Supremes’ ruling on gay marriage important, not critical

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it hear arguments in two important but very different cases involving gay marriage, raising the odds that it will soon establish the basic legal architecture for how that issue is handled in the future.

One case, out of New York, addresses how the federal government must handle gay marriages that are conducted in states where such marriages are legal. The second, out of California, raises the more fundamental question of whether gay marriage is a right protected under the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.

Given the range of legal questions at stake in those two cases, the court’s final ruling next June could take any number of turns. And you just know that Justice Antonin Scalia is itching to get his hands on this issue.

However, it is also important to point out that however the nine justices decide, all final decisions on the matter will be made by the American people. And they have already made it clear that we will not be going backward on this issue, and that whatever the Supreme Court’s ruling this year, in time the right to marry will be extended to all Americans, gay or straight.

rp-gay-5

Young people support that right overwhelming. Despite the stern opposition of their church, almost 60 percent of Catholics support it. According to a Pew poll in July, political independents support it by an 11-point margin. Black Americans, long dubious of the notion, also support it in increasing numbers.

As recently as 1996, 65 percent of Americans rejected the notion of gay marriage; only 27 percent supported it. Yet in the July Pew poll, 48 percent of Americans supported it and just 44 percent opposed it. That is an extraordinary shift in public opinion in just 16 years, on an issue that that you might think people might be stubborn about.

So do your worst, Justice Scalia. At worst, you and others can temporarily affect the pace of the change that is taking place across this country. But you cannot affect the final outcome.

– Jay Bookman

1,132 comments Add your comment

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:00 pm

Tundra

Wonder if Morality has one for tripe? :-)

St Simons - he-ne-ha

December 9th, 2012
6:04 pm

My accounting mtgs are getting exciting.

Today I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a split second

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
6:05 pm

Jay takes our mind off of the fact that we are going over the fiscal cliff with this tripe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4Ha9HQvMo
*Language Alert!!

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:07 pm

He-ne-ha

If you missed it on FNM…Unmentionable wanted your take on her drummer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
6:09 pm

Tundra Dude

December 9th, 2012
6:09 pm

Josef:
Wonder if Morality has one for tripe?

Good Wun!!
(if he thinks he’s going off the cliff, there’s still time to practice cliff-diving)

Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...

December 9th, 2012
6:10 pm

So I’m missing why this whole fiscal cliff is such a big deal. We cut 109 bln per year..57% from military and the balance from wasteful spending on entitlements then add $80 bln a year in new revenue socking it to the rich…president trillions achieves his political “holy grail” being able to tell his money folks he stuck the rich…the GOP get cuts..

The middle of the current dance is basically the above which tacitly was agreed to in various campaign promises by BO…..cuts plus new revenue from those evil rich folks..

Silly the way things are panning out…the sky won’t fall and we will have to take some short term medicine…so what?

Oh i forgot, not matter what, we can’t seem to stop spending on new programs already promised…like HC debacle…interesting that the HC bill considers a family making up to 88k worthy of premium credits. BO will get 3.8% tax from most others…

Is Obama concerned that he won’t be able to increase spending if this comes out as outlined above?

St Simons - he-ne-ha

December 9th, 2012
6:13 pm

josef, sounds kinda aggresive, like them sioux, don’t it?

stands for decibels

December 9th, 2012
6:13 pm

George Will & Mary Matalin appear to get it.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/09/george-will-the-opposition-to-gay-marriage-is-dying-its-old-people/

Will on Sunday suggested that it was not a coincidence that the court decided to hear the cases just a month after voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington backed marriage equality.

“It could make them say, ‘It’s not necessary for us to go here,’” Will explained. “They don’t want to do what they did with abortion. The country was having a constructive accommodation on abortion, liberalizing abortion laws. The court yanked the subject out of democratic discourse and embittered the argument.”

He continued: “On the other hand, they can say it’s now safe to look at this because there is something like an emerging consensus. Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying… it’s old people.”

Republican strategist Mary Matalin, who has previously said that marriage equality is not a civil right, asserted that polls now show Americans support same sex marriage because they know it’s not a “threat to the civil order.”

“Well, because Americans have common sense,” she explained. “There are important constitutional, biological, theological, ontological questions relative to homosexual marriage. People who live in the real world say, the greater threat to the civil order are the heterosexuals who don’t get married and are making babies. That’s an epidemic in crisis proportions. That is irrefutably more problematic for our culture than homosexuals getting married.”

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:16 pm

BROSEPHUS

And who says the Imam’s crew ain’t on the cutting edge..

That was hilarious… :-)

St Simons - he-ne-ha

December 9th, 2012
6:17 pm

I’m filling out this year’s health ins renewals.

It says “In Case of Emergency Notify _____”

I said, “a Doctor” – duh

Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...

December 9th, 2012
6:19 pm

Also, I still don’t know why the transaction tax isn’t being considered…you’d think that Wall Street would be fighting this…heres’ the fun part…..20 of the largest, too big to fail (thanks obama) players, including the ubiquitous Goldman Sachs, signed a memo in support of this…I’m sure there is something I’m missing as a downside to taxes on stock trades and more risky speculative ventures but I’ve not come across it yet..

Has anyone? Get the 109Bln cuts and 80 bln increased revenues…then add a meager tax on the mega trillions traded annually in market…net say $200 billion a year…we go something….

Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...

December 9th, 2012
6:20 pm

I’m also confused about the gay rights stuff…it’s coming no matter what…just a timing issue…everyone wants what they want when they want it…just like SCOTUS..

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:23 pm

He ne ha…

Don’t it just…I did some checking on him…he’s the son of gospel great Timothy Wright…

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:29 pm

SFD

Yeah. Maybe straight folks in opposition ought to tidy up their own house before telling me what’s wrong in mine…

getalife

December 9th, 2012
6:29 pm

” said, “a Doctor” – duh”

Or 911.

stevie is confused all the time…

Welcome to the Occupation

December 9th, 2012
6:30 pm

What really stands out to me on that one, josef, is this rationale: “French Imams say that a gay mosque is counter to Islam, as it excludes others”.

Now that’s a novel take! I oppose these mosques which are non-exclusive because they don’t preserve the exclusions we prefer! Though it’s not a gay mosque per se, it’s labeled as such simply by being open to gays and then is dubbed “exclusive”. Amazing.

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:37 pm

BROSEPHUS

Wonder if there one for refried tripe… our specialty here…

WELCOME

Yeah, I thought that was, as you said, a novel approach! Sounds like some of the convoluted logic going on on this topic, eh? :-)

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
6:38 pm

Recipe for cookies that can be cooked by guys who can’t cook.

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
stir all together in bowl
take out of bowl by spoonful and
drop on ungreased cookie sheet
preheat oven to 350 degrees and
bake for 12 min on middle rack.
buy bigger pants.

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
6:42 pm

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
1:58 pm

Fred

Consider it an open invitation on Sunday. My in-laws are always over to watch Washington whenever they play on Sunday. You’re more than welcome to come and join us.
++++++++++++++++++++++

Do you let Black folks in your house? If so I’d like to bring my brother, Brother O. He lives on my way to your house. Best thing is that he doesn’t drink much beer any more lol.

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
6:43 pm

indigo

December 9th, 2012
2:16 pm

Fred – 1:26 “You really don’t posess much in the department of logical thinking”

This from the dork that can’t even answer a simple question – namely, provide scientific proof that your God exists.

It is spoiled snot-nosed brats like you that, trying to play grown-up here, only succeed in showing how ignorant they are.

Please take your childish foolishness somewhere else, and stop bothering intelligent people, you little pencil neck geek.
+++++++++++++++++++++

I don’t need to put up with your insults and name calling because you lack the wit to answer a question intelligently. As to your silly”prove God Exists” nonsense? Prove he doesn’t.

Welcome to the Occupation

December 9th, 2012
6:45 pm

josef: “Yeah, I thought that was, as you said, a novel approach! Sounds like some of the convoluted logic going on on this topic, eh? ”

It’s how entrenched privilege always works. Hide the arbitrariness of its own exclusionary founding moves, then when challenged try to pass them off as universally valid, etc. (”why is everybody ganging up on us now, these principles have always been respected!”), then try to smear the challengers as being the one who are arbitrarily asserting an exclusion in trying to exclude the exclusionary ones. Always the same.

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
6:48 pm

josef

I’m good for a laugh or two nowadays. I’m tired of the bitter old grumbly sh*t. My goal is to find at least one thing to laugh at everyday for the rest of my life. I don’t care how bad a day I’ve had. My wife thinks I’m nuts because of some of the stuff I come across, but I get my laughs in.

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
6:49 pm

WTO
Well excluuude me. Steve Martin(paraphrase)

appleseed

December 9th, 2012
6:51 pm

Darn I thought he was talking about the number in his daisy chain.just saying

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:51 pm

Welcome

Yep.

FRED

Oh, quit acting like a delusional lickspittle… :-)

josef

December 9th, 2012
6:52 pm

BROSEPHUS

I’m with you on that. And if I can’t find anything on the web, I can always look in the mirror! :-)

getalife

December 9th, 2012
6:56 pm

cons are hilarious so I laugh everyday :)

Welcome to the Occupation

December 9th, 2012
7:00 pm

barking: Well excluuude me. Steve Martin(paraphrase)

Hee.

josef: “Oh, quit acting like a delusional lickspittle… ”

Couldn’t help picture this line delivered with snarky Paul Lynde-esque gusto. :)

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:01 pm

FRED
I’m still waiting for a response from al Shariff on why one of mine last night got thrown into moderation…sent to you at SE…

Indigo on me being Jewish. Oh, yeah, but it paled in comparison to his attack on me for being a Mormon! :-)

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:03 pm

Welcome

G-d, I loved Paul Lynde..! And doesn’t that one sound like him?

Oh, no, Fred is really Paul Lynde…that explains a lot…

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
7:06 pm

josef
sounds more like paul if you add the wannabe..

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
7:06 pm

Wow josef. I can’t think of anything that would snag that post. How queer…………

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
7:08 pm

Fred as Paul Lynde?

No, more like Don Rickles.

Jay

December 9th, 2012
7:08 pm

Really Fred? “Raped and liked it”? And when you get called on your crudeness, you go into “Oh persecuted me!” mode?

Stop it — permanently — or leave.

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
7:09 pm

josef: I assure you, I don’t talk through my nose so I can’t be Paul lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9AiDLo60ik

Jay

December 9th, 2012
7:10 pm

And yes, indigo was over the line earlier as well.

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:12 pm

WELCOME
@ 6:45

Or as mine and Brosephus’ feller would’ve put it…

“The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.”
― Edward Gibbon, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
7:12 pm

So I can’t think here Jay? Yet I can be called all kinds of names? How sweet. You do love your hypocrisy. Why the double standard? Freedom for some to insult at will, others aren’t allowed to say boo without your ever present threats.

Why not just ONE set of rules there pal? You won’t let SOME of us defend ourselves and leave others free to spew lies, hate and names. Unlike others, I’m not afraid to call you out on it. Ban me if that’s what it takes to make you feel good, but you know I am right.

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
7:13 pm

Replied too quick dammit.

Fred ™

December 9th, 2012
7:13 pm

Thank you. That’s all I asked for.

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:14 pm

Uh-oh, Big Daddy’s home…I best clean up my act… :-)

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
7:15 pm

Faaaah!!!

Just a relaxing Sunday evening on the Bookman blog.

Fred, don’t let the likes of indigo goad you into the swamp.

but still have some fun…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvka3SSv9Y

getalife

December 9th, 2012
7:15 pm

“The strategy of triple-barrelled contraction across a string of inter-linked countries has been the greatest policy debacle since the early 1930s. The outcome over the last three years has been worse than forecast at every stage, and in every key respect.

The eurozone has crashed back into double-dip recession. It will contract a further 0.3pc next year, according to a chastened European Central Bank. The ECB omitted mention of its own role in this fiasco by allowing all key measures of the money supply to stall in mid-2012, with the time-honoured consequences six months to a year later.

The North has been engulfed at last by the contractionary holocaust it imposed on the South. French car sales crashed 19pc last month, even before its fiscal shock therapy — 2pc of GDP next year. The Bundesbank admitted on Friday tore up its forecast on Friday. Germany itself is in recession.

The youth jobless rate has reached 58pc in Greece, 55.8pc in Spain, 39.1pc in Portugal, 36.5pc in Italy, 30.1pc in Slovakia, and 25.5pc in France, with all the known damage this does to the life-trajectory of the victims and the productive dynamism of these economies.

EU policy elites blame “labour rigidities”. The United Nation’s economic arm UNCTAD counters that the EU demand for “wage compression” is itself perpetuating the crisis ”

Talk about fiscal cliff.

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:18 pm

IMAM

By the way, I agree with you on that @ 7:08 and was just about to say so…

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
7:18 pm

getalife, and you and the libs yearn to be like Europe. lol

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
7:20 pm

Sounds like Big Daddy did the double yellow card!!!!!

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:22 pm

IMAM

But you are harder on Fred than some of the rest of us…I guess he just needs to learn to use smilies and j/ks or do it in French… :-)

Oh, and that one about the one of mine that was snagged into moderation last night…no angst about it on my part…it was just another of those that all you can say is “what the h3ll”

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:23 pm

Jay

I do have a question.

When you address my posts you use my first name and many others here when you address them.

When you addressed Stupid Liberals the other day you used their last name. Funny that I should feel offended.

:-)

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:25 pm

moonbat

Thanks for the tunes at FNM…

Brosephus™

December 9th, 2012
7:25 pm

But you are harder on Fred than some of the rest of us

I’ll second that one. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it appears.

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
7:26 pm

common 7:23
that is a mistake common to many of us..

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:27 pm

COMMON

:-)

IMAM

The grievance committee is now in session… :-)

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:29 pm

josef

I tried to wait until he sobered up to bring up the grievance.

:-)

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
7:32 pm

You’re welcome, josef.

Fred sometimes doesn’t know when to dial it back a little.

But that’s part of the reason he is so beloved…

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
7:34 pm

But you are harder on Fred than some of the rest of us

Yeah, I’ll third that.

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:37 pm

josef

can you translate this?

אַסשאַט

Jefferson

December 9th, 2012
7:39 pm

Does the SC really think they will change anything?

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:39 pm

josef

If you can filters don’t totally work :-)

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
7:39 pm

Not really a management supporter but there are not many here
that can hit back like Fred, not that i often disagree with him…he
can turn a volatile phrase…

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:46 pm

COMMON

THAT one has just been added to my list! :-)

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:46 pm

Fred is special in many ways

:-)

St Simons - he-ne-ha

December 9th, 2012
7:47 pm

But you are harder on Fred than some of the rest of us

I’ll fifth that. no wait 4th. no fire-water for me mon.

barking frog

December 9th, 2012
7:47 pm

Common
is that a derriere chapeau ?

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:48 pm

Enter your comments here

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
7:49 pm

frog

I do not know of what you speak.

:-) :-)

RF

December 9th, 2012
7:50 pm

Gracious- you leave the verandah to go cook and iron, and dang if Fred doesn’t go and get himself in trouble with Big Daddy again. When will that child ever learn?

josef: going tomorrow to interview for a position for next year. Trying to move up a bit to more of a teacher training position. And good advice?

RF

December 9th, 2012
7:52 pm

@Kamchak 4:52- I finally had a minute to get back and read. I thought that’s what you meant, but I figured I’d ask instead of sittin’ here wonderin’. Isn’t it amazing how the diatribe from over there hasn’t changed much in years?

josef

December 9th, 2012
7:54 pm

FROG,

Or, in the native tongue…

Du-k-sha-nee A-li-s-que-tu-wo

indigo

December 9th, 2012
7:55 pm

Fred

I asked you to offer scientific support for your belief in God.

I thought you might say something like this – “I don’t have any hard scientific evidence. No one does. What I do have is faith. I believe that my faith is a gift from God.”

If fact, millions of people all over the world have strong religious faith and I’m sure most of them feel it comes from God.

Why didn’t you just say something like that instead of getting so angry?

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
7:56 pm

indigo

December 9th, 2012
7:59 pm

moonbat betty – 7:15 “the likes of indigo”

Smile when you say that, pardner.

Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)

December 9th, 2012
8:02 pm

Well, I see where they found the wreckage of that plane carrying the famous Mexican-American singer I never heard of. It was in Mexico where it took off from.

I sometimes wonder what the pilot of a small plane like that says when he sees nothing ain’t working right and he’s hundreds of miles from a airport and it’s 4 o’clock in the morning.. It’s probly something like “WTF! This sucker’s going down!”

Anyhow, I’ll see y’all tomorrow sometime. You outdone yourself the past couple days. I bet Bookman just knowed there’d be fights galore when he posted this thing on the Supreme Court Gay cases. I’ve been kinda impartial on the whole thing. Long as they don’t move into the trailer next to mine I’m fine with it. Have a good night everybody.

josef

December 9th, 2012
8:03 pm

indigo

“Why didn’t you just say something like that instead of getting so angry?”

Because you’re such a hateful and belligerent אַסשאַט when it comes to expressing your own non belief

RF

Advice? Be yourself and speak the truth and make sure to throw in all the latest catch phrases whether they fit or not… seriously, though, the more jargon you can toss, generally the better…of course, that depends on how well you know the interviewers…you may be lucky enough to be able to actually communicate your ideas and experience in a plain, old, everyday language…and, good luck!

Common Sense isn't very Common

December 9th, 2012
8:10 pm

RF

Good luck with the interview.

I know you will knock them dead.

And oh yeah Josef is a good source of advice even if he is an אַסשאַט

LOL

indigo

December 9th, 2012
8:12 pm

josef – 8:03

That’s not quite right. When people talk about God and Jesus and their religion AS THOUGH IT WERE A PROVEN FACT, I just simply ask them to offer hard evidence to back up their beliefs. Then THEY get hateful and beligerent and start calling me names.

Tit for tat. Start calling me names and it will be right back at you.

Do you think I’m being unfair?

getalife

December 9th, 2012
8:17 pm

“getalife, and you and the libs yearn to be like Europe. lol”

No moonbat.

Europe yearns to be us.

We are the United States of America.

The strongest country on this planet.

josef

December 9th, 2012
8:21 pm

Indigo

No. You are almost without fail arrogant and snippy and often just downright vulgar in trying to pick a fight.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
8:32 pm

Do you think I’m being unfair?

Yeah, pretty much.

Challenging someone’s faith is like walking into the lions den.

You’re old enough to know better.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:36 pm

Getalife, Most of the world, including Europe, despise us and many liberals embrace those sentiments as well.

You know, the old “I’m from Canada” routine when traveling abroad…

And I apologize for including you in that group earlier but it is still prevalent

josef

December 9th, 2012
8:39 pm

moonbat

When travelling abroad, I just tell them I’m from the South and invite them to a Yankee fry! :-)

getalife

December 9th, 2012
8:43 pm

moonbat,

The EU screwed up and back in a deep recession and would not be surprised to see a EU spring.

Their unemployment rate is way too high so doubt many Americans want that.

After this “fiscal cliff” and another debt debacle, our economy will be free of gop regulations.

Our economy will take off.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:43 pm

josef, You funny!

Big lol :)

josef

December 9th, 2012
8:46 pm

Okay, much as I’d rather not…gotta run…have to be up at 4 a.m.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:46 pm

Get, it is a matter of time, but time is short and patience is gone.

Unfortunately.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:47 pm

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
8:48 pm

… time is short and patience is gone.

Only among those that don’t matter.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:51 pm

Is that right, Kam.

Please expound.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
8:53 pm

Please expound.

The myopic.

The supply-siders.

getalife

December 9th, 2012
8:53 pm

Get your failed party out of our economy moonbats.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
8:59 pm

uh,yeah, the liberals have all sort of ideas for the economy.

Sitn

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
9:01 pm

Zit and whine and woot for dec 31.

I love apple spell check

getalife

December 9th, 2012
9:02 pm

moonbat,

Our President has a plan.

Tell your failed party to pass it.

Start with the Senate’s middle class tax cut.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

December 9th, 2012
9:03 pm

uh,yeah, the liberals have all sort of ideas for the economy.

Uh, we’ve had a generation of trickle-down ideals.

Uh, that ideal had a shelf life.

Uh, that ideal is now stinking up the refrigerator like too old tuna salad.

Uh, it’s gonna take a while to air out the smell.

Uh, the adults in the room know this.

getalife

December 9th, 2012
9:06 pm

Down goes the moonbat.

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
9:09 pm

“Down goes moonbat”

You wish, getalife.

DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman

December 9th, 2012
9:11 pm

josef: IMAM, By the way, I agree with you on that @ 7:08 and was just about to say so…

Kiss up! :)

moonbat betty

December 9th, 2012
9:11 pm

Yeah, I do too, Kam.

But there is, always a different means to meet an end.

RF

December 9th, 2012
9:15 pm

josef: thanks for the advice- that’s pretty much my plan. After all these years, I can sling jargon about education like a Waffle House cook slingin’ hashbrowns. I’ve also hit that point in life where I’m humble enough to know I never will know everything, but confident enough to know I have a pretty good idea how things work and should be. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. As my dad says, “you’re like that bug flying towards the car- you won’t know until you get to the windshield whether you’ve prepared enough to fly over it or BAM!! Either way, you get your answer.” He’s a simple one, but a good one!!

RF

December 9th, 2012
9:20 pm

“Uh, the adults in the room know this.”

And the children just keep whining and complaining. The optimist in me says that the rhetoric will have to shift some soon, but the realist knows it probably won’t. Ten years of tomfoolery is hard to let go of…