Dodd Gets On The Buss (Finally!)

Old Dog Learns New Tricks

Dodd's Op-Ed in the Meriden Record-Journal (via his campaign site)

While I’ve long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status (“civil unions”) and full marriage rights.

The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they’ve struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that’s not an easy thing to overcome.

But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn’t a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.

My young daughters are growing up in a different reality than I did. Our family knows many same-sex couples – our neighbors in Connecticut, members of my staff, parents of their schoolmates. Some are now married because the Connecticut Supreme Court and our state legislature have made same-sex marriage legal in our state.

But to my daughters, these couples are married simply because they love each other and want to build a life together. That’s what we’ve taught them. The things that make those families different from their own pale in comparison to the commitments that bind those couples together.

And, really, that’s what marriage should be. It’s about rights and responsibilities and, most of all, love.

I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for same-sex couples will seem as archaic, and as unfair, as the laws we once had against inter-racial marriage.

And I want them to know that, even if he was a little late, their dad came down on the right side of history.

There really is a generational difference and I think perhaps older folks are learning from it. My work brings me side by side with many 20-somethings, and while the theatrical world has long been more accepting of gays then the larger outside world, the attitude really does seem to have changed.To many young folks being gay is no longer even thought of as being different, and if so that's a great thing!

And Then There Were 6: Lets make Iowa An Honorary New England State

UnionLeader.com - Same-sex marriage becomes law in NH -

"Concord – Gay marriage legislation became law in New Hampshire this afternoon.

Gov. John Lynch signed the bills just after 5:20 p.m. before dozens of enthusiastic supporters of same-sex marriage.

New Hampshire's law takes effect Jan. 1."

Thank You

A NC Republican Makes Intelligent Statement: Patrick McHenry

From this article in TIME:

"Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, surprised me by declaring that the Reagan era is over. 'Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts,' he said. 'The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set.' Snowe recalls that when she proposed fiscally conservative 'triggers' to limit Bush's tax cuts in case of deficits, she was attacked by fellow Republicans. 'I don't know when willy-nilly tax cuts became the essence of who we are,' she says. 'To the average American who's struggling, we're in some other stratosphere. We're the party of Big Business and Big Oil and the rich.'"

Rell Makes History! : Gay Marriage Legislation Signed

From the ConnPo

On Thursday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell became the first governor in the United States to sign gay-marriage legislation, less than 24 hours after the House and Senate aligned state statutes to last year's historic state Supreme Court decision.

Rell signed the bill without comment.

The two chief proponents of the legislation, Sen. Andrew J. McDonald and Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, said they were appreciative of the governor's swift approval of the legislation, which was voted in the House and Senate on Wednesday night.

"Four years ago this week, Gov. Rell signed our ground-breaking, civil-union law, which had broad bipartisan support," McDonald, D-Stamford, recalled. "Today she signed another landmark piece of bipartisan legislation affirming the rights and dignity of all Connecticut's citizens. Today, all three branches of Connecticut's government speak with one voice: Discrimination has no place in our state and will be eradicated wherever it appears."

Marcy Wheeler talks to Sheldon Whitehouse re: FISA, Holder, Wiretaps, and Statute of Limitations

Emptywheel (Marcy) once again taking Democracy into her own, very capable, hands.

For info on the statute of limitations and the apparent GOP tactic of running out the clock on possible prosecutions of various Bush era DOJ officials see her post at Emptywheel. Marcy contends that the GOP hold on the Holder nomination is intended to help run out that clock.

In this brief video she makes Senator Whitehouse aware of the situation and he promises to look into it. Let's Hope!

For a bit more background on Marcy see my previous post.

Thanks Howard Dean! The 50 State Strategy Proved Rahm and the DCCC Wrong.

Marcy (otherwise known as Emptywheel) over at FireDogLake finally got her picture taken with Howard Dean. Her post is, as always, a good read.

Howard Dean invented the 50 state strategy, much to the Rahm and the DCCC's dismay, and as Chair of the Democratic Party implemented it vigorously which led eventually to Barack's victory. During the 2006 primaries Rahm burned a lot of bridges with the NetRoots Nation by supporting conservative Democrats against progressive NetRoots candidates.

Marcy, supported by Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake, became the go to person even for the MSM on the Scooter Libby Trial and in so doing took the final step of putting Bloggers on par with the MSM.

Check out Marcy's post!

Dennis Kucinich, True American Patriot

Dennis Kucinich is the only presidential candidate to whom I have ever given a donation. L and I had traveled to a Kucinich gathering outside of Westport in 2004 to hear him speak. It was a lovely backyard affair, maybe 50 people in attendance. He was a wonderful speaker, not in rhetorical quality, but in his open and honest emotion, his passionate belief in peace, and his desire to take back the country from corporate dominance.

Last night Dennis stood on the floor of the House for almost 4.5 hours and called for the impeachment of GWB. The 35 Articles of Impeachment may be downloaded here. Kucinich's presentation was far-reaching, many will say too far, but for all true patriots, this was a moment that has long been awaited.; it is a first step towards righting the terrible assaults upon our Constitution and our electoral process that have been ongoing for the last seven years and that, sadly, have been largely ignored by Democrats and Republicans. It is a clear statement that there still remain at least a few people who are not willing to place personal safety above freedom or Presidential Politics above a sworn duty to defend the Constitution.

Today, almost 24 hours later, major newspapers seem to have considered this not to be news; most make only the briefest mention buried deep within the bowels of their cavernous websites. This is not surprising, the MSM shares heavy blame for failing to do any serious investigation of the issues the 35 Articles speak to.

More surprising is the general lack of attention being payed by liberal blogs that, for many years, were the only serious American media trying to unearth the truth and counter the spin of the Administration; TPM has posted only a copy of the AP article, FireDogLake and (most sadly for me) EmptyWheel and Digby have not touched it.

So what next? It appears that within two days, Pelosi will have to schedule debate on the issue (as a valid question of privilege). When Dennis's previous motion to impeach Cheney was debated an attempt to table failed (the Republicans thought they could have fun with it back in Nov. '07) and the Democrats called the question and referred it to the Judiciary Committee where it has been effectively buried (although Tammy Baldwin, Robert Wexler, and Luis Gutierrez have tried to take action on it.) (Breaking as I write, Nancy's lapdog, Steny, is already set to bury this in committee.)

No doubt Democrats will run away from this in droves; preferring to place electing Obama above protecting the Constitution. Lets be clear here, many of the Articles ARE offenses that rise to the level of impeachment and, if seriously and fully investigated, would almost certainly lead to the House impeaching the President. This makes an especially stark contrast as Dennis has stepped forward at a time that he is in a contested race to hold onto his seat. (This link is currently down and it is unclear at this time if the site is simply overloaded or if sabotage has been involved.)

This is all of a piece really, Dennis (and to a lesser degree Ron Paul) were the only candidates willing to speak the truth, both to power and to the American public, during the '08 Presidential Primaries and both were treated as jokes. I guess I have to admit it, by in large the US armed forces primarily now function as a private police for International Corporate government who run both our foreign and domestic policy. Regardless of the November elections, don't expect THAT to change easily!

Dennis Kucinich, A Real Democrat.