Terrible news- 2 bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday, killing 3 and injuring over 100 people. Events like this send the television media into overdrive, filling airtime with speculation rather than actual news and facts. Let’s hope the coverage doesn’t spiral into non-stop, emotionally driven, 24 hour reporting. I’m not hopeful, though.
Category: society
Republicans plan to filibuster gun bill
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is joining Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio to prevent a vote on gun background checks. I guess “We the People” and polls showing 90% of the American public support background checks doesn’t matter with these guys.
Thomas Jefferson and the Separation of Church & State
C-Span opened its Washington Journal program this morning with the question “Should religion play a role in politics?”,which led me to think about Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists and the issue of Separation of Church and State. Several years ago I was fortunate to see at the original at the Library of Congress:
Very cool.
Historic week for gay marriage and equal rights
Crowds line up for gay marriage cases. Photo by David Lloyd
Today the Supreme Court of the United States will hear the first of two cases for same-sex marriage. Opponents will argue that legalizing these unions will destroy the traditional definition of marriage since marriage is about “responsible procreation and child-rearing” (tell that to couples who choose not to have children or the elderly couple who have found happiness again). This is a simple question of equal rights. Why shouldn’t gays, who pay taxes and participate in society just like anyone else, be able to marry? Churches will still be able to decide which couples can be married within the church; this will not impact them. It will be interesting to see which Justices support the Separation of Church and State and which ones are still living in the pre-Loving v. Virginia era.
Gay marriage cases before the Supreme Court
This week SCOTUS will hear two same-sex marriage cases this week; on Tuesday California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriages case and on Wednesday the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
10th anniversary of the Iraq War
The Washington Post has a slideshow of some of my print work leading up to and during the first couple of years of the Iraq War. Here’s a couple of them; you can see the full collection here.
