With less than week to go before our inaugural meeting of the Northern Nevada Chapter of the National Organization for Women, we’ve been busy, busy, busy. My apology if it feels like I’m ignoring you. I’m not. But between planning meetings, trying to contact current members, emails, getting the word out, updating Facebook, still trying to get some kind of insurance policy, dealing with PayPal, not to mention my full time job, commuting and trying to find time for my family, I barely have time to breathe.
But, there are a couple of things that I’m actually paying attention to, or at least have managed to blip on my radar screen.
Timeline of a riot. Why is it that even when the family of the victim calls for peace, they don’t get it? How does that respect the victim’s memory?
7 p.m. Oscar Grant’s grandfather speaks out for peace, update on public transit
Police are blocking Broadway at 12th Street; 12th Street at Telegraph Avenue; 13th and Broadway; and 14th and Franklin. Meanwhile, people are playing music about 20 feet from the police line at 12th and Broadway.
Oscar Grant Sr., 64, of Hayward, the grandfather of Oscar Grant III, is downtown. He urged the crowd to stay peaceful no matter how angry they are.
“Don’t come out here to fight,” he said. “Don’t dishonor my grandson’s death by coming out here and tearing up Oakland. … I know the verdict was wrong, but let’s not tear up Oakland for it.”
A federal judge in Boston, Massachusetts, has ruled that the federal ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, because it interferes with an individual state’s right to define marriage.
The ruling gives same-sex married couples in Massachusetts the same right to federal benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that “as irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest,” the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the protection under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
Unknown if Obama’s DOJ will appeal the ruling. If ever there was a time for him to sit on his hands, this is it.
For those of us in the Skeptical community, it appears Paul Kurtz is taking his ball and going home. I’ve never been that big a fan of Kurtz…too wordy and full of himself as far as I was concerned, and his latest is confirmatory.
Meet the newborn Neo Humanists.
That’s a label offered up by Paul Kurtz, the original founder of the secular-humanist Center for Inquiry in 1991, who recently broke from his own group over issues of “inclusivity.”
I took a look at his new organization. Meh. I’ll stick with Secular Humanism, thank you. From the affirmations:
We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
Aside from the headlines that I’ve glanced at (because of aforementioned busyness), I haven’t followed the Russian Spy Saga closely. But gosh, doesn’t it seem a little odd that we’ve had arrests, trials and spy exchanges all in the course of a couple of weeks?
And from the Department of You Can’t Get Blood Out of a Turnip, But If You Are Rich You Can Get Off Scot-Free:
As part of an agreement announced Thursday, the two sides have agreed to put their competing civil claims on hold pending binding arbitration. The arbitration process will remain confidential, Harrah’s said in a statement.
The Clark County, Nev., district attorney on Thursday also agreed to drop the felony charges it brought last year against Mr. Watanabe relating to his gambling debt. The criminal trial was scheduled to begin next week.
So, what have you been paying attention to?
