Two News Bits

From the NYTimes. Unrelated, but put together make me feel weird inside....

 

First, a wonderful gain: South African Parliament Approves Same-Sex Marriages 

 

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 14 — Parliament on Tuesday voted resoundingly to legalize same-sex marriages in South Africa, making the nation the first in Africa and the fifth in the world to remove legal barriers to them, according to advocates.

The nation's highest court ruled last December that South Africa's marriage statute violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal rights. The court gave the government a year to alter the legal definition of marriage.

Followed by a disgusting inadequacy: Officials Clash Over Mentally Ill in Florida Jails

 

MIAMI, Nov. 14 — State law requires that inmates found incompetent to stand trial be moved from county jails to psychiatric hospitals within 15 days of the state's receiving the commitment orders. Florida has broken that law for years, provoking some public defenders to seek court orders forcing swift compliance. 

Two mentally ill inmates in the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola died over the last year and a half after being subdued by guards, according to news reports. And in the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, a schizophrenic inmate gouged out his eye after waiting weeks for a hospital bed, his lawyer said.