Immigration Equality

On a very important personal note, word is that today Rep. Jerrold Nadler plans on reintroducing the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in the House of Representatives. It's not exactly the most opportune time to try to divert attention to something like this - really, anything other than the economic stimulus - but nonetheless.

The Uniting American Families Act is a crucial bill that would right many existing wrongs in immigration law. It would allow foreign-born "permanent partners" of the same-sex to be sponsored for immigration purposes. You see, currently the federal government does not recognize same-sex partners as "spouses" (even if they are married), because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which requires the federal government to define marriage as between one man and one woman. This means that for so-called bi-national couples like me and my wife, Eleanor (who is British), the American one of the two cannot sponsor his/her same-sex partner to come live in America. It is a right legal mess, and has caused thousands to live abroad. For more information, please visit immigrationequality.org. And please, please. If you want to help grow support for this issue, please contact your Representative and tell him/her to co-sponsor the UAFA.

Resolution

Good news! After two intense days of negotiation between the House and the Senate, the stimulus package looks likely to pass by the end of this week.

Excessive pork?

President Obama's stimulus package is in danger of major stalling. The New York Times reports that a group of centrist senators wants to cut back on pork in the bill before it passes the Senate. These talks come at a time when there are serious murmurs brewing that the bill contains too much pork, and that President Obama really is not out of the pocket of special interests. Some of the wrongful budget allocations include $1 billion for Amtrak, some billions for the fight against global warming, and money for Milwaukee schools. Ok, ok. There is "pork" in the classic sense of the word. But do not be short-sighted, people! A lot of the projects, at least the ones I have read about, are very needed for the US economy. Rebuilding the economy for the long-term is not just the duty of big businesses and taxpayers' pockets. The projects in this bill are valuable. The Wall Street Journal wrote that Amtrak has not turned a profit in 40 years. Yes, perhaps that is true - maybe they have not turned a profit. But the reason they do not turn a profit is because the trains never go anywhere! And as we prepare for a greener economy, and generally, a rough road ahead, the US needs to invest in the kind of change that it wants to see take place. This means putting some government money into worthwhile projects, even if it makes the total budget bigger.

For a searchable text of the bill, visit ReadTheStimulus.org.