We are heading out the door this morning early so I only have time to post a few links. 

Apparently, you have the right to get married if you can squirt out babies.  So watch out non-breeding heterosexuals ... if you don't start generating some new cannon fodder for the war machine and/or the allegiance of right-wing-bigots, your marriages could be next ...

Check out Page One Q

Here's what Pam's House Blend has to say ....

And even more from Pam  including reaction from the fundie wingnuts who are frothing at the mouth and writhing in ecstasy over this slapdown of marriage equality.  Here she reiterates the point the our Democratic leadership is FAILING us on these issues.  Voting against a marriage amendment is not enough --- they need to actually LEAD.

When you don't take a strong position on this issue (one way or another), people in the middle who may be considering voting Dem notice and speculate anyway. It's easy to be against a federal amendment, but what is a candidate's position on all these state marriage amendments and now, the future legislative efforts to gain marriage equality as these cases in WA and NY have resulted in punts?

Excellent question.  No answer forthcoming as there are probably too many 700 Club appearances to plan and fundie wingnut asses to lick ...

According to the Post-Gazette, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has released their annual safety report claiming that less than 3% of students were involved in violence in the schools.

The School Safety Report for 2004-05 shows a decline in school violence for the second year in a row and significant decreases in fights, assaults on students, burglaries, racial and ethnic intimidation and incidents involving firearms.

The report also suggests violent incidents have decreased across the board:

It shows incidents involving firearms dropped by 38 percent; burglaries are down by 43 percent; incidents of intimidation fell by 25 percent and other types of harassment declined by 23 percent.

A leading safety organization disputes these findings.  National School Safety and Security Services out of Cleveland questions the decrease when school violence is on the rise across the state.

And what about the gay kids?  According to the Gay Lesbian Straight  Education Network's National School Climate Survey released in April, four out of five LGBTQ students report incidents of violence. 

The Scope of the Problem:

75. 4% of students heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten (89.2%) reported hearing "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless- frequently or often.

Over a third (37.8%) of students experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter (26.1%) on the basis of their gender expression. Nearly one-fifth (17.6%) of students had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth (11.8%) because of their gender expression.

Now I find it incredibly hard to believe that incidents of violence are decreasing that significantly without a serious statewide intervention plan which I am sure does not exist.  Back in the day when I was in school, life was nasty, brutish and short if you were on the wrong end of the pummeling.  There were plenty of bullies and even more people egging them on as they spit on, beat up, mauled, assaulted, pushed, shoved, grabbed, pinched, twisted, kicked, restrained and generally violated other kids.  School was a survival course in violence avoidance with few instructions and little effective intervention from the faculty. 

And let's not forget rising rates of cyber harassment which the school districts have decried but denied reponsibility for if the behavior originates from a non-campus computer. 

I think the PA Department of Education is being disengenuous at best.