It’ll almost certainly get on the ballot, but they’re having to work much, much harder to get it there than they thought they would.

I have no problem with paid signature gatherers per se. What I have a problem with are:
1) campaigns like NOM-PMW pretending to represent a groundswell of voter sentiment when what they really represent are out-of-state money, and
2) signature gatherers who lie to voters to trick them into signing their petition. Both paid and volunteer signature gatherers may do this, but obviously paid gatherers have the greatest incentive because they get paid by the signature and sometimes don’t care how unethical they have to be to get it.

They have definitely already hired signature gatherers, according to eyewitness reports.

Aren’t permits required to sell food? And they should be expected to report their income to the IRS.

For me, the best part of Dobson’s article was this statement, where he said that heterosexist marriage has existed for 2,000 years longer than the Earth itself (by Bible leteralits’s standards)!

Traditional marriage has been the cultural norm on every continent on earth for 8,000 years, even in Greece and Rome.

I’ve always found it amusing that Robertson thinks that God would prefer to punish straights rather than going right to the source and punishing gays directly. Talk about spin!

I think if I lived in NC I might feel bitter about the timing of this. But if Obama had made this announcement yesterday, would it have made a difference? My guess (but you’re there, so tell me if I’m wrong) is that to have an impact on the NC vote, this announcement would have had to have been made long enough ago — weeks or months maybe — for anti-gays to have time to digest it and weigh it against their religious homophobia.

Since marriage equality is the biggest bugbear for the anti-gays, I see nothing that should stand in the way any longer of his signing employment protections executive orders.

I think they’ll get enough signatures, but if they don’t my guess is that they’ll trump up allegations of “thuggery” and “intimidation” etc by gays against “traditional marriage” supporters/churches as an attempt to transfer blame and negative attention onto gays. After all, they still have the lawsuit Doe v. Reed happening in WA as well as similar lawsuits in other states. Never mind that judge after judge has ruled that they have no credible evidence. They’ll just put the claim out there and hope that Fox News will carry their water for them and that their anti-gay supporters won’t question what they say.

Mitt better be careful, because part of the TheoCon purification ritual involves the expulsion of Mormons from seats of power.

No. There are trans people working for the Obama Administration and in other federal jobs. What this means is that it’ll be hard to fire them or refuse to hire others on basis of their gender identity alone.

If it didn’t play in Peoria…

I’m no fan of his, but I think your wrong. If anyone pulled a boneheaded move like that, the others would come out of there with their head on a platter.

It’s not so different than people associating Michele Bachmann or Rick Santorum or Pat Robertson with Christianity. The people who make the most noise are seen as fair representatives of their tribe by others, even if it isn’t true.

sixgill, as an atheist I have to say that I cringe when I read comments like yours because I like atheism to be associated with reason, not stereotyping and ignorance. A phrase like “organizations that oppose the teaching of basic modern knowledge out of fear” has no place in a reasoned, respectful discussion or, frankly, on this blog.

Congratulations, Autumn!

You are an inspiration to me, an L, so I can only imagine what you mean to the T community.

I think a national Transgender Day of Empowerment is a excellent idea. As you say, it is a necessary and well-deserved balance to TDOR.

You may be right about conservative religious groups getting more so through purging of the less-conservative among them.

Regarding Orthodox Judaism, it’s true that that is the most rigid movement. There have been some small glimmerings of hope though. For example, according to Dana Beyer, Orthodox communities can be surprisingly accepting of transsexualism. ANd though the Orthodox aren’t gay-friendly, there have been some interesting breakthroughs like Rabbi Steven Burgh’s op-ed a few years ago in response to bullying, Orthodox Jews coming out, Orthodox rabbis asking for acceptance of gays and lesbians, and just this year the Jewish Press printing an op-ed by a gay man, Chaim Levin. These all probably seem like drops in the bucket, but it reflect a growing recognition even among the orthodox that maybe LGBT people should be treated like human beings. It’s a start.

I’m also concerned about the teeth whitening fetish here in the USA. It disturbs me that the first thing the dental hygenist does after cleaning my teeth is try to sell me their whitening scheme, as if there is something unhealthy about my natural tooth color. Excuse me, but I go to the dentist to keep my teeth healthy, not introduce unnecessary chemicals to my body.

On the toothpaste isle, a good 50% of the options have whitening stuff mixed in. There is an obsession with perfection in appearance, to the point that even teeth that are the color of teeht is seen as a defect.

Check out the pro-brown astroturfer. The identical IP addresses are kinda obvious. Oops!

MARIA SANCHEZ [173.162.235.46] [ 3:55 PM ]

Warren is out of touch with everybody except here elitist buddies at Harvard. Vote Brown 2012!!

STEVEN MILLER [173.162.235.46] [ 3:34 PM ]

Brown is the second most bipartisan Senator in Washington, he has only voted with his party 54% of the time. Whatever your personal politics you have to respect someone who is more committed to there personal principles then the goals of their national party.

JEN SMITH [173.162.235.46] [ 3:19 PM ]

Scott Brown 2012!!!

It is confusing. Before its status was revoked by the IRS, the Foundation was a 501(c)3. Contributions are tax-deductible when made to a 501(c)3 but not to a 501(c)4. However, both are considered charities.

alan1tx, “Faith and Freedom” is a group of related organizations (Faith and Freedom Network, Faith and Freedom Foundation, and Faith and Freedom PAC) all run by Gary Randall. The concern isn’t with Faith and Freedom Network, which is indeed a 501(c)4, but with Faith and Freedom Foundation.