The Defense of Marriage Act will be taken down, but today is not that day. In a ruling that appears to punt the ball back to the state legislature, the state Supreme Court today upheld Washington's law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. For shame.

From Yesterday:

The case was an appeal from two lawsuits, one in King County and one in Thurston County, filed by 19 same-sex couples raising the momentous social question of who can marry.

Justices must decide the fate of state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act. The law, passed by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers over Gov. Gary Locke's veto, defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Superior Court judges in both counties struck down the law banning same-sex marriage as unconstitutional in 2004.

King County Judge William Downing ruled that there's no logical way that banning same-sex marriage encourages procreation -- a similar position taken by courts in Massachusetts, the only state that now allows same-sex couples to marry.

Downing said the couples had a fundamental right to wed, and Thurston County Judge Richard Hicks reached the same conclusion. [P-I]

Ridiculous, but at least Democratic incumbents and challengers won't have hell to pay for the "activist judges" in their pockets come November.

Tim Eyman failed to deliver enough signatures to get an initiative on the ballot to repeal Washington's new gay rights law. No, not even dressing up as Darth Vader could help him.

Confused (presumably by his own homosexuality) Tim (Darth Gaydar) Eyman doesn't even have the support of fellow Sith Lord Chris Vance:

Now he's coming in and hijacking issues and shoving his way into an issue because it's become a business for him. It's how he gets paid," Vance said. "There will be no end to Tim Eyman as long as people are wiling to send him money ... I think it's hurting the legitimate perception of the initiative process. When you've got a clown out there in a Darth Vader suit lying to the press and things like that, it's not good for the initiative and referendum process. [PI]

Ouch. At least Gaydar has the support of the radical religious right? Nope, too bad, Apparently he stopped returning their phone calls. Dark days for the Republic indeed.

Tim, please do us all a favor: Put your dark-side pee-jays back in the closet and bring yourself out of it.

Gary Randall and the "Faith and Freedom Network" are taking it to Washington's churches in a large scale effort to gain the signatures of at least 112,440 registered voters for Referendum 65 to qualify for the November ballot.

Referendum 65 would overturn legislation that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. In other words, for Gary Randall "Faith and Freedom" can be translated to "Intolerance and Discrimination."

» Seattle Times

Kyle Netterfield signed the petition, an overseer at the Northshore Baptist Church.

'We have a real concern that our freedom to hold to or act upon our sincerely held religious beliefs are going to be significantly infringed,' he said.

When legislation prevents you from discriminating against other people based on your beliefs, that's wrong eh? Wow. Welcome to the churches of Washington, please leave your coats, civil rights, and sanity at the door.

Way back in 1998, Tim Eyman launched I-200, an initiative to end affirmative action policies anywhere that state tax dollars came to rest. This was a direct copycat of California's Prop. 209, a white middle class "fuck you" to California's immigrant population. Washington's voters, experiencing what I've got to hope was some kind of psychotic break, passed I-200, which amended the civil rights legislation we've been hearing so much about lately.

Lucky for Washington, our tax dollars go to some pretty smart people. Seattle Schools kept its racial tiebreakers until a lawsuit knocked them down in 2002; UW continued collecing demographic info and would offer scholarships to minority kids it admitted; Sound Transit kept following Federal guidelines on getting bids from women & minority contractors first.

Well. Seems that little Tim-Tim is wetting his white robe over this one. Not content just to be famously and profitably anti-gay, he's going after minorities, again. Eyman slipped I-914 under the radar a month ago, and it's yet another direct hit on affirmative action... and the City of Seattle.

Yesterday was the day, my friends. After thirty frickin' years, gays and lesbians finally have protection against discrimination in housing, employment, and insurance in Washington State, thanks to what should not have been a difficult vote for the state Senate.

Oh, but it was. State conservatives came up with all sorts of lame excuses for their bigotry and ignorance:

• Discrimination against homosexuals doesn't actually happen (then passing this bill shouldn't have been an issue, no?)
• This legislation will create unaffordable burdens for businesses (oh sure, because no one would bat an eye if someone suggested that insurance companies shouldn't have to cover, say, African-Americans because it would be "bad for the bottom line." Gays? No problem)
• Anti-discrimination legislation is the back door to gay marriage (sorry kids, wrong back door*)

Al Gore is fighting the good fight, while most of his Democratic colleagues seem content to let the wiretapping scandal fade as the news cycle marches on. Via Kos:

The Administration's response to my speech illustrates perfectly the need for a special counsel to review the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. The Attorney General is making a political defense of the President without even addressing the substantive legal questions that have so troubled millions of Americans in both political parties...

Hi. Remember when there was a hurricane and then a flood and then the Gulf Coast drowned and then a bunch of people in New Orleans got stuck in the Superdome and the Convention Center and some guy called Chertoff lied and said he didn't know that anyone was at the Convention Center and now people are still homeless and waiting for FEMA trailers and some guy called Brownie was hired as a Department of Homeland Security contractor for two whole months afterward despite his arguable personal responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people?

Yeah. I thought you might remember that. Recently I got my little hands on some hot poop you're probably not aware of. See, some folks from Jefferson Parish-- the parish just west of Orleans Parish-- came to a, shall we say, colleague of mine for some, shall we say, consultation on matters of local importance.

The leadership of Jefferson Parish is almost 100% Republican, and the majority of residents are white and middle and upper-middle income. Just FYI.

President Bush's visit to Argentina has been met with a violent response. Now, many of us here understand why so many across the globe, and currently nearly 60% of Americans in every major poll, feel that Dubya is so dangerous to human rights and to the progress of human freedom and dignity.

But, for those 35% or so that will never leave Dubya, even in the darkest hours, they should take a look on the front page of Yahoo! right now.

Summit Protests Turn Violent in Argentina - Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of this seaside resort Friday chanting "Get out Bush" as the U.S. president sought to promote free trade at a divided Summit of the Americas. Protests turned violent with about 1,000 people shattering shopfronts with clubs and pelting riot police with stones... Demonstrators took to the streets hours before the summit started, shouting insults about President Bush and chanting "Fascist Bush! You are the terrorist!"

The remaining Bush faithful (at this point I'm going to call them dead-enders... thanks Rummy!) are shocked and dismayed with such statements and opposition. Why, George is just a good-old boy! He's one of us. He's making the world safe for freedom. We're freedom lovers. You're with us or against us. The conservative dead-enders are asking, how come these people hate America so much?

Maybe because they're also reading the story directly below, too!

As we all know, an icon for the civil rights movement passed away yesterday. A brave lady who refused to give up her seat helped to spark a very controversial (at the time) movement that as of today is still struggling for equality. She showed the power of one person standing up could inspire hundreds of thousands of people to stand up as well. We are sad to see you go Rosa, but we are all grateful for the gift you gave to the American people. Tell Dr King that the dream is still alive, and someday soon it will be realized.

Kanye West was right!

When asked, a vast majority of African Americans see the failiure of the Federal Government in NOLA as either proof, or at least symptomatic of entrenched racial bias. Just look at how African Americans view the President's handling of the crisis
Red=dissaprove/Blue=approve

VS. How Whites view Bush's handling of the disaster:

The difference is, shall we say, striking.

Here is what I take from this profound difference:

1. The notion of Republicans swaying African Americans to rethink their mass political affiliation is dead. /craven political observation.

2. Republican government is built on the myth of the market and will always fail the struggling in our society because it preaches individual success at the expense of community stability. So long as wealth and race are tied in this country (as they de facto are right now) Blacks will be harmed by Republican rule.

257-171, it wasn't even close. There was nine hours of debate, however

The bulk of the back-and-forth centered on language making permanent 14 of 16 provisions that had four-year sunset provisions under the original law, which Congress passed overwhelmingly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The bill also includes 10-year extensions to the two other provisions set to expire on Dec. 31, one allowing roving wiretaps and another allowing searches of library and medical records.

My privacy has just surrendered. But it got caught in a roving wiretap and checked out too many bomb-making books from the local library. Now my privacy has been declared an unlawful combatant, and under the pretext of security will be held without trial in an undisclosed location for an undetermined amount of time.

But my privacy has taken it all in stride, and admits this all makes great sense—certainly more than x-raying luggage or inspecting containers at ports.

Here at BetterDonkey.org, we provide an email form that lets anyone contact us about anything they want. Sometimes we get email from people who want to know more about us, sometimes we get email from people wanting to sell us discounted printing services, and sometimes we get email from people who think they don't like us.

Today we got an email from Chris (he left his full email address, but I'm choosing to leave that off), I guess about the Screw Abstinence Party that NARAL Pro-Choice Washington is hosting. I thought maybe all of our members and visitors might want to read it, too, and maybe chat about it a little bit.

I've copied it in full after the jump:

Mornin', love. I'm up pretty early for a national holiday, but I figured I'd better drag my ass out of bed and get something done before I trundle off to celebrate today the traditional way-- drunk, yelling at fireworks, trying not to fall into Lake Union, etc.

I guess this is the day the we designate the birthday of our nation, and you've got to admit, she's no kid anymore. She's 229 years old. Once you pass your juvenile years (I'm told), you start to think about who you are, what you've accomplished, what you still need to do to die a relatively happy person. So I thought, Hell, so what if the USA isn't technically a person; might as well read the Declaration of Independence and see how well we've been doing so far. It is, after all, the reason for all the drunk and the fireworks and the apartment fires. Might as well make the most of it.

First, let's hit some of the highlights, taking care to apply the secondary definition of "man" (a member of humankind; a person):

All men are created equal.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the goverened.
Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter it... and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles... as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

This is not good folks:

WASHINGTON - Cities may bulldoze people's homes to make way for shopping malls or other private development, a divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday, giving local governments broad power to seize private property to generate tax revenue.

Fortunately, almost everyone seems to agree that this ruling is a terrible, terrible thing. For an excellent roundup, visit Arguing With Signposts." He tracks 56+ bog reactions accross the politcal spectrum. Interesting stuff. People on the Left and Right are PISSED.

Dave at Gristmill has a good summary on why this sucks so bad:

So today's Father's Day. I don't know what you're up to, but I'm hangin' with the fam today-- Dad and Mom and I are going to have a little picnic at some garden somewhere that they think is neato (maybe you can empathize-- my parents are in their Middle Aged Gardening Phase right now and they are really into plants). I'm a lucky girl. My parents love me. All of the hoodlum boyfriends and more-liberal-than-them political beliefs and out-all-night-doing-who-knows-what aside, they love me and accept me for who I am.

I hope you can say the same for your family, but if your parents believe in the philosophy of James Dobson, then I bet you can't. He's got a Ph.D in bigotry and runs Focus on the Family, is highly influential on the evangelical Right, and he wants to help people teach their gay kids to be straight.

I dare you to spend some time on this man's website and not come away angry and disgusted. Focus on the Family doesn't just say that being homosexual is wrong (and curable-- more on that in just a second), but that to be truly straight, truly heterosexual, truly acceptable in God's eyes, boys have to want to play sports and girls have to want to wear skirts. Don't want to conform to this "men are men and mules are mules" philosophy of red-blooded American masculinity? Then you're a dirty faggot, and God (or rather, James Dobson) wants you to change.