Income/Spending Should Match

The numbers are outlandish. Obama is asking for another $83 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of this year. How much longer can this administration spend like drunken sailors on shore leave before they tell America the uncomfortable truth:

"We have to raise your taxes."

I'm ok with big, expensive government, but it seems to me that the US taxpayer isn't getting a very good return on her investment these days. We are spending to bail out wall street, the auto industry, the insurance industry and now for more war. While some of the bail outs might "trickle down" to average Americans, by creating jobs, its hardly creating a direct benefit at this point.

On the war front, can't we just admit this was a bad idea, get the hell out, save lives and money? What exactly are we trying to do at this point? $83 billion would help an awful lot of people with mortgage payments, groceries, medical bills etc..

In the end I have to wonder how we are paying for all this. Big spending government can work (although I do wish they were spending differently), but so does fiscal responisibility. The national debt is growing exponentially these days, and I don't want my kids saddled with debt on our fiscal irresponsibility. They didn't make the terrible choices that got us here.

If America is going to pay it's way out of this crisis, then America needs to start paying. That means higher taxes and less borrowing. We need to be responsible for future Americans.

Vermont Follows Iowa.

This week Vermont followed Iowa's lead and legalized gay marriage. Interestingly, Vermont did it through legislative action rather than a court ruling. Either way, another domino has fallen in the battle for equal marriage rights for gay Americans.

It's not surprising that Vermont took this action. It is widely regarded as one of the more liberal states, and it was the first state to legalize civil unions. Nonetheless, the state legislature had to override the governor's veto to get this passed. Kudos to Vermont for helping lead the way!

I think this is now officially a trend, which will eventually lead to wide acceptance of gay marriage throughout the US. I'm interested in hearing from any readers about if, or when, gay marriage will be legalized where you live.

Please chime in.

What Is An Open Mind?

(Via)

April 4, 1968

Forty one years ago yesterday the world lost one of its great voices to a racist's bullet. On April 4, 1968 James Earl Ray tried to silence Martin Luther King with a sniper rifle while the civil rights leader stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee.

Ray may have succeeded in taking King's life, but he failed miserably at silencing his voice. It lived on in others who took up the call for racial equality. Now Martin Luther King's message is taught to school children with the same reverence given to the Emancipation Proclamation.

I wonder how Dr. King would feel about the America we live in now. Surely he would be immensely proud that we have evolved to the point of electing a black president. Still, I wonder how he would view the massive wealth gap between whites and blacks. I wonder how much of his dream he would regard as fulfilled.

Here is a clip of the last speech King ever gave - the night before he died. Many have written about how prophetic it was, and it does seem to foretell the events of the next day. I recently saw a documentary in which people close to King said it was a speech he delivered often, which cuts down its prophetic quality a bit. Nonetheless, it is remarkable how much Dr. King was willing to place himself in danger's way in the fight for justice.



Remarkable.

Iowa: Gay Marriage Videos

Here are some videos on the Iowa gay marriage issue.

Some background stories of gay couples who want to marry. How can you be opposed to this?



And here's some ignorance from the Iowa Family Policy Center. What is wrong with these people?

Gay Marriage In Iowa.

Great news out of Iowa today! The Iowa Supreme Court has struck down that state's gay marriage ban as an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause in the state constitution. Effectively, this means that gay Iowans can't be denied a marriage license. Kudos to the state of Iowa.

It's about time that gay people be given full rights to marriage. It's hard to fathom why same sex adults who want to marry shouldn't be allowed to. Being someone who gets great joy out of marriage, I'm encouraged to see the same rights being offered to everyone.

Of course the right has already started it's fear drumbeat. Republican Iowa Representative Steve King wasted no time warning that the ruling will turn Iowa in to a "gay marriage mecca." Naturally he also said the Iowa legislature has a "responsibility" to amend the state constitution to take marriage rights away from gay people.

Iowa should hope it will become a "gay marriage mecca." In this economy I expect that hospitality businesses in Des Moines and Iowa City might welcome an influx of people looking to spend their hard earned cash. Why is King afraid of this? Does he have some kind of fear of catching the gay? Does he not like being around people who love each other and want to make a commitment?

We will see if another Prop 8 style campaign springs up in Iowa, but for now I just want to say congratulations to all those people who just gained the same rights that I have always had. You deserve it.

Atheism Explained

Sam Harris talks about my peeps.



I'm somewhat uncomfortable of his description of atheists as being "spiritual," because it's such a loaded term and I'm not sure he's using it the way most people think of it. Nonetheless, he does a nice job of dispelling some of the common myths about atheists.