State of the State

Riley made his State of the State address tonight. Pretty good job for the most part, though he had to tack on the "Defense of the Sanctity of Marriage" crap at the end. I still haven't figured out how banning same-sex marriage defends the sanctity of my marriage. I would think that banning adultery and divorce would do much more to ensure married couples stay together. How about a constitutional amendment making coveting your neighbor's ass a class B felony? Crap, I better stop giving 'em ideas.

I'm hoping they put up a transcript of the address soon (they've got the past years up here).

Whoops, just found it. I didn't see it earlier. I'll go through it soon.

Interesting note - I watched the Rep. Ken Guin's Democratic rebuttal afterwards. Paraphrasing (but not by much): "We want to get the Sanctity of Marriage amendment out of the way quickly so we can get to the real problems." He's implying that this thing is a done deal and that everyone obviously agrees that it's a no-brainer, so let's get on to the stuff that matters. I agree that the whole it's a no-brainer. Who wants the state to define what consitutes a religious sacrament? Anyone? How about the state legislating that only heterosexuals can receive Holy Communion? Or that people of Arabian descent cannot be baptised - shouldn't they be Muslim anyway? If the argument were that the state's view of marriage in a legal sense was to only recognize the covenant of a man and woman it might hold water (hold water like a sieve). But the fact they're framing it as a "defense of the sanctity of marriage" means they are legislating what is holy. And that's a theocracy.