This battle has already been long raging in the states. It may surprise some to note that same-sex marriage is currently legal in two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In both instances same-sex marriage was legalized through the courts based upon a judge’s interpretation of the equal protection statutes in their prospective state constitutions. Unfortunately, and this is the innate problem with each state getting to define marriage individually, the ‘gay’ marriages of Connecticut and Massachusetts are not recognized by any other states. That means if a gay coupled were to be married in one of those states but later decided to move out of that state their marriage would not be valid in their new area of residence. The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage either so even if a gay couple are legally married in their state they could still not jointly file a federal tax return or share federal benefits.

Then you have states like California and others who have gone so far as to amend their state constitutions to ban gay marriage after similar judicial rulings. If you can’t change the judge’s ruling, change the constitution on which the judge based that decision.

The California case in particular was a crushing defeat for gay rights advocates. One of the more liberal states, it was widely seen as one of the few states where a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage could be stopped. It was not to be however. Even here the majority sided against acceptance and for discrimination. The Mormon Church was one of the strongest proponents behind proposition 8, the proposed amendment to the California constitution defining marriage between one man and one woman. This seems rather odd if you take the time to think about. Weren’t the Mormons similarly persecuted in the early days when they wished to be allowed to practice polygamy, persecuted to such an extent in fact that they were actually forced to leave the Eastern US for places such as California? Yet they would still gladly force the same fate on their gay brethren. Lesson clearly not learned.

The battles lost in the majority of US states have taught us a valuable lesson though. The battle for equal rights will not be one through the people. The majority do not support gay marriage. Thus, like during the civil rights movement it will have to be won through the courts. The Supreme Court to be more exact, for it is here we shall win the war.

 The 14th Amendment provides for equal protection for all and should therefore offer protection to same-sex couples who wish to marry. Of course the Supreme Court has yet to rule as such and don’t seem inclined to in the near future but that won’t change the inevitable.

There is also federal precedent as it relates to marriage laws in this country which happens to be the fly in the ointment for those who would argue marriage is under the sole jurisdiction of individual states and not a federal issue. In the case Lovings vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that a single state could not disallow or invalidate interracial marriage because marriage equality was a fundamental right guaranteed by the 14^th Amendment whether a single states constitution agreed or not .

In closing I must say I am disappointed at the recent losses in the movement towards equal marriage rights for all but all hope is not lost. There are many more battles in this war to fight and I believe equality will prevail. Time is on our side, views about gay marriage have been steadily changing and in time our day will come.

No, this isn’t a geography quiz. It’s a list of countries that, according to Freedom House, scored the maximum score in the 2008 Freedom of the World report. The US and 47 other countries share this honor - which makes me think that there’s got to be a better way to differentiate the “most free” from the “free.” But that’s another topic.

I post this list because, although the US is still considered one of the most free countries, economically speaking, that’s quickly changing. In the past eight years, we’ve increased the national debt by $9 trillion (if you include the bills for the bailout), we’re spying on our own citizens in the name of “homeland security,” we’re handing out money left and right to people who can’t properly run the companies they’ve been given charge of, and we’re fighting two wars that no one can tell how we’re going to win. And this has all been with a Republican president and a generally Republican Congress!! Imagine how the Democrats are going to screw things up!!

As most of you know, I’ve switched to the Libertarian Party. But, even knowing that I’m a member of the most freedom-minded US political party isn’t making me very happy right now. That’s where the list comes in. Would a liberty-minded person be happier (and still just as free) in Australia? Canada? Germany? Micronesia? Liechtenstein? Or, even more broadly - is America past the point where it can be fixed? Have we, like the Roman Republic, gone too far down the road towards government control?

The knee-jerk response is, ‘Of course, America is worth it. We’ll get through it - we always do. We are the city on a hill.’ But I really don’t think that Americans have the same passion for liberty that we once had. Jefferson said that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” There is a very small minority of Americans today who would shed their blood for freedom - and since 1945, they’ve been told to shed their blood for someone else’s freedom! I honestly don’t think the majority of Americans care whether or not they are free - as long as American Idol comes on and they get their tax rebate check from the IRS every April.

I don’t have any answers right now. I’m disgruntled, disappointed, and frustrated. Perhaps there are those in the GOP who share similar feelings because their candidate lost. That is not the source of my frustration - although the late political season has given me opportunity to think about such things in depth. I just think I’ve lost the wide-eyed amazement about this country.

 I bring that up because I think the Russian Invasion into Georgia is such a point of no return. I see a number of things that have changed in regards to U.S. power in the world because of this invasion.

1)Our allies have no reason to expect we will be supporting them in any effort against Tyranny.

2)Russia, China, and any other nation who wants to challenge us knows they have no reason to expect any consequences from us regardless of their actions.

 3)Russia, in particular, will continue to try to seize power, particularly the former Soviet provinces and any area that will provide them with more control over energy.

4)If we don’t wake up we will see our nation and wealth taken from us by the sword.

 I don’t see much that can be done about this situation that isnt going to get deadly on both sides. We need to stop being a nation to afraid to act for ourselves or for our allies.

When I read these posts, I can’t help but be shocked at how naive people truly are. So many people are wrapped up in their own cultural perceptions that they don’t allow themselves to see reality as it is. They don’t see their place in this world, nor their true relationship to others.

It’s all about themselves. Reality has to be what they see reality is. And if something happens that they don’t like or if things don’t work out the way they expect, they don’t stop and ask themselves what was wrong with their viewpoint. Instead they whine, and moan, and complain about how life’s not fair. It’s someone elses fault their life sucks. It’s someone elses fault there is so much evil in the world. It’s someone elses fault.

Right now it seems a lot of blame is going to President Bush. The man is far from perfect, but if your life is screwed up, it’s not his fault. If some hurricane destroys your city, it’s not his fault. If some earthquake happens causing a tsunami, it’s not his fault. He is only one man, a man is a position of power, but he isn’t God. He doesnt have more power and control over your life than you do. I am sure if Senator McCain or Obama get elected, people will sit around complaining about them as well.

But no. It’s everyone else’s fault. Everyone else is wrong. The world has to go our way or else someone or something is trying to screw us over. I know truth is such a foreign concept to so many people. We live in a culture that denies the existance of truth. People don’t want to see the world as it really is because they are afraid of it. They are quite comfortable in their little world getting fat, complaining about their family, whining about how their leaders are screwing their lives. But they won’t lift a figure to do something about it.

I am not sure whether it’s more because they are lazy. Or because they are truly so self centered that the world must evolve around them. They think the world owes them something.

Well, it doesn’t. The world doesn’t owe you anything. In fact, it doesn’t even owe you a single breath after you are born. Every second you live has to be earned. You have to breath each breath. You have to work for sustanance. And yes, sometimes you have to fight and kill to defend yourself. That is the reality of this world. We live in a world governed by force. Whether violent force or just the force it takes for us to move.

Our entire society is an artificial construct. It’s a brilliant construct, but it’s still artificial. This is not our natural state of existance. Our natural state of existance is not order. It’s Chaos/Anarchy. And in our purely natural state, we would completely destroy each other. That is why we create rules, norms, order, etc. The only thing that keeps us from destroying one another is our collective effort.

And if people remain naive of this truth or refuse to accept it. Or act contrary to it, we will see society devolve faster than you can imagine and massive casualties overnight. It’s happened before. It will happen again. Learn from it, or else you are going to die because of your ignorance.

While McCain has been saying, “We can’t drill our way out of this problem…,” the fact is we can drill ourselves from reliance upon other countries, especially regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela, while developing alternative sources for quite some time. As recapped here:

…Recent polling data from Gallup show the percentage of voters blaming oil companies for skyrocketing gasoline prices has dropped from 34 percent to 20 percent over the past year. At the same time, support for more drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas has increased to 57 percent from 41 percent.

And the candidates remain blind to these shifts.

Obama continues to lambaste oil companies while congressional Democrats push for cap-and-trade. They’re missing the point, big time. The public wants more energy and more fuel to cut high prices and spur economic growth. But the costly cap-and-trade plan would produce less fuel and less growth. It would only raise gas pump prices while mounting a Gosplan-type taxing, spending, and regulating program that would be the moral equivalent of Hillarycare on nationalized medicine.

Sen. McCain has an opening here. Yet he, like Obama, would have voted for cap-and-trade, which went down to defeat in last week’s Senate vote. And while Mr. McCain favors some off-shore production and has been strong on nuclear development, he is against drilling in ANWR Alaska.

Then there’s the oil nobody is talking about. The Bakken fields beneath North Dakota, Montana, and Canada hold an estimated 400 billion barrels of oil. In comparison, Saudi Arabia’s biggest field, Gahawar, has an estimated 55 billion barrels, while ANWR has an estimated 10.4 billion barrels.

Hat tip to Mark Perry at the Carpe Diem blog site for these figures. Perry also is reporting a Bureau of Land Management study showing 279 million acres under federal management where oil and gas could potentially be extracted. But more than half of this is totally off limits. Off-shore, where another 86 billion barrels lie in wait, is also restricted. Then there’s liquefied natural gas, oil shale, and the various coal-to-liquid carbon-capture and sequestration technologies that would be priced out of the market by cap-and-trade.

The U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal, but we can’t produce. We’re still the world’s third-largest oil producer, but we could be the Saudi Arabia of oil if our companies were free to drill. Oil CEOs like Rex Tillerson of ExxonMobil and David O’Reilly of Chevron keep saying this. But politicians aren’t heeding their message…

Obviously with the price of a barrel of gas closing on $138 today, the increase price of shipping costs, production costs, are being added to everything we buy. In Europe the lorry drivers are striking, no longer able to make a profit with the costs there, for their taxes on petrol are significantly higher than in the United States. To think that type of response in the US will take $8 a gallon prices, well our patience isn’t that long. Now Senator McCain hints that he may back a windfall profits tax on the oil company, following the same plan to increase the costs to the consumer, as Senator Obama.

Truth of the matter is if there is punishment to be meted out it should be where the fault lies, which is with Congress which for the past 20 or more years has made it impossible for the oil companies to explore, much less develop our own natural resources.

The inflationary effects of the increased cost of oil has not gone unnoticed by any of us. There isn’t a product that we buy that doesn’t consume energy during production and shipping. The cost of imports will be even higher in the future, considering the cost of maritime fuel added to the cost of diesel to bring the goods from ports to stores. With the falling dollar and no action by Washington to stop it, history says we should be concerned about hyperinflation.

My hope, as pointed out by Kudlow is that the public is becoming concerned as the Gallup poll attests to. Hopefully they will make their feelings clear to their representatives and certainly in November.

What should be a website catering to liberal opinion in general soon turned into a propaganda machine for—and yes I can call them this—pigs to write pro-Obama blogs (vomit) all over her website. I can honestly say that having read her website pretty much every single day of this primary, I can think of no more then 4 or 5 headlines that were “pro-Hillary”. And the few that were “pro-Hillary” were just AP reports saying that she won a particular primary.

Even when Hillary emerged victorious in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, The Huffington Post refused to have anything to do with it. They simply turned up the crank on their propaganda machine and treated Hillary, IMO, as bad as they treat John McCain.

The sinper-fire story was re-iterated over and over and over, yet anything to do with Rev. Wright was pure taboo. Despite the fact that Hillary has gained the popular vote and attracted tons of new people to the polls, The Huffington Post has acted as if she’s done nothing besides promote racism against Obama and hurt the party.

I can say that for the first time ever, I experienced that weird conservative “hatred” all of you seem to have towards the type of people that I agree with on the issues. It’s as if the people promoting Hillary have become the conservatives of the Democratic party (keeping tradition with a second Clinton).

I’m only looking in on one specific example. The entire media in general, minus CNN and FOX, were out to make him the next president since 2004. I’m not sure what drove most of the media outlets to promote him and rally against her, but it’s really pissed me off. I would have much rather seen the media stand back and report the facts as they are instead of giving us their opinion on who they feel should be the Democratic nominee.  

Here I sit, in Enterprise Alabama. What a day. By the time I hit the open road headed south, I felt a lot better. I nearly OD’d on Pepto, however. While IL wasn’t much to look at, the landscape changed as I crossed into Kentucky. I started to see ‘pretty things’. Rolling hills, nice trees and landscapes. AND…Left Lane Campers. Yup. Most of the drive felt like a NASCAR race. Folk would tailgate as if their lives depended on it. Frustrating. But - my light at the end of the tunnel - one Tara from Nashville (area). I’d “met” Tara nearly a decade earlier on mIRC chat room #PGT! To finally get my arms around her neck and give her a hug was very cool. We three (Myself, Tara and her darling and energetic son) had Lunch at a Japanese place. Pretty darn Good. I never before thought Fried rice would go well with Cocoa Puffs. After lunch I boot-scoot-boogied towards Alabama. I crossed into the state pert-near 2pm, and checked in here at Enterprise about 5pm. Just walking in the door and saying “hey!” to the hotel staff sealed the deal for me. Enterprise Alabama will be a GOOD place. Based on the suggested of the Hotel Manager, I had dinner at some sort of placed named for a mushroom. BEST PART- I enjoyed not ONE but TWO Yuengling Black n’ Tans. OMG!!!! I can’t tell you the last time (because I don’t recall, not because it’s a secret) I had a Yuengling, but these two sweet-lovin’ bottles of beer were the proverbial cherries on top. I had a lot more ideas to write about, but I’ve sort of lost them. I don’t have any pics to speak of either. ONE frustration…on my S2 - my dash-camera…somehow the size of the images got changed, so about 2 hours short of my destination my memory card filled up. Unbeknownst to me, since just-before Montomery, AL I stopped taking pics. Sometime soon, I’ll retrace my route and complete my project. My mind is furiously running through scenarios of how my life has changed forever. I’m imagining the folk I’ll meet. I’m thinking about where I’ll live, what my new job will be like, and how I’ll ever find my way around….how the heck I’m going to be ANYTHING but putty in the hands of these sweet-sounding southern belles…wow. My new city is night-and-day different than Puyallup, WA…But…It’s home.
Signing off, from my NEW home town.

Nope.  No pics

I had a dickens of a time falling asleep last night. About 2:30am - near as I can figure - I ended up falling asleep. When my alarm sounded at 6:35am I was beyond frustrated. I lay in bed and blinked a lot wishing for more time.

Within an hour, I’d SSS’d, and hit up Sonic for a Toaster-sandwhich thing. Ham, layered, with egg and cheese. Was VERY GOOD, IMO. Something I could make myself, and perhaps do a better job by adding bacon (there’s a shock - a fat guy wanting BACON on something eh?) and a few shots of Trader Joe’s brand Pepper sauce.

You’ve got to blame it on something. Blame it on the Rain. Lots of rain.

The whole trip was a mess with spraying water and rain. Driving was horrible. I’m tellin’ ya right here and now I saw more crappy driving in MO than any of the previous 2000? miles. SHOW me state? How about SHOW ME a f’ing TURN SIGNLE eh? How about SHOW ME some consideration by moving BACK over to the right lane? How about SHOW ME you refrain from being a jerk by NOT speeding up, passing me, and cutting me off JUST to exit? How about LET ME MERGE? Show Me state…hrm…if I could substitute TWO letters in that slogan with the letters B and L, it’d accurately reflect how I feel about my stay there.

Saint Louis. Hereby named America’s WORST CITY. I’m tellin’ ya - if STL is the crown Jewel of MO, it must be one of the paper burger-king crowns, because the city sucks. Heros of the city? I drove down Mark McGuire Parkway. I felt my junk shrinkin’ and Roid Rage all at the same time. Traffic lights? Expect to wait 10 minutes for a Red to turn green, then only 2 minutes until back to red. Cobble stone down by the Arch? PRETTY!!! But HORRIBLE. Look, if I wanted to live in 1880, I’d…well…I guess I’d be sorta out of luck. Still - HOLY CRAP STL People…FIX THOSE STREETS. The stones varied in height by as much as half a foot, I’d guess. SCRAPE was the word of the day. My Poor Car. The holes and dips were so bad I started to get sea-sick. Literally. I could show you a pic of the street, but you’d not pick up on how nasty it was. Here’s a dash-cam shot:

AND…who the Frak builds a Fraking BALL PARK right down town (except Seattle and a bunch of other places)???

The ONLY redeeming quality of St Louis - White Castle.

I had a Regular, a Cheese, and a bacon w/ Onion Rings and a large diet coke w/o ice.

A lot more rainy, nasty driving got me to tonite’s bed - Metropolis, IL. If I visit the Superman Statue, I’ll post-pics. Otherwise, I’m exhausted and will go to bed now.

Again, thanks for reading!
Darin

Edit -

I headed into town to view the Superman Statue -

After snapping that pic, I walked into a Superman Store - they sold superman stuff - go figure. Prices were outrageous, imo. More outrageous was the conversation I found myself in with some of the staff.

After I walked in, I heard somebody obviously on the phone telling somebody “You kant goe too jayl for no late payments on a bill!” “Taik them too small klaims kort!”

I walked up and said (what I THOUGHT was obviously tongue in cheek) “Well..if you need a lawyer…”

“Hay! Heers a lawyur rite heer!” he said to the person on the phone. A by-stander said “Can she (person on phone I guessed) go to jail for over-drawing their bank?”

Putting on my best Perry Mason face I said “Indebtedness can’t put somebody in jail - unless it’s child support - as far as I know.”

(back to the person on the phone) “Thair’s a lawyur rite heer he says yoo cant go to jay-ell for no debts but child support!”

Wow. He’s giving her legal advice based on some guy in his superman store!

Down the street I found a local bar - Willy-Jak’s.

typical Bar food - I had Buffalo strips and deep-fried breaded jalapeño and onion strips.

The beer looks pretty watery, doesn’t it? Let me tell you why I had that beer.

After ordering, I walked up to the bar and asked for a “Hefe-vite-zen” (written that way, cuz that’s how I said it).

The very cute, perky bar tender looked at me with the cutest WTH? face I’ve seen on a young lady in some time.

“Heff-a-WHITE-zen?” I tried again, in Illinoiseze.

“Uh…” She said, with her head tilted sideways a bit.

“Forget it - what do you drink with the buffalo strips?” I asked. “What’s your favourite?”

She straightened her head and said “Miller Lite!” as if I should have known.

“That’ll do, love.” I said.

After I ate a waitress, a bit older, but just as cute and southern, walked by.

“Hey hon, I was asking the bartender about a hefeweizen (the waitress’ face went blank, so I paused..)…..and she gave me that same look…” I smiled.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s a very well known, so I thought, German wheat beer.”

“Yeah…ya know? We’re VERY close to Kentucky!” she quipped with a smile. I giggled back at her, then headed out.

If it weren’t for the southern chicks, the south wouldn’t have much in the way of entertainment, I fear. hehe

- darin

1. We will lay the foundation for our future capacity to meet America’s energy needs from America’s own resources.

2. We cannot afford continued delays. We cannot afford prolonged vulnerability to foreign producers. We must act.

3. We are the generation that will win the war on the energy problem and in that process, rebuild the unity and confidence of America.

4. Energy independence is the best preparation America can make for the future.

5. The Congress should enact measures to increase domestic energy production and energy conservation in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

6. We have it our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 billion in tax cuts and research and development to encourage innovation, renewable energy, fuel efficient cars, fuel efficient homes.

7. We have got to do something about our dependence on oil, for two reasons. It provides an economic and national security risk and makes it harder to be wise stewards of the environment.

A. Gerald Ford
B. Ronald Reagan
C. Bill Clinton
D. Richard Nixon
E. Jimmy Carter
F. George HW Bush
G. George W. Bush

1-D
2-A
3-E
4-B
5-F
6-C
7-G

Source; USA Today, 5-15-08, page 11A