Romney on Marriage Equality in Iowa

Perhaps I spoke to soon in my hopes that the Iowa decision would not be a major 2008 election issue. Mitt Romney has already issued a statement on the decision saying:
The ruling in Iowa today is another example of an activist court and unelected judges trying to redefine marriage and disregard the will of the [...]

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Marriage Equality in Iowa–For Now

Judge Robert Hanson of Polk County, Iowa struck down the state’s decade-old anti-gay marriage statute this morning, finding that it violated the state constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses.
Gay couples across the state of Iowa are now free to apply for marriage licenses.
While I was excited to learn of this ruling for gay equality, [...]

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Ex-Cons Achieve Gay Equality Victory

Convicted drug dealers Daniel Mangini and Steven Roberts, who have been together for over 20 years, were dealt a victory in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last month.
After serving their time and sobering up in prison, the men were eager to reunite during their 5 year probation period. However, federal probation policy prohibits ex-cons [...]

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Comments on Criag and Closeted Gay Republicans

A Daily Dish reader writes the following with regard to Senator Craig and closeted gay conservatives who cruise for sex in public restrooms and the like:
Every time there is another “outing” of an openly anti-gay politician, I am surprised that the media are so perplexed. Is there, in fact, irony that a [...]

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A Random Look at the Bible

Today’s passage for the bibliomancers out there comes from Job 7:1-2:
Human life is like forced army service,
like a life of hard manual labor,
like a slave longing for cool shade;
like a worker waiting for his pay.

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What’s Going on in the Rest of the World: Armenia

From the Armenian news agency, Panorama:
The Azerbaijani parliament will adopt the military doctrine of the country in upcoming fall where Armenia will be mentioned as “Azerbaijan’s chief enemy,” Deputy of Azerbaijani Mili Mejlis Zahid Oruj informed in an interview to Day.az. Qualified as “a constitution in military,” the document shall include issues like safety [...]

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Afghan Opium Trade Hits New Peak

The Washington Post reports on a new UN report which found that Afghanistan is now the source of 93% of the world’s heroine and morphine supply.  The report notes, “leaving aside 19th-century China . . ., no country in the world has ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale.”
So much for our successful war.

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History of Civil Unions

From the University of Chicago Press:
A compelling new study from the September issue of the Journal of Modern History reviews historical evidence, including documents and gravesites, suggesting that homosexual civil unions may have existed six centuries ago in France. The article is the latest from the ongoing “Contemporary Issues in Historical Perspective” series, [...]

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Another Republican (Gay) Sex Scandal

Roll Call is reporting that Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) was arrested in June for soliciting gay sex in a public restroom.
Of course Craig is a ‘family values’ conservative who voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment and DOMA.
The whole conservative politician getting caught up in a (gay) sex scandal is getting a little old, but it [...]

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Congressman: Religious Freedom for Christians Only

Congressman Bill Sali (R-ID) believes religious freedom for non-Christians will remove “the protective hand of God” from the United States. Sali lamented religious pluralism saying, “we have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are [...]

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Evangelical Religion and Culture Leads to More Executions: Reuters

Reuters reports how the evangelical religion and culture in Texas is behind the state’s record number of executions:
Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the state’s conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old South and Wild [...]

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The Necessity of Marriage Equality

In Indiana:

Brett Conrad spent more than half his life as Patrick Atkins’ partner. For 25 years, the men shared bank accounts, apartments and eventually a home in Fishers.
But when Atkins, 47, fell seriously ill in 2005, Conrad faced what many gay Hoosiers consider a travesty: no law guaranteeing them the same rights as married couples [...]

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Mega Church Denies Funeral Service for Gay Veteran

The family of Cecil Sinclair, a gay man and a Navy veteran who served in the the first Gulf War, surely faced even greater grief after the High Point Church in Texas withdrew their offer to hold Sinclair’s funeral at the mega church after they learned he was gay.
Of course the High Point Church has [...]

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Christians Drag 15 Year Old Girl from the Back of a Van

A pastor at Love Demonstrated Ministries, a Christian Boot Camp in Texas is being charged with assault after tying a 15 year old girl to the back of a van and dragging her after she could not keep up with a run.
According to their website, Love Demonstrated Ministries, “strives to prepare young men and women [...]

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Hannah Arendt on Marriage

From Dissent:
The right to marry whoever one wishes is an elementary human right compared to which “the right to attend an integrated school, the right to sit where one pleases on a bus, the right to go into any hotel or recreation area or place of amusement, regardless of one’s skin or color or race” [...]

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Giuliani on Foreign Policy

Giuliani writes about his foreign policy vision in this month’s edition of Foreign Affairs, in a piece titled Toward a Realistic Peace.
I haven’t read the whole thing, so I won’t comment right now, but I must say I have a hard time believing any invocations of realism from Rudy after he hired Norman Podhoretz as [...]

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What’s Going on in the Rest of the World: Argentina

Today’s installment of What’s Going on in the Rest of the World comes from FT:
Graft Scandal Hits Kirchner Camp
Efforts by Argentina’s ruling party to launch an upbeat campaign to elect Cristina Fernández as president suffered an early setback on Tuesday as a leading opposition politician called for the resignation of a cabinet heavyweight accused of involvement in [...]

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More on Gays and Firefighters

I decided to do a little more investigation into my earlier piece on gays and firefighters. I learned the Thomas More Law Center is representing the firemen who are apparently suffering deep emotional trauma from having to be around a bunch of gays for a couple of hours against their will.
 
The mission statement of [...]

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Dialogue on the ‘Mos

I’ve written a response to someone who had responded to my earlier post on gays and firefighters.

He writes:
Thank you for your comments.
have a few questions for you based on your comments.
You said that “When will gays learn that they are only hurting their cause for mainstream acceptance by participating in lewd Gay Pride parades, in [...]

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Southern Baptist Seminary to Offer Degree in Homemaking

From AP:
The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers coursework in Greek and Hebrew, in archaeology, in the philosophy of religion and – starting this fall – in how to cook and sew.
One of the nation’s largest Southern Baptist seminaries, the school is introducing a new, women-only academic program in homemaking – a 23-hour concentration that counts [...]

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