According to Examiner.com
According to the Examiner.com---since 01/09/11
Friday, July 15, 2011
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Obama Administration Asks 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals To Reconsider Order
SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to reconsider its order last week demanding an immediate halt to the enforcement of the ban on openly gay troops in the military.
The Obama administration filed the emergency motion in response to the appeals court's decision last week to lift its stay of a lower court's ruling last year that found the ban, known as "don't ask, don't tell," unconstitutional.
Department of Justice lawyers said in the motion that ending the ban now would pre-empt the "orderly process" for rolling back the 17-year-old policy as outlined in the law passed and signed by the president in December.
"Congress made quite clear that it believed the terms of the transition were critical to the credibility and success of this historic policy change, and to ensure continued military effectiveness," according to a statement from the Justice Department.
"Any court-ordered action forced upon the military services so close to the completion of this repeal policy pre-empts the deliberate process established by Congress and the President to ensure an orderly and successful transition of this significant policy change," the department said.
Last year's ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans against the Department of Justice.
The gay rights group persuaded a lower court judge to declare the ban unconstitutional after a trial that put the Obama administration in the position of defending a policy it opposes.
"It is sad and disappointing that the government continues to try to prevent openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in our armed forces," Log Cabin Republicans attorney Dan Woods said.
"It is particularly disappointing because the President has stated that Don't Ask, Don't Tell "weakens" our national security and signed the repeal bill with great fanfare and yet today's filing with the Ninth Circuit is a last-ditch effort to maintain this unconstitutional policy, Woods added.
The Obama administration filed the emergency motion in response to the appeals court's decision last week to lift its stay of a lower court's ruling last year that found the ban, known as "don't ask, don't tell," unconstitutional.
Department of Justice lawyers said in the motion that ending the ban now would pre-empt the "orderly process" for rolling back the 17-year-old policy as outlined in the law passed and signed by the president in December.
"Congress made quite clear that it believed the terms of the transition were critical to the credibility and success of this historic policy change, and to ensure continued military effectiveness," according to a statement from the Justice Department.
"Any court-ordered action forced upon the military services so close to the completion of this repeal policy pre-empts the deliberate process established by Congress and the President to ensure an orderly and successful transition of this significant policy change," the department said.
Last year's ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans against the Department of Justice.
The gay rights group persuaded a lower court judge to declare the ban unconstitutional after a trial that put the Obama administration in the position of defending a policy it opposes.
"It is sad and disappointing that the government continues to try to prevent openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in our armed forces," Log Cabin Republicans attorney Dan Woods said.
"It is particularly disappointing because the President has stated that Don't Ask, Don't Tell "weakens" our national security and signed the repeal bill with great fanfare and yet today's filing with the Ninth Circuit is a last-ditch effort to maintain this unconstitutional policy, Woods added.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Bus Ride Bigotry: Ari Gold the new Rosa Parks
The two men who were seated next to one another near the front of the bus, holding hands and listening to music on a shared iPod, soon caught the attention of the allegedly homophobic driver. The man demanded that the couple move to the back of the bus. And when Gold refused, the driver pulled over and called police.
Fortunately another passenger offered to be a witness for Gold and Nelson, and The Advocate has exclusively corroborated the men’s story with Florence Mattersdorfer of Livingston Manner, NY. Mattersdorfer says she and her husband have been longtime advocates of LGBT equality, and so she was disturbed by the way Gold and Nelson were treated. She says it was completely without provocation.
"It was certainly unprovoked in my opinion and it was [due to the driver's] personal bias," Mattersdorfer says. "He was offended by them. And I don’t believe that had it been a man and a woman he would have made an issue out of it because they were not doing anything at all that was inappropriate in my opinion."
Mattersdorfer does reveal that, besides holding hands and listening to music, Gold had his leg wrapped over Nelson's, which Gold later confirmed. A representative from Shortline sent a response to The Village Voice's Michael Musto, who broke the story, saying the company does not condone the actions of the driver and they plan to investigate. Gold shares with The Advocate his account of the event last Sunday and the outcome he hopes to achieve.
The Advocate: So you two were just sitting on the bus listening to music and holding hands when the driver noticed you and ordered you to a seat in the back?
Ari Gold: Yes. My boyfriend quickly pulled away from me because he got scared. I took his hand back and said no, we’re not going to move to the back of the bus. The driver said he was going to have us kicked off the bus and was going to call the state troopers.
Is it possible that you were distracting the driver in some other way, maybe your music was too loud?
No, we were listening to music on headphones and there were witnesses around. We were not disturbing anyone else. It was very, very clear to everyone else including the state trooper that the driver just had a problem with two men sitting arm in arm.
Where were you seated in relation to the driver?
We were in the very front row seat by the side of the driver. The driver had no reason to even be looking at us. We were not behind him disturbing him; we weren’t even in his mirror sight.
Then how did he see you?
All he had to do was turn his head and look at us. He was the second driver. He came on to the bus [when] they switched drivers. When he came on the bus my boyfriend and I were already sitting together, so he could have seen us when he came on.
What did you say to the driver when he told you to move to the back of the bus?
He said if you want to sit like that you can sit in the back. We told him we don't want to. He said if we want to sit like that he'd call the state troopers and have us kicked off the bus.
How long was the bus stopped while waiting for the police to arrive?
About 15 minutes.
What was the response from the other passengers?
No one knew why the bus was delayed. One girl behind us may have known because I think she saw everything going on. She just looked at us and said, “Don’t worry. You didn’t do anything wrong.” But nobody else knew anything. I asked my boyfriend if I should stand up and say something. Before we pulled over the bus driver was talking on the phone angry about this while he was driving a bus full of people.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Betty Ford Funeral
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket this week's funeral services for former first lady Betty Ford in California and Michigan.
The website of the Topeka, Kansas-based church said the fringe group will demonstrate at Ford's funerals because she divorced her first husband William Warren prior to marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford.
In Westboro's eyes, that makes Ford an adulterer who "loved to sit with tawdry reporters and blather about sex."
The group plans to picket at services at Saint Margaret Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif. on Tuesday (July 12) and at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids on Thursday when her casket will travel by motorcade for burial at the Ford Museum.
The extremist church -- mostly a collection of Fred Phelps' extended family and friends -- formally won the right to picket funerals in March after an 8-1 Supreme Court decision ruled it is protected by the First Amendment.
"She couldn't wait to have an audience with a reporter to titter about premarital sex, and how much she loved to teach it to her daughters," the church's website said. "The trashy reporters encouraged her to say more! So she urged all the women of this doomed foul nation to engage in extramarital sex. Then she pushed for abortion, because when you teach a nation's women to be whores, it's inevitable pregnancies will inconvenience the selfish strumpets! That is the legacy of Betty Ford."
Ok, is it just me or do these crazed lunatics at Westboro Baptist Church need to get a life or what, I mean really what the hell is the point that they are trying to make? Right now they are just looking as crazy as apeshit, pardon my language here but......REALLY? I say "let him without ANY sin cast the first stone" these people just need to go away quietly into the night with their picket signs and give it up!
The website of the Topeka, Kansas-based church said the fringe group will demonstrate at Ford's funerals because she divorced her first husband William Warren prior to marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford.
In Westboro's eyes, that makes Ford an adulterer who "loved to sit with tawdry reporters and blather about sex."
The group plans to picket at services at Saint Margaret Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif. on Tuesday (July 12) and at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids on Thursday when her casket will travel by motorcade for burial at the Ford Museum.
The extremist church -- mostly a collection of Fred Phelps' extended family and friends -- formally won the right to picket funerals in March after an 8-1 Supreme Court decision ruled it is protected by the First Amendment.
"She couldn't wait to have an audience with a reporter to titter about premarital sex, and how much she loved to teach it to her daughters," the church's website said. "The trashy reporters encouraged her to say more! So she urged all the women of this doomed foul nation to engage in extramarital sex. Then she pushed for abortion, because when you teach a nation's women to be whores, it's inevitable pregnancies will inconvenience the selfish strumpets! That is the legacy of Betty Ford."
Ok, is it just me or do these crazed lunatics at Westboro Baptist Church need to get a life or what, I mean really what the hell is the point that they are trying to make? Right now they are just looking as crazy as apeshit, pardon my language here but......REALLY? I say "let him without ANY sin cast the first stone" these people just need to go away quietly into the night with their picket signs and give it up!
Thought for the day
I know I have been on the down side to posting again but the last of the five week Summer Session at college as started and trying to get used to this brand new schedule. It has been rough thirteen credit hours in a thirteen week time frame, I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life. I thought when I started "Night" that I would end writing about it here and it just didn't seem to happen, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe my thoughts, feelings, emotions about that book were to remain mine. I just know deep down I want to write as profound, eloquent, moving, harrowing and honestly as Elie Wiesel. I know that is a big goal on my part but I really want to do it. I have some ideas for this new writing class I am in and I am going to start an idea book like the text book for this class recommends. Just some scattered thoughts that could become something else, after all a writer writes.
I also know alot of my readers come for the fashion, the eye candy in the form of gorgeous men and that will continue but I also want to get back to actively writing on this blog and putting a voice to who, what I really am, for without doing that I have lost myself. It been hard the last few weeks and to be honest I have not been talking about it to much of anyone, I am not sure the real reason why but I just haven't. I feel like I have just let it eat at me, fester and puss if you will at times it does get the better of me. But as I am reminded nobody likes a "Negative Nancy".
The counseling will be interesting as it ends in four more sessions and it will be interesting to see how far we get, if any resolve will come of it, will I feel better about things or will it all stay the same? Time will only tell, right now I feel as if I am just going day by day trying to just get through it, not much of a life I know but it seems to work. School, homework and someties a free weekend to have some fun.
Well until later today and some fashion--keep your chins up kids and know that there is someone out there that does get it.
I also know alot of my readers come for the fashion, the eye candy in the form of gorgeous men and that will continue but I also want to get back to actively writing on this blog and putting a voice to who, what I really am, for without doing that I have lost myself. It been hard the last few weeks and to be honest I have not been talking about it to much of anyone, I am not sure the real reason why but I just haven't. I feel like I have just let it eat at me, fester and puss if you will at times it does get the better of me. But as I am reminded nobody likes a "Negative Nancy".
The counseling will be interesting as it ends in four more sessions and it will be interesting to see how far we get, if any resolve will come of it, will I feel better about things or will it all stay the same? Time will only tell, right now I feel as if I am just going day by day trying to just get through it, not much of a life I know but it seems to work. School, homework and someties a free weekend to have some fun.
Well until later today and some fashion--keep your chins up kids and know that there is someone out there that does get it.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
[SENATUS TV] "Brief Encounters" 1 of 2 @ Men's Fashion Week 2011
For some, the "Brief Encounters" show featuring menswear/underwear was the highlight of the Saturday afternoon at Men's Fashion Week, with designs from Armani, DKNY, Renoma, 2(x)ist, McQueen, Punto Blanco and Skinxwear. With this fierce dramatic staging and direction and the GORGEOUS men I am not surprised!
Men's Fashion Week 2011 - Brief Encounter - Alexander McQueen | SUPERADR...
Alexander McQueen--- sigh LOVE, love, love this
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