kayleeserenity

ahh, the birthday curse continues...

loml hurt his foot at disneyland. he's now in a splint for 6 wks. poor guy.

a new cable series???

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovies.thehollywoodreporter.com/voltron-off-uta

hee hee - loml's 15 mins of fame from con lives on...

http://comic-con.whedonage.com/images/fashionably-whedon-costumes-galore-at-comic-con/

9 days and counting.

haven't been this excited 'bout a birthday in a while.

should be lotsa fun!

okay, start saving your pennies now.

who's in for a group trip to florida?

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-29692008;_ylc=X3oDMTF0NTcxMGs3BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDMjcxOTQ4MQRzZWMDZnAtdG9kYXltb2MEc2xrA2hhcnJ5cG90dGVyLTktMTUtMDk-

just think how much fun con will be next year now that disney has bought marvel.

i can already see spidey-mickey hybrids roaming the floor...

in my opinion, this disney-marvel thing can only go two ways - really well or horribly, horribly awry.

in any case it will be HUGELY entertaining to watch...

Dear Mr. Governor and Poway Unified School District,

Please stop cutting custodians.

One man cannot clean an entire school, move classrooms, and set up graduations all by himself.

Thanks,
A concerned citizen.

hmmm, alice in wonderland directed by tim burton, starring johnny depp as the mad hatter, helena bonham carter as the red queen, and alan rickman as the caterpillar.

should be a fun movie! and delightfully creepy!

have you seen any of the footage coming out of iran lately?

if not, please youtube some.

i can't say for sure why this is moving me as much as it is, but these folks are fighting to have their voices heard. violently.

and the video of neda is particularly disturbing.

for those of you in iran, please do not lose heart. continue the fight. please remember that freedom is not free. we will bear witness to your struggle to have your voice heard. get the word out there - the world is listening and watching.

brad paisley is playing in san diego the day before my birthday.

he's playing verizon wireless the day of my birthday...

i have always wanted to see him in concert.

people are always complaining i never know what i want for my birthday...

hint, hint, hint...

May 26th, 2009
Posted by Joel Engardio, ACLU at 4:24 pm LGBT Rights, Religion & Belief

Prop. 8 Ruling a Blow to All Minorities
(Originally posted on the Washington Posts’s On Faith blog.)

Religious supporters of Proposition 8, the voter initiative that banned same-sex marriages in California, might feel good now that the state’s Supreme Court has ruled that the measure can stand. But will those religious groups that are celebrating Prop. 8 today regret it later when they consider the precedent that’s been set?

Prop. 8 has made it a lot easier in California for a simple majority of voters to strip away the rights of an unpopular minority. What happens when it’s your time to be the unpopular minority?

History is unkind and too often repeats itself. Members of the Mormon Church, who were major supporters of Prop. 8, have ancestors who experienced some of the worst religious discrimination ever faced in the United States. In the mid-19th century they were driven by mobs from Illinois to Missouri and across the Wild West to Utah. It was wrong then to persecute Mormons for what they believed, just as it would be wrong now to try to force Mormons to accept members or marriages in their church they deem unworthy. There is freedom of religion in America for good reason. But that and other freedoms have been watered down in California, thanks to Prop. 8. The court now has less power to fulfill the purpose for which it was created: keep the tyranny of the majority from trampling the rights of the minority. Anyone can be a minority if enough people don’t like the way you live, worship or think.

My mother is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, an unpopular religion that was persecuted in the U.S. and abroad. They faced mob violence in 40 states when refusing to salute the flag during World War II. In Germany, they were put in the concentration camps for refusing to give the Nazi salute. Like Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses vehemently oppose same-sex marriage on moral and Biblical grounds. Gays are not allowed to be Witnesses unless they live celibate and single lives. Members who insist on being in a same-sex relationship are shunned by the congregation. But none of the million Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S. supported Prop. 8 because the religion mandates staying out of politics and culture wars.

Jehovah’s Witnesses proselytize door-to-door advocating a religious point of view just as Mormons do. But the choice to accept or not ends at the front door for the Witnesses. They don’t amend the constitution to force everyone to live their way. State laws are not needed to legitimize their moral views. Witnesses don’t see the state as an enforcer of a moral code. That’s the Bible’s job, they say. If you want to be in God’s Kingdom, simply live the code yourself — it’s not the Witnesses’ mission to enact laws to stop gays from marrying.

When Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted they fought for their First Amendment rights at the U.S. Supreme Court a record 62 times, winning 50 cases. With each win, rights were expanded for everyone. The Witnesses know it’s in their best interest that the rights apply to all, even for groups they disagree with. Now in California the opposite is happening.

Some religious organizations are celebrating a restriction of rights for a minority they disagree with — making themselves the future target of an equally discriminatory people’s amendment. Because Prop. 8 diminished the court’s protective role, there will be nothing they can do other than realize they should have been more careful about what they wished for.

it's official

iowa is more progressive than california is. IOWA...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gay_marriage

*sigh*

This Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. the California Supreme Court will rule on Prop 8.

Let's hope it's a favorable outcome.

hey guys,

starting tomorrow loml and i will be up at my mom's for her after surgery care. mom's house is kinda out there, so we will be on a dial up interweb connection and our cell phones really don't work (REALLY spotty connection - basically a dead zone) but those will be the best way to get a hold of us until thurs when we'll be back san diego way.

cheers!

okay, i am all for you listening to right wing radio if you so choose. that's part of what makes this country great. you can listen to whatever you want to.

i do not believe it should be the hold music for your BUSINESS!!!

even if you are in texas.

i'm just sayin'.

From Equality California:

BREAKING NEWS!
California Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments
in Prop 8 Legal Challenge on March 5

The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Proposition 8 legal challenge.

On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal challenges to Proposition 8 and set an expedited schedule. Briefing in the case was completed on January 21, 2009.
The California Supreme Court must issue its decisions within 90 days of oral argument.

On January 15, 2009, 43 friend-of-the-court briefs urging the Court to invalidate Prop 8 were filed, arguing that Proposition 8 drastically alters the equal protection guarantee in California ’s Constitution and that the rights of a minority cannot be eliminated by a simple majority vote. The supporters represent the full gamut of California ’s and the nation’s civil rights organizations and legal scholars, as well as California legislators, local governments, bar associations, business interests, labor unions, and religious groups.

In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court held that laws that treat people differently based on their sexual orientation violate the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and that same-sex couples have the same fundamental right to marry as other Californians. Proposition 8 eliminated this fundamental right only for same-sex couples. No other initiative has ever successfully changed the California Constitution to take away a right only from a targeted minority group. Proposition 8 passed by a bare majority of 52 percent on November 4.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU filed this challenge on November 5, representing Equality California, whose members include many same-sex couples who married between June 16 and November 4, 2008, and six same-sex couples who want to marry in California . The California Supreme Court has also agreed to hear two other challenges filed on the same day: one filed by the City and County of San Francisco (joined by Santa Clara County and the City of Los Angeles , and subsequently by Los Angeles County and other local governments); and another filed by a private attorney.

Serving as co-counsel on the case with NCLR, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU are the Law Office of David C. Codell, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

The case is Strauss et al. v. Horton et al. (#S168047).

if all else fails, cry, whine and then sue to get the outcome that you want:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090106/ap_on_el_se/minnesota_senate

happy solistice everyone!

happy holidays all!

this has been a very tough year. however, i want to take this small opportunity to be sappy and say that i wouldn't have made it through this year without each and every one of you. i am truly thankful and blessed to know you. yes, you.

so with that said, i hope you find some way to enjoy this holiday season, not just suffer through it. please take some time to find the spirit of hope, family, fun and friendship that this season is really about. please remember that christmas, or festivus, doesn't come from a store.

hugs and a merry festivus to all!