New Photos

Just wanted to let you know I've added some more photos on my flickr site. The first batch is from a fun trip to San Antonio a couple of weekends ago to meet Cici and her family and go see the Riverwalk Christmas lights. You may recall I did this last year too. Its becoming something of an annual tradition. Little Nina was especially cute this year, just like every year. We took in the lights from a river barge, so I didn't get to photograph many of the lights themselves (we were moving, the photos were blurry). But there's still some fun shots.

The second batch is from around town. Austin always bursts in colors in the spring when the wildflowers bloom, but apparently the drought, followed by early September rain, has brought us some amazing color in the late fall. Pear trees, plum trees, and various others that I don't recognize, have turned into brilliant shades of red and gold. All over town we can see these vivid colors.

Finally, there's some photos of this year's scaled down Austin Trail of Lights. The city nixed the gargantuan trail that has taken over Zilker Park the last few years in favor of this more modest version. They kept the famous Zilker Christmas Tree, pictured above, and a few of the exhibits from the old trail of lights. Had I never seen the old trail, I'd have thought this was just fine. My photos turned out a lot better this year (i.e. not as blurry) as years past.

Hope you enjoy! Also hope everyone has a great Christmas!

The Don and Birdie Reeder Global Emergency Fund: First Year Report

As we head into this special time of paying attention to our tax issues, errr, helping the less fortunate, I thought it was time to report on the one project in which I’ve been able to help people just a teeny tiny bit (I know, you’d think that being the Fonzie of the electric utility legal practice and dropping well-placed “that’s what she said” remarks would be enough. Sadly, we live in a world where that’s just not enough).

Many of you may recall that the Don and Birdie Reeder Global Emergency Fund began helping children throughout the world last year. Administered by Children’s Emergency Relief International, based in Kingwood, this fund’s primary goal is to provide resources to children and adolescents with emergency and imminent needs. Many of you were kind enough to contribute in memory of my mother. In cooperation with our former pastor, Dr. Dearing Garner, we hoped through this fund to continue the work of my Mom and Dad, who for many years went on mission trips throughout the world focused on helping children. In the time since her passing, I’ve realized that Mom’s main purpose in life was to be a beacon to children, giving them love and teaching them respect. Dr. Garner led those mission trips and knew my mother since 1978. He’s in charge of every penny spent from the fund, and as he told me the other day, he always asks “what would Birdie want” whenever making these decisions. I could not ask for a better steward for the Fund or shepherd for its recipients.

As it has developed, the Fund addresses conditions that make children in many parts of the world vulnerable to trafficking. This includes not only for sexual purposes but for labor as well. The practice is particularly intense in eastern Europe, Asia, and South Africa, and in any place afflicted with poverty or large numbers of uncared for orphans. Many governments have signed treaties banning trafficking, but this evil practice continues to flourish for many reasons.

CERI participates with many local-based child welfare and assistance organizations throughout the world, to work in partnership with these organizations to help children, particularly orphaned or abandoned children. Especially in places like Moldova, governments often are content to warehouse children then turn them loose on the street at 14 or so where they become vulnerable to traffickers.

CERI has made available resources from the Reeder Fund in a fairly targeted way. It has initiated programs to help children transitioning out of orphanages into homes or other facilities, such that they can live and grow into adulthood while continuing their education or acquiring work skills. The alternatives are often bleak-begging or going off with strangers promising to take care of them (which often turns out to be child traffickers). CERI and its partners have started “transitional living programs” for these youth, helping to ease them out of orphanages, then ultimately into mainstream society.

The Reeder Fund has been used in support of this program. CERI has used the fund to provide for emergencies or immediate needs for many of this program’s participants. Funds have been spent in Moldova, a former Soviet republic, and Nigeria, as well as on a water project in Sri Lanka.

On both the plus and minus side, there’s a surprising amount of money remaining in the fund. I had feared that they’d blow through the fund fairly quickly. However, it’s been a bit of a challenge to get the local directors to ask for the money. They’ve had something of a resistance to leaning too heavily on outside resources. We are working to make them more aware of the Fund and encourage them to request resources from it. I’m meeting again with Dr. Garner before the end of the year, and I think we may also liberalize some of the restrictions on the Fund, such that the “emergency” need not be so immediate. This would allow us to spend the money more freely on children in need.

The Fund’s first year has been a huge success in the way that Miss Birdie would have appreciated. More great things are on the horizon throughout the world, and this money will further work that will make a positive and dramatic difference in children's lives. That’s exactly what my Mom would have wanted.

For more information about the work of this Fund or CERI, you can visit http://www.cerikids.org/ceri/. Or just click that link.

Thanks so much to all of you who donated. Hopefully this lets you know your gift has helped.

Eatin' Food at a Trailer and Livin' the High Life

My proudest moment here wasn't when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No no no. It was a young Guatemalan guy, first job in the country, barely spoke a word of English, but he came to me and said "Mr. Scott, will you be the godfather to my child?" Didn't work out in the end. We had to let him go. He sucked.

--Michael Scott, “The Office”

Business demands utter ruthlessness, just like what Michael Scott brings to the table every day. Unfortunately, its only by everyone acting in their own self-interest can a capitalistic system perform the task of rationally allocating goods and services. This is what the government (whichever party's in power) forgets in its zeal to keep every major employer from failing, and simultaneously as it loads up taxes and regulations on small businesses.

Here at Daily Affirmations, we see the major “problem” with things like health care costs, energy costs, failing education and other deteriorating public services, not so much as a problem of market failure, but political failure. This idea that we have unfettered free market health care, or insurance, or energy simply ignores the extensive and pervasive regulatory control imposed on these major industries in the name of protecting the public from itself. Parentalism has shackled the free market from self-correcting abuses that will naturally occur in any economy, whether a Soviet-style command and control economy, or a Texas-style capitalist economy. Texas probably has the least pervasive governmental intrusion into the economy. The recession also has affected Texas less than most other states. Not exactly a one-to-one causal relationship, but Texas businesses were better poised to adapt and survive than elsewhere because, quite frankly, we didn’t have to get as many permits. Energy costs are outrageously high? The market, without blundering bureaucratic intrusion to “protect” the public, solves that problem by the high prices stimulating suppliers to expand their output and expand refining and transportation capacity, and stimulating consumers to adjust their behavior. Bureaucrats try to solve that problem with rationing, investigations, price controls, and other measures that impress unions and MoveOn.org, but suppress the market forces that otherwise would correct the problem. Same thing with health insurance costs. Normally if something costs “too much,” new companies enter the market and undercut the market price. But because states so heavily regulate insurance, companies cannot easily enter the insurance market and offer competitive rates and terms. The existing insurers then spend millions to curry favor with politicians and regulators to protect their near-monopoly status, reaping non-competitive profits and failing to meet consumer expectations. Drugs too expensive? Unreasonably long patent protections, far more lengthy than needed for firms to recover their costs, make it difficult for competitors to drive down prices. The same story can be told across the board.

But people seem to have made up their minds about whether the government can help us.

Nonetheless, consider three fascinating examples from right here in Travis County, Texas, in the very heart of the People’s Republic of Austin, of how capitalism isn’t a bunch of white guys in Armani suits and $500 haircuts riding around in limos and defrauding the stockholders. These are three of millions of examples that capitalism is millions of individuals and partnerships having a great idea that would help people, and going into business to make a living filling that need.

Trailer food. Its not just a Robert Earl Keen song anymore. Who knew that you could just get yourself a trailer, park it wherever you could find an empty space, and make money selling awesome food right out of the window? Like fire ants, food trailers have invaded Austin, popping up all over town. They first clustered in empty lots on hipster chic South Congress Avenue, selling everything from designer cupcakes to cheesecake to hamburgers to tacos. Then they began to spread to South 1st and South Lamar (how yuppie is 78704 all of a sudden? Bubba moved north to Burnet Road about the time Truck City moved to Buda, replaced by a bunch of boutiques and organic food stores. Stevie Ray used to live in 78704, not far from my house; as he once sang, the sky is crying). But think of it. Pull over to various otherwise empty lots, and you can get yourself a deluxe, fresh cooked burger, or sandwich, or cupcake, or donut, or pizza slice, or any other of a million different offerings. The trailers usually have a little eating area, are clustered near other popular destinations, and are easily accessed. They provide a use for otherwise unused property. Because their owners do not incur the overhead expense of a “storefront,” they can be cost competitive with other established “brick and mortar” establishments. And because they generally are located near some other popular destination, they afford people with an eating option convenient to something else they’re doing. The donut trailer close to my house on South Lamar, Gourdough’s, is an illustrative example. These guys were living in New York, thought they’d enjoy living in Austin and knew how to make really cool donuts one at a time, so they headed down, put together some money, and now they’re running a thriving business. No banks, no construction, no promotional campaign, just tasty eatin’.

Pedicabs. Ever been to one of the bigger Austin events, like Fourth of July fireworks or ACL festival, or gone to see the bats on Congress Avenue? Have you noticed those freaks riding bicycles with a couple of seats in the back, ferrying people back and forth like a bunch of rickshaws outside the old Caravelle Hotel in Saigon. Usually its some quasi-musician or graduate philosophy student trying to earn extra money. To avoid costly city regulations as “taxicabs,” which are in part meant to deter entry and thereby artificially restrict taxicab competition, the drivers will not charge a fare but they do ask for tips, which does not subject them to the regulations. The pedicabs obviously do not have a great range, but they take very short trips that the taxicabs will not, such as between a parking lot and a downtown destination. This might be too great a distance to walk for some (especially for an event where one is nicely dressed), but too short a distance to hail a cab. We know that the city legally requires taxis to take any paying fare, but it simply does not enforce this rule. So these pedicabs fill a definite need that the market has not otherwise met and which government regulations exacerbate.

Time exchange. This isn’t necessarily an Austin-specific phenomenon, but Austin is leading the way in the electronic barter economy. These people are also freaks, but I guess that’s what they said about Thomas Edison. Time exchanges allow people to trade goods and services without using currency (and, presumably, without having to report income to taxing authorities). The rules of the Austin Time Exchange are that they have a “skills bank,” which lists various goods and services that the members offer to others within the network. When one performs a service, it creates an “exchange share” that one may later redeem for another service. Or, one can bank the share indefinitely. Now, I still can’t figure out whether this currency-less transaction medium has any real advantages or not, but if the people making these exchanges think they do, then they do. In short, this is another innovative way for making transactions developed in response to unfilled needs within the existing markets.

These three examples, and countless others one observes on a daily basis, all represent the work of private individuals looking out for their own self-interests, trying to make a buck. No government program subsidizes any of these market innovations. There’s no glorified “public-private partnership” behind any of these. Rick Perry and John Cornyn didn’t have to play the Phil Gramm card and charter a plane at taxpayer expense to fly somewhere and make a “major state announcement” taking credit for them. Kirk Watson didn't have to invite himself to get between various governmental factions to "make the deal happen." These people just had a good idea, scraped together some money and did it. Kind of like how Apple Computers got started in Steve Jobs’ basement.

Small business is still the engine of our economy. As we focus these days on trillion dollar government bailout plans geared toward the largest corporate monoliths, let’s try to remember not to make it impossible for the average Joe or Jane with a good idea to start up a business and see it take off, in the process giving consumers additional choices, creating more jobs, and providing people with a living.

The Origin of the Oklahoma Sooners' White Helmets

A friend of mine on a "social networking site" (as does Robie Childers, we'll call it "My Face"), pondered last Saturday whether paint had made it to Oklahoma by the time of the throwback helmets the Sooners were wearing while flopping like beached jellyfish against the Texas Tech Sand Aggies. Seeing the sarcasm equivalent of single coverage on Andre Johnson fall into my lap, I went for the quick six. It helped that I was sitting in a completely boring continuing legal education class and needed some way to stay awake. Normally I'd consider it a breach of the Daily Affirmations rules to post something that I wrote elsehere, but I do feel that you folks need some schooling on Oklahoma Sooner traditions. So here goes:

Other than war paint and whitewash, the first recorded use of paint in Oklahoma was 1978, when a truck carrying a shipment of Glidden flat red oveturned and stained several nearby covered wagons. The locals were mesmerized, chanting "oombagay" which means "that reminds me of the hill behind my meth lab" in the native Oklahoman. A citizen posse was formed to petition the Bootlegger's Boy (B. Switzer) to add this color to the Sooners' traditional headdress. The Oklahoma Museum of Natural History stages re-enactments of this event on alternate Thursdays, or when that day's quota of cousins have finished their weddings.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions you may have.

Next-free market capitalism solves nearly all of life's problems, aka, "trailer food"

Running With the Devil; Welcome to the San Antonio Half Marathon. Also, check out PlacidAthlete.com

The 2009 San Antonio Marathon. I ran the Half. Holy Schnikees! Was that a marathon or a patrol on the Ho Chi Minh Trail? Instead of the 34 degree day they had last year, it was in the lower 70s and humid. Perfect conditions for a flame-out, and that's just what happened to me at Mile 7. Still, I managed to finish the race and ran the entire route, probably more depleted and exhausted than I've ever been. Nonetheless, there was one silver lining: unlike my run in the Austin Half Marathon two years ago, I felt no unusual soreness. No knee or hip pain. The structure did fine. I ran out of fuel and hydration.

This was a shame. The marathon and half marathon course was really nice. It was mostly flat or even downhill. Just a few little hills from time to time, such as around the King William district. The course also had some really nice scenery, winding past the old Pearl Brewery, the Alamo, King William, downtown, and the south part of downtown (which I'd never visited but seemed really cool). The course was also well supported. In the 13.1 mile half marathon, they had at least eight water/cytomax stops. Additionally, they had volunteers passing out Gu gel (for refueling) at the 11 mile mark and spraying us with water at around the 9 mile mark. I was shocked at how many people participated, as runners, volunteers or spectators. Approximately 30,000 entered the race (many walkers participated). But there appeared to be a small army of volunteers at the water stops, start and finish lines, and all along the course. Medical personnel were stationed all along the course. Even more impressively, spectators completely lined the route. I was running very slow, but it definitely made a big difference in my motivation that there were so many people cheering all along the route. At one point downtown, there were so many spectators cheering so loudly it was possible, for just a fleeting moment, to imagine I was among the leaders fighting hard to win the race. Reality quickly set back in of course, but there was a really great atmosphere all along the course. They all had signs. The best one of the day said "I thought it was 1.31 miles." (A half marathon is 13.1 miles).

The start and finish lines, however, were a bit of a different story. They started the race north of downtown near a park with no parking (ironically), so everyone was shuttle bussed in. Unfortunately, the last shuttle arrived at 6 a.m., but with the "wave start" I didn't cross the starting line until 8 a.m. That's two full hours of sitting around, followed by standing around in the "corral" waiting for my section to start the race.

Perhaps against my personality, I visited with some of the other contestants. There was a couple in their 60s from Kerrville, who had run several full marathons (including Boston), but were running in the half today so they could focus on another full marathon later in the year. Another woman from Houston visited with us. She left her husband and kids back home (just for the weekend, of course) while she came to run the half. I asked her how she trained for hills and she said she did the stairmaster. While waiting in the porta-potty line, I somehow situated myself in the middle of about eight ladies appearing to be in their mid-50s, all eagerly discussing the wedding that one of their sons was to have soon. Apparently their greatest consternation was deciding what to wear. Specifically, the mother of the groom was in a quandry about her attire. We joked a bit about how men never have this problem. "Wear a blue suit and a red tie and you're good anywhere" I remarked. She said if you're the mother of the groom, you have three jobs: "Show up, shut up, and wear beige." Still another lady, perhaps in her mid-60s, ran the entire marathon in bare feet. We and others around us had a long talk about this as we were waiting for the start. She's run several marathons in bare feet, and as I saw her later on the course, she appeared to have no problems. Apparently there's something of a movement centered on this now, having to do with modern running shoes unnaturally forcing the foot to land heel first rather than its biomechanically intended spot of landing mid-sole. We talked about how Ethiopian Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome in his bare feet. Finally, I spotted a young woman wearing a pink baseball cap with the "TAB" logo on it. She said she bought it in Las Vegas. My dad, as most of you know, is a rabid TAB drinker. I think he keeps the brand alive singlehandedly. The finish line was outside the Alamodome and that was fairly chaotic too. Huge crowds thronged around the finish and around the "recovery area."

My hotel, the Sheraton Gunter, was great but unfortunately it was on the other side of downtown from the stadium, much closer to the Main Plaza than to the Alamodome. So after running 2 hours and 18 minutes, I had to slog through a 30 minute walk past the crowds back to the hotel. By that time it was around 11, one hour before check-out. I had to hustle to take a cold shower (shown lately to reduce inflammation and swelling), finish packing, and get out of the room.

I'd hoped to have lunch with my good friends Sean, Cici and little Nina Collard, but they had the crud that's going around. So instead I planted my butt on a barstool at a sports bar in La Cantera, had an enormous plate of shrimp jambalaya (with brown rice), and watched all the NFL games on the NFL Sunday Ticket. I then walked around the shops for awhile, just so I wouldn't get too sore from sitting around, then drove home in time to watch a great Patriots-Colts game (complete with Generalissimo Belicheck's now-infamous fourth down meltdown).

Although it was the most physically taxing thing I've ever done, I'm glad I ran the race. I got to see some parts of San Antonio that the tourists don't generally see, which were in their own way quite attractive. Looking forward to doing it again next year, to measure my training and conditioning during the coming year. As I've explained to my family, every year that goes by since my heart surgery seems like my "second chance" time; its an opportunity to reclaim the gift of physical activity that seemed likely to disappear from my life until my January 2005 procedure. I went from being unable to run a mile without extreme discomfort and chest pain to finishing a 13.1 mile race (for a second time). That really is a gift, and during this season its one for which I'm deeply thankful.

*********

One final thought, which you'll read more about soon. My good friend and colleague Suzanne Bertin, who has these past few years plunged deeply into the world of triathlons and is obtaining her certification as a triathlon coach, is starting a fitness blog entitled "Placid Athlete." Go to http://www.placidathlete.com, and check out her thoughts and advice on "serenity and life/work balance through physical fitness, emotional fitness, and good nutrition." Suzanne also has a site at www.twitter.com/placidathlete which I know you'll enjoy.

Whither Gay Marriage: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

JOE: Hi, Jerry. Everything under control?
JERRY: Have I got things to tell you!
JOE: What happened?
JERRY: I'm engaged.
JOE: Congratulations. Who's the lucky girl?
JERRY: I am.
JOE: WHAT?
JERRY: Osgood proposed to me. We're planning a June wedding.
JOE: What are you talking about? You can't marry Osgood.
JERRY: You think he's too old for me?
JOE: Jerry! You can't be serious!
JERRY: Why not? He keeps marrying girls all the time!
JOE: But you're not a girl. You're a guy! And why would a guy want to marry a guy?
JERRY: Security.
JOE: Jerry, you'd better lie down. You're not doing well.
JERRY: Look, stop treating me like a child. I'm not stupid. I know there's a problem.
JOE: I'll say there is!
JERRY: His mother - we need her approval. But I'm not worried - because I don't smoke.
JOE: Jerry - there's another problem.
JERRY: Like what?
JOE: Like what are you going to do on your honeymoon?
JERRY: We've been discussing that. He wants to go to the Riviera - but I sort of lean toward Niagara Falls.
JOE :You're out of your mind! How can you get away with this?
JERRY: Oh, I don't expect it to last. I'll tell him the truth when the time comes.
JOE: Like when?
JERRY: Like right after the ceremony.
JOE Oh.
JERRY: Then we'll get a quick annulment - he'll make a nice settlement on me - I'll have those alimony checks coming in every month -
JOE: Jerry, listen to me - there are laws -conventions - it's just not being done!
JERRY: But Joe - this may be my last chance to marry a millionaire!
JOE: Look, Jerry - take my advice – forget the whole thing - just keep telling yourself you're a boy!
JERRY: I'm a boy - I'm a boy - I wish I were dead - I'm a boy - I'm a boy –

-- Some Like It Hot

Pretty ironic casting Tony Curtis as the paragon of heterosexual marriage. That guy jumped on anything that moved. Fish wouldn’t move in the tank when Tony Curtis visited.

I’ve been meaning to write about gay marriage since I was in New York during June, which coincided with the 40th anniversary of the “Stonewall Riots,” which as it turns out really was just a bunch of frustrated bar patrons throwing rocks at New York cops trying to shut down a Mafia-run gay bar that wasn't paying liquor taxes and was blackmailing Wall Street patrons.

What began as an incendiary political movement has apparently devolved into what can only charitably be called a totally jacked up annual Gay Pride Parade and freak show down 5th Avenue from near the Plaza all the way down Midtown, ironically in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, to the Village. At least one United States Senator marched in the parade, and it seemed like all of Manhattan was either in the parade or lining the routes. Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially the tourists checking out the interestingly clad men in the parade. Boss Tweed, however, was heard rolling rapidly in his grave.

It struck me that despite humorless Gay Protester Guy, public attitudes towards homosexuality have changed in this country with almost lightning speed (for such things). As recently as the 1970s, homosexuality was not publicly tolerated, and mere whispers that one was a homosexual could ruin one’s reputation and career. When Elton John acknowledged his “bisexuality” in 1975, his career immediately tanked. Up to the 1980s, most states still criminalized homosexual conduct, and while few prosecutions occurred then, its remarkable that less than 30 years and one Supreme Court case later, homosexuality is not only legal, but is so well accepted (or at least tolerated) publicly as to move many states towards legalizing gay marriage. If one thinks about how long it took this country to end slavery, enfranchise women and minorities, stop routinely tossing the mentally ill into prisons, or establish free public schools, the march of gay rights has been extraordinarily swift. In 1969, Easy Rider showed Louisiana rednecks killing two motorcycle riders because they had long hair. Now gay boys can swish around shirtless in the French Quarter in body paint and glitter, completely free from official retribution. Of course, the Quarter was always something of a sanctuary for at least intellectual homosexuals-Tennessee Williams comes most famously to mind.

Part of this rapid change stems from the fact that public attitudes toward homosexuality were never quite as vicious as they might have seemed. Homosexuals were tacitly tolerated “among us” to the extent they had the good taste not to flaunt or openly acknowledge their predilections. "We" felt license to laugh at them, and often along with them, feeling free to enjoy a Paul Lynde or Charles Nelson Reilley vamping it up, despite pretty much knowing which side they buttered their bread on. Americans idolized a number of stars whose manner and appearance should have left little doubt about their sexual preference-Sal Mineo, Montgomery Clift, Farley Granger, and most famously, Rock Hudson. Many, many others at least dabbled-Garbo, Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Olivier, even Brando. Liberace could be as soft as wet Charmin, but because he was generally liked, the public was content to not ask if he would not tell. The other was the AIDS epidemic. Ronald Reagan admitted that at first, he and his advisers actually giggled a bit when the subject came up. That was not necessarily a minority reaction. But then Magic Johnson, virile male basketball star, contracted the disease and at that point it seemed that mainstream America finally got it that this was a modern plague. That realization, and the fact that so many heterosexuals began contracting the disease, seemed to bridge whatever chasm existed between a lot of straight and gay Americans.

On and near the coasts, homosexuality is largely accepted. Many of these states and cities have passed “civil union” statutes or otherwise conferred certain civil benefits on homosexual partnerships. Attacks on homosexuals in many instances are classified as “hate crimes” garnering increased criminal sentences. In the heartland, or what Manhattanites call “campground,” attitudes are somewhat less accepting. While I was in New York, the news reported about a gay couple being detained outside the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake. Talk about the lion’s den. One even occasionally hears about physical attacks, although notably, such instances generally make the headlines, an occurrence that would not have been thinkable in recent decades. Still, although more rejection occurs in these areas, it lacks the sort of moral outrage and hostility exhibited as recently as the 20 year ago time frame. But, as Joan Rivers once put it, these are largely places where women wear high heels and socks, so most self-respecting gays wouldn’t be caught dead there anyway. If they could avoid it.

By and large, the march of history and public sentiment clearly is moving towards universal acceptance of homosexuality, and along with it, gay marriage. I estimate its about 10 years behind acceptance of inter-racial marriage or so. People in their 20s grew up watching Will and Grace, Boy George, Madonna kissing Britney and Christina, celebrating Elton John and Martina Navratilova, and seeing anti-gay celebrities condemned for intolerance. The gay social agenda, such that one exists, continues to advance. Gay themed shows populate television programming and mainstream movies. Gay movie stars, musicians, even politicians abound. Gay issues are openly and thoroughly discussed in major media outlets. About the only places where it seems to be absolutely prohibited would be in the military (soon to end with President Obama’s expressed intent to lift the ban) and in major sports. Though even as to the latter, the NFL’s recent suspension of Larry Johnson for using gay slurs, and his rather meek acceptance thereof, does mark something of a watershed event in the traditionally anti-gay world of professional athletics. That athletes should be so virulently anti-gay is somewhat ironic. What other profession, outside of male prostitution I suppose, entails so much exposure to male nudity?

Now, the centerpiece of the gay rights agenda (again, to the extent such an agenda could be said to exist), gay marriage, has not completely gone over. Liberal California and Washington have recently rejected gay marriage by referendums. The very recent close vote in even more liberal Maine (it may have two Republican senators, but they are RINOs and those seats are going Democrat when the incumbents move on) shows that trepidations about gay marriage exist even in the most “progressive” regions. About the only places where gay marriage has become legal have been in states where the courts have found a constitutional right. How interesting is it that these judges have suddenly found rights existing in constitutions that have lain dormant, in secret, under the bushes no doubt, for more than a hundred years, waiting for these judicial heroes to discover them. But despite this recent stall, have no doubts. Gay marriage will become the law of the land within the next 10-15 years. While polls continue to show that a majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, it is a relatively slim majority and younger Americans are far more approving. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. The pro-gay view has completely won the culture wars. By a far broader margin than older Americans, young people view homosexuality as completely normal and lacking any sort of moral deficiency, and support gay marriage. So as this younger generation and ones following it occupy a greater percentage of the electorate, gay marriage inevitably and universally will become legal. That’s not a trend that going to reverse either. Witness the denunciation and demonizing of Miss California for expressing opposition to gay marriage. On the one hand I was shocked she had an opinion on something other than world peace (for it) and saving children (for that too). On the other hand, I don’t like her filling that pretty little head with complicated thoughts (which cause wrinkles). The momentum clearly favors gay marriage, and only heavy-handed judicial intervention will forestall that (such as what happened when the Supreme Court’s blundering into Roe v. Wade disrupted a pronounced national trend favoring abortion rights and sparked a conservative backlash that still has steam).

The more significant question is, having won all legal battles and overturning all laws banning homosexuality, what’s the big deal about obtaining the right to marry someone of the same sex? Divorce rates remain very high. If marriage is so bad, why are gays clamoring for it? Clearly one reason rests in symbolism. Legalizing gay marriage would demonstrate that society values homosexual unions as the equal of heterosexual partnerships. That’s clear, and that reasoning makes sense.

The other reason can only be to obtain the goodies that marriage bestows. Its easier for heterosexual couples to adopt children, I mean, other than little Chinese girls. The tax code still favors married couples over single people. Married people also have better insurance rates and coverage, inheritance and estate rights, and marrying a non-citizen can allow one to emigrate to the United States.

This begs the question why does the state and society effectively subsidize marriage to such an extent? These privileges and benefits, much like other tax code provisions, originated based on social policies strongly favoring marriage and family development. Our forefathers actually tried to drive singleness out of our midst. Pennsylvania even enacted taxes against single men. But even granting the social benefits of marriage (e.g. fostering a better environment for raising children or resulting in more stable lifestyles), wouldn’t people get married even without these benefits? Who gets married for access to insurance, or to lower their taxes, or to inherit their spouse’s estate (ok, Anna Nicole, but who else)? The evidence suggests that even as such distinctions have become reduced, people are still getting married at about the same rates (albeit at slightly later age). And don’t homosexual couples at least try to adopt children, thereby depriving such subsidies of their “family promotion” justification?

What then, exactly, is the reason for continuing to subsidize marriage? Ultimately none. Subsidies should only exist where desirable social actions or conditions do not result from the functioning of the free market (or through social norms). People do get married and stay married without these incentives, so they are unnecessary. The rise in illegitimate births disproves the necessity of marriage for forming and maintaining families. The divorce rate rebuts any notion that promoting marriage through easing its financial burden through tax and other policies represents an effective policy. And while the social benefits of the family structure obviously benefit our society, would we see fewer families without these subsidies? Marriage, as presently constituted, represents a wealth transfer from single individuals to married without demonstrable benefit. “Pound for pound,” singles have greater expenses than marrieds, and these policies do nothing to help. Ironically, legalizing gay marriage will aggravate that schism, as a good proportion of single people will become reclassified as married. On the other hand, it will impose legal restrictions on existing homosexual unions, and arguably introduce them to the same stresses on marriages that heterosexual married couples experience.

To quote Mr. Spock (from that episode where he goes nuts in his once every seven years mating ritual and hijacks the Enterprise back to Vulcan where he fights Kirk for his wife), “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting.”

Next-my adventures at the San Antonio Half Marathon

Let's Go To the Mall

I was going to talk about gay marriage next, but an unexpected experience in Washington has edged gay marriage out for the next posting. That and Larry Johnson.

No, plastic consumer-oriented reader, I don't mean we should go to the mall down the street. I know how you all like to get your corn dog on, and eat all the samples at the food court, and get your free mall makeovers, and see what's on sale at Banana Republic, and check out the cougars hitting the shoe sales. Theoretically.

I mean America's Mall. The Mall in Washington. You know, by the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian and the Lincoln Memorial. With the reflecting pool. Where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, where World War I vets camped to protest Depression-era policies, and where Vietnam War protestors staged their 1969 Moratorium protests. You know, L'Enfant's Grand Avenue. This has been described as the third most-visited place in America, behind the Las Vegas strip and Times Square.

Last Sunday, I had to go to Washington on business. My attitude about Washington is pretty dismal. L'Enfant planned it as a sparkling world capital. Now successive Marion Barrys and decades of Congressional neglect have turned it into Murderville. I could make a case that on balance, since the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Washington has produced more harm than good. So other than the Smithsonian, Washington's really never held any special appeal for me.

I arrived Sunday afternoon so I could meet my friends Carrie and Jeremy for dinner, and had enough time to go for a run before we were to meet. I had just enough daylight to go for a run on the Mall. It was so inspirational I had to post about it for all of you to consider.

Most notably, so many of the trees on the mall are bursting into radiant shades of gold, orange and red. These include American elms, maples, aspens, and cherries. The park is awash in brilliant colors now, magnified by the streaming sunset. I first headed west towards the sun and Arlington, passing first the Washington Monument then the Lincoln Memorial on the left, and a parade of Greek revival agency offices on my right. Constitution Avenue was somewhat bland, although the trees again added some color. When making the turn behind the Lincoln Memorial though, I saw the sun setting behind Arlington National Cemetery. It was gleaming over the Lee House, and across the Potomac the bright red trees bathed the entire area with a soft fall color.

Before heading back east along the Mall towards the Capitol, I stopped first at the Lincoln Memorial and then at the nearby Korean War Memorial. Hordes of tourists were streaming in and around the Lincoln Memorial. I saw people of all nationalities, wearing turbans, saris, and other non-American garb. All seemed transfixed at the Lincoln statue, while many stood on the steps and gazed out over the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument. I thought of the words they could have read at the site and taken home. From Lincoln's Second Inaugural, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Or from the Gettysburg Address: "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Quite a far cry from the fourth-grade level bickering that now passes for public discourse in this town.

To the memorial's left lies the new Korean War Memorial. This new memorial packs an emotional punch. It consists of a platoon of cloaked GI's in statue, walking a patrol against a granite wall. At the wall's end to which the soldiers are marching is inscribed the phrase "Freedom is Not Free." This eternal patrol by the gray soldiers leaves a haunting impression.

Further along the Mall heading east, I came first to the new World War II Memorial located at the opposite end of the reflecting pool, then the Washington Monument. On the way, the reflecting pool was on my left, while in the distance I could see the Jefferson Memorial on my right against the Tidal Basin. The World War II Memorial is an oval shaped granite row of linked columns or pillars surrounding a huge fountain. Though impressive, I think both the Korean and Vietnam War memorials eclipse it. I moved on past it to the Washington Monument, which by this hour was splashed with sunlight. Surrounded by American flags, it made for a uniquely patriotic sight.

Moving further east past the Washington Monument, I passed the Smithsonian Castle, birthplace of the Smithsonian Museum. Then I moved on and passed the Hirschorn Museum and Air and Space Museum (where they keep the Wright Brothers plane and Apollo 11). Though the sun was sinking and cold air was setting in, crowds still walked along the Mall, playing frisbee and soccer, or just going for a Sunday evening walk.

As I continued east I faced the Capitol building, also bathed in the setting sun. I recalled how while in Buenos Aires, I saw the Presidential Palace (La Casa Rosada or Pink Palace) at the same hour of day, also lit up by the setting sun, and thought how much more magnificent our own Capitol shines in the sun. I also thought of all the statesmen who have shaped the course of world affairs for more than 200 years. We may be living through the end of Pax Americana and our government institutions may be turning into little more than a wealth transfer mechanism designed to buy votes, but the roll call of accomplished Americans who have served in that building dwarfs the losers currently occupying those seats. Clay, Webster, Houston, Bryan, Taft, LaFollette, and Johnson in the Senate. Rayburn, Jordan, Cannon and countless others in the House. The great moments occurring in and outside the Capitol also inspire. FDR's "date which will live in infamy" speech. MacArthur's "old soldiers just fade away" speech. Churchill's address during World War II. Kennedy's, Roosevelt's, and Lincoln's inaugurals. Mandela speaking to a joint session after his release from prison. These are men and women who made the modern world, and this occurred in that building. Hard to think about those moments and those people without then immediately thinking about the partisan wrangling over largesse that now dominates Congressional discourse, all while national literacy and health declines, the middle class shrinks, and manufacturing leaves the country.

That the Mall could have such an impact is even more astonishing because local news stories have complained about the Mall's disrepair and neglect Congress has shown in maintaining it. The place is so stunning that even in a shambles it can inspire.

Next-gay marriage. Really.