Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage; First to Do So Validly

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Vermont’s state legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto today, becoming the first state to legalize homosexual marriage through the proper legislative process. Vermont is the fourth state to have legalized same-sex marriage, but Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa have each had gay marriage retroactively read into their state constitutions through activist and, in my opinion, illicit and constitutionally invalid judicial rulings. California also had legal gay marriage under a similar judicial ruling for several months before the people of the state amended the California Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.

I have spoken in great detail on this web site before about my opinions regarding homosexuality. I consider homosexual activity to be sinful and immoral. That does not mean that being gay is a sin, but choosing to act on those disordered attractions is. I firmly oppose, however, the government legislation of morality—especially when it comes to the private sexual escapades of consenting adults—and I firmly oppose any professional or academic discrimination against anybody on the basis of their sexual orientation. I have no right to impose my moral beliefs on others.

I do not believe that the government should lend any formal recognition to homosexual relationships (which do not meet the historic or moral definitions of marriage), but it’s not the end of the world if government does choose to recognize these unions either. Churches and individuals should not hang themselves up too much on what is legal. The murder of unborn children is legal too in this country, but that does not mean that I have to support it or participate in it.

I do, however, have a big problem with activist judges fabricating a ‘right’ to redefine marriage out of thin air. If the people wish to change the millennia-old definition of marriage as it is applied by their state governments, they have every right to do so through their legislative processes—as Vermont just did. I disagree with the outcome, but I recognize it as a valid policy decision made by a validly representative government. Public policy, however, is not to be written, re-written, and proclaimed by judges who appoint themselves kings.

Students Have a Right to Take Medicine

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Let me make this perfectly clear: students have a right to take over-the-counter and prescription medications whenever and wherever their parents permit them to take them. Public schools often claim—under onerous and overreaching ‘zero-tolerance’ drug policies—that parents have to arrange for the school nurse or other official to handle all medicines and provide them to students at specified times and intervals, but this is not the schools’ decision to make. Schools don’t like to admit it, but it is parents who decide what medicines their children may take and when. Period.

It is particularly ludicrous to hear of otherwise well-behaved students finding themselves suspended or expelled for taking cold medicine, pain killers, or—as in the case of one local girl—oral contraceptives. Newsflash to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS): oral contraceptives are not, and never will be, a recreational drug akin to meth or marijuana. We can debate the morality of oral contraceptives for teenagers ad-infinitum, but once again that’s an issue for the parents not for the public schools. But, no matter how you cut it, taking an oral contraceptive in school is not an offense at all, let alone an offense worthy of the same punishment a student would get for taking a handgun to school.

What’s most amazing is that schools spend an incredible amount of time and effort on being a drug dispensary, enforcing a strict ‘no medicine at all except via our dispensary’ policy, reviewing and editing (big-brother style) student publications, assigning hours-upon-hours of pointless busywork, establishing and enforcing pointless and overly-restrictive dress codes, and labeling honest criticism of school policies as dangerous anarchistic activity. Meanwhile, they fail to . . . you know . . . educate their students in any useful, worthwhile way. Does anybody else see this as an insanely improper prioritization of educational effort?

North Korea Launches Rocket

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North Korea, the reclusive totalitarian nation on the Korean peninsula, has launched a rocket suspected to be part of an offensive missile testing program. The North Korean government claims the launch was simply a peaceful launch of a communications satellite. North Korea is known to be developing a nuclear weapons system, and the rocket technology used for this launch is presumed to be easily adaptable and can be used to carry a nuclear payload to the United States and elsewhere.

U.S., South Korean, and Japanese authorities have condemned the launch as a reckless and provocative. The Japanese government requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council for Sunday afternoon to respond to North Korea’s brinkmanship, although it is expected that China—which has veto power on the council—will block any serious condemnation or retaliation against North Korea.

Seeing Through the Economic ‘Message’

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It should surprise nobody that sitting presidents—even those like George W. Bush (R) who publicly deny paying attention to polls—commission polls all the time. Barack Obama (D) is no exception.

There’s nothing wrong with conducting polls, since they can provide valuable insight into how policies and programs are being received by the American people. We must be wary though of politicians using polls for ‘message testing’ to determine the most friendly, acceptable way of communicating a policy. Polls should help politicians to know what their constituents think about the issues of the day, but should not be used to craft a message least likely to be scrutinized and criticized by ‘we the people’.

You see this use of message testing in the continual evolution of economic policy spin. First the government was executing a ‘bailout,’ then a ‘stimulus,’ then a ‘reinvestment’ or ‘recovery.’ They’re all the same, but the last two have been found least likely to rile us up and have become the current words used by the president for the same dangerous economic policies.

Politicians will spin, whatever party or policy they support. Fair enough. We need to be smart enough to see through it. Whether you call it ‘bailout,’ ‘stimulus,’ ‘reinvestment,’ ‘recovery plan,’ or something else, the underlying plan remains equally misguided. Obama—like Presidents Bill Clinton (D), Ronald Reagan (R), and others—has a wonderful way with words, but that’s no reason to let him run roughshod over sound, free market principles.

April Fools Site: Ad-Laden and Obnoxious

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On April Fools Day 2009, Off on a Tangent appeared covered in annoying, obnoxious banner ads. The site carried the following announcement:

New Advertising Policy

As most of you know, I have long had a policy of placing some limited advertising on my site in an effort to cover its operation costs. Unfortunately, this has not covered those costs and Off on a Tangent has operated at a loss throughout its entire existence.

In an effort to reduce my expenses in these tough economic times, I cannot continue to operate this web site at a loss. As such, I’m adjusting my advertising a bit in hopes that the site will start bringing in enough cash to at least pay for its own annual hosting. If not, I may end up having to shut down (unless the government is willing to offer me a bailout!).

Thanks for your support and patience. Please let me know if you find the new advertisements to be too distracting!

Click to see how it all looked.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.