JP's shared items
Via Queers United
A Miami-Dade circuit judge Tuesday declared Florida's 30-year-old ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two foster kids he has raised since 2004.Moments after Lederman released the ruling, attorneys for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced they would appeal the decision to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.
The attorney general's office had argued that gay men and lesbians are disproportionately more likely to suffer from mental illness or a substance abuse problem than straight people, rendering them less fit to parent -- especially children in foster care who already are under tremendous stress.
In a ruling that, at times, reads more like a social science research paper, Lederman dissected 30 years worth of psychological and sociological research, concluding that studies overwhelmingly have shown that gay people can parent every bit as effectively as straight people and do no harm to their children.
''Based on the evidence presented from experts from all over this country and abroad,'' Lederman wrote, ``it is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent. Sexual orientation no more leads to psychiatric disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, relationship instability, a lower life expectancy or sexual disorders than race, gender, socioeconomic class or any other demographic characteristic.
Dear Sen. Kennedy,
Numerous newspaper articles detail your hard work on a health plan for submission to President Obama in January. Health care was one of the two leading domestic issues (the other being the economy) for those voting for Sen. Obama, and it is especially important to the 47 million Americans with no health coverage, and to the additional huge number of citizens who are underinsured and thus one major family illness away from bankruptcy.
On Thursday, Georgia’s Department of Labor announced that the state’s unemployment levels rose to 7 percent in October, the highest in 16 years; approximately 43,093 unemployed Georgians are looking for work. That same day, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who is locked in a tough run-off election battle with Democrat Jim Martin, gave a campaign speech on the state’s economic troubles:
It’s imperative that we continue down the road of putting liquidity, integrity and confidence back in the financial marketplace so that we can see the credit market free up and people having the ability to borrow money to to operate and expand their businesses.
However, Chambliss was so busy campaigning that day that he actually skipped the Senate’s vote on the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008, which extended unemployment benefits “by 13 weeks in states with an unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.” Chambliss was one of just four senators to miss the vote. WCTV reported that Chambliss later sent out a press released praising “the passage of the law and [said he] hopes it will help laid-off workers get by while seeking a new job.”
Yesterday, WXIA in Atlanta said that Chambliss claimed he would have voted for the bill anyway. Watch WXIA’s report:
Chambliss has been pulling in a parade of high-profile conservatives to campaign for him at the last minute, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and next week, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President." - Al Gore
Based on the increasingly angry comments of many on this site and other progressive sites whenever the Obama administration is even vaguely questioned, we ought to remember Al Gore's harrowing words. He wasn't warning only against reflexive right-wing loyalty to George W. Bush, but against the larger principle of reflexive loyalty to any individual president, regardless of their decisions, leanings and ideology.
America is awash in a sports team, summer-camp-color-war culture and so the "digital brownshirt" impulse is not surprising. But it's still frightening. I fear - and have for some time - that the stampede to berate as "whining" or attack as a "hater" anyone who seeks to pressure, prod or question Barack Obama is something that is only intensifying. And that ain't good for movement building, nor for democracy.
[Originally posted at my blog Senate Guru.]
Allen Buckley was the Libertarian Party's nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2008. On Election Day, Buckley took 3.4% of the vote. Buckley's 128,000 votes would have put either Democrat Jim Martin or Republican Saxby Chambliss over the 50% mark, avoiding a run-off.
Of course, as neither Chambliss nor Martin scored over 50%, there is a run-off. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently asked: "How will Libertarians affect Georgia runoff?" Well, we may just find out. While Buckley has made it clear that he is not prepared at this time to endorse either Martin or Chambliss, he did respond to a couple of policy questions from the Senate Guru. Buckley's answers suggest a discontentment with Saxby Chambliss and an openness to (perhaps even a preference for) Jim Martin.
Here are my questions and Buckley's answers:
Senate Guru: Do you believe that Saxby Chambliss' position on the Wall Street bailout has been fiscally responsible?Allen Buckley: Something needed to be done, but I wouldn't have voted for the bail-out bill. No, I don't think his position was fiscally responsible.
Senate Guru: Speaking as a Libertarian, which remaining candidate do you think would be more proactive in restoring the civil liberties of Georgians and acting appropriately in response to the Bush Administration's practice of wiretapping Americans' phones without warrants?
Allen Buckley: Jim Martin
Simple as that. Buckley considers Chambliss' position on the Wall Street bail-out to be fiscally irresponsible, and he says Jim Martin would be more proactive on specific issues of concern to Libertarian voters. The 128,000 Georgians who voted for Allen Buckley for Senate could prove pivotal in the December 2nd run-off between Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss. I hope this gives them food for thought.
(You can make a contribution to Jim Martin's campaign for the U.S. Senate, currently in the run-off election, at Senate Guru's "Expand the Map!" ActBlue page.)
 Seven nights of one great discovery after another continues tonight at 9P e/p only on National Geographic Channel. From the ancient pyramids to the ocean depths, from lost cities to outer space, travel with the latest generation of intrepid explorers as they make one great discovery after another. Expedition Week, only on National Geographic Channel. www.natgeotv.com/expedition |
