Paul M. Jones

The earliest milestones on the road to marital equality were made quietly, privately, and far from any civil authority. The public recognition of gay unions emerged gradually, reaching wider and wider circles until finally even governments started climbing aboard. Contrary to the rhetoric you still hear from some of the idea's opponents, gay marriage was not cooked up in some D.C. laboratory and imposed on America by social engineers. It was built from the bottom up, and it was alive at a time when the typical social engineer thought homosexuality was a disease.

via All in the Gay Family - Reason Magazine.

No smoking anywhere. No salt in your food. No fast food. No saturated fat. No hydrogenated oils. No fried food. No drinking. No speeding. No gasoline. No oil. No decent light bulbs. No nuclear power. No hydro power. No coal power. Only corn power.

Is any of this newsworthy? Nope. Our freedoms are being stripped from us one by one and all I read about in the newspaper and online is that gay people can now file married-joint on their 1040 form.

Plenty to agree (and disagree) with in the post. Via A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or how I was Main Stream Politics'ed Into Submission) - Ricochet.com.

I'm moving to Nashville on Saturday, and I'm spending time this week packing up (and cleaning, and giving-away, and throwing-away). Fight Club has been on my mind during the process, where Tyler Durden says (in the book) "Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you." I got this sentiment before; I'm not one to become attached to particular material stuff. But moving it all makes me remember how I am responsible for it: both for its presence, and for its care.

Here is Cal Evans' latest interview of me at VOTE; we talk about the Microsoft JumpIn event, and about the new Aura project. Listen to the in-page player, or download the MP3 here. Thanks Cal!

Tonight looks to be the last Steak Night at Casa de Jones in Memphis. Benito fixed a porterhouse with peppers, onions, and mushrooms, with a great claret (2007 Faithful Hound from Mulderbosch). I bought a bottle of the 25-year Highland Park scotch, seeing as I fell in love with it on my recent trip to Seattle, and we finished off dinner with that -- mmm mmm.

Picture courtesy of Ben Carter.

At long last, home from the Microsoft SQL Server JumpIn event. Great time there; Microsoft were excellent hosts. Seeing old faces, and meeting new ones, was fantastic. Excellent trip back as well. Happy dogs and good food greeted my return; thanks, Benito, for taking care of things so well in my absence.

Saudi women are risking arrest, the loss of their jobs and the loss of their children to challenge the driving ban. 

For those of you who are not aware of it, women in Saudi Arabia are forbidden from driving cars on their own. Drive to your freedom, ladies. Via Saudi Women Driving: The Beginning of the World's Largest Prison-Break? - Ricochet.com.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has long sold weed killer. Now, it's hoping to help people grow killer weed.

In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scotts Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company.

"I want to target the pot market," Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview. "There's no good reason we haven't."

via Scotts Miracle-Gro Looks to Help People Grow Marijuana - WSJ.com.

Climate alarmists and campaigning environmentalists argue that the industrialized countries of the world have made sizable withdrawals on nature’s fixed allowance, and unless we change our ways, and soon, we are doomed to an abrupt end. ...

It is a compelling story, no doubt. It is also fundamentally wrong, and the consequences are severe.

Emphasis mine. Read the whole thing. Via A Roadmap for the Planet - Print - Newsweek.

Lying about sexting apparently isn't Rep. Anthony Weiner's only gray area.

When Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn) was photographed by the Daily News fleeing the Capitol in his Nissan Pathfinder, it was clear the July 2007 registration sticker in his window was expired, and there was no inspection sticker to be seen. Weiner, through a staffer, said the 1988 Nissan Pathfinder was registered in New York State.

Not so, said the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

The New York license plate bolted on Weiner's Pathfinder - US Congress 9 - had expired as of 2006, according to the DMV.

"That license plate should not be on a car," a DMV spokeswoman said. It wasn't even issued to the Pathfinder, but to another one of Weiner's cars, a Honda, according to vehicle records.

Valid plates were issued to Weiner's Pathfinder, but they don't have the helpful words "US Congress" on them, and so look less official. It's unclear what happened to those plates.

via JammieWearingFool: Above the Law: Weiner's Pathfinder Has Different Plates, is Unregistered.