mittherj

OK so I know I never post. And this is exactly how I am feeling these days about the election. I got it from my sister and I thought it was spot on.



_______________________________________
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

-----
OK, much clearer now.

State Court Recognizes Gay Marriages From Elsewhere

By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: February 2, 2008

A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said the ruling applied to all public and private employers in the state.

Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“The Legislature may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad,” a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled unanimously in rejecting a 2006 lower court decision. “Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York.”

For more than a century, the court noted, New York State has recognized valid out-of-state marriages. Moreover, it said that the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest judicial body, has said the Legislature may enact laws recognizing same-sex marriages. “In our view, the Court of Appeals thereby indicated that the recognition of plaintiff’s marriage is not against the public policy of New York,” the court held.

As a practical matter, the marriages of thousands of gay couples entered into outside the state have been recognized in recent years by many state and local agencies and by private employers for purposes of allowing health and life insurance coverage, child care and other benefits. But others have resisted doing so voluntarily, pending the outcome of numerous cases in the courts.

Friday’s ruling, legal experts said, was the first by an appellate division court, and would make the recognition of valid out-of-state gay marriages mandatory across New York. It was not clear whether Monroe County and Monroe Community College in Rochester, the employer in the case, would appeal.

Daniel DeLaus Jr., the county attorney for Rochester, said his office was reviewing the decision and would decide whether to seek an appeal.

Jeffrey Wicks, a lawyer who represents the plaintiff, Patricia Martinez, said that New York had recognized common-law marriages, even marriages of closely related people that might not be allowed in the state. “There’s a long tradition in New York of recognizing marriages that couldn’t be performed in New York,” he said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Ms. Martinez, a word-processing supervisor at the college, hailed the ruling. The union called it “the first known decision in the country to hold that a valid same-sex marriage must be recognized.”

“This is a victory for families, it’s a victory for fairness and it’s a victory for human rights,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the N.Y.C.L.U. “Congratulations to all same-sex couples validly married outside of New York State: You are now husband and husband, wife and wife. Now we need to work toward a New York where you don’t have to cross state or country lines to get married.”

The New York City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, the first openly gay leader of the Council, also applauded the ruling. “If this is saying companies have to do it, it’s a tremendous step forward in recognizing the diversity of families in New York City.”

New York City already extends marriage benefits to workers in domestic partnerships, and under a law passed in 2002, it provides all city benefits and services to same-sex couples whose unions are recognized by other jurisdictions. But the city has no power to impose such rules on private companies.

In 2004, the Council adopted legislation sponsored by Ms. Quinn that would have required large companies doing business with the city to provide equal job benefits to domestic partners. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vetoed the bill, and while the Council overrode the veto, the mayor said it violated state and federal laws and would prove costly to taxpayers. He sued successfully to block it in a case decided in 2006 by the Court of Appeals.

Mayor Bloomberg’s office declined to comment on Friday’s ruling, saying it had not seen the decision.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo also declined to comment, noting that his office may be involved in an appeal as the traditional defender of state agencies. Monroe Community College is a branch of the State University of New York.

In the past, Mr. Cuomo has said that state law requires that marriages performed in other states, and in Canada, be recognized in New York.

In the case before the appellate division in Rochester, Ms. Martinez and her partner, Lisa Ann Golden, formalized their longstanding relationship in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2001, and were married in Ontario on July 5, 2004.

A few days later, Ms. Martinez applied to Monroe Community College for health care benefits for her spouse. In November 2004, the college’s director of human resources, Sherry Ralston, denied the application, contending that the state did not recognize the marriage as a matter of law and public policy.

Ms. Martinez sued in 2006, arguing that her constitutional and civil rights had been violated. A State Supreme Court justice, Harold Galloway, dismissed the lawsuit in August 2006, saying the state did not recognize same-sex marriages. The state, he wrote “currently defines marriage as limited to the union of one man and one woman.”

But the appellate court disagreed, citing the century-old “marriage recognition rule” applying to heterosexual couples and noting that the Court of Appeals had implied that the Legislature could adopt a law legalizing same-sex marriage.

In early 2006, the court said, Monroe Community College had begun extending health-care benefits to Ms. Golden under a new contract provision. However, the judges held, the plaintiff was entitled to unspecified monetary damages for the period during which the benefits were wrongly denied.

State Court Recognizes Gay Marriages From Elsewhere

By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: February 2, 2008

A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said the ruling applied to all public and private employers in the state.

Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“The Legislature may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad,” a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled unanimously in rejecting a 2006 lower court decision. “Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York.”

For more than a century, the court noted, New York State has recognized valid out-of-state marriages. Moreover, it said that the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest judicial body, has said the Legislature may enact laws recognizing same-sex marriages. “In our view, the Court of Appeals thereby indicated that the recognition of plaintiff’s marriage is not against the public policy of New York,” the court held.

As a practical matter, the marriages of thousands of gay couples entered into outside the state have been recognized in recent years by many state and local agencies and by private employers for purposes of allowing health and life insurance coverage, child care and other benefits. But others have resisted doing so voluntarily, pending the outcome of numerous cases in the courts.

Friday’s ruling, legal experts said, was the first by an appellate division court, and would make the recognition of valid out-of-state gay marriages mandatory across New York. It was not clear whether Monroe County and Monroe Community College in Rochester, the employer in the case, would appeal.

Daniel DeLaus Jr., the county attorney for Rochester, said his office was reviewing the decision and would decide whether to seek an appeal.

Jeffrey Wicks, a lawyer who represents the plaintiff, Patricia Martinez, said that New York had recognized common-law marriages, even marriages of closely related people that might not be allowed in the state. “There’s a long tradition in New York of recognizing marriages that couldn’t be performed in New York,” he said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Ms. Martinez, a word-processing supervisor at the college, hailed the ruling. The union called it “the first known decision in the country to hold that a valid same-sex marriage must be recognized.”

“This is a victory for families, it’s a victory for fairness and it’s a victory for human rights,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the N.Y.C.L.U. “Congratulations to all same-sex couples validly married outside of New York State: You are now husband and husband, wife and wife. Now we need to work toward a New York where you don’t have to cross state or country lines to get married.”

The New York City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, the first openly gay leader of the Council, also applauded the ruling. “If this is saying companies have to do it, it’s a tremendous step forward in recognizing the diversity of families in New York City.”

New York City already extends marriage benefits to workers in domestic partnerships, and under a law passed in 2002, it provides all city benefits and services to same-sex couples whose unions are recognized by other jurisdictions. But the city has no power to impose such rules on private companies.

In 2004, the Council adopted legislation sponsored by Ms. Quinn that would have required large companies doing business with the city to provide equal job benefits to domestic partners. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vetoed the bill, and while the Council overrode the veto, the mayor said it violated state and federal laws and would prove costly to taxpayers. He sued successfully to block it in a case decided in 2006 by the Court of Appeals.

Mayor Bloomberg’s office declined to comment on Friday’s ruling, saying it had not seen the decision.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo also declined to comment, noting that his office may be involved in an appeal as the traditional defender of state agencies. Monroe Community College is a branch of the State University of New York.

In the past, Mr. Cuomo has said that state law requires that marriages performed in other states, and in Canada, be recognized in New York.

In the case before the appellate division in Rochester, Ms. Martinez and her partner, Lisa Ann Golden, formalized their longstanding relationship in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2001, and were married in Ontario on July 5, 2004.

A few days later, Ms. Martinez applied to Monroe Community College for health care benefits for her spouse. In November 2004, the college’s director of human resources, Sherry Ralston, denied the application, contending that the state did not recognize the marriage as a matter of law and public policy.

Ms. Martinez sued in 2006, arguing that her constitutional and civil rights had been violated. A State Supreme Court justice, Harold Galloway, dismissed the lawsuit in August 2006, saying the state did not recognize same-sex marriages. The state, he wrote “currently defines marriage as limited to the union of one man and one woman.”

But the appellate court disagreed, citing the century-old “marriage recognition rule” applying to heterosexual couples and noting that the Court of Appeals had implied that the Legislature could adopt a law legalizing same-sex marriage.

In early 2006, the court said, Monroe Community College had begun extending health-care benefits to Ms. Golden under a new contract provision. However, the judges held, the plaintiff was entitled to unspecified monetary damages for the period during which the benefits were wrongly denied.

I'm so excited. I had a very important business call today with a company that has 13,000 employees. I enrolled them in looking further at our product and I am going to meet with them in person on Feb. 14th.

This is amazing. This wouldn't break our little company if we didn't get it, and if we did get it it would literally catapult us into the corporate arena.

What an awesome way to start the weekend. Yippee!!!!!!

I figured I'd write something although I always start to do this and then I never end up having any integrity about it. I like to lurk. I've been paying more attention lately because I want to know what all the people I love are up to.

I'm taking a class starting on Monday about talking to angels. I really had to get over myself around this at first. I am usually a pretty big cynic about things like that. And I'm fascinated, so this time I am just going to dive in and see what happens. Worst case I'll get nothing out of it and best case I'll start hearing from Angels. Cool.
I'm listening to music and Hungry Like a Wolf was just on. How funny is that song. You gotta love the 80's. I have an 11 year old great niece who LOVES the 80's. She is adorable. And it makes me feel old. Funny.
Actually I really am very hungry right now.
Later.

I was inspired by this when I saw it yesterday.

This is the year!

This is the year that my dreams come true!

These words from a beloved poem invite me to eagerly welcome
the new year: "Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you, This is the year
that your
dreams come true!"

This is the year that my dreams do come true as I am blessed
with life-celebrating opportunities. Some at first may appear to be
happenstance. Yet I know that they have come to me by divine
appointment.

This is the year that expectations flow from my vision of
good. I am an active participant in the joy-filled life of me!

This is the year that I move forward with zeal and
enthusiasm, giving and receiving, committing to purposeful, rewarding
goals.

This is the year that brings happiness, a year that I will
live to bless. Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate me, for this is the year
that my
dreams come true!

I heard an author speak a few weeks ago about Gratitude. She said that Gratitude has two branches. The first is the when your bowl is almost, but not quite overflowing and you are basking in the Great Fullness of life. The second is when your bowl is over flowing and you are engaging in Thanks Giving. Giving freely your gifts and being of service to your fellow human beings. This kind of giving fills your heart and your soul which takes you right back to the Great Fullness of Life.

I am so Grateful for my life and the love that I been blessed to witness.

I am present to Gratitude every day but especially today as I celebrate the Great Fullness of life with my Sister and her husband, my brother, my beautiful wife and my amazing mother.

Blessings,
J

Today is the 3rd Anniversary of my Marriage to my best friend, playmate and Love. I can't tell you how much I love being married and how grateful I am to have her in my life.
Just when I think it can't get any better it does, over and over again. Each day, each week, we get to another level of intimacy and trust. Always knowing that she is in my corner, on my side, out to have me win. The experiece of being LOVED beyond belief is something I didn't know, I didn't know. That is for sure. To love her so passionately, to think the world of her, to respect who she is, to be inspired by her on a daily basis. To believe in her so completly, knowing with all my heart that no matter what we will succeed as a couple and as individuals. It's all more than I could have ever imagined.

How glorious that she chose me and continues to choose me over and over again. How Amazing that she is so willing to always grow with me and change with me.
And how Fabulous that she is a one of the funniest people I know and at the same time the sexiest, smartest and most beautiful.

Thank you Universe for bringing me Jessica. Thank you Jessica for marrying me.

Happy, Happy Birthday to my good friend Wildrufus. I hope you are having a most enjoyable day. I am very grateful that you were born. Please go call your mother and thank her for all of us.

I went camping this weekend or sort of. I was in a cabin which is sort of cheat camping in my book.
Regardless, I was in a place called Abram's Creek in West Virginia. I highly recommend this beautiful, peaceful place.
It is lovely. I meditated by the water and read. It was so nice.
If you have any time to go out to the woods and want a great place to go check this place out at www.abramscreek.com the campsite is open until Oct. 31st.
I hope to go back before then.

I'm finding that meditation is becoming more and more important to me. It is a part of my day I rarely skip anymore. Every success book I have says to mediate every day but until recently I was not that diligent about it.
Now if I miss a day of meditating I do feel like I am missing something.

I opened this account a few weeks ago with the intention of getting in communication with people in my life that I miss and haven't been in touch with in awhile. I actually thought of doing it because I realized that even with my closest friends I forget to tell the important goings on in my life. It's funny to be a Life Coach and coach people in being powerful in their lives and then realize that I resist communication like crazy.

One example is that I have completed my first level of Coaches Training and am now a Certified Coach and yet I haven't really told anyone that. My excuse is that I just don't think to when I see them but I'm also trained to look a bit deeper than that. And at the same time it is all made up anyway so what the hell.

I promised A2 I would post something silly and un important to get used to writing as a form of communication. As if anyone will read it anyway.

So here is my unimportant observation.
It doesn't work to eat an oatmeal butterscotch chip cookie for breakfast and then have a weight loss shake for lunch and then go to the gym and try to lift weights. After a five minute run and then fifteen minutes lifting I was shaking like whore in church. I have learned my lesson and will now and forever forward make sure I am well fed or at least got enough protein in me before lifting weights.

Also I can tell you that I may be the biggest pussy I know when it comes to lifting weights. Luckily I work out at a gym that has a "no judgement zone" philosophy. And clearly it is embarrassing to be grunting with my fifteen lb dumbells when the guy next to me who is no taller than me is doing the same workout with a 45lb dumbell. I am a wimp.

And I'm kind of excited because last week it was a 10lb dumbell I was grunting over. So I can see progress and actually have the thought that I may be able to create the body I want if I don't give up. It's the giving up thing I will have to deal with. Working out and my physical body is an area for me that doesn't come easily and I am prone to giving up quickly before I see lasting results. I have some buddies helping me with this which is what I have found works for me. I can't afford a personal trainer to kick my butt for me but I do have some extraordinary friends in my life that keep me honest.