SAVINGS

Gray Chang:  “I think that the $1,500 you saved Not Charles is as real as the $5 saved by heating less water.  It means that perhaps an AT&T executive will take one fewer vacation to Hawaii, saving a tremendous amount of fuel.  To the extent that the $1,500 is saved rather than spent, fewer resources are being used.  Would Not Charles consider heating a mug of water in the microwave rather than boiling a pot?”

☞  Not Charles. (And on your first point, who’s to say Not Charles won't use that $1,500 to go to Hawaii himself? So I respectfully submit that one kind of saving really is different from the other - though I like both.)

 

THIRD WORLD FORESTS AND SOLAR COOKERS

More savings:  “Requiring less than two hours of sunshine to cook a complete meal, they can greatly reduce firewood use at little cost. They can also be used to pasteurize water, thus saving lives. . . .”

 

HATE CRIMES

If you are not persuaded it was a good idea to extend federal hate crimes protections to include LGBT people (signed into law a couple of weeks ago against all but universal Republican opposition), this Austin Statesman op-ed might change your mind.  (Or not – but I much appreciate your considering its point of view.)

 

MARRIAGE

To those who believe gay men should marry women instead of men, here is interesting counterpoint from those women.  (“Brooks was 28 when she met Robert Webb on a blind date.  He was perfect: tall, handsome and a lawyer.  As a husband, she said, he treated her ‘wonderfully,’ celebrating with champagne the day she got her master's degree.  They talked about having children.  Webb said he never meant to hurt her. . . .”)

 

IMMIGRATION

And, from The Nation:

 

This month, Judy Rickard will permanently leave the United States in order to reunite with her partner, Karin Bogliolo, a UK national. To do so, she's taking an early retirement and a reduced pension after twenty-seven years teaching at San Jose State University.

 

Why?

 

Because unlike nineteen other countries--including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom--the United States doesn't recognize permanent same-sex partners for legal immigration. Since immigration is a federal matter, even married same-sex couples in states that recognize their marriages have no legal basis for an immigration claim.

 

"The result is a loss for my district and a loss for the university," California Democratic Representative Mike Honda writes of Rickard's departure in a Roll Call op-ed. "There are tens of thousands of lesbian and gay families for whom immigration reform cannot come soon enough," says Steve Ralls, director of communications for Immigration Equality. "Every day, Immigration Equality hears from partners who are separated, or facing separation, because of our discriminatory immigration laws. Nearly half of those impacted are raising children . . . ."