So the Californian Supreme Court overturned the state’s marriage ban. A ban that was voted for by 60% of voters in that state. It’s sure to be a popular decision. Especially with the talk radio set.

So why do I think this is a bad thing? Because it’s still legislating marriage. Marriage is inherently a religious institution. If you look at the number of different ways marriage is instituted around the world it quickly becomes obvious that the United States doesn’t just have a legal framework for marriage. It has a legal framework for a generalized Christian marriage. Then it heaps a ton of laws on top of this religious event.

I feel a lot of sympathy for the religious right on this one, because they are having their religion dictated to them. Their vision of marriage has been turned into a legal right that can be modified and changed with prevailing societal norms. We’re so used to marriage being part of the state that it doesn’t seem odd anymore. But what if communion was state sponsored? Or confession? This is the key reason that the framers of the constitution wanted a separation of church and state.

A democratic religious state would still be much freer than a complete theocracy. Look at Iran. There’s still an large amount of dissent in a country that we think of as pretty theocratic. But that’s at least partially because once a government becomes theocratic it begins watering down the religious aspects for practical concerns. After all, it’s goal is to build roads and provide electricity, and if it needs to interpret a few religious laws in new ways to do so, it’s probably going to.

Look at the LDS Church. They had polygamy as necessary to get into heaven. But even though they were a predominantly Mormon territory they denounced that part of their religion to become a member of the United States. This is what happens when politics mixes with religion. The religion always loses.

Let’s throw marriage out of the government. Civil unions for everyone. Even civil unions for polygamists. It would simplify our legal system immensly. And then you could get married in a church in whatever way you want. And no one could say a thing about it. And if your church wanted to ban gay marriages because your god hates gays, that’s your complete right. And that right wouldn’t interefe with life insurance benefits or alimony payments.

What do you think? Do you think the state should be in the marriage business?

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Comments

Holmes (http://the-holmes.blogspot.com)

2008-05-16T20:10:34.000Z

Maybe I’m completely misunderstanding you, but I’ll charge ahead anyway. I can’t summon up a whole lot of sympathy for the religious right on very many issues, this one included. Their arguments usually sound something akin to “you’re oppressing my freedom of religion because you won’t let me oppress you for not subscribing to my religious views.” It would be one thing if they didn’t want to recognize the marriage of two men or two women within the framework of their particular church, but the fact of the matter is that they want to take it outside the church doors and into the halls of government to legislate their view of the world. They’re the ones pushing for the state laws and the Constitutional amendments to nail down the Christian right’s view of How It Oughtta Be. And I would also challenge the notion of marriage being inherently a religious institution. Sure, it may have strong ties to religion, but the definition of marriage has been toyed with and changed and restated many many times down through the centuries. Religious covenant, business transaction, power merger…a man and woman of the same color, of the same class. And now the argument is over gender. I guess my point is that there have been so many fingers in the marriage pie, so many definitions that have all tried to place limits on what marriage could and couldn’t be that I don’t think using a different term is going to defuse the argument all that much.

Tim (http://www.loadedguntheory.com/blog/director/listblog/tim.html)

2008-05-16T20:22:15.000Z

Yeah, I guess my point is that if you want your religious version of marriage you would do very well to keep it away from government. The government currently while calling the act “marriage” is actually just performing legal partnerships. Which I would contend it should stick with and tell people that if they want a “marriage” they should seek out their local church, synagogue or fertility totem. Even if the religious right gets what it wants today, by enshrining their version of “marriage” into law they are making way for it to be revised and reinterpreted. Thus diluting their original religious version of “marriage”. In other words, even though they may not realize it, they’re going to lose.

So, I had a post about my weekend weeding the yard. It was fascinating, and unfortunately for you was destroyed when my system crashed. I know you’re disappointed. But I can’t muster the energy to rewrite it. So lets talk about this Salon article.

Since I know most people don’t read articles here’s the short summary. Basically the author is talking about those Favorites sections of Facebook and MySpace:

But why do we spend so much time crafting such elaborate summaries of our buying habits? It gets us dates, for one. If a girl posts a halfway-decent photo and expresses a taste for George Saunders, “Lolita” and the Clash, she is guaranteed an e-mail asking her to elaborate over drinks next week. (I speak from experience.) But the prospect of trolling for dates doesn’t explain the zeal with which people throw themselves into perfecting these lists, as anyone who’s received an e-mail notification informing them that a faraway friend has just removed “The Flight of the Conchords” from her list of favorite TV shows can attest. We don’t shill for profit; we post these lists to give people a sense of who we are. We plot points on a graph and hope it — we — will be interpreted correctly.

So true. But what the author doesn’t mention is the shame we feel when we are misinterpreted. I’ve trained Amazon and Netflix religiously. I’ve rated 2550 items on Amazon. 1203 movie ratings on Netflix. And yet I go to the recommendations page on Amazon and they’re recommending “Panic at the Disco”? I’m not a “Panic at the Disco” listener. I don’t listen to that pop-punk crap (except that one song). What are you saying about me? Why does Netflix keep recommending “Fried Green Tomatoes”? That totally doesn’t fit in with my B-Movie, Documentary, and Art Film persona.

Of course, chances are I would actually like these things. But they’d never show up on my Facebook list. People might get the wrong idea about me. I need to go buy the new Douglas Coupland novel to compensate.

UPDATE: I forgot about last.fm. Which is the ultimate damnation. We craft these ideas about what uber cool music we listen too. But last.fm records everything we listen too and tells us what we really listen to.

I thought Julie was the Cure fan…

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Comments

Kate (http://katiekatworld.blogspot.com)

2008-05-02T22:01:00.000Z

I don’t do Facebook because I like some privacy in my life, but then I’m a HS teacher. I get annoyed with Amazon when they give me recommendations based on purchases I made for other people from their wish lists, but I’m too lazy to rate things that I do like.

Tim (http://www.loadedguntheory.com/blog/director/listblog/tim.html)

2008-05-02T22:07:15.000Z

You can turn those off individually. But it should know that if you purchased something from someone else’s wish list they shouldn’t make recommendations based on it by default.

It appears Arts on Real has lost their lease and is officially closed. We have many fond memories. Loaded Gun Theory presented the first show ever performed at the new Arts on Real Theater and Soundstage. It was Travis Holmes’ “The Purpose of Tools”. There was no air conditioning, but it was a great new space. Since then it became our main performance space. For more than half the time Loaded Gun Theory has been in existence it has been our home. Thanks for a great 5 years Blake and a first class theater.

Our performances at Arts on Real were Bitten!, Bride of Slapdash, I Am Alpha, Little Murders, Slapdash Slaps Back, The Empty Bowl, and The Grind. There were ups and downs, but it was a great place to work and the audience always loved it.

So, I was thinking about how I personally could help to promote light rail. Far too often I hear people just regurgiating stuff like “CapMetro is ineffecient” and “all the buses run empty”. Obviously these are people who don’t know the facts or just choose to ignore them. But there’s a part of our brains that like to cling to these almost religious beliefs and defend them to the death.

So as I was running around my neighborhood this morning (not on trails, but some are due this Fall). I realized that we should try to get people excited about this route. Point out where it does go. Point out the other bus (and train) routes it intersects. Point out the new projects that are being built along its route. To that end I want to compile a list of cool places to live and work and go that are within a mile of this proposed route. I’m going to try to keep updating it. If you have cool places leave them in the comments.

Here’s the route again for reference:

View Larger Map

Here’s a density map from the chamber of commerce. A bit hard to read, but it proves that this route already goes through some of the most dense parts of Austin:

Arts (Wow, The Theater Community in Austin needs to get behind this. We’re only missing approx. 4 theaters)
Austin Museum of Art
Arthouse
Arts on Real
City Theater
Salvage Vanguard
The Vortex
The Long Center
The Dougherty Arts Center
Bass Concert Hall
McCollough Theater
Payne Theater
Brocket Theater
UT Lab Theater

Restaurants
Hoovers
East Side Cafe
Sandy’s

Parks
Ladybird Lake Hike and Bike Trail
Waterloo Park
Little Stacy Park
Lakeshore Park
Auditorium Shores

Living (Trying just to list only new stuff here, and doing a poor jobs of getting actual names)
360
CWS Towers
Four Seasons Residences
Star Riverside Condos
Mueller
AMLI Residential Riverside Project
Sutton Co. Condos
Cypress Real Estate Advisors Mixed-Use Project on Lakeshore
W Hotel and Residences
Brazos Lofts
The Paramount’s Loft Project

Shopping
HEB on Riverside

Misc
Airport
KOOP Radio
Peter Pan Golf
Riverside Golf Course
The Convention Center

Education
ACC Riverside
University of Texas

Health
Brackenridge Hospital
Dell Children’s Hospital

Employment Centers
Met Center
University of Texas
Capitol
City Hall
Mueller Employers

Sports
Erwin Center
Royal Stadium
Disch-Falk Field

Connections
All local bus routes (1-37)
All flyer bus routes (I think)
Commuter Rail

Hotels
4 Seasons

Ok, back to work. You guys help me fill in the rest. I think this is making a pretty good case for light rail.

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Comments

AC (http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/)

2008-04-25T17:42:01.000Z

Good post. The Riverside/East Oltorf census tracts are some of the densist in the city. That corridor will only get denser. Even those skeptical about the need for this now need to consider the congestion we’ll have in just a few years. This is a critical investment in future capacity.

It looks like the second largest cause of death for children in Austin might be because of the uptick in co-sleeping:

Travis County officials warn parents — don’t use alcohol, drugs or sedating medicines if you chose to sleep with your infant. The safest place for you baby to sleep is a crib or bassinet. Always place an infant on their back to sleep.

This is especially scary since:

In 2007, seven children died of suffocation or asphyxiation. And so far in 2008, Travis County has already reached that same number.

I definitely sleep to heavily to sleep with a child in bed.

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Comments

Ashley (http://the-holmes.blogspot.com)

2008-04-24T23:38:29.000Z

I read that too and they seem to link it to parents who are under the influence of something while cosleeping. That is usually what the issue is. However, I really wish people who co-sleep would do their research and do it right so that things like that don’t happen. Co-sleeping can be safe and nuturing.

Jooley Ann (www.julieholden.com)

2008-04-25T02:08:06.000Z

I was also alarmed by the story. We don’t co-sleep, but we did when Johanna was very small. Well, SHE slept. I didn’t. :) It’s so sad, though, the article. My gosh, seven already this year! I did find one thing amusing, however. There’s a typo towards the end that’s rather funny: “‘I think any mom should be *weary* of letting a child be in bed with them,’ said Breen.” My emphasis. Weary indeed!

So I started writing a comment on M1EK’s analysis of the light rail plan, but it got to long, so I’m posting it here.

Riverside makes a lot of sense for the first rail route because it’s low hanging fruit.

1. There’s plenty of space in the median to run rail lines. Probably the least disruption on this route of any major road in Austin. There just isn’t another road with as much traffic, and as much space to put rails.

2. This is one of the most dense areas of Austin. Plenty of riders. When you pair this with the Dove Springs (#27) route you’ve got a massive amount of potential riders.

3. Developers. They’ve taken out almost all the apartments on Lakeshore boulevard (seriously you should go look, they’re gone or boarded up). They’re building condos on both sides of I-35 and Riverside, and there are many more projects planned. The Developers are going to be gung-ho about getting this built and more than likely pump a lot of money into advocating for it (we should probably call them up and make sure they do).

4. Neighborhood Associations (or lack there of). South-East Austin has a few NA’s but none are particularly powerful. There are none that are particularly passionate about keeping Riverside Drive the way it is, so there will likely be little obstructionism.

5. Room to grow. I think a lot of people still use their reference of how Riverside looked when they were in college to decide where development ends now. There are actually several new neighborhoods and complexes on Riverside east of Grove Blvd. now. And there’s plenty of land, which will probably be snapped up and developed quickly if light rail goes through.

6. The Long Center. Rich people hate their traffic. The Long Center is a snarl right now. That spur is a massive incentive to powerful people to get this built. Heck they might try raising private funds for it and plastering plaques on everything on that line like they did with the Long Center. It’s too bad they can’t get this to mimic the route of the #30. There’s a pretty good case for having people park at Barton Springs mall and then take the rails into downtown. Of course, that’s a future debate.

So while there may be nicer routes. This one makes a lot of sense. The route out to Mueller actually makes a lot of sense too. I’ve taken the bus out there from South Austin, and even at 11pm at night the buses are pretty full. To sell it they should probably stop referring to Mueller and just talk about a Manor spur. That’s an easy sell. A lot of people are bitter about how expensive Mueller is and how it’s mostly yuppies from California buying the place out. But there a lot of residents along Manor who would definitely benefit from the plan.

I agree that we’ve got to sell this as just the first phase though. Let people know that we’d like to run it North/South next. And hope and pray that when the time comes we’ll be able to wrangle the NAs to let us build it.

This is awesome. They’re proposing light rail through my neck of the woods.

View Larger Map

Hopefully this won’t get killed by all the haters in the suburbs. Maybe by throwing them a bone in the case of commuter rail they’ll let those of us in central austin have light rail.

I’m actually hopeful about this. By going down Riverside there are no obstructionist Neighborhood Associations to get in the way, and a lot of new condo developers who would love this amenity. It will provide a quick and easy way for us to get to the long center (and the Dougherty Arts Center by proxy), the hike and bike trail, etc. And I’m sure they’ll rejigger a lot of the bus routes to meet up with it.

I know I shouldn’t get excited about it, but it would be a really good change for Austin. The last few times I’ve gone downtown at night I’ve noticed that parking is becoming a nightmare. The Long center costs $7/car. Which I suppose is normal if you’re seeing a $100 show. But if you’re seeing a $15 show in the small theater it’s a bit exorbitant. We really need something like this to keep people in downtown and the cars out.

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Comments

Julie (www.juliesdramas.blogspot.com)

2008-04-22T19:04:00.000Z

Man, I read the comments on this story and I cannot believe all the suburbanites who shot it down on sight. “Why doesn’t it come to me, dammit?! This will only help out of towners and college kids who live on Riverside.” Huh? Because no one lives close to the city, yep, you’re totally right. And what about the fact that you could drive-in to somewhere close, leave your car and then take the light rail everywhere downtown. And having those out of towners, close-in livers and college kids off the roads will only help your commute! I have a little hope because Light Rail was only defeated the first time with a 51% majority because the anti-light railers had a catchy slogan. Hopefully this time the pro-light railers can come up with something catchy like: “Light Rail: we can’t afford not to.”

Tim (http://www.loadedguntheory.com/blog/director/listblog/tim.html)

2008-04-22T19:18:20.000Z

Yeah, that’s my hope too. Last time I don’t think there was enough pain. I think people are ready now to do ANYTHING to fix the problem. That said, there are a lot of people who hate CapMetro just because. Like Weiss who’s running for city council with a plan to transform the hated CapMetro into exactly what it is today. Ignorance is probably the biggest enemy here.

Kate (http://katiekatworld.blogspot.com)

2008-04-22T23:34:27.000Z

Looking on the bright side—it passed here. And although they forget that they shot it down before, the people in the burbs are now screaming for it. Plus, once it starts in the city center, there are possibilities for it to extend. There will always be haters. People still say that the light rail downtown is always empty. Except for every time I see it. It goes through the freaking medical center. Park and ride is a big deal—both in terms of time and parking. Parking is limited and $$$. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Great News! No matter what you feel about this neighborhood associations vs. developers story, the fact that we’re getting the extension to the Lady Bird Lake Trail is great news. That was one of the worst stretches to run on the sidewalk, and navigating through the parking lot to get to the sidewalk was always an adventure in not getting hit by a government employee traveling 50mph over speed bumps.

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Comments

Kate (http://katiekatworld.blogspot.com)

2008-04-22T02:56:18.000Z

That is excellent news!

The Austinist is running a series on getting to know your city council candidate. It’s been uninteresting to say the least. It looks like they’re all copying each other’s answers - “Growth Bad! Bring Back Old Austin!”. But it truly got into ridiculous in the interview with Ken Weiss:

I’m proposing that CAPMETRO go to a hub and spoke system. The hub and spoke system is utilized by every major freight company in the world, including FedEx and U.P.S. The hubs would be the current transfer centers located around town. Express buses would be uses solely at direct one stop buses from point A to point B. For example, you would get on an express bus at North lamer and 183 transfer center and ride all the way to the new transfer center at Congress Avenue and Ben White Boulevard. Limited buses would be confined to major roads like Lamar, Burnet Road, Congress, Guadalupe, Springdale Road, Airport Boulevard, and the like. These buses would stop only every 15 or 20 blocks and at those stops are where people could transfer to local buses. The local bus would be the bus making all the stops in a particular area or neighborhood. This route would utilize smaller buses such as a 15, 20 or 25 foot bus or even 15 passenger vans as the case may be rather than a 40 foot bus. These buses would stay strictly in the local neighborhoods.

Genius! He managed to describe the exact system CapMetro uses today. Exactly. Including almost getting the locations of the transit centers correct. He then goes on to criticize the city for “budget spending”. So I don’t think he’s a particularly viable candidate, but his answers aren’t that far off of Jennifer Kim.

Julie and I have been having this ongoing debate about the number of students living around us. I think there are very few, she thinks there are about the same. I contend that the bus stops should be full when I jog by them at 7:15am, she contends that students don’t wake up that early.

So I jogged past one of the stops today and noticed that they’re discontinuing the PB line. That’s the one that goes down Parker and Burton. The one I took to school when I was in college. It’s being discontinued because students don’t live over here much anymore.

Interesting, although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The apartments Julie and I lived in are a condo conversion now

On a sort of related note, we took a walk and wandered through Edgewick yesterday. It’s a Newmark subdivison they’re building. It’s basically a bunch of small homes, townhomes, and garage apartment homes all stuck quite close together. We toured a few, and they really use the space wonderfully. Would have been great for us before we had kiddos.

But I am sort of sad that such a big development is not going to add any more kids to this area. I wonder if the City of Austin is right, and that in ten years we’ll be discussing shutting down Linder, rather than overcrowding issues. It doesn’t take long to do apartment to condo conversions, and there are a lot of apartments around here with desirable city and lake views.

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Comments

Kate (http://katiekatworld.blogspot.com)

2008-04-21T21:48:38.000Z

We’ve been talking about the kids issue in our neighborhood. There are babies and toddlers, but we wonder if people will stick around once their kids are old enough to go to school. Or if they’ll send them to private school.