Those crazy progessive Iowans

Today, in a unanimous decision, the Iowa State Supreme Court ruled that the Iowa declaration that marriage is between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa State Constitution. It also ordered marriage licenses to be issued to any couples so inclined within 21 days of the ruling.
Read a great analysis here by Law Dork 2.0 (via dailykos.com)
The cool thing about this ruling (other than it is an example of that famous Iowa-common-sense we all know so well) is that the justices tackled the elephant in the room: religious opposition.

• The sanctity of all religious marriages celebrated in the future will have the same meaning as those celebrated in the past. The only difference is civil marriage will now take on a new meaning that reflects a more complete understanding of equal protection of the law.

Right on.

Marketplace.org and Collateral Calls

Very interesting video by Marketplace on the reason AIG is paying out billions to others (known as the backdoor bailout).


Collateral calls from Marketplace on Vimeo.

Another American Genius

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The 10/31 Project
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Sixth Sense Genius

From TED.com

Breaking news: Science wins!

The Christian Gene

Holy crap that's funny

The Onion rules. Over and over again.
Here's a few items of note from the last week.

• 
  Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?
• CIA Awkwardly Debriefs Obama On Creation Of Crack Cocaine
• 
  

Symphony plus

The Oregon Symphony sent out their 2009-2010 season packet last week. Matt and I have been season ticket holder for several years now and plan on doing it again this next season. Included in the packet is several additional concerts that are not part of the classical series but are fan favorites (like Pink Martini or Pops concerts).
Next season they have included a very strange thing: Video Games Live. I'll quote directly from their website:
Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!

The video is pretty interesting.