Ominous gay marriage article by Hatch in Wash Times today

Senators Orrin Hatch and Jim Talent (another right-wing nut case) penned an op ed in today's Washington Times calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. This troubles me. as much as a lot of folks think (hope) that the amendment is dead in the water, op eds like this worry me because they suggest that some members of Congress are still interested in stirring the waters on this issue (or, in Hatch's case, it's possible he's writing this as a CYA, since the religious right recently got pissed at him because he was being equivocal about their version of the amendment). As always, keep an eye on this issue because I don't believe for a minute that we've "won." Read More......

Please take this quick blog survey

Ok - seems the survey is having issues, I'm checking with the folks running it...

We're trying to figure out who actually visits these blogs (not who are by name, but rather what kind of people visit, men, women, etc.) So, if the spirit moves you, please fill out the survey here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=13854488054

And so that they can tally the data specifically for my blog, answer "AMERICAblog" to question #22.

Thanks, JOHN Read More......

Rhode Island Att Gen. interprets law to allow same-sex marriages to stand

This is gonna get interesting, fast. Read More......

Wedding day in Massachusetts: 'It's history'

Never thought I'd see the day in my lifetime.

This makes it infinitely harder for Bush and the religious right to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and even for them to pass such an amendment in Massachusetts. Any politician who now supports overruling Massachusetts would be voting in favor of nullifying already-existing marriages, many of those being married couples that have children. This is a not unimportant issue for Mr. Kerry, who to date has claimed, confusingly, that he opposes a federal amendment but supports a state amendment in Massachusetts. That now puts Mr. Kerry on the side of those who would nullify scores of legal already-existing marriages. That position would be very sad coming from a man whom many of us hope will be the next president of the United States.

In Cambridge, Margaret Drury, the city clerk, told a lesbian couple at 9:15 a.m., 'I now pronounce you married under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.' - International Herald Tribune

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Religious right blames gays, women in military, Howard Stern for Iraqi prison abuse scandal

Coming as this article does from one of the top religious right hate groups, the Concerned Women for America, it's more than just another kooky article from America's Taliban. This is the way these people think. Everything that goes wrong in the world is to blamed on everyone who isn't a far-right intolerant wingnut. Everyone.

This time around we learn that the gays and the feminists, apparently not yet pooped out after having caused 9/11 (per Falwell and Robertson), have now teamed up, per the article, with pornographers, Howard Stern, AIDS education, hate crimes laws, and the Bill of Rights to somehow magically make our soldiers torture Iraqi prisoners. Uh huh.

I think this is what you call a "we're panicking because we're so irrelevant and roundly reviled" article. (Thanks to reader Laura for sending this my way.) Read More......

Bush celebrates 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board: Part II

In George Bush's America,
some are more equal than others



"I called on the Congress to pass and to send to the states for ratification an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and a woman as husband and wife." - President George W. Bush on 5/17/04, the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

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Michael Moore's new film - two thumbs up

A good review of "Fahrenheit 9/11" from Time Magazine. A friend of mine in Cannes just called in today to say he saw the film there, and it was quite good. He said it was uncharacteristically somber for a Michael Moore film, and that Moore himself at the press conference in Cannes was quiet serious, unlike his press conference for Bowling for Columbine. Read More......

Sarin gas, my ass

Here we go again. Bush has finally, again, discovered banned WMD in Iraq. Or has he?

1. I want to see the final tests before we declare that this is Sarin gas. As the article notes, below, Bush has cried wolf one too many times.

2. I'd like proof that this shell, if it does contain Sarin, came from Saddam's stockpiles. For all we know, it could have been smuggled into the country by any troublemaker hell-bent on going after the US troops, the Iraq authority, or anybody else.

3. Any chance a floundering presidency, that's lied to us repeatedly over the past 4 years in an effort to save its ass, would smuggle its own nerve agents into Iraq to "prove" that WMD has been found? I don't normally buy such conspiracy theories, but at this point, I put nothing past the Bushies.

The explosion of the sarin shell was confirmed by the Iraqi Survey Group, a U.S. organization whose task was to search for weapons of mass destruction after Saddam's ouster last year.

The artillery shell contained two chemicals that mix to form sarin after the shell is fired. It had been rigged as a bomb and was discovered by a U.S. convoy and exploded before it could be defused.

The explosion, which occurred 'a couple of days ago,' released a very small amount of sarin, Kimmitt said.

It was the first time U.S. forces had found an artillery shell containing such chemicals, Kimmitt said.

Since the war ended, the U.S.-led coalition has found several caches that tested positive for mustard gas but later turned out to contain missile fuel or other chemicals.

Other discoveries turned out to be old caches that already had been tagged by U.N. inspectors and were scheduled for destruction. - AP

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Bush marks 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board by bashing gays

To be fair, Bush has probably never heard of Brown vs. The Board of Education.

Interesting that the White House felt the need to wade into the waters today on the gay marriage debate. The issue can cut one of two ways for the White House. Either gay marriage can become a gay "wag the dog" for the White House to get attention off of the utter disaster that is our policy in Iraq, or gay marriage could be seen as an absolutely bizarre and irrelevant issue to be focusing on when our soldiers are dying. I think the real question is how desperate Bush gets, in view of his sinking poll numbers. It's not clear to me what else he has to grab on to now, other than the necks of a few millions gays and lesbians. Having said that, any effort by Bush to truly push for passage of this amendment will cause a firestorm of protest from the gay community like Washington hasn't seen in 30 years. If he wants to see how pissed off and vengeful a queen (or dyke) can get, he's going to be in for a big surprise. Read More......

Americans abroad mobilizing for November

Even people who used to sit on the sidelines are becoming very interested in the November election. Here in Paris, the Democrats Abroad have had a steady stream of guest speakers and tonights discussion on foreign policy has been sold out for over a week. We're all hoping that our vote will actually be counted this year, even though we are not military voters overseas. A French friend who lives in Athens recently told me that French expats actually have elected MPs who answer to the overseas voters. Who knows if the US would ever do that considering the fact that Washington, DC voters are still locked out of fair representation. Anyway, fingers crossed that our votes will count this year!

"With an estimated 3 million U.S. citizens of voting age living overseas, "We're like the 51st state," said Katie Solon, a Colorado Springs, Colo., native and Democrats Abroad volunteer in Austria. "We're riding a wave of renewed interest."

Strong anti-American sentiment overseas is driving U.S. citizens to register to vote, and both Democrats and Republicans could benefit. On the GOP side, a backlash against the anti-Bush fervor has attracted Republicans, while dismay over Bush's stewardship is getting Democrats who haven't voted for more than 30 years." - AP

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