Category Archives: Politics and Society

Yeah! We Don’t Have to Buy Wedding Gifts!

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Do you know what is disturbing about the picture below?  This woman in Maine is celebrating what is, at least at the time of this writing, the very real possibility that voters in that state will overturn the law, just ratified in May, granting same-sex couples marriage equality.  If one truly believes that extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians is wrong, then it is easy to see how one would be relieved that efforts to do so are defeated.  But to rejoice in it seems downright mean.

And that is because it is!
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A woman celebrates favorible returns on Question 1

A woman rejoices in favorable returns on Question 1 in Maine

When an 86 year old WWII hero talks, you pay attention!

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Nothing I have heard in quite a while has stuck with me the way this old man’s faltering words have. His testimony was given back in April, but I just saw the video on a friend’s Facebook page today.

Just before I watched it some item online had once again brought up that reprehensible Louisiana judge who recently refused to perform a marriage ceremony for a mixed race couple because it wouldn’t be good for the couple’s hypothetical offspring, and my heart was heavy. How can such things still be happening in America today?
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And then I watched this man’s haltingly delivered speech. He’s an 86 year-old war hero, a small town family man, and a Republican with a personal history of service to his country and his fellow human beings that few can match. He doesn’t fit the profile of a liberal social activist clamoring for the cause of the day. And yet there he was, standing in front of nearly 4,000 people to make a case for equality before the law. He did it for his son, but he also did it because he believes that freedom and equality are what this country is about and that these are the ideals he fought for. It’s truly moving.

CSM Columnist Argues Our Flag is Not a Prop

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The Flag of the United States of America

The Flag of the United States of America

This is such a good piece about the symbolism of our national flag. Like the columnist, it has pretty much gotten to the point that if I see a flag displayed too prominently on an email or on a web page, I assume that the accompanying message is likely to be insulting and full of unsupported, reckless claims and attacks on the duly elected President of the United States.

How did the flag become this? It should be a symbol of our national unity, not a cudgel we use to beat those who don’t agree with us.

Most of us as we get older settle down a bit but like to sildenafil canada online have our pleasures on the weekends. Despite of the fact that ED medicine generic cialis from canada works quicker when consumed on an empty stomach, as there is a tightened muscle that dissolves the passing of stimulated signals from the brain to the penile nerve.Men have claimed to find timely actions of Kamagra by consuming the medicine orally. By using generic cheap prices for viagra without prescription can help men who fail to attain stiff state of male reproductive organ. It can also get rid of sexual disorders around the world and they are seeking most effective and secure treatment for it. levitra 40 mg But Amy Hardin Turosak says it so much better than I in her piece “Our Flag is Not a Prop” for the Christian Science Monitor. It’s pithy, concise and to the point. She argues:

The flag must not be used as a point of argument but as a symbol of the solidarity that binds the diversity of our nation.

But, if you protest, you have a responsibility to protest based on fact. This is not a university football game. This is the future of our country.

This Land Is Your Land – Ryan Bingham from Ryan Hargrave on Vimeo.

Open Left:: Health Care State of Play

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This blog entry by Chris Bowers for Open Left summarizes exactly where the debate and likelihood for passage on the public option stands at this moment.

In addition, there is a report that summarizes the likely vote count as of this moment should a bill reconciling the House and Senate bill come up for a vote right now.

It helps men consistently get and keep an erection when he is sexually excited. cialis cheapest What are the usual brands that you come across and are certified and then after this short listing you can select the best one for the men. cialis overnight All the three drugs competitively worked for their exposure through mass media companies’ and the selection of celebrities in the ads, great slogans and much more to get attention on behalf of interests or leisure was worked in the ads of the ” generic no prescription viagra” and range in high cost that people just see them and wish to buy Kamagra Polo. Chemistry Panel and Complete Blood buy sildenafil canada Count The Chemistry Panel and Complete Blood Count (CBC). Another issue the site is covering is the referendum in Maine on gay marriage, and an update on the Vote No on 1 Campaign in Maine is provided by Andrew Davey.

Both of these votes are going to be nail biters, I think.

Cable News Has Massive Information Resources, William Kamkwamba Has a Few Library Books. Who Makes Better Use?

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I’m not one of those who get’s all his news from The Daily Show, I swear, but as Jon Stewart points out in this segment, it’s hard to get it anywhere else.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

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But at least they are making sure Saturday Night Live gets the facts straight.

And then there’s this guy. Look what he did with some scraps that, quite frankly, a junkyard owner wouldn’t have bothered to save.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

He did all that based on images in a library book? It took me hours to set up the surround sound in my family room, and I had diagrams and specific color coded cables! I’m calling William Kamkwamba next time. You know all those leaks in the Big Dig Tunnels Here in Boston where I live, they should have just told William Kamkwamba what they wanted done. Remember the Mars Climate Orbiter that NASA lost because they confused Metric and Imperial measurements? Maybe William Kamkwamba should have taken charge. I’m exaggerating, of course, but this kid’s story does make you wonder, if he can do that with what he had, what would he do with all the benefits I have. As he says in the interview, what if he had Google?

Consumers Union Produces First TV Ad To Support Health Care Reform

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A message from Consumers Union, the non-partisan, not for profit publishers of Consumer Reports.

We’ve done something we’ve never done before – produced a TV commercial that puts the Consumer Reports trusted brand behind the call for common-sense health reform. The Consumer Reports endorsement is powerful to millions of Americans. But it won’t help build support for reform if we can’t get it on TV.

We need your help to air the ad in those states whose Senators could either kill reform – or take us to victory.

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You can see the ad at this link.  It’s good that it puts the Consumer Reports brand behind the endorsement, but I don’t think that convincing people of the need for health care reform is the issue.  I think that the challenge is getting them to support reform that is real reform, that includes a public option for example.  Still, ads like this need to run.

Write you congressional representatives, too!

Pensylvania Representative Kills Domestic Violence Resolution Because it Supports Homosexual Agenda

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The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that last week the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives was set to turn out a seemingly uncontroversial resolution declaring October Domestic Violence Month because to do so would support a homosexual agenda.

The state House of Representatives churns out uncontroversial resolutions every week to commemorate the dead, honor people’s achievements, raise awareness of health issues, and recognize things important to Pennsylvania, such as pretzels.

So it took many people by surprise when a resolution designating October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month was derailed Wednesday by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler), who claimed it “had a homosexual agenda.”

The Western Pennsylvania legislator said he detected that agenda in this phrase: “one in six women and one in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.”

Metcalf insisted that the resolution not go forward unless the gender of perpetrators and victims was specified.

I don’t know which to be angry about first, the homophobia or the disdain for victims of domestic violence Metcalf exhibits. The vast majority of cases do involve violence by men directed at women, but not all. Women can be abusers too and we should be careful to to stigmatize the man who might be the victim of violence from his wife, or partner of whatever gender. There are many kinds of domestic violence, involving married couples and couples simply in a relationship, involving parents or other adults and children, and even involving children and other children. Or does Metcalfe also see abuse as a “privilege” which, like marriage, is to be reserved for heterosexuals?

But Metcalfe has a history of revealing his prejudice by blocking resolutions that have little real impact, almost as if he wants to go our of his way to demonstrate his intolerance and rigidity. In 2008 he blocked a resolution recognizing the 60th annual convention in Harrisburg, PA of the U.S. chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a community with the mantra, “Love for All, Hatred for None,” because “the Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God.” That’s pretty shocking. By that logic, the US should never honor anyone or anything Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, etc.
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A Jewish lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, also protested and said she would seek to have Metcalfe’s remarks stricken from the official record.

She said Metcalfe’s position places a religious test on House resolutions, which generally clear the chamber quickly and unanimously.

“I wonder what I would not also qualify for — being on the floor myself?” she said later. “Having the right to vote? Having the right to practice my religion? That’s what I was responding to. And we have other people who are not Jewish and not Christian on the floor — some elected, some not.”

Mr. Metcalf needs to meet Mr Ali from the state legislature in Maryland.

Frustration with this kind of record has led to the establishment of the Dump Daryl Metcalfe web site.

These informational web sites are part of a campaign to educate the voters and expose Pennsylvania state representative Daryl Metcalfe’s fear mongering and the other tactics he and his campaign use against citizens of the 12th District of Pennsylvania. All of the items listed under public outrage are previously published “letters to the editor” and/or articles from the public.

Politics, recently, has gotten increasingly mean and, it is sad to say, the meanness most often comes from the Christian right. It’s not very Christ like, is it.

Maryland Delegate is Muslim and Supporter of Homosexual Marriage Rights

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Saqib Ali and Howard Dean

Saqib Ali and Howard Dean

One of my favorite iPhone apps is one called Causes that brings together RSS feed about topics like global warming, peace in the Middle East, human rights, women’s rights, health care, global poverty, and others. If you are interested in that kind of news, check it out.  Check it out.

It was that application that led me to this article written by Saqib Ali, Maryland’s first elected Muslim politician, a State Delegate from Montgomery County. In it he unequivocally stated his support for marriage equality.

It feels like the nature of the fight for equality has changed. It has gone from being a rather niche liberal issue to perhaps the most pressing civil rights issue of this generation. And marriage equality throughout the land now feels like an eventual inevitability.

I expect some day people will look back at this fight for equality like we now look back on oddly antiquated anti-miscegenation laws. I’m proud that I’ll have stood on the right side of history: In support of full marital rights for same-sex couples.

My stance on this issue isn’t politically expedient. I am the first Muslim in the legislature. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam. As such I have evinced much grief from my most conservative supporters.

But I recognize that I represent people of all faiths and no faith at all. If I tried to enforce religion by law — as in a theocracy — I would be doing a disservice to my both constituents and to my religion.

I went searching for more information on Saqib Ali and I found out a lot more, including this fascinating article about him and his thoughts on this a few issues. I like the way he thinks. He is a practicing Muslim and from a religious perspective doesn’t believe in gay marriage, but still keeps his religious beliefs separate from his role as legislator. That is to be admired, and it is something that the religious right could learn from. (See my next post)
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An article on change.org argues that Islam isn’t even necessarily against gay marriage.

Certainly, it’s a welcome sign that another politician is able to decipher the difference between the words “civil” and the words “religious” when it comes to marriage. But it is also interesting that Ali uses such blanket language like “prohibits” when he refers to Islam’s position on homosexuality. Several groups, like Imaan.org in the United Kingdom, would seemingly take issue with that statement. They have an excellent FAQ section on their site that addresses some of what they consider misunderstandings when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, marriage and Islam. Imaan.org asks the question (pdf), “Can Gays Marry?” And here’s their answer:

The Quran’s references to marriage obviously relate to heterosexual couples. But could Islam bless homosexual loving relationships? As discussed previously, traditional Islamic views have condemned homosexuality without much thought. However, the analysis at the top of the page has showed how the Quran may well not condemn homosexual love. Taking this into account, the principles of love, companionship and comfort in marriage may be applied to Muslim gays and lesbians.

To say that Islam accepts gay marriage is not only controversial, but certainly needs more discussion than the few lines written here. However, in discussing such an issue, it is certainly important to note that there are gender-neutral areas in the Quran that refer to companionship and love…

It’s certainly a subject that’s up for debate. Still, given State Delegate Ali’s more conservative faith position on homosexuality, it’s refreshing to see a legislator separate their faith from their politics. It’s also refreshing to hear his prediction that by 2011, Maryland might join the list of states that recognize same-sex marriage.

Very interesting, indeed.

Here’s Your Wake Up Call!

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Can Social Networking Redraw Boundaries?

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In cyberspace there are no boundaries or frontiers, yet it has a lot to say about borders and boundaries.  Not only is it used as a vehicle for nationalist, minority and anti-nationalist communication and propaganda, but there are attempts to actually assert borders in cyberspace.  There are national domain name extensions and ISPs are regulated by national agencies.  Anyone who has traveled just across the border to Canada or Mexico knows, you don’t have to go very far before you are off network if you try to use a mobile computing device and hence begin to incur massive international data charges.

Authoritarian regimes, in particular, attempt to assert national control through censorship, blocking access to politically sensitive or even morally offensive sites, at least as they see them.

Here, though, are two cases in which sites that have an international user base took decisions relating to territories in dispute.  The policies they came up with are interesting and probably the best available, given the status of these territories under international law.  All the major social networking sites are, in a very real sense, transnational.

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While Facebook is busy increasing our awareness of other people’s lives around the world, it stamps on globally sensitive nerves with one apparently very simple question: where do you live? Last week it started a controversy when it allowed residents of the Golan Heights to choose whether they lived in Syria or Israel. To put this in context: Israeli forces invaded and occupied the area in 1967, capturing it from Syria. They’ve controlled most of the area since. (The UN considers Golan a illegitimate part of Israel, and labels it Israeli-occupied territory.) But apparently Facebook considers itself an important enough global player to offer a re-drawing of the map. It’s not the first time: Facebook deems people in Kashmir as residents of India, though Pakistan and India control different portions of the embattled region, which has been in dispute for decades.

What do you think?  Social networking is a powerful thing and potentially and excellent tool for cross cultural interaction.  So I’m very interested in seeing how this plays out in the real world.  Read more at Could Social Networking Change the World.

Global Tweets

Global Tweets