Do Something for Your Mother

Today (Wednesday April 22) is Earth Day 2009. A day created to remind all 6 1/2 billion of us alive on Earth that we depend on this planet for survival, and that we had better start taking better care of her.

I remember well, the first Earth Day in 1970. I was thirteen years old, and organized some friends and kids to pick up litter and debris in an empty field that had become an eyesore.
This was in Canton, Ohio, and was probably the first time I helped create a newspaper story.

Prior to that, in the fifth grade, I got my school class to write letters to Potlatch Corporation, asking them to stop polluting the rivers in the Pacific Northwest. Kinda pathetic that forty years later we still have to work to get people, corporations, and governments to think about the environment, and get them to stop trashing it.

Every one of us can do something, or many things, to protect Mother Earth. Drive your car less. Ride a bike or walk more often. Recycle more items, and throw away less trash. Reuse, and reduce "stuff". Use public transportation and buy your future cars with better mileage in mind. Eat less meat.

Do something for your Mother today.

Four Down....46 to Go !

With Vermont and Iowa racing to see which state would be the next "Free" state when it comes to same sex marriage, it is obvious to any forward thinking individual that the writing is on the wall. The end of anti-Gay discrimination as it pertains to full marriage rights is in sight.

When the Netherlands and Denmark and other Northern European countries legalized full gay marriage, many could dismiss the change as kooky liberal Scandinavians. When Spain did it, it gave some pause. This was a Catholic Latin Country.

Massachusetts legalized Gay marriage, and no one was all that surprised. After all, this was the most liberal state in the Union. The state where Ted Kennedy was Senator, and the only state that voted for George McGovern in 1972. Connecticut was just another small liberal northeastern state. No one too excited.

Vermont raised few eyebrows either. While that state is the whitest state in the country, with only 3 % of its population not caucasian, it is still very liberal. And very small.

But now Iowa. A purple state. A Midwestern state. A place off hardy Methodist stock, where farms grow corn and hogs. What are they doing allowing full and equal marriage for Lesbian and Gay couples?

The answer is simple. The good people of Iowa are honest, hardworking, and open minded. They mind their own business. They live and let live. They don't take much stock in nosing into other people's business. They are smart people and they now become a heartland state that is showing the rest of the country the future. It won't be long now. The states will start falling in place.

Michigan wont be there for awhile, since our state is woefully unorganized and our GLBT political power is fairly weak. And states like Alabama and Mississippi may never get there without nudging from the federal government. All the same, congratulations Vermont and Iowa.
Your are showing our country a new way. We are proud of you.