i read the following article about a decision by the US Second Circuit Court
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/11/03/arar/index.html and it's linked sources - it is horrifying to me that our courts are helping to cover up and even endorsing torture, and that the president we elected on the promise of change is condoning this
plus the election results and bullshit from yesterday - i am once again ashamed of my country, my fellow citizens, and in fact most of humanity - i do not care what race, religion, sexuality, or gender you are; it doesn't matter where you live or what you do for work/school/fun/worship; it is never, ever acceptable to deprive others of their rights
to quote carl sagan "we are all made of star stuff"; so we all have but a short time alive, and then we all die and our bodies break down and become star stuff once more - to me that means that your belief in God, Buddah or Allah, Jesus, Zeus, the Torah, the Flying Spagetti Monster or who/whatever you chose to worship gives you no right to dictate what i believe, to limit my freedoms, to tell me that my life is unequal to yours
They chose to annoint as the perceived "bellwether races" only does that they thought Republicans would win, and chose to ignore not only New York's 23rd District, but also California's 10th District, in which a more liberal Democrat won by 10 points a swing seat that had been held by a conservative Democrat.
As for the Virginia and New Jersey races, they were not a rejection of the Democratic Party so much as a failure of the Republican Lite strategy. Where Democrats ran as Democrats, the voters rewarded them. Where Democrats like Creigh Deeds tried to distance themselves from the Democratic Party, they lost because the Democratic base did not come out for them. The conservative spin machine has really been allowed to create a narrative on despite the lesson is actuallythe opposite of the one that is portrayed.
This is not a rejection of the Democratic Party, it is the failure of the Republican Lite strategy of the Democratic party, and a rejection of the Tea Party.
Where Democrats have tried to move right, they have failed. Where the Republicans have tried to run a right-wing extremist, they have failed.
Where Democrats have run a real Democrat, they have succeeded. Where Republicans have tried to look more moderate, they have succeeded.
Maine, however was a disappointment, a loss not only for civil rights, but also for religious freedom, especially since it might have come out differently if Obama had been the "fierce advocate" that he promised to be, but there were also some successes in local domestic partnership laws, which did not get covered, because the "liberal" media does not cover things that go well for Democrats.
i understand what some of the more intelligent comments are saying, that probably the issue of gay marriage is going to be decided in the federal courts - but i am still disgusted with this crap - prop 8 here, and the win in maine - that we allow issues of equal rights to be put up for popular vote and that hatred keeps winning is unacceptable to me
Still, I try to focus on the positive. I don't usually succeed in doing so, but...