Wednesday, October 25, 2006

On the Morality of New Jersey:

Jason called me yesterday to inform me that New Jersey is on the verge of an historic decision regarding whether or not same sex couples have the right to marital benefits. This is very interesting and a very important day for the state.

I would just like, before I go any further, to reiterate my position that the word "marriage" should not be used by any governement agency as it stemms from a religious intitution. Unions between two people that merge their financial, insurance, and tax status using what is now called a "Marriage liscense," regardless of how much love there may be in the relationship, should be retermed Civil Unions reardless of the genders of the two people in the union. If a couple that has signed the goverment's document then want to have a religious marriage ceremony, that's wonderful and bully for them if they feel it. The governement has no right to that term or to hand it out for a few dollars. Separation of church and state swings both ways. That's my crazy "never gonna happen" position. Just wanted to get it in the air.

Many see the forthcoming ruling as "progressive" and that if NJ decides to allow for a same sex "marriage" (I use the quotes around marriage for the reasons explained in the above paragraph) it would be considered, by many, to be a demonstration of how enlightened the state is.

However...I am assuming that people who want to fly the Jersey Pride banner over this and proclaim moral superiority of the state because of it are unaware of another ruling that took place this month...One which decrees that it is no longer the prosecution's job to demonstrate that a person is mentally fit to be executed under our Death Penalty statute. It is now the defense's job to prove someone to be mentally unfit (either by diagnosed mental retardation or other quatifyable conditions). In simpler terms, in New Jersey it is okay to execute the mentally retarded. This new ruling can be said to be in response to a murder/molestation case coming out of Morristown, where several years ago a day laborer molested and murdered a 10 year old boy. The man has an IQ of 68. An article on the ruling can be found here.

This ruling is a huge bump in the judicial process as it has always been the prosecution's burden to prove guilt as opposed to the defense needing to proove innocence. It's why our system works so well.

So, my fellow proud Jerseyans...don't ring the moral superiority bell just yet.

And once again, Jason, I can't just let you have your victory.
This transmission logged byErisSaid on 12:02 PM

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