freckles make me strong.
Month
We Do This. We Do That.: The Zigzagged Arc of History
Great piece, Tanene.
(via julyshewillfly)Pledge to Decline to Sign Referendum 71 today. It’s up to the rest of us to ensure opponents of Domestic Partnerships do not take Washington State two steps back on this critical civil rights issue.
Lawmakers took a huge step forward in protecting Washington families when they voted overwhelmingly to expand Washington’s domestic partnership law and gave registered partners all of the same rights as married couples under State law. Referendum 71 was filed to repeal the Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009. If referendum backers are able to collect 120,000 signatures needed to put the referendum on the ballot, registered domestic partners could lose 250 legal protections in the November election.
freckledawesome:
EEEEEEEEEK! I love Legos and Frank Lloyd Wright. I think they should have a coffee shop where you can drink coffee and create Lego masterpieces. Someone, please steal this idea and open one in Seattle.inothernews:
bg5000:
Man, i’d love to have the Fallingwater one.
It was only a matter of time. As I’d said in a previous post, $20 is a lot to ask for some of the sets they’re selling, GAHHHH.
So excited for the lego store @ Easton.
denisr:
every six seconds…
notthatkindagay:
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell today said there are no plans to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay troops from serving in the military.
President Obama vowed to repeal the controversial 1993 policy during the campaign, but according to Morrell, there have not been serious discussions between the White House and the military about doing so.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen are “aware of where the president wants to go on this issue, but I don’t think that there is any sense of any immediate developments in the offing on efforts to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Morrell said.
Morrell indicated that the White House has not formally sent a request to Congress to abandon the policy. He said there have only been “initial conversations in their early stages” about the situation.
See something, say something. Let President Obama know some things are not negotiable. As a country, we can do better than this.
Wikipedia tells me Oregon Trail has been available on itunes since March. Why didn’t anybody mention?
I am downloading it the very second I get internet at the new house and the commute will never be the same.
The Pursuit of Harpyness, discussing billing rape victims for rape kits (via robot-heart)
This is unconscionable.
ALBANY — Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell wants desperately to persuade his colleagues to legalize gay marriage. Here is how he has pursued Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball’s vote:
Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, who has been at the center of efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, has used force and humor in trying to persuade colleagues to back the bill.
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Daniel O’Donnell, Rosie’s brother, is one of four openly gay members of the State Legislature.
He stopped Mr. Ball’s parents while they were visiting the Capitol, and asked them to urge their son to back the measure. He cornered Mr. Ball in a statehouse elevator, and taunted him: vote for same-sex marriage, or you won’t get invited to my engagement party.
Mr. O’Donnell has even told Mr. Ball, a square-jawed former Air Force captain, that he was “the best looking guy in the Assembly, and he owed it to the gays to vote yes.”
“Did I think that overt flirtation was going to get Greg Ball to vote yes?” Mr. O’Donnell recalled. “Didn’t know. But I was going to try.”
[full text here]
As a transplant, my friend Matt notices things locals don’t. He once mentioned that making fun of suburbs is a uniquely Seattleite pastime. At the time he was talking about some ridiculous hypothetical restaurant that would serve spaghetti and cool whip or something equally disgusting. My response: “Where is this place going to be? Fife?” Everyone laughs. And then Matt says, “why Fife?” As in: Why not Federal Way or Auburn or Lynnwood? “I don’t know,” I say, “It’s just Fife’s week”. Later that week I was still thinking about it. “Fife. What is funny about Fife?” I have absolutely no idea so I asked around. All the Seattle metro area locals think Fife makes a hilarious punch line. All the way out to Issaquah, folks are chuckling about Fife but no one can tell me why.
Today I saw a man running downtown with a t-shirt that said Kent Washington. I am going to assume it was a Walgreens purchase because it had that sort of simple, “fill in obscure city name here” look to it. I laughed to myself like Kent was an inside joke and a friend had paid this guy fifty bucks to run past me wearing this absurd shirt. I wonder if Matt has lived here long enough that he might have laughed as well.
DISCLAIMER: TO MY KNOWLEDGE THERE IS NOTHING ACTUALLY WRONG WITH OR FUNNY ABOUT FIFE, KENT, AUBURN, FEDERAL WAY OR LYNNWWOD . THEIR ONLY DOCUMENTED CRIME IS A REPUTATION FOR GENERAL UNHIPNESS, THE CONSUMPTION OF VERY CHEAP BEER AND THE POSSIBLY UNFOUNDED RUMOR THAT EVERYONE KEEPS THEIR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS UP ALL YEAR.
Yesterday, I closed on a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath house in Columbia City. It’s walkable to Seattle’s new light rail, a farmer’ market, a library, a movie theater and a quite a few restaurants. It’s stumbling distance from a couple of great bars.
Saturday will be the the big move so next week is blocked off for napping and wine drinking. After that, the roommate search!
This house will be coming to a craigslist ad near you!
I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage. This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of church and state.
It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government.
”—Maine Governor John Baldacci on signing the Equal Marriage Bill. Baldacci is the first governor to sign such a bill. (via theprincessofmaine)
This is mostly everything I have to say on the issue.
livefrommybedroom:
i recorded this for my little sister. i felt it would be a good way to start things.
the song is “check yes, juliet” originally by We The Kings.
Congresswoman Foxx you are the only hoax here. One of Matthew Shepard‘s killers admitted under oath that he knew he was gay, that they lured him from a bar by pretending to be gay themselves. Then they robbed him, pistol-whipped him, fractured his skull, tortured him with sharp implements and they tied him to a fence post in rural Wyoming. He was not found for 18 hours.
There is no excuse for Congresswoman Foxx‘s remarks. She is, at best, callous, insensitive, criminally misinformed. At worst, she is a bold-faced liar. And if there is a spark of a human being in there somewhere, she should either immediately retract and apologize for her stupid and hurtful words, or she should resign her seat in the House.
She is not worthy to represent this country nor any of its parties nor any of its peoples. She is our shame. And adding to our shame, she said all that as Matthew Shepard‘s mother sat in the House gallery. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, fifth district of North Carolina, today‘s worst person in the world.
”—Keith Olbermann, responding to Congresswoman Foxx claims that the Matthew Shepard hate crime was a hoax.robot-heart:
emilyposts:
“The moral to this story is don’t mess with the marching band girls, or you just might get what you deserve,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Michael Rust.
“Final score: Marching band 2, thugs 0,” Rust quipped.
Cesar Chavez
El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido.