The investors brought into Mexicana last week mentioned specifically the high-salaries of employees as a major impediment to airline operations. It has been reported salaries for Mexicana employees is 30% higher than comparable airline salaries in the United States and double those of Mexico’s low-cost airlines. (Emphasis added.)

You can wreck a blog by (a) never allowing dissent, or (b) choosing to never deal with the commenters who arouse themselves by repeatedly shitting in the punchbowl. Ann Althouse has chosen the second tack.

Although there are some lovely people at the party, the turds are turning my stomach. I would rather hang with a nicer group. Bye, Ann.

I keep hearing gays and lesbians lament that the government won’t let them get married. No, the government won’t give them a piece of paper declaring that they’re married. Marriage is not a piece of paper; it is made out of years of love, mutual effort, understanding, and some regular doses of sacrifice; it also helps to have a sense of humor. If you have that, the piece of paper is nice but ranks low among your blessings. If you don’t have it, all the government recognition in the world is going to seem pretty moot.

Jim, if all it was about was a piece of paper, it would indeed be a non-issue.  But government recognition of same-sex marriage has big ramifications, particularly relating to taxation, estates, and privacy. Without that bond, a partner can be denied input on end-of-life decisions if the other partner is terminally ill. Estates that both partners have contributed to over many years can be ravaged by greedy families if one partner dies. Partners don’t have the civil protections that married couples have in criminal proceedings.  The list goes on and on.  This is why gays and lesbians fight for gay marriage rights. The issues are real and substantive. They’re not about a “piece of paper”.