This is primarily a photo blog: a group of Vermonters (including a not paltry contingent from Vermont's Green Mountain Daily) showed up in Lebanon, New Hampshire this morning to help out with the canvassing. Later, we got to see John Edwards speak, and had a real treat shortly after.
It was a day much colder than expected, and canvassing was fun. Everyone was incredibly polite to one another. We crossed a few paths with an Obama canvasser and wished each other good luck. Everyone we spoke to while canvassing was polite as well, and the common theme, even for people who weren't supporting Edwards was how nice it was to have a good set of choices this time around.
After the fold, I'll post about the speakers we had at the pre-canvassing as well as the treat we got with seeing Edwards, but first, probably one of the best portrait shots I've ever taken:
After days (weeks) of jumping through technological hurdles, we've bade i to and through the 1st Day of DemocracyFest. Today is the 2nd and last day.
I missed all but a couple of minutes of every speaker, but Odum's coverage allows me to "see" them vicariously. but that means I can't give any cool accounts of "Encounters with Greatness."
We do have one of the most compelling speakers of the event coming up tonight, just before Dean (note, the rest of the event requires a ticket).
In 2004 Carlos Arredondo answered the door to find two men in uniform - waiting to tell him his son was dead. Alex had gone to Iraq and would never return home. Carlos asked them to leave, and they refused. Learn abou Alex, about Carlos and Melida's (Alex's step mom) wonderful son, and their ongoing mission to end the conflict in Iraq.
Congratulations to New Hampshire for achieving civil unions (without threat of a court order) for Granite State gay and lesbian couples. A wonderful day for my natal state, in keeping with their wisdom and courage in electing the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson.
I like civil unions. Lots less baggage than "marriage." We get to invent our own traditions, or carry on parts of the old ones, or take on the whole marriage panoply of ceremony and tradition as we like.
But -- and you knew there would be a "but" -- what sticks in my craw are comments like those of Howard "Fifty State" Dean, the former governor who signed Vermont's civil unions bill secretively, behind closed doors, so as not to offend the bigots or allow the queers and their equality-minded allies opportunity to celebrate. Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate who made millions of dollars for his 2004 campaign from hopeful queers across the country, thanks in large part to gay and lesbian Vermonters who campaigned for him among out-of-state communities he otherwise had no clue how to address, shows an odd mix of almost-courage buried in cowardice. It's as if his heart for justice is battling his fearful political instincts, and unfortunately there is no well-meaning but ultimately fraudulent Wizard of Oz to give him a medal so he could finally go with justice.
About New Hampshire's enactment of civil unions, a step toward equality for gay and lesbian couples, Howard Dean, the current kingmaker of the Democratic Party, said in a statement carried by WCAX TV:
You know I don't think marriage or civil unions are a national issue. I think the defense of marriage act is unconstitutional. Clearly the states have the right to make these kinds of decisions about benefits and legal relationships and that's always been the way it is. I think there should be less federal regulation not more.
Okay, he threw one good line in there: "I think the defense of marriage act [DOMA] is unconstitutional." That's the courageous Lion part.
The problems with the rest of his statement are below the fold.
Blue Hampshire reports that the New Hampshire House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a law legalizing Vermont-style civil unions for same sex couples. The vote was a resounding 243-129. This dramatically makes the point of how much our neighbor is turning "blue" of late. The bill will now go to the Senate where it should pass in the chamber which has a 14-10 Dem advantage. Where it faces an uncertain future is at Democratic Governor Lynch's desk, as he is in no hurry to deal with the issue. So far his office has been vague and noncommittal.
"So," you may say to yourself, "the granite state is finally catching up with Vermont."
But you would be wrong in a very fundamental way; that is, that this bill was NOT passed because a court order forced it upon them. That's right - No. Court. Order.
Why did they do it then? Why take on a piece of progressive legislation if you don't absolutely positively have to? And that the Governor doesn't want to sign? I mean, who else will the lefties vote for anyway, right? Don't our silly neighbors understand that they may lose Republican votes by doing this?
I suspect they do, and they did it anyway. How can we possibly explain that?
250-1
75-1
