Legal gay marraige isn’t what you might think.

About ten years ago I visited my daughter in Northampton, not long after she had ended a difficult relationship with her live-in boyfriend.

As we sat in the restaurant having lunch my daughter said, “I have something to tell you.” Being the pessimist I am I started thinking about all sorts of terrible things. Was she a drug addict? Had she committed some crime? Maybe she was moving to South America?

Then she said, “I’m gay.”

At first I could not even process the information. My brain spun. Words failed me. This was totally unexpected. Terri had recently been living with a man.

As I was able to focus on the situation, I found that my only concern was that Terri was going against the grain of society, and society would make her pay a price for that. I was right.

I think one of the great strengths of this nation is toleration of diversity. We may not be great at it, but we are better than most (not all) other countries. However, we have a way to go on some issues. Not being heterosexual is one of those situations that still brings out intolerance.

Terri leads a very conventional life. She has been in a stable long-term relationship with a wonderful partner whom we have come to love, and they are planning to have children. It has pained me to watch how much more difficult many things are for her than they would be if her partner had a beard and a deep voice.

For example, Terri’s partner was transferred to Switzerland by her company, and had she been a man, Terri would have had no trouble getting a residence permit. But even though she and her partner had been legally married in Massachusetts, Switzerland, like almost all of the United States, does not recognize gay marriage.

So even though they are married and one partner had a legal work permit for Switzerland, Terri could not get a residence permit without the expensive services of a lawyer and help from her partner’s company. Even so, she was forced to leave the country for two weeks! The whole process took more than a year.

Very recently her partner was transferred to Ireland. Again, lawyers had to be retained, and because the process takes months, Terri had to deny her connection to her partner and enter as a visitor in order to get in. She said the customs officer flirted with her, and she flirted back.

If all goes well the lawyers they have hired will get her a residence permit before her visitor’s visa wears out. If that effort is not successful, Terri will be expelled and her life will be totally disrupted. Why? There would none of this if Terri’s partner had been her husband.

Legalizing marriage in Massachusetts is an important step in tolerance. It helps thousands and thousands of people, and I do not see how it hurts anyone. But it is just a start. Massachusetts marriage has no standing in the rest of the United States and only limited recognition abroad. The world has a long way to go before we can say we have given full rights to all people, including my wonderful, loving, intelligent daughter and her equally wonderful spouse.

More On Fear Issues

 

Sandwich Selectman, Doug Dexter is “right on” when he points out yet another failure of the Bush administration.  However, what he proposes, action at the local level is inappropriate as is the responsibility of the federal government.  Resolution at the local can be accomplished by replacement of the Bush cabal.  If Dexter really wants action he should advocate that change.

 

What is really taking place is just a continuum of attempts to use fear to control Americans.  In this case, those who would spread an alarm failed to cover their tracks and exposed just how the fear operation works.  The fact that Representative Perry introduced legislation to deal with a policy he also sees as a failed federal issue that “has reached the political boiling point in Washington, on Beacon Hill, and now in our local town halls,” at virtually the same instant as Dexter’s resolution and Governor Romney’s call for action is just too close not to have been planned.  Here’s my take on how it must go down:

 

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.  Special super duper secret message to all GOPers from Rove and Melman at strategery headquarters.    Y’all know that election time is just around the bend and our numbers are in the crapper.  In spite of all our efforts to take and hold the public attention we stand to lose and that means that some of us will be out of control.  We don’t know about you (well in reality we do, but we can’t discuss that here) but we are not about to give up the ship.

 

We have devised a down-to-earth plan to maintain control.  We simply have to remind our base that “all they have to fear is fear itself.”  We will not only continue to remind folks about our old pals Osama, terrorists, war, flag burning and  immigration and we’ll have them eating out of our hands.

 

Our initial topic will be “illegal immigrants.”  There is some confusion at federal level so we have informed Mitt Romney and others “thinking” about running for POTUS08 that they should sound the alarm at the state level.  Recall that it was in
Massachusetts that the call went out, “The British are coming, the British are coming.”  Mitt simply has to cry out again once, “The illegals are coming; the illegals are coming, and that will start the alarm.  He’ll sound good to that baser instinct.  At exactly the same time Jeffery Davis Perry, will file a bill to prohibit the commonwealth from doing business with any company that would dare to hire an undocumented worked.  Perry will claim that pressure to take action is coming from local towns like
Sandwich.  At the local level we need Doug Dexter, Sandwich Selectman, to enter a resolution that will support Perry’s contention that it’s our base that demands action.

 

It’s cool; no one will ever see that how neatly we have it tied up.  But we’ll scare the crap out of them and than we’ll be ready for the next round.  By election time they will be so afraid to think for themselves and once again they’ll be eating out of our hands.

Where is the Iraqi Airforce?

On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq and many assumed our military personnel would soon return home.  Almost immediately we understood that the mission was not only, “Not Accomplished” but in fact the mission suffered “mission creep”.  The administration failed to heed Secretary of State Powell’s warning, “You break it; you own it.” The administration maintains that our service personnel will be withdrawn from Iraq when Iraqis are capable of handling their own security.  They declare that Iraqis are being recruited and trained into a military force to maintain order and respond to insurgents.  The President refuses to establish a time line or acknowledge a plan.  Given the administration’s failure to plan for the after effects of the Iraq invasion, what conclusions are we to draw from his position? 

Let’s look at how American troops are equipped and operate.  Whenever American ground forces are involved in military operations they receive critical air support in the form of surveillance, “softening up,” cover and rescue.  The recent tracking and killing of al-Zarqawi is a case in point.  American air logistics and silent firepower were the key factors in the mission.

 As a former Texas Air National Guard fighter pilot, and now as Commander in Chief, we can be certain the president understands the essence of air support.  Without it many more lives would be lost and missions less successful. 

If we accept the premise that air superiority is necessary for a modern military to control and dominate an opponent, then we must inquire into the state of the Iraqi air force.  Does the Iraqi military include an air force?  Are there any plans to create or allow for such a component?  If not, why not?  If yes, then when will it be ready to support the ground forces?  At what point we will allow them to fly over the “Green Zone”?  To call in their targets?

Is the administration parsing the issue of troop withdrawal?  Perhaps what they really mean is that they intend to withdraw our ground forces from the immediate war zone, but use American air power to support the Iraqi ground troops.  This may be what they are planning as we build airfields but do not build an Iraqi air force.

Without its own air power Iraq cannot stand secure on its own and there is no “light at the end of the tunnel.” Our brave men and women, their families and all Americans will continue to suffer the administration’s incompetence and failure. 

Wrong Issues

You have to hand it to the Sandwich Selectmen for adopting a resolution targeting businesses that hire illegal aliens.  It’s just one more brick in the wall that is being built to surround and separate the town from the rest of Cape Cod.  It sends an anti-visitor, anti-business message as we move into the busy tourist season.

As one enters Sandwich heading east on route 6A, you can’t help but notice a great number of vacant businesses.  Guess they won’t have to fear the Selectmen’s zeal on this most important matter.  You have to believe that many of those considering a visit to the oldest town on the Cape may now be having second thoughts.  The last thing we need is more fear, encouraging neighbors to wonder about each other. Perhaps it would be quicker and easier to stop aliens if they just voted to put up blockades at the eastbound exits 2, 3 and 4 from Route 6. Its one more example of the go-it-alone pathway they have been on for some time. Sandwich has to have its “own” and the Selectmen have made it clear they want no part of county wide cooperative programs, again apparently believing they have all the answers.  A recent example is their rejection of participation in a regional sewage study.  Meanwhile, renovated septic systems along 6A are beginning to look like a New Orleans cemetery.

The saddest part of this story is that while the selectmen waste time on issues that are far beyond their purview, more important issues lie fallow.  Caterpillars eat away at out trees while wind and wave eat away at the sands of Town Neck Beach.  I guess if they are really lucky when the waves wash away the Boardwalk, Dewey Avenue and into Route 6A they will wash away the caterpillars, vacant businesses, septic waste and any remaining aliens.

As long as the focus of our attention and efforts is on the “I” and “Me” instead of commUnity we all lose.   

Wicked Good English

 

I don’t know about you, but I sure feel better now that English has finally been recognized as the national language of
America.  I guess at some point in the future we will all be able to speak to one another and actually understand what each of us is saying.

 

The Bush administration should now complete the process of Englafacation.  We need to quickly determine which dialect will be adopted as the official dialect of the country.  As a native of Massachusetts, I think we should establish our real native tongue, you know the one used by those who came here from England and “Paaked their
Kars in Havvad Yadd” as the official tongue.  Once you get the hang of our “Newspeak” you too will think its wicked good. Y’all who think you have been speaking English will need to shape up or ship out!

 

Most importantly, under the new Patriot Act 23, anyone not speaking English will be assumed to be unpatriotic and a threat to the safety of
America.  These folks will have a scarlet “ESL” branded on their foreheads and quickly removed to some foreign country.  Those who wish to travel to foreign lands will have to swear to only speak English or risk being denied reentry to the country.  The CIA “thought police” will continue listening to all phone calls and assure that those deviating from the standards will be rendered to undisclosed locations.  Won’t we all feel just a wee bit safer?

 

A side benefit may be significant economic savings.  For example, schools districts will save money by eliminating foreign language classes; fewer teachers will be needed and no foreign language text books will be required as students concentrate on English.  Wow, all students will have higher MCAS scores!

 

Corporations will reduce the costs for products and services as they eliminate translators and provide instructions and warranties in English.  They will probably save big bucks because these documents will be lighter and cost less to produce and ship.

 

We will all save time and energy when we make telephone calls to corporations as we will no longer have to “push one for English.”  Even Chinese and French restaurant menus will be easier to read.  We’ll all be less stressed and require less frequent trips for psychiatric counseling.

 

President Bush feels so strongly about this issue that I fully expect him to give a pretty good contract to Halliburton to collect all foreign language books, CDs, and DVDs and burn them.  He’ll claim that the energy generated by burning the books will offset a year’s supply of mid-east oil.  Next we should expect him to remove all foreign words that are scattered in other media (requiring another little cleanup contract to stimulate the economy).

 

Have you ever noticed those foreign words stamped on our pennies and printed on currency?  Words like, “E Pluribus Unum” and Novus Ordo Seclorum?”  I wonder if they are sending the wrong message, like we really aren’t serious about the establishment of English as the national language.  Besides almost no one knows what they mean anyway.  Bet Halliburton could make a pretty penny on a contract melting all those coins and shredding those bucks.

 

And let’s not forget the little guys.  Disney could enjoy a really “Small World” after all and  Dora the Explorer can start exploring English books instead of filling those little minds with foreign words.

 

Once the rest of the world sees that we are serious, you can be sure they’ll shapeup and soon the whole world will speak the same language.  Those guys at the United Nations can stop listening to their iPods and finally pay attention when we speak.

 

Oh, what a world it will be.