Just being ourselves

Sometimes being ourselves changes other people's minds. During a hearing on marriage equality, State House Member Kach, a Republican in Maryland, ended up in a seat next to the witness table. He was able to watch gay couples testify -- and saw how much they loved each other. He then voted for the marriage equality bill, which narrowly passed the House.

The bill has now passed the Senate and Gov. O'Malley has promised to sign it. And opponents are starting to gather signatures to put a repeal on the ballot.

Maine is going to try something different this year. Instead of a citizen initiative to put a marriage protection ban in the constitution, the citizen initiative asks for approval of marriage equality.



Harvey Weinstein, big Hollywood producer, has created a documentary about bullying. He has run into a problem -- the MPAA has awarded it an R rating, meaning kids can't see it without their parents. That puts a big dent in the studio's plans to show it at middle and high schools. It may also mean kids who need to see it won't, because they don't want their parents to know they are seeing it. The linked page includes the trailer.

I thought of another aspect of this case. Is the bullying depicted in this movie so harsh and violent that a movie containing it is rated R? Wow.



I wrote a few days ago about the Super PAC behind Romney wanting him to get not quite enough votes so the GOP convention would be brokered. My friend and debate partner thinks this is a conspiracy theory. He may be right. I value him for both his friendship and his willingness to debate. We'll know when we get to the convention.