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Update: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Gay Marriage Likely To Go Before Supreme Court Within The Next Year BOULDER, Colo. -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Wednesday that she believes the Defense of Marriage Act will likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court within the next year. Ginsburg spoke at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She was asked a student-submitted question about the equal-protection clause and whether the nation's high court would consider it applying to sexual orientation. Ginsburg said with a smile that she couldn't answer the question. She said she could not talk about matters that would come to the court, and that the Defense of Marriage Act would probably be up soon. "I think it's most likely that we will have that issue before the court toward the end of the current term," she said. The 1996 law has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in New York and is awaiting arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Those oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 27. The law was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton after the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1993 making it appear Hawaii might legalize gay marriage. Since then, many states have banned gay marriage, while eight states have approved it, led by Massachusetts in 2004 and continuing with Connecticut, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland and Washington state. Maryland and Washington's laws aren't yet in effect and might be subject to referendums. In February 2011, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder instructed the Department of Justice to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act. Ginsburg's remarks came at a conference sponsored by the University of Colorado law school. Ginsburg talked mostly about entering the legal profession when there were few female lawyers and even fewer judges. The students roared with laughter when Ginsburg told of scrambling even to find a women's restroom in law school at Columbia University in the 1950s. "We never complained, that's just the way it was," she said to laughter from the students. ___ Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report. http://www.huffingto..._n_1898815.html

The Iowa Electronic Market , an Iowa University Business School sponsered stock market that allows folks to buy & sell 'contracts' on Obama's or Romney's chances, currently (9/18) has Obama trading at $.728 and Romney at $.299. Basically you get paid $1.00/contract if the Dems (or Repubs) wins the popular vote and zip if they lose. Max investment is $500 and a total of $78,766 worth of contracts are currently outstanding. In plain English, people betting their own real life money are willing to pay 73 cents for a dollar's worth of Obama but only 30 cents for a buck's worth of Romney. Historically the IEM's predictive power has beaten the average for the experts and has been better than most polls (until 2 or 3 weeks before the election). Like any other stock market, it operates on a form of crowd wisdom.

117 was not so great last Saturday night from the report that I got. Also, keep in mind that ends of the month will almost always see less boys in the saunas as there will be less local clients with money left to spend. Tourists are another matter but I'm not sure how many how traveling here at the moment. The weather has been great. Go to the beach that Saturday in Ipa and you might get lucky. It is quite inexpensive to send guys beers that interest you. Start the day at Cafeina and sit at a sidewalk table. After the beach, head to To Nem Ai. Ditto. Nothing happens, grab the metro over one street at the end of Texeira de Melo and get off at Gloria. 117 is only steps away. Next Wednesday is a huge show at Meio Mundo with Jorge's return. If I go, I'll post if they have anything on that Saturday. Meio Mundo usually has a nice crowd when they have special shows/parties.

No need to apologize. Mitt did all those things, not you. Hell Week is right for him. And the polls are part of that Hell. electoral-vote.com, an aggregator of latest polling data nationwide, currently shows 323 electoral votes to Obama, 206 to Romney, 9 ties. That is one Hell of a gap to close in 7 weeks. ...Come to think, the mass of Mitt's self-inflicted wounds puts me in mind of Milton's Satan, saying Hell is not just a place, but rather... "Myself am Hell!"