Category Archives: Politics

Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage

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This is via my friend Ed Brayton over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars:

The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Friday that the state must allow same-sex couples to get married. See full ruling here. Long excerpt from the ruling below the fold:

We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification. There is no material fact, genuinely in dispute, that can affect this determination.

We have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection of the law. Faithfulness to that duty requires us to hold Iowa’s marriage statute, Iowa Code section 595.2, violates the Iowa Constitution. To decide otherwise would be an abdication of our constitutional duty. If gay and lesbian people must submit to different treatment without an exceedingly persuasive justification, they are deprived of the benefits of the principle of equal protection upon which the rule of law is founded. Iowa Code section 595.2 denies gay and lesbian people the equal protection of the law promised by the Iowa Constitution.

Bravo.

Bravo indeed.

And queue the shrill cries of “unelected judges” followed shortly by vague, unsubstantiated claims that Iowa families are somehow in danger because of this ruling in 3, 2, 1…

U.N. attack on freedom of speech

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As reported on the Lou Dobbs program (with an interview of Christopher Hitchens) the United Nations is trying to pass a binding resolution to encourange member states to ban criticisms of religion (especially Islam). As far as I’m concerned the U.N. can stick any such resolution up their collective asses.

Do we really need to listen to lectures from this collection of tin-pot dictatorships (who think nothing of committing untold numbers of  human rights violations  against their own peoples) about the ‘horrors’ of possibly causing offense to  someones delicate religious sensibilities?

It’s even worse than listening to Bush prattle on about defending freedom and liberty while holding people indefinitely without trial (torturing many of them) and wiretapping his fellow citizens without benefit of warrant (just to scratch the surface).

Original video removed from YouTube.

[Via Pharyngula, though unlike P.Z. I don’t find Dobbs to be “odious” even if I  don’t agree with him on everything.]

Darwin and Lincoln’s bicentennial

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Happy Darwin/Lincoln day everyone! On this auspicious day we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of both the founder (but not finisher) of evolutionary biology, Charles Darwin, and the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln, both of whom were born on this day, February 12, in the year 1809. Tis a day to celebrate both knowledge and freedom.

Political correctness run amok

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I have a generally low opinion of political correctness, which usually seems to be an excuse for those on the left to censure (or censor) things they don’t like (sort of the equivalent of “family values” on the right). However, this particular instances of PC  has flown vigorously  off into the lofty realm of the bat shit insane.

This case involves a student/worker at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (with the ungainly acronym of IUPUI), who committed the unpardonable sin of reading an anti-KKK history book in public. See the video to find out (mixing my metaphors a bit) how deep this rabbit hole went:

[Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.]

Olbermann on the passage of California’s Prop 8

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What he said…

“Should Evolutionists Be Allowed to Roam Free in the Land?”

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Creationist nut-job Tom Willis (Creation Science Association for Mid-America), apparently without a sense of irony, accuses evolutionists of being Nazis/communists (or at least fellow travelers of the Nazis and communists) and concludes from this that it might be a good idea to (amongst other possibilities) round up evolutionists and put them in forced labor camps.

Other options include torturing recantations out of evolutionists, forcing them to wear identifying signs or plaques, or perhaps forced relocations to Antarctica (or Mars).

Poe’s Law is in full effect here, it seems like it should be a parody but it’s not.

Found via Pharyngula.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia on Torture

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This is from a piece on 60 Minutes last Sunday and it is both depressing and frightening as hell:

The mind boggles that a member of the SCOTUS can, with a straight face, argue that the use of torture by government agents would not be prohibited by the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment as long as it is done to someone before they are convicted of anything. Well if the 8th doesn’t cover it how about due process your Honor?

I dare you to find anyone (anyone not wearing a tin-foil hat to keep the aliens from reading his thoughts, that is) who can look at the U.S. Constitution and come to the conclusions this man has about the original intents of the Founders.

Oh sure, the Founders thought that there should not be “unreasonable searches and seizures”, that people shouldn’t be compelled to be a witness against themselves, and that there shouldn’t be excessive bail, but if the govt. wants to hook a car battery up to your genitals for a few hours that would be just fine as long as it is only to get information out of you and not as a punishment for a crime.

Yeah, right. “Originalism” my ass.

Olbermann spanks atheist bashing State Representative

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Keith Olbermann’s worst person in the world countdown with Illinois State Representative Monique D. Davis (D), winning the gold (Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly taking bronze and silver).

You gotta love Olbermann…

Seperation of church and state in public schools

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GilDodgen over at Uncommon Descent points out an article from the associated press about a controversy over a public school student’s art class project. And in this case I am going to have to agree, at least on one level, that the the students rights were infringed.

First I have to address Gil’s propaganda spin attached to the story:

Read on»