Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyFebruary 7th, 2012
Today marks the twelfth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is a national HIV testing and awareness initiative focusing on the African-American community. The theme this year is “Changing the course of HIB/AIDS, one Black life at a time.”
Tonight at sundown marks the start of Tu B’Shevat, a minor Jewish Holiday on the 15th of Scvat, which is also called “The New Year of the Trees” — a sort of a Jewish Arbor Day, if you will. According to the Talmud, it is one of four new years in the Jewish Calendar, marking the date for calculating when the agricultural cycle begins. In particular, the date is used to establish the age of fruit trees, regardless of when they were planted. This is important because of the prohibition (Leviticus 19:23*24) on eating the fruit of trees produced during the first three years after they are planted. The fourth-year fruit crops were then brought to Jerusalem as a tithe.
TODAY’S AGENDA:
Appeals Court To Issue Prop 8 Ruling: San Francisco, CA. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has announced that they will issue their ruling on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 this morning at 10:00 a.m. PST. Whatever the ruling may be, whoever doesn’t like it then has the option of asking for an en banc review by eleven-members of the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court. The judges of the Circuit can also call for an en banc review if neither of the parties ask for it. That would involve several more weeks (or months) of hearings before a final decision is reached. From there, presumably, it goes to the Supreme Court, although it could also go before a “super en banc” review of the entire Ninth Court before moving on to the Supreme Court. Throughout the entire process, the stay on Judge Walker’s ruling is almost certain to remain in place.
Of course, all of this assumes that the Appeals Court rules that Prop 8 supporters have standing and that Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to recuse himself because he is gay. At any rate, there are three rallies that I know of already announced in California:
Uganda’s Parliament Resumes: Kampala, Uganda. It’s time to keep an eye on things in Uganda as the nation’s Parliament begins another session. There have been reports that Parliament is expected to revive the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and bring it to the floor of the house for debate, perhaps as early as today. So far, Parliament’s web site has no new postings, with the most recent Order Paper posted for November 10, 2011. We will however try to monitor things as best we can and keep you up to date on anything we hear.
Protest against AIDS Medical Rationing: Steubenville, OH. The administration of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has ordered changes to how the Ohio Department of Health administers the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADA), which the AIDS Healthcare Foundation warn will result in “arbitrarily cutting off care to people with AIDS. Already, a judge granted three Ohioans with AIDS a preliminary injunction from enforcing proposed changes to state ADAP regulations, which AHF says are “some of the most severe medical and financial-eligibility changes to a government medical assistance program nationwide.” AFER will protest Gov. Kasich’s “State of the State” address at the Wells Academy in Steubenville beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.
If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).
And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?
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Hyhybt
February 7th, 2012
At the time, I didn’t think anything of it…. but with the rest of the decision(s) all tied together and coming out today, what reason could their be for their issuing the one on the tapes separately, yet only by a few days?
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