http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf I am going to have to read this later. I started reading the majority opinion and so far it is very eloquent. It is written for the people as much as it is written for lawyers.
Looking at the actual case before the court on DOMA, two women, legally married, one dies after a 40+ year relationship and the surviving spouse is legally a "stranger" and got socked with a $300K+ tax bill because she is a woman. Had she been a male spouse there would have been zero liability. Pretty hard to justify that on any rational or Constitutional grounds. Really, the only defense is that same sex people and their relationships are inherently inferior. And it's hard to justify THAT on rational or Constitutional grounds. Still waiting on Prop H8.
The court voted 5-4 that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the Prop 8 case. That left in place a San Francisco federal district court ruling that overturned the law. A GREAT DAY FOR CIVIL RIGHTS!
Those dissenters had a hard time deciding between upholding an estate tax and striking down gay marriage.
I had mentioned before that I thought Kennedy would vote to overturn the law - he taught at my law school and the Dean who recruited him, who was his best friend, was a closeted gay man. (Common knowledge on campus and all). I just couldn't see Kennedy, a kind and decent man, with that personal knowledge, upholding DOMA. A great day for civil rights, after a bad one yesterday.
Do you see in the lower right the "YouTUBE" logo? Right click that and "copyURL" if you have that option on your browser. Or go to the original youTUBE site and copy it that way. Then in here you click the film icon, which is the second farthest on the right.
No tube logo but in go advanced I do see insert video. Can I then just copy/paste the video? Sorry to be so dense.
example: [video=youtube;YersIyzsOpc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YersIyzsOpc#at=98[/video]
Of course I picked that video for this thread! It's totally relevant. And still the best 18 second video ever.
Oh, I see, el pres is on my ignore. Meanwhile, a toast to those who could not be with us today: Our pioneers, Del Martin, Leonard Matlovich, Sally Ride, Randy Shilts, Harvey Milk Our martyrs, from the dozens burned alive when a gay nightclub was torched during a pride celebration in New Orleans in 1973 to Mark Carson, murdered in Greenwich Village last month, and all those subjected to castration, corrective rape, genital shocks, pray away the gay and other torture to cure them of being themselves My late cousin Mike And my late friends Calvan, Lionel, Craig, Maurice, Dave and above all my dearly loved Stan, so much more than statistics in an epidemic And anyone I neglected to mention Here's to your past, our present and future.
[video=youtube;4s1iQODC5OI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4s1iQODC5OI[/video]
