Re-thinking Marriage
Over time, I've thought a lot about the marriage debate. Here's where I've come with it, what I truly believe may be fair. And it's probably going to surprise some people, and probably going to anger some as well. All the same, maybe you'll get something from it, or I'll learn something from you, that's what good debate should be.
Marriage as a natural law predated marriage as it is legally recognized today. I'm going to go so far (which I have before) as to say that the Government should never have gotten involved in marriage in the first place. However, it is a bit late to change that, as it causes some major issues. First, the issue of letting the states handle marriage. We all know that I'm a big fan of "local is better" government, but I don't think that it should be that difficult for people that want to move state to state have marriages recognized in some and not in others. So here's my solution....make all civil marriages into civil unions. Yes. My marriage, along with many others would become a civil union. Gay partners that want to commit to each other for life would have the same exact status within the government if they want to have civil unions.
Marriage would remain as a sacrament taken in a religious ceremony.
As far as I can tell, this would solve a lot of problems. You could easily transfer all civil marriages into the language of unions, it evens all legal and government/healthcare issues between monogamous committed heterosexual and homosexual couples, and it still allows a special place for marriage.
So why does it bother me so much emotionally? Maybe because I'd have to admit that taking a sacrament of marriage is a larger promise than taking a civil one. Alright, before the nitpicking starts, obviously there are couples married in various religious institutions that don't take their vows as seriously as they should, and there are those of us that take our civil vows as seriously as religious vows. However, I have to say that I have been through the discussion of taking those vows in a religious ceremony, and at least in my case, it really makes you feel like you are making a larger promise, a promise that is literally unbreakable, no matter what, so you'd better be damned sure you want to make it, you'd better be sure of yourself, or your partner, or your desires for your life together. For your level of handling anger, hurt, temptation, and every other difficult emotion that comes with a lifelong commitment to another person. But, there is something to be said for the fact that the likes of Brittany Spears and her ilk wouldn't be able to hit Vegas and get married, just to get divorced or annulled days later. There's also something to be said for marriage being supported by society and not by a constitutional amendment (which I have been against from the beginning). But then, it wouldn't be marriage anymore, it would be civil unions.
Does the name mean that much? If not, why does it bother me so much to think that I would not be married?
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Wow 2.
I think it is starting to dawn on the Europeans that appeasement doesn't really work. Let's hope so.
(German Foreign Minister Joschka) Fischer spelled out three conditions to ensure a prosperous and peaceful Middle East and therefore to guarantee Europe’s security: reforms, solving the Middle East conflict and stabilising Iraq.
“If you put all three together it is quite clear we need American leadership, America in the driver’s seat,” Fischer said.
I think it is starting to dawn on the Europeans that appeasement doesn't really work. Let's hope so.
Friday, September 03, 2004
Did you say bounce?
I found this an interesting testament to the kind of person John Kerry is.
ASSHOLE.
I found this an interesting testament to the kind of person John Kerry is.
Kerry bounced the ceremonial first pitch during last night's Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park, but he said he was just going easy on the National Guard soldier and Iraq war veteran standing in as catcher.
"I held back," Mr. Kerry told reporters early this morning, on the plane ride after the game. "He was very nervous. I tried to lob it gently."
The ball bounced at the feet of Will Pumyea, the 23-year-old who served tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq as a military police officer in the Massachusetts National Guard. The soldier fumbled for the ball beneath his legs, but managed to come up with it.
ASSHOLE.
Let's see who wins the spin battle on this one.
While these aren't the spectacular numbers from a few months ago, they seem to refute the predictions of the economy sliding backwards. This will be interesting...
While these aren't the spectacular numbers from a few months ago, they seem to refute the predictions of the economy sliding backwards. This will be interesting...
Yeah, the Republicans brought hate to NYC.
More like bring out the hate in the sensitive, caring liberals...
A featured performer at a National Organization for Women rally accused President Bush of having "savagely raped " women "over and over" by allegedly stealing the 2000 presidential election.
Poet Molly Birnbaum read aloud to a crowd of feminists gathered in New York's Central Park on Wednesday night, as part of a NOW event dubbed "Code Red: Stop the Bush Agenda Rally."
"Imagine a way to erase that night four years ago when you (President Bush) savagely raped every pandemic woman over and over with each vote you got, a thrust with each state you stole," Birnbaum said from the podium. (If something is pandemic, it affects many people or a number of countries.)
More like bring out the hate in the sensitive, caring liberals...
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS…
Tomorrow Thursday my wife, our daughter and me are going on vacation to Scotland. As I’m typing this, with roughly 1 hr plus of paperwork still to do before venturing to bed, it occurs to me what a lucky bastard I am. Before the advent of the Internet, I used to think I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the world. When, though, I state that thanks to my broadband connection I’m seeing world events from a virtual front seat, I still may be seriously overplaying my hand. As sure as the earth is round, too many machinations and undercurrents in society still escape my view, and too many topics just catch the eye without my brain connecting the obvious dots and grasping the true relevance of what I see.
Yet for all that, the Internet has proven itself a wonderful tool. At worst it has turned my happy relative ignorance into an uneasy realization that we truly live in a world in turmoil, a global battleground of ideologies, and that’s not even counting the plethora of mundane-or-rather-not-so-mundane problems facing the majority of earthlings: proper nutrition, health care, lack of freedom etc… etc…
At best though it has opened the door for new friends across the globe, and notably in the United States, where over the past year I finally found large numbers of people who thought and spoke as I do – or liked to do, since over here in the Old Continent very few qualify as people to whom I’d refer as being “on my side of the fence”. I’ve stated this several times and it may even start to bore you, but you in America, where despite the omnipresence of liberal media, rightwing views are carried by at least half of the population, have no idea whatsoever what it means to live in an “intellectual” environment where political correctness is the New Religion. When I was invited by Kerry Dupont to post on Downeast, a whole world opened up for me, a world where the decade-old lies with which I had been bombarded since childhood (as a twelve-ear old I had to learn that Julius Nyerere, notorious for screwing Tanzania’s welfare, was “The Torch-Bearer of Africa”) were effectively exposed as the senile rantings of pony-tailed, woollen-sock wearing, frustrated and hypocritical do-gooders locked in May 1968.
I like to live my life the way I do it: working hard, loving my family, raising our kid and hopefully kids, planning and securing my and my family’s future, renovating the country house I bought in 1997, trying to make my business flourish, reading and studying, enjoying the beauty of my country and continent, both its natural as its architectural enigmas… I was raised in a family where hard work was considered one of the highest virtues and laziness was something to loathe… and when all the work was done, I truly learned to appreciate the reward of a vacation meant to come to rest, breathe other air (often in Switzerlands mountains) and simply enjoy being healthy and young.
As I am preparing for this long-awaited break from the often demanding work, anticipating to venture out in the grandiose scenery of Scotland’s mountains, glens and lochs, I’d like to wholeheartedly thank those people who are on the forefront of defending our civilization from a murderous ideology that wants to cast hundreds of millions back in the seventh century. In a very real sense of the word I feel that those nineteen year-old troopers in Iraq, the security personnel back in the States and in my own Europe, and all those from far or close involved in fighting this “War On Terror”, because that’s what it is, a War On Terror, are fighting to preserve our - my - way of life. And I’m tremendously grateful for that. Not knowing which readers care about religion and therefore a bit reluctant to invoke God, I find it nevertheless appropriate to share with you that I’ll surely take some time to go into a church and save a prayer or two for all those out there, men and women, following orders, taking responsibility and putting their lives at risk. Thanks for all that.
If all goes well, we’ll be back on September 14th. Thanks for the company, Kerry, Tom, Scott, Mark, Jamie, Stacy, JohnL, LarryF, Kevin, Drazil, John, Arthur and all those I might forget.
Tomorrow Thursday my wife, our daughter and me are going on vacation to Scotland. As I’m typing this, with roughly 1 hr plus of paperwork still to do before venturing to bed, it occurs to me what a lucky bastard I am. Before the advent of the Internet, I used to think I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the world. When, though, I state that thanks to my broadband connection I’m seeing world events from a virtual front seat, I still may be seriously overplaying my hand. As sure as the earth is round, too many machinations and undercurrents in society still escape my view, and too many topics just catch the eye without my brain connecting the obvious dots and grasping the true relevance of what I see.
Yet for all that, the Internet has proven itself a wonderful tool. At worst it has turned my happy relative ignorance into an uneasy realization that we truly live in a world in turmoil, a global battleground of ideologies, and that’s not even counting the plethora of mundane-or-rather-not-so-mundane problems facing the majority of earthlings: proper nutrition, health care, lack of freedom etc… etc…
At best though it has opened the door for new friends across the globe, and notably in the United States, where over the past year I finally found large numbers of people who thought and spoke as I do – or liked to do, since over here in the Old Continent very few qualify as people to whom I’d refer as being “on my side of the fence”. I’ve stated this several times and it may even start to bore you, but you in America, where despite the omnipresence of liberal media, rightwing views are carried by at least half of the population, have no idea whatsoever what it means to live in an “intellectual” environment where political correctness is the New Religion. When I was invited by Kerry Dupont to post on Downeast, a whole world opened up for me, a world where the decade-old lies with which I had been bombarded since childhood (as a twelve-ear old I had to learn that Julius Nyerere, notorious for screwing Tanzania’s welfare, was “The Torch-Bearer of Africa”) were effectively exposed as the senile rantings of pony-tailed, woollen-sock wearing, frustrated and hypocritical do-gooders locked in May 1968.
I like to live my life the way I do it: working hard, loving my family, raising our kid and hopefully kids, planning and securing my and my family’s future, renovating the country house I bought in 1997, trying to make my business flourish, reading and studying, enjoying the beauty of my country and continent, both its natural as its architectural enigmas… I was raised in a family where hard work was considered one of the highest virtues and laziness was something to loathe… and when all the work was done, I truly learned to appreciate the reward of a vacation meant to come to rest, breathe other air (often in Switzerlands mountains) and simply enjoy being healthy and young.
As I am preparing for this long-awaited break from the often demanding work, anticipating to venture out in the grandiose scenery of Scotland’s mountains, glens and lochs, I’d like to wholeheartedly thank those people who are on the forefront of defending our civilization from a murderous ideology that wants to cast hundreds of millions back in the seventh century. In a very real sense of the word I feel that those nineteen year-old troopers in Iraq, the security personnel back in the States and in my own Europe, and all those from far or close involved in fighting this “War On Terror”, because that’s what it is, a War On Terror, are fighting to preserve our - my - way of life. And I’m tremendously grateful for that. Not knowing which readers care about religion and therefore a bit reluctant to invoke God, I find it nevertheless appropriate to share with you that I’ll surely take some time to go into a church and save a prayer or two for all those out there, men and women, following orders, taking responsibility and putting their lives at risk. Thanks for all that.
If all goes well, we’ll be back on September 14th. Thanks for the company, Kerry, Tom, Scott, Mark, Jamie, Stacy, JohnL, LarryF, Kevin, Drazil, John, Arthur and all those I might forget.
Paul Begala with some typical liberal sputum.
Lots of accusations being pushed as facts with no actual evidence to back it up.
Sounds about par for the course.
Lots of accusations being pushed as facts with no actual evidence to back it up.
Sounds about par for the course.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Blogging on the RNC.
Arnie was great, they just love him. He ruined one line for me with the "their hate can never match...(I'm waiting for America's love) America's decency." Definitely more Republican, but it was "feel good" night. Overall though, very impressive, he is a good strong speaker, comes across as genuine at the same time.
The girls are just too young. As I've heard said, you need to give us a reason to vote for your dad besides, "he's a great guy". They missed that opportunity tonight.
Laura, well, class act, but never has been a rousing speaker. I wish that she had spoken more to her original intent of showing people the George Bush that they don't get to see. I could have spoken with more emotion about the things that I've read about Bush doing, that are just so caring and genuine, than she did. She did fine, but just fine, not spectacular.
Sleep calls, more tomorrow.
Arnie was great, they just love him. He ruined one line for me with the "their hate can never match...(I'm waiting for America's love) America's decency." Definitely more Republican, but it was "feel good" night. Overall though, very impressive, he is a good strong speaker, comes across as genuine at the same time.
The girls are just too young. As I've heard said, you need to give us a reason to vote for your dad besides, "he's a great guy". They missed that opportunity tonight.
Laura, well, class act, but never has been a rousing speaker. I wish that she had spoken more to her original intent of showing people the George Bush that they don't get to see. I could have spoken with more emotion about the things that I've read about Bush doing, that are just so caring and genuine, than she did. She did fine, but just fine, not spectacular.
Sleep calls, more tomorrow.
WAR AND DISHONOR.
Kevin and other people on the left side, THIS IS THE ENEMY.
Don't you dare come to tell me the actions of your government have only encouraged and emboldened this human trash.
The Middle East is like a decrepit shack full of rattlesnakes and cockroaches in your backyard. You could it let it rot and wait for it to deteriorate to the point where the vermin ventures out and creeps into your house via the back door. Or you could go in and clean up the place. If you do the latter you can surely expect the creeps to crawl out from under damn near everything you touch and for a while it may look as if you had better left things alone.
Right now we are at that stage. We see the worms squirming in the daylight. What do we do now Kev?
Do we call it quits and leave the shack to harbor the vermin further? Oh, but now you have disturbed it, like a wasp's nest. Remember, if you close that shack's door, that does not mean the worms cease to exist.
Or do we proceed and look forward to making the place useful and pleasant again? Well, I'm not going to embellish it. I fear the democratization of the Middle East is going to be a long, hard slog.
Once again though, I'm reminded of Winston Churchill addressing Neville Chamberlain who chose to have the Czech Republic raped by the Nazis instead of confronting them:
YOU HAD THE CHOICE BETWEEN WAR AND DISHONOR. YOU CHOSE DISHONOR AND YOU WILL GET WAR.
Choices like that should be obvious.
God, those poor men. May I invite everyone to save a prayer for them and their relatives?
Kevin and other people on the left side, THIS IS THE ENEMY.
Don't you dare come to tell me the actions of your government have only encouraged and emboldened this human trash.
The Middle East is like a decrepit shack full of rattlesnakes and cockroaches in your backyard. You could it let it rot and wait for it to deteriorate to the point where the vermin ventures out and creeps into your house via the back door. Or you could go in and clean up the place. If you do the latter you can surely expect the creeps to crawl out from under damn near everything you touch and for a while it may look as if you had better left things alone.
Right now we are at that stage. We see the worms squirming in the daylight. What do we do now Kev?
Do we call it quits and leave the shack to harbor the vermin further? Oh, but now you have disturbed it, like a wasp's nest. Remember, if you close that shack's door, that does not mean the worms cease to exist.
Or do we proceed and look forward to making the place useful and pleasant again? Well, I'm not going to embellish it. I fear the democratization of the Middle East is going to be a long, hard slog.
Once again though, I'm reminded of Winston Churchill addressing Neville Chamberlain who chose to have the Czech Republic raped by the Nazis instead of confronting them:
YOU HAD THE CHOICE BETWEEN WAR AND DISHONOR. YOU CHOSE DISHONOR AND YOU WILL GET WAR.
Choices like that should be obvious.
God, those poor men. May I invite everyone to save a prayer for them and their relatives?
This pretty much sums up my opinion of protestors.
Protests are by and large a massive waste of time. No wonder they seem more popular with a certain side of the political aisle. Anyone with a job and a life is probably too busy to attend.
Protests are by and large a massive waste of time. No wonder they seem more popular with a certain side of the political aisle. Anyone with a job and a life is probably too busy to attend.
What's your platform?
OK, folks, here's your chance to be president. List the top 5 initiatives of your presidency. Here's mine:
1) Abolish the IRS, replace all income taxes with either a flat tax or national retail sales tax. Include a constitutional amendment that outlaws the income tax and prevents all "progressive" taxation.
2) Begin the process of legalizing drugs. Begin with marijuana and study the results of this phase and apply it to other drugs over time. As drugs become legalized, release all non violent drug offenders from prison whose sentences are associated with that drug. Split the money saved between the taxpayers and drug treatment programs. Phase out the treatment programs over time and let private entities handle this over the long run.
3) Privatize social security. Set a cutoff age where people can still receive benefits consistent with the current system, and then force everyone else to handle their own SS dollars.
4) Maintain or increase defense spending, but work to eliminate needless bureaucracy and waste in the Pentagon. Prepare for inevitable confrontation with Iran and North Korea.
5) Greatly expand investment/ incentive in all American energy resources. Bring nuclear back big time. Drill for oil wherever we can find it. Temporarily utilize our massive coal reserve. Achieve complete energy independence within 10 years.
OK, so there's really about 50 more of these, but that will do for now. How about you candidates?
OK, folks, here's your chance to be president. List the top 5 initiatives of your presidency. Here's mine:
1) Abolish the IRS, replace all income taxes with either a flat tax or national retail sales tax. Include a constitutional amendment that outlaws the income tax and prevents all "progressive" taxation.
2) Begin the process of legalizing drugs. Begin with marijuana and study the results of this phase and apply it to other drugs over time. As drugs become legalized, release all non violent drug offenders from prison whose sentences are associated with that drug. Split the money saved between the taxpayers and drug treatment programs. Phase out the treatment programs over time and let private entities handle this over the long run.
3) Privatize social security. Set a cutoff age where people can still receive benefits consistent with the current system, and then force everyone else to handle their own SS dollars.
4) Maintain or increase defense spending, but work to eliminate needless bureaucracy and waste in the Pentagon. Prepare for inevitable confrontation with Iran and North Korea.
5) Greatly expand investment/ incentive in all American energy resources. Bring nuclear back big time. Drill for oil wherever we can find it. Temporarily utilize our massive coal reserve. Achieve complete energy independence within 10 years.
OK, so there's really about 50 more of these, but that will do for now. How about you candidates?
Monday, August 30, 2004
When is the rest of the world going to learn how to use Google??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You would not believe the amount of information that I have to look up in a day that someone else insists that they do not know or can't find out that I can find on google in seconds. It's annoying as hell!
You would not believe the amount of information that I have to look up in a day that someone else insists that they do not know or can't find out that I can find on google in seconds. It's annoying as hell!
I just love this.
If you're John Kerry, this has to scare the crap out of you. Bill Clinton OWNED the MTV crowd in both of his elections. He even said after being elected for his first term that he would not have been elected if it wasn't for MTV. This demographic has always been a gimme for the Democrats, but it looks like the times they are a changin'...
If you're John Kerry, this has to scare the crap out of you. Bill Clinton OWNED the MTV crowd in both of his elections. He even said after being elected for his first term that he would not have been elected if it wasn't for MTV. This demographic has always been a gimme for the Democrats, but it looks like the times they are a changin'...
Sunday, August 29, 2004
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