The television was on when I walked into Mr. Martelli’s classroom. At first, I thought he was cuing up a video for us to watch. But since we had barely cracked the 1800s in our AP US History class, I thought it was odd that there was a skyscraper on screen.
By the time I got to my seat, I realized that we were watching the news. Two planes had hit the World Trade Center. We were watching smoke billow in real time. We were watching people die in real time. We were watching evil in real time.
Popping in to say a few thoughts about today’s landmark political victories. First off, it’s refreshing to finally have something for progressive Americans to celebrate during what has proven to be a very rocky second term for our commander in chief. SCOTUS’s ruling has dispelled the dark clouds of PRISM and the IRS fiasco with a massive rainbow arrow trailing confetti, balloons, and a stream of wedding invitations due to hit inboxes across California within the hour.
Today’s rulings remind us that persistence pays off. Also, the powers-that-be who hire an army of lobbyists and who try to bend the rules, especially fools who try to pull a fast one over on observant Twitter users, don’t always win.
The work of progressives is far from over. Homosexuals married to federal employees and gay Californians may have won big victories, but the only other group that won is lawyers. Because thanks to the Prop 8 ruling, marriage equality activists are now going to have to pay a whole lot of lawyers to fight for marriage equality laws in all of the states that don’t have them or have laws on the books that work against it.
But precedence goes a long way. So we should take some time to sit back and savor this ruling. Because democracy is messy and fickle, and soon enough we’ll all find something new to rant about.
Yesterday, Prop 8 was being dissected in the highest court in the land. Today it’s the Fed’s turn to be in the spotlight with DOMA. Both need to go.
I think the best exchange from yesterday occurred between Justice Hagan and Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Prop 8. Here’s the abbreviated transcript from Liz Halloran’s NPR story.
Justice Elena Kagan: ” … Suppose a state said that, ‘Because we think that the focus of marriage really should be on procreation, we are not going to give marriage licenses anymore to any couple where both people are over the age of 55.’ Would that be constitutional? … If you are over the age of 55, you don’t help us serve the government’s interest in regulating procreation through marriage. So why is that different?”
Charles Cooper, lawyer defending Proposition 8:“Your Honor, even with respect to couples over the age of 55, it is very rare that both couples — both parties to the couple are infertile, and the traditional —
(Laughter.)
Justice Elena Kagan: “No, really, because if the couple — I can just assure you, if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage.”
No matter what the Supremes decide, marriage equality is finally getting the airtime, the attention, and the support that it deserves. I only hope that it’s enough to convince my fellow countrymen that throwing out these discriminatory laws is necessary to showing we as Americans truly value liberty and justice for all.
Today the Supreme Court will hear two important marriage equality cases: A challenge to California’s Proposition 8 and a challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.
On Facebook, I’ve made my position clear. I support marriage equality, and if the Supreme Court rules against the plaintiffs in theses cases, I feel that history books will look back on such a decision as backwards and bigoted.
Only in politics can someone be punished for doing the right thing. Okay, maybe not only in politics, but politicians seem to hold the longest grudges.
Take the kerfuffle between Governor Chris Christie and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Christie had the gall, the gall, to actually cooperate with President Obama on their response to Superstorm Sandy. Not only did he refuse to stonewall the President at every angle when a lethal storm was devastating New Jersey, he dared to lambast the Republican leadership when they delayed emergency funding for Sandy victims.
One thing I hate about Internet Culture is its”instajudging.” One f’up and everything you’ve ever done is erased as people pile on.
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) February 25, 2013
Human beings are designed to form quick opinions about each other. Yet no one can deny that the Internet is to judgment what wood is to fire–if the wood was soaked in jet fuel.
I thought it was a little silly of President Obama to schedule his State of the Union speech during Mardi Gras. He could have broke away from tradition and presented a week later than usual.
So I posted a series of tweets last night for a State of the Union drinking game that might appeal to folks who are partying in N’awlins. Twitter may not have been impressed with them, but I’m proud of them. Thus, I share them with you here.
Enjoy.
I don’t have the answer to that question. That’s why I asked it. So bear with me as I do a little wondering about it.
In this country, most citizens are perfectly willing to let just about anyone do a credit check on us, whether it’s a bank sizing us up to see we’re fit for a car loan, or if it’s the cable company attempting to decide if we’ll pay our bills on time. Those three digits that comprise our credit score determine whether we’re responsible enough to buy a house, rent a washer, or even whether we’re trustworthy enough to have electricity pumped into our homes.
I’m a little apprehensive about how this day is going to end. Because, for whatever reason, this election gives me a Year 2000 vibe.
I was sixteen and a sophomore in high school in 2000, so I had no say in the actual political contest. But our teachers couldn’t resist the opportunity to teach us lessons in civic duty by holding a faux election. Bush won in a landslide, and because I was still in the zealot phase of my political growth at the time, I had no problems expressing my displeasure with my conservative classmates.
I picked a fight with one of them in homeroom. It was a debate rife with emotion and rhetoric rather than logic and reason, but there is one thing I said that has stuck with me all these years.
“I voted for Gore because at least he won’t get us into a war.”
