altara

Saturday, June 10, 2006

HILLARY AGAIN


News Item - June 10,2006 New York Times: Wounds Salved, Clinton Returns to Health Care


Comment - As is often said of second marriages, this may be the triumph of hope over experience.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

THE GAY MARRIAGE SOLUTION

David Corn's entertaining re-post from 2 years ago of the story of how gay marriage was responible for marriage bickering and quarrels leads me to re-post my solution to the problem. So sorry to deprive George Bush and his right wing supporters of this "culture" issue, but, excerpted from February 2004 posting, here is the solution:

".... letting the states decide will create a legal mess and is sure to result in prohibition of gay marriage in many states. Couples will go forum shopping for states that will permit them to marry. All this sound and fury over an issue that we can easily avoid.


The solution - take marriage off the table. Get the body politic out of the marriage business

Let marriage be the private commitment that it really is. Those who wish can choose marriage, and label it as such, in accordance with their faith, spiritual values, ethics, or other personal beliefs. It may or may not be church or religion-related; that depends of the tenets of the religion and the wishes of the couple.

On the other hand, the state should have nothing to do with the institution of marriage. Its concern should only be civil union and the regulation of the legalities of formation and dissolution, basic rights and obligations of the parties, and economic benefits attendant to the union. The state's role as protector of children remains unchanged.

So change the words, get the state completely out of the institution of "marriage".

With all of this marriage turmoil behind us, we can concentrate on real issues such as Liza Mannelli's left hook."

Monday, June 05, 2006

NOW JOE BIDEN - WHAT THE HELL!


Right after entering a post mocking Mark Warner's phraseeology, "come heck or high water", I came across Senator Joe Biden's interview on Meet the Press. In decrying the impending waste of legislative time on the proposed anti- gay marriage constitutional amendment, he said this was happening while the "world is going to Hades in a handbasket"

So I can't bring myself to vote for Joe Biden for president either. But I wasn't going to anyway.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

CAN MARK WARNER WIN?

Since I have my doubts about the electability of a woman as president, I used to wonder if Mark Warner would be a viable alternative. As former governor of Virginia, he might be able to win back some of the states of the South.

But I'm not sure that I can myself or that many others can vote for a person who says he does not believe that we should withdraw from Iraq by a fixed date "come heck or high water".