Oh Canada... - sing it with me!

You have been sent this message from Stephanie Black as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com

Personal Message:
An article about the Canadian legalization of gay marriage. The most important quote for me is below:

"In no church, no synagogue, no mosque, no temple, no religious house will those who disagree with same-sex unions be compelled to perform them. Period," Prime Minister Paul Martin said in a major address giving government support to the bill in February. "This legislation is about civil marriage, not religious marriage."

[steph] Now isn't that the whole freakin' point? Get with it, America.

Same-Sex Marriage Advances In Canada

By Doug Struck

OTTAWA, June 28 -- The House of Commons voted Tuesday to guarantee full marriage rights to same-sex couples, reaffirming Canada's sharp difference with the United States over the issue of gay rights and promising an alternative destination for American gay men and lesbians to be married.

The legislation, which opponents acknowledge will easily pass the Senate and which has the support of the government, will make Canada only the third country -- after Belgium and the Netherlands -- to give national recognition to gay marriages.

"The big peaceable kingdom on the U.S. border will demonstrate that it is absolutely possible for religious freedom to coexist with the end of discrimination against gay and lesbian people," said Alex Munter, a gay rights advocate who gathered with other supporters at Parliament Hall in Ottawa to watch the vote.

"Many couples already come from America to get married, and thousands of more will come."

American couples have been wed here since lower courts began to legalize same-sex marriages in some provinces in 2003. The marriage in Ottawa this month of a gay American couple from the popular television show "Amazing Race" is the latest high-profile example.

"We are the only jurisdiction in the world that allows marriage without a residency requirement," noted R. Douglas Elliott, a Toronto lawyer and president of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association. "Equal marriage is going to become Canada's leading export in the next couple of years."

Although marriages legally performed in another country are traditionally accepted in the United States, the question of whether gay marriages will be recognized in states that have banned same-sex unions is likely to be the subject of court battles, gay rights advocates predict.

The Canadian legislation, which passed the Commons 158 to 133, follows a steady march of court decisions that have already ruled gay marriage legal in eight of 10 Canadian provinces and one territory. In December, the Canadian Supreme Court pointed the way to national legislation by ruling that gay marriage conforms to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of the nation's constitution.

But unlike in the United States, where some legislators and President Bush have actively opposed same-sex marriage, the Canadian Parliament acted to establish a uniform national law. Despite opposition from church leaders and politicians in several provinces, the move is supported by a majority of the Canadian public, in what gay rights advocates say has been a relatively swift turnabout of opinion over a period of several years.

"This is absolutely historic," Munter said of the vote in the Commons. "It reaffirms that Canada is an open and inclusive and tolerant country."

Thousands of same-sex couples have wed in provinces where gay marriage has won court approval. Several prominent national political officials are openly gay, and gays are accepted in the Canadian military with full spousal benefits for partners.

Even the opposition's stance would be seen as liberal in much of the United States. The minority Conservative Party proposed that a civil union be approved for gay couples as an alternative to including gays in the definition of a married couple. But the ruling Liberal Party, buttressed by the Supreme Court, argued that anything short of full marriage recognition would provide unequal rights and shortchange the civil liberties of gays.

"Rights are rights. None of us can or should pick and choose whose rights we will defend and whose rights we will ignore," Justice Minister Irwin Cotler argued on the floor Tuesday. "The government must represent the rights of all Canadians equally."

He stressed, however, that the change would apply only to the right of gays to be married and divorced under civil law. Ministers cannot be forced to perform the marriages if they object.

"In no church, no synagogue, no mosque, no temple, no religious house will those who disagree with same-sex unions be compelled to perform them. Period," Prime Minister Paul Martin said in a major address giving government support to the bill in February. "This legislation is about civil marriage, not religious marriage."

But opposition to the bill was emotional. About two dozen Liberal Party members voted against the bill, and a Liberal cabinet member resigned rather than support it.

"This is going to have a direct impact on our society," argued Richard Harris, a Conservative member of Parliament. "It is in direct conflict with the traditional way civilization has grown and the traditional foundations of society."

Opponents of same-sex marriage held prayer vigils across the country Sunday. But in Toronto, tens of thousands, including many prominent political figures, marched in the annual gay pride parade.

The bill they supported ensures that Canada will be a symbolic counterpoint to its southern neighbor. In the United States, 40 states have passed laws or constitutional amendments banning marriages between those of the same sex. Few states, however, have laws specifically banning recognition of marriages approved in other jurisdictions. Diplomatically, legal marriages performed in another country are traditionally honored by the United States.

A gay Canadian couple told reporters in Toronto this week that they were barred from a flight to Atlanta because a U.S. Customs agent at the Toronto airport refused to accept their customs declaration as a married couple. Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell said they were going to Georgia for a human rights conference when they were told by a supervisor that the United States did not recognize their 2001 marriage in Ottawa.


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Oh, our lovely Prez....ugh...

New York Times Editorial
President Bush's Speech About Iraq

Published: June 29, 2005

President Bush told the nation last night that the war in Iraq was difficult but winnable. Only the first is clearly true. Despite buoyant cheerleading by administration officials, the military situation is at best unimproved. The Iraqi Army, despite Mr. Bush's optimistic descriptions, shows no signs of being able to control the country without American help for years to come. There are not enough American soldiers to carry out the job they have been sent to do, yet the strain of maintaining even this inadequate force is taking a terrible toll on the ability of the United States to defend its security on other fronts around the world.

We did not expect Mr. Bush would apologize for the misinformation that helped lead us into this war, or for the catastrophic mistakes his team made in running the military operation. But we had hoped he would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks. We had hoped that he would seize the moment to tell the nation how he will define victory, and to give Americans a specific sense of how he intends to reach that goal - beyond repeating the same wishful scenario that he as been describing since the invasion.

Sadly, Mr. Bush wasted his opportunity last night, giving a speech that only answered questions no one was asking. He told the nation, again and again, that a stable and democratic Iraq would be worth American sacrifices, while the nation was wondering whether American sacrifices could actually produce a stable and democratic Iraq.

Given the way this war was planned and executed, the president does not have any good options available, and if American forces were withdrawn, Iraq would probably sink into a civil war that would create large stretches of no man's land where private militias and stateless terrorists could operate with impunity. But if Mr. Bush is intent on staying the course, it will take years before the Iraqi government and its military are able to stand on their own. Most important of all - despite his lofty assurance last night that in the end the insurgents "cannot stop the advance of freedom" - all those years of effort and suffering could still end with the Iraqis turning on each other, or deciding that the American troops were the ultimate enemy after all. The critical challenge is to gauge, with a clear head, exactly when and if the tipping point arrives and the American presence is only making a terrible situation worse.

Mr. Bush has been under pressure, even from some Republicans, to come up with a timeline for an exit. It makes no sense to encourage the insurrectionists by telling them that if their suicide bombers continue to blow themselves up at the current rate, the Americans will be leaving in six months or a year. It is Iraq's elected officials, who desperately need an American presence, who have to be told that Washington's support isn't open-ended.

The elected government is the only hope, but its current performance is far from promising. While the support of the Shiite's powerful Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for the democratic elections was heartening, the Shiite majority in Parliament is mainly composed of religious parties competing to demonstrate that they have the ayatollah's ear. The Kurds continue to put broader national interests behind their own goal of an autonomous ministate that would include the oil fields of Kirkuk. The Sunnis, who boycotted the election, are only now being brought into the constitution-writing effort and so far have made no real effort to mobilize against the terrorists in
their midst.

Pressure from the Bush administration for the government to do better has increased since the State Department took control of Iraq policy from the Pentagon. But there is much more to do, and the president needed to show the American people that he is not giving the Iraqi politicians a blank check to fritter away their opportunities.

Listening to Mr. Bush offer the usual emotional rhetoric about the advance of freedom and the sacrifice of American soldiers, our thoughts went back to some of the letters we received in anticipation of the speech. One was from the brother of a fallen Marine, who said he did not want Mr. Bush to say the war should continue in order to keep faith with the men and women who have died fighting it. "We do not need more justifications for the war. We need an effective strategy to win it," he wrote. Another letter came from an opponent of the invasion who urged the American left to "get over its anger over President Bush's catastrophic blunder" and start trying to figure out how to win the conflict that exists.

No one wants a disaster in Iraq, and Mr. Bush's critics can put aside, at least temporarily, their anger at the administration for its hubris, its terrible planning and its inept conduct of the war in return for a frank discussion of where to go from here. The president, who is going to be in office for another three and a half years, cannot continue to obsess about self-justification and the need to color Iraq with the memory of 9/11. The nation does not want it and cannot afford it.

Updates

Hey all, I'm going to take a moment to update everyone on some stuff.

Work

I'm in my 4th week at Auto-Owners and am becoming much more comfortable with my fellow employees as well as the tasks I am expected to perform. I get along with pretty much everyone I work with so that definitely helps the atmosphere.

The 4th

I'm headed up to Higgins and Little Bear Lakes to do some celebrating and relaxing. Hopefully I will be able to spend ample time at both locations, especially since it seems like Andrea's Mom is a bit disappointed by the lack of turnout at their usual 4th of July get together. I'm sure Andrea, Amber, me, and Joe can help spruce up the atmosphere for her - even if we aren't there the ENTIRE time.

The Weather

This weather sucks.. thats all there is to it. I don't mind it being so freaking hot when I'm up north and I can jump in the pool whenever. But, when I'm wearing slacks, long sleeve shirts, and ties to work... it sucks. And to top it off, I have no air conditioning in my car so I'm totally S.O.L. when it gets hot and humid. Although, last weekend was pretty perfect weather-wise.

Andrea

Things are going pretty well. I don't have any complaints thats for sure. I can tell she is stressed out though - whether its $$, school, seeing each other, or something. I can usually tell when she has something in the back of her mind. I just can't wait to see her again when we go up north this weekend.

Me

I think I'm doing alright. Nothing new has happened really... Living alone has its ups and downs though. I listen to a lot of music and watch a lot of the same movies over and over again (due to my lack of cable, or any TV for that matter). I also surf the web and chat a ridiculous amount. You would think that after being on the computer the entire time I am at work that I would actually be tired of looking at a computer screen... well, I guess not. I do tend to let my apartment get a little bit messy though. I just don't have the same drive to keep it clean as when I know someone else is going to have to bear witness to it.


Ok, I'm tired of typing... PEACE!

Week 2

Ok, the second week of work has been slightly more enjoyable and exciting than the first week. I have actually spent some time on the phone, doing actual work. I haven't really been given any direction yet, tho I'm sure that is to come.

This past weekend I went up to Higgins with Andrea. My sis and Mom were up there too. Its always nice to get up north and relax. I never get to let loose as much as when I'm up north. There is just something about the atmosphere, the people, and the lifestyle of northern Michigan. I always have a good time up there, even if I'm just watching tv or talking with my family. I just can't wait to go up and be able to spend the entire weekend on the boat. We only just got it in the water this past weekend (my father's day present to my Dad).

I'm looking for a place to live in the fall, until who knows. I am considering Campus Hill, but I'm not sure if they have any open apartments on the top floor. We'll see where that goes..

Anyways, I don't have cable right now... so all I do is watch movies. I'm watching 8 Mile on my computer right now. I actually really like this movie, but I really wish I had my cable on so I could watch Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond... among others. To top it off, Comedy Central... I am having withdrawls I swear.

I can't wait for Thursday when Andrea comes down. I'm not sure if I'm going to get to see her this weekend so it will be nice to talk to her before just in case.

Ok, all for now... will write more later.

Day 1

Hey ya'll...

Today was my first day on the job. It was pretty adventurous, though very boring at the same time. I got to eat lunch and play some Texas-Hold'em with the people I'm working around, so that was fun.

My Dad is currently in Germany. He e-mailed the family, here is an exerpt:

"The trip over was uneventful - a pretty nice flight, and a very quiet jet. I still didn't sleep much on the plane - every time I started to doze off my head started to fall forward and I'd wake up. Grrrr. We flew into Frankfort instead of the normal plan of flying into Liepzig, as this worked better for Jim Harrison's plan for meeting his family next Mon for a week of vacation. We expected a 2 hr drive to this location, but it turned into a 3.5 hr drive instead due to Jim's erroneous calc of distance. He did the driving, so no problem for me. 3.5 hrs at 85-95 mph was a bit of a rush, especially in some very hard rain. The most impressive part is the 10-12 times we were moving along in the middle lane at 90 mph only to have some larger BMW or Mercedes blow by us at 110-120. I don't think I've been past faster on any hiway in the US. Our rental is a Nissan diesel, 6-speed stick shift wagon. It drives very
easily at these speeds, and it seems like most cars here are diesels for the mpg, and many are wagons also. We were hoping for a German car, but even this is a nice handling car. Jim had 2-3 hairy situations where the lanes narrowed for construction (narrower than in the US), and nearly bumped a railing on the left or a semi on the right.

The countryside here is very impressive - the rural areas have nearly no construction in view. All human habitation, businesses, farm bldgs, etc at all located in centralized small towns or cities. In spite of centuries of habitation, you can look for miles and see nothing but farm fields or forests, and no bldgs of any kind. Very neat and impressive. I've also been surprised at the number of windmills for power generation - dozens in some locations."

Sure sounds like a great place to live... maybe someday I'll get to visit Europe.

Anyways, I'm tired and have to get ready for Paul Revere's and the Piston's game. Will write more sometime later.

P.S. This weekend was a blast up north with Andrea, Amber, and Joe, along with Andrea's Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa. I can't wait to get up north again!!! WOO!

LOVE YOU BABE!