Religious beliefs need better boundaries

I stumbled across an insightful editoral from a California website about the difference between McCain and Obama on marriage rights.

Take a peek:

John McCain's support for the initiative to ban gay marriage in California - Proposition 8 - was predictable, given his conservative base of support. But Barack Obama's opposition, announced this week, was not a given. Nor is it a flip-flop on principle, as his opposition claims.

Obama and McCain both have said they believe marriage should be between a man and woman. They part company on the impulse to legislate their personal belief in a way that removes rights now granted to Californians in the state constitution.

Make no mistake. This is a civil rights issue. Under law, only marriage confers certain legal rights of inheritance, medical decision-making and child custody.

The distinction Obama makes between personal belief and what should or should not be law is in keeping with American political tradition. Many Republicans and Democrats over the years have personally opposed abortion, for example, but would not take away a woman's right to make such a personal decision.

Granted, this nuance of thought and judgment makes for an easy target for Swift Boat crews revving up their political engines.

It also makes for a better president.

Interesting, no? I've never said religious conservatives have to approve of my relationship to my partner ... but they do need to allow he and I the ability to protect ourselves and to be treated equally by law. Religious beliefs are just those - beliefs - they are not to dictate the boundaries of my existence!

Plant and Krauss kill the blues

One word: Amazing! Teacherman and I had the pleasure to venture down to Dodge Theatre - located in downtown Phoenix, surround by skyscrapers of various size and next to a glass courthouse of futuristic beauty - to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss perform. They're wrapping up their tour of the album, Raising Sand. The music was infectious, crawling into your bloodstream, making you think of jugs of moonshine swigged while balancing on rickety rails in a blues house in the backwoods of some crumbling Appalachian town. They started the concert with "Rich Woman", a sweet and sticky number, a song their mixed vocals wrestled nicely on. They took turns, Robert exiting stage left to give Alison a chance to soothe the audience with old hymnals, calling the faithful to pray. I pictured myself bathed in a soft white light, loved and alive, comforted by notes, asked to join the multitudes in worship ... of what exactly? It's incidental. The point is the music and it tickled the heart with banjo twang, electric violin and lullaby. Robert would then take his chance at center stage, bringing out the rocker in the audience, people who've lived their lives based on the ethos that life is meant to be lived fast and hard. We rocked and they rocked us. They would later sing songs of passion and heartache and with each new number I was swept by the power of music and it's message of simple, instinctive unity.

Obama opposes CA anti-gay amendment

Obama spoke up - like we all should - against religious conservatives' attempt at passing discrimination into the California Constitution by letter Sunday. He sent the letter to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. While never affirming the word "marriage" be given to gay couples, he has always been in favor of the legal benefits and rights of marriage being affored to these couples.

This from sacbee.com:

In a letter to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club read Sunday at the group's annual Pride Breakfast in San Francisco, the Illinois senator said he supports extending "fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law."

"And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states," Obama wrote.

While I feel Democrats fail at taking a stronger lead in this civil rights battle, his support is welcomed. Religious conservatives can take comfort in an Obama who also wants to keep Bush's faith-based initiatives, even going so far as allowing the firing of employees that do not comply with that particular church's beliefs.

This from the Washington Blade:

Obama does not support requiring religious tests for recipients of aid nor using federal money to proselytize, according to a campaign fact sheet. He also only supports letting religious institutions hire and fire based on faith in the non-taxypayer funded portions of their activities, said a senior adviser to the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe the new policy.

Bush supports broader freedoms for taxpayer-funded religious charities. But he never got Congress to go along so he has conducted the program through administrative actions and executive orders.

David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003 and later became a critic of Bush's commitment to the cause, said Obama's position on hiring has the potential to be a major "Sister Souljah moment" for his campaign.

This is a reference to Bill Clinton's accusation in his 1992 presidential campaign that the hip hop artist incited violence against whites. Because Clinton said this before a black audience, it fed into an image of him as a bold politician who was willing to take risks and refused to pander.

"This is a massive deal," said Kuo, who is not an Obama adviser or supporter but was contacted by the campaign to review the new plan.

I think this shows Obama's willingness to acknowledge the realities of the political landscape and a willingness to try and do what's right by both the left and the right. Personally, I think a church can hire or fire based on their religious beliefs if that church is not receiving funds from the government ... but regardless of the legality, should they ever deny a gay youth a bed at night if they run a community outreach program? I wonder what message that really sends and while I'm not Christian, from what I understand of Jesus' message to his followers, is that what he would do?

AZ Republicans send gay hate proposition to voters

Well, the Republicans in Arizona did it again ... they threw their gay and lesbian constituents under the proverbial bus to "get out the vote" for conservative, narrow minded thinkers. This past Friday, Senator Bee made the final vote, allowing the anti-gay amendment - which is what it truly is since it does nothing to strengthen or encourage marriage for straight couples - to go before the voters this November. So the fight begins anew ... and so I ask, are you registered to vote? Are you ready to stand up against the Center for Arizona Policy and their forcing their limited world views upon us, making actual life's difficulties - like protecting one's partner and family - even more difficult?

Speak up! Vote! And thank you Ken Cheuvront - my district's Senator - for speaking up so bravely for us. You are a true leader for gays and lesbians and for everyone really who wants a fair and just world.

Robots in disguise

Pixar is a true visionary in animation and storytelling. Their previous films Toy Story, its sequel, and others like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo capture the heart and dazzle the mind. Their newest film, released today, can be added to their impressive growing cannon. Wall-E is a delight from start to finish ... a film that asks the audience to accept our human tragedy while asking us to embrace our infinite hearts and yet oddly, it's a robot that will guide the way.

Wall-E is a trash compactor, left on Earth to do the dirty work of selfish humans who have made the ultimate mess of our planet. Hundreds of years have passed - the humans have fled into space - and one lonely robot finds company and fascination in our left over scraps, creating vast skyscrapers of compacted trash. He's developed an internal spark, a soul if you will and with the arrival of a sleek, speedy robot on a mission named EVE, he soon goes on an adventure that spans the galaxy, but needs in the end, only love.

The animation is breathtaking and my eyes popped and my inner child clapped at the humor and general softness and awe of the universe Pixar imbibed into the film. It reminds me Earth is our home and to take care of its creatures and ourselves is our greatest responsibility. The joys we share will only continue in a world treated with the utmost respect, a harmonious blending of the old and new. Wall-E isn't just a robot, but is really a metal prophet.

Grade: A

True Colors Tour dumps its rainbows in Phoenix

Well, Teacherman and I ventured to Dodge Theatre - a venue in downtown Phoenix - to join in on the True Colors Tour 2008. We were excited. The show started promptly at 6:30pm with Carson Kressley addressing the audience and then introduced the first act, The Puppini Sisters. They were a flashy 1940's-esque singing troupe. Not thrilled, we left for refreshments before they wrapped their set. Wanda Sykes was next with her delicious potty-mouth. My fav was Andy Bell of Erasure singing some old tunes like "Oh L'Amore" and some of his newer songs from his solo album, Electric Blue. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts rocked out next, but it was her getting continually shocked by her microphone and then getting pissed at the roadies that provided the most entertainment. The B-52's and then Ms. Cyndi Lauper herself rounded out the night, followed by a group sing-a-long for a finale with big bouncy balls pogoing up and down in the audience. Overall it was fun ... but I couldn't help but leave feeling depleted. It could have been the awful 5 hour sitting time but I think it was mostly the lackluster Phoenix audience that clipped my sails. They mostly just sat there, zombies that could do nothing but stare, sapped of any real emotion or energy. As Cyndi said: "I know it's hot, but come on!"

Ireland to offer civil union-esque bond-like law thingy

Ireland, that place of emerald green grass and rolling hills, is enacting a civil partnerships law for gay couples that should go into effect within a year. There is no assistance or legal protections however for adoption and marriage equality still seems far off ... but it seems like a breath of fresh air when living in Arizona and the best I could do to protect Teacherman were if I worked for the city of Phoenix and could add him to my insurance. Yeah! So generous my leaders and fellow citizens ... anyway, I digress.

This from herald.ie:

Gay and lesbian couples will have legal recognition of their relationships within a year, according to the Minister for Justice.

But the Government will not allow marriage or adoption for same-sex couples under the proposed laws.

Government ministers approved the heads of the Civil Partnership Bill yesterday.
The bill sets out a statutory basis for gay and lesbian couples to register their relationships.

It will give them legal rights in relation to sharing their home, pensions and taxation.

Couples who are aged over 18 years and who provide three months' notice will be able to register their partnership.

Agreement between both partners -- or court intervention -- will be required to end the partnership.

Civil partnership will not be available to couples of the opposite sex.

So thank you Ireland's government for acknowledging that yes, gay people do exist. Sheesh.

Mormons jump on ban-wagon

The LDS Church has decided to promote an amendment that would overturn the CA Supreme Court decision granting gay couples their long awaited equal right to marriage. This is disappointing, of course. I was raised Mormon. I understand the mentality. It's all very culturally narrow minded and very scripture specific ... but it's also very hypocritical coming from Mormons. This was the group who in their not so distant past had multiple wives, claiming God gave them a directive to do so. They fled the states to avoid discrimination and hostility and settled in the Salt Lake area. They only stopped practicing polygamy when their statehood was called into question. So, for those who sought to change the definition of marriage to allow for their realities to then try and ban monogamous gay couples from the protections and honor of marriage is beyond shortsighted and disregards their tumultuous history.

Civil rights group challenge CA amendment

A couple of creative civil rights groups in California are trying to get the California Supreme Court to force a proposed amendment that would undo the court's amazingly just decision to honor gay couples right to marry into having to be ratified by the state legislature before it can come before the people. They argue that by altering the fundamental equal protection guarantee the court based their decision on, the amendment is actually a revision of the constitution and that by law the proposed amendment must be approved by the legislature. We'll see if this new tactic will pay off. It seems pretty solid to my non-lawyerly view ... but who knows.

This November election is going to be such a freakin' nail biter!

DailyKos has more info ...

Night Thoughts

Want, want, want

the bang of drums ... a savage beat

in a broken heart

There's someone in the room ...

Aliens ... grays ... beings from beyond space and time. Are they real or just the paranoid delusions of people desperate for attention? I'm busy reading Whitley Strieber's The Grays, a fictional take on what he considers to be a real phenomena. Alien beings - hybrids really of both flesh and machine through countless eons of genetic manipulation - have discovered us and are in love in a sense, in love with our humanity, those pesky emotions that can so easily ruin our days, or even our lives ... but they have become void of emotions, genetically stamping them out in their species and their species is dying.

It's all very interesting ... scary at times. It's a decent read, a bit stiff. Strieber's Communion, his non-fictional take on being abducted by aliens, is a terrific read. It chills to the bone but what it also does is leave you lying awake, waiting for sleep - or aliens - to take you away and you become dwarfed at the idea of it, the huge UNIVERSE of it all, the never ending possibilities. So, any little gray men come for you at night?

Ice shelf breaks further in Antarctic

The Earth is headed for some major changes. I hear Al Gore preaching in my head as I walk to my truck, enduring another blistering day of 112 degree heat here in Phoenix. I can feel my eye lashes begin to curl. It ain't fun. Unfortunately, for the most part, I'd say my carbon footprint is still pretty wide, like a mid-game basketball player's shoe size. I do carpool but what else can I do? It feels like being human is pretty destructive most of the time, something is either being eaten, or sheared or tilled or smelted ... it's all very verby, our existences.

This from National Geographic:

Another large plate of ice has broken off the rapidly disintegrating Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula, the above satellite images show.

While the ice shelf, located directly below South America, shrank significantly in previous months, this is the first documented occurrence of an ice shelf collapsing during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite revealed that approximately 62 square miles (160 square kilometers) of ice detached from the ice shelf between May 30 and May 31. This most recent loss narrowed the strip to a width of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers).

The Wilkins Ice Shelf connects the islands of Charcot and Latady and protects many miles of Antarctica's ice shelves from additional collapse.

A trend of "extraordinary warming" over the past 50 years in Antarctica has caused the loss of several ice shelves, Matthias Braun of Bonn University, and Angelika Humbert of Münster University, said in a statement.

The researchers also warned that the last strip of ice on Wilkins would disappear soon.

"The remaining plate has an arched fracture at its narrowest position," they said, "making it very likely that the connection will break completely in the coming days."

Struggles for couples continue outside of CA

Living outside of California and wanting to get married there? Not so fast say nine gay rights groups. What happens next in terms of how we gays react in states outside of California will apparently have a big impact in the future of equality at home. While it's frustrating to have to wait, and beyond insulting to get to call your relationship "marriage" by name only, the reality of discrimination and the heads of stone some of our neighbors possess is an obstacle not so easily overcome.

This from the AP:

Worried that their court victory in California could be offset by defeats elsewhere, a coalition of nine national gay-rights groups last week issued an appeal — titled "Make Change, Not Lawsuits" — to gays and lesbians considering California marriages.

"Couples who want to should get married, call themselves married, and ask — sometimes demand — that family, friends, neighbors, businesses, employers and the community treat their marriages with respect," the statement said.

"But one thing couples shouldn't do is just sue the federal government or, if they are from other states, go sue their home state or their employer to recognize their marriage or open up the health plan," it added. "Bad rulings will make it much more difficult for us to win marriage, and will certainly make it take much longer."

Conservative legal groups opposed to same-sex marriage questioned whether that appeal would be heeded.

"We expect a large scale of lawsuits in various states across the country," said Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. "Obviously these groups want to go ahead in a cohesive strategy — but I don't think they'll be able to stop everybody."

Worried about possible legal chaos, attorneys general from several states asked California to postpone the start of same-sex marriage until after Nov. 4 voting on a state ballot measure that could ban such unions. The request was denied.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said litigation by newly married same-sex couples "should be an absolute last resort" — reserved only for cases where there is grievous injustice and a realistic chance of prevailing in court.

Minter also noted that same-sex couples marrying in California could find themselves with no efficient way to dissolve the marriage if it breaks down. States that don't recognize same-sex marriages might refuse to grant a divorce, and California — while lacking a residency requirement for marriage — does have one for divorces.

David Buckel, senior counsel for the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, said same-sex couples should be particularly cautious about marrying if one partner is not a U.S. citizen (deportation might result) or is in the military (dismissal could result under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy).

"With other couples, you've got to know what you're buying into," Buckel said. "Understand what you're going to face in your home state — understand that your own federal government requires discrimination against you by law."

Yet even in the face of non-recognition, Buckel said couples should be open about their marriage — for example when filling out forms to rent an apartment.

"You've got to be honest about it," he said. "That can be tough."

California gay couples marry tomorrow

California gay couples are heading to their county clerks' offices to pick-up marriage licenses or to get married tomorrow. Tuesday is the first day gay couples can freely marry and are now on the same social and legal footing as their heterosexual peers. This is a monumental occasion, something gay people from around the country can enjoy as California does not prevent people from outside states marrying in California. A lot of gay rights groups are urging couples not to sue their home states but to hold-off and use this opportunity to show our neighbors that we're no different.

Many couples plan on marrying tomorrow and county clerk offices are on the ready. This from Venture County Star:

Some counties are expecting hundreds of couples from California and other states to wait in long lines Tuesday to pick up licenses or to get married. Couples will be wed at a dozen stations set up in a large tent outside the Los Angeles County clerk's office in Norwalk, with ceremonies also being held in six district offices.

In Ventura County, same-sex marriages will begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday, performed in two rooms at the lower level of the Government Center's administration hall in Ventura. County clerk officials say they don't know how many walk-ins to expect, acknowledging that people frustrated by the wait in other counties could head to Ventura.

As of Friday afternoon 29 couples had made appointments to get marriage licenses, including two couples from Texas. County officials said the majority are same-sex couples. The number of appointments is about three times more than an average Tuesday.

About 11 couples are scheduled to be married that day at the Government Center.

Congratulations to all the happy couples celebrating their unions tomorrow.

Update: According to Pam's House Blend, some counties are offering marriage licenses to couples today beginning at 5pm.

Obama grabs nomination ... and a panda rocks the house

I know this is old news but to Teacherman and I on this island way out here in the Pacific Ocean, it's a revelation. Obama's victory in Montana and his extra delegates in South Dakota, despite Clinton's winning the state, more or less have made him the nominee for President of the United States for the Democratic Party. This is big news, exciting news ... he can do it. Change is possible. I do have to wonder though about his tax policy and what good will actually come of universal health care. I want these things but are they actually possible?

November is closer then we think. Gas prices continue to climb ... the economy remains sluggish at best. Will McCain with his war hero past win that autumn day? Or will Obama's soaring tongue that seems to grab the eager mind claim sweet victory? Time will tell.

As for Maui ... well, let's just say Hawaii is underrated. The air smells of sugar and eucalyptus leaves. The sky is like sapphires, with a hint of ruby at sunset. The ocean, well you know, the color of freshly mined turquoise. I miss you all and will be typing my heart out next week. I hope the past week or so has been kind to you.

Oh! If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda yet, see it! Hilarity and enlightenment will ensure.