Gay marriage in Iowa

A district court in Iowa ruled today that gay marriage is legal under the state's constitution. This ruling overturns a state law limiting marriage to unions between one man and one woman. The case, which involved six same-sex couples who want to marry, will advance to the Iowa Supreme Court. As an opponent of gay marriage, I hope the Supreme Court decides to keep marriage laws in the state the way they are.

Entwistle's house is sold

The Hopkinton, MA house where Neil Entwistle allegedly killed his wife and baby has been sold. The colonial home has been on the market for over a year, and its price was slashed from $549,000 to $485,000. Entwistle had been renting the house for $2,700 a month at the time of the murders.

Why Bush should veto SCHIP expansion

Taxes are so ridiculously high that the government needs to be doing as much as possible to cut its expenses. My family pays about 45% of our income in taxes, and we get very little back in return. We don't get government subsidies for health care, food, college tuition, or anything else. Congress is about to send President Bush a bill to expand government funding for SCHIP, a program that provides free health insurance to children who have too much money for Medicaid. Bush says he plans to veto the bill, and I agree with him. Congress wants to pour billions more dollars into SCHIP. In my opinion, this is one of the last things America needs. It is not the government's job to take people's money and distribute it to other people that the government has decided need it more.

How, then, would poor children pay for health care they need? The answer is simple. The government needs to set a limit on how much health care and health insurance can cost. For example, health insurance can cost a maximum of $50 per month. Or setting a broken bone cannot cost more than $30. Then people could choose whether they wanted health insurance or not. Want health insurance? Fine. Don't want health insurance? That's fine too, you can just pay individually for each procedure you get.

OJ has rights too

Barnes & Noble recently announced that it would not stock copies of O.J. Simpson's book "If I Did It" in stores, but would make the book available over the internet. I think the book store made the right decision. Although Barnes & Noble claims that there is little demand for O.J.'s book, I think people who want to buy it have a right to do so. Heck, I am actually considering getting it at some point; it would probably be interesting.

Denise Brown, the sister of O.J.'s ex-wife and (alleged) victim is wrong to argue that the book should not be published. Everyone is (and should be) protected by the First Amendment, and that includes murderers and accused murderers. The Son of Sam law was ruled unconstitutional, as it should be. Not liking a book gives you no right to prevent it from being published. Plenty of people hate the Harry Potter books, yet J.K. Rowling continued to write them to the delight of fans worldwide. There are a lot of books I hate, but I am powerless to stop them from being published. Denise Brown is no more important than you or me, and just like you or me she shouldn't be able to stomp on someone's First Amendment rights just because she doesn't like what they have to say. It's not up to me to say who should receive the profits from O.J.'s book, but I believe that he has a right to write and publish it, and that anyone who wants to has a right to read it.

Farewell, Karl

As everybody knows by now, Karl Rove has announced his resignation as President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff. I never knew a whole lot about Rove, but I just read his article on Wikipedia to find out more about him, and he's a pretty interesting guy. Overall I think he has led a successful career and is an intelligent, good person. His resignation is disappointing, but I hope he enjoys his time off and isn't pestered too much by the Democrats and his other critics.

Happy birthday, Napoleon

Today I would like to wish a happy birthday to one of the greatest emperors of all time - Napoleon. If he were alive today, he would be 238 years old.