Mr. Speaker

joeh@ncleg.net

Nicely said Mr. Protzman.

This is what Hackney said (yesterday I believe): "Unless Representative Wright has some satisfactory explanation, which certainly didn't happen today, then he certainly can no longer be effective here."

Now if it was a guy down at the bar saying "If he don't have something to say for himself, he will no longer be effective" it would just be an opinion. When it's the Speaker of the House, it goes beyond mere commentary.

There's something to be said for shooting from the hip, and there is also something to be said for being disciplined and thoughtful. President Bush shoots from the hip . . .

With regard to sexual orientation (orientation, not preference), I believe the GOP would pay us to encourage a public discussion on this. They would probably like to see it a little closer to election time, but still they would love this.

If I may paraphrase Machiavelli: when we strike at homophobia we must slay it. Can we kill inequality right now in NC? Or by attacking it do we only make it stronger?

- - - - -
Where Liddy At?
Where is Liddy?
Anyone seen Liddy?

Laura Leslie's blog, but Grier Martin gives it high accolades. Her post from today talks about Hackney's statement.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

in case folks don't wander into the other thread. This issue profoundly affects me, so, yeah, I'm a bit keen to raise awareness.

URGENT: The "Marriage Amendent" is Back

(From Equality NC this morning)

Right-wing legislators announced yesterday that they're going to try to force the anti-gay, anti-marraige state constitutional amendment to a vote on Tuesday in the N.C. House and we must stop them.

Please, take action right now to ask your representative to oppose this vicious attack on our families and our community.

I've asked for your help a lot in the last couple weeks, but this is a huge new threat and we need your help again. We can stop them, but its going to be a tough, nasty fight. And we can't do it without you.

Ian

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Your Representative (if you live in North Carolina)

Below is the sample letter:

Subject:

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As a constituent, I'm asking you to oppose the attempt to force the anti-gay, anti-marriage state constitutional amendment to the House floor on Tuesday.

House Bill 493 would write discrimination into our constitution and do real harm to families across our state.

Our constitution should be there to protect our citizens--even unpopular minorities. The constitution should never be used to deny rights.

Thank you for considering this issue.

Sincerely,

"The most unamerican thing you can say is 'You can't say that'" - G. Keillor

"The most unamerican thing you can say is 'You can't say that'" - G. Keillor

We never heard anything else about that rule change that would have made it impossible to bottle-up constitutional amendments. So, I will assume that all such amendments, including those which have been waiting patiently for years, will be kept in committee.

One man with courage makes a majority.
- Andrew Jackson

I don't get this idea, Jerimee. When we're fighting a battle in which we're behind, to stop fighting would seem to put us further behind. It could be that you're saying we ought to fight this battle by going door-to-door instead of trying to do something legislatively?

Either way - I think the best way forward is to follow Washington's lead in proposing a bill that would make it illegal for couples without children to remain married and to make divorce illegal. To take the pieces that the anti-gay/pro-het-marriage cite as examples of why gay folks shouldn't marry and couple them with the weaknesses in the institution of marriage itself. The bill, of course, wouldn't stand a chance of passage, and it would bring the entire issue up in a different light.

Heh.

I would have chosen "progressive" or "liberal" or "hot-headed" instead of "Democratic" since I don't see eye-to-eye with all that many North Carolina Dems.