News briefs

1. A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, because it interferes with each state's right to define marriage and because it therefore denies federal benefits to married gay couples.

DOMA doesn't actually ban gay marriage in states where it is legal. But it says that other states don't have to recognize them, and it prevents those legally married couples from getting the same federal benefits that the straight couples get.

To be clear about what this does: it says a federal law is unconstitutional because it interferes with state laws. What a turn of events. "States Rights" is usually the battle cry of the conservatives who are protesting more liberal federal laws on civil rights, abortion,guns, etc. But here we have a more conservative federal law interfering with more liberal state law. It applies only to Massachusetts but could have broader influence.


2. The Rich Get Richer. Since 1979, the gap between the income of wealthiest Americans and that of the working and middle classes has more than tripled.

In those three decades, the lower and middle incomes have gone up 16% and 20%, while that of the wealthiest segment has gone up 128%. This is after-tax dollars -- and the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthiest are mostly reponsible.

Some of us think it's a good thing that there is not such a wide gap between the haves and have-nots. The other side argues that the government has no business interfering by using tax policy to equalize the classes. But, according to this, that's a major factor in how the rich got so rich -- by having their taxes cut. So why isn't it equally valid for Democrats to raise their taxes to reverse that advantage?

3. Russian spies. Well, the Russian spies have gone home after pleading guilty so they can be used in an exchange for our spies that Russia was holding. What a deja vu moment: echoes of the Cold War, Russian spies, state secrets, high drama, scary.

I still don't understand what this was all about. This was such an elaborate network, going to such lengths to establish fake identities, and for such a long time -- and apparently with nothing to show for it. I don't get it. There's got to be a back story that we'll never know about. There's another whole world out there that we are blithely unaware of, apparently.

Ralph