Gay Marriage in Middle America

Today the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is consistent and required by that state's constitution.  This is the first time that such a ruling has come not from the "elite" coasts, but from the midwest.  

Iowa is arguably the most American of states, with a fairly contested national election, an agrarian economy, and generally sensible people.  When a state like this upholds same sex marriage, it is a sign that the dam may well have broke.

And that's a good thing.

Additionally, unlike the disastrous Prop 8 in California, Iowa's constitution is very difficult to amend.  At the very earliest, a vote could come in 2012.  By that time it is unlikely that a majority of people would approve a ban on same sex marriage.  In the 3 years between now and then, there is likely to be a lot of educational campaigns on what is really at stake, and the more people learn about the issues, the less supportive they would be of a ban.

I've argued many times in the past that in order for this country to take equality seriously, we need to stop regulating marriage.  Interracial marriage used to be illegal, and now, while definitely not a majority of marriages, it is completely acceptable.  

Now, of course there will be a campaign in Iowa of religious nutjobs who say "Jesus wasn't gay."  To that, I say, he surrounded himself with men and wasn't married but what do I know?  All joking aside, any Christian who refers to the old testament to say that homosexuality is a sin should rethink most of their daily lives, since upholding the rules of the old testament would turn a Catholic into a Jew, at least via dietary habits.

Nate Silver predicts that by 2012, half of the states in the country would have a majority of people seeking gay marriage, and I'd say that by 2020 (if not earlier) the US Supreme Court will rule in that way as well.

Obama's budget passes first test

The House approved Obama's budget today.  This is the first step in a process that will last many months, but is a good sign, despite not garnering any republican votes.  The GOP is not much of a party now anyway, with Rush and co. not coming up with any type of viable counter proposal.

At G20 Obama Emerges as World Leader

Today was President Obama's true entrance to the world.  Gone was the hope that he would win the election; the world leaders now had to deal with the leader of the free world.  And lead he did.  With the President's leadership, the world has pledged $1T to help fight the current recession, a lot of which will go to International Monetary Fund efforts to give money to struggling developing countries, countries in which the recession can be a truly life or death issues for the people that live there.

World cooperation is essential.  We have an EU that is at the verge of collapse.  Adding developing countries (the Baltics and other Eastern European countries) at too quick of a pace, and giving them the Euro, has taken the EU down a dangerous path.  Add to that the lack of a strong federal-style government, and you have EU members who are about to go completely bust.  Take for example Latvia, whose currency, the Lat, is tied to the Euro and has been for some time.  Most people have even taken out car loans denominated in Euros.  There has now been serious talk about devaluing the Lat to take pressure off the central bank, meaning that someone's car payments could literal double in real terms overnight.  The PM has said this won't happen, but one could conceivably see it happen.  Countries like France and Germany have been loathe to give money to these developing nations, further causing doubt within the bloc.

The reason that the President was able to broker agreements with skeptical countries like France and Germany was his willingness to be humble.  Unlike Bush before him, President Obama said that America is somewhat to blame for the current crisis, and it is this humility that we've been lacking for the past decade.

Gmail Autopilot

Hardy, har, har.

Speaking of gmail...

A strange link called "Gmail Autopilot" has appeared on my account today, but it only transitions to a Page Not Found.  WTF?  I'm assuming its just a joke, given what day it is.

Today Gmail turns 5

Happy birthday Gmail, yet another Google service I couldn't live without.

The end of Palin?

Sarah Palin has been disinvited from a major republican speaking event... as quickly as she came into the spotlight, she may very well fade away.  Thank god.

Why its OK for the fed to fire Wagoner

Updating my previous post, it seems that Rick Wagoner was "asked to leave" by President Obama.  A bunch of right wing nutjobs are going to come out of the woodwork (again) and complain about government involvement in business.  Let's just keep this in mind: GM asked the fed for help because it was about to go under.  Just like if you ask someone for a loan, they are pretty much allowed to tell you exactly how they want you to run your business.  And that's what is being done right now.

How many characters does it take to get a copyright?

Mark Cuban has an interesting post regarding the copyrightablility of a post on Twitter (a "tweet" which is 140 characters or less).  He recently tweeted about the NBA refs and got fined $25,000.  Of course, ESPN, the AP, and many others are posting his tweet for all the world to see (which they already could, if they just went to his Twitter page).  

I think that it is definitely something that can be copyrighted, but I wonder what the damages would be?  Most electronic writing is copyrighted.  Take for instance this blog post.  It is copyrighted, and if you reproduce it without my consent I would be able to take you to court, and I'd win.

Wagoner stepping down as GM CEO

Bye-bye Rick, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, is resigning after 8 years of failure.

The start of a war crimes trial?

This is perhaps the first step in the worldwide prosecution of George W. Bush.

Film Review: Religulous

Religulous is a great documentary/comedy starring Bill Maher.  Absolutely no religion is spared his wrath, be it Scientology, Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.  The core point he strives to make, which I agree with, is that anyone who follows one of these religions and believes in the stories and rituals is a bit nuts.  

Whether you believe that earth was created by aliens who unleashed nuclear weapons (Scientology), that it is a sin to tie a knot on a Saturday (Judaism), or that your prophet requires you to wear magic underwear (Mormonism), do the details really matter?  

No, they are all nuts. 

 It is especially scary that our elected leaders believe in these types of fairy tales and that it guides their policies.

The film concludes with a skewering of religion in general, and the central point that "Religion must die for mankind to live."