I could probably talk about this over at the King of Spades, but as it turns out, schools with anti-homophobia policies are safer…for all their students. Amazing.
But then again, according to Justice Scalia, we’re an “invented” minority, and thus don’t deserve equal rights.. I wonder when I first came into being?
And here’s the three articles that make me furious. An Iraq vet was booed at a city council meeting…because he’s gay.
A church in Tennessee kicks out a family…for supporting their daughter, who just happens to be a lesbian.
And lastly, an interracial couple gets assaulted, and has homophobic slurs thrown at them (they had been out with a gay friend), in New York City, which has this rash of homophobic attacks lately.
Well, this has been a depressing post. In happier news, I’m heading to a reading of “The Birdcage” tomorrow as a fundraiser for the Zoo (the flamingo enclosure, specifically), and this Saturday is the City of Play Festival. Come downtown to play some new games and run around downtown, it will be fun! And if the games aren’t fun, we’ll make it fun!
First up, I’m at a bit of a loss for words. Remember how the Catholic Church is strangely concerned with all of our private bits and the sex that we have? You know, with the “pro-life” stance and the marches and the protests and whatnot? Well, they can change that position as soon as it’s financially beneficial to them (you know, after basically killing the two children in this sad, sad story).
And just a reminder, open, legal, safe access to comprehensive health care (which includes abortion and family planning services), as well as marriage equality, results in more stable families.
Let’s see, quick update for everyone. First up, I finally found a cool voter resource. Put in your address, it pulls up your choices (down to local representative) and you can send to yourself an info page including polling place. Check it out here.
Seattle had an opt-out program for phone books, which was just declared unconstitutional. The courts say phone books are protected speech. I have to disagree, but we’ll see how this progresses.
Courts have also overturned a ruling, now saying that cities can place restrictions in place barring protests (think Westboro). As strange as it is, it’s probably better if cities cannot stop that kind of speech. But then again, when they protest, they always take the risk of being taken to task. And while that is what they want (they then sue to raise money), it is great to watch this takedown as Westboro protests a funeral of a solider (only because she was a lesbian).
A law that has lost in federal courts five times, which the majority of the country opposes, and Speaker Boener had to request a special amount of 1.5 million to defend is a giant waste of time. Now that he’s run out of money, he wants more, even after a year and a half of defeats. Colossal waste of money and time.
“Our Care and Social Media teams are fully engaged to make sure he’s well tended to. On behalf of the many Trekkers and Sir Patrick Stewart fans across our company, I can assure you, we will make it so.”
Maddow Blog has a follow up to a story about the lack of parades for vets coming home. Aside from St. Louis (which was entirely citizen-funded), there has not been a parade for any returning troops. But they can put together a parade in two days for Super Bowl champs. Sad.
And speaking of the troops, an artist has done a project entitled “The impact of war on a young person’s face.” Interesting stuff.
Virginia Senator Howell is amazing. When faced with a bill that now (I believe it passed) makes it mandatory for women seeking abortions to get ultrasounds, she proposed an amendment (which barely lost) requiring men to get a rectal exam and cardiac screening if they wanted to get a prescription for ED medication.
I’ve been meaning to post this before, looks pretty awesome:
Interested in SOPA/PIPA and what kicked it all off? Information is Beautiful took a look at the actual numbers, and they are a bit surprising, check it out.
I know some people are excited about this, but honestly, I don’t think they will end up being very good. Hopefully I’m proved wrong, but either way, DC is moving forward with the Watchmen prequel series.
Scientists are working towards making your internal monologue being able to be broadcast. While this will of course help medical technology a lot (think of those in comas, the deaf and those with developmental disabilities), but holy crap, that would be awful if my inner monologue was public. Then again, maybe the people who annoyed me would leave me alone finally.
JCPenny is redesigning all their stores. Interesting to see, especially since my local store is moving from one of the mall to the other, so it’s good timing for them at least.
Remember how Republicans love to campaign against voter fraud, the boogeyman that is not really a problem according to all studies, but it’s a good way to push through legislation that disenfranchises those who tend to vote democratic. But as it turns out, the latest verified case of voter fraud was by a Republican Secretary of State (of Indiana). Oh the irony.
But I got scared when he was just holding it with his chin at the end!
I’ve never been a fan of the Susan G. Komen foundation, mostly due to their sue-happy nature (any other charity that has the audacity to use the phrase “for a cure” or apparently the color pink faces a lawsuit). However, they recently dropped all funding for Planned Parenthood, a partnership which provided cancer screenings for women, all because one Republican in congress thinks their money goes to abortion. So let’s recap, again, what all Planned Parenthood provides (women, men and families):
Sooooooo, I’ve been incredibly sick as of late. But, always looking for the silver lining, I learned what I’m allergic to by being prescribed a massive dose of it! Yay!
So the CMS I use gave this article the same number as my college mailbox number, so exciting! So anyway, here’s some fun things for you:
Here’s the “official” 140 character description of LOST:
Check out this cool ad, although I’m honestly more impressed with a cell phone in a wooden shell:
I saw this on my phone, and it’s not circulating around Facebook. Mad Elf is amazing (and really high ABV), but I don’t know how much of a case Troegs’ has. Guess we will see.
Zombies are now walking on the Wisconsin State Capital in protest of Scott Walker! Check it out:
Listen, the first one of my friends who has kid around 6 or so (that’s just a guess), has to buy them this shirt:
No exceptions.
Well, this is infuriating. Also, alarmingly scary that over 30 states have laws like this.
So up in Maine, the Republican governor was so incensed by a mural depicting the labor in his state, he had it removed (which I guess is now angering the people who put up the money for it, but that’s a legal battle for another day). I think this is a fantastic way of protesting (it’s not a bad mural, although I’m not a huge fan of the colors used or art style, but hey, that’s not the point):
Infuriated by the police blaming the victim in sexual assault cases, in Toronto, a “Slut Walk” was organized, with over 2,000 people attending.
Copyranter wrote about a previous Hot Wheels installation, putting two giant kids on the side of the highway, watching the road like it was their track. This one is better though, and it’s been picked up by a lot of sites:
The giant news that has overtaken my twitter and Facebook feeds is that the next Batman will be doing some filming here in Pittsburgh, probably in July. Nerdist has a great article about the inevitable reboot that is set to happen after this third movie. Go over and read “Reboot Rage.”
First, I have to mention that one of the comments on YouTube brings up a good question, what about pajamas? But anyway, we had a group that was using the conference center that I was helping to get a quote and put together their permit for their stay. They actually split off from another group that used the same facility because the original group decided that women were in fact allowed to wear pants. As they were explaining their new name to me (so we could get all the paperwork straightened out), they were trying to pull me into the theological discussion. I quickly left under the guise of putting their check in the safe and drawing up their permit. Good gravy.
That’s it for now, hopefully I’ll continue to feel better, catch everybody later!
Gingrich would like to remind everybody that that marriage is between one man and one woman whom you abandon riddled with cancer on her hospital bed while you fuck the shit out of your mistress whom you later marry and cheat on with a third woman while screaming with Godly moral outrage about the infidelities of the president.
Bill Gates talks about this latest endeavor, eradicating polio around the world. My favorite quote however, is where he states the vaccine-autism link is an ‘absolute lie.’ I’ve never really listened to him speak for that long, but he is very well spoken. Maybe not as good as Steve Jobs, but better than what I had perceived he would be. Anyway, here’s the clip:
And lastly today, this is scary first, because of the oppression of expression (and bloggers) and two, because it is a reality that in some areas, certain ethnic groups have limited rights.
