His turn

Prop 8 Trailer Released

My friend Reed has been busy.

Here is the trailer:

Check out the full site here.

A message for sister

I’ve not followed the impending LGBT march on Washington much, strikes me as an exercise in futility, if not political masturbation, since Obama will be out of town as will, likely, be much of Congress.  But I do admire the spirit going into some of the preparations.

A friend forwarded me the following from a contestant in the contest to address the march.  An impressive kid.

Neither are most Americans

Loving my new senator.

The real problem with Cambridge

Great piece in Reason.

The conversation we ought to be having in response to the July 16 incident and its heated aftermath isn’t about race, it’s about police arrest powers, and the right to criticize armed agents of the government.

By any account of what happened—Gates’, Crowleys’, or some version in between—Gates should never have been arrested. “Contempt of cop,” as it’s sometimes called, isn’t a crime. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It may be impolite, but mouthing off to police is protected speech, all the more so if your anger and insults are related to a perceived violation of your rights. The “disorderly conduct” charge for which Gates was arrested was intended to prevent riots, not to prevent cops from enduring insults. Crowley is owed an apology for being portrayed as a racist, but he ought to be disciplined for making a wrongful arrest.

He won’t be, of course. And that’s ultimately the scandal that will endure long after the political furor dies down. The power to forcibly detain a citizen is an extraordinary one. It’s taken far too lightly, and is too often abused. And that abuse certainly occurs against black people, but not only against black people. American cops seem to have increasingly little tolerance for people who talk back, even merely to inquire about their rights.

The danger of half way

Tim F at Balloon Juice nails it on why the Obama approach to fixing the civil rights abuses of the war formerly called against terror is so troublesome.

The President’s oath of office obligates him to fully respect the Constitution of the United States (or at least make a believable show of doing so, which most Presidents treat as the same thing). Disrespecting that oath represents a fundamental and often criminal failure by the President to carry out his duties.

George Bush left the next administration with a clever Sophie’s Choice in that the only way to stop pissing all over the U.S. Constitution is to upset the mother of all apple carts. Necessary steps would include, at a minimum, releasing the prisoners whom we can’t prosecute because we tortured them and then prosecuting the torturers.

Obama doesn’t like upsetting apple carts.

That nail the problem with Obama’s approach on a lot of things.  He doesn’t like upsetting apple carts. But sometimes doing the right thing is disruptive.

War on drugs = massive FAIL

Great quote:

“We’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the war on drugs,” Norm Stamper, a former police chief of Seattle, told me. “What do we have to show for it? Drugs are more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency. It’s a dismal failure.”

That didn’t take long

While disappointing to civil rights advocates, the California Supreme Court ruling upholding Proposition 8 is not unexpected.  The revision vs. amendment line was always considered a long shot.

Courage Campaign already has a new ad.

Taking Gibbs to the mat

Keeping on the heat

Gibbs gets yet another question on the Obama administrations lack of attention to civil rights issues:

Good on Cox.  I’m reminded of the story of FDR who counselled advocates that it’s good they agreed with him, but the responsibility was theirs to make him follow through.  Obama has made many committments toward gay civil rights, restoring rule of law in Washington, etc.  The administration’s feet needs to be held to the fire to make things turn into reality.

Leaving the reservation

Shepard Smith showing, again, why he’s among the few ethical people at Faux News.

About the memos

A good follow up can be found at C&L.

Impeach Bybee

Sign the petition here.

A dose of reality re marriage equality and religious freedom

With freedom and justice for all

Not entirely surprising, but wonderful news. Marriage equality comes to Vermont.

The Vermont House has voted, 100-49 to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill that would allow same-sex marriage.

Vermont will become the fourth state to legalize marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The others are Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa.

The Vermont Senate voted earlier this morning to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of the same-sex marriage legislation. The vote passed, 23-5.

Interesting piece too from Conservative columnist Cal Thomas who has some sensible observations after the nonsense:

To those on the political and religious right who are intent on continuing the battle to preserve “traditional marriage” in a nation that is rapidly discarding its traditions, I would ask this question: What poses a greater threat to our remaining moral underpinnings? Is it two homosexuals living together, or is it the number of heterosexuals who are divorcing and the increasing number of children born to unmarried women, now at nearly 40 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

Most of those who are disturbed about same-sex marriage are not as exercised about preserving heterosexual marriage. That’s because it doesn’t raise money and won’t get them on TV. Some preachers would rather demonize gays than oppose heterosexuals who violate their vows by divorcing, often causing harm to their children. That’s because so many in their congregations have been divorced and preaching against divorce might cause some to leave and take their contributions with them.

The battle over same-sex marriage is on the way to being lost. For conservatives who still have faith in the political system to reverse the momentum, you are—to recall Harold Hill—“closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge.”