Clipmarks | iulawboy's clips

New Jersey Gay Marriage Bill Voted Out of Committee

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:40:15 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: On a 7-6 vote with one Republican voting yes and the Democratic Chair and Vice-Chair voting no. I respect the chairman for bringing this to a hearing and vote even though he disagrees with the bill.

Clip Source: www.nj.com

New Jersey

How members of the Judiciary committee voted on the gay marriage bill

A bill to allow gay marriage in New Jersey cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, 7-6, tonight

Yes:

Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer)
Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex)
Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union)
Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union)
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson)
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen)

No:

Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), chairman
Sen. John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic) vice chair
Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Somerset)
Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth)
Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen)
Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)

Tags: gay marriage, new jersey legislature, new jersey

Gay Civil Partnership Coming to Ireland?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:13:32 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: www.ontopmag.com

The Republic of Ireland is considering a bill that would grant gay and lesbian couples most of the rights and obligations of marriage.

Debate began Thursday on Justice Minister Dermot Ahern's Civil Partnership Bill, the Independent reported.

Ireland reversed a law that made being gay a criminal offense in 1993. Since then, the nation has banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and opened the military to gay and lesbian service members.

But the nation's largest gay marriage group, LGBT Noise, panned the bill. “If this Civil Partnership Bill becomes law it will force gay couples to participate in their own discrimination and the children of same-sex couple will remain vulnerable.

Lawmakers say implementing gay marriage would violate the Irish Constitution.

Tags: gay marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, ireland

Hand Recount of Local Mayoral Election

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:34:38 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: Candidates separated by 2 votes. 33 people cast ballots but did not vote in the mayor's race.

Clip Source: www.spokesman.com

Mayoral race undecided

The results of this month’s Spokane County election were certified on Tuesday, but the counting isn’t over.

Elections officials next week will recount by hand the votes cast in the race for Airway Heights mayor.

City Councilman Patrick Rushing’s lead over incumbent Mayor Matthew Pederson grew in the latest tally to two votes. He led by just one vote after the previous count, on Nov. 10.

Rushing has 281 votes to Pederson’s 279. State law requires races within 0.25 percent to be recounted by hand.

Tags: election 2009, airway hights, spokane county, recount

Changes at PBS' NewsHour

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:28:40 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: Great insight on the use of Twitter to gather news.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Until recently, the employees who worked on the Web site of “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS were based in a building a brisk five-minute walk through city traffic from their on-air colleagues.

But in early November, the staffs were merged into a single 20-person bullpen

Four days after the move, a gunman killed 13 people and wounded 43 others in a rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. As word spread, the digital employees were silent, to the bafflement of some of the TV producers, who had jumped for the telephones.

It turned out they were exchanging Twitter messages with the Army and a member of Congress. “We learned so much just having them in the room,” Ms. Winslow said.

For years, Mr. Lehrer ran the program

with a strong hand, or as he calls it, a “Quaker monarchy system: Try to arrive at a consensus and if you can’t, I decide.

Tags: newshour, pbs, jim lehrer, lehrer, twitter, fort hood, quaker

Oregon anti-tax activist Sizemore charged with tax evasion

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:22:35 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: I'm shocked, shocked, to find that an anti-tax activist is not paying his taxes. Not.

Clip Source: www.oregonlive.com

Oregon charges anti-tax activist Sizemore, wife with tax evasion

Oregon officials have charged tax foe Bill Sizemore and his wife with tax evasion for their failure to file state tax returns the past three years, the first time Sizemore has faced criminal indictment in more than 15 years of political activism.

In an interview Monday, Sizemore said he and his wife didn't file returns but paid about $50,000 in estimated taxes in 2006 and 2007 and nothing in 2008.

"There was no intent to evade taxes," he said. "You aren't trying to evade taxes if you pay estimated taxes."

Sizemore said he was being targeted by Kroger, who won election last year with large contributions from public employee unions.

"This is nothing but a malicious prosecution by a political attorney general who's in the pocket of the unions," Sizemore said.

Tags: bill sizemore, sizemore, oregon, tax, anti-tax

HIV Today

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:14:20 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Globally, HIV causes about 4 percent of all deaths, but gets about 23 cents of every public health dollar.

Last year, HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 72 percent of all 2.7 million new HIV cases worldwide.

"More than 5 million people need treatment and are not receiving it," Guerma said.

Speaking later to Reuters, Guerma said second line drugs still cost a minimum of $800 per year in low-income countries.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where the scourge of AIDS is most keenly felt, there were 400,000 fewer infections in 2008, or down 15 percent compared to 2001.

New HIV infections declined 25 percent in East Asia and 10 percent in south and southeast Asia within the same timeframe.

Tags: hiv, africa, sub-saharan africa, aids

Silverdome Sold for $583,000

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:31:28 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: With the average home in Detroit valued at under $10,000 this should not be surprising, but it is.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

A Michigan court on Monday cleared the way for a sale of the Pontiac Silverdome, the former home of the Detroit Lions football team, for just $583,000

The 80,300-seat facility, which has been largely unused since the Lions moved out in 2002

The Silverdome was built 35 years ago for $55.7 million.

Tags: detroit, pontiac, silverdome, pontiac silverdome, detroit lions

Man "Locked In" for 23 Years

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:21:47 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: I do not want to even attempt to imagine what that would be like. I saw "The Bell and the Butterfly." Ultimatly, no thank you - if the only hope was that many years later I may be able to communicate blinking I don't want to stick around.
What is wonderful is that this family chose to keep trying, assuming that is what the man wanted. Make sure you tell your loved ones what you would want to have happen in instances such as this(and draft documents!). They will have stress enough without having to guess what you want.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

BRUSSELS - For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.

The car-crash victim had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state but appears to have been conscious the whole time. An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s finally realized it, and unlocked Houben’s mind again.

The 46-year-old Houben is now communicating with one finger and a special touchscreen on his wheelchair.

owerlessness. Utter powerlessness. At first I was angry, then I learned to live with it,” he said

the rate of misdiagnosis of vegetative state has not substantially changed in the past 15 years,” the study said. Back then, studies found that “up to 43 percent of patients with disorders of consciousness are erroneously assigned a diagnosis of vegetative state.

Tags: locked in syndrome, death with dignity, assisted suicide, medical power of attorney, terri shhiavo, rom houben

Doug Hoffman Makes Himself a Joke

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:35:31 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

On Monday, ThinkProgress reported that failed Conservative Party candidate had rescinded his concession to Democrat Bill Owens in the NY-23 special congressional election. The next day, however, Hoffman’s spokesman said he was un-conceding the race, adding that they weren’t planning on challenging the results. Now, alleging widespread voter fraud at the hands of ACORN and labor unions, Hoffman is again taking back his concession. From a statement posted on his website last night:

But as Politico’s Josh Kraushaar notes, “Hoffman currently faces next-to-no chance of pulling ahead,” as he would “need to win nearly 80 percent of the outstanding absentee ballots to win.” The Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner said that Hoffman’s allegations were “absolutely false.”

Tags: election, election 2009, ny-23, doug hoffman

Millions to Repay Part of Tax Credit

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:06:07 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: www.seattlepi.com

Millions will have to repay part of tax credit

WASHINGTON -- More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit.

Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.

The Social Security Administration sent out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in the spring as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments were meant to provide a boost for people who didn't' qualify for the tax credit.

However, they went to many retirees who also received the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit - but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.

Tags: tax, economy, government, income tax, tax policy, taxpayers, treasury department, sopcial security, economic stimulus, stimulus

Sandra Day O'Connor's Gratious Response to Her Husband's Alzheimer's

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:50:36 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: crosscut.com

Sandra Day O’Connor

her graceful resignation from the bench in 2005 to care for her husband, John, who had Alzheimer’s. And — even more profoundly — her grace and extraordinary generosity, two years later, when she went public with the fact that her partner of 50 years had forgotten her and taken up with another woman: a fellow Alzheimer’s patient whom Justice O’Connor accepted and cared for and visited in the memory unit as well.

I was 41 years old when this news broke. I’d been married for two years to my second husband. And I remember remarking to myself that I finally, thanks to this woman, understood what real love is.

Yesterday, John Jay O’Connor died at the age of 79, after suffering from Alzheimer’s for nearly 20 years.

Tags: alzheimer's, sandra day o'coinnor, john jay o'connor, supreme court

1 in 5 men divorce their spouse for getting cancer

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:36:24 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: Are you serious -- you wife gets diagnosed with cancer and you walk out the door? And they won't let the gays get married --- why do you think we might treat our partners better and make you look bad?

Clip Source: seattlepostglobe.org

Men are more likely to divorce a spouse diagnosed with cancer than are women, according to a study of partner abandonment co-authored by a Seattle cancer specialist.

Researchers were surprised that when a woman was the cancer patient, she was likely to be abandoned by her spouse 20.8 percent of the time. When the man was the patient, the study said, he was likely to be abandoned less than 3 percent of the time. Overall the divorce rate, confirmed as in other studies, was 11.6 percent.

Read the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance's release on the study here.

Tags: marriage, illness, cancer, divorce

Gay Marriage Not Comming to Washington Any Time Soon

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:41:22 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: We have a lot of grassroots work to do before we get to marriage in this state. Conversations have to take place between urban gays and their relatives in rural areas.

Clip Source: heraldnet.com

Gay marriage issue can wait, say Referendum 71 partisans

Those who opposed each other on Referendum 71 agree on one thing: Don't look for gay marriage on a ballot in 2010.

And don't expect the Legislature to make it legal or a judge to decide the issue.

Leaders on both sides say it's too soon to revisit the issue.

Proponents know they must build support in those rural areas before a marriage measure gets pushed to a statewide vote. As of Friday, voters in 29 counties were rejecting the measure — and in some places, by more than 70 percent

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, introduced a bill legalizing marriage for same-sex couples last January. He said he's not expecting it to receive a hearing in 2010.

“The closeness of the results indicates we have a lot of work to do before we move marriage legislatively or on the ballot,” said. Murray, who authored the law put before voters.

Tags: gay marriage, r-71, referendum 71, civil unions, civil rights

Supersize My Kid

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:20:48 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy

Clip Source: health.msn.com

The typical burger, soda and fries that you and I ate as kids contain an average of 214 more calories today than that same meal did in the 1970s—enough to add at least 3 pounds of weight a year to your child's body, even if he or she ate that fast-food meal just once a week.

Tags: obesity, food, health

It Was Utah that Ended Prohibition

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:58:01 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: The underlying article is about the coming culture change with gay marriage, legal pot, and travel to Cuba.

Clip Source: slate.com

Prohibition

came to an end when Utah, of all places, became the 36^th state to ratify the 21^stAmendment in 1933.

Tags: prohibition, gay marriage, pot, cuba, utah