Crushing Krisis

The Newest Oldest Blog In New Zealand

Archives for March 2004

by

Also via Jillmatrix: A new Pennsylvania law on adoption that carried amendments that would have eliminated domestic partner benefits for state employees was stripped of the amendments shortly before the bill was passed on to the Senate by the PA House of Representatives earlier today.

The amendments, sponsored by State Rep Jerry Birmelin (Wayne), were introduced under the guise of shoring up the state’s defense against the nation’s current rash of gay civil unions. Brief background article here. This article does a good job of explaining what the intent of the actual bill is regarding adoption.

Philadelphia City Council voted unanimously to oppose Birmelin’s amendments. This article is the most comprehensive one i have found so far. I know many people in Philadelphia who are currently covered by domestic partner benefits, though this bill will only effect state employees. It also prevents unmarried hetereosexual couples from applying for the same benefits, and states “A spousal-equivalent relationship shall not be recognized in this commonwelath.”

From the first article: Addressing the House following afternoon caucus meetings, Birmelin let his colleagues know that the topics of same-sex marriage and health benefits “will be coming back in another day, perhaps in another form.” I will endeavor to follow Representative Birmelin’s actions; if he presents similar amendments in the future it is up to voters to let their opinions be known to their local representatives so that they can oppose the bill with confidence.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107963719088926085/

by

It’s queer news roundup!

Have you heard about the North Carolina parents who want to transfer their daughter to a different school because her school library carried a child’s book called King & King featuring a gay prince looking for his mister right? The MetaFilter Thread on the subject links to the CNN article, which seems to be carrying the same text as all the other ones i’ve seen so far. It’s one thing to ask that your daughter not be exposed to the book, but the family has now taken it upon themselves to withhold the book from the library so that other people cannot check it out. Lovely.


But, wait, there’s more… new Bush appointee Scott Bloch slashes rights for government employed homosexuals. Apparently, sexual preference isn’t a “protected class” under the law. To be fair, the current act covers conduct “which does not adversely affect” performance; that doesn’t specifically nod to sexual preference, but its quite a stretch to suggest that it has a negative effect on a work environment (though the stretch will be made if it’s isn’t prohibited by law). Someone in the Metafilter thread amusingly points out that this means bosses are free to fire hetero workers who constantly talk about their sex lives or who have annoying pictures of them kissing their spouses displayed prominently. Heh.

Decisions on these and other queer-rights issues effect friends and family members that i love very dearly, and rulings on these and other civil rights effect everyone — not just the people who feel their immediate ramifications. Please support civil rights for all with your vote in the remaining primaries and the November election. And, remember, you can get all of your queer news fresh off the griddle from QueerDay, founded by one of my favorite people ever, JillMatrix (who is apparently blogging again!).

Addendum: Many, many congratulations are in order for JillMatrix, who is in possession of one of relatively few same-sex civil unions in the country! See her re-inaugural post on her trip to San Francisco, and some pictures of the proceedings.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107963499730702597/

by

Done, done, done, done, i’m done the last assignment of this silly semester with a shocking five hours left until it’s due to be turned in and i’m getting a B and i don’t care because they have me learning the most peripheral crap right now and i just want to work and make money but nooo, i can’t do that, because they want to schedule classes for wonky times and because i’ve been sick all week because i *always* get sick as soon as the major pressure (getting to class) is off even though i could be making hundreds of dollars if i could get out of the friggin’ house.

I am so close to the diploma i can taste it. One more semester. 10 weeks. I can do this.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107961057026490643/

by

I feel like i’ve always dreamed the internet; a place where you could literally find out about anything, and in keeping with that i think The Gnod self-adapting database of musical taste could be the coolest thing ever! And, well, really it’s not that cool, but it could be if its predictions for popular artists werea little more focused. Still, i love how all the little words float around and repell each other (watch Radiohead through a couple of reloads of this one). You can experience the page’s more typical function here. I suppose i’m just not that excited by relational or triangular reccomendations anymore because i have so damn much music already. Who knows.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107432262653741968/

by

All free-internet-radio Ani is good free-radio-Ani: Acoustic Cafe, 2004 (real audio). Includes an insightful interview, and some songs (“Knuckle Down” @ 22:00 is new, as is the excellent “Recoil” around 30:00). In keeping with the recent trend, her solo performance of the tunes makes those on the disc pale in comparison. Also, the interview is insightful, especially this question (which i had wondered myself, as “Educated Guess” was a favorite of mine last time i saw Ms. DiFranco with the band):

Rob Reinhart: Did these songs come out of the process itself, or did they predate it?

Ani: Only “Educated Guess,” the song … predated the record. That one got bumped off the Evolve record actually and, uh, i used to play with my dear friend Julie Wolf. So, it’s the oldest tune, and the rest were constructed in solitude, you know, back to my roots, you know, where they’re built to stand alone on the guitar again.

Ha, her next album is being produced by Joe Henry, famous to me for being related-by-law to Madonna and having his “Stop” nearly covered outright by her “Don’t Tell Me.” I wonder if Ani realizes she’s being produced by someone who is collecting royalties on a Madonna song; should be interesting. And, hey, if you like free internet tuneage, you need to make Largehearted Boy the first stop on your daily web crawl; he scours the internet for almost a dozen one off songs and full concerts every day. Absolutely indispensible.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107941474831976589/

by

Yes, i know all politicians are crooked, and you’ll be pointing out these same things to me next time a Democrat comes up for re-election. I just plan to do everything i can to make sure that happens exactly four years from now.


Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration’s efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.

This from a Time article via Metafilter via Pandagon, a person i actually know (sorta) through Rabi. I don’t think that this move is downright evil, as Bush is certainly a big part of why we have a Department of Homeland Security today, but when it comes down to it no-one should be telling the Department to look into photo-ops — i don’t care what party they’re from.

Here’s an alternative to partisan voting: If we reward the people who lie less on a consistent basis, maybe everyone will lie less. Along those lines, a conservative classmate of mine put together Anybody But Bush 2004 as his senior project. Go Geoff!

Also, if you missed the big campaign story from last week, the article does an excellent job of rehashing it simply: Tipped off by Democrats on Capitol Hill that the appointment was in the works, Kerry’s staff had quickly done a LexisNexis search on the proposed nominee, Anthony Raimondo, and discovered that the Nebraska manufacturing executive laid off 75 U.S. workers in 2002 while building a $3 million factory in Beijing. That might make it awkward for him to champion keeping jobs at home. Two hours before the Commerce Department was scheduled to announce Raimondo’s nomination last week, the Kerry campaign did it for them. A day later, Raimondo had withdrawn his name from consideration … White House officials insist that the nomination collapsed because a Senator in Raimondo’s home state did not approve of him.

Anyway, BushBashing aside, the article is a good read. I’d obviously love to put a Democrat in office, but what i’d love more is for every person who has ever read this site to go out and vote in November. That would be much cooler.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2004/03/107939524276123597/