Quote for the Day: "Gentlemen, I must be wasted. Because it looks like that cloud is mad at me."--Homer Simpson as Odysseus, in Homer's reading of Homer's Odyssey.

Quote for the Day: "OH MY GOD, IS THIS SOME KIND OF YOGA PORN?? You women need to fucking STOP because you are TOTALLY TURNING ME ON and I am wearing THE TIGHT YOGA MAN PANTS!!"--Dr. Dave, discovering the pleasures, and perils, of "Beginner Yoga with (Crazy Frenchwoman) Nadia".

You scored as Ginny Weasley. You definitely share your mother's (Molly Weasley) fiery resolve and slowly but surely people are learning to respect you because of it. Ginny Weasley 85% Remus Lupin 80% Albus Dumbledore 80% Harry Potter 75% Ron Weasley 70% Hermione Granger 65% Draco Malfoy 65% Severus Snape 60% Sirius Black 55% Lord Voldemort 0% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

Monday Cat Blogging


Behold my insane cat, who likes to hang out on top of the bathroom door. Or the bedroom door. Any open door really.

Via The Republic of T., some of the folks in Utah who were in such a frenzy to enact the state's gay marriage ban are realizing now that it could come back and bite them in the ass (which of course, to hetero Mormons, would be a very bad thing). Unfortunately, so far it hasn't bitten hard enough to get them to fix it.

After rushing to write a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution last year, Utah legislators are in no hurry to repair damage the law could deal other kinds of domestic partners.

The Senate overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to kill a bill that would have eased restrictions imposed by the gay marriage ban. The legislation came under fire from conservative lobby groups in this heavily Republican state where anything seen as advancing gay rights is often doomed to failure.

Taken literally, the gay marriage ban could deny hospital visitation or survivor's property rights to children being brought up by grandparents, or to senior citizens who live together but do not marry for financial reasons. Siblings living in the same household also could find themselves without customary rights.

Utah's Legislature - overwhelmingly Republican and Mormon, and one of the most conservative bodies in the nation - ignored warnings from the state's Republican attorney general that the amendment went too far. Utah voters ratified it with 66 percent approval in November.

But in a moment of sober reflection, some of the same lawmakers were looking at giving back to adults who live together but are ineligible to marry - a category that includes same-sex couples - some of the rights of husband and wife.
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The Senate rejected Bell's bill on an 18-10 vote, after Republican senators huddled over lunch with two marriage-law experts who argued there was nothing wrong with Utah's constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The next generation of Neo-Cons is in high school right now, and already thinks the First Amendment is overrated.

A significant number of US high-school students regard their constitutional right to freedom of speech as excessive, according to a new survey.

Over a third of the 100,000 students questioned felt the First Amendment went "too far" in guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, worship and assembly.

Only half felt newspapers should be allowed to publish stories that did not have the government's approval.
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The two-year, $1m survey across US schools - in which 8,000 teachers were also interviewed - suggested students held a number of misconceptions about the First Amendment, and were more censorious on some issues than their elders.

Some 83% of students polled felt people should be allowed to express unpopular views, as opposed to 97% of teachers.

Roughly half the students polled wrongly believed the US government had the right to censor the internet, while two-thirds believed it was illegal to burn the US flag - another misconception.

The president of the John S and James L Knight Foundation, which conducted the research, said: "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to this nation's future."

The survey concluded that better teaching and a bigger emphasis on student journalism could raise awareness of the First Amendment in American classrooms.

Gods help us if these future Ann Coulters and Rush Limbaughs ever make it into office!