Posts (page 2)

back between our trip to the states (came back yesterday) and our 1st trip to Spain for a week - Sevilla and Granada (leaving tomorrow) - i just got a new laptop - woo hoo! - shiny! - so, at some point sooner than later, i will crank out those pics for your viewing pleasure (at least i hope so)

and so, i present - the afore mentioned inter-species interaction -  brought to you by the BBC:

hey guys - well, as you may have noticed, my posts are becoming increasingly far and few between - this is not because i don't have anything to say, it's just because we've been traveling and not here so much - and, we're going to be gone quite a lot from now on till we get back to New Zealand in the Fall (Northern Hemisphere Fall, Southern Hemisphere Spring - yay, i get to do two prime Spring allergy seasons back to back - help!)

we have trips planned back to Italy, twice to Spain, back to the states (wedding - NOT Indian this time - and family), and random other little trips in between

and this Wednesday, we leave for Sweden and Scotland for a couple of weeks

so, i will not be posting much of anything, but i will post pics and stuff of where we've been, when i can:) - i will be around and answering comments, maybe leaving comments, and checking in every now and then with shorter commentary - i'll be around, but, probably won't get to post anything of much substance till we get back to Welly - so, i'm going to be doing something i don't usually do - updating you guys on my life! - rather than rant on what's going on in the world!!!

i'll leave you with a couple of pics we took in Italy last week - Alagna - Steven had to get a last ski in - the first one is the requisite Percy picture - for those of you who don't know, Percy is my faithful Orca - he was given to me in college shortly after i turned 19 - he travels absolutely everywhere with me, and only once did i almost lose him when the maid in a hotel in Sydney (Bondi Beach) took him away with the sheets!

take care:)

Italy - Alagna - Percy

Italy - Alagna - the other view

So, like many of you, I read a lot of news.  And, inevitably, I'll come across an article where someone has done something horrid, and there's always someone who says something along the lines of, "But, they went to church and everything! We would have NEVER thought that they would do something like THIS."

And, I'm always like - okaaaaay. So, if the person was a godless heathen (i.e. an atheist - i.e ME), you people would be less shocked?

Take the person in this article I read a few days ago...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-melissa-huckaby12-2009apr12,0,131253,full.story

This person, a Sunday school teacher, murdered one of her daughter's friends and stuffed her in a suitcase.

And, right on cue, some moron says, "It doesn't fit in with her or the family at all. The family is basically Baptist, totally churchgoing folks."

Uh huh, because if one goes to church, one can't possibly be a child-killing psycho.

GAH!!

i have very little to say in response to bigotry, prejudice and just plain stupidity any more - in my book, these people aren't sane and will never listen to reason or rationality - whether this is because of their religion, or whether they would have been this way in any case, i don't know - however, i am beginning to care less and less about the whys and wherefores - these are people who feel that giving their rights and freedoms to other people would be a threat to their freedoms - these people are dangerous

and you know what?

Screw 'em and their "Rainbow Coalition"

they can protest all they want about how this is all in the name of "love" - but, we know better...

* http://www.hrc.org/12470.htm - the Human Rights Campaign's website, where they refute the "claims" expressed by the actors in this ad
(sorry you have to cut and paste, the linky thing isn't working)

well, that's three down - only 47 to go
(i'm not counting California)
*sigh*
but, this is BIG NEWS -  the first state in my "native" neck of the woods
while i don't think that Ohio is going to follow suit any time soon, i'm very pleased that Iowa Supreme Court has taken this positive initiative
and impatient
progress can't come soon enough!!!

*this comes in the wake of the news that Sweden just legalized marriage - another country down, many to go!

Stockholm - Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:48:03 GMT - A broad majority in the Swedish parliament Wednesday approved adoption of same-sex marriage legislation after a six-hour debate. Six of the seven parties in parliament had backed the proposal drafted by the Committee on Civil Affairs to introduce a gender- neutral marriage law. Only the Christian Democrats, one of the four parties in the ruling centre-right coalition, opposed the move.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iHUp4BkOCwXHCaN3c1RyYj61fYTQD97BM4000

By AMY LORENTZEN – 1 hour ago

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gay marriage, seemingly the province of the nation's two coasts, is just weeks away from becoming a reality in the heartland and apparently it will be years before social conservatives have a chance to stop it.

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. Now gays and lesbians may exchange vows as soon as April 24 following the landmark decision.

The county attorney who defended the law said he would not seek a rehearing. The only recourse for opponents appeared to be a constitutional amendment, which couldn't get on the ballot until 2012 at the earliest.

"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways," said a dejected Bryan English, spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, a conservative group that opposes same-sex marriage.

In the meantime, same-sex marriage opponents may try to enact residency requirements for marriage so that gays and lesbians from across the country could not travel to Iowa to wed.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, urged the Legislature to do so, saying he feared without residency requirements Iowa would "become the gay marriage mecca."

Only Massachusetts and Connecticut currently permit same-sex marriage. For six months last year, California's high court allowed gay marriage before voters banned it in November.

For gays and lesbians, meanwhile, the day was one of jubilation. The Vermont House of Representatives also passed a measure Friday that would allow same-sex couples to wed, on a 94-52 roll call vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised veto by Gov. Jim Douglas.

Gay marriage supporters hoped to convince a few Vermont legislators to switch when it comes to the override vote, which could be taken as soon as Tuesday.

In Iowa, hundreds cheered, waved rainbow flags and shed tears of joy at rallies in seven cities Friday evening. "Corn-fed and Ready to Wed!" read one man's sign at a gathering at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

In downtown Des Moines, about 300 people gathered beneath rainbow flags to celebrate including Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie.

"We finally have equality in Iowa," said Harold Delaria, of Des Moines, who attended the rally and has two gay children. "It's kind of the last wall of legalized discrimination and it's coming tumbling down."

The Rev. Diane McLanahan of Trinity United Methodist Church in Des Moines acknowledged that many people of faith won't agree with the ruling. With that in mind, she said the court has reached a decision that "pretty much insists that this will not be a debate about religious rights but a matter of equality and fairness."

In its ruling, the Supreme Court upheld an August 2007 decision by a judge who found that a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection.

Iowa lawmakers have "excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification," the justices wrote.

To issue any other decision, the seven justices said, "would be an abdication of our constitutional duty."

At a news conference announcing the decision, plaintiff Kate Varnum, 34, introduced her partner, Trish Varnum, as "my fiance."

"I never thought I'd be able to say that," she said, fighting back tears.

Jason Morgan, 38, said he and his partner, Chuck Swaggerty, adopted two sons, confronted the death of Swaggerty's mother and endured a four-year legal battle as plaintiffs.

"If being together though all of that isn't love and commitment or isn't family or marriage, then I don't know what is," Morgan said. "We are very happy with the decision today and very proud to live in Iowa."

Iowa has a history of being in the forefront on social issues. It was among the first states to legalize interracial marriage and to allow married women to own property. It was also the first state to admit a woman to the bar to practice law and was a leader in school desegregation.*

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, a Democrat, said state lawmakers were unlikely to consider gay marriage legislation in this legislative session, which is expected to end within weeks.

Gronstal also said he's "not inclined" to propose a constitutional amendment during next year's session. Without a vote by the Legislature this year or next, the soonest gay marriage could be repealed would be 2014.

Amendments to Iowa's constitution must be passed by the House and Senate in two consecutive general assemblies, which each last two years, and then approved by a simple majority of voters during a general election.

Iowa's Democratic governor, Chet Culver, said he would review the decision before announcing his views.

Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Urbandale and Marco Santana, Melanie S. Welte, Michael Crumb and Mike Glover in Des Moines contributed to this report.

*did not know this!

-------------------

also, some of the text of the decision: covering the argument basically that gay marriage is a danger to family values - and illuminates the hypocrisy of it all - encouraging language below, don't you think?

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Massachusetts, Connecticut and now Iowa allow same-sex couples to marry - all the result of decisions by the states' high courts.

California briefly allowed same-sex marriage last year before a voter initiative in November repealed it. The outcome of that vote is now being challenged by lawsuits contending that the ballot measure eliminated rights that should not have been subjected to a majority vote. The state Supreme Court will rule within the next 60 days.

CIVIL UNIONS

Vermont, New Hampshire and New Jersey permit same-sex couples to enter into civil unions that entail the same rights and responsibilities as marriage, but gay-rights activists in all three states are pushing for full-fledged marriage rights.

In Vermont, the state Senate this week joined the House in voting in favor of gay marriage, though it's unclear whether a threatened veto by Gov. Jim Douglas can be overridden.

New Hampshire's House passed a marriage bill in March, which now awaits a Senate vote.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has pledged to sign a same-sex marriage bill that has been introduced in the legislature.

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS

California, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia have domestic-partnership laws that extend many of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. Hawaii and Maine have more limited laws extending certain spousal rights to same-sex couples.

CONSTITUTIONAL BANS

Voters in 29 states have approved state constitutional amendments that ban same-sex marriage: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin.

Hawaii voters approved a constitutional amendment empowering the Legislature to outlaw same-sex marriage; lawmakers did so in 1998.

- Associated Press

i never pay a moment's attention to beauty pageants (and i'm really refraining myself from saying anything snarky) - but, i caught the title of this article out of the corner of my eye while surfing Alternet recently and i had to share

all i have to say is - way to go, Miss Segura - after reading this, you'd think Gitmo was paradise on earth - and not at all a place where some of the most horrific crimes against human rights in this decade have taken place

really, sometimes, wtf!

*p.s. if you click on the link to the original post as provided below, they have taken off the remarks and replaced them with an "official statement"
-----------------------------------------
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/134175/omg_gitmo!_miss_universe_visits_guantanamo_bay,_finds_it_%27relaxing%27_%27calm_and_beautiful%27/?comments=layout#comments

OMG Gitmo! Miss Universe Visits Guantanamo Bay, Finds it 'Relaxing' 'Calm and Beautiful'

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet
Posted on March 30, 2009, Printed on April 1, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.alternet.org/134175/

This post originally appeared in PEEK.

Ever wondered what it takes to be Miss Universe? Thanks to Venezuela's Dayana Mendoza, we can now be sure it's not a finely tuned sense of current events. The reigning beauty queen visited Guantanamo Bay last week, courtesy of the U.S.O, and, in a truly astonishing feat of self-parody, wrote the following description of her trip, including rave reviews of the jails, the military dogs, and of course, the beaches.

I am posting it in its entirety, in case the original post is removed for being just too damn embarrassing to beauty queens everywhere. (Perhaps somewhere Miss Teen South Carolina is feeling a little bit better.)

(H/T to Arun Gupta for not allowing this to go unnoticed.)

This week, Guantanamo!!! It was an incredible experience.

We arrived in Gitmo on Friday and stared going around the town, everybody knew Crystle [Stewart, Miss USA] and I were coming so the first thing we did was attend a big lunch and then we visited one of the bars they have in the base. We talked about Gitmo and what is was like living there. The next days we had a wonderful time, this truly was a memorable trip! We hung out with the guys from the East Coast and they showed us the boat inside and out, how they work and what they do, we took a ride around the land and it was a loooot of fun!

We also met the Military dogs, and they did a very nice demonstration of their skills. All the guys from the Army were amazing with us.

We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting.

We took a ride with the Marines around the land to see the division of Gitmo and Cuba while they were informed us with a little bit of history.

The water in Guantanamo Bay is soooo beautiful! It was unbelievable, we were able to enjoy it for at least an hour. We went to the glass beach, and realized the name of it comes from the little pieces of broken glass from hundred of years ago. It is pretty to see all the colors shining with the sun. That day we met a beautiful lady named Rebeca who does wonders with the glasses from the beach. She creates jewelry with it and of course I bought a necklace from her that will remind me off Guantanamo Bay :)

I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful.

I was back in NY on Wednesday and on Thursday I did some paper work at the office and went out for dinner. On Friday I flew to Miami for the weekend because I had a photo shoot for the magazine People en Espanol. So hopefully I might be a little lucky and have some time off to take the sun for a while :)

Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties and War on Iraq Special Coverage.

will be practicing and using my school French for the rest of the week - Zinal is in the French part of Switzerland - i'm expecting some fantastic food:) - apparently, fondue came from this area - yummy - stuff dipped in hot, melted wine-cheese - oh yeah!!! - perfect for cold and snowy (lol!) - then our dear friends, K.J. and Randy are visiting us from Bonn this weekend before heading back to the states - have a wonderful week, my friends :)

http://mwcnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29316&Itemid=26

Misplaced Anger
by Jacob G. Hornberger 

It’s nice that people are angry and upset over those bonuses paid by taxpayer-bailout beneficiary AIG, but what fascinates me is the lack of anger and outrage over the really horrific things the federal government has done for the past 8 years, including the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the out-of-control federal spending, the inflation, the mortgaging of our nation to the communist regime in China, the terrible assaults on civil liberties, kidnapping and rendition, torture and sex abuse of prisoners and detainees, indefinite detentions, illegal wiretapping and monitoring of telephone calls and emails, and nullification of the Bill of Rights in cases involving terrorism.

In other words, for 8 years U.S. officials have been taking our nation down the road to dictatorship, financial ruin, and moral debauchery. Yet, all too many Americans haven’t been angry or upset with any of it. Then, along come some bonuses paid to the AIG people and everyone goes ballistic.

Consider the war of aggression against Iraq. Where is the anger over what the U.S. government has done to the people of that nation? Where are the consciences of people who continue to pride themselves as living in a nation based on Judeo-Christian values?

With the possible exception of Dick Cheney, most everyone agrees that Iraq never attacked the United States. That makes the U.S. government the aggressor power in this conflict. By attacking, invading, and occupying Iraq, the U.S. government has committed what was termed a “war of aggression” at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.

In the process, the U.S. government, operating through the troops that everyone is expected to support, has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people. Hundreds of thousands! That is a lot of dead people! Some people estimate that the number of dead might even approach one million.

Add to that the untold number of injured and maimed. Add to that the millions who have been exiled from their homes and even the country.

Add to that the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died as a consequence of the brutal sanctions that the U.S. government and the UN (at the behest of the U.S. government) leveled against Iraq, which not surprisingly turned out to be a major factor in the terrorist blowback that took place both in 1993 and 9/11.

Add to that the destruction of the country itself.

That’s a lot of death, suffering, and damage.

Yet, where is the anger or outrage over any of this among the American people?

Instead, the attitude among many is that the Iraq adventure should now be considered a “success” because violence is down, especially after that famous “surge.”

Many years ago, UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright declared to the world that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children from those brutal sanctions had been “worth it.” Echoing that sentiment, the attitude today is that all the death, suffering, exile, and destruction resulting from the invasion and occupation of Iraq should also be considered “worth it” because “democracy” has been brought to Iraq, albeit a bit violently.

And if there is another terrorist attack on American soil, say by that Iraqi guy who threw his shoe at President Bush, everyone will be expected to again toe the official line: It’s not because he’s angry over the killing and suffering brought on by the U.S. government. It’s just that the terrorist hates America for its “freedom and values.”

Now, ask yourself this: What if the invasion and occupation of Iraq had resulted in the deaths of 200,000 American soldiers? What would be the response among Americans?

There can no doubt as to how Americans would react to such a high number of U.S. deaths. Most everyone would be so angry, outraged, and horrified that it is impossible to imagine it, especially since it was the U.S. government that started the war.

So, why is the attitude different with respect to the loss of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives? The answer is simple: Iraqi life doesn’t have the same value that American life has. Iraqis are more expendable than Americans, at least in the pursuit of “democracy.”

In fact, in achieving “success” in Iraq, there has never been an upward limit on the number of Iraqis who could be killed as part of the costs of achieving “success.” In the minds of U.S. officials, no price has been too high to pay in terms of Iraqi deaths.

We know this is true because early on, the Pentagon made a conscious decision to not keep track of Iraqi dead. It didn’t matter. Whether the final death count was 10, 30, or 80 percent of the populace, it just didn’t matter. The idea was to simply keep killing until “democracy” was established. Then, it would all be considered a “success” no matter how many Iraqis had died.

The perversity of all this is that while they were killing Iraqis for the sake of bringing “democracy” to Iraq, U.S. officials were, at the same time, ardently and enthusiastically supporting a brutal military general in Pakistan who had taken power in a coup, who was prohibiting elections, who dismantled the nation’`s independent judiciary, and was terrorizing the citizenry, actions that have contributed to the chaos in that country today.

If only just a bit of the anger and outrage that is being directed toward those AIG executives who are enjoying their taxpayer-provided bonuses would have been oriented toward U.S. foreign policy many years ago. If that had happened, Americans today would be living lives of much more freedom, prosperity, and normality. And there would be hundreds of thousands of Iraqis alive rather than dead.

France!

so, i watch some French tv here (in Switzerland, for those of you don't know where i am currently situated) - well, that's not entirely true - i've been watching The Closer (with Kyra Sedgewick - LOVE this show) on one of the French channels, and switching the options on the digital cable so i can hear the English feed - i KNOW i'm supposed to be practicing what little school-French that i've managed to retain, but i'm too lazy (actually this isn't entirely true, either - i usually lift my weights while watching The Closer and honestly, translating and working out at the same time is beyond me) - and besides, it's just not the same (although when i lived in Russia, i got a total kick out of watching Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman in Russian)

ah, tangents

ANYWAYS, i've noticed the commercials on European tv are a wee bit different - mostly in a good way - one day, i was watching The Closer, and the show went to a commercial break - normally, i mute all commercials, but suddenly i was transfixed! - and when the commercial ended, the first thought that came to mind was - yeah - i don't think they'd get away with that in the states (oh, this is not a sex thing - sorry! - lol!) - i HAD to find it and share it with you guys!

part of me thinks it's totally awesome and part of me thinks it's slightly disturbing

see for yourselves!!!