Mexico City has said yes to civil unions for the queer communities. Thats just awesome. What are the chances Houston will do the same...Another reason for George W. Bush to build his wall along the Mexican border, those people coming across the border might think they can do the same to the United States.
-------------
Mexico City OKs Civil Unions
by Newscenter Staff
November 9, 2006 - 6:00 pm ET
(Mexico City) Mexico City's assembly on Thursday voted for the first time in the country's history to legally recognize gay civil unions, proving homosexual couples in the country's largest city with benefits similar to those of married couples.
The mayor was expected to sign the measure into law.The bill, which does not approve gay marriage, has been heavily criticized by the Catholic Church and conservative civil groups.The law allows gay couples to voluntarily register their union with civil authorities, granting them inheritance and pension rights and other social benefits.The legislative assembly approved the measure 43-17, with five abstentions, with all of the opponents from the conservative National Action Party of President Vicente Fox and President-elect Felipe Calderon.
The party is known for its opposition to abortion and its support for "traditional" families.
-= The Creative World of Coleman Wheeler =- http://www.angelfire.com/il/adventureclub/commend.html
11.10.2006
11.09.2006
No white flag, No surrender
The US election has helped highlight some of the differences between our two countries. For instance did you know the US National Anthem does not mention God. Did you know 
the Canadian National Anthem does. Beside all of us Standing on guard, we implore that God keep our land glorious and free!
The recent American mid term election was about George W Bush and Iraq, a war Canada choose not to participate in. Americans had lost faith on the war, in the President and his party. It was not the first time Bush was faced with a tough election.
Prior to the 2004 election the Republicans joined forces with Evangelical Christians to create another enemy closer to home. The President was calling for a Constitutional Amendment to prevent homosexuals from entering into marriages. It would destroy the American Family if homosexuals were allowed to foul the sanctity of marriage. The Republicans already the
party of choice for evangelicals consummated their marriage once again.
Petitions were started to to get measures on the ballot to ban gay marriages in State Constitutions. The reason, to get evangelicals out en mass to vote for Republicans and President Bush and a measure on gay marriage was icing on the wedding cake. In the States where votes to ban gay marriage were on the ballot, George W. Bush got extra votes and managed to deflect attention from his administrations failings in Iraq
and the War on Terrorism. It was a very clever strategy, if less than ethical.
Bush was re-elected, gays in many States were prevented from going to court to get the right to marry. Bush won, the evangelicals won, America lost 2836 soldiers and thousands injured, some 600,000 Iraqis have dead and no American knows where Osama bin Laden is.
Gay Americans were vilified in order to continue the Republican war. Even as the war on Terrorism was begun, highly skilled linguists, people trained in the languages used in the middle east were dismissed, they were unfit to serve, they were gay. Their dismissal handicapped the American Military severely, they had a shortage of people that could speak, read and understand the languages of those the US was at war with.
Canada while imploring God to keep us glorious and free has gone a different route than George W. Bush. Gays in Canada's military have married in Military chapels with the full support of the Canadian Armed Forces. Canada's largest protestant faith group, the United Church of Canada has accepted gays, lesbians, trans and bisexual people into the ministry, as partners in their faith.
Take the just released United Church advertising campaign.
Its catchy and meant to get your attention. Print ads that have a Jesus bobble head doll, whipped cream and two gay guys on a wedding cake.
The contrasts between Canada and the United States couldn't be more clear. Where there exists no formal separation of Church and State in Canada the practice of common law and the Charter of Rights prevent politicians from taking action as George W. Bush and Republicans have.
In fact any Canadian politician outside the province of Alberta would be soundly defeated were he or she an attempt to vilify a segment of Canadian society as American President George W. Bush has. More on Alberta in another blog in the future.
There will be a change in the USA toward more acceptance of Queer communities, it could be five years away or twenty, its up to us and the people elected.
The Democrats recent victory is a step toward a more inclusive America, Its not the answer though. Lots of education, lots of getting to know your neighbour is needed. Voters in Arizona have shown the way, follow it.
The rainbow flag has no white, no surrender.
The rainbow flag from Canuck Attitude
the Canadian National Anthem does. Beside all of us Standing on guard, we implore that God keep our land glorious and free!The recent American mid term election was about George W Bush and Iraq, a war Canada choose not to participate in. Americans had lost faith on the war, in the President and his party. It was not the first time Bush was faced with a tough election.
Prior to the 2004 election the Republicans joined forces with Evangelical Christians to create another enemy closer to home. The President was calling for a Constitutional Amendment to prevent homosexuals from entering into marriages. It would destroy the American Family if homosexuals were allowed to foul the sanctity of marriage. The Republicans already the
party of choice for evangelicals consummated their marriage once again.Petitions were started to to get measures on the ballot to ban gay marriages in State Constitutions. The reason, to get evangelicals out en mass to vote for Republicans and President Bush and a measure on gay marriage was icing on the wedding cake. In the States where votes to ban gay marriage were on the ballot, George W. Bush got extra votes and managed to deflect attention from his administrations failings in Iraq
and the War on Terrorism. It was a very clever strategy, if less than ethical.Bush was re-elected, gays in many States were prevented from going to court to get the right to marry. Bush won, the evangelicals won, America lost 2836 soldiers and thousands injured, some 600,000 Iraqis have dead and no American knows where Osama bin Laden is.
Gay Americans were vilified in order to continue the Republican war. Even as the war on Terrorism was begun, highly skilled linguists, people trained in the languages used in the middle east were dismissed, they were unfit to serve, they were gay. Their dismissal handicapped the American Military severely, they had a shortage of people that could speak, read and understand the languages of those the US was at war with.
Canada while imploring God to keep us glorious and free has gone a different route than George W. Bush. Gays in Canada's military have married in Military chapels with the full support of the Canadian Armed Forces. Canada's largest protestant faith group, the United Church of Canada has accepted gays, lesbians, trans and bisexual people into the ministry, as partners in their faith.Take the just released United Church advertising campaign.
Its catchy and meant to get your attention. Print ads that have a Jesus bobble head doll, whipped cream and two gay guys on a wedding cake.The contrasts between Canada and the United States couldn't be more clear. Where there exists no formal separation of Church and State in Canada the practice of common law and the Charter of Rights prevent politicians from taking action as George W. Bush and Republicans have.
In fact any Canadian politician outside the province of Alberta would be soundly defeated were he or she an attempt to vilify a segment of Canadian society as American President George W. Bush has. More on Alberta in another blog in the future.
There will be a change in the USA toward more acceptance of Queer communities, it could be five years away or twenty, its up to us and the people elected.
The Democrats recent victory is a step toward a more inclusive America, Its not the answer though. Lots of education, lots of getting to know your neighbour is needed. Voters in Arizona have shown the way, follow it.
The rainbow flag has no white, no surrender.
The rainbow flag from Canuck Attitude
11.08.2006
Set back on Equality
The US election was another that saw measures pass that banned gay marriage. In Virginia the bill not only banned gay marriage, it banned unmarried couples from benefits they may already enjoy.
Yet there is hope on the horizon though many people living in the United States could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. A heavy quilt of intolerance has been dropped on top of many seeking equality to be with whom they choose, gay or straight. It will be hard for many in the forseeable future.
One State bucked the trend and that was Arizona where voters voted against a constitional amendment banning gay marriages. This is the first time such an amendment has been defeated. New Jersey legislators have to come up with a Civil Unions bill to provide gay couples with all the same rights enjoyed by married straight couples. Massachusetts already allows gay marriage and Vermont has Civil Unions.
As America gets younger, more bills supporting gay marriage will pass. As the effects on unmarried straights caught in the cross fire are discriminated against, more support will build toward equality.
This is all down the road, lots of heart ache, pain and intolerance to endure until then. We must continue to keep the pressure on, to continue to educate voters. With the election of a Democratic led congress the idea of an amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting gay marriage is gone at least until the next election.
There is an old saying, " Your rights are only as good as the next election". Its time to dig in some more, to advance on our issues, to make equality a personal issue with all those we know, equality comes with electing people that understand you.
Yet there is hope on the horizon though many people living in the United States could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. A heavy quilt of intolerance has been dropped on top of many seeking equality to be with whom they choose, gay or straight. It will be hard for many in the forseeable future.
One State bucked the trend and that was Arizona where voters voted against a constitional amendment banning gay marriages. This is the first time such an amendment has been defeated. New Jersey legislators have to come up with a Civil Unions bill to provide gay couples with all the same rights enjoyed by married straight couples. Massachusetts already allows gay marriage and Vermont has Civil Unions.
As America gets younger, more bills supporting gay marriage will pass. As the effects on unmarried straights caught in the cross fire are discriminated against, more support will build toward equality.
This is all down the road, lots of heart ache, pain and intolerance to endure until then. We must continue to keep the pressure on, to continue to educate voters. With the election of a Democratic led congress the idea of an amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting gay marriage is gone at least until the next election.
There is an old saying, " Your rights are only as good as the next election". Its time to dig in some more, to advance on our issues, to make equality a personal issue with all those we know, equality comes with electing people that understand you.
Rumsfeld has resigned.
Rumsfeld has resigned.
Did he have a choice on this, I doubt it. I expect he offered the president his resignation sometime ago and Mr. Gates was in the background just in case the Republicans were stomped in the election. They were stomped and badly.
The prospect of having to set up a rollaway cot on the Hill likely was the writing on the wall for Donald. His fiesty and staunch republican partisanship made him public enemy number one. He was in the Democrats sites. Ironic it is that he choose to shoot himself. I would have thought he could have left that to Republican sharp shooter Dick Cheney.
He may still have some trips to the Hill to answer questions, but this time he will go not as part of Bush's administration but as a wealthy private citizen who made millions while in office as a shareholder in the company that makes the only available "Avian Flu Vaccine".
Now we will wait for the confirmation hearings or will the Republican lame duck Senate just rush this through?
One down many more to go...
WASHINGTON --President Bush said Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq
Did he have a choice on this, I doubt it. I expect he offered the president his resignation sometime ago and Mr. Gates was in the background just in case the Republicans were stomped in the election. They were stomped and badly.
The prospect of having to set up a rollaway cot on the Hill likely was the writing on the wall for Donald. His fiesty and staunch republican partisanship made him public enemy number one. He was in the Democrats sites. Ironic it is that he choose to shoot himself. I would have thought he could have left that to Republican sharp shooter Dick Cheney.
He may still have some trips to the Hill to answer questions, but this time he will go not as part of Bush's administration but as a wealthy private citizen who made millions while in office as a shareholder in the company that makes the only available "Avian Flu Vaccine".
Now we will wait for the confirmation hearings or will the Republican lame duck Senate just rush this through?
One down many more to go...
WASHINGTON --President Bush said Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq
11.07.2006
Its not free for Haggard or me
I have struggled over the Ted Haggard revelations in the last few days. I am angry he was such a strong and able opponent of mine, of my exsistance, yet at the same time it appears he is a gay man caught up in a homophobic society. I see it everyday in my work. Gay men recognizing they are gay after years of pretending to be straight.
They are broken people. They harbour great self hatred, they live a double life even if they never act on their desires. When I as a the gay resource they finally reach out to sees them, they are full of guilt, but can not take the stress of it anymore, of denying who and what they are.
Many of these men have families now, they have a wife, kids. They love their family and know that their situation is going to bring more pain before it gets better. They can not take it anymore. They are breaking down.
Rev Haggard choose to hide but its very likely he did so after hearing what his "christian pastors" told him of himself. I can guess where he came from. I recall sitting in the library of my high school, looking up homosexuality in 1975, I was in grade ten. I found very little there. What I found was a dictionary definition that said I was a pervert. I was a pervert before I had ever had any kind of sex. I was a pervert all alone in the world.
I could not tell anyone I was one of those people. Could you? Could Ted Haggard? I did take another route likely due to the strong family support I found at home. Likely because I was involved as a union activist where I knew I was okay. Likely because my parents did not take me to church.
Soulforce a gay supportive Christian group said this today ...
I was elated to tell you the truth when this was discovered. I knew it would send a blow to the Republican party, the party of closets. Yet I resisted posting on it until now. Rev Haggard was part of the established Christain base of the Republican party. He was part of the goal to politizise religion. He was part of a group of people that was hell bent on passing laws based on Christian faith. He was my enemy.
Ted Haggard Bashing Gays - from JESUS CAMP the Movie
In the days ahead we will see more. We will hear how he is reconcilling with his family and how it had become a key election issue. We may even find out in awhile he has left his family though you can expect there will be lots of repenting and pressure on him before that happens.
Current US laws may deny him unsupervised access to see his kids, deny him custody. His good christian friends like James Dobson of Focus on the Family will turn on him. They will pretend to be heartbroken, to have been deceived. He was a bad apple.
The Republicans are distancing themselves from Rev Haggard. Today he was someone not that involved in conference calls with White House Staff or the President. Its as if he was a nobody that just happened to lead the largest organization of Evangelicals in the country, its hard to find anyone that knew him well.
The land of the free, the live and let live society has another victim, another victim of the US Republican win at all costs war. I know there are Democrats too that would run from this issue. I also know there are Democrats that won't. If you are a gay American, a member of a minority, or you believe every life is precious, every person has a right to be who they are then you have a choice. Support George Bush, James Dobson and Jerry Falwel and get more of the same or vote for the Democrat. That will be moving America in a direction that will be more comfortable in making America the land of the free again.
They are broken people. They harbour great self hatred, they live a double life even if they never act on their desires. When I as a the gay resource they finally reach out to sees them, they are full of guilt, but can not take the stress of it anymore, of denying who and what they are.
Many of these men have families now, they have a wife, kids. They love their family and know that their situation is going to bring more pain before it gets better. They can not take it anymore. They are breaking down.
Rev Haggard choose to hide but its very likely he did so after hearing what his "christian pastors" told him of himself. I can guess where he came from. I recall sitting in the library of my high school, looking up homosexuality in 1975, I was in grade ten. I found very little there. What I found was a dictionary definition that said I was a pervert. I was a pervert before I had ever had any kind of sex. I was a pervert all alone in the world.
I could not tell anyone I was one of those people. Could you? Could Ted Haggard? I did take another route likely due to the strong family support I found at home. Likely because I was involved as a union activist where I knew I was okay. Likely because my parents did not take me to church.
Soulforce a gay supportive Christian group said this today ...
"Rev. Haggard is just one more tragic example of how lives are destroyed by the lies about gay and lesbian people perpetuated by the NAE, the Religious Right, and both the Protestant and Roman Catholic Church. Taught by the church to hate himself, the only option from his point of view was to lead a psychologically and spiritually damaging double life marked by denial and self-destructive behavior. Rev. Haggard is a victim of religion-based bigotry that regularly demeans and demoralizes gay and lesbian people and refuses to acknowledge that we are part of the American fabric, and that many of us form loving families and practice a deep faith in God."
I was elated to tell you the truth when this was discovered. I knew it would send a blow to the Republican party, the party of closets. Yet I resisted posting on it until now. Rev Haggard was part of the established Christain base of the Republican party. He was part of the goal to politizise religion. He was part of a group of people that was hell bent on passing laws based on Christian faith. He was my enemy.
Ted Haggard Bashing Gays - from JESUS CAMP the Movie
In the days ahead we will see more. We will hear how he is reconcilling with his family and how it had become a key election issue. We may even find out in awhile he has left his family though you can expect there will be lots of repenting and pressure on him before that happens.
Current US laws may deny him unsupervised access to see his kids, deny him custody. His good christian friends like James Dobson of Focus on the Family will turn on him. They will pretend to be heartbroken, to have been deceived. He was a bad apple.
The Republicans are distancing themselves from Rev Haggard. Today he was someone not that involved in conference calls with White House Staff or the President. Its as if he was a nobody that just happened to lead the largest organization of Evangelicals in the country, its hard to find anyone that knew him well.
The land of the free, the live and let live society has another victim, another victim of the US Republican win at all costs war. I know there are Democrats too that would run from this issue. I also know there are Democrats that won't. If you are a gay American, a member of a minority, or you believe every life is precious, every person has a right to be who they are then you have a choice. Support George Bush, James Dobson and Jerry Falwel and get more of the same or vote for the Democrat. That will be moving America in a direction that will be more comfortable in making America the land of the free again.
Vote for me
A straight ahead message for equality this election day.
On On this day in 1986, a "New York Times" editorial argues that society should not panic about AIDS because at this point "it's still overwhelmingly restricted to drug addicts, homosexuals, and Africans."
diebold voting machine
Are you voting on a diebold voting machine today? Princton University shows a test that might make you ask if your vote will count today.
Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine
Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine
Hacking Democracy
We have for years been hearing of vote box fraud in the United States. We all recall the votes not counted in Florida, about votes not counted for Al Gore, about people who have demostrated that Diebold voting boxes could be broke into in less than 10 seconds.
Below you will see the history of one woman's efforts to expose this fraud, and amazingly enough, nothing has changed. Americans who vote today will likely have their vote counted by software installed in voting machines that the local elections people are not allowed to review, that State elections people are not allowed to review.
In the end it means that Americans have cast their future to the hands of a large corporation, who refuse to disclose how it counts your vote. The company CEO even promised to deliver OHIO to President Bush in 2004, did they? Many people have taken to having their vote cast as absentee. At least then the vote is on paper. Thats a hard one for software to change.
The video's below are broken into about 9 minute pieces, 6 in all.
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 1
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 2
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 3
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 4
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 5
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 6
Below you will see the history of one woman's efforts to expose this fraud, and amazingly enough, nothing has changed. Americans who vote today will likely have their vote counted by software installed in voting machines that the local elections people are not allowed to review, that State elections people are not allowed to review.
In the end it means that Americans have cast their future to the hands of a large corporation, who refuse to disclose how it counts your vote. The company CEO even promised to deliver OHIO to President Bush in 2004, did they? Many people have taken to having their vote cast as absentee. At least then the vote is on paper. Thats a hard one for software to change.
The video's below are broken into about 9 minute pieces, 6 in all.
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 1
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 2
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 3
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 4
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 5
HACKING DEMOCRACY-(HBO) Part 6
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)