Hat tip to Dlisted where I first saw this:

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Back in the USSR?

Interesting article from AlterNet.com that compares U.S. expenditures to European expenditures.

The U.S. spending supports a vast military industrial complex with Military spending being by far the largest part of the budget.  European countries focus on spending money on health care, education, transportation and improving the quality of life for its citizens.

Remember, one of the reasons the USSR collapsed was pouring too large a portion of their budget into “defense” or military spending.  Are we back in the USSR?

I much prefer the European model.  Let’s spend our tax money making the U.S. the most modern country on earth with the highest quality of life for its citizens.

Russia still hasn’t recovered from the collapse of the USSR.

Have we in the USA learned anything from it?

 

For their tax dollars –or euros — they get universal health care, deeply subsidized education (including free university tuition in many countries), modern infrastructure, good mass transit and far less poverty than we have here at home. That may help explain why we have Tea Partiers screaming for cuts while Europe is ablaze with riots against its own “austerity” measures.

And while we outspend everyone on our military, among the 20 most developed countries in the world, the United States is now dead last in life expectancy at birth but leads the pack in infant mortality—40 percent higher than the runner-up. We also lead in the percentage of the population who will die before reaching age 60. Half of our kids need food stamps at some point during their childhoods. There’s certainly a modest difference in priorities dividing the Atlantic, but common sense suggests that we’re the ones who have it all wrong.

via Are We Giant Suckers? While the US Blows Money on the Military, Europe Spends Dough on Social Programs | | AlterNet.

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North Carolina Dem Governor Vetoes GOP Voter-ID Bill

Good.

This is nothing but an attempt by the GOP to stop legitimate voters from voting. It is specifically targeted at voters who vote for the Democrats and is really a Republican attempt to limit the electorate and stay in power.

The demographic trending is moving away from the GOP, so look for more dirty trick bills like this as they try to ensure only Rich White People vote…

From TalkingPointsMemo.com:

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) has vetoed a Voter-ID bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature. The proposed law was part of a wave of similar bills that have been pushed by Republican-led legislatures in the wake of the 2010 elections. Like those, it would have required voters to show certain approved forms of photo identification at their polling places, or else cast provisional ballots and then have to prove their eligibility later.

“This bill, as written, will unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters,” Perdue wrote in her veto announcement.

She also added an allusion to North Carolina’s past as a segregated, Jim Crow state before the Civil Rights movement: “There was a time in North Carolina history when the right to vote was enjoyed only by some citizens rather than by all. That time is past, and we should not revisit it.”

Perdue’s veto is likely to succeed, rather than be overridden. The CBS affiliate in Raleigh points out that while the bill had passed the state Senate by a veto-proof margin, it had in fact only passed the state House by a margin of 62-51, short of the 72 votes that would be needed to override the veto in that chamber.

via North Carolina Dem Governor Vetoes GOP Voter-ID Bill | TPMMuckraker.

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Delta Airlines Pees in Passenger’s Bag- Literally

Forget raining on a parade…

How about pissing in your luggage?  That’s a sure way to ruin a trip…

This guy from Britain had an even worse experience with Delta than I’ve ever had with USAirways.  I used to fly Delta and remember them fondly as being much classier and polite than those cattle cars in the sky run by USAirways.  This kind of destroys those happy memories of made-to-order Ice Cream Sundies by smiling Stewardesses.

At least USAirways has never used my Tumi as a toilet.

This is truly unbelievable…

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Big Worries About GOP Taking Control

Seems like people may finally be starting to wise up…..

From Political Wire:

A new Bloomberg Poll finds 49% of respondents said they’re worried about Republicans gaining control of the White House and Congress and following through on pledges to slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid, outnumbering the 40% who said they are concerned about another term for Obama and a continuation of current spending policies.

Among independents, 47% said they are worried about a Republican takeover compared with 37% who are concerned about maintaining the status quo.

via Worries About GOP Taking Control.

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Georgia’s Harsh Immigration Law Costs Millions in Unharvested Crops

God forbid, a White Person pick a crop in Georgia!  That’s unheard of!  What were the Republicans in the Georgia Legislature thinking?

Oh, I should know by now not to use the words “thinking” and “Republican” in the same sentence…

Still, It’s really scary to see the results when the GOP actually gets to put their plans in action…

People really should realize by now that “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Republican.”

That is, if they want a job and a home tomorrow and don’t want to eat cat food in their old age…

Or now, if they want food in the Grocery Store….

From Megan McArdle in The Atlantic:

Jay Bookman provides some unsurprising news about Georgia’s illegal immigration crackdown: there are unintended, negative consequences.

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia…

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry….

The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than 11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.

The economics here aren’t particularly complicated, and I’m sure they won’t be new to the sophisticated readers of the Atlantic, but they are useful to look at and consider explicitly when thinking about issues like this.

It goes like this. If you’re not going to let illegal immigrants do the jobs they are currently being hired to do, then farmers will have to raise wages to replace them. Since farmers are taking a risk in hiring immigrant workers, you can bet they were getting a significant deal on wage costs relative to “market wages”. I put market wages here in quotations, because it’s quite possible that the wages required to get workers to do the job are so high that it’s no longer profitable for farmers to plant the crops in the first place.

via Georgia’s Harsh Immigration Law Costs Millions in Unharvested Crops – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic.

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