Same-Sex Marriage Ban In Texas Ruled Unconstitutional

Back in 2005, the voters in Texas approved an amendment to the state's constitution that defined marriage as only being between a man and a woman. This amendment, which passed by a huge majority, had the effect of banning marriage between same-sex couples -- and the religious right was sure this amendment would settle the question of same-sex marriage in Texas for good. They were wrong.

While the voters do have the right to alter marriage rules through a constitutional amendment, any changes they approve must apply equally to all citizens. Neither voters nor state officials have the right to deny rights to any group -- rights that are given to other groups. That's because the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which trumps all state constitutions) says:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

And that's just what a judge said on Wednesday in San Antonio. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled that the Texas constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage "violates plaintiffs' equal protection and due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution". The judge also wrote these powerful words:

"Equal treatment of all individuals under the law is not merely an aspiration — it is a constitutional mandate. Consequently, equal protection is at the heart of our legal system and is essential for the existence of a free society."

This makes Texas the third state to have its same-sex marriage ban overturned recently by a federal judge. The other states are Utah and Oklahoma. All three states have had those decisions stayed until they can be reviewed by a federal appeals court. Utah has appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Oklahoma is waiting to see the outcome of that appeal (since they are also covered by that appeals court). If the Texas decision is appealed (and it undoubtably will be), it will go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

So far, the United States Supreme Court has been able to avoid making a decision on the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. But if the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals don't make the same decisions, then the U.S. Supreme Court will finally be forced to make a decision for the country as a whole. And that is a distinct possibility. Preliminary indications are that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals might uphold the decision of the federal judge in Utah (that declared Utah's ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional), but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is a more conservative court and could overturn the Texas jude's decision.

Regardless of what these two appeals courts decide, it is time for the United States Supreme Court to stop avoiding this issue. The Fourteenth Amendment is very clear, and these same-sex marriage bans clearly violate that amendment. Opponents are going to try to claim these decisions violate their religious rights, but that is a ridiculous assertion. Allowing same-sex couples to marry does nothing to impinge on the religious rights of any person or church, and they can continue to practice their religious bigotry to their hearts content -- they will just no longer be able to force their own bigotry on others.

The majority of Americans support the equal right of the LGBT community to marry the person they love, and it is time for this issue to be put to rest once and for all.

Gay Marriage

Political Cartoon is by Nick Anderson in the Houston Chronicle.

Republicans Are Still The Minority Party

The chart above is made from information in a New York Times / CBS News Poll -- the last one being done between February 19th and 23rd of 1,644 nationwide adults (519 Republicans, 515 Democrats, and 550 Independents).

Note that the Republican Party has been the minority party for more than a decade now. Only one time has it risen to a popularity of 30% during that decade (31% in 2005). On the other hand, the Democratic Party has consistently had more citizens willing to identify with it during that time period -- and at no time has it dropped below 30%. Currently party identification stands at:

Republican..........24%
Democrat...........31%
Independent..........38%

Of particular importance is the recent rise of people claiming to be Independents. This shows the people are angry with both national parties. The question is -- will those Independents vote in the upcoming mid-term election, and if they do, which party will they take their anger out on?

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Meanwhile, that same poll surveyed its respondents on their preferences for president in 2016 -- asking them if they wanted certain candidates to run. As expected, Hillary is the huge favorite of Democrats, with 82% of them wanting her to run.

Also as expected, the Republicans still don't have a real favorite -- with no candidate having a majority of party member wanting him to run.

But the really interesting part was what the Independents want. More than half of the Independents wanted Hillary Clinton to run for president, 20 points more than for any other possible candidate. I can't remember any candidate that wasn't a sitting president being this much of a prohibitive favorite this long before an election.

Tyrant ?

Political Cartoon is by Stuart Carlson at carlsontoons.com.

Social Commentary From A Great Comedian

Comedian Bill Hicks passed away a couple of decades ago at a very early age, but his words live on. And like Molly Ivins, George Carlin, and Lenny Bruce, his humor doubled as social commentary. He didn't just make people laugh -- he made them think. Here are some of his immortal words (the way he usually closed his act):

Is there a point to my act? I would say there is. I have to.

The world is like a ride, in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down, and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud and it's fun. For a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: "Is this real, or is this just a ride?"

And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, and they say, "Hey, don't worry. Don't be afraid, ever. Because this is just a ride."

And we . . . kill those people. Ha-ha!

"Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real."

It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And we let the demons run amok.

But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings and money.

[It's] a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, into a better ride: Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing, and educating the poor of the world - which it would do many times over, not one human being excluded. And we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever. In peace.

War On Poverty (Programs)

Political Cartoon is by John Branch in the San Antonio Express-News.

Handouts ?

Molly

Obama Ignores His Own Deadline On Afghanistan

(The image above is from the website of the National Guard.)

President Obama originally told Americans that he would be pulling American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year. He didn't really mean that though, and wanted to leave thousands of American troops in that country (as trainers and to fight terrorism) -- possibly as long as another 10 years (the end of 2024). But to do that he needs the Afghan government to sign an agreement asking U.S. troops to stay. That agreement would be necessary to protect American troops from being tried by an Afghan court for any crime they might commit against the Afghan people.

The United States says it will not leave any troops in Afghanistan after December of 2014 without that signed agreement. Near the end of 2013, President Obama warned the Afghan president (who had been refusing to sign the agreement) that the agreement must be signed by the end of 2013 or all troops would be withdrawn -- thinking that deadline would push President Karzai to sign the agreement.

Now we are nearly two months into 2014, and President Obama is still trying to pressure the Afghans into signing the agreement -- ignoring his own deadline. Just a few days ago, President Obama once again issued that same threat in a phone call to President Karzai, and the White House issued the following statement:

"President Obama told President Karzai that because he has demonstrated that it is unlikely that he will sign the BSA (Bilateral Security Agreement), the United States is moving forward with additional contingency planning.

"Specifically, President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

"Furthermore, the longer we go without a BSA, the more likely it will be that any post-2014 US mission will be smaller in scale and ambition."

It is becoming very obvious that President Obama does not want to honor his promise to the American people, or his threat to the Afghan government. He (and the Pentagon generals) want to continue indefinitely this ridiculous and ineffective occupation of Afghanistan -- a war which is already in its thirteenth year. And it now looks like the refusal of President Karzai to sign the agreement is all that is preventing this endless war from continuing for many more years.

It should be noted that American troops would probably still be in Iraq too, if the Iraqis hadn't refused to sign the same kind of agreement. We can only hope that President Karzai has that same kind of guts, and refuses to sign the agreement. That seems to be the only way to get American troops out of Afghanistan.

Poll after poll has shown that a majority of the American people think the Afghan war was a mistake, and they want all of the troops to be withdrawn. It's just sad that President Obama won't honor his own promise and deadline, and that we must depend on a foreign president to get us out of Afghanistan.

RINO

Political Cartoon is by John Darkow in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Only 30% of Americans Trust Scientists To Tell The Truth

No nation has benefitted more from the advances of science than the United States -- and those benefits are evident in all aspects of the society, from farming to industry, from technology to warfare, from health to space exploration, from safety to communication. Science has made the lives of all Americans better.

One would think that in a society that has benefitted so much from the advances of science, a significant majority of the public would have a lot of trust in scientists -- but that is not the case. Only about 30% of the American people (less than one out of every three Americans) say they have a lot of trust in scientists to tell them the truth, while 31% say they have no trust or very little trust in scientists. About 40% say they have only a moderate trust in scientists.

The groups that trust scientists the most are college grads (42%/15%), those with some college (32%/28%), ages 18 to 29 (38%/23%), Whites (33%/28%), Democrats (38%/27%), Midwesterners (32%/27%), Westerners (33%/24%), those making $40k to $100k (36%/23%), and those making above $100k(39%/16%). Sadly though, none of these groups even approaches a majority having complete or a lot of trust in scientists.

Three groups are evenly split on the question -- men (33%/33%), those in the Northeast (27%/27%), and political Independents (31%/31%). All other demographic groups show more distrust than trust of scientists -- with the worst being those with a HS education or less (20%/42%), Republicans (21%/31%), Southerners (27%/39%), Blacks (24%/39%), Hispanics (18%/35%), those making less than $40k (21%/42%), and those between 30 and 44 years old (27%/35%).

These are rather shocking numbers for all groups -- especially considering scientific pronouncements are peer-reviewed, and are subject to repeated experimentation for verification. I would love to be able to say this distrust of science is just because of attacks on science from the right-wing, but that would not be true. Science has been attacked from both the right and the left. The right has attacked science over evolution and global warming, while the left has attacked science over genetically-modified foods -- and both groups have been somewhat successful in their efforts, causing a deterioration in the trust of scientists.

These results are from a recent YouGov Poll (conducted between February 15th and 17th of 1,000 randomly selected nationwide adults, with a margin of error of 4.2 points).

Military Cuts

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Columbus Dispatch.

A Message From Chairman Hinojosa To Texas Democrats

With the primary election only a few days away, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa sends the following message to all Texas Democrats:

Kesha Rogers is one of the candidates on the ballot for U.S. Senator in the Democratic primary -- but do not be fooled. Kesha Rogers is not a Democrat.

Ms. Rogers is part of the “LaRouche Movement,” which has a history of violent rhetoric. The focus of her campaign is impeaching President Obama. Rogers has even paraded around Texas with a poster of the President with a Hitler mustache.

Rogers believes that the U.S. economy is secretly controlled by London financial institutions and she has advocated for colonizing Mars.  That’s not what real Democrats stand for.

The Texas Democratic Party does not support the candidacy of Kesha Rogers or anyone that aligns themselves with the LaRouche Movement. Our State Democratic Executive Committee even issued a resolution against her campaign. Do not vote for Kesha Rogers in the primary.

Rogers’ candidacy is a insult to our Party, our President, our state, our Democratic values, and to all the work you are doing to move our state forward.

Do not vote for Kesha Rogers.

All my best --

Gilberto Hinojosa
Chair, Texas Democratic Primary

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Hinojosa. Nominating Rogers would be disastrous for Democratic hopes in the 2014 election. There are four other candidates running for the Democratic senate nomination (Maxey Scherr, Harry Kim, Michael Fjetland, David Alameel), and all are true Democrats. Pick the one you like -- but please don't vote for Kesha Rogers (a LaRouchie posing as a Democrat).

NOTE -- My choice is Maxey Scherr (a true progressive).

Hospitality

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.