September 2010 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
anyone else pissed...
about the bill being passed in WI (and specifically HOW it was passed) and the layoffs in RI???
i feel like i was personally stabbed in the heart hearing these things.
Re: anyone else pissed...
On WI - yes. I was really disappointed when I heard that on the news this morning. Dems might as well head back - at least if they're there they can try to put up more of a fight.
I saw a headline on RI but haven't had a chance to read the article yet. Teacher layoffs, right?
for those who have no idea what i am talking about... (sorry they aren't clicky!)
WI:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wi-assembly-gop-passes-walker-budget-in-surprise-vote----dems-chant-shame.php
RI:
Providence, RI, teachers get pink slips
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i think the gay marriage law just passed in MD!!!
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The law passed in the senate, so now we're waiting on the House. It's very likely that it will pass, which I think is absolutely awesome. However, some of the comments from the senators voicing their disapproval get my blood BOILING, and they are so ridiculously illogical that I'm pissed that these people hold any type of office.
Edit: Here is a link.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/02/24/gay-marriage-debate-in-senate-turns-heated/
I went to copy the quotes for you, and unbelievably the article has been edited. I'm kind of floored. They ran along the lines of 'marriage should only be between a man and a woman who intend to have children.'
Here are the former quotes:
"I want to go on record this morning in opposition to this bill,? said Sen. Joanne Benson, (D) Prince George?s County. ?The reason is that marriage really is designed for people who love each other and who want to have children.?
?Government has no compelling interest to regulate or recognize these relationships. Love between a man and woman that may lead to children is the only love that government has the right to recognize,? said Sen. Nancy Jacobs, (R) Harford and Cecil Counties.
Which have been replaced with:
Senator Nancy Jacobs says she intends to fight the bill.
?Monday we?ll get to work,? said Jacobs, (R) Cecil & Harford counties. ?Oh, you betcha, as soon as we have the wording and the petitions available. I told my husband that we?re not going on vacation until we get them.?
?I think it?s going to be a very exciting general election and it?s going to enhance the vote on this matter,? said Sen. President Mike Miller, (D) Prince George?s and Calvert Counties. ?I think it?s going to enhance it in a negative way.?
unbelievable. honestly. people are INSANE. how is this not legal? how is it ok for ME to vote on who YOU marry...it hurts NOBODY. FRucKING nobody gets hurt with gays getting married, and yet we are spending all of this time and energy focusing on it and blocking this law from being passed? WHY???
basically (no offense intended) i hate closed minded people and the majority of conservative people. there. i said it. flame away. but if your opinions HURT other people (not allowing them to get married, form unions, get fired) then i think your damn opinion needs to shove it.
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The government has no right to regulate marriage. Period. Marriage is a religious sacrament.
"Marriage" should be replaced with "Civil Union" which should be applied to any two people who wish to be considered partners in life. Civils Unions should have the same rights/restrictions as marriage. Insurance, tax breaks (or penalties), etc.
This issue of marriage should be between the couple and their religion.
Blargh.
The Princess of Anything is Coming!
Had a dream I was queen.
Woke up. Still queen.
I said the exact thing QOA - I have friends who don't intend to have children, and others who can't, does that mean they shouldn't get married?
I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that it would cost a shitton of money to simply make civil unions have the same rights as marriage or replace marriage altogether legally, because zillions of legal documents solely use the wording 'marriage' when dispensing certain rights. I do agree that it would be better if marriage had nothing to do with the government, but I could see how it could be such a can of worms to change things around after all of this time.
All of the anti-gay marriage stuff makes me absolutley psycho crazy. It makes no sense. Why would you want to put a ban on something born out of love between two consenting adults? Try putting a ban on something born out of hate. That will work better.
Rhode Island, your approach to your budget problem is BEYOND INSANE. I'm quite sure this is having a negative affect on the children in your systems. Buffoons.
Wisconsin - the way it went down was complete BS. HOWEVER, I have seen a situation unfold over the past three years of a teacher's union in Pennsylvania (the district I grew up in) - striking at times, working to contract (which only hurts the kids) over having to pay SOMETHING towards their health benefits (they currently pay $0) and rejecting every single offer - of pay increases, etc., that the school board has put forth. I am sorry. In this day and age, every person should be paying towards their healthcare - the taxpayers should not carry all of the burden, especially in a district where people have lost jobs or taken major paycuts over the past five years to keep their jobs. That totally soured me on unions and the greed of some union leaders and their ability to reach a compromise, and makes me think there needs to be some reevaluation of the unions as a whole. But to remove the collective bargaining right cuts them at the knees and does not allow for modification of the system whatsoever.
Let me weigh in on the RI thing as (I think) the only RI'er on here:
They have done this before with Central Falls school district when the teachers couldn't get any respectable standardized test score out of the high school students - all teachers were hired back.
This vote was only to approve lay offs IF necessary at the end of the year. No one is laid off yet, and most likely 98% of the teachers will not lose their jobs. It is a way to get the budget passed through the city at the end of the fiscal year - that's it. They do it this way because the average teacher salary in Providence is $68k, if they actually put the full cost of education in the city budget it can't pass the state review - therefore show a possible reduction in costs, cut elsewhere, then slide the education budget back in with State and Federal aid.
I am VERY surprised that NO one here- -- has mentioned the billboard in NYC (the state I live in) about abortion. "The most dangerous place for an african american baby is in side the womb"......pertaining to the very high abortion rate for black women in NYC alone...... 59%. That's OUTRAGEOUS!!!! And SICKENING.
Seriously??? So it's ok to kill that kind of ratio of babies but ya know-- killing people with guns is "okay". If those women (who are statistically more D than R) who are aborting their babies would have decided to keep their babies-- their D votes would increase exponentially. Additionally-- why was the bill board removed??? It's fact backed by numbers....... does no one favor truth anymore????
I don't care if my PoV is unpopular (and I know this topic is out form left field) but this has been MY gripe lately among the politics......feel free to FLAME on
)
Datsyuks & Ferdy- We Go Together Like...
ferdy, i think a lot of people do not see it as murder because a lot of people do not view a fetus as a living thing, and is in fact "just" a fetus/cells/etc. therefore it is not viewed as murder to have an abortion by people like me. a fetus can not live on its own without being in the mother's uterus, therefore it is not a life. (once we get to third trimester abortions, this issue gets sticky)
in no way am i saying you are wrong for believing that once conceived, a fetus is a BABY and a LIFE. you have that right to believe that, just like i have the right to believe otherwise. and because of these two different views on when life is conceived, it is not fair for the law to tell a woman that she cannot have an abortion--if she believes (along with scientific and medical backing) that a fetus is not a living thing, then abortions cannot be illegal as you are not killing anything. that choice needs to be there for women to chose what is right for THEM and for THEIR beliefs.
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I think the two most notable things here that I failed to leave out before are these:
1) the man behind the posting of the Bill board-- a Black Reverend.
2) it was the D's who wanted the billboard removed-- yet the D's are the one's who support abortion.... seriously?? 59% -- that is quite a success rate don'tcha think?? why would you fight to get it removed?? Wouldn't you WANT everyone to know how successful your movements are??
Shauni you and I could go round and round on this-- but I think we respect each other enough to not- for the good of he land. I wasn't questioning the beliefs of women (this time) I was just baffled by the publicity the billboard made and the flip flopping of D's PoV.....it's like-- "we support abortion!!! ....but don't tell everyone with a giant billboard with FACTS"....Like I said-- this is something that popped up in the news that just made me go.... excusemewtfdidyousay???????
Datsyuks & Ferdy- We Go Together Like...
Ferdy, what exactly do you expect someone to say about that billboard? I, personally, found it highly offensive. I'm not sure where your number of 59% came from or what exactly it's supposed to represent. When I looked up statistics I found that 30% of abortions in the US are performed on African American women, which is disproportionately high. It was removed because a lot of people were offended, makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense to me is how the same people who are so loudly anti-abortion are also trying to keep Planned Parenthood from receiving state funding.
I also don't know who is saying that it's ok to kill people with guns? I'm just trying to sort out the logic in this post.
This wasn't here when I initially posted, but are you freaking kidding me, Ferdy? That billboard was obviously anti-abortion, no two ways about it. Being a Democrat doesn't make someone automatically pro-choice. How can you possibly think that this is an advertisement for the success of abortions? Just because I support a woman's right to choose, that doesn't mean that I'm HAPPY that anyone is in a position to make that choice, and I don't rejoice over abortions. You can't possibly think that that's what being pro-choice is about.
Edit: I'm so angry about this, I'm done in this thread. Feel free to continue posting but I won't be around to read it.
as far a the gun thing I was just talking outta my butt.... I was just on a rant and chose not to edit after.... but the stats are in NYC not US. Sorry for the frustration rant.... the numbers I got from a local paper and listening to wgy this am...and if it offends--- then whatev. If it's truth... why should you be offended?? Like I said--- I know I'm unpopular on this one.....so sorry for being a bit flamed about it. It's kinda unlike me....
Datsyuks & Ferdy- We Go Together Like...
sorry dude-- honestly wasn't trying to make anyone hate me..... or get THAT mad..... ... I mean i know people would get mad ....
Datsyuks & Ferdy- We Go Together Like...
ferds--you and i are a perfect example of 2 people who both have smart and educated different beliefs and we enjoy discussing them because we agree to disagree in a polite way.
my opinions on the billboard are this: i believe the dems wanted it removed bc it sounds rather racist. even if it is a true fact, don't you think there is a reason for that? society is often racist, not providing the education and resources for the lower classes that they do for the higher classes, and often it is blacks and other minorities in the lower classes--it is a perpetual cycle. if black people and all minorities were working in high paying jobs, and whites all of a sudden were living in poverty, i think that the government and businesses would cater more to the lower class so that the whites could have more resources to "better" their living situations. to be in the lower class, regardless of your race (but in this country, it is proven that the majority of the lower class is made up of blacks and other minorities) there is less education and public resources for women to learn about safe sex, etc.
i also think that the black reverend who posted it probably posted it to bring awareness to black women and to make them feel like they as black women can make a difference by not getting pregnant, live that lifestyle, or have abortions. he obviously disagrees with abortions and is disgusted that so many women in his culture are having them.
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Datsyuks & Ferdy- We Go Together Like...
Ferdy, you know that I love you. Really and truly. Hopefully we've patched things up - I wanted other people to know that we're not duking it out or anything. I came back to try to clear things up.
Like Shauni, I really do try and respect other people's opinions. I have friends (including Ferds!!) with very different viewpoints from my own and I appreciate it because we have a lot of really thought-provoking conversations. I like that we can have civil discussions and hash out each others' points of view, and it helps me better understand the 'other side', so to speak.
I found some of what Ferdy said to be offensive, mainly that I viewed it as an implication that pro-choice = pro-abortion, when I am pretty sure for most people that's not the case. I also didn't clarify why I found the billboard offensive; as Shauni mentioned, it seems a bit racist. It DOES bother me that so many people feel that they have no alternative other than abortion. Many people feel that African Americans have a higher abortion rate because they have less access to preventive education and things like women's health centers that provide education about contraceptives and alternatives like adoption. I personally feel that it would be better to focus time, energy, and resources on targeting these areas, providing more education and resources to high-risk groups, rather than putting up vague billboards meant to rile people up.
Now that I've calmed down a bit, hopefully that makes sense.
very well thought out and nicely said.
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