Topic: Larry Craig

Gay Rights Bills: passed, gutted, or held

By David W. Shelton | October 2, 2007 |

A few months ago, I wrote that there were three major bills that would create fairness and equality for all Americans, including those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. Since then, one of them has passed both the House and the Senate, another has been watered down, and the third has yet to see any action.

First, I want to thank all of the 237 Congress members and 60 Senators (of course, Foot-Tappin’ Larry Craig wasn’t one of them) who voted for the bill. It cleared both houses with healthy majorities, and is now on the way to President Bush’s desk. Alas, Bush has threatened to veto the bill. As expected, neither Bob Corker nor Lamar Alexander voted for the bill.

This bill, if signed, will provide Federal assistance to local and state jurisdictions who are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute hate crimes (think Mississippi Burning) and reaffirms sexual orientation as a protected class, while adding gender identity to the list. «Read the rest of this article»

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Craig’s embarassing flip-flop just another example of hypocrisy

By David W. Shelton | September 5, 2007 |

In what might be the ultimate flip-flop, Senator Larry Craig has announced that he is “reconsidering” his resignation from the US Senate after his arrest and guilty plea for “disorderly conduct” in a Minneapolis airport.
 
Craig is yet another of a long list of Republicans who have had their hand caught in the cookie jar of hypocrisy. What amazes me is that in recent days the only thing that the Republican Party has to say about itself is to attack former President Bill Clinton who got that blowjob in the Oval Office back in 1995. When that didn’t stick, they went after US Senator Ted Edward Kennedy’s drunken driving manslaughter incident back in 1970.
 
Of course, the party line from conservatives and Republicans is that the Democratic Party is “corrupt” and “immoral.” If this were true, why do they have to go back twelve years and nearly forty years to find their examples of just how “immoral” Democrats are?

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