Proposition 8: Why is Government Defining Marriage?

It's no great surprise that a court decided California's Proposition 8 isn't legal today. The problem with the whole problem isn't a matter of equal rights under the law, but rather the artifact within law that allows the government a hand in what is really a religious matter.

There are two sides to marriage. One is the legal aspect--the tying of two legal entities into one, in many respects. The law concerning inheritance, the laws regulating the commitments that are spread between the two people involved when entering into contracts for employment, finance, and so on. The other side is the religious bond, which is defined by the faith of the participants in the marriage.

An attempt at correcting the problem of the intertwining of the legal and religious aspects of marriage was created with the legal concept of the civil union. In effect, it is supposed to provide the legal benefits of marriage without the religious aspects. The problem is, there is still the institution of marriage under law.

Having marriage as an act performed by the state, devoid of any religious involvement, as well as a religious act regulated by the state when performed as a religious act, is a hold over from the days when there was no significant separation between the state and religion. That hold over is what's causing so much trouble today. Having the state define marriage, and who can engage in it is in effect allowing the state to define religious tenets. Those tenets can never be defined in a way that does not favor one set of religious principles over another.

Rather than defining marriage, and defining who has the "right" to engage in it, the state should instead be abandoning it as a legal principle. The state should only have a hand in the legal aspects of such a bond, in other words, the state should only have a hand in civil unions. A courthouse marriage would then be a civil union, only, no matter the nature of the people involved. Marriages would be performed exclusively by religions. Where the state warrants it, and the religion itself chooses, such marriages would also be recognized as legal civil unions.

This would remove much of the basis for the unnecessary strife over the state's role in marriage. Yeah, there will be plenty of religious people who claim it denigrates the role of marriage in society, but having the state put a stamp of approval on any particular religion's marriage ceremony will necessarily conflict with some other church's views. It's like having a legal definition of baptism, which then militates toward state interference in who can and who cannot be baptized, as well as non-denominational courthouse baptisms to extend the legal benefits of baptism to those who profess no specific religion.

It's silly and medieval to have the state taking a hand in a spiritual matter like this. It's also silly to have law force recognition of one person's spiritual views on others who consider them odious.

It's time to kick the state out of marriage, and leave it up to churches and their members. Civil unions for all, get rid of the state "marriage".

Oil Skimmer Obama

Add a new nickname to the political scene. Alongside "Schoolbus Ray Nagin" we now have "Oil Skimmer Obama."

Senator George LeMieux has brought it out into the light in indisputable fashion, the President has made himself as much an obstacle to dealing with a disaster as Mayor Ray Nagin did in the disaster his city suffered. In fact, he's done worse. At least Schoolbus Ray didn't keep turning away schoolbuses after allowing his own fleet to be flooded out.


No matter what the President says about the value of oil drilling and offshore oil production (which he appeared to support with political actions taken just before the BP oil spill), we have a big spill now. It's possible to deal with this spill. The means for doing so are proven and in hand. But he's stood in the way the whole time, first through inactivity then through outright opposition.

Check out the Senator's page for the details on the oil spill response.

Volcanic Ash Jet Fighter Gap? Try a Rocket!

Now the news has discovered that not only have commercial aircraft been grounded by the Iceland volcano's ash cloud, but military aircraft are, too. Amazing minds they must have...

There is a solution, if only we had some ready--rocket fighters don't take in air, so they can fly fine, except for a bit of windscreen fogging, perhaps.

Paint over the damn swastikas and get the Rocket Planes on alert!

Millions into defense and where are the rocket planes when you need them? Somebody tell the politicians that this is the 21st century, already!

X-37B: So Secret it Ain't

It seems somebody's decided that there's something sinister and secret about the X-37B Spacecraft. Yahoo! News has dubbed it a Mystery Space Plane and even Fox News calls it a Mystery Space Plane with a Mystery Mission.

OoooOOOooooh. Creeeepy.

The X-37B Being Prepared for Launch
On Orbit, It Will Creep Out the Easily Duped

Not So Secret, Really.

Actually, this thing's been in the works long enough that its uses are pretty well known. But that doesn't sell soap or get internet clicks. Check it out:

Operationally Responsive Spacelift

Near Term Manned Space Logistics Operations(See the section on reusable logistical vehicles.)

Exactly why it should be such a mystery that the military feel the need for a reusable, quick-to-launch system is a mystery to me. The Shuttle is on its way to retirement and the military's been kicked off its manifest since the Columbia disaster. Current boosters like the Atlas and Delta vehicles are not quick to launch, not reusable. The ability of other nations to knock out satellites is already here, and that means there's a need to be able to field replacements quickly, especially since the military relies so heavily on satellites.

X-37B in Orbit, Stealing Ur Megahurtz

But mysteries sell, it appears. Even when it takes holding back well known information to create a mystery, as the idiots in major media outlets have done here.

If you'd rather have information than mystery, keep reading:

Operationally Responsive Space
Responsive Space
FAST Program

Of course, if you think we ought to hinder our own defense by keeping it difficult to get to space, you can go back to your regularly scheduled conspiracy theories...

Sleek White Exterior, All the Better to Read Your Mind
Tinfoil hats, ON!

April Fools, It's the Census!

The ads for the census are really something else. You're shtoopid enuf to think nobody can figure out what public services are needed without it, right? That's what they're saying. Nobody can count cars on the road, count riders on buses, lay new pavement, if the mighty oracle of the Census does not speak first.

What a crock. It may be true for government that they refuse to provide for public services until they're beaten over the head (like government-collected figures could ever be used for that purpose!), it being so much more interesting to spend all that taxpayer revenue on kickback inducing projects, vote-buying feel-goodism, and photo-ops. The census doesn't get money into any district, though.

What it's supposed to be is a way of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. End of story. What it has become, however, is a data-mining operation for the social engineers in the government who want to keep you off balance, under control, and fully milked of everything they can take from you to buy somebody else's vote (or maybe yours.)

April Fools, America! Your "selfless" servants are here to rule you from the other end of the leash.

Oh, and let's not forget what a fantastic opportunity this is for scammers to trick you by pretending to with the Census. April Fools! We stole your identity! All ur bankz belong to us.