Nothing Better To Do

It's amazing how the issue of gay marriage ebbs and flows in the American political consciousness. Sometimes, it's a hot button issue, with states contemplating constitutional amendments seeking to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Then, without much rhyme or reason, the issue recedes, to reappear some other time.

The recent court decision in California striking down same sex marriage was the match that re-lit the fire. New York Governor David Paterson made sure the flame would last awhile after directing state agencies to recognize same sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Time to lay aside concerns about the rising cost of gas, home mortgages, and the war in Iraq. Fighting same sex marriage is more important than any of that.

Just ask the legion of organizations in New York and California that vow to turn back this so-called threat to traditional marriage. In the Empire State, legislators are upset that Gov. Paterson took the unilateral step of trying to shield the state from liability in the event legally married same sex couples from elsewhere are rejected for benefits after moving to New York. These folks would rather have been told ahead of time, so they could find a way to stall things as they usually do.

Social conservatives, on the other hand, would muddy the waters between church and state. It's amazing how many people think their belief that homosexuality is an abomination should imposed on everyone. They cite biblical chapter and verse, apparently unaware that racists and other miscreants have cited scripture in much the same way to justify slavery, laws against race mixing, and even eating shellfish (yes, that's an abomination too).

Gov. Paterson took a bold step, for which he is to be commended. Too bad same sex marriage, with both its benefits and obligations, isn't yet legal in New York State.    

The Willingness to Meet

Senator Barack Obama has taken a great deal of heat for his position that he'd meet with leaders of enemy nations. The notion that there are countries America shouldn't communicate with is a curious one. Talking, after all, isn't the same as breaking bread. Yet Obama has been called everything from naive to an appeaser for saying he'd talk to the leaders of Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and (God forbid) Iran.

In order to best assess what Obama proposes, we ought to take a moment and look at what the Bush policy of refusing to talk without preconditions has wrought. The answer is an American foreign policy in shambles. Has not talking to Iran derailed their nuclear experimentation? No. How about their whack talk about Israel? Nope. 

Bush says Syria has been offering aid and comfort to the insurgency in Iraq. He won't talk to President Bashar al-Assad either. How then does he explain the fact that Israel has been holding secret talks with the Assad government for the last little while? Could it be the Israelis understand something Bush and his buddy McCain don't?

Obama has had to tinker with this central component of his foreign policy in the face of relentless criticism. He shouldn't have to. America's enemies have shown they won't back down simply because we won't talk to them. And we all know speaking to the enemy isn't the same as sleeping with the enemy. 

As long as you are dealing with nations from a position of strength, what's the problem?

Scotty Mac's Beatdown

Hell hath no fury like that of a stooge scorned. So it is with Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary. He was the guy who, among other things, fudged the administration's way through the Iraq war run-up and the Valerie Plame scandal. Now he's published a book titled "What Happened Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". He makes some bombshell accusations, including but not limited to:

Bush relied on propaganda to sell the Iraq war.

Some of his own assertions from the podium of the White House briefing room were "badly misguided" (he lied).

That Scooter Libby and Karl Rove held a secret meeting to get their stories straight about the Plame leak when the feds were hot on their trail, then misled him about the facts.

That Bush and his minions "embraced a permanent campaign approach to governance". That is, too much time running for office, not enough time running the country (plain English isn't the strong suit of the stuffed shirt).

Incredibly, McClellan asserts the White House press corps was too easy on the administration in the run-up to the war. This is something many in the progressive media were saying at the time, and was refuted by, among others, Scott McClellan.

One must say there's some satisfaction in seeing George W. Bush get kicked while he's down. Republican congressional candidates avoid him like the plague, John McCain acts like he'd rather get caught with a hooker than with the President of the United States, and now this. The guy everyone thought was Bush's most loyal loyalist kneecaps him as turns to walk out the door of his failed presidency.

Can you think of anyone more deserving?  

Utter Madness

Memorial Day weekend is a time to honor those who have died, not to get shot. Yet this past weekend in New York City, gun violence claimed the lives of three, and wounded nine others. Eight of the wounded got that way during a shooting spree in Harlem that sounds like the Wild West of old. The three deaths and one critical injury all happened in the Bronx, and aren't getting nearly as much coverage as the Harlem shootings.

In Harlem, police are speculating a person who got jumped earlier in the day Monday sought to take revenge. All eight of the victims are expected to live. Police hadn't arrested anyone by early Tuesday. In the Bronx, the shootings were separate, but again, there have been no arrests. Here's hoping they find the person or persons who did this in both cases. Gun violence is the scourge of the city. Not just New York, but cities across America. 

In these cases, the victims were as young as 13, and all are black males. At some point, we have to stop and ask ourselves, is this really what we want for our kids? Is settling a beef worth peoples' lives and futures? Somehow, the pipeline of guns to our communities must be stopped. Or are we just prepared to sit back, roll our eyes, and move on? The victims of these type of crimes are too often young people who should be finishing a school year, or raising a family. 

We rightly got upset about the verdict in the Sean Bell case. Will these shootings, and those to come, upset us as much?

I don't think so.