Here comes Mrs. Flintstone (
Hurricane Wilma) and so here in Florida we're making sure we're ready. A lot of other
Liberal Coalition bloggers are getting ready for storms, atmospheric or otherwise.
Natalie at All Facts and Opinions is bracing for the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment.archy has no sympathy for aggrieved conservatives.Bark Bark Woof Woof has found a scapegoat, eh?blogAmY goes looking for her meds elsewhere.bloggg braces for her son's adolescence.Chris girds himself for a Godzilla invasion.Collective Sigh has a tale of outrage from a hurricane long past.Go vote at Corrente for your chosen felon.Dodecahedron tries not to barf.All trimmed up NTodd hears outrage on the right about free speech.Echidne warns us about yet another weird Bush appointee.firedoglake says trouble is brewing for Judy Miller.First Draft reports that things are getting tough for DeLay cronies in Texas.The Fulcrum says the poor had better get ready for a tough winter.Happy Furry Puppy lists the rules for criticizing the president.iddybud warns about big-government conservatives.Left Is Right finds out some interesting things about the American Red Cross.Liberty Street has disparate bits of news that boggle the mind.Make Me A Commentator defines a fanatic for you.MercuryX23 fires a warning shot at the DCCC.Musing's musings on the high price of a lack of education.Pen-Elayne invites us to a carnival.Rick finds a new use for his vPod.Rook's Rant takes issue with Liberal Oasis.rubber hose wonders what the right wing means when they talk about "competency."Science and Politics on planning for parenthood.Scrutiny Hooligans announces the launch of DEMRadio.Sooner Thought has the quote of the week.Speedkill has the list of dangerous TV shows.Steve Gilliard reports on an odd interpretation of American black history.T. Rex has one more example of how the Republicans screw the soldiers.The Countess recounts her day promoting "Breaking the Silence." (Scroll down for more.)The Invisible Library deals with a troll.Wanda wonders what kind of Christian Harriet Miers is.WTF Is It Now?? wonders what happened to Bush's brain.Steve at the Yellow Doggerel Democrat reports that your color printer may rat you out to the Feds....You Are a Tree reminds us of the Grateful Dead.
Wherever you are, brace yourself, hang on, and hope for the best.
Cross-posted from
Bark Bark Woof Woof.
You didn't believe that the fight over the anti-GLBT Federal Marriage Amendment was over, did you? It isn't, even if the Shrub did not include the item in an administration priority list publicized Tuesday at his first solo press conference since May. Dubya may have been silent on the issue of marriage equality, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are continuing their push to enshrine their bigotry in the US Constitution.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights is holding hearings on the subject today at 2 p.m. Witnesses representing both sides of the issue will state their cases before the panel.
Make no mistake, right-wing Senate and many Red Staters desperately want the Constitution to exclude gay and lesbian couples from civil marriage. As Kelly J. Shackelford, president of the arch-conservative Free Market Foundation told
Baptist Press, "An amendment is the only way to take it out of the hands of judges and leave it in the hands of the people."
And some right-wingers are losing patience with Dubya Bush's seemingly nonchalant attitude toward the measure. "If the president were to spend as much time securing a federal marriage amendment as he has on Social Security reform," writes American Values policy analyst Daniel Allott in the Oct. 19
Washington Examiner, "he would not only be able to address an issue close to the hearts of many Americans - and especially his increasingly disenchanted base - but also help revive an institution in even worse shape than our pensions system."
(Of course, Allott himself notes that in yesterday's press conference, Dubya essentially declared Social Security reform dead.)
For those seeking true equality for all in the US, there is some good news: The few media outlets reporting on today's subcommittee hearing note that Dr. Christopher Harris, M.D., assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, is among those who will testify against the proposed amendment.
From
AScribe Newswire:
Harris, who is a gay African-American, has a 3-year-old daughter and has been a pediatrician for almost 20 years. Harris says he agrees with the findings of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that there are no relevant studies of the effect of parental sexual orientation on children that show any measurable effect on the quality of parent-child relationships or the children's mental health and successful socialization.
An analysis of the issue prepared for the AAP board of directors in July 2005, concluded, in part, that "Civil marriage is a social institution that promotes healthy families by conferring of a powerful set of rights, benefits and protections that cannot be obtained by other means. Civil marriage can help foster psychosocial stability and financial and legal security as well as an augmented sense of societal acceptance and support. Legal recognition of a spouse can increase the ability of adult couples to provide and care for one another and fosters a more nurturing and secure environment for their children."
Harris has joined more than 750 pediatricians across the nation who are opposed to the Federal Marriage Amendment, and who are part of a grassroots coalition called Pro-Family Pediatricians.
So, there is hope that justice ultimately will prevail. In fact, there is opportunity here. The media so far have not given the hearing much coverage. That makes right now a perfect moment to take action.
I encourage all those who believe the US should live up to its promise of equality for all under law to contact committee members and tell them how a Federal Marriage Amendment, in fact, would
hurt American families.
The Senate subcommittee is chaired by Sam Brownback (R-KS.). The other members are Russell Feingold (D-WI), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Tom Coburn (R-OK). It is urgent that you call these lawmakers TODAY -- if Bush continues his silence on the issue, you can expect anti-gay, anti-justice right-wingers to react the same way in which many are dealing with the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination. So, get busy: You can reach Senate offices via the Capitol Hill Switchboard, (202) 224-3121.
