If you’re reading this, you’re obviously are social on the internet, and noticed that fb “went red” on Tuesday. There was a social solidarity to wear red on Tuesday, as SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) was hearing arguments against Prop 8 in California on Tuesday, and against DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) on Wednesday. HRC (the Human Rights Campaign) changed their logo to red in support of marriage equality.

I did wear red on Tuesday, but I didn’t really change my profile picture on fb. I don’t know why. I didn’t really feel like it. It’s kinda interesting to see everyone “as one” kinda. Maybe it’s partly narcissism, but I don’t think so, b/c I’ve changed my profile picture to that “I’m w/ Coco” image when Conan O’Brien had his show taken away. Maybe it’s b/c I’m searching for a job, and I have gone through & only kept “non-political” pictures as viewable by everyone… I honestly don’t know why I didn’t change it. I just didn’t feel like fb is the place. I sign petitions, I make phone calls, and send emails. All my friends know my stance. Changing my picture on fb is not going to be my “voice”, I guess is what I’m thinking.

Here’s the thing. There’s so much going on right now. Our elected officials are acting like punks. Mississippi passing laws so that clinics that service uninsured, urban ppl can’t stay open. Arkansas passing unconstitutional laws that their own state officials asked them NOT to pass, b/c they WILL be sued and they can’t afford to pay out for lawsuits that will win b/c they already know they’re unconstitutional. What a WASTE. So much GOVERNMENT WASTE. It’s so sad 😦

Ok, so back to this SCOTUS thing. They will strike down Prop 8. If they don’t, so much of California is against it now (remember when it passed, it was b/c all those Mormons (LDS Church) paid to pass it through back then). California is easily influenced by ads (like the GMO labeling law that didn’t pass this past Nov). Anyway, California can undo that law now; unlike Ohio, the majority of ppl there are against a ban on same-sex marriage. And DOMA – they DEFINITELY will strike down DOMA. If, in the unlikely event that they don’t, Congress WILL. There are enough liberals AND conservatives in Congress against it that they will def repeal it if SCOTUS doesn’t strike it down first.

At any rate, we’ll hear about both these in June. JUNE, ppl.

In the meantime, like NOW, can we talk about our stupid, bull-headed Congressmen? I know I need to be specific about what exactly I’m mad w/ them about right now, but it’s the whole stupid sequester. What they had written up last year, “knowing” that they’d NEVER want to accept it, so it was their own ultimatum to themselves. But it DID happen, b/c of their stubbornness.

They now have to pass through appropriations for every little thing that they want exempted from the sequester.

Um, why don’t you just work on a budget that BOTH sides of Congress will pass?

So, as a result of our Congress being SO BULL-HEADED, we have to have them pass through bills for any part of government spending that we don’t want SHUT DOWN.

Thus HR 933, Congress’s temporary 6-month appropriations bill will allow agriculture in the US to continue, with federal funding. Shortly before this Agriculture Appropriations bill got pushed through for the President to sign into law, a rider was “anonymously” attached to it. This is section 735, aka the “Monsanto Protection Act”. It basically deregulated the farming industry so that farmers can grow crops without the “burden” of the government watchdog.

[sidenote:  what’s kind of interesting here is that Republicans, who are AGAINST govt regulation are also upset with Obama for DE-regulating the agriculture industry.  Do you see the hypocrisy?]

Let’s discuss what just happened. [Or, “break it down, y’all”]

– there was a govt shutdown looming.
– the agriculture industry was in jeopardy. [which would lead to food shortages, and thus a sharp rise in groc costs in an very vulnerable economy just beginning to re-emerge]
– there was a bill to help farmers.

Now, here’s the thing about this bill, WITH THIS RIDER attached:

– the President does NOT have a “line item veto”.
– – this means, he must pass the bill into law, or shut down the WHOLE thing, which means NO govt. funding for farms.
– it’s a temporary 6-month funding bill
– if he DID VETO the entire thing (which he could do), Congress had enough votes (2/3s) to over-ride his veto, and it would still pass.

Do I like the “Monsanto Protection Act”*? No.
Do I understand how it passed through? Yes.
* in quotes, b/c it’s not a real act/bill/law on its own, it was a section of a bill.

I hope you do too now. And, more than anything, I urge you, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. Please let them know how you feel, and YOU DO VOTE.

What we’ve learned in Nov. 2012 national election is that while Super paks spent BILLIONS of dollars, they learned that we won’t necessarily vote their ppl into Congress (or the White House). Remember, Karl Rove’s super PAC spent $103 million on ads; they got 1% return on their investment. Remind your Congress ppl that lobbyists can fund their campaign, but only YOU can give them their job.

Contact your Senator
Contact your US Representative

Call, Tweet, or FB your Representatives. They are supposed to REPRESENT YOU!

However, I did notice something today that made me smile.  My gloves, that I wear daily, b/c my fingers are as cold as they can be….  😉

Related Posts:

gay marriage is wrong. Right?
My thought on the whole Bert & Ernie thing.
I didn’t realize it was still 1960

And here’s an interesting article I found a few years ago:
Are Homosexual Civil Unions A 600-year-old Tradition?
It mentions how in medieval France, they had a term “affrerement” (like brotherment) that served as a legal contract. They “pledged to live together sharing ‘un pain, un vin, et une bourse’ — one bread, one wine, and one purse.”