Interesting point by Doug Burns

The March 6 Cityview (“Free fries or a ‘not-gay’ punching pass,” Political Mercury) presents some humorous instances that might have resulted had the Arizona law given businesses the right to discriminate based on perceived sexual orientation. His examples illustrate that it’s quite easy to mistakenly see behavior as gay when it’s not and likewise to miss the gay signals when they might exist. His point is: How do you, or why should you, discriminate if you can’t even be certain of the offence? Obviously, there are instances where the customers may intentionally make their sexual orientation crystal clear, but, had they been silent, the business owner might never know.

Defending discrimination based on religious dogma by guessing about people’s sexual behavior just seems illogical and contradictory to religious tolerance.

Public opinion on the rights of the LGBT community has shifted at lightning speed from opposition to support principally because it made no sense and it violated our basic perception of equality. The walls of gay intolerance are crumbling, and this article provides a quirky look at how we are all adapting to our changing perceptions of this new landscape.

A joke about getting on one’s knees

In last week’s “Money” column, there was a charge from Menards for $35.82 to pay for “hard shell knee pads” and a stainless steel edger. In addition to that, there was also a $150 charge from G and L Clothing for $150 worth of gift cards for award drawings at the annual Public Works meeting.

I hope the person using the knee pads won something at the meeting.

Obamacare is good for the economy

A January rise in U.S. consumer spending and American income growth was mostly attributable to Obamacare, according to calculations by the Wall Street Journal. The majority of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2010 law became effective on Jan. 1, 2014, which accounted for this jump.

ACA expanded the Medicaid program by adding up to $19 billion in benefits in January. Health care enrollees additionally received another near $15 billion in form of tax credits. These two changes have freed up household incomes to spend on other items besides health care premiums or health care costs.

While the Bureau of Economic Analysis does not consider this exceptional, just think if more states allowed Medicaid Expansion and more individuals signed up for commercial insurance on the Marketplace website. The benefits of the Obamacare rollout have so far helped the economy.

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