Massachussets will deny gay marriage to some...

but not all.
If your state prohibits gay marriage, then based on an ancient statute, MA will not marry you.

But -- not all hopes are dashed. It looks like the MA legislature will have a hard time passing a gay marriage ban and getting voters to approve it, and it would take at least two more years to do it, even if they could.

so if you are a gay couple living in a backwards-ass state...move to Massachussets!

What did Bush know before 9/11?

See this Report from the Center for American Progress (word document download).

Most interesting is the July-August 2001 warnings. I personally remember NPR warning that Bin Ladin was planning something big.

but here's the real poop:

SEPTEMBER 2001 - PENTAGON OFFICIALS CHANGE FLIGHTS ON 9/11 BECAUSE OF SECURITY: Newsweek reported that on 9/10/01 "a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns." Newsweek also reported "that as many as 10 to 12 warnings" were issued before 9/11, and "more than two of the warnings specifically mentioned the possibility of hijackings." [Source: Newsweek, 9/24/01]

kinda hard to say you didn't know anything.

Gay Marriage Debate Resumes in MA...


Mass. Legislature Gathers for Third Convention on Gay Marriage

here's where the anti-gay groups go wrong:

"I'm just here to support Christ," said Olivia Long, 32, of Boston, a parishioner at New Covenant Christian Church. "We love all people, but we want to keep it like it was in the beginning."

okay people. We don't lobby the Legislature to support Christ. We have separation of church and state, remember?

When the lobby of the legislature becomes a shouting match between "Jesus Christ" and "Equal Rights" -- the anti-gay groups are making the case for allowing gay-marriage.

besides, Jesus never said homosexuality was a sin. People seriously don't read their gospels. If I remember correctly, he loved prostitutes, lepers, and every other unfortunate soul. Prostitutes were stoned to death, lepers were cast out.

The gospels don't say anything about what to do with gays -- if anything it is for g-d to worry about (after all, he made them the way they are). No one has the right to say definitively what g-d thinks about homosexuals.

Regardless of what some religions think of homosexuality, religiously-based homophobia cannot and should not be codified -- it is unconstitutional for the Legislature to pass a law that ESTABLISHES a religious doctrine -- including "homosexuality is wrong".

I wish the gay marriage supporters would get out there and focus the issue on the rights of the children of homosexual families to have both parents married so that each parent can make decisions about the child's welfare. This is where the true injustice lies.

partial birth abortion bill on trial...

Federal judges in S.F., New York, Nebraska to hear testimony on the bill

looks like the deck will be stacked in favor of finding the bill unconstitutional.

SF -- any questions how a federal court in the 9th circuit will lean? even if the bill is drafted well enough to provide an exemption from prosecution if the doctor is saving the mother's life, it will run into problems on the roe v. wade front.

NY -- not much different from SF, but they always do things their own way. I don't see much hope for the abortion-banners here either.

NB -- here's the wild card for me. I know less about the federal courts in NB than NY. I suppose it will depend on whether the court has a rub with the supreme court overturning NB's old abortion-ban bill. If they had upheld it, there will probably be a battle.

if NB or NY uphold the law, the Supreme Court will take the case. That will be a time in which "judicial activism" is a good thing.

They are not likely to overturn roe v. wade and the bill looks like a pointed effort to do so. But the decision will hinge on the exact wording of the bill --

and maybe which judge goes duck hunting (or doctor hunting 8-P) with the abortion rights groups.

Comes now one Law Student

I hereby make this Motion to Dismiss

for lack of anything better to do

on the grounds that are left at the bottom of my coffee.

I pray for relief in the form of a vacation

Or in the alternative, a diversion.