important info

I didn’t realize it was still 1960

yllwdaisies amnesty, California, change, comics, complaints/hating, important info, lgbt, loopholes/sneaky, marriage, my thoughts, politics, sad/scary stuff, same-sex marriage, terrorism + 9/11, the law

So, I already mentioned I’m pretty upset about stupid Prop 8 in Cali going through. I’d love to see someone put up a proposition to ban hetero marriage. No… that’d be preposterous, right?

Seriously, who’s to say that one union is legit simply b/c of the party’s pieces/parts?

“But what about the children?”

Really? So, it’s totally cool if Alex gets a sex change oppo, becomes Alexis, & marries a dude? Trust ppl, you’ll have a much harder time explaining that to your 5-yr old. & the kids don’t care. Every kid I’ve ever met totally understands, if 2 ppl love each other, they get married. They’re so idealistic, they don’t even know about the probs/conflicts a couple face.

It more acceptable to marry you cousin than for a same-sex marriage to take place. Uh…. that’s right ppl, I said marry your cousin. Seriously, though, it’s legal to marry your cousin in 26 states. There’s even a loophole in Vermont’s state government that allows DOGS to marry!

You know how we look back 100 or 200 years & say that it seems unreal that certain civil liberties didn’t exist then (like voting for some ppl)? I can’t help but be embarrassed for what our descendants are going to think of us deny civil liberties in 2008!

On June 2nd, 1958, Richard Loving & Mildred Jeter were married. 5 weeks later, they were arrested & then sentenced to a year in jail. Wanna know why? B/c interracial marriages were prohibited. Of course they appealed it. This idocity went on for 9 years before the US Supreme Court unanimously overturned it.

“… The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival … Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”

– Chief Justice Earl Warren, June 12, 1967

gay-interrcl-marriage

How is Prop 8 in Cali (or 102 in Arizona, or 2 in Florida) even really an issue that we are debating today? Hello, 2008, it’s 1960 on the phone for you.

In Arkansas, an LGBT person can’t even adopt a child. I’ve counted 17 states (you can double-check it, I got a headache counting) that don’t even recognize same-sex civil unions!!!

I’m not going to go on any further. B/c I’ll just blow a gasket. (Does anyone say that anymore? No? Just me? Whatev.)

So, I’ll leave y’all w/ a comment I once left to someone else’s comment saying that why can’t “they” just be happy w/ “civil unions”. You know why?

Cause there was never a top-ten hit that went,

“♪♫♪♪ Goin to the Chapel, & we’re gonna get Civil-Unioned ♫♪♪”….

It’s still not the same thing. It would be the equivalent of telling “certain ppl” that they can ride on the same bus to the same destination, but they have to sit at the back of the bus.

You might argue: Why would they care? They still get to the same place.

B/c it’s saying that they’re different/lesser, & don’t deserve the idealism that “regular ppl” do.

The reason “regular” is in quotes is b/c I don’t believe that being straight is a “regular” trait. Maybe it’s a dominant trait (like having brown eyes, versus the recessive having blue eyes.). But that 2nd link shows that homosexuality has been around for eons, & they’ve even proven it exists naturally in animals.

Want to do something about it? Try:

pls everyone, help good triumph!

yllwdaisies amnesty, change, complaints/hating, important info, loopholes/sneaky, my thoughts, news, politics, sad/scary stuff, terrorism + 9/11, the law

Hey everyone,

I feel sick to my stomach. I opened up my email today & saw that Troy Davis’s execution has been scheduled for Tues evening @ 7 pm!! Please go to Amnesty International’s site & click on the link to sign the letter to Georgia’s Board of Pardon & Parole.

I can’t believe we are about to execute (EXECUTE!) a man that may be innocent. There has been SO MUCH doubt in his trial. I’ve posted about him since June of 2007, & I thought for sure the court would be fair. But alas….

Let’s go over the facts:

  • There was no physical evidence against Troy Davis.
  • The weapon used was never found.
  • The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony.
  • All but two of the state’s non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.
  • Many of these witnesses have stated that they were pressured or coerced by the police.
  • One of the witnesses who has not recanted is Sylvester Coles, the principle alternative suspect.
  • Nine individuals have signed affadavits implicating Sylvester Coles.
  • Troy Davis has never had a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him.

Ok, so remember the ppl who recanted their stories? Well, Abolish the Death Penalty has what they specifically said about it:

Darrell Collins: “[The police] were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would … go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed…I was only sixteen and was so scared of going to jail.”

Antoine Williams: “After the officers talked to me, they gave me a statement and told me to sign it. I signed it. I did not read it because I cannot read … I was totally unsure whether he was the person who shot the officer. I felt pressured to point at him … I have no idea what the person who shot the officer looks like.”

Jeffrey Sapp: “The police came and talked to me and put a lot of pressure on me…. They wanted me to tell them that Troy confessed to me about killing that officer. The thing is, Troy never told me anything about it. I got tired of them harassing me …. I told them that Troy did it, but it wasn’t true.”

Daniel Kinsman: “[T]here was and is no doubt in my mind that the person who shot the officer had the gun in and was shooting with his left hand.” Davis is right-handed.

Shirley Riley: “People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him if he was involved …. Sylvester told me he did shoot the officer.”

Joseph Washington: “I am positive that it was Red [Coles] who shot the police officer… [He] was wearing a white shirt…I had no idea that the shirt…was important because no one ever asked me…I would have testified to this but I was not asked by the state or by Troy’s lawyers.”

Please, everyone, click on the pic below to go to Amnesty International’s site & read about him. I’d love for all of you to sign the letter for him, but I’d be happy if you just read about him & share it w/ someone (ANYone) else.

The letters need to be faxed, & I know from experience that sometimes these ppl turn off their fax machines when all these faxes start comin in. In that case, you can click HERE to go to the contact information page for the GA State Board of Pardons & Parole. You can email the Pardon Administration Unit for Restoration of Rights or Pardons at Pardon_Administration@pap.state.ga.us and/or Clemency_Information@pap.state.ga.us.

You can also click to sign a petition.

lower gas prices feel like blood money in my pocket

yllwdaisies art/arch, beauty, change, commercialism, complaints/hating, eureka, important info, my thoughts, news, politics, sad/scary stuff, the law

Do any of you feel the same way?

Few weeks ago, over $4.00.
Last week, $3.77.
Yesterday, $3.55.
My mom said it’s supposed to go down to $3.41 soon.

I feel like this is the gov’t.’s way of giving me blood money. My heart sinks everytime I see the prices go down. The lower we fall, I know the more we’re going to pay for it later. It’s gonna hit us in the gut & I’m afraid some of us won’t be able to rise back up.

I knew this would happen. I wanted to blog about this on July 14th. The day Bush overturned that ban on offshore drilling, I felt punched in the stomach. I just felt so sick to my stomach. Like seriously nauseous. I just hoped that we’ve elected a Congress smart enough to not make his executive order come to fruition.

The very next day, the price of oil per barrel dropped. It’s been dropping since. I know it’s only dropping cause ppl think that we’re gonna be drowning in all the crude oil our lil hearts can take real soon. But that ain’t happenin, Charlie.

What’s gonna happen when ppl realize that this isn’t the solution? It’s just gonna skyrocket way past what we thought was high before. The truth is, this country’s been spoiled as far as gas prices go for decades now. If ppl think they can’t afford gas now, they’re gonna be in for a rude awakening when it hits over $8.00 a gallon. That’s what I think will happen when ppl realize that offshore drilling’s not the end-all to this prob.

Please don’t let this congress let us down.

Here’s the long & short of it (mostly long, cause c’mon, you know I ramble):

– if (if) there’s oil to be found, it will be decades (decades) before we actually got that oil & the price drop from it would be minimal. It would come out to a 2¢ drop, 20 years from now.

– 80% of US produced oil (from US reserves) is from 4 states: LA, TX, AK, & CA. If we wanted to find more, our best best would be the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

– Um… do you know what “National Wildlife Refuge” even means? It means, you told those animals that you weren’t going to destroy their home for your own evil means.

– If they spent a decade looking/finding/drilling for oil, there’s only realistically a year’s worth up there. You’re gonna destroy the sanctuary for that? Really? Really?

– It is very (very) likely that any oil drilled from ANWR will never be sold in the US. It will be sold off to the highest International bidder (most likely China). (C’mon, ppl, didja forget we’re a capitalist society?)

– Currently, we have 500 oil spills in Alaska every year. Yeah, they don’t exactly advertise that. You don’t think that’s gonna decrease when they have more new drilling monstrosities?

– Seismic testing to locate oil creates decibel levels of 260 – twice as loud as an ambulance – underwater. Exposure to these levels of noise underwater can cause disorientation, brain hemorrhaging, or even beaching for whales and dolphins. Only last week over 100 melon-head whales beached off of Madagascar close to where ExxonMobil was conducting seismic testing. (6/19/2008, from Greenpeace website)

Here’s a video of a guy who spent 3 months hiking across Alaska, & spent a LOT of time in the ANWR (it’s 3½ mins ppl):

What we need is an alternate solution. My main concern is that we will lose track of what’s imp: trying to develop alternative renewable energies.

Like this Pickens Plan that this guy T. Boone has.

Here be the plan:
(click pic to go to site)

noooooo…….

yllwdaisies commercialism, complaints/hating, important info, my life, news, politics, the law

I’m a good person. I don’t turn right on red (like some miscreants). I don’t speed (anymore- mainly b/c of gas consumption*). I haven’t killed or maimed anyone.

I wanna be economically stimulated. I neeeed to be economically stimulated.

And I swear in return, I’ll stimulate the economy. Seriously. I’m good for it. I mean, I’ve already been stimulating the economy w/out being economically stimulated, so think how much more I can once I am!

*you end up reducing gas consumption by like 33% if you drive at a decent, steady pace. That averages most ppl a savings of like $500 a year! For realsies!

stupid crackerjack crackhead

yllwdaisies change, commercialism, complaints/hating, good news, important info, my blog, my thoughts, politics, terrorism + 9/11, tv

So, TIoP just posted that MSNBC finally canceled that stupid Cracker-Jack Crack-head’s show.

Thank GOD for small favors, huh? You remember Tucker Carlson, don’t cha? Here’s the post where I got super-mad at him:

And here’s my post just after that to self-promote:

no, I’m not blushing

yllwdaisies cancer, change, important info, my blog, sad/scary stuff

So, remember last year, when I went Pink for October? You can click the box below for more info on Pink for October.

Well, I was visiting aquababie again, & remembered it’s that time again. But I’ve already been pink for the last 2 months now, so I’m just gonna change my linkage colors to pink-friendly shades.

And for more info on CANCER, click the pink box:

jena conviction overturned

yllwdaisies celebs, change, commercialism, complaints/hating, cops, food, important info, my thoughts, news, sad/scary stuff, terrorism + 9/11, the law

I know you guys all have the Jena situation alive in your heads. I’m sure you all were as pleased as I when we heard that the state appeals court overturned the felony conviction for Mychal Bell.

He was tried as an adult originally even though he was just 16 when the assault happened. I’m not sure what will happen next; that’ll be determined this week. Likely, he’ll be re-tried as a juvenile (which is what shoula happened in the 1st place). It’s not like re-trying him will cost more money in court/legal fees. Oh wait, yes it will.

It sucks that all this happened; & that it took so long for anything to happen. I think everyone who’s signed the petition (see previous post), & all the ppl who’ve traveled down there, or blogged about it, or even just brought it up & talked about it have helped bring about some change. It makes me re-affirm my faith in our ppl.

Here’s something I’m not too sure about… Maybe you’ve all heard that there’s going to be a rally in Jena, LA this coming Thursday. Expected numbers are anywhere from 5,000 to 35,000 ppl to attend.

One of those ppl is Al Sharpton. Y’all know Rev. Al, right? Here’s the thing, all the ppl on the side of the Jena 6 believe that Al’s coming to help them. But I believe that Al only does things that help HIMSELF. I don’t think he’s doing this (or has done anything else) out of the goodness of his own heart. I think he’s his own publicity machine. I think he only cares about what this situation can do for him.

There are thousands of others that are leaving their work behind & paying their own way to go to Jena. Rev. Al’s doing it as part of his work, & will def collect from it.

I guess it’s all whatever though. I mean, he will bring publicity to it all; he won’t be ignored, that’s for sure. So, I guess this situation can use all the ppl (self-serving or not) it can get.

lifehacker

yllwdaisies busy, commercialism, important info

I don’t really have anything to post. Don’t have time either, as I’m pretty busy actually do tons of work.

So, I thought I’d pimp out Lifehacker. It’s a website that has tips & downloads to do just about anything.

I use my blog as a place to store bookmarks of places I like to visit that aren’t all necessarily other blogs. So, I have all those categories in my sidebar. You can click on each cat to expand it & see the links. I’ve got Lifehacker under ‘Resource Stuff’.

We lied, it really is YOU.

yllwdaisies complaints/hating, important info, my life, my thoughts

Men can be so full of themselves, huh?

You know how men say we’re c*ck-blockin? Well, more often than not, it’s not actually that. B/c that insinuates that they may have actually had a chance w/ the pretty lady. When, alas, that’s not the case.

We gals see the “please get me away from this guy” look in our poor friend’s eyes & move in. I can’t tell you how many times my dear friends have asked for help. Or, getting the guy to move away for a couple of mins by asking him to get a drink, pleading w/ me not to leave them alone, b/c she wants nothing to do w/ him. Or, just asking that we move on to somewhere else.

I remember once telling a couple of guys that we were leaving b/c we were to meet ppl somewhere else, & then we just moved to another floor instead. I thought of this, b/c I’ve been overhearing guys complain of getting cock-blocked; & I have witnessed what they thought was them getting played. But there was no way in the world that guy was getting anywhere w/ the gal he was hitting on.

Please, guys, get over yourselves.

So, fellas, it’s not really us “blocking” you. It’s def you.

This has been a “the more you know” moment from yllw. Peace.

there’s another hurricane brewin in Louisiana

yllwdaisies amnesty, change, complaints/hating, cops, important info, my thoughts, news, politics, sad/scary stuff, school, terrorism + 9/11, the law

Do you guys remember the story of Hurricane? Mr. Rubin Carter? I know a lot of you have prob seen the movie (w/ Denzel). I’ve never seen the movie. I know the story b/c I’m a big Dylan fan. One of my fave songs is “Hurricane”; if you’ve never heard it, please do yourself a favor & listen to it. It will give you chills; it still gives me chills & I listen to it all the time.

Here’s a synopsis: Rubin Carter was unjustly imprisoned for 2 consecutive life terms by an all-white jury. He was charged w/ a triple murder; one of the victims, on his death bed told the police that Carter was not the right man. But 2 robbers, who were also in a lot of heat testified against him. That year was 1967.

1967 folks. 1967.

Dylan wrote “Hurricane” to raise awareness for Rubin Carter (in ’75, after Carter had sent him a copy of his autobio, The Sixteenth Round which he wrote while locked up). On February 9th, 1976, Carter was sentence to 2 consecutive life terms (this was his 2nd trial; which they had fought for). Dylan never performed Hurricane live since that happened (last live performance of the song was January 25th 1976 in Houston). It wasn’t until November 1985 that he was released on parole, & 1988 that the original indictments were dismissed.

Why am I bringing this up?

Because it’s 2007, ppl, & we should NOT be dealing with stuff like this in 2007. Or, at all in my lifetime, & I’ve been around for a lil bit now.

But if you haven’t heard about Jena 6, please go to the Color of Change website & read about it. Print the letter to fax or email it. They also give you the option of writing out your own note. I did opt to do that b/c I figured (hopefully) they’re gonna get thousands of letters from everywhere. There is HUGE media coverage about what’s going on in Jena, LA globally (China, France, England). It’s unfortunate that the national coverage isn’t as much as it is overseas. What the world must think of the big, bad, ole US of A, huh?

To read more, you should also check out Aquababie’s and/or V’s sites. They’ve put up very thoughtful, in-depth posts; much more so than I have.

So, please go to the ColorOfChange.org website, & send a letter. You can also sign up to stand with the families if you will be in the area from July 31st to mid-August.

Again:
Sign the letter – Color of Change.org
Sign the online petition asking for the US Department of Justice to get involved

There is also a man named Michael David Murphy who went to Jena, LA & took pictures & has a photo journal; he’s got two sites w/ pics & links: www.michaeldavidmurphy.com/jena/ & While Seated.

I’ve also posted the lyrics to Hurricane below in it’s own special post.