Our Addiction to Convenience
Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 01:49 PM - Lifestyles
We're a nation of people who enjoy their conveniences even if it is at the risk of endangering health and happiness. Fast food restaurants come immediately to mind as the top candidate for convenience but then there's the cell phone, texting, remote controls, 24-hour loan offices, vending machine that dispense all manner of weird goodies, email, instant messaging, the internet and much, much more.

Before I go on let me just say that I have nothing against conveniences as long as they're kept in perspective. They're tools to serve us and nothing more. If we allow ourselves to become enslaved by them then that's potentially a problem and yet the allure of convenience is so powerful that it's easy to see how many of us can become entrapped without giving it a second thought.

So, what is it about conveniences that make them so attractive? The only thing I can think of is that our modern conveniences save us time and energy. We never seem to have enough time to fit all that we need to do in an hour. Why make a phone call when 3- or 4-word text message will do? Why expend the energy to get up from behind our desk to go talk with a co-worker or employee down the hall when an instant message will do? Why bother preparing a lunch at home to take to work when it's quicker to make a stop at a fast food restaurant, pick up a bag of burgers, fries and super sized soda, consume them in the car while driving and possibly making a call or two on the cell phone at the same time?

All the above are real life examples and they are just the tip of the iceberg. - See Our Addiction to Convenience for the complete article.

Comedian Andy Dick arrested on drug, sexual battery charges in Murrieta
Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 07:23 PM - Celebrity
A 17-year-old girl tells police that he pulled down her tank top, exposing her breasts. Police say he was 'extremely intoxicated' and had marijuana and Xanax in his pockets. A celebrity lifestyles article.
Police in Murrieta say comedian Andy Dick, who was arrested today on charges of sexual battery and suspicion of drug possession, had been warned earlier by officers to leave another local bar or face charges of public intoxication.

Lt. Dennis Vrooman said police were called to the Corner Pocket Sports Bar about 9 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports of a disturbance. When they arrived, they found Dick extremely intoxicated, he said. Rather than arrest the 42-year-old actor for public intoxication, they gave him the option to leave, which he did, Vrooman said.

Police do not know if Dick was involved in the disturbance at the bar.

Dick later ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings on Murrieta Hot Springs Road, where he drank with four or five friends, Vrooman said. Several bar patrons recognized Dick and approached him, including a 17-year-old girl.

"She recognized that he was extremely intoxicated and walked away," Vrooman said.

Later, as Dick and his friends were leaving, Vrooman said, Dick spotted the girl and her friend and shouted, "There are the girls. Moments later, he allegedly fondled the girl's breast with his right hand and then pulled her top down in the parking lot. - See Comedian Andy Dick arrested on drug, sexual battery charges in Murrieta for the full report.

California gay marriage ban vote to proceed
Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 07:18 PM - Alternative
California voters will have the chance to vote in November on whether to end gay marriage after the state's top court declined on Wednesday to remove an initiative on the issue from the ballot.

California, the U.S.'s most populous state, started marrying same-sex couples a month ago after the California Supreme Court ruled that limiting marriage to a man and a woman violated the state's constitution.

Opponents of gay marriage then placed an initiative to amend the constitution on the November ballot. "Proposition 8" declares that marriage will be limited to one man with one woman.

In the latest phase of a bitter legal battle, supporters of homosexual marriage asked the California Supreme Court to remove the issue from the ballot. The court unanimously denied the petition without detailed comment. - See California gay marriage ban vote to proceed for the full report.
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Massachusetts Senate passes repeal of 1913 marriage law
Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 07:21 PM - Alternative
The Massachusetts Senate today passed a bill that would repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts.

The bill, which had the support of Senate President Therese Murray, passed with no objections on a voice vote. Proponents of the repeal called the 1913 law archaic and discriminatory.

"There are very few laws on the books that I can say that I'm ashamed that they're on the books," said State Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. He said he opposed the law because of the "immorality of discrimination."

"This is a very simple law, contrived in shame, and it exists in shame and we ought to wipe it off the books," he said.

"The 1913 law is a shadow, a terrible shadow. It represents a segregationist past that is best put to rest and put to rest quickly," said Senator Harriette Chandler, a Worcester Democrat.

The law originated when lawmakers in many states were trying to prevent interracial couples from crossing state lines to marry. It fell into obscurity for decades. But it received new attention in 2004, when Republican Governor Mitt Romney invoked it after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts to prevent out-of-state gay and lesbian couples from marrying here and forcing their home states to consider recognizing Massachusetts marriage law. - See Senate passes repeal of 1913 marriage law for the full report.

Request for hold on California gay marriage ruling could postpone weddings
Thursday, May 22, 2008, 06:01 PM - Alternative
Gay couples who were eager to tie the knot as soon as mid-June may want to hold off on ordering that cake or etching a date on their wedding invitations.
A conservative organization on Thursday asked the California Supreme Court to put a hold on last week's ruling striking down the state's ban on same-sex nuptials. The maneuver is virtually certain to push the first gay weddings into at least mid-July and possibly August because of routine procedural delays.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund is asking the Supreme Court to rehear the case on a single issue. The group argues that the ruling should be stayed until after the November elections, when voters are likely to consider a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

The Supreme Court seldom agrees to reconsider its rulings. But in a 21-page legal brief, the defense fund argues that freezing the ruling would avoid chaos around the state as couples move to capitalize on their newfound legal right to marry by rushing to clerk's offices to get marriage licenses between now and November.

"What we're doing essentially is asking the court to maintain the status quo," said Glen Lavy, a lawyer for the defense fund.

Civil rights lawyers immediately vowed to oppose the stay.

"Every day that goes by hurts these families," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Several gay couples planning to marry as soon as legally possible said that while they are disappointed in the delay, it won't change their ultimate plans. - See Request for hold on California gay marriage ruling could postpone weddings for the full report.

State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry
Thursday, May 15, 2008, 02:56 PM - Alternative
Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the "fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship." The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.

"The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples," Chief Justice Ronald George wrote in the majority opinion.

Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry "will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage," George said.

In addition, he said, the current state law, enacted in 1977 and reaffirmed by the voters in 2000, discriminates against same-sex couples on the basis of their sexual orientation - discrimination that the court, for the first time, put in the same legal category as racial or gender bias.

Massachusetts is the only other state whose high court has ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Federal law denies federal benefits, such as joint income tax filing and Social Security survivors' rights, to same-sex couples who can legally marry in their states, and allows other states to deny recognition to those marriages. - See State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry for the full report.


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