I disagree with the same-sex-marriage concept. My thought process is that marriage is an institution designed to protect ultimately the children. Keeps the male legally involved to take care of mother/children and support them also when the woman is pregnant and may not be able to fend for herself. I do not believe that "marriage" has anything to do with sexual preference by definition.

Law, it seems that throwing more money at education hasn't really improved the quality of said education. Perhaps more effort should be put into what is being taught. Also, our citizens are really upset about so many jobs being outsourced to other countries. I would think that this would tend to move more money into those countries. Granted that their standard of living is not the same as ours, but I would think that the wages they are paid would result in a better condition than if they were not employed at all. So many shades of gray. Kind of like a bubble in a water bed. Squash it down in one spot, and it reappears in another.

Clarifying my position in light of JZBs statement. I too do not particularly care who is sleeping with who, or what. But if they want to call it a marriage in order to obtain government largess, then it is government business in that respect.

Bobber, if your view of the purpose of marriage was the standard it would leave me out - I can't have children. From a historical perspective women were never the true beneficiaries of marriage as it was the husbands who had the legal right to divorce at will.

As for education, just because there's more money doesn't mean it's been spent well. In my opinion, our educational system sufferes from the same problems as every other institution run by our govt.: too much ineffective, overpaid administration.

Saying being paid some wage is better than being paid no wage completely misses the point of striving for economic justice.

Amazing; our politics are pretty far apart, but you are still one of my favorite people in the world!

jzb, good point.

bobber, do you realize what you said can be interpreted this way:

men are incapable of staying in a monogomus relationship unless required to by law. AND, pregnant women are unable to fend for themselves.

conversely, i know of married men who DO NOT support their wives or children, and unmarried ones who do.

common marrige vows do not include children, as i recall. they say love, honor, cherish, in sickness and in health from this day forwad, etc.

just an observation.

Jane, you apply current situations to something that was instituted a long time ago, when women and children were not necessarily taken care of by the state, and pregnant women , especially in the latter stages of pregnancy, were not able to hunt and gather (or take care of any previous small children). Men are capable of staying in a monogamus relationship,of course. Never mind the divorce rate and the number of "fatherless" families. Common marriage vows are more religious and personal, and have no bearing on legal status of the relationship with the government.

I think everyone is forgetting that our forefathers wore wigs and satin Capri pants.

Exactly!

I've thought there might be a dual system - civil unions provided by the government that provide all the tax advantages, etc. and then a "marriage" by the religious institution of one's choice. Religious institutions already have the option of saying who the will and will not marry anyway.

I don't have real strong feelings either way about who can or can't get married becasue in today's society as a whole marriage isn't taken all that seriously anyway. The question I kinda can't get past is if we start redefining it, where does it stop? Can three people get married? Can you marry your dog?

bobber (you know i like you), i wasnt opposing what you said, just having you look at how it looked written down. a bit off, to me.

law, very interesting points.

and, LOL @ dog. i love how you have a way of putting things into perspcetive! (don't forget they also had slaves and were boinking whomever they wanted, without having to support those illegitimate children. i love coming full circle).

I am soooooooooooooooo staying out of this one.