The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Category: Politics

Politics

Bi-national gay couple wins deportation repreive

A married, bi-national gay couple from San Francisco has won a two-year stay of deportation for John Makk, an Australian citizen, partner of 19 years  and primary caregiver to his husband Bradford Wells, an American who suffers from AIDS-related illnesses. Their case was first covered by the Chronicle last June and touched a nerve, becoming SFGate’s most widely shared story of the year on Facebook, shared by 75,000 people. Their case received national and international media attention. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a letter to Makk today saying he has been granted “deferred action” on his case for two...

Politics / Technology

Official list of organizations supporting SOPA: Call for boycott, Move Your Domain Day

This deserves its own post, and I promise I’ll have a more comprehensive post about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and why it’s a Bad Thing soon. Until then, have a look at this list of 142 organizations that are officially on record as supporting the bill. Some of the ones you may have heard of include ABC, CBS, Comcast/NBC/Universal, Disney, ESPN, GoDaddy.com, MPAA, NewsCorp, and several more. Several discussions on Reddit and around the internet have proposed boycotting the companies on the list. One specific proposal is Move Your Domain Day on December 29. On this day, if...

Politics

Rick Santorum cites obesity rates as reason to eliminate food stamps

At a campaign event in Iowa last week, Rick Santorum promised to radically reduce federal funding for food stamps, claiming that high obesity rates among the poor indicate the program is no longer necessary. Santorum wonders why obesity is a problem among people who rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. If he honestly doesn’t know the answer to that question, or at least doesn’t have a pretty good idea of the factors that have resulted in high obesity rates among the poor in this country, I don’t see how he possibly can say with a straight...

Personal / Politics

I am the 99%

When I was a child, my dad took out loans and worked full time to get a degree so he could make a better life for my family. By the time I graduated high school, he was able to do for me what his parents could not: pay for me to go to college without any debt. This wasn’t without other costs to me–my dad was gone a lot as he took on more responsibilities with his job and, following 9/11, served several tours of duty in the middle east. When the economy crashed as I was about to start my...

Politics

Could the end of DADT mean the end of DOMA?

Today at 12:01 a.m., the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces, ended in its entirety. As of today, the estimated 66,000 gays and lesbians serving in America’s military may now, if they so choose, be open about their sexual orientation, be seen in public with their partners, and (in states where it is legal) get married without fear of losing their jobs. All current investigations into “homosexual conduct” have been ended. Ninety-seven percent of personnel have received whatever training it was that the military deemed...