YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

this is wonderful news. my heart is full of joy. i'm sure there are those that will do everything within their power to overturn this. i never understood it. it's fear of course. the country is NOT going to 'turn' gay if you allow gay people to have the rights they, along with EVERYONE ELSE not only deserve but HAVE by the laws of this nation. you can't EXCLUDE someone if they are gay (it's my belief 99% of people are born with their homosexuality or heterosexuality). you cannot NOT allow gay people to marry. they have partners, they fall in love. they need the legal rights just like all OTHER married couples are afforded. to me, love is love. to me, a family is a family if it involves love, respect and nurturing NO MATTER HOW THAT FAMILY IS MADE UP

State Supreme Court Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

By DANIELA ALTIMARI
The state Supreme Court on Friday delivered gay and lesbian couples the validation they have long been seeking — the right to marry.

In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that same-sex couples cannot be prevented from marrying — and that civil unions, those marriage-like legal arrangements that Connecticut has offered to gay people since 2005, are not an acceptable substitute.

"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the ... same-sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard Palmer wrote. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others."

The 85-page ruling means that thousands of gay couples soon will be able to marry in Connecticut, perhaps as early as next month. It also provides fresh fuel to opponents of same-sex marriage, who are pushing for a mechanism that would permit them to amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex unions..............

Judges: Conn. Nation's Third State To Allow Same-Sex Weddings

Expert: 'It's Another Court Saying That Separate But Equal Is Not OK'

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The idea that civil unions could be a satisfying but less contentious substitute to gay marriage was knocked down Friday by Connecticut's Supreme Court.

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Read The Decision
Dissent 1
Dissent 2
Dissent 3
There is no substitute, the justices ruled 4-3 as they made the state the nation's third to allow same-sex weddings.
The ruling might not have been as earthshaking as the one in Massachusetts that allowed gay marriage for the first time in the U.S., or the one in California that made it legal on the other side of the country and in the nation's most populous state. But it cut into the view that there is some solid middle ground on an issue that has inflamed passions on both sides."It's another court saying that separate but equal is not OK," said Edward Stein, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. "As state courts start to say this ... gradually, over time, there might be a consensus that emerges."Same-sex weddings are expected to begin in Connecticut in less than a month. Out-of-staters will be eligible, but few other states are likely to recognize the unions...............
Reverend willing and able to tie the same sex knot
by News Channel 8's Crystal Haynes

(WTNH) -- Many Connecticut residents are sharply divided on the issue of same sex marriage, but so are the clergy. News Channel 8 talked to a reverend who says she is ready to help any couples in love tie the knot.

There has been outrage and overwhelming joy over the state Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriage.

Reverend Kathleen McTigue says she agrees with the decision saying, "One of the core values in our religion is the teaching that all human beings are of infinite worth and value and every human life weighs the same."

"Fundamentally it is the truth that they are simply not treated equally. Marriage under the law is a civil right and it has not been granted to them equally," Reverend McTigue said.

As a Unitarian minister, Reverend McTigue stopped signing marriage licenses four years ago because if she couldn't sign for everyone, she wouldn't sign for anyone..................

trees

it is a picture i took this morning. i just used paint shop pro - the brushstrokes option

monsters in the hood

this morning at about 3 am

(cool lights, huh?)

i'm literally speechless (really, i am)

Woman sues over wrong hair color
By DANIEL TEPFER

BRIDGEPORT -- A Stratford woman is seeing red after learning that blondes don't always have more fun.

Charlotte Feeney filed suit against the cosmetics firm L'Oreal Inc. after apparently grabbing the wrong tube of hair color and dyeing her "naturally blond" hair a dark brown.

But Superior Court Judge Richard Gilardi on Monday brushed off Feeney's lawsuit.

Gilardi ruled that Feeney had presented no evidence supporting her claim of negligence against the hair care company. "The plaintiff submitted no facts, no opinions and no standards to substantiate either of the allegations," he stated.

Feeney's lawyer, David Laudano, said he hadn't seen the judge's decision and couldn't comment. Feeney could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Feeney on Aug. 27, 2003, purchased a tube of L'Oreal permanent hair color from a local supermarket to touch up her naturally blond hair.........

if you're in the new england area this sunday

it's the 5th annual knit/crochet for the cure at webs in northampton mass

5th Annual Knit/Crochet for the Cure: October 12th from 12:00pm to 4:00pm

We are once again partnering with the Cancer Connection for this wonderful event. Please join us for an afternoon of knitting, inspiration and camaraderie. We will knit squares to be sewn into blankets for those dealing with a cancer diagnosis. We'll be using Valley Superwash, so we recommend bringing along a size 7 needle, but gauge does vary by knitter, so we suggest bringing an assortment. Spinners bring your wheels! Rigid Heddle Weavers bring your looms! Join us for an afternoon of hope. The event is free, but please register.

FOUR YEARS LATER

that's right FOUR YEARS LATER (that is unfathomable to me. it really is), the police decide to search billy smolinski's truck. i just don't understand who the police were/are protecting (well i am guessing i know who they were protecting, i just don't know WHY). how else would one explain the lack of cooperation, care and concern from the police?

Police Search Vehicle Of Man Missing Since 2004

HARTFORD, Conn. -- On Tuesday, police searched the truck of a Waterbury man who has been missing for more than four years.
Billy Smolinski disappeared from his Waterbury home in 2004.
State police did a forensic analysis of Smolinski's truck looking for evidence such as fingerprints and blood.
Janice Smolinski was sharing her son's story at a missing person's conference in Denver on Wednesday night when she heard about the search.
"All along we had thought there was a problem with the truck, and we still do," she said.
She said his family thinks the truck might hold clues because it was parked in the wrong place in his driveway.
"It was parked at Billy's house at the end of his driveway, and we had brought that to the police's attention at the beginning when Billy first went missing," she said.........

da liebs, at it again

foaming at the mouth while talking about killing people

he's a wad, plain and simple

Lieberman: ‘I Worry About’ Whether Obama Has ‘The Right Stuff To Bomb Iran’»

In an interview with the right-wing magazine Newsmax yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) called Sen. Barack Obama’s worldview “naive.” Asked if Obama had “the right stuff to bomb Iran if it came to that level,” Lieberman replied, “I worry about that“:

ASHLEY MARTELLA: Alirght, Iran has sworn to exterminate Israel as well as attack the United States. Does Barack Obama have the right stuff to bomb Iran if it came to that level?

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN: Well, I worry about that. I worry that Sen. Obama’s world view is naive. Sen. McCain has been around awhile. He’s learned some things. I’ve traveled the world with him a lot. He’s, he will be the kind of president who our allies will trust, but who our enemies will fear. And in a dangerous world, al Qaeda, Iran, Iran trying to get a nuclear weapons, we want a president who our enemies will fear. I don’t believe that Sen. Obama will be that kind of president. I believe he’s naive to think that people like Ahmadinejad and Tehran Iran will somehow become America’s friend just by…..........

unfortunately this comes far too late

to have stopped those idiotic AND DANGEROUS (and useless and stupid and insane) traffic 'calming' islands on asylum avenue between steele and trout brook

west hartford LEAVE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IN TACT (and the police and the schools too). no one wants THAT touched. what we want touched are projects like useless TRAFFIC CALMING ISLANDS WHERE THEY ARE NOT ONLY NOT WANTED THEY ARE NOT NEEDED

West Hartford Voters Again Reject Budget Plan

By JOSH KOVNER And VANESSA DE LA TORRE |The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD - Voters on Tuesday shot down the $213.4 million budget, 6,152 to 4,844, and Mayor Scott Slifka said the council will consider about $800,000 worth of cuts when it meets to pass a new spending plan next Tuesday.

The budget passed in five of 20 voting districts. In June, only one voting district passed the budget.

Pete Lukawicz, 58, a home-improvement contractor, said he couldn't support the budget in this economic climate. It would have raised spending by $11 million, or 5.8 percent, though much of that is in salaries and benefits that are set by collective bargaining.

"I don't mind paying higher taxes for higher services, and I know costs are going up everywhere. I also think that people who work for the town should be paid commensurate with their private counterparts. But the tax increase over the last several years has exceeded the general inflation rate,'' said Lukawicz, a 12-year town resident........