A Wining Vote in the House

Crap!  I slept later than I wanted this morning.  And I was in bed by 11 PM.  It must be the heat.  Or maybe the long treadmill session yesterday.  It was a run up along the shore of Lake Superior.  There was supposed to be a 200-foot waterfall which never put in appearance.  

Even though I can list quite a number of chores I completed yesterday, there is an overwhelming consensus between me, myself, and I that not much was accomplished.  

I'm almost at 32,000 words in the next book, The Body Under Ice.  I'm pleased.  I guess the big question right now is will Eli and Max find anything when they put a camera down through a hole in the ice?  Will there be something at the bottom of Lake Huron?  You should know by now, I'll never tell.

I designed a new controller for my Xbox Series X and ordered it.  You can click the link to see it or wait until I take a picture after it arrives in about a month.

Steve Bannon's trial continues today.  He's going to go to jail because he's an asshole.  He's in a lose, lose situation because he thought his loudmouth gave him the authority to do whatever he wanted.  I think he should look on the positive side:  2 years in jail might be the perfect diet he needs to lose some of his blubber.

Oh, and can we talk about the wonderful surprise yesterday?  The one about marriage?  The bill that passed in the House of Representative with some serious Republican support?  47 of them voted Yeah.  You know what I'm talking about.  The bill about marriage equality.  Now you have to remember that this bill protects not only same sex marriage, but interracial marriages as well.  This was because of Oreo Thomas, and his published opinion regarding Roe v Wade.  Will this bill make it to the Senate?  No one knows.  But remember, this is one more reason why it is imperative that Blue wins in the midterms.   We save the country by outvoting those who want an authoritative theocracy running America.

The Bitter Hatred of Clarence Thomas

Well, wasn't yesterday.... Special?  

I made lemon potatoes with oregano.  Not as tasty as I had hoped, thought a ton of parmesan cheese helps.

A lot of peaches were picked.  There are so many of them, they will be either frozen or turned into sauce.

Of course, after the news broke about Roe vs Wade, I spent most of the day on either the computer or my phone.  After the leak, no one should have thought there those conservative judges were going to change their mind.  This decision further divides the country.  Remember, conservatives desperately need to say "shut up!  we're in charge!" no matter how small their minority.  This is their way of saying "fuck you, America."

While the anger is directed towards every one of the judges who side with the majority, Clarence Thomas stands above the rest in his demonstration of hatred.  He provided a laundry list of opinions he wanted overturned:  LGBQT and contraceptive rights.  Robert Reich, among many others, noted Thomas did not mention Virginia vs Loving, another ruling that set a precedent:  interracial marriage.  Being married to a white woman, this exemplifies how 74-year-old is on a personal vendetta.  He is going to make the Centrists and Liberals who objected to his nomination pay dearly. This man epitomizes Conservative hatred.

As more proof, Thomas believes the court should reexamine Griswold vs Connecticut, the ruling which permitted married couples access to birth control.  After 2 marriages, the first to a black woman, he only has one child, so either his little swimmers are weak, or he hasn't been having intercourse, however there is also a very good possibility his spouse has been using birth control.  This has nothing to do with his believing in the sanctity of the sacred sperm impregnating the holy egg.  Remember how he was conveniently hospitalized when his wife's intimate involvement in the Trump coup was going to be released?  He was terrified of being questioned, so he ran away and hid.  This man is a gutless sack of shit pushing his bitter anger onto America.  

Yesterday, while the Republican party was dancing in the street, there were those who were not cheering.  Even the Orange Anus, Donald Trump, was voice reservations about the decision, rather it was the closeness to the mid-terms he was muttering about.  Because Republicans are so bound up in their own selfish wants and desires, they never take a second to consider other opinions, how women might vote this November.  While there may be many women who are stridently anti-abortion, there are many, many more who were glad that option was available.   There are also many, many women who see this decision as taking away their rights to equality, suddenly they are now more inferior and no longer have the right to decide on how to handle a pregnancy.  They are being forced into a role of submission.  This is not going to sit well with them.

Divorce Tax

There are a lot of people out there who think marriage is greater than sliced bread, or it's better than apple pie, or even that it's the greatest thing that can happen to two people.  I don't eat sliced bread and apple pie is just okay with me, I'd rather have blueberry... or peach.  As for the greatest thing that can happen to two people?  I guess that would be just fine, if divorce didn't get in the way.  Now I'll admit that the romantic allure of marriage can sometimes be overwhelming.  So much so that some people tend to do it over, and over, and over again.  If you're a Christian, marriage is supposed to be a Holy Sacrament, a vow before God, yet in the state of Pennsylvania at least 63% of all marriages end up in divorce.  So much for the sanctity of the vow.
There are several reasons why marriages fail:  people get married because they don't know the difference between love and lust;  familial pressures, you just need to get married, society expects people to get married, it's what everybody does, isn't it?  And let's face it, divorce is cheap.  What's a couple hundred bucks, especially if you're blaming someone else?  And let's face it, blame is important.  Everyone wants to point the finger at someone else, and even, on those rare occasions when someone does admit to being at fault, there are always qualifications.

Besides, divorces aren't that expensive.  In fact, ending a marriage can be a lot cheaper then actually staying together.  Marriage is a business contract, after all, in spite of all the romantic trappings used for decoration.  If it were far more expensive to get a divorce, I suspect a lot of people would take a lot more time thinking about just what they're planning.  Having said such, I think all states should enact a Divorce Tax.  If you want to get married, well, that's fine, however, if you want to get a divorce you have to pay a tax.  I think 10% of the cumulative gross wages  earned during their time of marriage would be a nice round figure.  This means that if a couple gets married, and stays married for 5 years, and the total gross wages both of them earned during that 5 years totals $300,000, they they would owe a Divorce Tax of $30,000.

Now I know there are people who are going to say "Holy Crap, that's too much money, I can't afford that."  Well, then maybe you shouldn't be getting married in the first place.  Commitments should be cheap and in today's world marriage is a cheap commodity just about anybody can afford.  

Marriage equality - my 2 cents

Well, the Supreme Court has heard the arguments on Marriage Equality and now the waiting begins.  Will this be a nail-biter?  I don't think so.  There are a lot of opinions out there as to who is going to win - the progressives / independents or the social conservatives.  You'll notice how I noted the progressives / independents as basically one group.  They're in favor of marriage equality.  They are also one of the largest voting blocks in the United States.   An NBC/WSJ survey shows you how large that voting block is.  It's not secret the GOP wants to put one of their guys in the White House.  A ruling against marriage equality might sway many of those voters towards a popular Democratic candidate during the general election.

There are not enough voters in the blue states to win a General Election

Do you really think the GOP wants that to happen?  A long time ago I'd written that in order for the GOP to win, they would most likely throw the Social Conservatives under the bus.  If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Marriage Equality and if they know how to handle such a decision, that action is no longer necessary.  Oh, and it is a conservative backed Supreme Court.  While it wouldn't give the Republicans a 'get out of jail free' card, it would unlock the door.  

State of Hate - Arizona

I am always amazed by the things which happen in Arizona.  Back in 2010 the state passed legislation which permitted law enforcement to stop any individual on the street (read Latino) and see if they were a legal citizen of the the United States.  Two years later the Supreme Court said about 3/4's of that legislation was unconstitutional.  Now the legislation has put a bill on Governor Jan Brewer's desk which is supposed to be about protecting an individual, business, corporation, etc and their religious beliefs.  What it actually says is that these individuals and groups can refuse to do business with gay people because it's against their religion.  What's next?  Arabs?  I mean there are a lot of people out there who really don't want to come within five miles of an Arab, so at some future date is the state legislation going to at Arabs to the list?  What about the Chinese?  There's a growing anti-Chinese sentiment in this country and, if you listen to what the Chinese government says, they are all atheist.  How can those deeply religious Arizona citizens even consider doing business with atheists!  Or what about the Hindi's?  I'm sure, if you ask a devout Hindu, he will tell you Shiva, the destroyer of worlds, has posted a target on Jan Brewer's ass.

The truth is this bill is not about religious freedom, it's about discriminating against gays, a minority group which is making great strides in getting equal civil rights.  They have always been a problem for the GOP and Arizona is a Republican state.  Marriage Equality bills as passing, slowly but surely, in state after state, and law suits are being filed as though paper were going to disappear off the face of the earth.  The Republicans in Arizona are merely trying to give some sort of protection to their base.  In doing so, however, they are legitimizing hate.

Right now this piece of legislation is sitting on Jan Brewer's desk, waiting for her perusal.  If the GOP is smart they'll send a little birdy to whisper in her ear "don't sign it, don't sign it."  You see, the Republicans want to win a presidential election and in order to do that they need to come across as more moderate, more friendly to all races, creeds and orientations. Did the 2010 law in Arizona hurt them?  I'd say most assuredly with the Latino vote.  Why would you vote for a party that hates you?  Thanks to the science of genetics it's estimated that 10% of all humans are either gay or lesbian.  That's a big voting block.  If they had the other 90% the Republicans wouldn't have to worry about it, but they don't.  They barely have 40%.  Woah!  And every time a state sends a message of hate that percentage drops.  Someone should tell this to the Republicans of Arizona who are sitting so smugly in their state of hate.