The World Around You

Both the Alabama Education Trust Fund and General Fund budgets have been approved in their respective Houses of origin, now they get to trade. The education budget was passed without a single Republican vote, 20-14. The general fund budget was passed 67-28, with many members voting present.

Non-state agencies will receive a 75% cut in both budgets, as opposed to the complete elmination proposed by the Governor. Otherwise the budgets remained pretty much intact. The restored funds will be paid by delaying repayment of funds to the rainy day account.

The Indianapolis Colts moved to 3-0 with a 23-13 victory on Sunday over the Jaguars. Reggie Wayne had a big game, catching 10 passes for 141 yards. The Indianapolis Star reports,

Wayne’s specialty is moving the chains. Thirteen of his 15 receptions this season have gone for first downs, and when he caught a 15-yard pass on third-and-7 late in the game, the frantic home crowd saluted him in a manner normally reserved for its most revered sports hero.

The chant rose and built: “Reg-gie. Reg-gie. Reg-gie. Reg-gie. Reg-gie.”

“A couple of guys were teasing me about it,” Wayne said. “They were saying when they started yelling ‘Reggie,’ everybody looked at the exit sign to see if Reggie Miller walked into the stadium.

“It wasn’t Reggie Miller today. It was Reggie Wayne, so I’m going to enjoy it for one day.”

Nine of Wayne’s receptions, 130 of his receiving yards and both touchdowns came during the second half. Likewise, Miller, the Indiana Pacers’ veteran guard, is usually at his best when the game is on the line.

The Colts face New Orleans (1-2) next Sunday at the Superdome.

Newsweek carries a nice piece this week that puts $87 billion into perspective. To take just one of the examples,

EDUCATION
For $87 billion you could …
Hire more than 2 million new teachers
or
Spend an additional $1,824 on each child in American public schools
or
Spend seven times more than the President’s proposal for Title 1 education programs in fiscal year 2004.
—“The so-called ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ is underfunded by eight billion dollars,” says Kathleen Lyons of the National Education Association, a teacher’s union. “This administration has misplaced priorities about funding.”

What is left unsaid is that $87 billion is just the beginning. It’s tough when we’re footing the entire bill isn’t it?

The Montgomery Advertiser has published my latest letter to the editor under the headline above:

First, the Governor was lying about the $675 million. Now that those cuts have come to fruition, just like he said, he’s being vindictive. The people of Alabama don’t deserve a leader like Governor Riley. He’s too good for the citizens of this state. I didn’t vote for the man, but he has tried harder to do the right thing than any leader this state has ever known and he gets zero appreciation for it.

He and his staff have spent more time with these budgets than anybody in their right mind should be allowed. If anyone has a better solution, they should have suggested it. A solution is not, “There have to be better places to cut.” Name them. A solution is not, “All those state workers need to take a pay cut.” Do you know what the average salary is for a state worker? Do you know that all of Governor Riley’s department heads took significant paycuts to come to Montgomery? It’s easy to criticize when you don’t have the first clue, it’s much harder to come up with a solution.

The truth is, most of us don’t have the time or inclination to delve into the details that far. That’s why we pay our legislators and the Governor. Let them do their job and offer your constructive, informed criticism, but not your useless uninformed “ideas”.

This is supposed to be news?? AP reports,

Alabamians are overwhelmingly opposed to same-sex marriages, a new statewide survey shows.

Eighty-two percent of those responding to the poll said they do not support same-sex marriages. The survey, conducted Monday through Thursday by The Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama, has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

These numbers are hardly shocking. I would like to see the wording of the question, to better determine what this really shows. On these types of issues, the wording of the question can have a huge effect on the results of the poll. I suspect the question was something like, “Do you support same-sex marriages?” You could push poll one way or the other depending on how you tweak that question.

I have discussed this issue in the past, and I have seen a lot of good debate around the blogosphere. For me, it’s a fairly simple issue. Homosexual citizens should have the same rights I have, including those derived through marriage. I don’t support “gay marriage” per se, I do support separating the institution of marriage from all the governmental benefits that we have attached to it. There should be a union of two people that is recognized by the government, the “civil union”, for all citizens. Why? Because the government should discriminate against someone for their sexual orientation and it is discriminatory to allow married heterosexuals benefits that homosexual partners cannot have. This is separate from the “institution of marriage” that so many talk about, which is a religious construct and should remain so.