Clipmarks | debbyski's clips

Congratulations California

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:45:04 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Good news for human rights. At least in California they've recognized that bigotry and hate are not compatible with freedom and liberty and human rights.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Gay Couples Celebrate California Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — Gay and lesbian couples in San Francisco rejoiced Thursday over a California Supreme Court decision affirming their right to marry

“What a day for San Francisco, what a day for California, what a day for America, what a day for equality,” Mr. Newsom said before a crowd of several hundred jubilant supporters at San Francisco City Hall.

Mr. Newsom said his office would begin preparing for new gay marriages as soon as the court decision was effective in 30 days. But unlike in 2004, Thursday’s decision would effect marriages statewide, something that the mayor seemed both relieved and vindicated by. “This is not just San Francisco now,” he said shortly after the decision was released. “Its Redding. Its Auburn. It’s Long Beach, its the southern part of the state. It’s Riverside. Its Fresno, that this is now appropriate and legal.”

“I respect the court’s decision and as governor I will uphold its ruling,” the Mr. Schwarzenegger said.

Tags: humanism, law, gay

Tiny Bodies In A Morgue

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:59:28 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "We pleaded with the administrators to help us,” said one mother, Chen Li, 39, who came to the morgue on Wednesday to identify her son, a sixth grader. “We yelled, ‘Where are the soldiers? Send them to help us!’ ”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

JUYUAN, China — The bodies are everywhere. Some are zipped inside white vinyl bags and strewn on the floor. Others have been covered in a favorite blanket or dressed in new clothes. There are so many bodies that undertakers want to cremate them in groups. They are all children.

“Our grief is incomparable,” said Li Ping, 39, eyes rimmed red, as he and his wife slowly, carefully pulled a pair of pink pajamas over the bruised, naked body of their 8-year-old daughter, Ke. “We got married late, and had a child late. She is our only child.”

The earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on Monday has so far claimed more than 19,000 lives across China, and thousands more people remain missing or trapped beneath rubble. But the awful scene at this local morgue is a sad reminder that too many of the dead are children in a country where most families are allowed to have only one.

But the cruelty, in the eyes of their parents, was also man-made.