Please Say "I Don't"

Please Say 'I Don't' - washingtonpost.com:

Virginia voters will go to the polls this week to decide whether to amend the state constitution not only to ban same-sex marriage, but also to refuse to recognize any legal arrangement between "unmarried individuals" -- gay or straight -- that confers marriage-like benefits. The ballot initiative is shocking, not only in its bigotry against all unmarried couples, but in its attempt to transform a constitution -- a document meant to lay out our highest freedoms and aspirations -- into a vicious cudgel to separate "us" from "them."

The voters of Virginia have already made their feelings about same-sex marriage clear: State statutes prohibit civil unions and marriages between same-sex couples. Virginia law also nullifies civil unions solemnized in any other state. So, having blocked every last road that would recognize a same-sex marriage, civil union, out-of-state or Canadian gay marriage in Virginia, the state's cynical legislators have gone one step further: They propose doing away with adoption laws, custody arrangements, medical directives and domestic violence statutes used by heterosexuals and gays to protect their children and property.

Why the terrific urgency to gild the state's anti-gay-marriage lily? The measure's supporters advance a single argument: It's an insurance policy against "activist judges" who might someday strike down the many state laws banning same- sex marriage. Last week, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling announced that the "amendment is necessary to protect traditional marriage from possible judicial assault." Judicial assault from whom? The hemp-wearing, incense-burning vegetarians who dominate the Virginia bench? The state's judges are extremely conservative, having been selected by the extremely conservative legislature. A Web site is carrying out an enthusiastic search for Virginia's unhinged liberal activist judges. They're proving tough to find.

A Constitution is meant to protect people's rights, not take them away...

more on taxes...

Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: Department of "Huh?":

In no meaningful sense has George W. Bush reduced the tax burden. In no meaningful sense has he kept any promise. George W. Bush has kept his promise to cut taxes in the same way that a spouse who decides to "save money" by making only the minimum required payment on the VISA bill has kept a promise to reduce household spending.

Grokked from Thoughts From Kansas: On Taxes.  DeLong's article then goes on to cite a number of economic conservative analysts and writers all showing that "The reality-based right-wing public-finance economists are saying something very different than 'President Bush kept his promise to cut taxes.'"

geeks - an easily detected design inference...

When the spelling checker built into the new Firefox 2.0 passes "Grokked", you know the geeks are in control...

progress?

Well, in spite of having a major coughing fit on the 2nd plane yesterday, ATL to IAD, I've actually managed today without coughing much at all (though I've also not been dancing, out in 50 degree weather, nor have I been talking all that much) without any decongestants/expectorants and only a little bit of suppressant early this morning.   Maybe I'm getting better...

Or maybe my body is just too damn exhausted to even manage a cough...

g'nite...

clarity of thought...

"A man never lies as much as after a hunt, during a war, and before an election." --  Otto von Bismarck

"So does this explain why nobody will believe a word Dick Cheney says?" -- me

so i'm not the only one...

Richmond IMC: Pediatricians Oppose Ballot Question #1:

The "Marriage Amendment" will be harmful to Virginia's children, said Dr. Colleen Kraft, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Virginia Chapter today. “The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is asking Virginians to critically evaluate the consequences of the Marriage Amendment on the rights of children in our Commonwealth. This Amendment clearly, albeit unintentionally, divides children's rights based on the marital status of their parents.”

Dr. Kraft announced the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has approved the following statement:

“The American Academy of Pediatrics, Virginia Chapter, firmly believes that the family is the principal caregiver and center of strength and support for children.

Children do not choose their parents or their families.

Many children in Virginia have been and will continue to be raised in nontraditional families, regardless of laws prohibiting or recognizing these families. The issue at stake is whether these children will benefit from being raised by parents who have the rights, benefits, and protections that are considered crucial to all other parents. [...]"