WWII Vets Speaks in Favor of Gay Marriage

86-year-old Republican WWII vet Phillip Spooner spoke before the Maine legislature last April in hopes of seeing the state legalize gay marriage. Maine did legalize it, but now a referendum is being held to get that decision reversed. Here is a video of his testimony:

No On 1

If you live in Maine please make sure you vote No on 1 in the next elections. Equality isn't just for a few, it's for everyone.

Maine Allows Same-Sex Marriages

The legislature of Maine finally got something right by allowing same-sex marriages. While there are some people here are convinced that we're now going to hell for this, I think it's great :) There is no reason for gay people not to have the same rights and protections that the rest of us take for granted. This is a great day in Maine for civil rights!!

Here's the AP story:

AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine's governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn't indicated whether he'll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region's sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn't previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many benefits of marriage.

Debate was brief. Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, turned the gavel over to an openly gay member, Sen. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, to preside over the final vote.

Republican Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden argued that the bill was being passed "at the expense of the people of faith."

"You are making a decision that is not well-founded," warned Plowman.

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage.

"We respect religious liberties. ... This is long overdue," said Bartlett, D-Gorham.

Maine is now the fourth state in New England, to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor's veto.

New Hampshire's House was also expected to vote on a bill Wednesday and send it to Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

Massachusetts' high court has ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass this year.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages on court orders. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

Forgot about this...

I was thinking about starting a blog, and then I remembered I had one :) I'll try this again. See if I can do better this time LOL Just to tell everyone a little bit about myself, I'm 34 years old and live in Presque Isle, Maine. I'm work for a company called Video Monitoring Services of the America (VMS). I've been there for about 7 years total, and currently work as a data specialist. During the years I've worked there I also held positions in the reports, monitoring, Insight and after hours support departments.

Right now I'm also working for the US Census in quality assurance. It's just a temporary job, but the pay is good. Plus, I'm greedy so I'll take it :) The census itself doesn't come out for another year so I don't really have to ask any of the questions like everyone always thinks of. Right now it's all about addresses.

Since I'm working both of them it's gonna be a long couple of months. I'm not really looking forward to 80 hr. weeks, but I'm sure I'll survive. I do have to say that my boss at work has been really great about allowing me to adjust my hours to do both of these. I really appreciate it. Not everyone is lucky enough to have that kind of flexibility where they work.

Some of my favorite games are Webkinz and Millsberry. I love Webkinz, but I don't really get into like you can. I don't have a bunch of friends I talk to, or go to the chatroom or forums, but Millsberry is a completely different story LOL

I first discovered Millsberry about 4-5 years ago and played it for a while. Then I got into something else and just sorta forgot about. About a year ago I rediscovered the site and have been hopelessly addicted to it since.

The game is pretty basic and doesn't have a lot of interactivity with it. To find the true fun you really need to join some forums. It's on the forums that you get to meet with other Millsberry addicts and you see the game in a whole new light. On some forums I'm known as Tianna, but on most I go by Silver.

Here are three I go to the most: Millsberry Community, Millsberry Forum.com, and Millsberry Forum.org. I'm an admin on the first one and a super mod on the third one. I do have to warn this game is really for kids. So once you start going to these forums you're gonna be dealing with a lot of them. The degree of how they act really depends on the forum. It can be a big difference between sites. I'll be posting tons more about Millsberry in the future. And occasionally more about Webkinz too :)