Title: Scarlett Johansson
Size: 54″x64″

Worth: $3,294.00 autograph it for Variety The Children’s Charity so they can sell it for more and help all the kids, if she would so kind! (-:

http://www.JasonAthen.com

http://www.facebook.com/AthingtonStudios

http://twitter.com/#!/JasonAthen

The couple was shocked to wake up to the news on Thursday that a federal government lawyer is arguing that their marriage may not be valid under Canadian law.

Ontario Superior Court documents reveal that a Department of Justice lawyer in Toronto is arguing that non-Canadian gay and lesbian couples are only considered married under this country’s laws if gay marriage is also recognized in their home country or state.

sponsored Athen, who was living in Florida at the time of their marriage, to immigrate to Canada as his spouse. Florida does not recognize same-sex marriage.
“Jason was in tears. It really affected him,” Herrington said of his partner, a local artist. “He moved to Canada to get away from that type of discrimination. And now we’re getting attacked years later.”

The Toronto case that started the controversy involves a foreign lesbian couple seeking a divorce.

The couple wed in Toronto in 2005. Under a court order, they cannot be named.

In response to their application, a lawyer for the Department of Justice contended that the couple cannot divorce in Canada because they were never really married.

The government’s stance on the issue, according to federal lawyer Sean Gaudet, is that a same-sex couple’s marriage is only valid under this country’s laws if gay marriage is also recognized in their home country or state.

The couple lives in Florida and England, which do not recognize gay marriages.

“As a result, their marriage is not legally valid under Canadian law,” Gaudet stated.

Canada’s Divorce Act also states that all married couples, regardless of sexual orientation, must live in Canada for at least one year in order to divorce in this country, which was not the case for this non-Canadian couple.

Because Florida and England don’t recognize the couple’s marriage, they cannot divorce in those jurisdictions, either.

On Thursday, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson admitted that, under current law, the marriage of the couple in question “could not be dissolved in Canada.”

But Nicholson also said the federal government is looking at clarifying the law to allow non-resident gays and lesbians married in Canada the right to get divorced here even if their place of origin doesn’t recognize them as a married couple.

Less clear was whether Canada considers marriages in such cases to be legal.

Statements on Thursday by Nicholson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not directly address that issue.

If a judge were to uphold the arguments the Department of Justice is making, it would mean that any marriage between non-Canadians who could not get married in their country of origin would be void, said Vancouver lawyer barbara findlay, who specializes in issues involving sexual minorities.

“And that’s thousands of couples all over the world who relied on the fairness, justice and equality of our Canadian legal system.”

Seattle-based relationship columnist Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller are one such couple.

Savage and Miller were married in Vancouver in 2005. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Washington state, but the law there does recognize couples married in jurisdictions where it is legal as domestic partners. This status affords all the same rights, responsibilities and protections the state provides for married couples, Savage said.

“If we’re not legally married in Canada, we’re not domestic partners in Washington state, which means this memo from these lawyers potentially stripped Terry and I overnight of the protections and rights that we enjoyed for the last seven years,” he said.

If the federal lawyer’s contention is, in fact, government policy, Savage noted that he and his partner would also not be considered married in Canada.

“We spend a lot of time in Canada spending a lot of money doing very dangerous things,” Savage said. “We go snowboarding all the time in the Canadian Rockies and we’ve always had the comfort of knowing that if, God forbid, should anything happen, we would be able to make medical decisions for each other in an emergency. And now what apparently is going to happen is that if there’s an emergency, I’m going to have to find Terry’s mom or he’s going to have to find my dad to make emergency medical decisions. It’s just insulting and unnecessary.”

There are countries that ban practices such as interfaith marriage, and Savage questioned whether Canada would allow such countries an effective veto over domestic marriage laws.

“Is Canada going to empower those nations to invalidate marriages of foreign nationals in Canada, some of whom are married to Canadian citizens? Doubtful. So again, this is going to be a special right that only we gay people are entitled to, the special right to be discriminated against in Canada’s marriage laws.”

Harper, speaking in Vancouver on Thursday, said Canadian law recognizes same-sex marriage and that the government does not intend to reopen that issue.

tcarman@vancouversun.com

With files from Gordon Hoekstra and Postmedia News

WHY?

Really be honest and ask yourself,  ”Why do we just except this?”   Do we really need all of these products?  How many times have you gone through your place and thrown out garbage bags of stuff. (How stuffed are your closets and storage spaces, anyway?) I know we have done it many times over… and every time I ask myself as I’m pitching it out, “Did I really use that?”  It was fun for a minute, a novelty and then just sat there collecting dust until years later it got thrown away.

DID YOU RECYCLE?
More than likely, no, it just went to the trash can. Out of site out of mind. I never stopped to think about what kind of damage I was doing to the environment with this act, let a lone future generations to come.  ”How did we get here?”, you make ask yourself.   In my opinion, letting business grow into mega corporations with hundreds of products you don’t really need is a big part of it. They either buy out the little business owner or squash them financially… eventually leaving you with no choice but the mega-corp products.  Essentially, they take over your thought process and restrict your choices, only leaving you with what they tell you to buy.  I know what your thinking… “No one tells me what to buy”, but think again. Often your family passes on brand preferences (or prejudices) to you. You have been programed from a early age with jingles, flashy pictures, catch phrases, great sound effects over and over again for years. They want you to attach good memories to their products so they have a consumer for life.  This is why they target the  ”TWEEN” (8-14 year olds) so hard !