Governing through Reason
A Tweet for the Ayes
New York State Sen. Greg Ball. Source: politico.com
Today, the New York State Senate is considering a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Although a vote was widely expected today, the latest news reports say the vote may be delayed to later in the week.
Last week, the Assembly passed the bill by an 80–63 vote. The measure faces tough going in the Senate, where the Democrats have a bare 30–32 minority with a principled opponent in State Sen. Rubén Díaz (Bronx), who is an ordained Pentecostal minister. There is talk that a Stupak-like statement of principles allowing for freedom of religious expression might be enough to bring him over. One idea that has been floated is to allow religious organizations the ability to refuse to pay benefits to a same-sex spouse. Even if a deal is struck, and the Democrats present a united front, the bill would still need at least two Republican supporters.
As the Republican caucus meets, tension is mounting amongst supporters and opponents alike. If passed by the legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature is almost assured.
Meanwhile, a freshman State Senator, Greg Ball (R-40/Patterson, Hudson Valley), has reached out to his followers and constituents via Facebook and Twitter.
I thought it was better than sending Weiner-like photos. I’d done it in the past. I reached out on Facebook and Twitter and asked for input on many issues. It’s a good way to get feedback. — New York State Sen. Greg Ball, via Politico
His office is reporting that the Twitter response to his “yes or no?” question is overwhelmingly “yes” while Facebook is closer to 50–50. A recent Siena College poll shows 55% of New Yorkers in favor of same-sex marriage, with 40% opposed.
If a vote is held, we’ll update it in the comments section.
What do Logarchism readers make of this situation?
Related articles
- NY on cusp of legalizing gay marriage? (msnbc.msn.com)
- NY Sen. Ruben Diaz Doesn’t Speak For the Entire Bronx, Y’know? (queerty.com)
- NY Senator Greg Ball Proposes Religious Exemption To Gay Marriage Bill (newyork.cbslocal.com)
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I avoided the temptation to go for the “Ball vs. Weiner” headline.
I don’t see how anyone could ignore 55–40 polling data in an issue that is well-polled and where people have had plenty of time to process the data and come to a conclusion about what they think.
I mean, legislators are supposed to support the Will of the People, right? The people’s will is clear, and it’s the right thing to do.
An interesting sidelight on the Siena poll is that voters like Gov. Cuomo II and don’t much like the legislature, with the blame for gridlock going to the Republicans. So even though they hold a majority, they have the upcoming election to consider. If you’re under pressure to do something, then this might just be the right thing to do.
Díaz is saying he thinks it will pass. He’s just trying to cut the best deal he can for his constituency, a process I respect.
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Mono,
It’s easy for voters to ignore the Will of the People.
Right now, significant majorities oppose the Ryan plan to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid. Yet virtually all elected Republicans in the House and Senate support it.
Significant majorities support the idea of raising taxes on the most wealthy as a means of increasing revenue, and so decreasing the debt. Yet virtually all elected Republicans in the House and Senate oppose that notion.
Significant majorities oppose the idea of cutting SOcial Security, Medicare, or Medicaid as a means toward balancing the budget. Yet virtually all elected Republicans in the House and Senate support this idea.
Significant majorities support the various provisions in PPACA such as eliminating the cap on annual or lifetime benefits, or allowing one’s children to remain on a parent’s insurance until age 26, or disallowing refusal for pre-existing conditions, etc. Yet virtually all elected Republicans in the House and Senate want to de-fund or repeal PPACA entirely.
And so on.
Wait, I’m sensing a pattern on which party habitually ignores the Will of the People…
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Treme… interesting that it’s the Republicans wanting the delay. Looks like they are afraid the bill is going to pass and they want to tweak the language as much as they can in their favor before that happens.
My goodness, won’t that be something if it does?!
From Bob Dylan…
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’ -
#8 written by WA7th 1 year ago
In Canada the sky hasn’t fallen, the world hasn’t ended, the Wrath of God has not descended…
Poor Canadians. Don’t even know when God is punishing them.
Silly fili, God keeps Canada in a perpetual state of anarchy, which is why Canada has never won the Super Bowl. Former New York Giant David Tyree has won the Super Bowl, so David Tyree knows what it takes to win the Super Bowl. Do you know what it takes to win the Super Bowl? Guess what? David Tyree does, and he’s not even a Patriot, just a concerned real American former Giant hero. Guess what else? It isn’t anarchy. It’s… it’s … unanarchy. America wins all the Super Bowls because it still has unanarchy.
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@WA7… Silly fili, God keeps Canada in a perpetual state of anarchy
You know, when I look around me, I can see you’re right. There’s anarchy everywhere up here. Gay guys getting married, and little kids dancing at the wedding with their grandpas while the grandmas, decked out in orchid corsages, gossip in the corner and sip good wine and everybody hugs each other. Gay guys having barbecues on their back deck, serving vegetarian chili and arugula salad along with the steaks. Married lesbian couples coming out on weekends to coach their kids’ soccer games, and bringing coolers full of fruit and sandwiches for the team.
It’s complete and total anarchy. That’s why only anarchists win the Grey Cup.
Well… that and the fact that REAL men can move the ball in three downs, while David Tyree needs four downs to get it done. What a pantywaist.
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#10 written by WA7th 1 year ago
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Who knew gays were so powerful? Just letting them marry each other — that is, form a legal bond of TWO PEOPLE — and it threatens the very fabric of society.
I wonder if letting two men marry is worse (i.e., more powerful) then letting two women marry? Do gay men have more of that anarchist-power-juice than lesbians do? I think we should run an experiment. Let lesbians marry first. Wait a couple years. See if society collapses. But of course, we’d have to watch close. If society survives, then we could extend it to guys. Maybe this gradualist plan would be more acceptable to righties.
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If you mix salt, baking powder and hot water, don’t you get some kind of mini-jet propulsion?
Is anybody else old enough to remember when you got those little plastic frogmen in cereal boxes? They had a receptacle at their feet that you filled with baking soda, and a cap with a hole in it for slow release. Those little guys would zip all over the bathtub for five or ten minutes. It was the coolest cereal toy ever.
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@Treme.. That would be baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) which makes carbon dioxide (CO2) gas.
That’s right, I remember now!!! You had to add a drop of vinegar to the frogmans’ little foot pack!!
No wonder it didn’t work when I tried to reproduce the effect for the grandkids
The things I learn at this place.. just amazing.
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#15 written by Gator 1 year ago
Papier-mâché volcanoes. Baking soda and vinegar and you have an eruption.
Fili, combine any highly acidic substance with any highly alkaline substance and you have a reaction. If the substances are in liquid or powder forms, it happens really quickly.
Heat is a byproduct, so I’m afraid Treme was correct re: you were an egregious warming culprit. You and your bath tub play have caused the oceans to rise. Hope you’re happy with yourself now, missy.
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filistro,
That’s right, I remember now!!! You had to add a drop of vinegar to the frogmans’ little foot pack!!
No wonder it didn’t work when I tried to reproduce the effect for the grandkids
See, it’s stuff like this that amazes me to hear. I take so many things for granted. Like “of course it’s vinegar” because this is how you make quickbreads…you need a chemical leavening, which consists of sodium bicarbonate and some form of acid. Vinegar, lemon juice, lactic acid from yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk, or cream of tartar…or you can use the premixed baking powder.
One of the reasons I so enjoy cooking is the science behind it. And I’m amazed at how people figured this stuff out long before they understood that science. Beer, bread, wine, vinegar, cheese, butter…these are complex things to develop, and yet people did. To delicious effect, too. And now we have enough understanding of the science behind it all to do some amazing things. Molecular gastronomy, while a little showy at the moment, does have the potential to make some huge fundamental changes in the kinds of things we can and will make for food.
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Let’s not forget lemon juice (citric acid) and salt which makes hydrochloric acid. Tangy.
Capsaicin (the ingredient in hot peppers) has a pretty cool story, too. It causes pain without causing actual physical damage to the skin. That way, you get the endorphins and enkephalins (natural pain relievers produced by the body) without hurting yourself. There’s no capsaicin receptors between the mouth and anus, but there are receptors in both places, which my stepbrother found out to his detriment when he “won” a jalapeño eating contest by swallowing them whole. Pay me now or pay me later, etc.
Another cool cooking chemistry fact is that you change the structure of proteins when you fry an egg or whip egg whites. Same protein, three different configurations (liquid, solid white, frothy white). Copper ions help the process along, which is why it’s easier to whip egg whites into a meringue in a copper bowl.
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@Michael… And I’m amazed at how people figured this stuff out long before they understood that science.
Me too. I think about this all the time. Who was the very first person to look at yeast and think… “Hey, if I added this yucky bubbly stuff to the flatbread dough, I wonder what would happen?” How and why did somebody think of distilling liquor? What kind of equipment did they use? Who first tied a string around a couple of sticks and figured out that if they manipulated the string in a certain complex way, they could KNIT? Which of my own ancestors first realized a mixture of animal brains and human urine was effective for tanning hides? (“Let’s see what happens if we smear some of the buffalo brains on this rawhide, okay?” “Hey, yeah.. and then let’s PEE on it!”)
What amazes me most of all is that we are such a devilishly clever species… and yet so doltishly stupid in many ways.
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#20 written by Gator 1 year ago
Michael,
I think that often these strides forward were accidents, or knowledge derived from accidents. Observational discoveries as opposed to research directed discoveries.
Religious dogma and many laws seem to have arisen the same way. Kosher happened because of the health benefits. Obviously if you get sick when you don’t use the method and you don’t get sick when you do, clearly God wants you to eat kosher. If you procreate with a close relative, you tend to have two-headed babies and the like. Certainly anyone can see that Allah doesn’t want us shtupping our sisters. Beneficial accidents and generational observations have resulted in as many ‘discoveries’ as research. Probably more.
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Monotreme,
Another cool cooking chemistry fact is that you change the structure of proteins when you fry an egg or whip egg whites. Same protein, three different configurations (liquid, solid white, frothy white). Copper ions help the process along, which is why it’s easier to whip egg whites into a meringue in a copper bowl.
I had some chocolate mousse last night for dessert, which we made at home. I was marveling at that one, too…a mix of soft-peak meringue, whipped cream, and bittersweet chocolate softened with butter. Poured like a batter when I folded it together, but firmed up so beautifully in the refrigerator. And ethereal on the tongue. A truly refined dessert…even better than a pot de crème. *sigh*
filistro,
Who was the very first person to look at yeast and think… “Hey, if I added this yucky bubbly stuff to the flatbread dough, I wonder what would happen?”
It almost certainly didn’t happen like that. Yeast hangs out in the air, so it doesn’t need you to keep starter around. Keeping starter around kicks things off more quickly and consistently, but that’s pretty much it. The big question is which came first, beer or bread. They’re both basically the same thing, but the beer has more water in it and the bread had mechanical action added to develop the gluten to hold onto the yeast burps.
How and why did somebody think of distilling liquor?
That one really amazes me, since it’s critical that you get the ethyl alcohol without the methyl alcohol. The number of horrific accidents that occurred in learning that lesson…
We do have a history as a species of making some pretty big mistakes in culinary experimentation. Lead sugar was popular in the Roman Empire days, which may have led to the empire’s downfall. Transfats seemed like such a good idea in the 20th century, especially in the later decades when it seemed to be such a healthy alternative to hard animal fats (or even naturally hard vegetable fats). It remains to be seen whether the extensive use of invert sugar (primarily in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, though it can be made from cane sugar as well) is more detrimental to health than attached sucrose.
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Gator,
I think that often these strides forward were accidents, or knowledge derived from accidents. Observational discoveries as opposed to research directed discoveries.
I’m sure of it. But some of the more complex facets…you have to wonder how those accidents occurred.
Why on earth weren’t humans disgusted by the thought of adults drinking milk (which is for newborns) that was intended for another species? And why on earth are so many humans disgusted by the thought of adults drinking milk from humans? Seriously, if you look at it from a distance, there’s sort of a bestial-pedophilic thing going on there…but somehow it’s okay in combination for food.
And it’s OK to eat cows in this country, but almost nobody eats horses. Dogs are considered food in parts of Asia, but the idea horrifies most Americans. Pigs are a no-no to Jews and Muslims, but de rigeur to most of the rest of the world. As you noted, some of this seems to come from observations…but putting enough of the pieces together to understand the all of the necessary steps is remarkable.
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#24 written by Gator 1 year ago
Michael,
Many of the examples you gave are societal and result from the anthropomorphising that all people do. The issue then becomes what does your society anthropomorphize.
For us it’s dogs and cats and primates in general. For other societies, it’s other animals.
As for the milk thing, there is a definite sexual element to that. Western European societies see female breasts as sexual playtoys as opposed to merely functional appendages. We look at cattle as sources of nutrition. Personally, I don’t mind this little peculiarity, as I find female breasts to be wonderful playtoys.
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#25 written by Gator 1 year ago
Besides anthropomorhising, you also have deification. And western societies tend to value animals that have been romanticized in literature… dogs and horses in particular.
So there ya’ go. I probably missed something, but there are at least most of the factors in our different takes on animals.
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Gator,
As for the milk thing, there is a definite sexual element to that. Western European societies see female breasts as sexual playtoys as opposed to merely functional appendages. We look at cattle as sources of nutrition. Personally, I don’t mind this little peculiarity, as I find female breasts to be wonderful playtoys.
But we mix food and play all the time. Why not there, too?
I just find the inconsistencies in our social norms to be worthy of some pondering. We take so many of them for granted, and really they look absurd when you’re able to look at them objectively. Douglas Adams was pretty good at highlighting many such absurdities.
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#28 written by Gator 1 year ago
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From Talking Points Memo, an astonishing quote:
Though no deal has been reached yet in the fight over the New York marriage equality bill, there’s one Republican state Senator who’s dropped his poker face.
James Alesi told a crowd in Albany Tuesday that he’s supporting the bill, adding: “I’m a Republican — I was born that way.”
Alesi announced his support for the bill last week, the first Republican to do so. He had previously voted against marriage equality in 2009 when it failed to pass the state Senate.
“Passing marriage equality is the most important thing that I think I can do in my 20-year history as a legislator,” Alesi said.
Referring to the order votes would be cast (which is alphabetical), Alesi added: “I am proud to be a Republican. I will also be proud to be the first Republican voter to vote for marriage equality in this state.”
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#30 written by Gator 1 year ago
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#31 written by Mainer 1 year ago
Yup Gator agreed. That we had more like him on both sides of the aisle. Can you imagine the crap he is about to be subjected to? He is going to be vilified, cast out and RHINO’ed off the face of the earth.
I too heard some thing interesting today about this is at best anecdotal. From a good friend down there while talking business the comment that some others on the Republican side are looking for ways to step away from this but are literaly afraid of the consequences.….….I asked what he meant by afraid and was told that he had heard that some Republicans have had some pretty squirrely phone calls on the issue. I have no idea what that means but it would be sad if we have reached the point where doing what is right subjects one to threats from their supposed backers. Can that possibly be right?
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What I make of this situation… it is reaching critical mass. Fairness and decency is an unstoppable force. Soon (I mean within months) we will begin to see a thundering herd of conservative politicians trampling over each other to get to the right side of history on this issue.
And in a few years when gay marriage is legal all over the US, people will find just what has been the case in Canada, where gay marriage has now been legal in all provinces and territories for almost a decade.
In Canada the sky hasn’t fallen, the world hasn’t ended, the Wrath of God has not descended… and not only has the divorce rate not climbed, it has actually fallen a bit, so it appears the “institution of marriage” has not been damaged either.
Duh.