Activist Judges in Iowa?

I've always hated the term "activist judge" because it seems like a pretty bogus argument to lay on someone who was voted in by the people, most likely after receiving high marks from whatever bar association, and in some cases approved by whatever state legislature, even the U.S. Congress!

But, time and again it shows up when people - on the losing side - think a judge has overstepped his or her bounds.

The gay marriage issue has bestowed this title on many a judge, usually in such liberal states as California, Vermont, New Jersey, etc. etc. Anti-evolution people peppered some Pennsylvania judges with this title, too.

How fitting, no? That they are so against it that thinking isn't even allowed to evolve, unless it's regression to their thoughts.

But, today, a lower district court in Iowa - yes, Iowa - has ruled that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry and that current state laws violate the rights of Iowa's citizens.

If Iowa can come to its senses, how long before other states rectify laws discriminating against some people?

Actually, I don't see it changing very quickly. This is the same country that still had a state that barred interracial marriage as late as 2000. And when it was overturned, 40% of the voters still supported it.

So, to the activist judge crowd, keep it up. You'll be repeated yourself like an old, broken record for years to come.

In the meantime, I need to find something to listen to that drowns out the noise coming out of your mouths.

Yet Another Problem with the Republicans

Gay issues aren't something that crop up on this blog regularly, but some things just have to be said.

Over and over and over.

And thank you to the Republicans for giving me reason to say it, again.

Idaho's Republican Sen. Larry Craig pleaded guilty earlier this month to lewd behavior in a men's room at a Minneapolis airport. It's interesting to note this is the same charge that landed in pop singer George Michael's lap, among other things.

What gets me, and what really needs to be beaten into people's heads - apparently - is that this sort of action is the direct result of apparent - and not so - closeted, fearful gays pretending to be something their are not.

This ties in with Sen. Craig because during his tenure in the U.S. Senate he has voted against gay marriage. Perhaps other issues, too, I don't know, I'm culling this from an AP story.

But, until America wakes up to reality, to the fact that millions of Americans are gay, bi, whatever, this sort of nonsense will continue.

And I'm not just talking about the bathroom stall sex, I don't expect that to go away any time soon.

But the scandal is that this man may be a liar, and that is more politically damaging, in my eyes and I'm sure many others, than just coming out as gay and serving your country as a gay man.

It's pretty despicable because fighting change and fairness and equality, and maintaining the status quo remains, is to the detriment of an entire segment of the population. And I'm talking about gay-affiliated and otherwise.

But it is very pleasing to me when people are ensnared in a problem that they have helped maintain.

Greetings from Asbury Park

Yeah, I'm not actually in Asbury Park as I'm writing this, but I'm looking forward to this weekend. My job really isn't that hard, but Monday and Thursday were nearly 10 hour days, and the reason is the stupid way the Web site is built.

To put it bluntly, it would be a failing grade for college freshman computer science major. I certainly don't know how to fix it, but I can tell that something isn't write and one look at my job explains all of it.

But, I have a picture to post online today from my last trip to Asbury Park, which, in case you don't know, is the new gay mecca on the eastern seaboard.

And one tell-tale sign is the antique shops. I don't know how it is that antique shops and gays go together, but they do.

Below is an amazing work of art I stumbled upon and could not part without taking a picture.

Luck, Supported by Apple Inc.

So today I'm the winner of an Apple iPod Shuffle. This is the second iPod I've won in the past year, and I have no clue how this is happening.

I'm waiting for my luck to mature some, to the Powerball or some such thing.

The first iPod, a Nano, I won was for playing a Flash game at Philadelphia's recycling program Web site. This time it was a raffle that TD Banknorth was having at Liberty Place, my old, old, old job site, which I passed on my way to Express, my old, old, old job, to find a good sale for work clothes, while I was on lunch break.

I also got a 4 SPF chap stick and small bag of Entenmann's fudge brownies as I was filling out the form.

So, I'm going to have an iPod Shuffle for sale soon. It sure doesn't beat my 30 GB Video iPod. Too bad it's wasn't an iPhone ...

A Good Samaritan in Philadelphia

Thank you! Thank you, to whoever you are!

Last week I lost a check and bill somewhere between breakfast at Jean's and work. The envelope was without a stamp, but somehow it made it into a mailbox, stamped, presumably, and ended up at its correct location before the bill was due.

Thank you, thank you!

I suppose normally this wouldn't have been that big a deal, but the bill was for my 18 months, same-as-cash deal on my laptop, and losing the no-interest deal would have easily cost me a full paycheck just in interest!

Fahrenheit Cooling

This certainly has nothing to do with the temperature here in Philly, which has been in the 90s of late.

Instead, years later I've sat down to watch Fahrenheit 9/11, which I must say is feeling a bit tedious. Perhaps it's because it's so much time past or because I've read up a lot on the topic in the years that followed. It comes with working in the news.

I've been holding out for so long because I really felt it'd be preaching to the choir, and I can say that's the truth.

I think what I've gotten out of it is that the U.S. has really become - not necessarily a puppet - but a big kiss-ass.

Perhaps Sept. 11 wasn't exactly a conspiracy on our end, but a cover-up by the actions of a hostile country with important U.S. citizens around around their fingerprints?

And that war that followed? A hollow response by some very inept and flagrantly uncaring people.

Other thoughts? What a sick battle America has raged on the innocent while approving billions in weaponry to the country where 90 percent of the terrorists in Sept. 11 actually came from.

I do have plans to check out Sicko, which involves a topic far closer to me.