terrible Quintessensual Yesterday in Hawaii there was a terrible setback for fairness, justice and family values. The Hawaii Supreme Court effectively ended the drive to legalize gay marriage in the state. Just three years ago, the state was considered one of the most likely to be the first to accept same-sex unions. In 1993 its highest court had ruled that limiting marriage to opposite-gender couples violated the state constitution's equal protection clause, which specifically recognizes numerous impermissible bases for discrimination, including gender. The court held that there was no rational basis for the state's blocking same-gender couples from the many social and economic advantages of being married and so denying such couples the right to marry was unconstitutional gender-based discrimination. In the ruling Thursday, the court backtracked by holding that a 1998 amendment to the state constitution, that was approved 2-1 by voters and specifically authorizes enactment of legislation to limit marriage to opposite-gender couples, effectively overturned the court's 1993 ruling. It is not known if the plaintiffs in the case, who lost in the Hawaii court's ruling yesterday, will appeal to the US Supreme Court. Vermont's high court is now the only one in the nation currently facing the question of whether same-sex marriage should be legal. 991210 ... valis why is it this word used to be reserved to describe, like, plagues of egypt or the wrath of god and now if you eat a stale potato chip, it's 'terrible'? there are a few like that. 991228 ... karl lansky terrible times erring into the vastness of this space, my nightmare of words without any meaning but the definition from someone else, some other time, held together by a thread so strong my mind is forever lost to it. 000113 ... miniver Stale potato chips could be the wrath of God. Best melodramatize your adjectives on the side of caution, else be prepared for the wrath of God! More wrath, I mean. Aha. Very stale chips. 000519 ... birdmad the tace toxins in the occasional green potato chip. eek! 000519 ... Daria You think stale potato chips are bad, try stale potato chips that have been sitting in your lunch box with a banana. That was the worst part of being a kid. 020314 ... sideburns how bout those soggy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Those were pretty gross too 020316 ... Daria deffinitly foul. 020321 ... doomlord a pencil being jammed in your ass sideways is really terrible. But it could make a cool instrument. 021011 ... User24 valis, to give a biased and unfounded answer to your now ancient question, it is, IMHO, so that there are no words sufficient to describe the atrocities that are still being carried out today, as all the words that have been used in the past have had their meanings diluted, by a government that exists only to satisfy it's own existence, who has no interest whatsoever in the quality of life of both it's citizens and the citizens of the world. The meanings of the words are diluted, their impact lessened, in order that we cannot talk about the atrocities, and therefore do not feel impelled to change the way the world is run. It is because the media and the invisible government of capitalist ideas, seeping thoughout every nation, is dilluting our languages, that we literally cannot even describe the reasons we are unhappy with the system, thereby the government, and world of power have, in effect, deprived us, through subtle ways, that I'm certain many of them have no idea about, of our right to free speech. 031103 ... pete lost and not found. between yet set apart without and within always no never ever. nunca todos. 040217 ... quotree "That wasn't just plain terrible; that was fancy terrible. That was terrible with raisins in it." -Dorothy Parker 040412 ... card what's terrible is being so close to someone and knowing that they aren't interested in you the way you are in them. (repetitive_junction) 090706 what's it to you? who go blather from