On a Sunday morning, things I'm pondering include...

the U.S. Army.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been repealed.  Military members can now get married in same-sex ceremonies in states that recognize those unions.  But the Army (and the other military branches) don't issue ID cards to, or recognize the "dependent" in such unions as a military dependent.  There is a Military Spouses Club at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.  A woman who is now married to her partner of 15 years tried to join that club.  Her partner is a military officer.  They told her she couldn't join because she didn't have an ID card.  That wasn't part of the rules on the club's website, but suddenly that website is being renovated.  Suddenly their phone line has been disconnected.  Stay tuned.

I'm pondering why the VA doesn't pay for fertility treatments, at least in cases where the veteran in question is no longer capable of reproduction due to service-connected injury or illness.  There is a bill in Congress to change this.

Will the fiscal cliff solution cause people who were planning to retire upon reaching age 65 in 2013 to be forced to work two more years; if the minimum age to qualify for Medicare goes up from 65 to 67?  That's one possible idea being floated in D.C. as a way to slow the growth of entitlement programs.

Why do people who want to take their own life seem to need to take at least one other person with them?  Jovan Belcher and the shooter at the Excalibur Hotel in Vegas are just two recent examples.  You want to kill yourself, that's sad but go ahead.  No need to take anyone with you, except your own anger and outrage at something that's never worth a second person's life.

Why is it that when you're exposed to people who are suffering from the sniffles, even for a short time, you almost always seem to get them yourself?  I spent about ten minutes yesterday with someone just getting over them and this morning my nose won't stop running and my right eye won't stop watering.  I'll be heading to the drugstore later this morning.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1431, Henry VI is crowned the King of England, but at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
On this date in 1497, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
On this date in 1707, Mt. Fuji erupted for the last time.
On this date in 1773, a party was held in Boston Harbor.  The Boston Tea Party.
On this date in 1903, the Taj Mahal first opened its doors to guests.
On this date in 1944, the "Battle of the Bulge" begins with a surprise counter-offensive by three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
On this date in 1965, General William Westmoreland sent a request to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara asking for nearly 250,000 more troops to be sent to Vietnam.
On this date in 1978, the city of Cleveland defaulted on $14 million in loans, the first time post-Depression that a city defaulted on loans.
On this date in 1985, Thomas Bilotti and Paul Castellano, two leaders in the "Mafia" were shot and killed on orders of John Gotti, who then became head of the Gambino 'family'.

And on this date in 1928, Philip K. Dick was born.  Without him, the films "Blade Runner", "Total Recall", "Minority Report", "Next", "The Adjustment Bureau" and "Paycheck" would not exist.