The Buck and Mike Blog

Volunteering » Activists opt for kinder, gentler approach than post-Prop. 8 rallies.

By Rosemary Winters
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/27/2009

Far from the post-Proposition 8 protests that ignited outside of LDS temples in November, gay-rights advocates are taking a gentler tact during next week’s LDS General Conference.

Instead of pickets and chants, members and supporters of Utah’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community plan to take up garden tools and medical-supply kits for “General Service Weekend” on April 4 and 5.
» Read the rest of this entry »

Proposition 8, LDS General Conference

I’m always interested in the many grassroots ways people express their views on issues. One of the world-wide annual events is Earth Hour and it happens this weekend.

On Saturday night at 8:30 P.M. in whatever time zone we live, we are asked to turn off all lights for one hour. Seems simple, right? Some cities and countries take this very seriously and entire cities are blacked out. Sometimes it seems like here is the US we don’t pay serious public attention to anything except Britney, Paris, Octomom, or some other train wreck. So observance of a silly little movement like Earth Hour is not a big priority.

Besides the amazing amount of electricity that would be saved by the small gesture, turning off lights can produce something magical. I envision a first-time treat for a billion city children: a brief hour when the atmosphere becomes so crystal clear that every child in the world can see real stars.

For more information on Earth Hour, see http://www.earthhour.org/home/.

Earth Hour

Attention runners!

The 45th Annual DeCelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relay will take place on June 13.

This may be the most scenic run in all of America, as the route runs completely around Lake Tahoe. Seven-member teams run the seven legs, each 8-12 miles long, for a total of 72 miles, through both California and Nevada. (Click the map on the right to see details.)

This is the 45th annual race! The race’s founder, Robert E. DeCelle Sr., devoted his life to promoting distance running, serving as an official, certifying courses, and lobbying for more events. His intense advocacy was instrumental in allowing women to compete in distance running events. He passed away in 1997, two weeks after the 33rd annual relay.

The race is named after Robert DeCelle, Sr’s son, Captain Robert DeCelle, Jr. “Bobby” as his family called him, an avid high school runner. Drafted into the Army in 1966, he flew a helicopter during the Vietnam War. In February 1971 his helicopter was hit and he suffered severe injuries, yet he managed to pilot it away from the battle and thus saved the lives of his crew. He died from his injuries about a week later on February 21, 1971. He was heavily decorated by the Army and a base in Vietnam was named for him. At that time, the Lake Tahoe Relay was renamed in his honor.

This not-for-profit relay event is staffed each year by dozens of volunteers, most of them friends and extended DeCelle family members. All profit from entry fees goes to local high school running programs, a fitting tribute to both Robert Sr. and Bobby. The race is managed and coordinated by April DeCelle Carter, who is Robert Sr.’ daughter and Bobby’s sister.

For more information, go to the race’s web site, http://www.laketahoerelay.com, or send me an e-mail message and I’ll snail mail you a flyer with registration information.

Yes, I have a family connection. My wonderful daughter Olivia had the good sense to marry Scott Carter, April’s son and Robert Sr.’s grandson. Mike and I will be doing our part during the race, directing traffic, cheering runners, and playing with our grandkids in the off hours.

DeCelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relay, Lake Tahoe, Robert E. DeCelle Sr, distance running, distance running, Captain Robert DeCelle, Jr., Lake Tahoe Relay, relay, April DeCelle Carter

On February 23, Representatives John Lewis (D-GA) and Todd Platts (R-PA) introduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act (H.R. 1126) in the U. S. House of Representatives. This legislation proposes to amend the Internal Revenue Code allowing artists, writers, scholars and composers to receive the fair market value tax deduction when donating their works to public institutions or charitable organizations. (See full text.)

If a carpenter builds a house and gives it to charity, his tax deduction is for the fair market value of the house. But because of a loophole in current law, if living artists donate their work to a public museum or charitable organization, they are only allowed a tax deduction for the cost of materials. Yes, that seems insane. If Andrew Wyeth had donated his iconic painting “Christina’s World” (above) to the Museum of Modern Art (where it hangs) before he died in January, he would have received a tax deduction for the price of his canvas. Someone could donate an original print of Annie Leibovitz’s famous portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono to a university museum and get a tax deduction for the photographic paper. It’s like a banker donating bonds and getting a deduction for the paper they are printed on instead of the value of the bonds.

The passage of this bipartisan bill would not only make the tax code fair and equitable, it would also be great benefit to museums throughout the country and the communities they serve. But, to be successful in moving this legislation forward, Congressmen Lewis and Platts need our help. So, we ask your participation in one of the following activities to educate your member of Congress about the importance of the bill and ask for their support. » Read the rest of this entry »

Equality, in the form of the abolition of slavery, began in New England. So it is no surprise that this wonderful part of our country is the first to recognize the fairness of marriage equality. First Massachusetts, then Connecticut. Now Vermont is poised to be the third state, as a marriage equality bill moved from a state senate committee with a unanimous vote. (See article.) New Hampshire and Maine will probably be next, followed by New York and New Jersey.

The rest of the country will follow in due time. Domestic partnership bills have recently left committee and are headed for the full legislatures in Illinois and Washington. And California is on the cusp.

“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” Theodore Parker, Unitarian minister and abolitionist (1810-1860).

Updates:

• On March 24 the Vermont state senate voted 26-4 in favor of the marriage equality bill. The bill goes to the state assembly the week of March 30 and then to the governor for signature.
• On April 2 the Vermont state Assembly voted 95-22 in favor of the bill. The legislation needs 100 votes to override a likely veto by Governor Jim Douglas.

The idea of walking labyrinths is not a new one. We all remember from our high school Greek mythology that Daedalus built one for King Minos to contain the Minotaur. The half-man, half-bull creature was thought trapped in what we now think of as a maze.

But mazes are different from labyrinths. A maze is a game or puzzle with dead end paths and obstacles that require outsmarting in order to get from the beginning to the end. A labyrinth, on the other hand, has only one path. You start walking the path and follow it completely until it comes to the end. No surprises, no games, no dead ends.

So if they aren’t like the mazes in corn fields where teens everywhere get delightfully lost as part of their autumn ritual, where’s the fun? They are simply boring.

That’s the point of course. Beginning in medieval times, cathedrals started putting labyrinths as inlays in their floors. They became sort of mini-pilgrimages, and that’s the way they are used today. Folks can walk the path without thinking, just concentrating on meditation and the path toward their own kind of enlightenment or salvation. They are non-denominational. They beckon all to take the same journey, yet find different things.

There are some amazing labyrinths in the world, though I have only seen a few. I love the one in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. In late January I walked one at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, DC, while waiting for the funeral of a friend to begin. Boston College built one as a 9/11 memorial.

Here in Portland we have the Parkrose Community Peace Labyrinth. It is based on the traditional seven-ring design of ancient times. (The inset picture above shows the design echoed in the marvelous gate designed and built by George and Eileen Belanger.)

On a recent Saturday we decided to check it out. Still unemployed and both a bit discouraged, we could use some quiet time away from the world and its worries. As we began, I was bored and anxious. But that soon changes when you walk the labyrinth. Silently walking the paths, you become unaware of your surroundings. The turns are not symmetrical, as it first seems. They double back on one another, sometimes just a few yards before turning and sometimes ten times that distance. You lose track of where you are because it doesn’t matter. That half hour did the trick. We emerged calmer and with the feeling that we would be able to face whatever the world tossed our direction. Such a simple idea, and yet so profound. No wonder it was weathered the centuries so well.

To see if there is a labyrinth somewhere near you, visit the Labyrinth Society. You’ll find one, I’m sure. I discovered that the Parkrose Community Peace Labyrinth is only one of 13 in Portland.

labyrinth

On the eve of tomorrow’s historic California Supreme Court session to hear oral arguments in petitions to strike down Proposition 8, there are rallies throughout the state and in other cities around the country. These candlelight vigils are meant to show support for the petitioners and their families as well as to show concern over the implications of Prop. 8.

In addition, more than 100,000 people are expected to rally tomorrow at the site of the Supreme Court’s hearings. Many will wear white knots on their clothing, symbols of the right of everyone to “tie the knot.”

Equality should never be put up for a popular vote. Prop. 8 defeats one of the primary purposes of the constitution—to protect minorities and ensure the law treats everyone equally. This is the first time the initiative process has successfully been used to change the California Constitution to take away a fundamental freedom from a particular group and to mandate government discrimination against a minority. If Prop. 8 is upheld, the courts will no longer have a meaningful role in protecting any minority group, including women, because any decision prohibiting discrimination could be reversed by a simple majority.

We can’t attend a rallies in California tonight or tomorow, but our thoughts are with the tens of thousands who will be in the street representing the millions of the rest of us.

To read the parties’ filings and the dozens of amicus friend of the court briefs filed on behalf of civil rights organizations, bar associations, academics, women’s groups, faith and religious groups, and many others go to http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8.htm

If you are interested in watching the oral arguments Thursday, March 5, from 9:00 a.m. until noon PST, log on to http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8viewing.htm .

Groups supporting marriage equality and tonight’s activities include the following:

We elected Obama president because he promised changes from the tired, useless Bush Administration and its policies. Likewise, we threw out of both houses of Congress a bunch of Republicans who clung to the failed regime. You’d think the Republicans would get a clue.

Pres. Obama has been in office about 6 weeks and has already made some sweeping changes that we have been begging for: he ordered Guantanamo Bay prison closed and trials or releases for the inmates based on evidence; he lifted the ban on stem cell research so we can begin to catch up with the rest of the world in the field of medicine; he has set a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and promised to pay much-needed attention to Afghanistan; he finally pushed through a stimulus package that has a chance of helping turn around the economic downturn that is killing most of us and that has taken away our retirement.

Most of all, he promised to name bipartisan people to his cabinet and major agencies. He has kept his word, appointing Republicans Robert Gates (Defense) and Ray LaHood (Transportation)to his cabinet and non-partisan experts such as Eric K. Shinseki (Veteran Affairs), and Christina Romer (Chair, Council of Economic Advisors).

Payment for keeping his promises? Republican members of the House and Senate voted against the economic package, a hugely popular piece of legislation. Clearly Obama will have to fight these idiots every step of the way. Who suffers from the obstructionism? Not them. Us. But wait until the next election. We have good memories and we know what to do with people who don’t keep their promised. At this rate, in two years there won’t be enough Republicans in Congress to block a supermarket aisle. Fine with me.

Robert Gates, Ray LaHood, Eric K. Shinseki, Christina Romer