Banning gay marriage is an embarrassment given the tenets grounded in our Constitution, offensive to our notions of an egalitarian society and is unacceptable given the ideals we claim to espouse.

Be that as it may, Congress, our would-be defender, intends to amend the Constitution in order to protect our marriages and ultimately protect us from (gasp!) homosexuality.

A Senate subcommittee led by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., recently passed a measure aiming to ban same-sex marriage that may make the Senate floor next year. [Read article]

"We won! We won! Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

If you talked to a reveler at any of the Democratic election night parties on Nov. 8, you'd probably hear something along these lines, give or take a few degrees of enthusiasm.

The elections of 2005 were the Democratic Party's version of an emphatic slam-dunk right in the face of the GOP. But Democrats shouldn't celebrate just yet because they've still got a long way to go before they can truly celebrate. [Read article]

I'd been in France for about a week when I heard the joke the first time: "If someone speaks three languages, he's trilingual. If someone speaks two languages, he's bilingual. If someone speaks one language, what is he?" Get ready for it: "American." (Ba-dum-ching!)

My trilingual Swiss friend and soi-disant comic followed up with the somehow even more obnoxious commentary, "It's just hilarious because it's so true!" [Read article]

The success of the Student Recreation Center referendum should come as no surprise; indeed, it seems to have been guaranteed safe passage from the beginning.

Even beyond the fact that the necessity of a Rec Center expansion is dubious at best, the manner in which this week's special election was conducted seemed to contravene a number of fundamental notions of fairness.

To begin with, the position of elections commissioner was left more or less vacant until Nov. 9, despite the fact that the commissioner is charged with the crucial task of ensuring a fair election. [Read article]

Rec Center expansion fee unnecessary

Expanding the Student Recreation Center is a bad idea. Although the facility is sometimes crowded, most of the time it is half empty. For those who insist on working out at peak times, it should not be so terrible to wait in line for 15 minutes, and for those who cannot afford to wait in line, there are 12 hours a day with no lines.

Moreover, expanding the Rec Center will make crowding worse in the short run, as new construction will surely result in partial facility closures (not to mention traffic congestion and permanent loss of parking). Finally, a larger Rec Center will cost more to operate, not just to build, and there is no guarantee students won't be asked for even more money in the future. [Read article]