Bad bad bad news

I worked 14 hours yesterday, the night of an important architectural review meeting. As a result, my bosses could hardly complain if I slept in an extra hour this morning. Thus I woke up and began my commute after my coworkers were already tapping along at their desks. I was awake, content. There was an unbelievably gorgeous freckled girl sitting next to me on the bus (unfortunately listening to her ipod and therefore out of bounds for striking up a conversation, but still). In short, I was happy.

And then, as is my custom, I read the newspaper.

And now I’m less happy.

1. President Bush vetoed the stem cell bill. Beyond the simple fact that he’s playing god with other people’s lives and unilaterally deciding that saving microscopic cells in order to guarantee the death and suffering of real, living people is not only worth it, but a moral imperative, a more political question must be raised. With stem cell research comfortably getting 70% approval ratings by the electorate, why would the president oppose it? The simple explanation is he genuinely believes cells are more valuable than living humans. An other explanation is that as a lame-duck president with already horrid ratings, Bush (Rove) is creating an issue that Republicans in Congress can use to distance themselves from this failure of an administration, thus giving them better chances to compete against Democrats in the midterm elections. We’ll see how it plays out, but I’m pessimistic.
   
2. The House of Representatives voted to protect the pledge of allegiance from court rulings attacking the constitutionality of the phrase “under god”. The bill is unconstitutional and therefore un-American on not just one but two counts: 1) It attacks the independence of the Judicial branch, which is nothing short of an attack on the concept of checks and balances and therefore on our very system of government itself, and 2) it protects a blatant and ridiculous illegal invasion of the free speech rights of Americans. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the bill, protecting language added to the pledge in the 1950s, would "defend America's founding principles." Apparently he means principles *other* than the separation of church and state. My right not to have someone else's religion forced upon me is, clearly, not a principle the House thinks is worth saving.
   
3. A Maryland judge overturned the state’s landmark “Wal-Mart law” that would have required a certain large corporation that's bad for the economy anyway to actually give their employees health benefits.

Bang, bang, bang.

Tags: politics