"I don't want to be the governor who just proposes marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who lobbies for marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who fights for marriage equality. I want to be the governor who signs the law that makes equality a reality in the state of New York." - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, speaking at the Empire State Pride Agenda's annual fall dinner.
A three judge state panel convened to review an election contest brought by former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in his race against entertainer Al Franken (D) has dealt the Republican a serious setback in its ruling this afternoon. washington post
“Having Governor Schwarzenegger on board since the beginning made it easier to get other people,” Republicans Against 8 campaign director Scott Schmidt. “San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, L.A. sheriff Lee Baca. ... Big government shouldn’t be telling people who they can marry.”This was designed to bring people back to church, to fill the pews, to fill the coffers. It worked with local and state governments passing regressive laws prohibiting recognition of same-sex couples, health benefits, adoption, housing and employment rights, and more.
"Prop 8 is an unfair and unnecessary measure that would eliminate equal protections for same-sex couples and write discrimination into the California state Constitution," siad co-organizer Dana Rudolph, founder of LGBT-parenting blog Mombian. "As marriage equality spreads throughout the country, people in all states have a vested interest in making sure this hard-won right is protected."
"In my lifetime, I've seen discrimination," said United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, "and I see it again in Proposition 8." Regardless of your position on marriage, she said, vote against the measure to vote against discrimination.The fight to stop gay marriage is solely a religious one, made to support the coffers of churches. These institutions need fear to keep people in the pews and the donations coming in to fight these fears. Ironically, the church needs gays to keep fighting in order to keep the fears going.
While speaking into the camera, Howard has his beard shaved, dons a youthful red wig and puts on the kind of outfit he would have only worn as Opie Taylor in the '60s.
"I've never done this before and I hope never to do it again, but I guess you could say I'm feeling pretty desperate these days," explains Howard. "So as a demonstration of my sincerity, this is for you America."
Then, in black-and-white, Howard sits down in the woods to talk to "Pa": Andy Griffith. Griffith advises Howard-as-Opie that he'll be able to vote someday, so long as he eludes the butterfly ballot.
That's not the only old TV show revisited by Howard, who years ago traded child stardom for directing movies like "A Beautiful Mind" and this fall's "Frost/Nixon."
Another wardrobe change prepares him to step back into "Happy Days," the beloved show that ran from 1974-1984 in which Howard played Richie Cunningham.
Standing in front of a vintage car and clad in a leather jacket is Henry Winkler, once again with the unmistakable coif - and greaser demeanor - of the Fonz. Winkler, still having some trouble with his pronunciation, tells Howard this election is everyone's chance to right a wr-wr-wrong.
Stepping back out of character, Howard says he, Griffith and Winkler returned to their television roots to urge support for Obama and "really think through this important election."
have been a very calculated act. There is a website in Alaska, the state where Sarah Palin reigns supreme. The site is called Grizzly Bay and they don't like Sarah Palin or the republicans. Since the announcement that Palin was the VP running mate for the republicans, the people running Grizzly Bay website have had over 600,000 hits, most of them Sarah Palin supporters. These republicans have some very scary things to say..The similarity of tone and metaphor of the hate mails was uncanny. They were often infused with violent threats against bears and wildlife and often used the same violent metaphors. Threatening to “barbecue bears”, “eat bear steaks”, “shoot bears”, and “hang bears” up on their walls, Palin supporters were particularly virulent about describing the infliction of violence upon an animal that our website supports. It is not insignificant that the implication of these emails was that liberals and “demorats” should be barbecued right alongside the bears. As one Palin supporter wrote, “Too bad you dumb fucks can't be hunted from the air...now that would be sport”.
Since Palin has a pathological hatred of bears (and all wildlife), threatening to kill them became a common way for Palin supporters to express their support for her when writing to us – the authors of a website that comes up on the first page of a google search on “Sarah Palin”. We have gotten over 600,000 hits to our website in less than two months – which translates into lots of Palin supporters seeing the bear as a symbol of Palin opponents – or Obama supporters." - Grizzlybay.org
Too bad bears don't have the right to bare arms...
A bear cub was shot and dumped at the entrance to Western Carolina University. The cub appeared to have been shot in the head and had two Obama posters stapled together and pulled over its head.
“I don’t want to make it about politics,” he said this morning. “It is just a despicable act.”
Beachem is hoping the $500 reward will spur others to offer even more reward money that might lead to an arrest in the case.
It doesn't take much to figure out what the message is. Thankfully this is 2008 and not 1968.
er had this too say... 'They may not want to speculate on the perpetrator of this atrocious and bizarre act, but we will. Was it a Sarah Palin-lovin,’ moose-hunter out to make a statement? Was it a racist taking out his Obama rage on an innocent black bear?'
Retired factory worker Calvin Thomas of Ripley...
"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. After I finished, my daughter voted. When she pushed Obama, it went to McCain. It happened to her the same way it happened to me."
"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna. When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."
Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted. When she tried to vote for candidates running for two open seats on the Supreme Court, the electronic machine canceled her second vote twice.
