Cross=posted at http://www.tips-q.com/content/appallingly-minnesota-s-gay-republican-will-not-vote-marriage-equality-bill
Via the Minnesota IndependentThat doesn't even make sense. Voting for gay rights has no effect on the state's "bigger problems." I guess that this idiot has no conscience to vote. I also presume that his home has an absence of mirrors.
Koering's email address is sen.paul.koering@senate.mn
State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, said Friday that he will not vote for the Marriage and Family Protection Act, a bill that would make Minnesota's marriage laws gender-neutral, allowing same-sex couples many of the rights currently denied by Minnesota statute. Koering, who is gay and a Republican, said he would vote against it because the state faces bigger problems.
A pastor who created a controversy by suggesting that God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina because of the city's sins said Sunday he will ask the pope to rescind his promotion.BTW, has Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson has "found time" to research and recant for Benedict?Pope Benedict XVI's recent appointment of the conservative Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, to auxiliary bishop in Linz, Austria's third largest city, sparked an outcry among Catholics who warned it could prompt people to leave the church.
Wagner, among other things, also had characterized Harry Potter novels as "Satanism."
"Regarding the fierce criticism, I am in prayer and, after consulting the diocesan bishop, I have decided to ask the Holy Father in Rome to take back my promotion as auxiliary bishop," Wagner said in a statement released by Linz Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz.
Hat tip, James H.
Yesterday, I joined several folks from Monterey County on a trip to a marriage equality rally that took place on the steps of the California State Capitol building in Sacramento. We traveled 200 miles in pouring rain to get there.
The event was sponsored by Equality Action NOW, Equality California, California Outreach, and Marriage Equality USA. It boasted a long list of notable speakers and celebrities such as Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, and Dr. Michael Gottlieb.
I usually take my camera to these rallies so I can post the photographs online and share the experience with a wide audience -- people who didn't get the opportunity to be there, like many of you Blenders. I know that viewing photos and reading accounts of these events can be quite inspirational. So, I approached the crowd on the steps of the State Capitol building with enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, that enthusiasm was quickly extinguished by the volunteers who were acting as security for the event. Only minutes after I began taking photographs of the crowd, a man in a red t-shirt approached and told me that in order to take photographs from a spot near the Capitol building steps, I'd have to be wearing a media badge.
This was not an isolated incident. I was repeatedly harrassed by the men and women in red t-shirts while I attempted to photograph the event and various celebrity speakers. I must point out that there were no barricades or ropes designating "media only" areas. It was obvious that the volunteers were instructed to target people with high-end cameras who weren't wearing media badges.
More below the fold.
Several other people told me that they were also scolded for taking photographs and that media credentials were required. This puzzled me because this was the first time I have been harrassed for taking photographs from a spot that wasn't cordoned off from the public (and I've only seen that at concerts and movie premiers).
If I had not been harrassed while taking photographs, you would be reading an account of the rally in Sacramento and viewing my photos. Instead, you're learning why groups like Equality California have become irrelevant.
They just don't understand that the world has changed. Bloggers and netroots activists are just as important as the mainstream media. We can help promote the cause and provide much more information online than a newspaper or TV broadcast. We can also effectively voice our dissatisfaction.
At one point during the rally, Equality Action NOW director Tina Reynolds introduced the co-founders of the Equal Roots Coalition, a netroots organization that has achieved remarkable results in organizing rallies in the Los Angeles area. The folks from Equal Roots were not given an opportunity to speak. Instead, Reynolds paraded them before the audience and the cameras, commented on their youthfulness, and asked, "Aw, aren't they pretty?" I was horrified by her condescension and patronizingly superior attitude.
There were several hundred people in the audience with cameras. Many of them weren't just taking pictures for their scrapbooks. Like me, they blog about their experiences. They share their photos online with thousands of others. In this respect, we are all the "media" and deserve to be respected as such.
Personally, I don't think I'll drive to Sacramento to attend another rally sponsored by these people. They don't appreciate the fact that a little nobody like me has the potential to reach thousands of others -- potential volunteers and contributors to their organization. Geoff Kors and Tina Reynolds are obviously clueless when it comes to the new media and how things happen in an online world.
My photographs of the November 2008 rally in Sacramento that I uploaded to Flickr have received over 27,000 views. Several of them were published in newspapers or featured on websites. I've been using them to promote other events. I guess the folks at Equality California and Equality Action NOW don't want that kind of publicity.
Anyway, here are a few sample photographs from the event:
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