Year: 2015

It looks like the heavily Catholic Ireland has just become the first country on the planet to enact marriage equality by popular vote rather than by legislation, judicial order or royal decree. Probably because Irish Catholics are more intelligent and in tune with that Jesus said about homosexuality (i.e. nothing) than the conservative heirarchy that likes to look to Old Testament's Leviticus than anything Jesus Christ said.

Ireland appears to have voted heavily in favor of allowing same-sex marriage in a historic referendum that marks a dramatic social shift in the traditionally Catholic country, government ministers and opponents of the bill said on Saturday. Final results are not expected until later in the day in a vote that would make Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote, just two decades after the country decriminalised homosexuality. State broadcaster RTE said the victory appeared to be overwhelming and government minister Kevin Humphreys predicted the margin would be two-to-one. "I think it's won," Equality Minister Aodhan O'Riordain told Reuters at the main count center in Dublin. "The numbers of people who turned out to vote is unprecedented. This has really touched a nerve in Ireland today." Gay marriage is backed by all political parties, championed by big employers and endorsed by celebrities, all hoping it will mark a transformation in a country that was long regarded as one of the most socially conservative in Western Europe.

For the first time since polling began in 1999, Gallup found that there are more social liberals in the United States than social conservatives. Gallup reported that the number of respondents who called themselves social liberals has increased to 31%, while the number of self-identified social conservatives has fallen to 30%. The number of Democrats who refer to themselves as social liberals jumped from 47% in 2014 to 53% in 2015. The number of Republicans who call themselves socially conservative has declined from 60% in 2014 to 53% in 2015.

The fifth most Republican and conservative state in the Union --- NEBRASKA ---- yes, freaking Nebraska, voted with the dirty hippies and voted to repeal the death penalty. Hey, Trey Paradee, explain that! No bother, the Republicans did for you:

Republicans offered a variety of reasons for supporting the death penalty’s end, from the high cost of administering executions to the surprisingly uncommon idea that it’s important to be consistent in support for human life. “I’m pro-life from conception until when God calls somebody home,” state Sen. Tommy Garrett told the World-Herald. “I’m not going to quibble over innocent life versus those who are guilty for what they have done. This is a matter of conscience.”

“Is there something about the left — and I am going to put the media in this category — that is obsessed with sex?” — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by the Texas Tribune, when asked about gay rights. Only the most sophmoric knuckle dragging idiot would equate promoting equality for all, including those who are gay, with an interest in sex. Indeed, Mr. Cruz has it reversed. It has been all of our experience, proven time and again, that those who are the most homophobic are usually in the closet, having all the gay sex they can. Those promoting "family Christian values" and condemning women's rights and divorce are usually those who one to four mistresses on the side.

....and it is likely that is the way it will be. He will be released after the treatment is completed with no disclosure as to what his treatment was for, and then at the end of the summer he will announce officially his candidacy for Governor. But, despite the best efforts of the Biden camp and those who think his medical condition is none of our business, the News Journal has a poll up this morning, and the votes so far reveal that this is a matter of some debate. The question is framed in such a way that it assumes that if Beau Biden were currently in office as a public official, the public would undoubtedly have a right to know all about his medical condition.