Living in authenticity

The GOP in New Hampshire brought a bill to overturn their marriage equality law. They have enough party members in both the state House and Senate to override a promised veto by the Dem. governor. So the speculation was whether the GOP would have enough votes that they could consider an override vote.

There was a great deal of surprise last Wednesday when the bill lost and by sizable margin in the House. There was a large number of GOP legislators that had "unavoidable scheduling conflicts" and didn't show up to vote. Final tally on the question of: Do you agree this bill is inexpedient to legislate? was 211 (53%) yes (kill it), 116 (29%) no, and 70 (18%) not voting.

This is a fantastic surprise from a GOP controlled legislature.



The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians is considering amending their tribal constitution to permit same-sex marriage. This would be the first such group in Michigan. Alas for my sister, at least one partner must be a member of the tribe.



That Etch-A-Sketch flap by a Romney staffer reminds all of us that we're used to politicians saying one thing during a campaign and doing something different once in office. Two words: Compassionate Conservatism. Campaign lies are old news.

According to "cocktailhag," a contributor on FireDogLake, it is also old news for an elected official to describe a bill for public consumption with the actual bill doing something quite different. Famous political lies include No Child Left Behind is really about undermining public education. and Medicare Part D (drug benefit) actually about enriching pharmaceutical companies.

There is also the lie that I've accused Obama of -- something promised but doesn't do because, gosh, the GOP opposition is just so fierce. Obama isn't the only Dem guilty of this one.

But this writer noticed something. When the GOP lies, their base (or backers) win. When Dems lie, the GOP base or backers win.

Sigh.



A blogger who calls herself Seething Mom summarizes her story of finding out her son is gay and how that prompted her to stop voting for the GOP and leave the Catholic Church. She sees her conservative friends beginning to question what the GOP says. And what they are hearing is 12 talking points conservatives use to guarantee Obama's election. And each of the dozen is a succinct soundbite. Check them out!



The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus has another winner. The song is Testament with music by Stephen Schwartz and words by Dan Savage from his It Gets Better project. In the first half of the song the words are from gay kids who are terrified of what their future might be like and who don't want to be gay. The second half is from It Gets Better stories of older gay people -- I hung on through the bad times and look at all the great things that have happened to me since then. And there is the joy of living in authenticity.



A week's worth of Occupy news from the Occupy Wall Street website.