R-ISLANDER

IT IS TIME RHODE ISLAND--SAME SEX MARRIAGE

The California courts said bans against same sex marriage is unconstitutional and permits California to join our sister state of Massachusetts in marrying same sex couples.  Here's a piece of the decision:

The California Supreme Court has overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in a 4-3 decision. The opinion is lengthy, and I'm just getting through it, but here's an excerpt: "Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

Maybe this decision by one of the country's most prestigious courts will convince an otherwise disappointing Democratic legislature here in Rhode Island to give the "okay" to same sex marriage in Rhode Island.

DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE BACKS CARCIERI CUTS OF HUMAN SERVICES

The RI Legislature closed the budget deficit.  How did they do it?  As reported in the Projo, ..."cutting health-care and welfare benefits for thousands of children, and reducing retirement benefits for all state workers who retire after Sept. 30, not to mention cutting benefits in other human services programs. 

How cowardly is it for the Assembly to balance the budget on the backs of children and state workers?  CHILDREN...no health insurance for children.  A major cut in health insurance for the working class on a variety of fronts.

They cut needed benefits of poor children and save dollars...and then give it away with tax cuts for the rich and coporate entities.  I can understand the Republican Carcieri making such unconscionable choices, but a D_E_M_O_C_R_A_T_I_C legislature?  I thought Democrats supported those at the margins of our society.  What the hell happened?  When did they become Republican who gleefully cut programs for the poor and working classes?

SHAME, SHAME....time to check voting records and to "reward" those democrats who are so in name only!

Queer Month at Rhode Island College Plagued by Vandals.

Queer Month at Rhode Island College plagued by vandals.

According to the student newspaper, The Anchor, The series of attacks on RIC Rainbow Alliance's advertising campaigns has continued since two weeks ago. The banner hanging in Donovan Dining Center that advertises the second half of Queer Month disappeared for the fourth time. Besides the banner, hateful language has appeared in several places on the campus.…

I'd like to hear the Governor, the local Catholic bishop, and other politicians and religious figures speak out against this.  They won't .  Maybe those who are running for Governor will.

CHRIS MATTHEWS AND DAILY KOS

I don't usually read Daily Kos, but I couldn't resist this critique of Chris Matthews, the MSNBC "analyst" who is in the tank BIG TIME for Barack Obama.  An even better insight is in the "comments" section of this post when a reader comments on cable "news" and Matthews and Matthews-like programs:

I am sorry but there is no reason to continue calling these programs "news". What they are are entertainment. They convey limited information (maybe one paragraph's worth per half hour). The rest is posturing, bullshit, hot air and generally a waste of your time and everyone's. Can we just stop saying "news"? There is no news on TV. Almost everything that is "news" gets reported on the internet before it ever hits the airwaves. So it isn't even "new" (if it is information at all), when it's on the air. It's blathertainment. It's blovianimation. It's a "reality show". I hate to sound like one of those "I don't watch TV" snobs, because I've spent a lot of time watching the shit. But lately I just can't. I have to turn it off. I just can't anymore. I urge everyone else to do the same!!

I have watched Matthews for a long-time, but like the above writer, I have found myself turning off MSNBC and Matthews it has become so painful.

Daily Kos has caught why it has become painful and the continual PUSHING of Obama on us --in the face of facts--at the expense of trashing Hillary constantly is another reason. (I have noticed it has been a little better lately, but it continues.) With Nora, I have to shut it off immediately. I've already thrown three TVs out the window and I can't afford to do it anymore.

Thank God for Willie Geist on Scarborough's program. If it weren't for him and that wholesomeness he brings, MSNBC would be off my list of "watches" until after the election is over and they get their collective acts back in the forward position.

If MSNBC and other cable programming want to get better ratings, they should do more 60 Minutes or Dateline programming. Short (15 minute or so) investigative and informative pieces instead of repeating CONSTANTLY and every 1/2 half hour what they have been saying all day would attract a much greater audience share.

Even a loyal MSNBC viewer such as myself, and believe me I am, is getting very tired of the Obama tilt on the "news" and the Hillary bashing on most MSNBC programming.

I am voting for Hillary and fully intend to vote for Obama if he wins the nomination, but MSNBC and Matthews, Nora, Mika, et al are pushing me away even from that....that's how bad they are getting.....Tucker was bad, but these guys are just AWFUL.

I loved Matthews at one time.  His Catholic background, his education, his upbringing is exactly like mine.  I like that.  He has, however, disappointed many of us who see his blatant partisanship when "reporting" and "commenting" on the news a huge break with quality.

I never thought I would hear myself say this, but, "Give us more Pat Buchanan.  He seems more balanced."  I really mean that.

Obama's big lead among men over Clinton disappeared

Not only is Obama's support among all Democrats shrinking very significantly, even more shocking, the latest NYTimes poll notes that men are moving to Hillary instead of Obama:

Obama's big lead among men over Clinton disappeared during that period, the Times said.

In February, 67 percent of men wanted the Democrats to nominate Obama compared with 28 percent for Clinton. Now, 47 percent of men back Obama compared with 42 percent for Clinton, the poll found.

Obama's lead among whites, voters making more than $50,000 annually and voters under age 45 has also shrunk, The New York Times reported.

Ahead of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, Clinton and Obama are effectively tied among Democratic voters nationwide. MORE>>>

According to the poll 46 percent want Obama to be the party's nominee compared with 43 percent who prefer Clinton.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all voters, so we have a tie.

You'll never hear this from Chris Matthews, though.  He's so in the tank for Obama it must be embarrassing not only for MSNBC, it must be embarrassing for anyone legitimately and fairly covering the presidential primaries. 

Do you believe that Matthews actually showed THREE TIMES in a row the tape of Hillary landing in Bosnia.  Then he had the nerve to ask the question, "Why won't this Hillary story die?"  LOL....I was in a room of thirty college students and the entire group broke out in laughter...He's doing more for HIllary with his swiftboating of her than her supporters.  LOL...Keep it up Chris!

Someone should ask Matthews why he never points out that Obama lied about never -- over 20 years, LOL-- being in the church when Wright went on a tirade, or how Obama lied about his connections with Tony Rezko and how much money he accepted from him.  Matthews never tells us how Obama's judgment is much less effective than Clinton's.

Clinton accepted--as did everyone else--the President's assertions about WMDs in Iraq and voted accordingly...Who knew at the time he and Cheney were liars?  Obama wasn't in a position to vote at the time...Clinton, of course, became anti-war with the revelations about the faulty intelligence, as did virtually every other democrat.  Matthews continues to see this as bad judgment and how good Obama is on judgment.

He never mentions that Obama has the worst judgment of anyone, especially when it comes to people = Rezko and Wright.  Who wants a president that surrounds himself with such people?  That is the judgment I'd worry about.  Even Obama called it bad judgment about his ties with Rezko!  But Matthews never tells us that, LOL....doesn't he know what he's doing to his reputation when at one time it was one of fair, objective commentary?

I wonder how much Obama pass Chris to be a cheerleader for his cause and to trash Hillary every chance he can with spin (he's even better than O'Reilly now for laughs!) and outright distortions.

You can be for Obama, Chris, I will if he wins the nomination and he probably will, but, Chris, Mika and Nora (boy, there's loser), do it FAIRLY!  Is it any wonder Hillary won't appear on Hardball.  It's only Hardball when its Hillary.  With Obama it is definitely SOFTBALL.  This is no way for a good Catholic to act, Chris.

WHAT VOTERS WILL FACE IN NOVEMBER! IN RHODE ISLAND, TOO?

When Americans cast ballots on November 4 to elect a president, some states also will ask voters hot-button questions like whether or not to ban gay marriage.

Such "ballot initiatives" -- proposed amendments to state constitutions or legislation -- have become a staple of U.S. elections and have played a role in recent presidential races.

Two that have qualified for November's ballot stand out: one to ban gay marriage in the presidential battleground state of Florida -- where votes for Republican and Democratic candidates have been closely split in recent elections -- and another in Colorado to roll back affirmative-action policies aimed at helping minorities overcome discrimination.

Initiatives to ban gay marriage played a role in President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election as they propelled the Republican Party's conservative Christian base to the polls MORE>>>>>>

Both Hillary and Obama are good on gay matters, but Hillary is better...and the most qualified and the most focused and experienced. 

Gender in the professoriate and in politics

This was published today. It is another indication of how women have been treated since the beginning of time. It is why Hillary Clinton is in a fight for the nomination when she is the obviously most qualified of the two candidates. A vote for Hillary is a move to change discrimination against women.

THE DOUBLE HIT ON WOMEN'S SALARIES

"Expanded research study shows how complicated it is to pinpoint the causes of gender gap in professors’ pay — while also documenting that the gap is real and isn’t going away."  MORE>>

PROVIDENCE, RI BISHOP AND THE NUN ON GAYS

Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin should certainly read about this nun.  It would do him and Benedict xvi some good.

If anyone has seen this silly article in the Rhode Island Catholic, "Same Sex Marriages Would Have Disasterous Effects on Churches", you will more than agree with me.

Buona Pasqua and prayers for the Bishop's soul for sending these hateful articles as we approach Easter.

OBAMA, WRIGHT AND GAY PEOPLE

The church attended by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) fought back Sunday against mounting criticism of its pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Jr., accusing the media of character assassination and “crucifixion.”

In a Friday column posted on The Huffington Post, Obama both rejected and condemned Wright's statements.

In the statement released to reporters, the new Pastor, Rev. Otis Moss said called criticism of Wright and the church an “attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world.”

I'd like to believe that, but unfortunately, the African American Churches have been the most condemning of gay rights in the country and continue to be. Homophobia among African Americans is rampant, and the African American Churches have done very little if anything to change that. Will Obama, so tied to this mentality, work as hard for gay Americans as needs to be done?

PELOSI IN THE TANK FOR OBAMA? OH YA.....

Nancy Pelosi is definitely in the tank for Barack Obama.  She continually knocks Hillary, the more qualified candidate.  I guess she knows she's in trouble back home and needs those Obama votes.  San Francisco, I guess she's calculated will give her more support if she supports Obama unabashedly over Hillary.  It is her attitude, so partisan and not in the interest of the party at this time, that will give the election to the Republicans.  She's now claiming that the Super Delegates should not have a role in the selection of the Democratic nominee.  What happened to the rules, Nancy?  The super delegates are supposed to have a role in all this based on their experience...  Pelosi thinks otherwise:

"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party."

-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quoted by the Associated Press, in a "declaration that gives a boost to Sen. Barack Obama."

She's made the same SILLY and anti Democratic and anti-democratic remarks on the Stephanopoulis Show this a.m.  What is her problem?

How about getting the House moving on ending the war, Nancy...Stop the baseball hearings, and hold hearing on impeaching Bush, for example....instead of destroying the Democratic chances in November...