![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Nov. 7th, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A State Board of Education member called on textbook publishers to change the wording in health books being considered for use in Texas schools to clearly state that marriage is between a man and a woman.
GRANTSBURG, Wisconsin (AP) -- School officials have revised the science curriculum to allow the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
GRANTSBURG, Wisconsin (AP) -- School officials have revised the science curriculum to allow the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will renew a quest in his second term for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage as essential to a "hopeful and decent" society, his top political aide said on Sunday.Doesn't this just make you sick to your stomach?
Bush's call for a constitutional ban on gay marriages failed last year in Congress, but his position was seen as a key factor motivating Christian conservatives concerned about "moral values" to turn out in large numbers and help supply Bush with a winning margin in last week's election.
"If we want to have a hopeful and decent society, we ought to aim for the ideal, and the ideal is that marriage ought to be, and should be, a union of a man and a woman," Bush political aide Karl Rove told "Fox News Sunday."
Rove said Bush would "absolutely" push the Republican-controlled Congress for a constitutional amendment, which he said was needed to avert the aims of "activist judges" who would permit gay marriages.
Renewing his push for an amendment -- despite its slim chances of success -- would be a way for Bush to reward his conservative base. The amendment would face a steep hurdle winning the needed approval of three-fourths of the states.
[more]
Even though he knows the amendment would never pass, he's going to pursue it in order to make all of the "moral values" voters feel justified in voting for him.
Exit polls suggest that 17.6% of the population voted for Bush with moral values as their #1 issue. 'Moral Values' was the number one issue according to the exit polls.
This means that 25% of all voters said gay marriage should be fully legal. 77% of them voted for Kerry.
35% of all voters said that civil unions should be legal. 52% of those people voted for Bush.
37% of all voters said that gay relationships should not be legally recognized. 70% of those people voted for Bush.
"So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America." -George W. Bush, acceptance speech, Nov. 4, 2004.
Sure. Outlaw gay marriage, then ask the large percentage of people that support gay marriage or civil unions to come together to support you.
Hardly a uniter, always a divider.
I know I'm tired of seeing maps that are divided by state, either red or blue.
Here we have not only a map with more colors levels than two, but it's also broken down into counties.
Click for a larger version.
Here we have not only a map with more colors levels than two, but it's also broken down into counties.
Click for a larger version.
Nov. 7th, 2004 06:47 pm
Imprisoned.
Believe it or not, according to this report, there were 1,368,866 men and just 101,179 women imprisoned in 2003.
That's 1 in every 109 men and 1 in every 1,613 women in the United States that were in prison.
These numbers don't include jails - just prisons.
The number of women in prison has grown 48 percent since 1995, when the figure was 68,468, the report said. The male prison population has grown 29 percent over that time, from 1,057,406.
Among other findings in the report:
"Drug Crimes"
I think it's about time they realize the "war on drugs" isn't working and is only costing money.
... And I find it strange that they spent so much effort in the report to concentrate on black men.
That's 1 in every 109 men and 1 in every 1,613 women in the United States that were in prison.
These numbers don't include jails - just prisons.
The number of women in prison has grown 48 percent since 1995, when the figure was 68,468, the report said. The male prison population has grown 29 percent over that time, from 1,057,406.
Among other findings in the report:
- More than 44 percent of all sentenced male inmates were black, and many of them were young.
- Among the more than 1.4 million sentenced inmates at the end of 2003, an estimated 403,165 were black men between 20 and 39.
- At the end of 2003, 9.3 percent of black men 25 to 29 were in prison, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men in the same age group.
- In 11 states, there were increases in the prison population of at least 5 percent, led by North Dakota with an 11.4 percent rise.
- Also, 11 states had decreases. Connecticut had the biggest drop, at 4.2 percent.
"Drug Crimes"
I think it's about time they realize the "war on drugs" isn't working and is only costing money.
... And I find it strange that they spent so much effort in the report to concentrate on black men.