Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Is Gay Marriage in the (VT) House?

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas doesn't seem to know how to pick a fight. After a big show last week announcing that he'd veto any SSM bill that appeared on his desk, he heard today that the House followed the Senate. Its Judiciary Committee that held the hearing on the matter voted to bill onto the House floor with an eight to two favorable endorsement.

The closest thing to a nod the anti-marriage equality was a throw-away. The committee put in an amendment making double dog sure that anti-gay clerics and other preacher types who claim that SSM violates their creeds won't be compelled to solemnize homosexual marriages.

That is a fascinating myth that the anti folk love to drag out, despite that being the case nationwide already and clearly within our Bill of Rights. Apparently the committee is willing to shut them up with the unnecessary. Would that it were always so easy.

The Senate approved the bill last week. Douglas made his veto call. No one seems to be publishing a tally of whether the House will have 100 of 150 votes for an override.

Either way, Douglas is a sure loser here. If he vetoes and there aren't 100 votes, he's gone from mush-mouthed and indecisive to anti-civil rights and anti-homosexual in the first civil-union state. If he vetoes and is overridden, he doesn't come off as his fantasy hero standing up for principle. Instead, he's that clod who turned a rights discussion and issue into an emotional plea. Either way, that's not likely the type of governor who wins re-election again up North.

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1 comment:

jonathan said...

Please help us get out the word about our movement: anewwayforward.org and tell people about the Nationwide Bailout Protests on April 11th. Thank You.

LOCAL ANGER AT ECONOMIC POLICY FINDS NATIONAL OUTLET IN THE FORM OF APRIL 11 PROTESTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 26, 2009

Contact: Matt Zaccarino

Email: mzaccarino@gmail.com

Phone: 774 573 2805

GRASSROOTS ADVOCATES FOR ECONOMIC POLICY CHANGE PLAN UNIFYING NATIONAL PROTEST

(Boston, MA) On April 11, 2009 at 2pm ET/11am PT, there will be protests in cities across the country. The actions are a direct response to what many believe are flawed economic policies enacted by Congress and the Obama administration. Boston will host its own protest in the area of Boston Common that faces the State House.

With growing frustration over unemployment, foreclosures and how the government has responded to the economic crisis so far, a web organizing platform, http://anewwayforward.org, has emerged to allow people and groups to organize around a progressive approach to economic recovery.

With protests taking place in over a dozen major U.S. cities, the April 11 action promises to be big.

"I think that a lot of people out there feel that congress has been making economic policy that is totally crazy. And the fact that huge sums of government cash have taken the form of executive bonuses is just unacceptable. These protests are being held to give all the people that have similar feelings and opinions a loud, unified voice. One that Congress and the Obama administration will, hopefully, pay attention to," said Matt Zaccarino state coordinator of A NEW WAY FORWARD, MA.

Tiffiniy Cheng, one of the founders of A NEW WAY FORWARD, welcomed the Massachusetts contingent to the effort. "Through campaign money and lobbyists, the financial industry has been pushing politicians to protect their interests in these hard economic times. Massachusetts has a key role to play in demanding change to how economic plans are decided.”

A NEW WAY FORWARD is an all-volunteer grassroots organization supporting a platform of bank nationalization and restructuring that excludes bonuses for top level executives.

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