There are Times I Like Getting Hot & Sweaty
April 29, 2009
Filed under General
But simply sitting in my house watching television is not such a time. If you live in Virginia, you now that summer has struck with a vengeance. No subtle creeping up of the temperature, just 66 one day, 96 the next. And the NEXT was Saturday. We do our best to not use the AC through the spring temperatures, and even in the summer we leave the thermostat set at 78. But once it’s in the 90s we obviously gotta have the AC to even maintain that temperature and that temperature is a little hard to handle when you’ve had no time to adjust (for example, an over night 30 degree increase!!). So we finally gave in Saturday evening and switched on the AC
Then we went out to dinner, expecting that by the time we got back the house would be nice and comfy. We were wrong. While the fan was blowing air out of our vents, the AC compressor never cut on, so the air coming out of our vents was the same temperature as the air already in the house (which at that point in the evening was slightly warmer than the air outside).
The nice part: we rent, so we can get it fixed no cost to us. The not-so-nice part: It’s Saturday night and the rental office isn’t open til Monday. Call went in first thing Monday morning, but I was told I may have to wait until Tuesday as they’d gotten 18 calls already about broken ACs. Yet Tuesday came and went, no visit from a repair person. This morning I get a call “to make sure [my] AC got fixed.” “Um, not unless it’s been done since I left for work this morning.” They are going to check into it to see why it wasn’t done yet. So yeah, we may have AC by tomorrow, once the temperature has cooled back down to where we don’t need it anymore.
posted by dolphin at 2:26 pm | Comments Off
Happy Earth Day
April 22, 2009
Filed under Green, Holidays, Splashes
Happy Earth Day. I’ve had so much going on that I haven’t been keeping up with my Green Tip Tuesdays, but hopefully you can celebrate Earth Day by find just ONE thing in your life that you can do “greener” and make that change today!
posted by dolphin at 10:27 am | Comments Off
Future of the GOP. One Can Hope.
April 17, 2009
Filed under Gay Rights, Politics
A few prominent members from John McCain’s family and campaign are stepping forward to try and persuade the Republican Party that hating gays is no longer a winning strategy.
Few would disagree that the GOP is in disarray right now. One faction will eventually rise and take control (or the whole party could go under, but I somehow doubt that). I think there’s good reason to think that more socially moderate voices such as the McCains and Schmidt will win out over the Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins. Don’t get me wrong, the GOP will remain socially conservative, but the more extreme examples of social conservatism stand a good chance of falling by the wayside.
Younger conservatives really just aren’t that concerned with social issues; even among the religious right. Abortion is still a biggie, but not so much as it was for the parents of this new generation. Opposition to gay rights is relatively small and dispassionate among the younger GOP. If the GOP wants to re-achieve a majority, it will court these younger conservatives by easing off on it’s focus on social issues. If it doesn’t, then it will continue to lose until such time as it DOES listen to the Meghan McCain’s and Steve Schmidts of the party.
posted by dolphin at 10:06 am | 2 Comments
April 16, 2009
Filed under Splashes
posted by dolphin at 10:09 am | Comments Off
ILVTOFU
April 9, 2009
Filed under Humor, Splashes
I feel for the woman not getting the license plate she wants, but dear god, it’s hysterical.
posted by dolphin at 10:46 am | Comments Off
Bigot Quote of the Day
April 8, 2009
Filed under Gay Rights
Conservative BeliefNet.com writer Rod Dreher spills the bean on same-sex marriage:
And that being the case [that gay marriage will eventually recieve federal recognition], it might be better for my side if it gets done sooner rather than later. If done sooner, there might still be enough backlash left in the American people to get a constitutional amendment passed erecting a high barrier or protection around religious institutions,
That seems like a pretty clear admission to me that the bigot brigade knows good and well that they are on the wrong side of history. All the apocalyptic talk is hogwash and they know it. Their success is tied completely to a rapidly dying prejudice. They know only a generation from now they will be looked the same way we today looked at those who instituted the Jim Crow laws (indeed it was not much more than a generation ago when they were in effect), so if they want to have anything enacted, the absolutely must move now. Frankly, I think they’ve had their heyday and have accomplished pretty much all they are going to. If they wanted to get anything stronger implemented, they’ve missed their chance.
posted by dolphin at 9:29 am | 13 Comments
Marriage Equality in Vermont
April 7, 2009
Filed under Gay Rights
The Vermont Legislature has voted to grant marriage equality to all of it’s citizen’s making it the fourth (or fifth pending the California Supreme Court’s ruling on Prop 8 ) state to do so, and the first to do so through the legislature alone.
The legislation blew past 2/3s margin to override the governor’s veto in the state Senate (with a vote of 23-5), but just squeaked by in the House (with a vote of 100-49). Still, the anti-marriage bigots have argued that they only oppose same-sex marriage because it’s not the “will of the people” and the courts shouldn’t decide it. Well now marriage equality has been established undeniably through the legislative process (and in fact by veto-overriding margin). I wonder if those goalposts will now change; let me guess, not the measuring stick will be popular vote referendum alone? Sorta like when former-President Bush said the issue should be left to the states until the states started deciding the opposite way he would have, THEN he decided to push for a federal law (“it should be left to the states so long as they all agree with ME”).
But the biggest story here, in my opinion, isn’t the fact that there are now four states that offer marriage equality, and it isn’t the fact that one state has legislatively done so (though both of those are big deals). It’s the fact that CNN (among others I checked) didn’t even bother to put it on their home page and those that did, it wasn’t a leading story. That tells me that people are beginning to realize that in the years gay marriage has been legal in other states, the dire predictions of bigots haven’t come true. At worst, people are just deciding that, in this economy, there are bigger things for them to worry about than other people’s relationships. Fear is the only tool the bigots have. If that’s no longer working, then the war is already won.
Update: DC has voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Update 2: Read the interview at the end of the link in the first update. Sure enough the bigot brigade is already declaring that the legislative victory wasn’t “the will of the people” because it wasn’t a direct vote. Hmmm… who could have predicted that? Oh yeah, I did..
posted by dolphin at 1:00 pm | Comments Off
Marriage Equality in Iowa?
April 3, 2009
Filed under Gay Rights, Splashes
No real information in on this yet, but Iowa may well be the next state to embrace marriage equality. Iowa has no anti-marriage constitutional amendment and and the Iowa Supreme Court has just shot down the existing marriage ban.
posted by dolphin at 9:14 am | Comments Off
Snoozing
April 2, 2009
Filed under General, Splashes
Apparently, my alarm clock no longer sounds after the initial wake up (when I hit snooze, it snoozes but never resounds). I was late yesterday; made it on time today, but this is still going to be a problem.
posted by dolphin at 9:02 am | Comments Off
April Fool’s
April 1, 2009
Filed under Splashes, tech
Is anybody else thinking that the dreaded “Conflicker worm” may actually be a really big and bold April Fool’s Day prank?
posted by dolphin at 2:18 pm | Comments Off
Well first off rights do not belong to groups, they belong to individuals; only individuals have rights.
And secondly, if the government can define “marriage” then what else about our families can they control? Will the bureaucrats, and politicians eventually try to define “love”? I should hope not.
Marriage is a contract between consenting individuals. The government should have nothing to do with it and the very idea that one must ask permission to marry is a direct insult to our freedom. In fact the implication of having to attain a license to marry is that marriage is a privilege granted by the government. A privilege is the opposite of a right because rights are inherent and do not require permission. Even the Constitution recognizes our unlimited right to contract.
The best plan?
Leave the government out of it. And you’re right that the Republican Party and my fellow conservatives should adopt this philosophy. Besides, one cannot call themselves a “conservative” if they advocate big government intrusion into the personal lives of consenting adults. If the government is powerful enough to force one group of morals upon another group, then it is powerful enough to trample the rights of all individuals.
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DISCLAIMER:
Nothing I communicate is to be considered an official statement representative of any organization I belong to or am an officer of, including the Campaign for Liberty, Republican Liberty Caucus, WTN, Liberty on the Rocks, America’s Future Foundation, The Tennessee Liberty Alliance, or the Davidson County (Nashville) Republican Party. My opinions are my own.
Edit/Delete Message
I’m glad that Meghan McCain is as vocal as she is about LGBT issues. Sure, she enjoys the attention because it helps cement her role as a freshly minted pundit, but she’s sincere, and it’s encouraging to see that her opinions are making news. Besides, anybody named McCain seems to naturally enrage the religious right, so any time she’s in the news I enjoy knowing that she’s sending fundie blood pressure readings through the roof.