Deportation halted for lesbian Mexican national in same-sex marriage

A Colorado immigration judge halted the deportation on Friday of a lesbian Mexican national in a same-sex marriage who would be eligible for a marriage-based green card if not for the Defense of Marriage Act.

-full report at Washington Blade

Got Census Form? Fill It Out And Send It Back!

A dew days ago I received my 2010 Census form in the mail. Being that I spent a summer working as an enumerator for the 1980 Census this decennial population count has some sentimental value to me.

But I'm also aware that one of the major reasons why we do it in addition to wanting to know exactly how many peeps we have living in the states is wrapped in politics.

Congressional districts are determined by population. The more peeps you count, the more congressional seats your state gets.

That's also true about federal funding as well. The more people in your area that turn in the forms, the more of your federal tax dollars you mget back for local projects.

There's also one other benefit of it as well that you won't see for 72 years, but your ancestors will.

When I was researching my family history back in 1998, the 1920 Census data had just been released for public perusing. I was at the Clayton Genealogical Library poring through Fort Bend County data looking for my great great grandmother's name.

I then realized after two hours I needed to look in the 1910 census data for Fort Bend County, and began sifting through it.

I found what I was looking for 30 minutes later, and I began to cry when I did so.

I'd found my paternal great grandmother and great-great grandparents. In the process I discovered that my great great great grandmother was born in Kentucky.

It was another piece in my family history puzzle, and it came thanks to perusing census data.

So fill it out the census form and send it back. Not only will your community and state thank you for it, your ancestors will 72 years from now.

Thoughts On Health Care Reform Passage

While I was in Oneonta I watched the contentious debate before the House vote on the health Care reform bill late Sunday night-early Monday morning.

While I'm not happy about it and want nothing less than universal single payer health care (or Medicare for all), it's a starting point.

If we liberals all agree that Medicare for All is a worthy goal, then our first order of business is to show up to the polls en masse in November. We need to defend the legislators that braved Tea Klux Klan attacks to vote for the bill and show that there's a political upside to passing groundbreaking legislation, not a penalty.

These folks will face unrelenting levels of ignorance from now until November. Some have been spat on called derogatory names, and had bricks thrown through their office windows. The brownshirt tactics need to be repudiated.

We need to stand up and fight just as fiercely for our value and ideaas just as fiercely as the Tea Klux Klan does for their misguided ones. We would ideally like to do it with more dignity and class than they do.

But if they want to act like nekulturny WWE wrestlers, so be it. Bring on the political brass knuckles, the sharp tongued rhetoric and kick their behinds.

Liberal does not mean wimp, and we need to reinforce that fact to these America hating fools on a regular basis. We need to stop being scared of stupid people, lead and start being the 'A' students that were mandated in 2008 with cleaning up the mess the conservative 'D' students left.

We also need to regularly point out, compare and contrast the superiority and fairness of liberalism to their failed, selfish and predominately monoracial political philosophy.

Leadership means you have to make some tough choices that are not politically popular. Let us as liberals and proud Democrats always make sure we are on the side of people who seek justice and fairness.

Let's make sure we do what's right, not what's right wing.

When America is at its freest and fairest, its because it practiced and espoused liberal values. We regress as a country to dark, sinister places when conservative selfishness rules the day.

The bill that passed and was signed by President Obama Tuesday tells the world that we're tired of being the only country without universal health care coverage for its citizens. We're tired of being 49th in health care issues and are finally joining the rest of the industrialized world to emphatically acknowledge what they did decades ago.

Health care is a right, not a rich person's only privilege.

'Jumping The Broom' In DC!

Monday was the first day that same gender couples could legally get married in DC despite the efforts of go to sellout Bigot Harry Jackson to stop it.

Well, well, looks like it was two sistahs, Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend who were the first couple to legally 'jump the broom' in th District of Columbia.



HT to Womanist Musings for the video.

I'm happy for you SGL peeps and I co sign who what my Canadian sis said in her post.

Reagan On The $50 Bill? Hell No!

Once again our conservafools are trying to memorialize the late Ronald Reagan, and their feverish attempts to do so before his 100th birthday in 2011 are becoming more irritating.

A proposal to put him on Mt. Rushmore was laughed out of existence, and he already has his name attached to Washington National Airport (which I still refuse to call Reagan National), an aircraft carrier and one of the largest federal buildings in DC.

Personally I'd put JFK or FDR on there before Reagan.

In addition to the conservaplanning for a yearlong 100th anniversary birthday celebration, efforts are underway in California and Nevada to name mountains after Reagan. I can guarantee you that those 2011 celebrations of his birthday won't see anything but Black sellout faces at them.

Now Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) wants to put Ronald Reagan's face on the 50 dollar bill.

He has introduced legislation which would redesign the 50 dollar bill to replace President Ulysses Grant with Reagan. McHenry's rationale for it is claiming every generation needs heroes and it is time to honor President Reagan by placing him beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy.

He may be yours and white conservative America's hero, but as an African-American, I have no love for Reagan's racist behind. That distaste for Reagan was cemented when he made that infamous 1980 'I believe in state's rights' speech during his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, MS.

McHenry goes on to say Reagan transformed our nation's political and economic thinking.

Damned sure did, for the worst. Do the words 'voodoo economics', 'trickle down economics' and 'trillion dollar deficit' ring a bell?

The bill has been sent to the House Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) isn't ready to jettison Grant for "someone whose policies are still controversial."

"Our currency ought to be something that unites us." said Rep. Sherman.

Neither are the people who still admire Grant for helping to win the Civil War

Thus isn't the first time the GOP has tried to stick Reagan's face on our currency. When they had control of Congress, in 2005 they tried to put Reagan on the $50, but the bill never made it out of the House Financial Services Committee.

They attempted to replace Franklin D. Roosevelt with Reagan on the dime, but Democrats rose up and nixed that proposal.

A proposal to put Reagan's mug on the $20 bill drew objections from Tennessee lawmakers who didn't want Andrew Jackson removed from it.

In a letter to his congressional colleagues, McHenry wrote, "President Reagan is indisputably one of the most transformative presidents of the 20th century. Like President Roosevelt on the dime and President Kennedy on the half dollar, President Reagan deserves a place of honor on our nation's currency."

No, he doesn't. Rep. McHenry. Vanilla flavored peeps that share your political philosophy may believe that nonsense, but much of the American public doesn't share the same warm and fuzzy feeling about Ronald Wilson Reagan as you do.

I and many people saw his 'transformative presidency' in the 80's as a less than pleasant time in which the United States became more mean-spirited, more bellicose, more racist, and more divided politically and socially.

So no, definitely don't want Reagan's mug on Mt. Rushmore, much less any US currency.

NY State Assembly Passes GENDA For Third Time!

Will the passage of GENDA for the third straight time finally be the charm in the wake of Gov. David Paterson's recent executive order to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression for state employees?

Or will GENDA die another painful and very public death in the NY state senate with a governor standing by who is willing and patiently waiting to sign it into law?

Wednesday the NY State Assembly passed GENDA on a 100-43 vote. Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) stated in a press release:

"No New Yorker should face the day-to-day harassment experienced by so many transgender people who have lost their jobs or apartments because of their gender expression. "For transgender individuals, GENDA provides equal protection under the law and provides legal recourse for those who have been denied access or harassed for their gender identity. The Assembly has long supported protections for all groups of people and, this critical bill is another indication of that commitment."

Currently 13 states and Washington, D.C., have laws to protect transgender people from employment, financial, public accommodation, and housing discrimination.

In New York state several cities and counties, including Rochester and New York City, have standing GENDA laws.

Okay NY Senate, now it is up to you. Will you step up to the plate, do the right thing and stand up for the rights of your fellow New Yorkers, or will you continue to surrender to cowardice?

And citizens of NY state who value fairness, will you step it up and loudly tell your senators it's time to do the right thing and pass GENDA?

Frack, Canada Men Win Gold In OT

This time I got a phone call from Renee and Renee's unhusband when it was over.

After Ryan Parise tied the game with 24 seconds left to stun the crowd into silence at Canada Hockey Place, Sidney Crosby got the red and white party started with a goal in the overtime period to deny Team USA their first Olympic gold medal since the 1980 Miracle on Ice squad accomplished the feat.

Oh well, Sochi's only four years away.

When Is A Terrorist Attack NOT a Terrorist Attack?

One of the things I've been pondering since the attack on the building in Austin housing the IRS is this question.

Why is it that when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 12 of his fellow soldiers and wounded another 31 at Fort Hood back on November 4, the T-word came out with no hesitation and the obligatory slamming of Islam soon followed?

But flip the script and you have a white male burn his house down, leave an anti government manifesto on the Net, and dive bombs a plane into a federal building housing the IRS, or another white male in 1995 instigates the destruction of another federal building in Oklahoma City, the MSM twists itself into a pretzel to avoid calling it a terrorist attack or say it's the work of a lone individual?

To delve further into Bizarro world, the same conservapeeps decrying the foiled Christmas underwear bomber and giving the president 'soft on terris' grief on it are calling this vanilla flavored one a hero.

Hmm.

So when is a terrorist attack NOT a terrorist attack?

When North Americans Dominate An Olympic Sport, Why Does The IOC Want To Cancel It?

While I'm still disappointed about the Team USA women losing to Canada in the gold medal game last night, what has bothered me even more are the comments attributed to IOC president Jacques Rogge concerning the future of women's hockey in the winter Olympic games.

He said this to the Vancouver Sun on the same day of the US-Canada women's final.

“There is a discrepancy there. “Everyone agrees with that. This is maybe the investment period in women’s ice hockey. I would personally give them more time to grow, but there must be a period of improvement. We cannot continue without improvement.’’

The IOC doesn't have enough women's sports in the Olympic program to begin with, and refused to add women's ski jumping to it for this Olympic cycle.

So why the chatter about canceling women's hockey?

I believe much of this carping about women's hockey has to do with the fact that it has been a US-Canadian party so far. How much of a hue and cry would there be to end it if a European nation such as Russia or Sweden were dominating it instead of the United States or Canada?

When the Russian women were dominating women's Olympic basketball by capturing the 1976, 1980, and 1992 golds, deafening silence.

Softball got yanked as a Olympic medal sport for the 2012 London Games probably because of American domination of it. Never mind the fact that Japan knocked off Team USA for the 2008 gold medal in Beijing.

An attempt to bring it and baseball back into the Olympic program for 2016 was defeated despite the fact both sports are played all over the planet.

As was pointed out by IIHF president Rene Fasel men's hockey in his Swiss homeland experienced a lopsided 22-0 butt kicking in the 1930's administered by the Canadians. Swiss hockey grew to the point in which they knocked off the Canadians in the 2006 Torino games, and extended them to a hard fought 3-2 shootout loss in Vancouver.

Same story with the USA men's dominance of Olympic basketball. We went from sending collegiate all star teams to blow out the world's best to having to send our NBA ballers to uphold national basketball pride.

Even the NBA ballers now are challenged to the point where they only came home with bronze in 2004 and were severely challenged by Spain in 2008 before subduing them for gold.

Team USA women's basketball since the 1996 Atlanta Games has won four consecutive gold medals and six overall (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008). Instead of jibber-jabber about canceling the sport, the rest of the planet is rolling up their sleeves and raising their level of play to compete with us.

The result is that Team USA, even with WNBA players in the lineups are being stiffly challenged now by the Australians and the Russians. The Russians upset us in the 2006 FIBA worlds semis, and the Aussies have been our Olympics finals opponent in three consecutive Olympiads.

So if you non-North Americans want to end Canadian-US dominance of women's ice hockey, lower your level of complaining and raise your level of play.

We had to do that in the States and Canada to be competitive in sports Europeans dominate like Nordic combined, bobsled, speed skating and ice dancing.

Team USA has had to step up their hockey game just to be competitive with the Canadians. It's paid off with consecutive world hockey championships, two silvers and a bronze medal in Olympic competition, but no gold since 1998.

But as we American sports fans painfully know, all good Olympic sports dynasties come to an end, and this current Canadian run of Olympic hockey success will one day as well.

Step up your game, don't end it.

Oh Well-Canada Wins Olympic Gold

Renee is happily drinking her green tea this morning instead of crying in it like she was Monday because the Canadian women did something their male hockey playing counterparts haven't been able to do in these Olympics so far:

Beat Team USA.

They parlayed two early first period goals by Marie-Philip Poulin and the goaltending of Shannon Szabados into a 2-0 win for gold. Szabados stopped 28 shots to help Team Canada win their third straight Olympic gold medal and rack up their 15th straight Olympic win.

While Team USA did walk away with silver medals, it's one of the times in the Olympics when you aren't happy about it. When you lose to your bitter rival, it's even worse.

“Szabados played out of her mind,” Monique Lamoureux said. “It’s never fun to lose, especially in a championship game.”

“When you give your whole life to something and you come up short, as a team, it’s just awful,” four time Olympian Angela Ruggiero said while choking back tears. “It’s a little different than playing on the men’s side. You really give your life to it. You make lots of sacrifices to win the gold medal.”

Well ladies, you played your butts off to be so young. There were 15 Olympic rookies on that squad and you're still the two time world champions.

All Olympic sporting dynasties end sooner or later. The Canadian women will eventually lose an Olympic hockey game. Just get 'em in Sochi in 2014.

Assuming the IOC doesn't end women's Olympic hockey because Canada and the USA are dominating it right now.

It's On Renee-USA Vs Canada Women For Gold

At 6:30 PM EST what me and Renee have been trading barbs across the 49th parallel about for several months will finally happen.

The Clash of the Women's Hockey Superpowers at Canada Hockey Place.

It's the two time defending Olympic gold medalist Team Canada versus the two time reigning world champion and number one ranked Team USA.

This game is also taking place in the shadow of the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice' game and the historic men's win over Canada on Sunday.

Interestingly enough, Mark Johnson, one of the major catalysts of the 4-3 win over the Russians is Team USA's coach.

Team USA has outscored its opponents 40-2 enroute to this Olympic final with 12-1, 13-0 and 6-0 wins over China, Russia and Finland in the preliminary round and a 9-1 semifinal win over Sweden. It avenged a 3-2 upset shootout loss in Torino that denied Team USA a trip to the 2006 Olympic final.

Canada has been just as dominant on its side of the Vancouver bracket. It steamrolled Slovakia 18-0, Switzerland 10-1 and Sweden 13-1 before posting a 5-0 shutout win over Finland in the semifinals.

It may be your house Renee, but we're coming to spoil the party. We want to do unto Canada what was done unto us at Salt Lake in 2002. Deny them the opportunity to win gold on their home soil.

My two time defending world champion girls won't be intimidated either.

"There's nothing better as an athlete – let alone a hockey player – than to play in a building of this magnitude, to have all the fans screaming," said Angela Ruggiero, who is one of two Americans to play in all four Olympic women's hockey tournaments.

"A lot of us were able to see the men win just, if anything, to get a sense of what the atmosphere is going to be like – hostile, fans chanting against you. And that's OK because I think our team thrives off of that."

It's on, Renee. Looking forward to watching my girls win gold, owning your podium and seeing the Stars and Stripes rise high in Canada Hockey Place.

Historic Winter Success For Team USA

The Canadians wanted to 'Own the Podium', but with a few days left to go Team USA is having historic winter Olympic success

Team USA has won 25 medals (seven gold, eight silver, and ten bronze) at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. That total matches the number of medals won at the 2006 Torino 2006 Winter Games. With one more medal, the United States will set a record for the most medals won at an Olympic Winter Games not held on US soil.

There have been historic breakthrough performances that have fueled this medal run. Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win a downhill gold medal. The Nordic combined team has won its first medals ever in 86 years. The men's hockey team is doing better than expected, and snapped a 50 year Olympic losing streak to Canada.

Shani Davis was a repeat medalist in his best speedskating events, picking up gold in the 1000m and silver in the 1500m just as he did in Torino.

There are a few days of action left in the Games, and if you want to keep track of it you can check out the latest Team USA news at this link.



Go Team USA!

30th Anniversary of The 'Miracle On Ice'

Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Al Michaels, February 1980


It's fitting that we are in the midst of a Winter Olympic Games being held on the North American continent as the 30th anniversary of Team USA's improbable February 22, 1980 Olympic hockey victory 4-3 upset victory over the Soviet hockey team is being celebrated.

I was a few months from graduating from high school when I arrived home from tennis practice and was informed by my mother that the United States had beaten the Big Bad USSR in Olympic hockey.

To grasp the magnitude of that win, as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) picked the Miracle on Ice as the number-one international hockey story of the century.

Bear in mind that this was a semifinal medal round game. Team USA still had to win the game against Finland to secure the gold medal.

This was also the same USSR team that embarrassed Team USA in a February 9 game at Madison Square Garden 10-3.

But what a difference two weeks makes.



It's 30 years later and I still get goosebumps watching that game.

5-3 USA! USA! USA!

The last time the United States beat Team Canada in Olympic hockey, my parents were a few months shy of graduating from high school.

Since that 2-1 February 25, 1960 win in Squaw Valley, CA Team USA has gone 0-5-1 in Olympic competition against Canada.

Until tonight.

Fittingly wearing replica 1960 uniforms and playing a day before the 30th anniversary of the 1980 'Miracle on Ice', Team USA followed the script of the 1960 and 1980 teams in riding the hot goaltending of Ryan Miller and some timely shots to a stunning 5-3 upset of Team Canada in front of a raucous crowd in Vancouver.

Ryan Miller did his best Jack McCartan and Jim Craig impression by stopping 45 shots in upsetting the heavily favored Canadians. It was the first time in 50 years that the United States men have beaten Canada in hockey and helped them close the preliminary phase of Olympic play with an unblemished record in Group A.

Team USA not only clinched the top spot on Group A, but also gained a bye into the quarterfinal round.

While Team Canada isn't out of the medals, their road to win gold became that much tougher. They not only have to play an extra game, they will have to win four consecutive games to do so.

The 1960 'Forgotten Miracle' team not only went unbeaten to gold at Squaw Valley, but went through Canada, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia in consecutive games to do it. The 1980 'Miracle on Ice' squad, well you know the story.

Can this 2010 United States men's team join those legendary Olympic hockey teams and come back with a gold medal?

They are only three tantalizing games away from doing just that.

Olympic Hockey Border War-Men's Division

We share a long border, the English language and a continent. But for the next two hours, they are The Maple Leaf Flag Waving Enemy.

It's the Olympic hockey showdown at the OK Corral, men's division. It's Team USA versus our Canadian neighbors,

It's Canada's game and national sporting passion. Team USA are no hockey slouches and are playing the day before the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice'.

The Canadians won Olympic gold at the 1952 Oslo Games and to our chagrin the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Team USA won on home soil at Squaw Valley in 1960 and Lake Placid in 1980. We're also the only nation in Winter Olympic history to have won Olympic hockey gold as the host nation and we've done it twice.

Fittingly, there are high stakes in this final men's preliminary round game as well. Winner wins Group A and gets a bye into the quarterfinals. Loser plays an extra game to get to the medal round.

'Feel the Thunder' my azz. Time for some Olympic payback.

In 2002 they beat us in the gold medal game on US soil. Time to bring some pain to Canadian dreams of winning gold on their home soil.

USA! USA! USA!

Six Is The Magic Number For Team USA Olympic Hockey

Both the Team USA men and women stayed perfect in Olympic today by scoring six goals in their respective pool play hockey games.

The Team USA women scored four first period goals enroute to a 6-0 shutout win Thursday over Finland at the UBC Thunderbird Arena. It helped Team USA clinch the top spot in Group B and put them in the medal round.

They will face Sweden on Monday at Canada Hockey Place with a chance to gain redemption. The Swedish team shocked the women's hockey world in 2006 by derailing the expected gold medal hockey showdown between the USA and Canada by upsetting Team USA 3-2 in a shootout.

It's obvious from the 13-1 shellacking Team Canada put on them Wednesday that this is a far different Swedish team than the Torino bronze medalists.

But anything can happen when you play the games, and it's still too early to count gold medals before they're awarded.

Over at Canada Hockey Place, the Team USA men also scored six goals in their 6-1 Group A victory over Norway.

Their next game promises to be much tougher since it will be a Sunday showdown against Team Canada that will decide who wins Group A. The Canadians warmed up for the showdown by taking a hard-fought 3-2 shootout win against Switzerland.

We'll see if both the men's and women's teams will have golden results.

Winter Olympics: Why Team USA Is Nearly White As Snow

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment

With the Vancouver Games starting today and it also being Black History month, I have pondered why we haven’t had as many excellent African-American winter Olympians as we consistently produce for the Summer Games. The Olympics, after all, mean a lot to me.

Whether they take place in the summer or winter, I’m parked in front of the television during that fortnight of competition. I get excited when I see the torch lighting ceremony happen in Greece and eagerly count the days down to the opening ceremonies in the host nation. I get a little emotional when the closing ceremonies occur and see the flame extinguished until the next Olympiad.

There are many reasons why I love the Olympics. For that two to three week period the Games are occurring we are literally one planet cheering the athletes no matter what nation they are from.

It’s unpredictable and controversial at times. Just ask the Russians and Americans about the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ or the 1972 USA-USSR basketball gold medal game in Munich. The Canadians, meanwhile, are still angry about Jamie Sale and David Pelletier being robbed of an 2002 pairs figure skating gold medal by shady judging.

You never know who the star athlete of that particular Games may be, which is why we have all been delighted by Michael Phelps in 2008, Nadia Comaneci in 1984, and Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.

The games are always a perfect blend of pageantry, history, high level sporting achievement, heartbreaking defeats, upsets, victory and high stakes drama all played out on an international athletic stage.

African-Americans have a long and distinguished history in Summer Games competition dating back to the 1904 St. Louis Games. George Poage not only was the first African-American competitor, he took two bronze medals in the 200m the 400m hurdles.

From Jesse Owens to Flo Jo to the Dream Team, it’s a long and proud history of sterling athletic achievement. But when it comes to the Winter Games, we’ve been invisible.

The Winter Olympics were first held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. It wasn’t until the 1980 Lake Placid Games that Willie Davenport and Jeff Gadley became the first African Americans ever to qualify for a US winter Olympic team. Davenport and Gadley were members of the USA 4 man bobsled team that finished 12th.

Davenport stated in a February 21, 1980 JET magazine interview,

“There is myth in this country that Blacks can’t make the American winter Olympic team. Jeff and I proved this to be wrong and that you don’t have to be rich and white to make it.”

The interesting footnote to this piece of sporting Black history is that Davenport was the 1968 gold medalist and 1972 bronze medalist in the 110m hurdles. He was also a five time Summer Olympian dating back to the 1964 Tokyo Games.

The first African-American Winter Games medalist was Dr. Debi Thomas, who won a bronze medal in the 1988 figure skating competition in Calgary. The first African-American winter gold medalist was Vonetta Flowers, who won it while competing in the 2 woman bobsled with Jill Bakken during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Four years later, in Torino, speedskater Shani Davis became the first African-American male ever to win a winter Olympic gold medal and the first to win an individual event Winter Olympic gold medal when he won the 1000m.

So why the imbalance of African-Americans in Winter and Summer Games participation?

There are several things factoring into the 84 year gap between the first medals awarded to African-American participants in the summer and winter Games.

One of the first is exposure. Many of the winter sports contested in the Olympics are dominated by Europeans and don’t get the type of television coverage in the States as they get overseas. If it’s not covered on TV in the States, that particular sport is virtually invisible to the casual US sports fan.

As Tiger Woods, Peter Westbrook and the Williams sisters have proven, if you see yourself represented on the screen in a non-traditional sport, kids will gravitate to it. There’s a wave of African American kids participating in golf, fencing and tennis as a result of the trailblazing efforts of those athletes. Since Shani Davis’ 2006 gold medal winning appearance in Torino, speedskating has witnessed an uptick in participation by African American kids wanting to be like Shani.

Contrary to Willie Davenport’s 1980 statement, money matters in making a winter Olympics team. Most winter sports require expensive outlays for equipment, training, and coaching. They also require access to facilities that are hundreds or thousands of miles from the urban areas where most African-Americans live.

Read the rest here.

You Don't Have The Right To Deny Me My Rights

No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.

Even though Thomas Jefferson didn't practice what he preached in his own life as a slaveholder, he was right on target as usual concerning this subject.

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution contains many basic human rights we hold dear as American citizens. But nowhere in it does it say or even imply that the majority has the right to take away the civil rights of a minority group it despises.

But then again most of the peeps with that attitude never read the Constitution.

I fail to understand why some people arrogantly think that they should have a say in who does or doesn't get civil rights coverage, much less think they should vote on it.

Methinks they would have a very different opinion about the subject if it were their civil rights on the electoral chopping block.

One of the things I am really sick of is the use of referenda by conservatives to take away the civil rights of people they hate on. It's also more odious when they do so to drive their turnout to the polls in national election cycles.

This practice causes resentments to build up in the minority group targeted by that nefarious action, is counterproductive to building a unified and strong nation and should be banned.

No, you don't have the right to deny me my rights. Mine nor anyone's civil rights should be decided by the tyranny of the majority.

Shani's Drive For Five Is Down To Four

Was disappointed to learn that Shani Davis is not going to attempt to match Eric Heiden's feat of winning five Olympic gold medals in speedskating in a single Olympic games.

Davis decided to drop out of the 10,000 meters before the January 17 deadline to submit final entries to the International Skating Federation. His 10,000m slot will be filled by Jonathan Kuck.

Guy Thibault, the high-performance director at U.S. Speedskating stated "I'm sure Shani knew already that doing all five was a big thing. That was a big task to do,'' "He didn't want to close any doors, so he could see how things were going in training, before he decided he needs to cut one.

"I want Shani to be the best at what he does,'' Thibault said. "I would rather him focus on the distances he can do something in, instead of getting silver and skating everything.

Even though he's no longer competing in the 10,000m, he's still going to be a busy man in Vancouver. As the reining world champion in the 1000 and 1500 meters he's a favorite to win gold in the 1000 and 1500 and is considered an outside medal contender in the 500 and 5000.

And Shani's busy week in Vancouver starts Saturday with the 5000m.

Trans Woman Wins IRS Suit To Deduct Surgery Costs

A 57 year old trans woman battling the IRS over a tax deduction for the costs of her sex realignment surgery says she feels like she won a victory for all transgender people.

Rhiannon O'Donnabhain (oh-DON'-oh-vin) with the help of GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders) sued the Internal Revenue Service in 2007 after the agency rejected a $5,000 deduction for about $25,000 in medical expenses associated with her surgery, asserting it was a cosmetic procedure and not medically necessary.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that O'Donnabhain should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder, including sex-reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy on an 11-5 vote.

"The tax court has spoken for my community and has supported my community by saying that this is a proper medical deduction, much the same as an appendectomy or open heart surgery," O'Donnabhain said in an interview Wednesday.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge David Gustafson said he believes sex reassignment surgery falls within the "cosmetic surgery" category of the tax code and the expense is therefore not deductible.

Even if such surgery "is medically indicated ... it is an otherwise cosmetic procedure that does not 'treat' the mental disease," Gustafson wrote.

GLAD said the decision could potentially affect thousands of people a year in the United States who undergo similar operations.

"It was a proper medical deduction, and it certainly is not cosmetic surgery as the IRS contended," she said.

IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge declined to comment on the ruling.

Lambda Legal called the ruling "a case of the federal government catching up with medical standards."

"I think it's an important decision that could help educate and bring along transgender rights in other areas because it ratifies what the medical community has said clearly for years, which is for people with gender identity disorder, this type of surgery is frequently a medical necessity for their lives and for their health and for their well-being," said Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director at Lambda Legal.