Year End Cleanup . . . .

Some end of the year cleanup is in order, and how fitting it is to feature the bush administration.

From Bob Herbert of the New York Times we get:

Add Up the Damage
By BOB HERBERT - December 30, 2008

Does anyone know where George W. Bush is?

You don’t hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad.

We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is thrashing the Palestinians in Gaza. And the U.S. economy is about as vibrant as the 0-16 Detroit Lions.

But hardly a peep have we heard from George, the 43rd.

















When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip quietly out of town. There should be a great hue and cry — a loud, collective angry howl, demonstrations with signs and bullhorns and fiery speeches — over the damage he’s done to this country.

This is the man who gave us the war in Iraq and Guantánamo and torture and rendition; who turned the Clinton economy and the budget surplus into fool’s gold; who dithered while New Orleans drowned; who trampled our civil liberties at home and ruined our reputation abroad; who let Dick Cheney run hog wild and thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job.

_______________


The catalog of his transgressions against the nation’s interests — sins of commission and omission — would keep Mr. Bush in a confessional for the rest of his life. Don’t hold your breath. He’s hardly the contrite sort.

He told ABC’s Charlie Gibson: “I don’t spend a lot of time really worrying about short-term history. I guess I don’t worry about long-term history, either, since I’m not going to be around to read it.”

The president chuckled, thinking — as he did when he made his jokes about the missing weapons of mass destruction — that there was something funny going on.

Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel prize in economics, also of the New York Times now weighs in:

Looking for a word
December 31, 2008

Unusually, I’m having a vocabulary problem. There has to be some word for the kind of person who considers his mild discomfort the equivalent of torture, crippling injury, or death for other people. But I can’t think of it.

What brings this to mind is this from Alberto Gonzales:

"I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."

This reminded me of Laura Bush’s remark on carnage in Iraq:















"And believe me, no one suffers more than their president and I do when we watch this."

Remember this. And remember, too, that for long years these people were considered heroic patriots, defenders of the nation.

And now it is time for them to go away . . . .

Bungling Bennie . . . .

This one's too easy, I'm not even going to bother:

Pope issues Christmas plea for end to child abuse Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:01pm EST By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas at a midnight mass Thursday in which he appealed for an end to child abuse in all its forms.

Enjoy your various and assorted holidays, all.

No, seriously.

Hope you all are warm, dry and with loved ones . . . .

'Ya Just Can't Believe steve . . . .

Others more informed and educated than I on Canadian politics will no doubt give excellent commentary and analysis on harper's Senate appointments today.

To point out one glaring untruth in the press release from the Prime Minister's Office, however, check this out:

Harper said in the news release that the vacancies had to be filled “in order for the Senate to transact legitimate government business.”

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Senate an integral part of Parliament? And, with the Parliament prorogued at stevie's request, just what the hell is the "legitimate government business" stevie's referring to?

Question for those more educated on Canadian government than I: Can the Governor General refuse to confirm harper's nominations based on the fact that Parliament is prorogued ? ? ? ?

Winter Wailings . . . .

Our local news broadcast this evening included a report from a Boston, MA correspondent commenting on the severe winter weather gripping the northeast US.

It showed a clip of a man on his way to church whose vehicle ended up in the emergency median and couldn't move. He was quoted saying: "The Lord was driving!"

Wonder if The Lord had bothered to get snow tires and/or chains installed prior to taking the spin?

Just askin' . . . .

"Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to War We Go!" . . . .

Per Reuters today:

Up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in Afghanistan by summer
Sat Dec 20, 2008 - By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) - The United States is aiming to send 20,000 to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by the beginning of next summer, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday.

Washington is already sending some 3,000 extra troops in January and another 2,800 by spring, but officials previously have said the number would be made up to 20,000 in the next 12 to 18 months, once approved by the U.S. administration.

"Some 20 to 30,000 is the window of overall increase from where we are right now. I don't have an exact number," Admiral Mike Mullen told reporters in Kabul.

_______________


U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged a renewed focus on Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

The United States now has some 31,000 troops in Afghanistan.

______________


Mullen said beefing up U.S. forces in Afghanistan was linked to winding down in Iraq.

"Available forces are directly tied to forces in Iraq. As we look to the possibility of reducing forces in Iraq over the course of the next year, the availability of forces to come here in Afghanistan will increase," Mullen said.

INDIA-PAKISTAN

Mullen said the attacks by Islamist militants in Mumbai last month showed the need to reduce Indian tensions with Pakistan and that would help bring stability to Afghanistan.

"That's another big piece of the strategy, what I would call regional focus to include Pakistan, Afghanistan and India ... leadership in all three of those countries to figure out a way to decrease tensions, not increase tensions," Mullen said.

Well, yes, that's perfectly clear.

We'll just pump MORE troops into a volatile area. THAT should "decrease tensions", huh?

Is there an end to this lunacy in sight ? ? ? ?

"Inclusive" Is One Thing. "Homophobic" Is Another . . . .

Damn, I wish Kucinich or Feingold would have had the proverbial "Snowball's Chance in Hell" of getting elected President . . . .

"Goodbye George" from McClatchy . . . .

McClatchy's Washington Bureau bids an early farewell to george bush today.

Commentary: Bush makes a farewell tour. Good riddance

Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

December 18, 2008

We've been treated to a real spectacle this week as President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney limped into the home stretch of their Magical History Tour, employing distortions, half-truths and untruths in a final, desperate attempt to pervert or somehow prevent history from judging them accurately.

_______________

The great gray eminence himself, Dick Cheney, of no known address, went on national television pleading guilty to committing a war crime. Yes, Cheney said, he participated in the White House discussions on the use of torture in the interrogations of suspected terrorists. Yes, he said proudly, he approved the use of such outlawed practices as water-boarding, the simulated drowning of bound and helpless prisoners to make them talk. So what?

Photo credit: Kevin Seirs of the Charlotte Observer

_______________

Over in the White House, the president was busy signing a flood of executive orders opening the gates to oil drilling on massive chunks of previously protected public lands in the West; protecting big corporations from lawsuits in state courts when their products harm or kill innocent Americans, and generally giving his fat cat friends one last shot at looting a national Treasury of any remaining table scraps.

The president and his spinmeisters keep talking about how, with the passage of time, historians will come to judge his presidency a huge success, much as history has come to judge the administration of Harry S. Truman.

Balderdash. Or as I much prefer to say in situations like this: Bullshit!

_______________


Bush told his War College audience that of all the things he loved about the job, he was proudest of all of his role as their commander-in-chief.

Why then did he and his minions oppose virtually every attempt to reinforce their numbers and shorten the time they spent in Hell? Why did they oppose virtually every attempt to increase their pay and their benefits, and those of millions of American veterans of these and other wars?

How could so proud a commander sit idly by while soldiers and Marines were sent off to war without the armored vehicles and body armor they so desperately needed in this new kind of war?

How could his administration pinch pennies when it came to funding and manning the military hospitals that treat the thousands of wounded troops flowing home from his wars?

How can this man talk about making the world a safer and freer place by his actions when so much innocent blood has been shed by civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan? When millions have been turned into homeless refugees inside and outside Iraq? When America is left with far fewer friends and allies among the nations of the world?

The only good news left to us this gloomy, cold December is that we only have to put up with this wretched spectacle for another 30 days or so.

George W. Bush should make a hurry-up call to his architect and see if it's not too late to substitute firing slits for the ground floor windows in his new Presidential Library in Dallas.

Good-bye George, and good riddance.

Well done, Mr. Galloway.

Well done . . . .

Canadian Health Care, Take 2 . . . .

And further to the Canadian health care system, as it has applied to me so far:

Upon my first visit to my new General Practitioner back in October, he recommended me to a dermatologist to get some things checked out. It took 6 weeks to get the appointment - not unlike the time frame for the same specialist back in Florida.

Today was the appointment and it once again was a 3-bus, 24 minute trip to the office. The appointment was for 1:00, I got in to see the doctor at 1:03, and he came in the room before I even had my jacket off. After checking everything out, he sprayed some liquid nitrogen on a few things, wants a "procedure" visit in January for another item and sent me on my way. All told, a 12 minute visit with the doctor who was very pleasant. When I asked him if I had to do anything special for the areas he had sprayed today, he says: "Just don't drink any alcohol for three weeks." I looked at him with obvious puzzlement and he says: "Kidding! Just kidding!" Thank the Universe! Talk about your withdrawal agony . . . .

At any rate, the whole trip was like an hour and half with very efficient results. Oh, and BTW, no charge as it's included in our BC health plan which costs us $96 a month for both of us. Not bad, eh?

Thus far we are very happy with the health care in our new home. Granted, my stuff has been pretty routine at this point. Our blogger friend mseh has had some specialist issues in New Brunswick which haven't been great, but so far so good for us.

We hope it stays that way . . . .

Bail! Bail! . . . .

In honour of what appears to be an impending Big Three bailout, this ad may come in handy:


H/T Dana

(Cross-posted from The Galloping Beaver)

Canadian Blog Award Results . . . .

Not surprisingly, we failed to win the Best GLBT blog award in the Canadian Blog Award 2008 results. We came in fourth place out of five. Thanks to those of you who cast votes on our behalf. Actually, being nominated at all was a complete surprise, and we felt good about that.

Our congrats to the winner, Slap Upside the Head (which is an excellent blog if you haven't checked it out) and all the other candidates . . . .

Winter Wonderland . . . .

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's actually not winter yet. Looking outside this morning you couldn't prove it by us, however.



This is the first opportunity for the "Four Footed Child" to actually see snow. She was quite hesitant at first, but quickly got into the spirit and thoroughly enjoyed romping around in it . . . .





There 'ya go. Pretty nice to see once in a while, but it can go away now . . . .

Animal Educators . . . .

Okay. I'm a sap for animal - especially dog - stories. A friend sent me one of those multi-forwarded emails this morning and it's a good one for dog lovers. I have no idea of authenticity, as it does not show up in snopes.com urban legend clearing house. At any rate, enjoy as I did:

After the tornado ( Greensburg , Ks.)

THIS IS SUCH A NEAT STORY

The story begins with the rescuers finding this poor little guy they named Ralphie. Someone had already taken him under their wing but weren't equipped to adopt.













Ralphie, scared and starved, joined his rescuers...













I wouldn't think anything could live through this.... but we were wrong.













This little lady also survived that wreckage.













Here she is just placed in the car - scared, but safe.













and then..they are no longer alone!













Instant friends, they comforted each other while in the car.













Add two more beagles found after that...
the more, the merrier!













Oh boy, a new traveller to add to the mix...
(Note: the cat coming over the seat needing shelter...)













Now just how is this going to work? (and remember they are all strangers to one another )













It's going to work just fine, thank you very much!




Wow! The things we learn from our animal friends...
If only all of mankind could learn such valuable lessons as this. Lessons of instant friendship. Of peace and harmony by way of respect for one another -- no matter one's color or creed.
These animals tell you... 'It's just good to be alive and with others.

If only our elected political leaders would take a few lessons from our four-footed friends . . . .

(This post in honour of our "Four-Footed Child's 7th birthday today. She sends a wag of her tail and a wink of her big brown eyes your way . . . .)

Boys Night Out . . . .

No, not in the queer bars - we're past that stage in our lives. "drf" and I joined 4 other friends for a trip to the Pacific Coliseum to see our first professional hockey game last night. Although speaking of queers, half of our group would have been quite pleased if a locker room trip after the game had been included in our ticket price. But I digress . . . .

The Vancouver Giants of the WHL (Western Hockey League according to a young lady seated next to me) hosted the Seattle Thunderbirds. As luck would have it, the Giants annihilated the Seattle team by a score of 7 to 3 - Yay for our side! The last time either "drf" or myself had seen a live hockey game was in Atlanta, Georgia when the Flames were still there back in the late '70's. We both agreed that the Pacific Coliseum venue was much preferred to the large - at the time - Omni in Atlanta. At least you could actually follow the action and the puck here. We'll definitely attend more games as our life here progresses. (Perhaps next time we'll bring our pom-poms and join the limited cheer leading squad as they could use a little help.)

It was also announced prior to our leaving the strata for the game that local crooner Michael Buble has purchased a minority ownership interest in the Giant's operation. We're thinking the singing of "O Canada" may have some new talent featured in the very near future . . . .

That Didn't Take Long, Did It ? ? ? ?

Oh, goodie!

Only 20 years later, victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill ecological disaster start getting some $$ in restitution.

Pitiful.

Per the Anchorage Daily News:

Exxon Valdez spill payments reach claimants

Although less than hoped for, plaintiffs begin to receive share of $383 million in damages.

By WESLEY LOY

The millions of dollars Exxon Mobil Corp. has surrendered as punishment for the Prince William Sound oil spill have started hitting the streets, nearly 20 years after the disaster.

Several commercial fishermen who joined in the lawsuit against Exxon reported receiving direct deposits in their bank accounts Monday. Paper checks are expected to go out in the mail in the next week.

The payments mark the beginning of a process to distribute $383 million among nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and Exxon continue to battle in court over whether the oil company owes interest on the punitive damages award. If so, the interest could roughly double the total payout.

_______________


Exxon long held that it didn't owe punitive damages, arguing it already had spent $3.4 billion as a result of the spill including compensatory payments, cleanup payments, settlements and fines.

Over the summer, however, the U.S. Supreme Court said the company owed up to $507.5 million in punitive damages.

_______________


An Anchorage jury originally decided in 1994 that Exxon owed $5 billion for the 11-million-gallon oil spill, which disrupted many of the state's commercial fisheries and sullied miles of beaches. Over many years, however, Exxon's lawyers succeeded in whittling down the amount to a fraction of the jury award."

Everybody's very disgusted because of the process and the whacking we got from Exxon and the Supreme Court," Mullen said. "Nobody's thrilled, but nobody's going to send the check back, either."

In recent weeks, lawyers for the plaintiffs filed long lists in court specifying the amount to be paid to each claimant. Most of the amounts range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, but some exceed $100,000.

Lawyers will deduct about 22 percent from each payment as compensation for pressing the epic class action against Exxon.

Well, well, well.

Only 22%.

That seems fair, don't you think? Typically the barristers would be demanding 50% . . . .

Changing of the Guard . . . .

Tuesday humour, courtesy of Jim Morin of the Miami Herald:

On a Web and a Prayer . . . .

According to an article in the New York Times this week there's hope for bloggers out here in the "internets" after all:

If You Post It, They Will Pray
By ALLEN SALKIN - November 30, 2008

LET us pray that Steve will be receptive.

On the Web site prayabout.com, Steve’s wife, whose online profile notes that she is a Catholic from St. Charles, Mo., asked other users of the site to submit prayers that her husband will listen to his psychiatrist. She also asked for prayers that the psychiatrist will “see that my husband has major issues that need to be worked on ASAP.”

The post received 19 prayers in response. Jaqueline1712 from India asked Jesus to heal Steve’s broken spirit. A user from Kentucky, whose profile photo shows her hugging a baby, prayed that God would take away Steve’s anger.

“Give this family hope!” wrote Mr.Dan2, of New Mexico.

Prayer has found a home on the Web. Sites such as prayabout.com and ipraytoday.com have recently joined longstanding toll-free telephone services that allow anyone to request, for free, that strangers pray for them.

_______________


The most common prayers are for physical healing, Ms. Brown said. The second-most requested prayer is usually for inner peace, but, unsurprisingly, there has been a major uptick in the last few months in prayers about financial concerns.

The economy is clearly on the minds of users of prayabout.com, which made its debut a year ago and is not affiliated with any religion (although an advertiser is a Christian dating Web site).

One user, mmlgallow, requested prayers for his family business. “Please Father let our business pick up enough to pay our bills and break even so that we do not lose our home. I would also like to pray for the employees that we had to lay off that business picks up enough to bring their jobs back.”

_______________


Not everyone is playing nice. “There have been a lot of attacks on the site from militant atheists,” Mr. Desai said. “They have tried to exploit the site to spread their message.”

Instead of answering prayers, the atheists point to the Web site Godisimaginary.com. The site urges nonbelievers to spread the word by posting links to Godisimaginary on forums, blogs and news groups.

_______________


Believers believe.

Paige Maurer Wheeler, the founder of ipraytoday.com, said the idea for the Web site, which she started last year from her home in Phoenix, came to her in a dream. “I told my husband, ‘I’m going to start a prayer Web site and we’re going to show the power of prayer.’ He said, ‘O.K.’ ”

Ms. Wheeler said she now has thousands of registered users and a stock of testimonials.

“We had a 78-year-old woman fall off a stool,” she said by telephone. “She was paralyzed. Her friend wrote in and said, ‘Pray for Marsha.’ And there she was, the next day, walking.”

MS. Wheeler said the stock of testimonials would be deeper, but her Web site programmer lost a lot of her data.

Which proves the old maxim true: "Garbage in, garbage out" in 'puter land.

Speaking of 'puter land and the "internets," our lowly blog has actually made it to the final round of the Canadian Blog Awards.

Unreal.

You can vote here if you're so inclined . . . .

(H/T "drf")

We'd Like to Thank . . . .

whoever nominated us to the Best GLBT Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards. You can vote here if you're so inclined.

"We are not worthy, we are not worthy", but, gee, we're touched.




Kind of makes us feel like real Canadians . . . .

Home Again . . . .

Two and a half weeks after leaving Vancouver for a tour of the Southeast US, it's great to be back home.

A photo log of some of the sites for your enjoyment:

No, that's not snow on the beach -
That's the actual colour of the sand
in our part of Florida.

An early morning fog over our bay.

Huge lake north of Atlanta showing how low the
water levels are. Shades of things to come.

In case you're not familiar, this is actual
cotton growing in South Alabama.

Cotton-pickin' equipment

The last sunrise over our Florida bay
prior to returning home

Best shot of all - out our balcony window
on my first morning home. Looking toward
the holiday-decorated Hotel Vancouver.

Home sweet home, indeed . . . .

The Real Morning in America . . . .

A good friend from California sent this, and it's worth sharing:

One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine looked at the man and said, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.'

The old man said, 'Okay' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.'

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U. S. Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?'

The old man looked at the Marine and said,

'Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.'

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'See you tomorrow.'

Gotta love it . . . .

(H/T Paula)

US Enviable ? ? ? ?

While perusing Progressive Bloggers yesterday this post by Paulitics caught my eye. It deals with the impression inside the US that the rest of the world envies them.

Quite well done.

Check it out . . . .

Texas Two Step . . . .

To keep you up to speed, here's what's been going on:

I left Vancouver on Tuesday - yes, the day of the US election - for some time in our Florida residence. (Would anyone like to take it off our hands?!?!) The weather here has been glorious, as I expected it to be. Autumn in this part of the world is typically spectacular - barring any tropical storms.

So, I got to see the election results while actually being in the country involved. No big surprise, but at least the outcome was a positive one in light of the alternative. Now, let's hope Mr. Obama can deliver on his promise of "change." The proof will be in the results.

The following two video compilations have crossed my radar screen since arriving here, and I wanted to share them with you. They are indicative of some of the reasons "drf," The Four Footed Child, and myself felt compelled to leave this place for a better place. Coincidentally - or perhaps not - both take place in Texas, home of an infamous current - and soon to be former (we hope) - President.






And then this.

So. As I stated in a "queerie" posed by our friend MSEH in her upcoming ex-pat analysis:

As for actually moving back because of Obama's election, the answer is an emphatic "No." Granted, given the alternative, his election is an improvement and a BIG improvement over the past eight years. However, the US corporate power structure has taken decades to become entrenched, and a 4-year or 8-year Obama administration will not and can not substantially change that situation. That said, what would be the benefit to returning to the States? Nothing will be fundamentally different than it has been during my lifetime. There will still be a focus on military might, a lack of caring for it's citizen's welfare, gross inequities in income levels and a tendency to inject religion into politics and government.

We didn't make the decision to apply for Permanent Resident status and eventual Canadian citizenship on a whim. The two-plus year process gave us plenty of time to reconsider should we have had doubts.

Canada is by no means perfect, but in comparison to the US it's no contest for me.

I'm staying right here, thank you very much.

Is it any wonder we left?

I think not . . . .

1 Year Anniversary . . . .

Hard to believe, but today is the one year anniversary of "drf" and I receiving our Canadian Permanent Resident status.

The over two-year process from submitting our application to receiving the status was an exercise in learning patience and how to wait for long periods with absolutely no word on what was going on. Due to the advice of our other immigrant family members we made it through with our sanity intact.

To those in the audience still undergoing the process, rest assured the wait is worth it . . . .

Juror Jilts Stevens for Nag . . . .

ted "Series of Tubes" stevens loses out to a horse race.

From McClatchy today:

Stevens juror left for horse race, not father's funeral

Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers - November 03, 2008

WASHINGTON — Juror No. 4 in Sen. Ted Stevens' federal corruption trial, otherwise known as Marian Hinnant, didn't leave to attend her father's funeral in California, as she told the judge at the time.

Instead, Hinnant had a plane ticket to see the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park and didn't want to miss it, she told the judge Monday, in what sounded like completely irrational and perhaps even delusional remarks.

"I just wanted to go to the Breeders' Cup," she told reporters after a hearing the judge held to find out why she'd left town and lost contact with him, forcing him to replace her just hours before the jury found Stevens guilty.

Hinnant also told reporters that she would have found the Alaska senator guilty had she remained on the jury.

"He was guilty, but these other guys are just as guilty," she said, referring to other members of Congress.

_______________


Hinnant, 52, told reporters that she works at Avis car rental in Union Station in Washington. She worked in horse racing for many years and simply wanted to see the race, since she already had a plane ticket to California.

Somehow, this sounds very appropriate to me.

After all, stevens' daily double of stupidity is exacta what caused the dam trifecta of this blow out of a court case to break down. You would have to have had blinkers on to not see the prosecution breeze to a guilty verdict and put 'ole ted on a fast track pace to a stint in the pokey place.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away there . . . .

Here Comes the Judge . . . .

Looks like bushco has encountered a bit of a snag:

Per Reuters this morning:

Judge tells White House to release wiretapping docs
Sun Nov 2, 2008 12:27pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration must give to a federal court documents related to government wiretapping of domestic communications without a warrant after the September 11 attacks, according to a recent court order.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy signed the order on Friday requiring the U.S. Justice Department to provide the court for private review certain documents that were sought in lawsuits filed by the civil liberties groups.

Kennedy ordered the administration to provide the documents from the White House Office of Legal Counsel by November 17, and said he will review them in private to see if their release would endanger national security.

_______________


The White House and the department could not be reached for comment.

Poor gw.

Too bad he can't just slink away in quiet infamy.

Chuckle, chuckle . . . .

Write to Marry Day . . . .

Methinks the queer-police are going to revoke my membership in the community as our straight friend Alison had to advise me of this campaign. Once she clued me in, I shamelessly plagiarized the following post from Gay Persons of Color with a slight revision to accommodate my Florida roots:



Today, 29 October 2008, bloggers around the world are participating in the "Write to Marry Day" in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples and against California's Proposition 8, a measure on the state's November ballot that would take away the right of same-sex couples to marry. Also - on a personal note - my US residence state of Florida has an anti-gay Amendment 2 on the ballot.

The right for equality in marriage is not an issue of a minority group, i.e the LGBT community, pushing its agenda for self-serving purposes. This is a universal principle that seeks to assure that all citizens of a nation are treated in the same way, regardless of race, sex, creed, and whom they love. Without this equality, no one's rights can ever be secure.

I've already cast my Florida ballot - Please do the same in your designated polling place . . . .