Correction: NJ will. "In a decision likely to stoke the contentious election-year debate over same-sex marriage, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that state lawmakers must provide the rights and benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples." -CNN news article

See also:
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/supreme/a-68-05.pdf
http://community.livejournal.com/conservatism/2522782.html (real interesting debate there!)

I wish politicians decided to use their time on more important things than trying to ban flag burning. That seems like a terribly annoying law that doesn't accomplish much (except saving American pride- not like there isn't enough of that) and would probably be extremly difficult to enforce. Besides, theoretically, when a flag is at the end of its "life," it's burned. Yet, if a protestor wants to somehow speak out against the government by burning a flag, it'd be illegal. Seriously- there are more important things out there. This is one reason why I don't get into politics very much. A lot of it's just annoying, and meaningless.

I was watching the news the other night and they had a story about how some malls are limiting the hours that teenagers can spend at the mall without parental supervision. I think the standard is that after 5 for some of these malls, everyone under 18 must have a parent with them. So... what's the motivation? It's likely due to shoplifters and other troubles like that. It's also thought to actually increase profit... I guess because parents (with more money) are coming with their kids.

ABC News Story.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I guess on one hand, it does actually encourage parents to *gasp* spend time with their kids. On the other, for those kids who don't have parents who would take them to the mall, what do they do after 5? I think it's potentially dangerous to get rid of another option teens have for doing something. Yes, there can be trouble with a group of teens- including shoplifting- but potentially, there are worse things they could get themselves involved in (gangs, anyone?) if they don't have anywhere else to go.

http://www.daily-news.ro/article_detail.php?idarticle=27573 - "Iran seeks Russia, China support"

I won't post the article here, but basically Iran is turning to Russia, China, and several other Asian nations for support against the United States, even claiming that they could form a powerful bloc (due to large numbers of energy producers/consumers in the region).

I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, the U.S. doesn't have tremendously great ties with either Russia or China. I mean, relations have gotten better over the years... and we've learned to cooperate, but I think that there will be a general distrust between Russia and China, and the U.S. (or between all three- I don't think the Russians and Chinese are the most trusting towards each other... but they seem to have that dislike of the U.S. in common). Fun times.

It's actually amazing, but I think I agree with Bush about the ports. I think it's basically discrimination/racial profiling to say that an Arab company can't manage the ports, but a British firm can. Ideally, an American firm should own it- I don't quesiton that... I mean, it'd just make sense for Americans to be in charge of our ports. That isn't the case. Somewhere along the line, management was leased out to foreigners. Does it matter if it's British or Arab? Eh. Arguably, we're still going to have control of security of the ports (even though security is really awful amongst seaports... hmm... maybe the Colbert Report is right. How much worse could security get?). It's also interesting to note that Bush and former President Carter are in agreement. Bizarre.

"It is crazy, perhaps, but that doesn't mean it isn't true." -President Roslin, Battlestar Galactica

( Conspiracies101 )

This will be my last post of the day. Honest. I know three posts in a day is a pain.

Military/Grad school
It seems like the government would rather have me in the military than in grad school. Spending for the war/conflict in Iraq (and Afghanistan) is over $400 billion (as I heard on ABC news tonight)... and will keep going up. Where does the government get this money from? Oh yeah. Education. Particularly the whole student loans thing... which is something I'll probably need to pay for grad school (since I'm kind of an unemployed bum... err... full-time student. *cough*).

Diet
My mom got mad at me tonight after I made it clear I probably won't eat any of the three boxes of ice cream bars she bought at the grocery store (each a different flavor). Why won't I eat them? Each bar contains 70% of the daily value of saturated fat (using the 2,000 cal/day diet). That's a very high number. I'm trying to ween myself off of "junk food," but it's not easy while living at home- with my mom. She likes desserts. We almost always have some kind of dessert in the house- and not healthy alternative desserts, either. The junk food type. This is one reason I'm looking forward to being out on my own. I'll have much more control of my diet. I'll be able to control what food is in the house at any given point in time.

WORLD NEWS:
CLINTON DEPLOYS VOWELS TO BOSNIA

( Story )

Yeah, I know it's old... but amusing. (it originally was printed in The Onion).

I heard this on the radio this morning. Interesting.

At the University of Kansas, one person asked President Bush, “You’re a rancher. A lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers. I was just wanting to get your opinion on ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ if you’ve seen it?”

Bush's response:
"I haven't seen it. I'd be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie. I've heard about it. I hope you go -- (laughter) -- you know -- (laughter) -- I hope you go back to the ranch and the farm, is what I was about to say. I haven't seen it."


Sources:
http://kstatecollegian.com/article.php?a=8529

http://www.dummocrats.com/links/view_comments.php?thread_id=54285

On the Colber[t] Repor[t] last night, he criticized the Associated Press because the author Heather Clark wrote an article about how "truthiness" became word of the year by The American Dialect Society without crediting Stephen Colbert for the use/invention of the word. So is it just in humor, or is he actually trying to get a correction by this author? This article has an interesting take on it.

Three groups are suing the US government to put polar bears (Ursus martimus) on the endangered species list because of the habitat loss from melting ice packs in the Arctic Ocean.

Story at BiologicalDiversity.org

"Three Mexican squirrels entered the United States illegally, tucked in the coat pockets of a border crosser, Customs and Border Protection officials said." -Sun-News article

Apparently, a 19 year old wanted to keep a wild squirrel as a pet because he heard some people in China did that and liked the idea. The type of squirrel he wanted as a pet does not live naturally in California at this time, so he had to smuggle them across the border. There was concern of the environmental dammage having non-native squirrels to the area. The squirrels are being held in a quarintine facility until it is found they are free of disease. The person attempting to smuggle the squirrels will be fined $350.

(as seen on the Colbert Report)

Forbes recently ranked the 15 wealthiest fictional characters. Santa is ranked one (with an estimated net worth of ∞ [infinite]). Lex Luther is ranked 4. Charles Montgomery Burns, 5. Bruce Wayne, 8. Thurston Howell III (aka, "the millionaire"), 9.

Forbes Fictional 15.

A $225 million spacesport will be built in southern New Mexico... paid for by various government monies. Virgin Galactic, as part of a deal with the state of New Mexico, will make its mission control and world headquarters here in New Mexico. First flights from the spaceport are scheduled for 2008 or 2009. Until the Las Cruces/southern New Mexico spaceport is finished, they will use the Mojave Airport and Spaceport in California.

Yeehaw! Now if only I had a few extra hundred thousand dollars to go into space. I wouldn't even have to leave town.

Sources:
-Las Cruces Sun-News article
-Virgin Galactic article
-Space.com article
-NYNews Day article
-WallStreet Journal article

No, I don't really believe that. Bill O'Reilly does, however. Why San Francisco? San Francisco has made it clear how city officials feel about the ban on gays in the military (with the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy [The long title includes don't pursue, don't harass in order to avoid "witch hunts" for gay individuals or discrimination or other cases of harassment based on a person's sexual orientation).

The city of San Francisco passed a bill that encourages schools not to let military recruiters on campus. The city also did not want the USS Iowa to be docked as a museum in San Francisco.

Here's O'Reilly's words:

Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead."

And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.

If you want to read more responses by him, he responds.

Operation Falafel- boycott O'Reilly and any company who supports him.

Another article

This is just a summary of news in the world and somewhat of what's happening in my life... but mostly world/local news:

This year, public school teachers having sex with students seems to be an "in" thing. So far, at Las Cruces High School, it's happened 3 times. There have been 2 other cases in other schools in the county. Article

Riots continue in France. It's believed these riots are caused by ratial tensions of minority groups in the country (many Muslims/north Africans) in response to the French government not dealing with "ethnic ghettos" (Source). There's concern there will be more riots throughout Europe, particularly in Italy and Germany. The rioters apparently like burning cars a lot, as they've burned more than 1,400.Timeline. I was reading an article the other day which suggested that the conservatives in the US are really "enjoying"- as it allows them to boast about how the "left-leaning" French government doesn't have everything under control. I can't remember where I read that, but I found something describing the same things here.

Moving away from news news and into what's-going-on-in-my-life news, I'm developing arthritis- at least in the early stages, according to my mom. I don't doubt that. This morning, I was putting a bowl into the dishwasher, and my wrist started hurting a bit... not terrible, but there was a bit of pain for a few seconds. There are other times where this happens.

What else is going on in my life? I've been doing school stuff, planning next semester, thinking about where I'm applying for grad school... but nothing too exciting. There's no real development in my lovelife, either. I don't expect that to change for many years, actually. Good thing there are French riots to talk about, otherwise this journal might get real boring and lacking content.

Irene Garrett left the Amish community by way of excommunication. Because of this status, other Amish folk don't really want to do anything with her--- including have her as a customer of a grocery store. The owner/s refused service to her. Apparently, they did so in an embarassing fashion. There's now a case pending to determine if it's discrimination or religious freedom. Discrimination because Irene Garrett was refused service (at a grocery/thrift store)... but the Amish have very strict rules about not dealing with those who have been excommunicated.

Articles
Auburn Pub
AP Wire at Kentucky.com

(crossposted- alternaland and aberwak)

This is about the funniest (and almost the most sad- by way of stupidity) "Sound off!" I've read in the paper. ("Sound off!" is an anonymous column to voice an opinion about something).

Your headline regarding the tax rebate should read, "Your money is on the way to someone else." This rebate does nothing but encourage people to stay in the low income bracket and have more kids. That's the last thing New Mexico needs.

[sarcasm]
Oh, yes. A few extra hundred dollars from the government is going to get people to want to stay poor. Because you get that extra hundred dollars, why not have a few more kids, too? I mean, the government's paying! [/sarcasm]