I promised I would give Obama credit when deserved. This is one of those instances. Regardless of your stance on same-sex marriage, most major corporations in the U.S. have extended employee benefits to cover domestic partners.
The Federal Government should be no exception and I congratulate Obama on this effort. Actions such as this to more to address the health care crisis in this country than the socialized medicine Obamacare plan being debated in Congress.
Ted Olson and David Boies interviewed by Chris Matthews over California's Same Sex Marriage ban. The two lawyers have joined forces despite once arguing against one other in the Bush/Gore recount battle in 2000.
Future candidate Liz Cheney defending state's rights! You go girl!
For the record, I agree the California Supreme Court botched this ruling. Allowing 18,000 same-sex couples to maintain marital status while future couples cannot marry is a bad precedent. It's the antithesis of hoping to prosecute people for "torture" during a time when "torture" was legal.
But since when did Libs ever consider consistency to be important.
Yack!
Here we go again!
Activists are protesting the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. Flag-waving demonstrators are blocking intersections with banners and signs as they vow to continue their fight.
From Breitbart:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed. Demonstrators outside the court yelled "shame on you!"
The 6-1 decision written by Chief Justice Ron George rejected an argument by gay rights activists that the ban revised the California Constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature's approval.
The court said the Californians have a right, through the ballot box, to change their constitution.
"In a sense, petitioners' and the attorney general's complaint is that it is just too easy to amend the California Constitution through the initiative process. But it is not a proper function of this court to curtail that process; we are constitutionally bound to
uphold it," the ruling said.
The justices said the 136-page majority ruling does not speak to whether they agree with Proposition 8 or "believe it should be a part of the California Constitution."
They said they were "limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values."
The announcement of the decision set off an outcry among a sea of demonstrators who had gathered in front of the San Francisco courthouse awaiting the ruling. Holding signs and many waving rainbow flags, they yelled "shame on you." Many people also held hands in a chain around an intersection in an act of protest.
Gay rights activists immediately promised to resume their fight, saying they would go back to voters as early as next year in a bid to repeal Proposition 8.
The split decision provided some relief for the 18,000 gay couples who married in the brief time same-sex marriage was legal last year but that wasn't enough to dull the anger over the ruling that banned gay marriage.
Police detain Russian gay rights leader Alexeyev in Moscow (Sky News)
Moscow police dispersed a gay pride rally that was banned by city authorities, drawing attention to Russia's record on gay rights as it prepares to host a major international pop music competition.
It's not just the U.S. battling same-sex marriage. A counter protester says Russia is not anti-gay, instead they are merely trying to avoid "legalizing sin".
What's the difference?
Sky News reports:
Russian riot police have violently broken up a gay rights demonstration in Moscow, shattering any hopes that the Eurovision Song Contest final being held here would shield protesters from abuse.
A small group of protesters defied the official ban by staging a small demonstration near Moscow's university, holding banners saying "gay rights" and chanting "homophobia is the disgrace of our country".
British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell joined the group seconds before the Russian riot police moved in, rounding up protesters and dragging them to buses nearby.
Shortly before his detention, Mr Tatchell told Sky News he came to Russia because he wanted to show his solidarity.
"Russia's government ignores requests of gay rights campaigners for protection from discrimination, and refuses to talk to them.
"The atmosphere in Russia is very repressive. The whole world has to support activists here who are fighting for gay human rights and the right for assembly," Mr Tatchell said.
On his Twitter account, Mr Tatchell wrote: "Arrested. Shortest march I've ever been on."
He later said he had been freed from a police station but said he was worried about the march's organiser.
City authorities banned the Slavic Gay Pride because they claimed it would "destroy morals" in society.
"Moscow has never had gay parades and never will," said Sergei Tsoi, a spokesman for the mayor of Moscow.
"The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our president, who is so aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda, is rightly the source of the greatest scandal,"
--Archbishop Raymond Burke, who is the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest court.
One of the Vatican's highest ranked clerics and a frequent critic of President Obama says Notre Dame's giving the president an honorary degree and a platform to address graduates at its commencement next weekend is a "scandal."
Bill Donahue, President of The Catholic League engaged in a heated debate on the subject with Robert Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State with Megyn Kelly this morning.
"To give [Obama] an honorary degree, would be like Howard University giving David Duke a degree in racial politics," says Donahue.
"That's offensive," replies Boston.
"No, what's offensive is you," says Donahue.
Comments above begin at 3:00
Fox News reports:
"The path of violation of the most fundamental human rights and of the integrity of marriage and the family which our nation is traveling is not accidental," he said. "As Catholics, we cannot fail to notice with the greatest sadness the number of our fellow Catholics who cooperate fully to the advancement of a national agenda which is anti-life and anti-family."
The archbishop also slammed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was confirmed by the Senate last week on a 65-31 vote. Opponents cited her ties to an late-term abortion provider, George Tillman, who is a supporter of the former Kansas governor.
"The appointment of a Catholic as secretary of health and human services who has openly and consistently cooperated with the industry of procurative abortion in our nation is necessarily the source of the deepest embarrassment to Catholics and a painful reminder of the most serious responsibility of Catholics to uphold the moral law, which is the irreplaceable foundation of just relationships among the citizens of our nation," Burke said.
He added that it "grieves me to say that the support of anti-life legislation by Catholics in public office is so common that those who are not Catholics have justifiably questioned whether the church's teachings regarding the inviolable dignity of innocent human life is firm and unchanging. It gives the impression that the church herself can change the law that God has written on every human heart since the beginning of time."
Rep. Eric Cantor and Gov. Mitt Romney appeared on CNN "State of The Union".
Both express concern over the "federalist" view of allowing individual state's to decide their own laws regarding same-sex marriage.
Obviously, most conservatives are against same-sex marriage. Yet the two make the case that decisions on marriage in any given state do, in fact, have "federal implications".
What happens with the tax code (joint filing), spousal benefits from employer health-care, status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent; joint insurance policies for home, auto and health; and any other in a long list of marital benefits if different states have different laws?
Dennis Prager and Perez Hilton face-off on Larry King.
Prager is respectful, articulate and civil; all things Ms. Hilton was not towards Miss California Carrie Prejean.
Here's something fun I'd like to see: Hilton vs. Barney Frank in the Coney Island hot dog eating contest.
The conservative Family Research Council threw its support behind Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA. The pageant contestant has come under fire for her answer to a question about same-sex marriage.
The FRC slams Perez Hilton in a press release.
Perez Hilton is giving gays a bad name. What a scumbag.
Liberals just cannot accept someone with religious beliefs. They hate it.
Miss California and Miss USA runner up Carrie Prejean appeared last night on "Hannity" to discuss same-sex marriage and the fallout from Perez Hilton's vicious misogynistic attacks.
Again, are any "women's rights" groups jumping to Ms. Prejean's rescue?
Why? Because they are not interested in women's rights, they are solely interested in being sycophantic subservients to the radical Left wing Socialist Marxist Totalitarian agenda being forced down America's collective throats.
And they wonder why they are third on cable news behind Fox and MS NBC.
CNN's Don Lemon even looked at his notes before he said Rhode Island, which should have been "Iowa" that has recently legalized Gay Marriage. And during the rest of the segment no one in the control room corrects him. Crack staff over there! Good job!
Mancow gets wet again over Same-Sex marriage. Actually, she was slightly more tame than last week when she reported on Iowa's Supreme Court Ruling. Surprisingly, she did not take the opportunity to whack President Bush.
Vermont is one of the wackiest places in the universe, so this is not surprising.
In his first interview since Inauguration Day, Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren tells Larry King that is a misconception that he is an "Anti-Gay Marriage Activist". He adds that he never took a stance on California's Prop 8 Same-Sex Marriage debate and he doesn't concern himself with things like Iowa's recent Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage.
Six gay men were abandoned by their tribes and later murdered recently in Iraq.
CNN reports on mistreatment of gay men in Iraq. Apparently, they had more freedom of expression under Saddam Hussein than they currently have due to militias patrolling the streets of Iraq cities.
Intolerant Iraqis consider gays to be "criminals and terrorists" and say that homosexuality is "against [Muslim] law, so they should be punished by law".
Despite my "conservative" nature, I'm could care less about gays, same-sex marriage or any other lifestyle choice a person chooses for himself.
When it comes to such social issues, I'm pretty Libertarian; "to each his own".
It's pretty despicable for rogue peace keepers to murder these people for their sexual orientation. It just shows another example of the radical nature of Islam.
Remember, Afghanistan recently legalized domestic violence.
For all of the world's efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the Muslim world, it's cases like this which show they may not be terribly receptive to the assistance.
Everyone is quick to point fingers at human rights violations in China and the African Continent, but we have to mince words when it comes to the radical laws of Islam. I'm all for freedom of expression and religious tolerance, but not when the laws of religion supersede the laws and rights of man.
No matter your religion or sexual orientation, murder is dead wrong. No matter how much you disagree with another's lifestyle, you have no right to persecute him to the point of death.
In reality, this is exactly the kind of Western "freedom" the Muslim World detests.
Maddow gets excited over Iowa Gay Marriage ruling which stated it is unconstitutional to prevent gay marriage under the equal protection statute.
Now, the gay man Maddow, can finally marry that sexy gay male lover of hers.
What's that? She's not a dude? Okay, so she can move to Iowa and chew all the grass she wants now!
Is that wrong of me? Did I cross a line?
"Mr. Warren compared same-sex couples to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair. If he was inviting the Rev. Warren to participate in a forum and to make a speech, that would be a good thing. But being singled out to give the prayer at the inauguration is a high honor. It has traditionally given as a mark of great respect. And, yes, I think it was wrong to single him out for this mark of respect."
In the spirit of balance, we commend President-Elect Obama for choosing Rick Warren to give the invocation at next month's Inauguration Ceremonies.
Yet once again, the radical Gay Rights Movement has resorted to angry protests to show their disgust with the choice.
Warren's Evangelical views on many social issues are well-known, including his stance against same-sex marriage.
On Thursday, Obama defended his decision, saying "I would note that a couple of years ago, I was invited to Rick Warren's church to speak, despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion."
"And that dialogue, I think, is part of what my campaign's been all about: That we're not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is to be able to create an atmosphere ... where we can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans."
Again, we applaud Obama for choosing tolerance and acceptance over hatred and anger.
