Melissa and I were at a wedding today in Rustburg, Virginia, and, for some reason, there was a big old turkey walking around. I don’t think the turkey had anything to do with the wedding specifically—I think it was just there—but I thought it was pretty random and worth documenting. Read on to see some more pictures of the turkey, plus a bonus picture of my parents’ parakeet Tarzan.
California Becomes Second State to Recognize Gay Marriage
The California Supreme Court has overturned that state’s prohibition on homosexual marriage, which means that homosexual marriage is expected to become a reality in California within about thirty days. California would be only the second state in the union, following Massachusetts, to legalize marriage between same-sex couples.
In my 2005 opinion piece, A Compromise on Gay Marriage, I expressed my views on this issue from the civil perspective—views I still hold today. While my personal moral and religious opinion is that homosexual activity is sinful, I do not believe that the government should necessarily be involved in policing the civil arrangements that consenting adults make between one another. I think that a universal ‘civil union’ status should replace civil marriage and be open to any combination of two or more consenting adults. In this way, the civil aspects of marriage would become the purview of the state, and the moral aspects would become the purview of the religious communities. Churches and other religious communities could refuse to recognize or officiate homosexual marriages if they are antithetical to their beliefs, but the state would engage in no such discrimination and leave moral judgments to the individuals and the churches.
Having said that, any change in the definition of civil marriage must come from the people—whether directly by referendum (which can be done in California) or indirectly through the legislature. Judges do not have the constitutional authority to add a right to homosexual marriage to the state constitution. Thus, while I’m not particularly concerned about the outcome, I am concerned about how we arrived at it. It is the judiciary’s responsibility to interpret the law, not to extend it.
Inside the OLPC Project
You may have heard of the ‘One Laptop Per Child‘ project founded by Nicholas Negroponte. The stated purpose of the project was, essentially, to develop a $100 laptop to be provided to children in poor countries. The first product of the OLPC organization, a tiny, rugged laptop featuring an innovative Linux-based operating system for children, comes in a bit over $100, but gets the idea across.
Unfortunately, the OLPC project appears to be going off the tracks. Many of its high-ranking officials and sponsoring organizations have resigned or pulled out for various reasons and Negroponte, who has publicly stated that the OLPC project will always be based on open software, has raised the ire of the open-source community by announcing his intention to put Microsoft Windows on the OLPC.
Well, no biggie if you ask me (even if I don’t really get the point of offering Windows on the OLPC). But a fascinating article by Ivan Krstic—a former OLPC employee—points to more serious problems in the organization. Their whole approach to providing low-cost laptops to children may be flawed, and Negroponte and his organization might be driven more by petty politics than by spreading education. Give it a read.
Not Hot on HOT Lanes
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is pursuing the curious specter of High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes on Interstate 495—the Capital Beltway. HOT lanes are very similar to High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes already present on many roads in urban areas of the United States. HOV lanes require that you have a certain number of people in the car to use them, while HOT lanes give you the additional option to buy access if you don’t have enough people in the car as-if you’re on a toll road.
I have many objections to HOV lanes, some to state toll roads, and even more to HOT lanes.
First and foremost, governments realized a century ago that a reliable road infrastructure is a public good. As a result, private roads and turnpikes were taken under the control of the states and provided freely to the public. Roads are a primary conduit through which our economy operates—allowing the transport of individuals to employers, goods to retailers, and so on. Without them, the economy doesn’t work (or doesn’t work as well, anyway). It is for this reason that the transportation infrastructure became the responsibility of the state and, later and to a lesser extent, the federal government.
Trying Out the 2nd Amendment
Unfortunately I spend most of the weekend under-the-weather, and while I felt a bit better yesterday afternoon I felt bad again this morning and decided to stay home from work. Hopefully I’ll be up to going in tomorrow.
The good news though was that I felt good enough (just barely) yesterday afternoon to participate in Blue Ridge Arsenal‘s introduction class for pistols. Melissa and I spent roughly three hours in the classroom learning about gun safety and the basic functions of revolvers and semi-automatic handguns, complete with practice loading, ‘dry firing’ (shooting real guns with no bullets), and unloading both main types of handguns. Then we spent about an hour on the range actually firing various common handguns (from .22s all the way up to .45s).
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.