Reading: The New Yorker
Music: NOFX
TV/Movie: misc. Monty Python eps.
Link o' the Day: Dispatches From the Culture Wars: Thoughts From the Interface of Science, Religion, Law and Culture

A few years ago I decided to stop the madness and stop feeling guilty for being a good old-fashioned Yankee liberal snob. During the dark Bush years, there was a national attitude that liberals who did such untrustworthy things as read and question authority were a blight on society. Too smart for their own good. Un-American. Rather than rise to intellectual challenge, the red staters preferred to drag you down to their level of ignorance and sloppy, sloganeering thought.

Then I caught on to the scam and embraced who I am. The problem wasn't me. It was them.



Now I'm not saying there are no smart conservatives. There are, but precious few. It's times like this when I miss George Will. Instead, the conservatives get represented by lunatics like Coulter and Limbaugh. Thank goodness for P.J. O'Rourke.

Sensing that they need change, the Republicans are looking for new strategies--in a ham-handed sort of way. Their most recent attempt is to adopt a radical stance against marriage. We've seen this already in their general opposition to gay marriage. It's now been taken up a notch as RNC chairman Michael Steele announces that one of the many things they are looking at, as a political party, is to oppose gay marriage on economic grounds--claiming it would be a burden to small business as once-single employees will now be claiming spousal status in regards to joining family health plans on the companies dime.

What about all the current single "straight" employees who will be doing just that when they get married? I can only assume this means the Republicans view any marriage as a burden to small business. Maybe the Republicans don't understand how most employee health plans work. When a spouse is added, the worker contribution goes way up. I've know some couples for whom one spouse's job took such a chunk out of their own paycheck in order to cover their spouse for insurance--that the job was pretty much only because of said insurance. Worse if there were kids involved. Republicans may even want to consider that statistically, gay marriages will include fewer children in health plans, so would actually be a bit of a relief to small business--by their logic.

And it's already been pointed out in some avenues that the RNC is overlooking the tremendous economic boon gay marriage would have in the economy via the wedding industry. As anyone reading this who has been married can attest--marriage costs money. Hall rentals. Formal wear. Honeymoons. Gifts. Catering. Invitations. Travel. Wedding rings. (All just to name a few.) Even a no-frills wedding still requires registration fees.

I, for one, am pleased with the RNC's new strategy. It will only further isolate them as a political party mired in the past. If we are going to move forward as a society, we don't need their muddy thinking to slow us down.

I was particularly amused by another statement made by RNC chairman Steele in which he talked about how the Republicans have to adopt a forward-looking attitude and not dwell in the past. then he immediately began invoking the spirit of Ronald Reagan--not only a past president, but one who himself was devoted to turning back the clock to "simpler" times. (Like the 50s with its racism, red scares, sexism, fear of nuclear annihilation, rampant spousal and child abuse, religious oppression, and such.)



Way to go, guys. Good luck with that.

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It's been a pretty good week, production-wise. I've just finished a few tweaks to the Doris Day book and that will likely be heading to the printer by the end of the day or first thing tomorrow morning. The first draft of the Beverly Washburn book is just about complete. I expect I'll be turning that in today as well. I have the edits in hand now for the Van Alexander book. And Character Kings will likely be heading to press soon as well. I have a couple of new books on deck.



It's all moving forward. I like moving forward.

I just need to get some more writing done.

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Today's link takes you to an interesting little blog by Ed Brayton called Dispatches From the Culture Wars: Thoughts From the Interface of Science, Religion, Law and Culture. I think Brayton has some Libertarian leanings, but I won't hold that against him. His "dispatches" seem to be pretty fair across the board.