My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine.....

It's official. The solar system now only consists of eight planets after Pluto's demotion to simply a really big rock. Worldwide students of astronomy will be asked to strike Pluto from their books writing R.I.P. and today's date and will be forced to memorize new pneumonic devices to remember the planets. Very eager mothers will no longer be serving nine anything. Groups of Pluto supporters will mourn the decision to demote the planet today as we try to adjust to life with just eight planets. Not to mention the fact that I will now have to buy a brand new book for Astronomy next semester beacuse this means a new edition.

And now for Today's Warm and Fuzzy Thought:

I have often equated the struggle for GLBTQQS rights with the struggle for racial equality in the United States. Whenever I hear some conservative member of Congress complain about the same-sex marriage rulings (which have been going their way lately) citing activist judges and how the judicial branch of government has overstepped its bounds I am reminded that they said the same thing about Brown v. Board of Education. I have continued to assert that the battle we face for equality is much the same battle of all the other civil rights movements.

Now, thanks to a Conservative Lawmaker in Utah, I can once again bring up this issue. Utah State Rep. Chris Buttars (R) has introduced legislation that would allow the Utah Legislature to remove a judge from the bench if it disagrees with a ruling of the court. I can't even begin to go into how much of a violation of the three branches of government this is but let's deal with what he also said. When pressed about other civil rights cases that have been heard before a court, Buttars stated that Brown was "wrong to begin with." Now I suppose that there is some perfectly sane reason that he would feel this way but I doubt it.

So, whenever you hear some conservative lawmakers talking about taking away the rights of GLBTQQS citizens, remember that those aren't the only ones they would really like to attack, if given the opportunity.