TresSugar

Tax Season Reminds Gay Couples That They Lack Rights

LibertySugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:00:45 -0800

Married same-sex couples in Massachusetts live in a state that recognizes their unions. But in the eyes of the US government, they're still bachelors, or bachelorettes.

Mary Ritchie and her spouse Kathleen Bush have been legally married for five years. They have two children and Mary is a state police trooper. But there's one thing that makes this typical family different: when they file tax returns this year, they cannot check "married filing jointly." Mary and Kathleen say this detail has cost them almost $15,000 in taxes.

Now Mary and Kathleen are joining a dozen other couples to sue the federal government, challenging part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The part in question prevents the federal government from awarding Social Security and other benefits to same-sex couples, regardless of their marriage status in home states.

The couples aren't just arguing fairness. They say DOMA violates the state's right to regulate marriage.

Do you think they should win?

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Marijuana Majority? State and Local Laws Ease Access

CitizenSugar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:30:00 -0800

The number of annual marijuana arrests have been setting all-time records lately. Sales and trafficking aside, there are more possession charges nationally than violent crimes combined. Maybe there are a lot more smokers than violent people, or it could be prosecuted disproportionately.

The latter explanation is the logic behind several state and local decisions to ease restrictions. On Tuesday, Michigan joined 12 other states that have legalized medical marijuana. Licensed dispensaries are not part of the law, so Michiganders will have to get themselves a good dealer.

Over in Massachusetts, marijuana is still illegal. But thanks to voters, possession of up to one ounce is no longer punishable by jail time. Instead, marijuana possession will be punishable with a citation, $100 fine, and confiscation of the drug - almost like getting a speeding ticket minus the license points! In both Massachusetts and Michigan, voters rejected widespread campaigns that argued easing marijuana laws would increase adolescent drug abuse, permit large-scale trafficking, endanger workplace safety, and sharply increase traffic fatalities.

To find out what local laws passed, read more.

Three promarijuana laws at local levels prevailed. Fayetteville, AR, voted to make minor offenses a low priority and Hawaii County decided to make marijuana its lowest priority. Berkeley, CA, where medical marijuana is already legal, put no limit on the amount a patient or dispensary can possess.

So that’s today in soft-core drugs! Do you think increasing access to marijuana for people who need it outweighs potential abuse of the laws? Are voters right to demand that marijuana possession go to the bottom of law enforcement priorities?

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Pregnancy-Pact City to Vote on Contraception Pact

LibertySugar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:17 -0700

The school board in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the city of pregnancy-pact fame, is set to vote on a plan to distribute contraceptives to students. If passed, the schools and the students could enter a secret-contraception pact without parents knowing - in other words the schools would distribute condoms and such to students without parental consent.

Despite well-publicized rumors that 17 high school girls in the city decided to have children and raise them together, the mayor favors distributing contraceptives only with parental consent.

Most of you think that states should not require a teen to notify her parents before she obtains an abortion. Well, what about preventing pregnancy altogether - should public high schools distribute contraceptives without parents knowing?

Punishment vs. Human Rights - Are Prisons Going Soft?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:00:08 -0700

Though I don't know of many prisons guarded by the likes of the two pictured below, with the changes happening to crime and punishment in the US, it might not be long. With one out of every 100 Americans behind bars, and prisons turning criminals out to meet their budgets, the debate between what's a human right, and what liberties need be taken away as punishment is a tricky one. Several states have just come to some conclusions - on the side of rights.

In New York's juvenile detention centers, transgender youth are now allowed to wear whatever gendered-uniform they associate with and be called by whatever name they request, as well as receive access to special housing under a new anti-discrimination policy. The enhanced rights are drawing praise from advocacy groups. A spokesman for Governor Paterson said the policy reflects the state's intent to be "tolerant, responsive and respectful" of gender identity and gender expression issues.

Hawaii and California join New York among the small list of states that have taken steps to afford specific civil rights protection to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth in juvenile detention. This comes after a 2001 report found that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth routinely experienced discrimination, harassment and violence in New York's juvenile justice system.

Got Milk? To find out what happens if you're a vegan behind bars, read more.

In Massachusetts a federal judge found that the state prison system violated one prisoner's civil rights by denying him a vegan diet. Though the prison system had offered the man a standard vegetarian diet, he has spent nearly a decade seeking a ruling to receive a vegan diet that excludes all animal products, including eggs and milk products.

His reasoning to require the diet? He's a Buddhist (now) and had a religion specialist testify "explain[ing] why it was wrong to consume food derived from animals and explain[ing] the concept of karma and suffering." Why is the man in prison? He beat his 5-week-old son to death by throwing him onto a hardwood floor, repeatedly stomping on and kicking him, before turning his violence on the his child's mother. He may need more than soy milk to atone for that karmic digression.

Rights are returning after prison in Florida, where Governor Crist announced this week that more than 115,000 felons are to regain their voting rights. The expansion of prison rights might come as a comfort to two California high school students who are facing 69 felony counts for hacking into their school's computer system to change their grades. One of the hackers could face 38 years behind bars. An extra-credit report or two might have been a better solution?

What responsibility do prisons have to cater to human rights? Where do rights stop and punishment begin?

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Front Page: Pregnancy Pact Investigated, Israel Shows Iran Attack, 22,000 Protest in Thailand

CitizenSugar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:00:04 -0700

Pregnancy Pact Investigated: Officials in Massachusetts are investigating why 17 teenage girls from the same high school have become pregnant, a number four times higher than the year before. Reports claim the girls, all under the age of 16, entered into a pact to have their babies together. No comment has been forthcoming from the girls or their families. Officials are investigating the ages of the fathers, as some are believed to be in their twenties - facing the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors. Birth rates for girls aged 15 to 17 rose by 3 percent in 2006, the first increase in the rate since 1991.

Israel Shows Iran Attack: Israel has performed what appears to be a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. More than 100 Israeli fighter jets conducted manuvers over the Mediterranean and Greece this month. Though Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, Israel sees Iran's development of the technology a threatening problem. The UN has demanded that Iran stop the enrichment of uranium, and approved a third round of sanctions against Iran over the issue in March 2008. A Pentagon official says of Israel's show of force, "they wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know."
22,000 Protest in Thailand: Several thousand protesters broke through a tight police seal around Thailand's seat of government today, planning to occupy the compound until the prime minister resigns. The protesters claim that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government is just a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup. Though he's facing criminal charges for corruption, Thaksin remains a powerful figure in Thailand. Despite the huge protest, there were no immediate plans to declare a state of national emergency or martial law. Police estimated that about 22,000 people were present for the protest.

Is the Media Closing the Door on Senator Kennedy's Recovery?

LibertySugar — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:27 -0700

Ever since the sad news of Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor diagnosis broke, I've been seeing a barrage of news coverage that seems pretty postmortem. Article topics include:

The coverage makes me think media companies are rolling out their prefabricated eulogies a little too soon. In fact, if someone wasn't paying close attention, they might assume the Senator already died!

Are these reports an honor to Senator Kennedy, or disrespectful? Since he did just receive a very serious diagnosis, should the country take the opportunity to celebrate all of his achievements while he is still alive? Should the media adopt a more hopeful and positive outlook in order to support Kennedy's efforts to battle the tumor?

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Ted Kennedy Diagnosed With Malignant Brain Tumor

CitizenSugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:30:57 -0700

Doctors for the Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy say tests conducted after he suffered a seizure this weekend show a malignant tumor in his left parietal lobe. His treatment has not been determined yet, but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston. His wife and children have made no public statements, though the Senator is reported to be in good spirits and is resting comfortably.

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Would a Female Politician Get Away With This?

TresSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

On Saturday, Republican State Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the US Senate, desiring to fill in the spot left open by Senator Edward Kennedy's passing. He is branding himself as a fiscal conservative and Washington outsider.

But as political blog Wonkette uncovered in 2007, Senator Brown had a nude centerfold spread in a 1982 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine when he was 22. In law school at Boston College when he bared all, Brown said he'd take his "America's Sexiest Man" prize money - a whopping $1,000 - and put it toward tuition.

Not many people are in an uproar around this, but I doubt if a female politician had posed nude when she was in her early twenties that she'd make it past the day she announced her candidacy. A Newsweek blogger thinks no one cares about Brown's past "because he's a dude." I guess the anti-gay marriage candidate should feel lucky these pics weren't in Playgirl!

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Flashback: What If You Had to Ask Permission to Get Married?

TresSugar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

Sometimes empathy is the most powerful way of moving civil rights forward, which is why this PSA from 2005 is so effective. It depicts what it must feel like for gay people who are barred from legally marrying by showing a man walking from house to house asking strangers if can have his girlfriend's hand in marriage. Wow. (As of today, five states - New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa - have made gay marriage legal.)

Could You Do Your Partner's Job?

TresSugar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Despite the passing of the "lion of the Senate," the people of Massachusetts might soon have another Senator Kennedy at their service. Democratic leaders like Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Chris Dodd think that Vicki Kennedy would be an appropriate replacement for her late husband Ted. Orrin said:

"She is a very brilliant lawyer. She's a very solid individual. She certainly made a difference in Ted's life, let me tell you. And I have nothing but respect for her."

It would be up to the voters ultimately to decide if Vicki has what it takes to serve them, but her legal training and experience witnessing her husband's career in the Senate might make her qualified to replace him temporarily.

Of course not everyone could just start doing their partner's job on the spot. An English teacher probably couldn't go to work as a computer engineer right away without some serious training. Could you do your partner's job if you had to? Feel free to apply the question to past relationships, too!