Well, clearly you must think a few snuck in. Regardless, you cannot (first of all) convict someone of being homosexual. That is like convicting someone of being tall. Second, you certainly cannot convict a heterosexual man of being homosexual. That is like convicting a Black man of being an Asian woman. Third, should decide to ignore all of this logic, you cannot kill a man for being gay! And certainly not a man with no legal representation. And certainly again no in a case with no evidence, but rather on the premise of “Judge’s knowledge.”

18 year old Ebrahim (beautiful, name for what it is worth) has been convicted of homosexuality in Iran. He was charged after he and some friends got into a fight with another family. His lawyer is in exile in Norway. The government presented no evidence against him. But he is to be executed. Why? Because “President” Ahmadinejad is a bigoted piece of crap. He is corrupt, power hungry, and a criminal himself.

I am so sick of people pussyfooting around this lunatic. You cannot legislate moral behavior, and you cannot treat us all like your little minions. Your time is coming to an end, Ahmadinejad.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that “moral disapproval alone” is insufficient reason to deny marriage rights to gay couples. Which is, of course, basic fucking common sense.

We live in a country where the majority has no right to determine what rights the minority has. We have an obligation to protect the groups with a quieter, less numbered, voice. And, for that matter, we live in a country that has a Constitution that specifically outlaws using religion as the only rationale for a law. What, I ask you, is the secular reasoning behind banning gay marriage?

Homosexual couples love eachother, just like heterosexual couples. They are intimate with eachother, just like heterosexual couples. They want families, just like heterosexual couples. And what reasoning would there be to deny them this?

I have a friend, that I respect most of the time, who is anti-gay marriage. His reasoning is that marriage provides federal benefits (tax breaks etc) that should be issued to a man and a woman as they marry to have a family. But I argue this: what is the difference between a man and a woman who get married and have a child and a man and a man who get married and adopt. And if the key is actually having a child (rather than adopting) should we require fertility tests before allowing heterosexual couples to marry?

Some argue that the instance of sexual abuse is higher in homosexuals. Not only is this blatantly bigoted, it is also quite wrong. In fact, the profile for a sexual abuser is a middle aged, white, heterosexual man. Touching kids does not make you gay, it makes you a pervert and – yes – there is a big difference.

Then, of course, folks argue that civil unions is practically the same thing as marriage. They can just stop, right there. These are the same folks who said it was okay to have black children at a school that was practically the same as the white school. Separate is not equal, folks.

What happens between two (or more) consenting adults is only the business of those adults. It does not matter if those adults like to dress up and role play, go out and meet other consenting adults, live in polygamy, or happen to be of the same gender – it is their business. Not mine. Not yours. And certainly not the government’s. We have no right to dictate the sexual habits of consenting adults. And we have no right to deny a basic civil right such as marriage to two loving people just because the Church does not approve.

That said, I stand firmly against requiring Churches to recognize a marriage they do not approve of. They are private entities and do not have to honor anything they do not want to. Their only obligation is to realize they can no longer dictate law. I don’t care that Prop 8 passed legally. It was an UnConstitutional vote. The majority cannot vote on a law that restricts the rights of the minority.

This will, of course, be appealed. And regardless of whether or not the 9th District Court of Appeals upholds Judge Walker’s ruling, I am positive it will go to the Supreme Court. We are watching history, folks.

True as that may be, hopefully I can resolve to change that.

But seriously, send gifts :)

During Greta Van Susteren’s segment on the ethical challenges currently facing California Democrat Maxine Waters, there seems to have been a mixup with the videos.

Rather than showing video of Waters, Fox showed video of another black woman – Shirley Sherrod.

Greta gave a rather blasé and unconvincing apology on her blog, stating “Right now we are trying to console ourselves with the fact that, while we did a doozy of a mistake, at least it was unintentional, we noticed it immediately and scrambled to fix it immediately. And yes, even with telling ourselves that, we still feel horrible! (and we should feel horrible!)”

Greta, hon, you mixed up video of two black women who look nothing a like. Had you accidentally aired footage of – say – Hillary Clinton, I might take your apology and run with it. That could be viewed as an honest mishap. But someone at Fox thought this was the right footage. They truly seem to not be able to tell the difference between two black women. And that is a problem.

Oh and, by the way, “at least it was unintentional?” is that opposed to the myriad of intentional “mistakes” that Faux News makes daily?

Shut your damn mouth. You are so incredibly stupid you make me ashamed to have lived in Alaska. You do not have foreign policy expereince merely because Alaska is (kinda) near Russia. If that were true, the Governor of Maine could make the very same claim since Maine is near Canada. Or Texas leardership could claim they have foreign policy experience given their proximity to Mexico. But they do not, you know why? Because they are not complete dolts. But you, you are Sarah.

I don’t want to hear about your family values, ok? Your daughter is a single teenaged mother. The father of her child called you guys out while modeling shirtless and visiting his mother in jail for drug charges. When those two kids decided to get married, it now seems to be called off because Levi cannot keep it in his pants. This is how you raise your kids and yet you think you have a right to lecture us about our values?

And speaking of values, quit talking about gay rights. Being gay is not a choice – it is a state of being. Just like being black, short, round-faced or a giraffe is not a choice. I don’t want to hear how your friend “chose” a different life than you but she is still your friend. You might want to consult her on that, she may have a different opinion.

And quit calling out President Obama for being unAmerican. Your husband was a member of a pro-seperationist group in Alaska – and you accepted political funds from them. That sounds pretty unAmerican to me.

Sarah, I get it. You want to be the next big thing but here is a hint – your endoresements are worse for a candidate than an endoresement from Bush. Every candidate you have stood behind has crashed and burned so badly, I am beginning to think you are pushing them.

Give up, Sarah. Just give up. On second thought – don’t. I look forward to the laughs we will get when you yet again cannot answer basic questions like “which newspaper do you read” and “what, exactly, does refudiate mean?”

I am just so tired. How did we get here? Or were we always here and I have just now realized it? My life is good, yes. I have a stable job that pays my bills. I have a home. I have rights that many cannot even dream of. I have friends (although they are too far away). I have my dog who loves me completely.

So where do we turn now? How do we get out of this mess? How do we peel back the layers of destruction that we have created for ourselves?  I don’t know but we must do something. We must change something. If we continue done this path I fear we may never be able to turn back. One day, one day it may be too late.

I am tired. I am frustrated. I am saddened. But most of all, I am angry.

That said, as long as they remain peaceful, everyone has the right to practice their religion in whatever way they deem appropriate – particularly as it applies to dress. The Amish wear neutral colors and large belt buckles. Pentecostals cover the hair of their women and wear long dresses. Monks wear robes in bright oranges and brown. Mormons wear their modesty undergarments. Muslim women wear veils.

That is, until France’s lower house “overwhelmingly” passed a ban on Muslim veils. Not all veils, mind you – just Muslim veils. Will cancer patients be prohibited from wearing masks? No. Will a deformed individual be forced to go out unshielded from prying eye? No. Will Halloween masks be banned? No. Will Catholics be banned from wearing crosses? Nope. Wiccans from wearing robes? No.

They claim it is to protect the women. That the veils are inconsistent with France’s views on equality. I argue it is a choice to wear that veil. This is France we speak of, not Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. These women chose to practice their faith, they chose to wear the veil. And France has all but taken that choice away from them. Where is the equality now? Where is the freedom of religion?

I am outraged that this anti-Islamic law – and that is what is truly is, xenophobia at its best – has been passed in a country that claims to be progressive! How progressive can you be when you are taking away the rights of the people? The only hope that remains is for France’s Constitutional watchdog to do the right thing and deem this law unconstitutional – as it does seem to violate France’s freedom of religion sections.

For shame, France. I never cared for you but now at least I can justify this bitter dislike.

Then, there was but only because we were not holding it right.

Now, there is but not really – the signal bars incorrectly displayed a signal when there wasn’t one (read: blame AT&T)

Come fucking on. Exactly how dumb do you think we are, Jobs? Sure, we keep buying your iPods even when we already have iPhones or could get the exact same (or better) device for 1/2 the price and not have to download your software and bloatware (read: who the fuck uses Quicktime?!). And yeah, we signed up for contracts with AT&T knowing full well their service was craptastic to begin with and would only get worse now just so that we could get your “innovative” phone.

And yeah, nearly a million people bought a phone that – on the release date – had already been eclipsed in innovation and technology by HTC (HTC beat you, really Apple!?)

But we are not so dumb as to believe that you didn’t fuck it up, Jobs. The iPhone 4 sucks. In an effort to squeeze a better signal out of a crappy network, you made it impossible to hold the phone normally (who holds the phone by the top?). You made an already bad problem worse.

And now, you just insult us.

I do not miss my iPhone – at all.

To me, and the majority of the 119 students who attended SJ, she was so much more than a college. She was our home, our life and our family. Hidden away on that island in Alaska, cut off from roads, and occassionally even from the internet, we learned to depend on eachother. Often in the winter we would go two or three weeks without cable, internet and barely a phone signal. We adapted. We relied on our fellow students and faculty to lend support when needed.

When one of the students experienced a death in the family and couldn’t afford to fly home, many of us pitched in to help. When couples broke up, we flocked to the injured party to lend support.

In 2007, the school closed after years of struggling financially and poor leadership. It was devestating. We were given no notice. She was closed over summer break and faculty was fired with zero notice (same day). In a matter of minutes, our close knit family had been thrown apart – tossed across the country.

Now, after three years (nearly to the day), and still not reopening, the Board has fired the man I blame for my home being taken away. Dr. David Dobler (officially Rev. Dr. David Dobler, but he can kiss my ass if he thinks he deserves that title). The man at the helm who promised us everything only to take it all away.

SJ will never reopen. Perhaps there will be another institution on her beautiful grounds one day, but SJ is gone forever. I can accept that. I don’t want to, but I can. But I wont forgive him for what he did. I hope, with this little piece, I can keep alive the knowledge that he brought down that school, that family, without a second thought. And for three years, he did nothing to repair the damage – and now it never can be fixed.

And so, let this be my final farewell to a place that was so much more than a college to me. SJ was my home, Sitka is where my heart truly belongs.

The People. You, your neighbor, the kid down the road, me – we were supposed to control Congress. Congress answered to us! We funded their campaign and if they neglected to do our will, we removed them. A Congressional position was not a career – it was a public service one would hold for a short while before returning to the private sector. What has happened?

Corporations, now more than ever, run elections. Politicians are bought and paid for by special interests. No longer does it matter what the people want – the people are merely pandered to, told what we want to hear. We argue amongst ourselves – red state vs. blue state, right vs. left. When will we open our eyes and realize we have been scammed?

Our tax dollars, our children’s tax dollars, paid for banks to steal our life savings. Our politicians passed laws allowing BP to have oil rigs in our waters, flagged in another country for the sole purpose of avoiding our environmental protocols – and now look at what has happened. Health care reform law is a toothless tiger because Big Insurance doesn’t want to pay out. Consumer finance reform is a weak beast because banks threatened to stop lending. Net neutrality wont exist because communication companies don’t want to compete. But oh no! Online gambling can get your bank account frozen! And GOD FORBID you download a song you didn’t buy – that could land you in jail!

What have we allowed to happen? Under our watch, Big Business has taken over the government. Our “leaders” have become dependent on the funds Big Business provides – why would they change? And so, we must force change. Our great Founders saw that this may happen and they provided us with an option. In our Constitution exists the right to call a Constitutional Convention – a chance for the People, through their State Legislators, to propose Amendments that force their government to change. It is time we do this. We must force business out of politics. We must return the power to the People. We must reform how elections are brought.

If we do not, we must accept the consequences and understand that the future America might have had, will be forever tarnished by the will of Big Business.