Responses from right-minded marriage proponents to the Supreme Court’s June 26 decisions in two cases involving the (re)definition of marriage seemed to come in three waves.
The immediate reaction, influenced no doubt by a partisan press, was that the friends of marriage had suffered a severe, and perhaps lethal, blow when the court first struck down the key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and then denied standing to those challenging the judicial overturn of California’s “Proposition 8,” an initiative that restored the classic meaning of marriage to California law.
Q: My mother, living in a northern community, really needs some in-home help. She struggles with making meals, no longer drives, and has problems getting in the bathtub, among other things. Wouldn’t Medicare help her pay for some of these services — to keep her out of a nursing home? It would seem like money well spent in my mind. (From a daughter in Blue Mounds).