Our neighbors to the north are once again leading the way in civilty. Canada has passed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage! “Supported by most members of the Liberals, the Bloc Qu?b?cois and the NDP, the legislation passed easily, making Canada only the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to officially recognize same-sex marriage.”
It’s sad that the United States is lagging behind these countries in regards to social liberalism. I know that, eventually, we’ll get there. But we should be leading the world! Not falling further and further behind.
What in the world is wrong with Republican politicians from Colorado? It seems that many of them have major latent racist tendencies. I’ve already written about Tom “Mexicans Will Kill Your Grandchildren” Tancredo. Today, we have a choice quote from Senator Wayne Allard:
In fact, Sen. Allard, R-Colo., said the legislation would make Weld County more dangerous for his constituents. He said illegal immigrants bring prostitution and drug trafficking with them. About illegal immigrants, he said, ‘They’re all the same bad characters.
‘The more illegal immigration you have, the more crime you have,’ Allard said.
Why does the topic of illegal immigration bring out the inner racist in these people?
(via Colorado Pols)
Wired is running a very educational page of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding stem cells. This FAQ is a great way to get up-to-speed on what stem cells are, how they’re collected, what they do, and the controversies surrounding them. In my opinion, this should be required reading before discussing stem cells or the debastes around them.
This gallery of photos shows exactly why I could never live in Kansas: it’s too damned scary! Here in Colorado, bad weather means a major snowstorm or some hail. But not tornadoes! I refuse to live anywhere that tornadoes routinely strike. They scare the hell out of me!
He didn’t mean to, butBill O’Reilly highlighted one major difference between neo-conservatives and progressives with his vile suggestiong that Air American Radio staffers be arrested. O’Reill stated, “So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they’re undermining everything and they don’t care, couldn’t care less.”
O’Reilly’s comments illustrate that neo-conservatives do not believe that anyone who disagrees with them should be allowed to speak. Neocons are all for silencing disagreement in any way possible, using any conceivable reason. Progressives, on the other hand, believe the exact opposite. We even support O’Reilly’s right to make such absurd statements.
One wonders if he realizes just how bad this statement makes him sound.
Okay, this big guy is ultra-cool. It is a big blue bear sculpture that will be constructed at the Colorado Convention Center. The sculpture will be set up outside the Convention Center against one of the glass walls of the building. As the image demonstrates, it will appear that the bear is looking into the Center to see what is going on inside.
I love this city!
I’m late writing about the proposed flag-burning amendment. This is mostly because I cannot believe that an amendment was re-introduced. I thought that we had already dealt with this issue last decade! Burning the flag is a despicable act, but it is also constitutionally-protected free speech. Banning this act would be restricting our First Amendment rights. This amendment would destroy one of the ideals that the flag stands for in an effort to protect the flag. Which just doesn’t make sense.
Well, it didn’t take long to to find a good reason to vote for Bill Ritter for Governor of Colorado in ‘06: He has an extremely balanced and educated view of reproductive rights:
However, voters do have a right to know where I stand on this issue. I am pro-life as a matter of personal faith. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision of whether or not to legalize abortions reverts to the states, and if the Colorado Legislature passes a bill banning abortion, I will sign the bill only if it provides protections for women who are victims of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother. However, should the Colorado Legislature pass a complete ban without these protections, I would veto that bill. That said, Roe V. Wade is the law of the land and abortions are legal. As Governor I will act in the same way I did as DA. I will respect the law as it stands, and I will not act to undermine the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion. For example, as Denver DA, I prosecuted those who caused damage and created disruption at family services clinics.
I do believe that there is much to be done in our society, and in our state, to make abortions rare. In the area of teen pregnancy prevention, greater efforts can be made in educating our youth. We can examine the adoption policies of this state and look for ways to support girls and women who find themselves confronting an unplanned pregnancy.
Actually, Mr. Ritter provides a few answers in this interview with ColoradoPols that make me think that he’d be a good choice for governor. Definitely give this interview a read.
Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like someone has finally realized that there might be something fishy about Halliburton’s no-bid contract in Iraq.
Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress berated the Pentagon for withholding information about Halliburton’s disputed billing under a $2.5 billion contract for Iraqi oil site repairs and fuel imports.
Saying the Pentagon is acting as if ‘it has something to hide,’ Representative Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, said at a hearing Tuesday that he would support issuing a subpoena to the Pentagon next week if it did not provide long-requested documents relating to the contract, which was awarded to Halliburton in early 2003 without competition.
As expected, Democratic congressman are not happy about the contact, and want to find out what happened to all that money. But the interesting thing about this article is it points to some pissed off Republicans, too. A bipartisan investigation should have no problem getting some answers. And those answers are not going to be good for some people in the White House *cough*Cheney*cough*
Mark this in the 75% good, 25% bad column: the House of Representatives voted to limit parts of the Patriot Act.
In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.
Despite a veto threat from President Bush, lawmakers voted 238-187 to block the part of the antiterrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.
The vote reversed a narrow loss last year by lawmakers complaining about threats to privacy rights. They narrowed the proposal this year to permit the government to continue to seek out records of internet use at libraries.
Unfortunately, this is not all good news. The provision to allow access to internet use records is still very troubling. Add this to some libraries testing biometrics-controlled access to public-use computers (courtesy of Shmoo), and there is still an awful lot of privacy being invaded here.
But still, this is a surprising step in the right direction. The PATRIOT Act was a terrifying law which trampled all over personal liberties. It is good to see actual bipartisan efforts to restore some of those personal liberties.
