Debate Tuesday: California Governor Vows to Veto Law Allowing Gay People the Same Right to Marry as Straights
September 13, 2005(broadcast stream
) (.mp3 download Right-click,”Save Target as”,”Save”)
The California Legislature has passed a law giving gay couples the same right to marry that straight couples enjoy. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to veto the bill on the (ironic) grounds that the courts should decide this instead of the people’s elected representatives. (It’s ironic as conservatives opposed Massachusetts giving all its citizens the right to marry, because it was the courts and not the legislature which determined that all Massachusetts couples enjoyed the same right to marry under the Massachusetts Constitution.)
Today, I will debate Brad Dacus, President of the Pacific Justice Institute, who supports the current official government discrimination against gay people who want to marry each other.
According to Dacus, “As president of Pacific Justice Institute, I am proud to lead an organization whose purpose is to assist those in the battle for our religious freedoms, sanctity of life, parental rights and other civil liberties. PJI has the necessary, broad-based network in place to support attorneys, individuals, churches and organizations in this fight.”
There are many questions to ask Dacus. Does he get a thrill from making gay couples miserable? Does he want their children are mistreated by the State? Does he favor hospitals keeping people from visiting a dying partner/spouse of 50 years? Does he support a heavy unequal tax burden against gay people that does not apply to straights? (Is this a “sin tax”?)
Does Dacus believe straight people are morally superior to gay people? That there should be classes of citizenship? How does he feel about adulterers (violators of the Seventh Commandment of the Ten Commandments) being allowed to marry? Is there any principled reason to allow adulterers to (re)marry but deny marriage rights to a monogamous couple of 50 years?
In sum, when is it proper for the Government be able to dictate its adult citizens’ private sex lives? And if the Seventh Commandment is not public policy, why should any part of the Bible that discriminates against law-abiding Americans be enforced?
In New Orleans, the Details Matter
September 12, 2005Crucial Delays in Relief Were Direct Result of Bad Bush Administration Decisions
Bush Denied New Orleans/Army Corps Requests to Fix Levees
Bush Dismantled FEMA, the Best Government Agency of the 1990’s (Mr. Holdeman was my guest on September 1.)
“In a post-Sept. 11 reorganization, FEMA joined 21 other agencies in a new Homeland Security Department, stripped of the Cabinet rank that had allowed it to report directly to the president. And, in a further department shuffle in July, FEMA lost its historic mission of working with state and local governments on preparedness plans before disaster strikes. Quote from Dallas Morning News
“‘It was a very powerful organization, with very, very seasoned people – and then 9/11 came,’ said Bob Freitag, who spent 25 years at FEMA, rising to federal coordinating officer.” Quote from Dallas Morning News
Bush Determined to Keep New Orleans Poor by Underpaying Those Helping Rebuilding and Overpaying his Cronies at Hallliburton
Our Declining Infrastructure: The True Cost of Giving Huge Tax Cuts to Rich People Who Don’t Need them
Sunday Weekly Review
September 11, 2005(broadcast stream) (.mp3 download Right-click,”Save Target as”,”Save”)
Sometimes there’s just too much news…
The California Legislature Passes Equal Marriage Laws for ALL its Citizens
It’s not just the courts now. Elected representatives are recognizing that Americans do deserve equal protection under the law, as our Constitution provides. There is still a place for religious bigots though: it’s called Iran. Don’t you dare veto this one, Schwarzenneggar….
Chief Justice Roberts?
Let’s let the vacancy last a little longer. John Paul Stevens, appointed by Gerald Ford (who would be considered a raving liberal by the Fox Propaganda Channel today) is the Acting Chief Justice. I can live with that for a little while.
The 4th Anniversary of 9/11 Pales in Comparison to the Greater Death and Destruction Caused by Past and Continuing Government Failures to Aid Hurricane Katrina Victims
Four years ago today, the mass murder of 3000 Americans on September 11, 2001 gave the President the excuse he needed to take us to an endless war and occupation that has thus far cost another almost 2000 American lives, 10,000+ wounded, and 30,000+ Iraqi dead. It also gave the President the excuse he needed to dismantle FEMA, one of the best government organizations under Clinton, so that it could no longer help the victims of the New Orleans flood.
The Bush Administration, in its misuse of 9/11, has done more damage to America and Americans that Osama Bin Laden did four years ago today….
Meanwhile, Back in Iraq…
We’ve shown as little capability to fix that country’s infrastructure as we have to shore up our own. Only we have an extra problem there. Folks are shooting at us. Even the radical Bushies don’t seem to believe their own rhetoric anymore about how “the people will welcome us as liberators” and “we will forcibly create a new Democratic, peaceful Middle East with abundant American oil whether the Iraqi People like it or not!” Ahem…what are we fighting for again? Who do you think will be the last person to die for a mistake?
The Utter Depravity that is George Bush
In Bush’s America, thousands must die if it will help the President one iota politically. If at any point you ever lack complete disgust for our President, just click this link, but bring a wastebasket nearby to catch your vomit.
And Finally, the Definition of “Compassionate Conservatism”
“And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is working very well for them…. What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas”
— Barbara Bush, on the evacuees from the New Orleans Superdome to the Houston Astrodome
So Long Chief Justice Rehnquist
September 8, 2005(broadcast stream) (.mp3 download Right-click,”Save Target as”,”Save”)
Our Chief Justice Rehnquist was from the old school of Americans racists: the kind that didn’t have to hide it. While he was reportedly a “nice regular guy” in private, Rehnquist’s opinions were great examples of the arrogance of power. He didn’t feel the need to justify or explain his decisions. Many of his rulings were classic: “I say so, because I’m the Chief Justice” without basis in law or reason.
How will the next Chief Justice be different?
Who is President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela?
September 7, 2005Guest: Eva Golinger, Author of The Chavez Code: Cracking
U.S. Intervention in Venezuela
Who is President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela?
And why does Pat Robertson want to kill him?
Comment from Golinger’s book: “Domestically, the Venezuelan government is investing substantial resources in social programs like healthcare, education and job training, what Chavez has labeled 21st century socialism. This model has apparently angered many in the Bush administration.”
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