Levitating Train From Las Vegas To Los Angeles Gets Boost

Plans for a levitating train from Las Vegas to Disneyland can move forward under a transportation bill signed by President Bush on Friday that frees up $45 million for the futuristic project.

Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S.

The money is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project.

The money had been delayed by a drafting error in Congress' 2005 highway bill, which was corrected along with some other changes by the legislation signed Friday by Bush. The delay had allowed a competing and cheaper diesel-electric plan to emerge as an alternative, but with the money now freed up supporters hope to move forward with the MagLev plan.

The train is meant to ease traffic on increasingly clogged Interstate 15, the main route for the millions of Southern Californians who make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. There is no train on the route - Amtrak's Desert Wind between Los Angeles and Las Vegas was canceled in 1997 because of low ridership.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised passage of the law, saying the MagLev project "will safely and efficiently move people between Southern California and Las Vegas."

Pro-Gay Bishops Must Apologize

Archbishop of Uganda demands that “pro-gay bishops must apologize and renounce their support for sexual perversion” in order to mend rift in Church:

"The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, made the appeal on Wednesday, while addressing journalists at the provincial headquarters in Namirembe, Kampala. He was announcing the departure of a team of Church of Uganda bishops to the Anglican Communion scheduled for June 22-29 in Jerusalem. According to Orombi, conservative Christians worldwide, who believe in the Bible, will meet in Jerusalem to 'prepare for an Anglican future in which the gospel is uncompromised and a Christ-centred mission is a top priority.'"

"Everybody hates George Bush."

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

[He's a rebuplican and from Texas!]

Help The Planet

RETHINK BOTTLED WATER

Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA's standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA's standards for bottled water.

Introducing Jayden Lee Bolling

Jayden Lee Bolling

Born June 5, 2008

Some Photos of Adrian

At the beach with Mom in Puerto Rico.

The joys of the Easter Basket.

We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn’t just about the party in charge of Washington, it’s about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.

All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren’t the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn’t do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – we cannot afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say – let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.

Hagee: Gay Marriage = 'Kiss This Country Goodbye'

Televangelist John Hagee waxes nostalgic about the old days—before the advent of things like television, penicillin, and gay rights. Certainly Hagee, whose figure can be seen in millions of homes, has adapted to television and frozen food. But apparently, this “entrenched” thinking is a fine justification for pushing an anti-gay marriage amendment to the Constitution.






For those of you who were born before 1945, closets were for clothes, not something strange people were coming out of. ...

It was a different world. ... No wonder there's such a generation gap in the world today. You're not from my world, and I'm not from yours.

That's why my generation thinks we need a constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of marriage that guarantees that, in America, the only marriage to be recognized is the marriage between a man and a woman! In the house of God!

There are so many things in America that have changed. That should never change. And you listen to me: If it does, you can kiss this country goodbye.

Help The Planet

WRAP CREATIVELY

You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth or even newspaper. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps or markers to create their own wrapping paper that's environmentally friendly and extra special for the recipient.

Most say gay marriage private choice

Six in ten Americans say same-sex marriage a private choice that should not be regulated by the government: "As same-sex couples line up to get marriage licenses in California on June 17, the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll found that 63% of adults say same-sex marriage is 'strictly a private decision' between two people. That the government has the right 'to prohibit or allow' such marriages was stated by 33%, and 4% had no opinion."

Jon Stewart on Obama and McCain

Help The Planet

RECYCLE NEWSPAPER

There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S. Of these, 44 million, or about 69%, of them will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.

A constitutional amendment making marriage legal only between a man and a woman introduced in U.S. House

The Marriage Protection Amendment of 2008 needs your support!

Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia has introduced the Marriage Protection Amendment of 2008 (H.J. RES. 89). This amendment to the U.S. Constitution would make marriage legal only between a man and a woman.

If you haven't heard about this, it is because the liberal media opposes it. So if they simply refuse to report it, citizens will know nothing about it and will not act on it.

As you know, Massachusetts has already legalized marriage of homosexuals, while the California Supreme Court has ruled all laws restricting homosexual marriage illegal. In both places, the courts ruled by a one vote margin. The goal of homosexual activists is to see homosexual marriage legal in all 50 states.

Rep. Broun needs co-sponsors for H.J. RES. 89. Please contact you Representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor H.J. RES. 89. Homosexual activists are determined to force homosexual marriage on America by using activist liberal judges, like those in Massachusetts and California. A Federal Marriage Amendment will finally put an end to activist judges tampering with the will of the people.

Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon,
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

[Please send an e-mail message urging your Member of Congress NOT to support H.J. RES. 89 - the Marriage Protection Amendment (2008). Clearly AFA is doing the opposite.]

GOP rolls out video using Democrats' words against Barack Obama.

Help The Planet

USE BOTH SIDES OF PAPER

American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer's default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). And when you're finished with your documents, don't forget to take them to the recycling bin.

Court Opts Not To Stay Gay Marriage Ruling

California's high court on Wednesday denied a request to stay its decision legalizing gay marriage.

[woo-hoo]

Jay Leno Says "I Do" in Support of Gay Marriage

Forget that "gay face" controversy!

Jay Leno will be among the boldfaced names at a gay marriage celebration and rally tomorrow night at the Abbey in West Hollywood.

T.R. Knight will join the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s Judy Shepard for a group wedding of gay and lesbian couples at the landmark gay pub on Robertson Boulevard.

The Tonight Show host decided to make an appearance in support of the recent legalization of gay marriage by California’s Supreme Court.

“He said that he is from Massachusetts and that the sky did not fall in their state when marriage equality became the law of the land there," a rep for the event said. "He wants to impress upon everyone here in California that the sky will not fall here either.”

The event will also encourage people to vote "no" on the upcoming ballot initiative that would reverse the court's decision.

Episcopal church claims deposed bishop transferred money

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin has expanded its lawsuit against a deposed bishop who led a secession prompted by the church's ordination of women and gays.

Diocese officials say John-David Schofield transferred up to $5 million in church money to outside accounts he formed this spring.

In its lawsuit filed Monday in Fresno County Superior Court, the diocese says started transferring investment funds and other accounts held by Merrill Lynch to a new holding company in April. A diocese spokeswoman says Merrill Lynch froze the accounts on Tuesday.

National church leaders removed Schofield as the head of the Fresno-based diocese in March, after he led parishioners to align themselves with the conservative Province of the Southern Cone, an Argentina-based member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Help The Planet

BAN BATHTIME!

Have a no-bath week, and take showers instead. Baths require almost twice as much water. Not only will you reduce water consumption, but the energy costs associated with heating the water.

Gay Marriage Ban Qualifies for California Ballot

An initiative that would again outlaw gay marriage in California has qualified for the November ballot, the Secretary of State announced.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Monday that a random check of signatures submitted by the measure's sponsors showed that they had gathered enough names for it to be put to voters.

The measure would amend the state constitution to ''provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.''

If approved by a majority of voters on Nov. 4, the amendment would overturn the recent California Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. It is similar to gay marriage bans that have been adopted in 26 other states.

''This signifies the fact that California voters really do favor and will come out to vote for the protection of historic marriage,'' said Ron Prentice, executive director of ProtectMarriage.com, a coalition of religious and social conservative groups behind the initiative.

In response to the court's May 15 ruling, California public health officials already have amended marriage license applications to read ''Party A'' and ''Party B'' instead of bride and groom. Local officials have been told to start issuing the revised licenses to same-sex couples on June 17.

Gay men and lesbians would still be able to get married between then and the election, even with the initiative pending, unless the court agrees to stay its decision until after Nov. 4, as the amendment's sponsors have requested.

If the marriages proceed during the next five months, it is unclear whether they would be nullified if the amendment passes. Some legal scholars have said the state Supreme Court might get called on again to settle that question.

Kate Kendell, executive director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, said gay marriage advocates have already launched a campaign to defeat the measure.

''There is just so much at stake, now, in terms of what kind of state we are going to live in and what values we are going to uphold,'' Kendell said.

To qualify for the ballot, the measure needed 694,354 petition signatures, an amount equal to 8 percent of the votes cast during the last governor's race.

Proponents submitted 1,120,801 signatures in late April, and county clerks determined the measure qualified by verifying the validity of 3 percent of the signatures they received, according to Bowen.
Recent polls have found California voters are about evenly split on whether gay couples should be allowed to marry.

First Same-Sex Marriages Take Place in Greece

Two same-sex couples became Greece’s first to wed Tuesday after using a loophole in Greek civil law to become united in marriage.

The unions took place following threats of prosecution and amidst intense scrutiny by the Orthodox church even though Greek civil law does not discuss gender in marriage.

According to the Justice Ministry in Greece, the marriages are illegal, and the two males and two females could face criminal charges.

The two couples were reportedly wed at a municipal office on the island of Tilos by mayor Tassos Aliferis. Aliferis, who could also face criminal charges, said he was protecting basic human rights by marrying the couples.

Help The Planet

USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN

During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.

Gay marriage gaining ground

California, New York and even Macy's are accepting it.

As the California Supreme Court decision outlawing this state's ban on same-sex marriage settles in, we are being treated to the unmistakable cracking sounds of long-held, icy bigotries giving way to a wellspring of justice.

In New York, the governor has ordered state agencies to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere. In California, polls show growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, most notably among young people. And, perhaps most telling of all, Macy's this week took out a full-page ad that solicited the business of same-sex couples planning their nuptials. "First comes love. Then comes marriage," the ad proclaims beneath an image of two wedding rings. "And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate."

And why not? Surely the trailing edges of society will soon reflect on the resistance to this phenomenon with chagrin and more than a little embarrassment. It is bracing, after all, to realize how recently much of this nation blanched at interracial marriage, and thrilling to recognize how quickly most of us buried that prejudice, first in law, then in custom.

To those who fret about lawmaking from the bench, the role of justices in striking down anti-miscegenation laws is instructive. Through the 1950s and 1960s, more than a dozen states repealed their bans on interracial marriage, but by June 1967, 16 states still clung to them. Even at that late date, it took the Supreme Court to enforce justice on behalf of a minority. Within a generation, the only ones left to oppose interracial marriage were the yahoos.

Race is not the only sphere that yields to the inexorable press of justice. The same Supreme Court that opened interracial marriage to all had a year earlier commanded that police inform suspects of their rights. The Miranda case was narrowly decided and furiously condemned. And then, as police began to deliver its warnings, Miranda's edicts inserted themselves in our culture, whereupon they quickly went from catastrophic to commonplace. Soon, the officers in "Dragnet" were droning Miranda's commands to hapless television crooks. No less than Justice William H. Rehnquist, who once deplored Miranda, came to accept its place in American life. "Miranda," he wrote in 2000, “has become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have become part of our national culture."

We are at the outset of that same process with respect to same-sex marriage. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his acceptance of the California ruling, is helping that along, and Democratic Gov. David Paterson, with his order to New York agencies, has spread its impact. As other businesses follow the lead of Macy's and acknowledge that marriage -- whatever the sex of the loving adults -- is not just good politics but also good commerce, the battle will be over. Equality has a way of winning.

Help The Planet

WASH IN COLD OR WARM

If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
Only launder when you have a full load.