On Tuesday, North Carolina voters approved Amendment One, which strips unmarried couples of all legal recog­nition of their rela­tion­ships under State law. Billed as a simple gay marriage ban, the amendment actually goes much further, as Patrick at Popehat describes, and voids all other legal protec­tions unmarried couples, gay or straight, might seek for them­selves, including wills, adoptions, medical powers of attorney, and possibly even joint tenancy in realty. [Part 2 and Part 3 in the Popehat series on Amendment One] It also prohibits North Carolina from recog­nizing these non-​​​​marriage rela­tion­ships when they’re formed and governed by the laws of other [ . . . ]

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I have an opinion on the whole “Cordoba House” issue, but it isn’t well informed. I’d like it to be. Therefore, I’m requesting reading material or other evidence on, among other issues, the nature of Islam and of this project. I also want a trans­lation suggestion for the Koran (or however you care to spell it). Preferably a scholarly trans­lation which takes the time in extensive footnotes to explain its word choices, and was not trans­lated by anyone who might have motive to use trans­lation to obscure, margin­alize, or emphasize for certain effect. Take as granted that I have read most every­thing web-​​​​present Objectivists [ . . . ]

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[Royal personages] do not have the right to receive physical obeisance from American citizens. Miss Manners has had to issue the decree many times now that American ladies should not curtsy [ed: nor should American gentlemen bow] to royalty, and there are still those who do so at every available oppor­tunity. They are in error, not only in the matter of world etiquette, but of geography, physics and ancient and modern history. . . . Bending the knee is the tradi­tional gesture of an inferior to a superior. . . . The curtsy is but one form of the gesture of adoring a sovereign. . . . Thus, those who [ . . . ]

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Maine legalizes same-​​​​sex marriage By legislative action, no less. Without a court telling them they had to do it. That makes Maine the second state to enact same-​​​​sex marriage without a judicial order to do so, and the first state to enact same-​​​​sex marriage without a judicial order to at least create a parallel licensing system (as the Vermont Supreme Court did back before that state created its civil union system). Also, the first state to legisla­tively dispose of a prior legislative ban (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 19-​​​​A § 701 (2009)). My last law school exam ever starts in 10 minutes. Woo hoo!