Get Married By An Atheist

Just one of the many, many ways U.S. laws and cultural mores discriminate against those of us who are god-free and proud of it.

Ian Millhiser at Think Progress:

If you are religious, and you want to get married in Minnesota, the state will license the clergy of your faith to perform your ceremony. Minnesota law even contains special carve outs for individual faiths, such as Quakers, where weddings are not generally performed by ordained ministers. Yet, if a couple prefers a secular ceremony, their options are more limited. Couples who do not wish to be married by a “minister of any religious denomination” can only have their wedding performed by a short list of government officials — mostly judges, retired judges and court administrators. So religious couples can have a deeply personal ceremony at a venue of their choosing, performed by a religious official that they may already have a relationship with. Secular couples who prefer not to be married by a minister, by contrast, are likely to have fewer options unless they are personal friends with a judge.

A lawsuit filed by an atheist group and one of its members, however, could change this calculation. The suit makes several arguments claiming that “representatives of atheist organizations” should have the same right to solemnize marriages that ordained ministers have. Among other things, the suit relies on the Supreme Court’s 2005 holding in McCreary County v. ACLU that “the ‘First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.‘” It also quotes heavily from a recent federal appeals court decision “allowing certified secular humanist celebrants to solemnize marriages in Indiana.”

SNIP

Additionally, the atheist group acknowledges that “obscure or fake religions” such as “the Universal Life Church and the Church of the Latter Day Dude, a religion of the Big Lebowski” offer online ordinations that can be used to get around the Minnesota law. Nevertheless, the group says, “many atheists who want to be certified as marriage celebrants do not want to engage in the hypocrisy of pretending they are ministers of phony churches.”

Choose

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(Source: dharmaworks)

Proof

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(Source: mc-xc)

"But the end of a war is just the beginning of our obligations to those who serve in our name"

The best thing we can do for veterans is to get out of the warmaking business, Mr. President.



Full transcript here.

Now Can We Stop Running Losing Campaigns?

The consultants are analyzing Alison Lundergan Grimes' catastrophic campaign and coming to the same conclusion they always do: "It wasn't conservative enough.  We need to appeal more and harder to republican voters!"

The voters who will never, ever, EVER vote for a candidate with a D next to her name.

Ignoring the 900,000 Kentuckians who voted for President Obama in 2012 and sat home last Tuesday because there wasn't an actual Democratic candidate running against Mitch McConnell.

But a few observers have it figured out.  Charlie Pierce:

First of all, the president's basic unpopularity was unquestionably a factor, but not anywhere near as much of a factor as was the reluctance of the Democratic party -- from the president on down -- to embrace the actual successes that the administration has achieved. The economy is, in fact, improving. It is the responsibility of the president and his party that we have the paradoxical polling that indicates that the elements of the Affordable Care Act are popular, while "Obamacare" is not. (Mitch McConnell told a transparent lie that Kentucky could get rid of the ACA and still keep its very popular state exchange. He didn't suffer at all for that.) The senatorial candidates who lost were senators who ran away from the administration. Alison Lundergan Grimes wouldn't say if she'd voted for the president. Kay Hagan endorsed the Keystone XL pipeline. Michelle Nunn practically ran as an independent. How much worse could it possibly have been for all of them had they stood by the president and his record? How much worse could it possibly have been for them had the president come to campaign for them?

Erik Loomis:

So there’s a lot of work to be done. In case this post was too long, here is a short open letter to the Democratic Party with some visuals.

Dear Democrats,

Less this:



More this:



Thanks,
Erik

Steve M:

No, Democrats shouldn't attempt phony duck-hunting and NASCAR bonding -- they should be who they are, advance policies that help the non-rich achieve a better life economically, and pitch that approach to the old as well as the young, the white as well as the non-white, the rural as well as the urban and urbane. Everybody but the rich is in the same boat these days anyway -- your recent-vintage Ivy League sheepskin won't get you a real job any more than decades in the recently closed factory will -- so a message of economic relief for the non-rich, backed by concrete proposals fought for seriously, ought to have appeal across demographic lines. No, this won't win Democrats a majority of older males. But it will make inroads. And this doesn't have to be in lieu of appeals on other issues -- it should be in addition. You fight for Joe Lunchpail's economic security and he really might not mind that you also fight for his nephew's right to get gay-married.

Last word to the Rude Pundit:

The Rude Pundit has said before, and he'll say again and again: We have to stop acting like the visiting team in our own country.

Theories

ummagumma.co:

Off the Floor

Juanita Jean:

What, You Thought It Would Be Easy?

Just as well.  If the antediluvian Sixth Circuit had upheld gay marriage, thousands of people in Kentucky would have dropped dead from shock, including yours truly.

Andrew Wolfson at the Courier:

Likely propelling gay marriage back to the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court Thursday upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Kentucky and three other states.

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the first federal appeals court to rule against gay marriage.

Two appointees of President George W. Bush wrote for the majority that the legality of gay marriage in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee should be decided by voters, not the courts.

Writing for the majority, Judge Jeffrey Sutton said that while gay marriage may be inevitable nationwide, none of the plaintiffs' arguments for it "makes the case … for removing the issue from the place it has been since the founding: in the hands of state voters."

Those would be the same voters who just sent Mitch McConnell back to the Senate and five of the most backward repugs in the country back to the House.  Yeah, I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, PROTEST:

WHEN: Noon Friday, Nov. 7
WHERE: Jefferson Square, 6th & Jefferson Streets, Louisville, 40202
 

We believe "Love Will Win" in Kentucky, but not today, as the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against LGBT "Freedom to Marry" lawsuits in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan. Their ruling today makes it far more likely the U.S. Supreme Court will soon take up the issue of LGBT marriage equality.

Join the Fairness Campaign, ACLU of KY, Fauver Law Office, PLLC, Clay Daniel Walton & Adams PLC, and plaintiff couples in Bourke v. Beshear and Love v. Beshear to protest their decision Noon Friday at Jefferson Square in Downtown Louisville.

Questions

ummagumma.co:


(via nonplussedbyreligion-deactivate)

QOTD

Charlie Pierce:

The president's party proved itself utterly unwilling to stand behind the president's policies and, therefore, the president's very real achievements. This was not clever. It was suicidal.

Remove the Noose, Democrats: Seth Moulton Won

Yes, YES, YES!

Seth Moulton is the fucking future of the fucking Democratic Party and the whole fucking country.

A proud, loud, outspoken liberal so modest and with priorities so straight the Boston Globe had to sic a Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter on him to find out Moulton had earned two medals for conspicuous bravery in combat in Iraq.

Yeah, he won in Massachusetts, where a Democratic candidate just lost the gubernatorial race.

Seth Moulton could have beaten Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.  Seth Moulton could have beaten Greg Abbott in Texas. Seth Moulton could have beaten Joni Ernst in Iowa, Kris Kobach in Kansas, James Lankford in Oklahoma.

Seth Moulton could have beaten Louie Gohmert, whose voters are all even more brain-dead than he is.

There's not a repug anywhere in the country who would not lose to Seth Moulton.  Not because Moulton is a genuine war hero, even though he is.  But because Seth Moulton stands proud for and talks loud about real Democratic values and Democratic achievements.

When Seth Moulton steps onto the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time, every fucking Democrat in that chamber should bow her head in respect, and every repug should cower in fear.

Seth Moulton, motherfuckers.

You Can't Win If You Don't Fucking Run

The ballot at my Shelby County polling place looked like an unfilled-in crossword puzzle: blank boxes everywhere.

The following offices with repug incumbents had no challenger, no Democratic candidate at all:

State Senator
State Representative
Circuit Court Judge (the one who handles felonies)
County Judge-Executive
County Attorney
County Coroner

Just as bad, the following offices with Democratic incumbents had no challenger, no repug candidate at all:

County Clerk
Magistrate
County Jailer
Constable

All the incumbents have been in office for centuries.  Anybody smell a deal being cut here? A really incredibly stupid deal on the part of Democrats?

Single-candidate races should be illegal; unconstitutional, even.

Any county Democratic party that does not have a candidate in Every. Single. Race. on the ballot needs to be disbanded immediately, its executive committee barred from political involvement for life.

Letting political offices go unchallenged is a crime against democracy, and damn near treason .

Respect

Divine Irony:

Democrats Win the Race That Matters Most

Yes, it's going to be an ugly two years in D.C., with dems' only hope being that the repug Insanity Caucus will prevent President Obama from crafting neoliberal compromises on Social Security and what remains of the social safety net.

But we are sighing with relief here in the Bluegrass, where our way-too-conservative-but-still-not-repug state Democratic candidates hung on to the state House of Representatives.

Kentucky's not North Carolina. Yet.

Jack Brammer and John Cheves at the Herald:

Democrats will keep control of the Kentucky House of Representatives following Tuesday's election, turning back a push by Republicans to lead the chamber for the first time since 1921.

Democrats kept 54 of the 100 House seats, the same number they had going into the election.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said Democrats "are very lucky and blessed" to keep control of the House.

Stumbo said he will ask the Democratic majority to re-elect him speaker, the House's No. 1 leadership position.

"I have spent a lot of time and effort with these candidates and would be honored to serve as their speaker," he said.

Asked if that means he will not run for governor next year, Stumbo said, "you never say never in this business."

And it's never a dull moment here in the Bluegrass.  Stay tuned: the 2015 gubernatorial race starts now.

Atheist Voter

Blatantly stolen from PZ Myers:

Do you know what it means to be an AtheistVoter?

It means I vote for the separation of church and state, because religious delusions should have no influence on my life…or yours.

It means I vote on the side of science, because science is where we find the answers, not in holy books.

It means I vote for peace, not war, because we only have this one life to live, and killing people — any people at all — is an unforgivable crime.

It means I vote for the environment, because the promises of priests that their gods won’t allow harm to come to us are meaningless.

It means I vote pro-choice, because there’s nothing magical about a fetus’s “soul” that trumps the rights of women.

It means I vote for equality and against racist and sexist policies, because all human beings have equal rights.

It means I vote against policies that prop up the rich and promote income inequality, because there are no divine rights that favor one person over another…and because without godly authority, fairness should be our moral guide.

It means I vote for LGBTQ rights, because religious prohibitions are null and void, and we should place a greater value on human happiness than the book of Leviticus.

It means I vote for health care for all, because life is precious and everyone deserves equal support in maintainng it.

It means I’m going to get out and vote tomorrow, because making our government more rational requires the cooperation of a community, and we all have to do our part.

Good Deeds

ummagumma.co:

Ebola Stupidity Spreads to Louisville; Forces Teacher to Resign

Okay, listen up, people:

Kenya in East Africa is three thousand miles from the nearest African Ebola case in far West Africa.

The parents and school administrators who shit their pants from watching too much Faux News are 500 miles away from the nearest American Ebola case in New York City.

Which is the greater threat?

Thousands of Americans who have never left the country are going to die from the flu this year because so many people will not get the flu shot.

We're all gonna die from the STOOPIT.

From the Herald:

A teacher at a private school in Louisville has resigned rather than take a paid leave because of fears over Ebola.

Susan Sherman, a teacher at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School who also is a registered nurse, recently returned from a medical mission trip to Kenya, The Courier-Journal reported.

Though Kenya, in eastern Africa, has not had any reported cases of Ebola, the school asked Sherman to take a 21-day paid leave as a precaution because parents had raised concerns, according to the newspaper.

Sherman also was asked to get a note from her doctor giving her a clean bill of health, the newspaper reported.

Sherman's husband, Paul Sherman, said in a letter sent last week to Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz that parents and staff had "unfounded fears" that were "triumphing over truth and reason." The couple wanted to have an informational meeting about their trip and Ebola, but "were put off until our 'quarantine' is over," Paul Sherman wrote.

Drink up! It's now legal to buy booze on Election Day in Lexington

Yes, liquor stores will open today for all your last-minute, vote-buying needs.

Seriously, that's why Kentucky banned alcohol sales during hours that the polls are open. Because apparently people trying to buy votes with booze are too stupid to stock up beforehand.

From the Herald:

Lexington citizens may legally buy and sell alcohol while the polls are open Tuesday, thanks to a change in a city ordinance.

The Urban County Council voted in early September to repeal a section of the city's Code of Ordinances that said "no premises shall sell, give away or deliver alcoholic beverages of any kind on any primary or regular election day during the hours that the polls are open," according to a city news release.

State law changed in July to allow local governments to decide whether to allow alcohol sales on Election Day.

Polls are open!  Have you voted yet? Have all your family members, friends, neighbors and pets?

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/03/3518174/change-in-lexington-ordinance.html?sp=/99/164/#storylink=cpy

Yeah, I Know. Vote for Grimes, Anyway. Polls Open at 6 a.m.

Just keep repeating: "I'm voting against Mitch. I'm voting against Mitch. I'm voting against Mitch."

And you want to be able to bitch about the repug Congress for the next two years, don't you?  If you don't vote, you can't.

To Know

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