%@$#*&^%

I was so fucking stoked for my day this morning, despite waking up probably a dozen times during the night due to various combinations of restless dogs, a sore back, and an unexpectedly cold house--curse the decision to pack up the heavy blankets last weekend--and then I got out of bed and read this in the paper.

Let people of Arizona legally define marriage
Opinion by Cathi Herrod

Cathi Herrod is an attorney and president of the Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative advocacy group based in Phoenix.

Charming. I pounded out my own op-ed response, but as it clocks in at 935 words, the Daily Star won't give it a look. Not that it likely matters much, really. You either believe her crap as gospel or you, well, recognize the crap factor. You use reason or you don't. You appeal to emotion and superstition or you don't. You live and let live or you take every opportunity that is handed to you to beat someone else down, just because you can. One online commenter huffed that since people voted to take away his rights as a smoker in the last election, he's going to vote to take away gay rights in this one. He wouldn't really care either way otherwise, but a man needs to take his revenge where he can get it.

Oh, look. Now we have an hourly update from the Star telling us

A proposed ballot measure to impose a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is advancing at the Legislature.

Approvals by House and Senate committees means a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman could be considered by the full chambers as early as next week.

If it passes it would appear on the state's November ballot.

Fucking excellent. Gee, do you think it will pass a legislature dominated not just by Republicans, but by Arizona's own special brand of nutjob Maricopa County "the solution to more school shootings is more guns in schools" Republicans? You think?

I really, really hate this state sometimes.