Integrity Legal

It recently came to this blogger’s attention that the United States Secretary of State has recently been noted for her positive comments regarding a draft agreement between China and certain Southeast Asian Nations pertaining to the South China Sea. In order to provide further information it is necessary to quote directly from the official website of the Associated Press, AP.org:

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s is praising a preliminary agreement between China and Southeast Asian Nations to peacefully resolve competing territorial claims in the strategic South China Sea. At a meeting with China’s foreign minister on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian regional security forum in Bali, Indonesia on Friday, Clinton commended the two sides for reaching the deal, which aims to prevent conflict over several disputed islands and potential oil and gas resources. The U.S. has said peaceful resolution to the claims is an American national security interest…

This blogger asks readers to click upon the relevant hyperlinks noted above to learn more.

Readers may recall that recent discussions within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have revolved around issues pertaining to disputes in the South China Sea. It would appear as though American officials have taken note of recent positive developments. It should be noted that there have also been discussions centering upon the idea of an ASEAN Visa Area similar to the Schengen Visa Program. That stated, there has yet to be any type of finalized agreement related to that issue.

Meanwhile, it would appear as though multiple mainstream and alternative media outlets have been discussing issues related to the struggle for LGBT Equality to best bring home this point it it necessary to quote directly from the website of The Atlantic, TheAtlantic.com:

The portentously named “Respect for Marriage Act” is a short, sweet bill that would repeal the equally portentously named “Defense of Marriage Act,” or DOMA, passed in 1996 by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. Sponsored and championed at the time by a Georgia Republican congressman named Bob Barr, DOMA wrote into federal law two key concepts: first, for federal purposes, the word “marriage” would mean only a legal union between one man and one woman; and second, no state had to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that had been performed in any other state or jurisdiction. The “Respect for Marriage Act”, or the DOMA repeal bill, would let the feds return to their traditional practice of recognizing any state’s valid marriages — which would include same-sex marriages made in the six states (and district of Columbia) that currently perform them.

The administration of this blog asks readers to click upon the relevant hyperlinks noted above to read this interesting article in detail.

This was, in this blogger’s opinion, a very insightful article, but this blogger’s question would be: since when do the “feds” get to deviate from their so-called “traditional practice” of recognizing validly legalized and/or solemnized marriages occurring in purely intra-State jurisdiction? For this is the fundamental question pertaining to the issue of Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). The Commonwealth of Massachusetts‘s right to marry individual’s within said jurisdiction would appear to be virtually “allodial” compared to the (somewhat spurious) claim that said marriages can effectively be abrogated via federal “non-recognition”.

Tags: American national security interest, Bali, Indonesia, oil and gas resources, peaceful resolution, South China Sea, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton