Random Thinking

President Obama was speaking to some reporters in Turkey when he said this:

I’ve said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

The strange thing is that there are lots of people who disagree. And yet, two of our first three presidents (Adams and Jefferson) were Unitarians who are not Christians. In fact, Washington, Madison, and Monroe were Deists so it actually took 36 years to elect our first Christian president.

If you had to guess which state would be the next to have gay marriage would you have guessed Iowa? I have to admit that after California voted down the rights of gays to marry, I didn’t expect Iowa to be the state to jump in to replace those liberal commie Californians.

But it happened. Today the Supreme Court of Iowa declared that laws that prevented gays from marrying were a violation of the equal protection clause in Iowa’s constitution. And they did it unanimously! So Iowa joins those other hotbeds of liberal thought, Massachusetts and Connecticut, as the only states where gay people have equal rights with straight people. Starting April 24th, gay people will be allowed to marry in Iowa. Congratulations Iowa!!!

There is no appeal to this decision as the Supreme Court is the highest court in Iowa and no federal issues were raised. The only way to overturn this decision is to a constitutional amendment but Iowa is not California. It is much harder to change the Iowa constitution and the earliest a bill could be on the ballot in Iowa would be 2011. But the leaders of the current Iowa legislature support the ruling which means that it might be as late as 2013 if ever that a proposal could get on the ballot.

And a reminder that April 17th is the Day of Silence. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Beth is a strong supporter of LGBT rights (I am so proud of my little girl) and cheered when I told her about the Iowa decision… after I convinced her that it wasn’t a late April Fool’s joke!

Time for this week’s song from my iPod:

Jimmy Eats World is an alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona that formed in 1993. The members of the band are Jim Adkins (vocals and guitar), Tom Linton (guitar), Rick Burch (bass), and Zach Lind (drums). The name of the group came from a crayon drawing made by Tom Linton’s younger brother, Ed, after he had a fight with his other brother, Jimmy. The drawing showed Jimmy shoving the Earth into his mouth with the caption, “Jimmy eat world.” The group has had commercial success since 2001 with four singles charting in the top 20 of the Hot Modern Rock Tracks including a number one hit.

The last three albums released by the group have had one platinum and one gold album. The song “Pain” was certified Gold in 2005. The video features a young man who constantly does things that cause him pain but when a girl arrives, she touches him, taking his pain away.

Pain
I don’t feel the way I’ve ever felt.
I know.
I’m gonna smile and not get worried.
I try but it shows.

Anyone can make what I have built.
And better now
Anyone can find the same white pills.
It takes my pain away.

It’s a lie. A kiss with open eyes
And she’s not breathing back.
Anything but bother me.
(It takes my pain away)
Nevermind these are hurried times.
Oh oh oh
I can’t let it bother me.

I never thought I’d walk away from you.
I did.
But it’s a false sense of accomplishment.
Every time I quit

Anyone can see my every flaw.
It isn’t hard.
Anyone can say they’re above this all.
It takes my pain away.

I can’t let it bother me.

It takes my pain away.

Takes my pain
Takes my pain
Takes my pain
Takes my pain away

Embedding of the video has been disabled so click here to see and hear.

And now the daffodils are in bloom.
Mister Froggy is happy to see them.