ABSOLUT pillow fight

4/04/2009

a day for the marriage minded

4/03/2009

Marriage Passes the State Senate it also passes The House In Vermont

“I didn’t choose to be gay,” Rep. Steve Howard, D-Rutland, said. “God made me gay. I begged him not to make it so,” he said. “I stand because nobody should be ashamed of how God made them.” With his voice breaking from emotion, Rep. Jason Lorber, D-Burlington, described seeing the notice about his union with his partner under the heading “civil union” in the newspaper. “Why do we have to be off to the side,” Lorber said. “Why do we have to say you are different? Why can’t we just say congratulations?”
95 for - 52 against vote

And Iowa of all places
Marriage equality came to the heartland (Iowa)a few minutes ago. The court found that the ban on marriage for a small minority of citizens violated Iowa's constitution.
State Supreme Court unanimous decision

on the other hand this makes it far from a finished issue - especially in Iowa:
Alex Koppelman:

The decision is particularly significant politically because of Iowa's pivotal place in the presidential nominating process. The issue could play a big role in the state's Republican caucuses come 2012, especially as it would take until then before a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage could go to the voters. It'd be hard to blame former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, for instance, if he were dancing in the streets today. Someone like Huckabee, who already appeals to the evangelicals that play a key role in the GOP caucuses, could really benefit from this decision.

Considering that California will most likely overturn the ban that overturned marriage due to a number of problems with how the ballot initiative took place and legal questions about those who were retroactively divorced by the new law among other issues that would bring the potential number of states to have full marriage for all citizens up to 5 (pending cali reverses and the Vermont Governor's promised veto does not hold.) Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Iowa and Vermont with New York state recognizing marriages performed out of state but not having their own marriage laws in order yet and New Jersey mandating that any Civil Unions offer the exact same legal rights as marriage although the name is left up to the sate legislature to decide.

Though I am certain that other regions will dig in their heels it appears that the inevitable will eventually take place

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John Oliver explains the real reason why u dont touch the Queen!

coverage of the queen starts round 3 minutes - the first part is about michelle obama's outfits...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
The Poisonous Queen
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesEconomic CrisisPolitical Humor

My spiritual beliefs - current revision - subject to future editions

4/02/2009

I know it is self important and pompous to assume that anyone would want to read my theological and moral ramblings. It is fine if you should decide to skip this post. If, for some odd reason you care what they are, then here-in you can find the latest thoughts of a theological no-body :)

Acts 10-11. Lev 12:215:19-30PHILIPPIANS 2:11.

MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

LUK 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.

Which first--beasts or man?

GEN 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

GEN 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

The number of beasts in the ark

GEN 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

GEN 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, GEN 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Flying things, neither birds nor insects have four feet

LEV 11:21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;
LEV 11:22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
LEV 11:23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

Order of creation

Here is the order in the first (Genesis 1), the Priestly tradition:

Day 1: Sky, Earth, light
Day 2: Water, both in ocean basins and above the sky(!)
Day 3: Plants
Day 4: Sun, Moon, stars (as calendrical and navigational aids)
Day 5: Sea monsters (whales), fish, birds, land animals, creepy-crawlies (reptiles, insects, etc.)
Day 6: Humans (apparently both sexes at the same time)
Day 7: Nothing (the Gods took the first day off anyone ever did)

Note that there are "days," "evenings," and "mornings" before the Sun was created. Here, the Deity is referred to as "Elohim," which is a plural, thus the literal translation, "the Gods." In this tale, the Gods seem satisfied with what they have done, saying after each step that "it was good."

The second one (Genesis 2), the Yahwist tradition, goes:

Earth and heavens (misty)
Adam, the first man (on a desolate Earth)
Plants
Animals
Eve, the first woman (from Adam's rib)

Jesus' last words

MAT 27:46,50: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ...Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."

LUK 23:46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:" and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

JOH 19:30: "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

Judas died how?

"And he cast down the pieces of silver into the temple and departed, and went out and hanged himself." (MAT 27:5)

"And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all of his bowels gushed out." (ACT 1:18)

Whom did they see at the tomb?

MAT 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
MAT 28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
MAT 28:4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
MAT 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

MAR 16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

LUK 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

JOH 20:12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

and a few more:

MT 2:13-16 Following the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt, (where they stay until after Herod's death) in order to avoid the murder of their firstborn by Herod. Herod slaughters all male infants two years old and under. (Note: John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, though under two is somehow spared without fleeing to Egypt.)
LK 2:22-40 Following the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary remain in the area of Jerusalem for the Presentation (about forty days) and then return to Nazareth without ever going to Egypt. There is no slaughter of the infants.


MT 4:1-11, MK 1:12-13 Immediately following his Baptism, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness resisting temptation by the Devil.
JN 2:1-11 Three days after the Baptism, Jesus was at the wedding in Cana.


MT 7:21 Not everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
AC 2:21, RO 10:13 Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
AC 2:39 Those God calls to himself will be saved.


MT 28:6-8 The women ran from the tomb "with great joy."
JN 20:1-2 Mary told Peter and the other disciple that the body had been stolen.


MT 27:3-7 The chief priests bought the field.
AC 1:16-19 Judas bought the field.

MT 27:5 Judas threw down the pieces of silver, then departed.
AC 1:18 He used the coins to buy the field.

MT 27:5 Judas hanged himself.
AC 1:18 He fell headlong, burst open, and his bowels gushed out.


MT 28:1-2 The stone was still in place when they arrived. It was rolled away later.
MK 16:4, LK 24:2, JN 20:1 The stone had already been rolled (or taken) away.


MT 28:9 On his first appearance to them, Jesus lets Mary Magdalene and the other Mary hold him by his feet.
JN 20:17 On his first appearance to Mary, Jesus forbids her to touch him since he has not yet ascended to the Father.



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oops - michelle obama breeches royal protocol and, gasp, touched the Queen's back!

...on Wednesday night, the Queen touched her hand to Michelle Obama's back, and the gesture was then returned. Royal etiquette dictates that the Queen not be touched unless she reaches out first. Patting the Queen's back, however, is an almost unprecedented gesture in Buckingham Palace.

But did the Queen like it?

Maybe. The Daily Mail offers this eyewitness account:

No-one - including the ladies-in-waiting standing nearby - could believe their eyes. In 57 years, the Queen has never been seen to make that kind of gesture and it is certainly against all protocol to touch her.
'But she didn't seem to mind a bit and was smiling and joking throughout,' the eyewitness said.


as for the gift to the queen of an ipod a salon.com blogger says:

But this obsession with very, very minor niceties of diplomatic protocol, like what gifts get handed out, is just ridiculous. (For the record, the queen gives every visiting foreign head of state >the same gift: a painting of herself and Prince Philip. How gauche, right?)

Senator Webb's drug law reform bill

4/01/2009

Webb Crime Bill Gets Unlikely Support

Webb couches the effort in fairly straightforward terms. "Let's start with a premise that I don't think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have five percent of the world's population; we have 25 percent of the world's known prison population," Webb said on the Senate floor when introducing the bill.

"There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."

...chasing after drugs "has burned up so much of our law enforcement energy and money that we can't adequately focus on the areas that I'm really concerned about, a big part of that being transnational gang violence in this country. You don't have to go to the Texas border to see it. You can go to Fairfax County [in Virginia] and take a look at MS-13 and how they operate. So we need to take a holistic approach on this."

Caller after caller argued on behalf of legalization; Rehm noted that the subject is "always the first question." Webb didn't shy away from it. "It's a very real question. It's a very legitimate question," he told one caller, noting that the past three presidents and more than half of Americans have used illegal drugs at some point in their lifetimes.

"At some level, most people do enjoy their beer or whatever it is,"

Historic chart of Ceo Pay bonuses and other compensation

Historic CEO Compensation
Designed by Christina Coviello 04.30.08, 6:00 PM ET

Click here and then scroll over any year to see average CEO pay.

instant allergy to anything government run? north dokata would like to have a word with you

3/31/2009


Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Earns Record Profits, Wall Street Salivates

The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America—what Republicans might call an idiosyncratic bastion of socialism. It also earned a record profit last year even as its private-sector corollaries lost billions.

Oprah interviews polygamist mormons (FLDS)

http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/oprahshow-20090325-polygamist-ranch

vid one: a day in the life

vid two: The women of the ranch explain the (in)famous hairstyles

vid three: Oprah asks about race and talks with second graders from the Yearning for Zion Ranch


The Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, a polygamist community in Eldorado, Texas, made national headlines in March 2008 when armed authorities raided the community. Authorities had been tipped off by a phone call claiming the 16-year-old caller was being abused by her husband, a 50-year-old man. Child protective services removed more than 400 children from their homes as investigations continued, but two months later the Texas Supreme Court sent all but one of the children back to their homes, citing lack of evidence of abuse.


i wish she had asked what they do with all of the excess males that result from polygamy?

hilarious and bizarre quotes taken from online fundamentalist Christian forums

3/30/2009

oh dear....

hilarious and bizarre quotes taken directly from online fundamentalist Christian forums read as seriously as these two guys can manage...



and on a similar theme there is this handy - and potentially deadly chart below - sure hope this kid (and whoever gave him that prize ribbon - stumbles upon the statistics for hetopsexual aids transmission rates sooner rather than later...