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POPSNo Toes Tapping, Just Pure Discrimination in This Bathroom Judging from the photo, there is no doubt Ms. Farmer looks male. My question is, so what? She was not causing a disturbance, or engaging in any inappropriate behaviour, and she offered to show her legal ID proving her gender. Was this anti-gay discrimination, racial discrimination or a combination of both? Whatever the case may be, it is totally indisputably wrong. Ms. Farmer deserves at the very least an apology, and some kind of compensation from the restaurant. I am not sure, in this age of increased understanding and enlightenment, why such events as this one continue to occur.
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POPSOrgan Donation Incentives? Over 6,000 people die each year in the United States while waiting for donated organs. For any number of reasons, most people do not sign their organ donor cards, or voluntarily leave their organs via their medical proxy. There are those who believe that incentives might encourage more people to donate their organs, who ordinarily would not have thought to do so. There are moral questions, and I thought this clip might give us all a lot to think about.
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POPSTucker fears he doesn't count as much as gays do Tucker Carlson thinks that gays are viewed as being more important that others in society because they are covered under hate crimes laws. But he was really put in his place when it was explained to him that he, as a straight man would still be covered if he was attacked because of his sexual orientation. After all, heterosexuality IS a sexual orientation. Talk about cutting off somebody's water.!
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POPSSelf-diagnosed Transexual Prisoner Granted Estrogen Therapy Another indication that the world is beginning to understand the existence of sexual diversity. There are many people in the world who fall in between the traditional male/female designations. I'm sorry this particular individual had to take such self-destructive actions to get the treatment she so apparently needed.
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POPSIt is Cell is Rockin', Don't Come a Knockin'! Gay rights have taken hold in Mexican prisons. The new centre-left government has been adopting several progressive positions since taking power. I wonder if any prison systems in the U.S. state or federal, permit same-sex conjugal visitation. Does anyone know?
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POPSGonzo Apparently Tied His Office to That of the V.P. Every time Alberto Gonzales opens his mouth he sticks another foot into it. At this point he is in the position of having to borrow feet to fill the gaps in his stories. But tying the department of justice to the office of the vice president is ample proof that there is too much political influence from the white house governing the operations of the and decisions made by the attorney general's office.
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POPSNot marriage, but a step in the right direction Although the new registered domestic partnership law in Washington State is a very far cry from marriage, it is definitely a step in the right direction. Increasingly, more states are passing either civil unions or domestic partner registrations which in the future will be used in court towards the fight for marriage equality in these states. And of course, the more the citizens of the U.S. begin to realize that even though same-sex couples are marrying, or engaging in civil unions etc, their world essentially remains the same, the less all of this will remain an issue. Already the numbers are changing in the percentage of those citizens who approve of recognition of same-sex couples. The bogey man is being defanged rapidly, and pretty soon we might actually catch up with our neighbours to the north where loving same-sex couples have been granted the right to civil marriage over two years ago.
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POPSCivil-Unions are NOT the same as Marriage.
This particular situation brings home the issue of whether civil-unions are equivalent to same-sex marriage. The answer is clearly, they are not. Civil-unions leave too much leeway in determining the definition of spouse. This was a problem that gay rights groups were talking about when the civil-unions option was being marketed by the government and so-called marriage defense groups started equating this option as permitting all the same benefits and responsibilities as marriage. This is a fraud. Civil-unions, while offering many of the same rights and privileges as marriage is still different. It is the old separate but equal story; there is simply no such thing. If it was considered the same, they wouldn't be calling it by a different name. Freedom to marry works very well in Canada and the other countries who have caught up with the 21st century reality of family life. Let's stop the fraud in the U.S. and finally rid ourselves of the DOMA, and finally end discrimination.
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POPSMark Morford Sums Up the Libby Semi-Pardon Mark Morford is one of my favourite satirical columnists. In this column he truly sums up this Libby debacle clearly, succinctly and right from the gut. I urge you to read his entire piece to get the full impact. Remember while you read it, that Mark is also speaking for me, and who knows, perhaps you too. :-)
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POPSSame-Sex Marriage Continues to Gain Support Support for same-sex marriage is growing in leaps and bounds must to the dismay of the right-wing conservative branch of the Republican party as well as the religious right. Just a few years ago, the very thought of same-sex marriage was nothing more than the punchline to a bad joke. But little by little over the past several years, people have begun to realize that gay people are just like everyone else. We want love in our lives; secure family life, and legal recognition of our personal choices. When once they laughed, now they agree.
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POPSHomophobia Just Under the Surface What a shame. Here is an area of New Jersey, that on the surface seemed to be perfectly comfortable with its gays residence, without exception. However, once gay rights became enshrined into law, the surface cracked and out flowed hateful discrimination based on homophobia. Talk about thin skinned support and values.
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POPSThings Are Happening In The Bush Group This is very interesting. First, one of Bush's chief advisers and right-hand man is suddenly leaving the white house just one year before the end of the administration. Now, the government attorney, who is a friend of Karl Rove and was given that job after Gonzales fired the attorney who was doing a fine job according to all reports is quitting that post. I get the feeling that their are rats that have decided to leave a sinking ship. Me gets the feeling that the shit is gonna be hitting the fan long and hard in the administration over the next 6-12 months. Get ready!
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POPSI Love When The Courts Smack Walmart I make no bones about it; I despise Walmart and everything it stands for. The exploit and take total advantage of the workers they so condescendingly refer to as "associates." They thrive off the cheap and child labour or the third world and make it sound like they are doing the world a favour. And they have so many poor Americans believing they are getting bargains without ever admitting to the way they are able to keep their prices low or how they are keeping their employees on week to week subsistence levels of income. I am glad the courts are cracking down. Problem is, they can so easily afford these judgments that it probably won't hurt them a bit. The only thing that will actually do them so real damage, is when or if the American people wake up and stop falling for Walmart's so-called bargain prices.
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POPSNew Hampshire Goes Gay Hooray! New Hampshire legalizes gay civil-unions. No, it ain't marriage, but we're getting there. 5 years ago who would have thought civil-unions would start making such major inroads in the states. In a few very short years, same-sex marriage will become the law of the land, just as it is in our close neighbour and largest trading partner, Canada.
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POPSWar On Drugs Gets Crazier and Crazier It is remarkable that there are states who still look to prosecute pregnant women who happen to be drug addicts. Addiction is an illness; a treatable illness. I have never met a drug addict who is happy to be such. Instead of financing the phony war on drugs by locking up and prosecuting addicts, why not use some of that enormous amount of money on building more treatment centres and financing research into additional treatment measures for this illness? It's the perfect blame the victim mentality that some members of our society seems to thrive on.
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POPSIs It Possible That Bush is Sociopathic? I am beginning to believe that George W. Bush is sociopathic. After knowing that the story of the Gonzalez bed side harassment of former Attorney General Ashcroft, and all the other evidence piling up against this man, Bush can actually stand there and say that Gonzalez has done nothing wrong and that the Democrats are engaged in political Theatre. This is a truly disturbing situation that goes way beyond politics as usual. I can understand if Bush tried to spin the bedside visit to Ashcroft, but to just ignore it as if it had never happened, and to say he did absolutely nothing wrong demonstrates a complete lack of comprehension between right and wrong. But then again, why am I surprised. This is a man who claims to always be on the side of life and yet officiated over the largest number of executions in any state, including that of a retarded man and a teenager. He also is capable of discussion the carnage in Iraq with a sickening smirk on his face. This man is terribly sick.
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POPSCheney Says He and His Honchos are Above the Law. Cheney actually has the chutzpah to demand that the lawsuit filed against him by Valerie Plame and her husband Joseph Wilson should be thrown out because the leaking of her name and position at the CIA was, essentially, all in a day's work. I wonder what it must feel like to be working in a sewer if that is the case.
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POPSArresting a 6-yeaer-old? Aw, get real! Is this nuts or what? What was the big emergency that a 6-year-old and to be traumatized in such a brutal manner? It's hardly as if this was a life and death emergency where a delay of an hour or so was gonna make any difference whatsoever. Some people let their badge get in the way of their judgment. I fear we are more and more turning into a jackboot society.
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POPSWhite Collar Drug Pushers vs Street Corner Pushers. The U.S. government has a very skewed take on the drug problem in its midst. The prisons are filled with small time corner drug dealers, or people who were caught with a couple of joints in the pockets etc. But when a big pharmaceutical company is found guilty of illegally marketing and selling a dangerous drug via deliberate misrepresentation, there are all kinds of legal loop holes that will keep the perpetrators well away from prison bars, while permitting them to continue selling their wares after paying a relatively small fine. Is this justice? If the government is on such a war against drugs, they should really be throwing the book at this criminals in white colours and thousand dollar suits. This article in well worth reading in its entirety because it gives far more information about this outrage than I could fit in the limited clip. But once again, we are facing huge hypocrisy.
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POPSGiuliani's Heroic Shine is Going to Pale Very Soon My bet is that Mr. Giuliani's 9/11/ hero status is going to go down very quickly in the rest of the county once the full details of his mismanagement of the entire crisis is exposed. He has been shamelessly taking bows and blowing kisses to the crowds as SuperMayor, but when the facts are actually known, he will sink like a stone. He ran New York City like a fascist dictator during his 8 years in office, and was reviled by most New Yorkers for the way he treated minorities and allowed the police to have a free hand even when abuse was alleged and then proven. He actually excused acts of brutality in the name of law and order. My friend, before you consider voting for Mr. Giuliani, please learn as much as you can about him. You might change your mind.
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POPSA Virginia Court In Essence Has Made Doctors Treating Pain, Criminals As a chronic pain patient I am appalled that doctors who are sincerely trying to help their patients who suffer from this debilitating and life altering condition are being treated like common street drug pushers. The U.S. has gone insane with their misguided war on drugs. Compassionate doctors will rot in jail as their patients writhe in pain or commit suicide. Does this make any sense to anyone? I certainly hope not!
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POPSAn Important Article About Overzealous Drug Enforcement This is a very serious issue. As a chronic pain patient, I have all too often been treated like a street addict due to my requirement of narcotic analgesic treatment for my pain. For the past several years I have been enrolled at a pain management clinic in their methadone program which affords me excellent pain relief on a reliable and constant basis. But there are many people who are not as fortunate as I am, and have to suffer needlessly with their pain because doctor's who want to help them cannot due to the overzealous DEA agents the Bush administration has instructed to crack down on physicians prescribing narcotic analgesics. This is not to say that there are no unscrupulous doctor's out there, who make money illegally selling prescriptions. But they are in vast minority of the millions of honest doctors whose only concerns are their patients well being. Patients should never be made to feel as if being sick is a crime and their docs should be able to help them.
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POPSWill The ERA Finally Become The Law of the Land? After 2 1/2 decades, will the perfectly sane and fair Constitutional Amendment finally be ratified, or will we sink back into the morass of discrimination and small-mindedness that sunk it 25 years ago? Let's hope we are all a bit more enlightened this time.
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POPSBank or Loan Shark......You Decide! Banks have become the new "legal loan sharks" and are getting away with practices that thirty years ago might have landed perpetrators of these practices in jail. I urge y'all to read this entire piece as it is very informative. This is a major issue in our country because it gives us a false sense of success and financial security while so many of us wind up bankrupt or worse.
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POPSI'm Sor Proud To Be A Native New Yawker Even though I moved to Canada in 1985, I am still a New Yorker at heart. The Justice's decision increases my pride in being born and raised in such a fair-minded and progressive city. So, I live in a country the permits same-sex marriage, and I can go home to my family and be legally recognized as a married couple with my partner, Arnold. That's quite a relief after being together for over 25 years.
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POPSA Kiss Is Just A Kiss...Except at Foley's Pub Imagine two men kiss and get thrown out of a bar for showing affection. Let's see, if a man kissed a woman or even if two women kissed, I bet that would be just fine. But two men? We can have none of that. God forbid two men should show the same affection for each other than any mixed-gender couple might show! What a disgrace!!
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POPSTransexuals Are Biggest Threat To Children? Hard to believe that prejudice against transsexuals is so deep that the police will harass someone simply for talking to children. You would think the police would know that the vast majority of child molestation cases are about heterosexual men and family members who molest kids, not members of the GLBT community.
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POPSNew Sign On Prison Might Read: Uncle Sam Wants You!! I find it rather shocking that our military would go out of its way in this time of great need for bodies to fill uniforms by permitting people with criminal backgrounds, while they insist on continuing to discriminate against perfectly law-abiding gay people. Another example of some of our warped values.
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POPSDon't Play AT Torture on TV-Just Do It In Secret As the President Allows Everyone is so concerned at how bad it makes the U.S. look, and the potential effect it has on our soldiers and children when they see Jack Bauer torture criminals on "24." But of course, the fact that our president has added a signing statement to the ban on torture, permitting him to override that law if he feels it is necessary, thus making torture legal as far as this president is concerned, does not seem to bother too many people.
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POPSMistrial I like this article a lot, but what makes it even better, is that I just heard a couple of hours ago, that the judge hearing Ehren Watada's case has declared a mistrial. There are serious doubts if the military is going to try to reopen the case, what with all the negative publicity surrounding it.
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POPSWhat's Good For The Gays is Also Good For the Heteros A silly initiative? Absolutely; but it makes a terrific point. I have heard more times than I can remember that the main reason for marriage is for procreation, hence the institution must be the sole privilege of a man and a woman. Well, is it not fair to ask that this rationale be respected on all fronts? :-)
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POPSA Hope For Clemency This story hits me especially hard. I am a chronic pain patient who went through years of surgery, rehab and tortuous treatments before I was finally able to hook-up with a pain clinic who is able to dispense the medication I require in what for a "normal" person would be an excessive dose. I admit that I live in Canada where the "war on drugs" has not become a totally out of control and paranoid crusade by the government. In the U.S. however, many doctors are fearful or writing prescriptions for narcotic medication because of government interference. There are any number of cases of doctors treating chronic pain patients with the medicine they need, only to lose their licenses due to overzealous federal drug agents. The real crime is when legitimate chronic pain patients, whose lives are miserable enough to begin with, are treated like junkies trying to hustle drugs in order to get their medical needs met. And that the doctors who try to treat them are so often harassed.
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POPSAnother Stab in the Heart of Equality Once again gays are being treated at second class citizens. The right-wingers shout about "family values." Yet, when gays and lesbians want to protect their own families, suddenly the tune changes. I suppose to those people who are anti-Gay believe only they have the only true families.
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POPSThe Ultimate Double Standard I happen to be one of those people who truly believes life is precious. As someone who lives with two serious chronic illnesses and continuous sever pain, I continue to fight to live my life to its fullest, and to remain active and as productive as possible. However, I also believe that every human being is entitled to dignity in their lives and a decent quality of life. When those two things are absent from my life, I would like the option of deciding when I have had enough. I should be entitled to the same consideration as a race horse, or a house pet. I do not believe anyone would consider seriously the act of ending their lives lightly. It is a tortuous decision and it is an act that should not be carried-out in haste. But the option should be available, and once the decision is made, the person's doctor should be permitted to help the patient end his/her life with grace, dignity and loving care.
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POPSGuantanamo Conditions Like Nazi Camp Another American citizen confined to Guantanamo with no specific charges against him. He is being held in deplorable conditions, with no end it sight. The world cries out for Guantanamo to be closed, and yet our president ignores those cries and thumps his chest like the big hero he isn't. Treating human beings in this manner erodes whatever moral authority we once felt we could claim. We are behaving in the manner we claim to be fighting against. If we had reports of our soldiers or citizens being held in similar conditions in by another government, we would be raising holy hell.
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POPSGonzales Questions Habeas Corpus Read the rest of this article at http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/011807.html Mr. Gonzales displays a frightening lack of common sense and honesty by making this claim. Even Arlen Specter, a Senator from his side of the aisle, so to speak, became flustered with disbelief when he came up with this response concerning habeas. It is obvious this attorney general is blinded by his own ideology to the point of trampling on the rights of us citizens whenever the agenda of he and his neo-con brethren dictate it must.
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