marriage

Last week President Obama gave his most detailed and significant speech on climate change, certainly the most important issue of our time and one that rarely gets effective discussion.  Among other things, he outlined a plan to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 17% by 2020.  And again, the speech got almost no coverage on the news.  Hours were devoted to Paula Deen; almost nothing to Obama's speech and proposal.

 Last week the Senate passed 68-32 a "comprehensive'' immigration bill, the first in nearly three decades.  Although it presents many obstacles and is incredibly expensive for the border "surge," the Democrats were content because the bill provides a "pathway to citizenship" (even though the pathway is 13 years long); Republicans were moderately content because of all the provisions making the pathway difficult and because of the surge.  The bill goes to the House where Speaker Boehner has promised to ignore it.  The House will start over with its own bill <shudder> or, more likely, try to pass a number of  smaller, individual bills.  The future of immigration reform is in serious doubt.  Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont threatened or promised, depending on your point of view, to introduce an amendment to the Senate bill that would have explicitly included same-sex couples in the marriage provisions.  Democrats tied themselves into knots, knowing that even if they supported that provision in their hearts, which almost all of them did, it would keep any Republicans from voting for it, causing the bill to fail.  Fortunately, the Supreme Court decision rendered Leahy's proposed amendment unnecessary.

 At least, we hope that's how the decision will be implemented.  Last summer, Mohamed and I discussed going to my home state of Iowa to get married, but there weren't any practical implications of a marriage.  This summer, however, the stakes are different.  If the federal government granted the benefits from an Iowa marriage, it could affect Mohamed's visa status, my federal income taxes, social security benefits, etc.  So once more, we're contemplating the trip north.  It's a four-hour drive from here to Des Moines, so if we left on a Monday morning, we could file the marriage application on Monday afternoon.  Then there is a three-day waiting period, so we couldn't actually get married till Thursday.  But we could lounge around the hotel, explore whatever there is in Des Moines, and drive 45 minutes north to my home town.  I could show Mohamed my childhood home, my school, the old stomping grounds, and I could visit the graves of my parents, who are buried there.

 Everyone is urging us on, and a long-time friend has said she will drive down from northern Minnesota to be our flower girl.  Some days it all seems feasible and something we need to do.  The last few days haven't been great, and I've needed to sleep even more often than usual, so right now the trip sounds awfully complicated.  Still, we haven't been out of Topeka, except to the cancer/med center, for two years, so it's probably about time we're a little more adventurous.