Heartland moves hearts! Iowa clears path for samesex marriage

I lived in Iowa for 6 years, and really enjoyed it. Iowa City and the University of Iowa were always open for a challenge, and they really did a lot to dispel farm-redneck myths. I have always believed Iowans thought that what people did with their own lives, so long as it was consented to by all parties, was their own business in their own homes.

I am proud of my one time state, and hopeful for peaceful celebrations!
Go Hawkeyes!

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Historic Victory for Marriage Equality in Iowa!
High Court clears the way for committed gay and lesbian couples to marry
Today the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that committed gay and lesbian couples must be allowed to marry in Iowa. Join us this evening at your local rally to celebrate this momentous decision! Rally times can be found below, following a statement from One Iowa Executive Director, Carolyn Jenison.
Statement from Carolyn Jenison:

I want to begin by saying how great it is to be an Iowan! Today, the Heartland proves again to be fitting of its name. The Iowa Supreme Court, in clearing the way for gay and lesbian couples to marry, recognized that love and commitment are at the heart of what makes our communities strong. As Iowans, we pride ourselves on our strong sense of community and fairness. It's only fair that two caring, committed people are able to take full responsibility for one another.

I grew up in the small town of Randall, Iowa. Like most kids, I had the same expectation of meeting that special someone to share the rest of my life with. More than the legal protections and security of marriage, today's decision is about recognizing that love and commitment are not defined by the gender of the participants involved. It's about couples like David and Larry from Urbandale or Reva and Ingrid from Council Bluffs -- couples that have stuck together through thick and thin, who have raised strong families, and been active in their communities. Today, the message the Court sends is that these families are worthy of the same recognition and hold the same value as any other couple.

As a lifelong Iowan, I have never been as proud of my state as I am today! Not only will we join Connecticut and Massachusetts as the third state to offer marriage licenses to gay couples, but Iowa will set the standard for fairness and equality in the Midwest. I encourage all Iowans, whether you agree with the Court's decision or not, to respect the important role that the court plays. While we may not all agree with the decision, I think we can all agree that it's unfair to stand in the way of someone being able to take care of his or her long-term partner. I invite those who disagree to engage with us in a conversation. I encourage you to visit our website at oneiowa.org to read the personal stories of Iowans affected by today's decision. Moving forward, One Iowa will work tirelessly to see that marriage equality in Iowa is protected and valued with the same vigor that we pursued it.

I want to thank our wonderful partners at Lambda Legal for bringing this case before the Courts and all our supporters across the state. We would not be here today without your support and guidance. I also want to thank my staff at One Iowa. Our slogan is "together we are One Iowa" and I know our success is due in large part because of our commitment to work as a team.
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Annnnd the update!

4 mos since surgery, which is healing well, and five shots into a MS control regimen. I've never shot ANYTHING into myself (sorry, all you radical types), so this was weird. The idea of the permanence of the MS came home the first time I had to self-inject. It is VERY odd to feel so mortal!

Of course, about the same time I started this stuff stem cells were released from their bondage and we shall see who they can help out. I'm confident in science enough to hope for some progress, but also know some researchers have already developed new ways to tease stem cells into change. I would suggest people who still have issues with it watch as their MRIs show huge gaps in brain tissue, some of which well might become irreversibly damaged.

Is it a brand new day for America? f**K if I know. The world has gotten both smaller and bigger, and more tiring. My favorite MS slogan now is "You can have my handicapped parking spot if you take my disability with it!" Or, more simply, "F**k MS."

My political interests have gotten smaller-- to the point I really want to move into disability advocacy (as I once did for HIV/ AIDS) and try to help people who are stuck in the crack of our crappy medical system. But please don't get me wrong. I ADORE my MS docs and nurses and all the fine folks in PHX who really helped get my diagnosis straight (it's not leprosy.. it's not AIDS... it's not coccidiosis...).

May all your days be merry and painfree and oh yeah, may you always remember the right word!

What a difference an MRI makes...

Hey gente--

things have radically changed for me, and not in a puerile political catchphrase way. I had been winding down in energy for while now, since last October, and right after my final probationary evaluation (yay, I did well),. I just about fell out of work starting Dec 1. Vertigo, walking weird, blurry vision, incredible fatigue... my neuro here had me take some MRIs, and number 1- I had a bulging disc in my neck pressing on my spinal cord and 2- I had "christmas lites (lesions, spots) in my brain. He advised me, "If you were my daughter, I would take these MRIs and go to Scripps or Barrow in PHX and go into the emergency room. It will take too long to get referrals and there's no way it can be handled right now in Yuma. We don't really have all the specialists."

So go I did, and had a lovely 8 day hospital stay, six days of which was for testing and testing and MRIs and CTs.. and had neck surgery on day 6 of all that. That went well, then I was told to come back 3-4 weeks later to see both my neurosurgeon AND a neuroimunologist. Sheesh.

Long story short-- cadaver bone and plate in neck is good, but I don't have RA, I have relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis. This might be why I was so low on energy, had hard time focusing, and could have cared less about the news the last part of last year. I dont' even wanna THINK about politics riht now, because frankly, a lot of it seems short term crap to me as we speak of it in this country now, and not discussions of real systemic change.

So perhaps my foci will change now (change I need!), but undoubtedly I will be snarky and cranky and not a true believer (tm) in the Great Tan Hope. I wish him well, I wish he would have said "Biracial" a few times, and hope the fact he would never be able to fulfill the needs of all the people voting for him does not come as a surprise to anyone.

Oh yeah, and the Ms seems to have affected my typing, spelling, and speaking a bit. fun to aphasia when you teach english!

Anyway... paz y feliz ano nuevo to mi amiga/os out there. There's always Spain....

TC

Are we free now? Can I put up my guns?

Of course not. As Tavis Smiley mentioned, "are we better off? Is this a great moment [the election of BO] for black america? Undoubtedly.

Are we free? No. We have a long way to go."

So i won't put away my guns, literal and otherwise. I'm old enough to have gone through enough socialist disappointment and liberal well-meaningness to know that the game is not played by the ones in the front-- it is played by those behind them and those, moreover, with MONEY OR MEDIA.

anyone wanna join me raising 10 million or so so that maybe the voice of the poor, unemployed, gay, lesbian, disabled, not-rich are heard? I dont' anticipate change until we change our heads and thoughts. To that effort, I suppose I will still stay in education, where I was once asked "God, why do we have to study this stuff and not our own writing?" The author, fellow travelers, was Sandra Cisneros.

Viva ignorancia!

The hiatus from hell and the post from hell

Nope.Nary a post in over a month, and I will tell you why, besides the obvious life is really busy line: I'm saddened, even depressed, at the state of the union and the state of my state. I came within a hair of leaving, and decided the job I have is worth more than leaving for a bit of uncertainty when I really need health insurance.

No hope for me-- but I'm not without expectation of more grandstanding BS everywhere on everything. No expectation of grand change. My belief in the corporate economy always finding a way to pull us out of economic doldrums is still strong because hey, they want to keep making money. Exxon for president. My search for a place in Iceland, Canada, or elsewhere really is picking up. My embarrassment of public discourse (what passes for it) is still quite powerful. I cannot watch or read news unless it's in an international paper now. Physically, I hurt and feel ill watching a mad scramble to keep the amorphous US on top of some amorphous world which is going to leave us behind as embarrassing relics of economic colonization, as the Brits got left behind earlier.

I suppose it is buttressing my understanding of how gain means more pain, not less. There is never enough for many Americans-- never, ever. There has to be one more car, CD, even the last word in debates of well-intentioned people who want to be right, to be secure, to not see how painfully intentions hurt when the ones you want to help can see in reality how very much MORE you seem to have. A fear of choices, of multiplicities, of being wrong, of having to DECIDE for ourselves and then react in interesting ways if threatened-- these fears are palpable and more dangerous all the time.

I fear something insidious in its own way, besides the gradual numbing of the critical mind-- I fear that the fear will make its way into the hearts of people who struggle to find a way through the middle of the mess, skirting every car wreck and human disaster, and that it will embitter them. Too many tears are shed in private, in anger, over the general numbing and fear shown by so many who we KNOW we could help if... if...

And the truth is, we don't really know how to do it, how to fix it, how to get right again. We might not even remember right. In the binary world we built, you would think it would be easy, but our binaries push against infinites and collapse and frighten the bejeezus out of us. We just know there has to be an US and a THEM, and they ain't WE and we certainly would NEVER be THEM! Onward Christian/Muslin/Israeli/Palestinian/Black/White/Brown/Straight/Gay soldiers, marching as to self-annihilation with only the ones with enough to hide out or move or have more soldiers left standing.

This is my world, this hell, and a life that I guess I never saw coming in a country I used to love so much it hurt, and I don't just mean during the Olympics.

Oh yeah. Enjoy those.

Attempt to ban "unamerican, anti western civilization" activities

PLEASE get this out there! An addendum to a homeland security bill could spell death to student groups organized by race (even if they're not exclusionary of members), and potentially for religious, LGBTQIA orga, etc in Arizona. We can carry guns in schools but not have an organization? I HATE THIS PLACE!!!!! AAAAQGGGHHHH!!!!!

Cliqa below to go to the site. I ordered some UFW buttons....

UFW ARIZONA CAMPAIGN

Help fight Ariz. bill to ban ethnic student groups like MEChA, Black Business Students Assoc.
Multiculturalism is a basic American concept. We value the beliefs, traditions, customs, arts, history and folklore of the diverse cultures reflected throughout our nation. All this is being put at risk in Arizona, where last week the Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to a routine homeland security bill, SB 1108 that would prohibit students at the state’s public universities and community colleges from organizing groups based on race (ie: groups such as MEChA, the Black Business Students Association, Native Americans United, etc.)

Please take action today. This bill could reach the Arizona House floor as early as this week.

According to newspaper reports, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Scottsdale), a supporter of the measure called these campus organizations, "'self-defeating' and 'self-destructive' for students."

Self-defeating? Multiculturalism doesn’t limit students. It gives them pride in who they are and enhances their being fuller people by fostering the concept of America being the land of opportunity. As Cesar Chavez said, "Preservation of ones' culture doesn’t mean contempt for others'."

These student groups are like any other school club or fraternity. They bring students together so they can achieve academic success. They offer a place to meet, make friends and support one another. Their goal is to help students succeed. For example, the members of the University of Arizona's MEChA chapter visit high schools to encourage students to attend college. They hold events and fundraisers to spread the message that education is the key to success.

The bill goes one step further. It also would ban public schools or colleges from including race-based classes or school sponsored activities. Officially the language says it would ban any activity "deemed contradictory to the values of American democracy or Western civilization." However, the language is so broad, who knows what could be prohibited? Certainly Chicano studies, African-American studies & other ethnic studies programs would be put at risk.

Studies show that students who learn about their race and culture have a lower-drop out rate. In truth, if this bill passes it could cause a huge set back in our educational system.

Please take immediate action. If you live in Arizona, e-mail your representatives immediately as well as the Speaker of the House. If you live outside Arizona, please e-mail the Arizona Speaker of the House today and let him know the eyes of the nation are on Arizona.

More Texas love for death row!

I follow the death row stuff in Texas with a bit of distance, but the finality of this inmate's quote got me thinking again about the DP and how it works versus what people THINK it does (deter crime):
"Nobody cares," he said bitterly. "It doesn't matter. Death is the best chance to get out of this place."

Watts said he'd be expecting an execution date, which would be a "real low blow."

"I don't put my trust in no judge," he said. "They make mistakes, just like we do. ... I don't believe the state of Texas has the right to murder anyone."

The other interesting one, albeit from a person weary of it all, is:
"They're all crooks," he said. "If you show me one honest one, I'll show you 10 that ain't. it's all a buddy system. And when you get hung up in it, there's not much you can do. They're hoping I'll keep my mouth shut and die, but since I'm about dead anyway, I won't shut up."

And herein is the story about something I think we all get hung up in:


Supreme Court ruling puts Texas inmates closer to execution

By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press




LIVINGSTON, Texas — The question for some condemned Texas inmates lately has not been if they would face execution, but how.

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that lethal injection is not unconstitutionally cruel answered the question of how, and it also brought execution dates considerably closer for prisoners in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.

"It's going to be real crazy," Kevin Watts, sentenced to die for the slayings of three people during a robbery at a San Antonio restaurant five years ago, said from a small visiting cage at the prison unit where the state's 360 condemned men are housed.

Watts, 26, is among dozens of inmates whose appeals have been exhausted since Sept. 25. That's when the high court decided to take up a challenge from Kentucky prisoners who contended the lethal injection procedure used in that state, similar to the one employed in Texas and other states, violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

The justices, in a 7-2 vote announced Wednesday, upheld the process, clearing the way for capital punishment to resume. In Texas, where 405 inmates have been put to death since 1982, that number could begin rising as early as a month from now.

Prisoners who had execution dates but whose punishments were stopped for additional reviews are eligible to die within 30 days. For inmates who will get their first dates, execution could be held in 90 days.

The Texas Attorney General's Office, which handles capital case appeals once they get into the federal courts, called the hiatus in executions since last fall "delayed justice for crime victims and their families." The office will "take the legal action necessary to bring closure to these victims," spokesman Jerry Strickland said.

"The way the courts are ruling, I lost all hope," said David Lewis, who was convicted of killing a Lufkin woman during a burglary 21 years ago.

Like Watts, Lewis in January had his case rejected by the Supreme Court, clearing the way for his likely death.

"Look at history," he said. "They'd just find something else. We all know it."

"I'm not concerned if they put a bullet between the eyes," added 70-year-old Jack Smith, the state's oldest condemned prisoner. "Dead is dead, no matter how you go about it."

Smith, on death row for some 31 years for a fatal shooting during a Houston robbery, said lethal injection would always provoke controversy and was merely the progression from other methods.

"You had the electric chair, hanging at the gallows, now this," he said. "They're always going to try to find another method."

Smith lost his appeal before the justices in February.

"I'll contest them any day of the week," said Smith, who maintains his innocence of the slaying where authorities said $90 was taken in the robbery. "The courts, the D.A., they can squash your case and sit on it hoping I'll die of old age."

That may not happen.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson, who handles capital case appeals for the state's most active death penalty county, said Thursday that Smith is likely to among several Harris County inmates to get an execution date imminently.

One problem may be the volume of cases and coordinating them with the attorney general's office, she said.

"We're just going to have to get the dates and stagger them," she said.

Besides Smith, others are likely to include Derrick Sonnier, who was scheduled to die in February for the 1992 rape-slaying of an Humble woman. Sonnier won a reprieve because of the Kentucky case. Another is Jose Medellin, condemned for the rape-slayings of two Houston teenagers 15 years ago.

Medellin and Cesar Fierro were among seven Mexican-born inmates on Texas death row who last month lost their bids for appeal before the Supreme Court in a case where the justices said President Bush overstepped his authority trying to reopen their cases.

"If I die, this could be the best thing to happen to me," said Fierro, 51, convicted of the 1979 robbery-slaying of an El Paso taxi driver. He's been on death row more than 28 years but says he's innocent.

"Nobody cares," he said bitterly. "It doesn't matter. Death is the best chance to get out of this place."

Watts said he'd be expecting an execution date, which would be a "real low blow."

"I don't put my trust in no judge," he said. "They make mistakes, just like we do. ... I don't believe the state of Texas has the right to murder anyone."

Smith was equally critical of the justice system.

"They're all crooks," he said. "If you show me one honest one, I'll show you 10 that ain't. it's all a buddy system. And when you get hung up in it, there's not much you can do. They're hoping I'll keep my mouth shut and die, but since I'm about dead anyway, I won't shut up."

Smith, whose fellow inmates call him "Old Man," also said the ruling wasn't all bad news.

"I've been blessed in a way," he said, "I could have been out on the streets and been run over.

"I'm old. I'm ready."