Connecticut In The News

According to the Globe, the Connecticut Supreme Court has "legalized gay marriage", although I feel as though the wording there might be a bit strong. Haven't they simply "illegalized" the state's failure to allow gay marriage? Maybe those things are the same, I don't know. I wish I knew a lawyer.

In any case, what jumped out at me was the following quote from Justice Peter T. Zarella's dissent:

If the state no longer has an interest in the regulation of procreation, then that is a decision for the legislature or the people of the state and not this court.

So in his view, regulation of marriage is equivalent to regulation of procreation? Is there any part of marriage law that actually deals with procreation? It seems to me as though it's all about property rights and taxes and whatnot. There has certainly been government regulation of procreation (albeit largely unenforced), but I didn't think it was tied to marriage laws.

[Update 11/21] See Terk's smart-assed reply.

Anti-Elite?

I've spent a fair bit of time recently ranting about the anti-elite tone that the Republicans take, as embodied by the choice of Palin. David Brooks' column in the Times today is a good read on the subject. This section, which is admittedly without citation, surprised me:

The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community.