It's not necessarily the end of the road (not by a long shot, now that the Republicans have discovered the joys of our litigious society and the uses of litigation to overturn legitimate elections), but the news from Minnesota's three-judge panel is clear: Al Franken is the new senator from Minnesota. The judges determined that “Franken is entitled to receive the certificate of election” after defeating Coleman by 312 votes.

“Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the Nov. 4, 2008 general election,” the ruling stated. With recently added absentee ballots counted, Franken upped his lead over incumbent Norm Coleman to 312 votes.

The odious Ben Ginsberg, Bush's henchman in overthrowing the 2000 election of President Al Gore, promises an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

The Save Our State coalition of citizens and advocates is hosting a Tax Day Filing Event to show that Vermonters support raising taxes rather than making serious cuts to human services and other essential programs and state institutions.

You can join the Save Our State effort by showing up at the Tax Department help window on Wednesday, April 15th at 10am (more details below).

More below the fold, and check out:

Friends,

as Captain Richard Phillips is finally free.

What a gift to his family – bless all who helped make this happen, that they were patient in trying diplomacy (and didn’t just start shooting right away) and that our friends on Planet Starboard are deprived of yet another complaint.

In case you missed it, Fred Armisen and Bill Hader appeared on Weekend Update to discuss their role in the recent gay marriage victory in Vermont.

Crossposted to birding new england

Almost every day that I go to work I leave myself a little extra time so I can check out birds on the way.  Almost all of these birds were found on my way to or from work, or while I walked the grounds at break, though a few were found on the weekend while I birded the same general territory or in my yard.  

I will open with a photograph of a pileated woodpecker, one of the best photos I’ve ever taken of one:

All these photographs are clickable, leading you to larger versions, with more details (where they were taken, what day, what equipment I used, etc.)

More about pileated woodpeckers can be found at Cornell

I had been looking for a pileated woodpecker for some time before I finally tracked this one down.  About three weeks ago, I heard it call, but couldn’t track it down.  Then, on Thursday, I spotted this tree, which is fairly clear evidence that a pileated has been in the vicinity

Those score marks were fairly fresh (notice the vivid color of the wood– if it had been more than a couple weeks, that wood would have been much duller)

Friday, again during my lunch break, I started walking the grounds and very quickly heard the drumming.  Now, understand, that woodpeckers tend to make a fairly loud sound when they peck at trees, but different types of woodpeckers will vary in terms of both rhythm and volume.  What I heard on Friday was not your usual extremely high-frequency rat-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat that you get from the smaller woodpeckers.  This was much more of a “pop-pop-pop” with some distinction between the beats, and with a much more booming and carrying sound than the usual.

Now, I am a musician: sounds, especially rhythms, resonate strongly with me, so this carried a lot of meaning in ways I have trouble communicating to people who don’t hear things the way I do: but when you understand music and rhythm the way I do, there can be an actual visceral reaction to certain sounds, the same way taste and touch can be for most people, when I am out biding, I can hear a lot of sounds at once and I generally listen for the things that are uncommon: turns of phrase in a song that differentiate between a scarlet tanager and an american robin, for example (the much less common tanager, for example, sounds like a robin with a 3-pack a day habit and an occasional “chick-burr!” thrown in).  So when I heard this sound, it wasn’t just “oh, that’s interesting.”  It was like I went into full attention mode, with something critical that I’d been waiting for just having clicked into place.  I don’t usually put this much effort into finding a specific bird, but I am fascinated by pileated woodpeckers and they are very difficult to photograph well, because they do not like humans at all.  This was particularly special for me.

So I froze in place, scanning for the bird, hoping to get a good look at it.  It hadn’t occurred to me that it was almost directly overhead until a moment later, when I spotted its head pop out from behind a nearby tree:

This one’s a male (you can tell by the red in the moustache stripe; the females only have black there) and it was big (they range from 16″-19″ long, and I’m sure this was the high end of that).  You can also tell it’s a full adult: the adults have the yellow eyes.  Juveniles have brown.

It was partially obscured by other branches and I moved ever so slightly hoping to get a good shot at it.  I thought I was going to lose the bird when I realized my feet had landed on fallen leaves, but the bird didn’t seem to care.  I was able to follow it with my camera for a few more minutes before it flew off, getting this last shot before it took off.

These birds, by the way, are breathtaking in flight.  Their 30″ wingspan makes them fairly easy to identify but they also fly like most woodpeckers: flap flap, glide and dip, flap, flap, glide and dip– no direct linear flight plan for these guys.  Just amazing speed and agility.  One day I’ll capture that, but for now, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.

Other birds from the last two weeks below:

House Finch

Pine Siskins (I keep expecting them to be gone)

Ring-necked ducks

Common Mergansers

Canada Geese

Great Blue Herons

This eastern Phoebe kept making noises outside my window at work.

Tree swallows are suddenly back again in droves

Song sparrows may be common, but they are still beautiful to me

I have had great luck with eastern bluebirds this year

Downy woodpecker

This red-tailed hawk was hanging out on a piece of farm equipment off the side of the road.  I stopped to take some photos before work

I love watching Northern Mockingbirds

This is not a great photo of a bald eagle, but it was fun to spot

This American Crow was flying around right by my car when I pulled in to work

Black-capped chickadees are all sorts of fun to photograph

Turkey Vulture in flight

You must look at this article from PZ. The story is very clear: a nursing student in Canada has been kicked out of her nursing program because she is a lesbian who chooses not to discuss her sexual orientation with her patients.

How do we know this? Because the bigot who kicked her out was dumb enough to put it in writing:

Nioska, I've been thinking about the meeting in rita's office and I feel that maybe Nursing is the wrong career for you. As a nurse, I have to advocate for my patients, and i feel that female patients will be uncomfortable having a lesbian nurse caring for them.

If you're interested in communicating with the nursing program about this, here are some contact e-mail addresses:

Cathy Dufour, Academic Department Coordinator, Nursing cdufour@cegep-heritage.qc.ca, and Jo Anne Werner, Academic Dean. jwerner@cegep-heritage.qc.ca.
And the person who kicked her out: TKINGSLEY@cegep-heritage.qc.ca.

Steve Metcalf, former longtime Chair of the Orange County Democratic Committee and current Superintendent of the Montpelier School system, announced yesterday to members of the community that he has what has been labeled “inoperable and incurable” bile duct cancer and has been given from a few months to eighteen months to live, depending on how he responds to chemotherapy.

Steve’s family has been steeped in Vermont politics behind the scenes over the years. His children have been active – particularly Ben who, among other things, was a staffer for Howard Dean’s Presidential campaign. His ex-wife is a former Chair of the State Democratic committee.

Steve is a truly great guy, and I’m sure I speak for many in wishing him the best as he fights this thing. In the letter he sent to the community, he indicated his intent to “beat these crazy odds.” Those of us who have had loved ones stricken by cancer (or have had to cope with it ourselves) know how truly unpredictable it can be, so hang in there. If anybody can beat it, Steve, I’m sure you can.

In December of 2007, I published this diary, which started with the following:

Tonight’s Same Sex Marriage Hearing starts with a 5pm info session followed by a meeting at 6:30pm.  I will post notes throughout the evening in the comments section, many of which will be just thoughts off the top of my head.

The evening started with the aforementioned information session, but it also contained some incredible speeches.  I’m going to post some of those notes I jotted down during the hearing, along with some new comments given recent events in Vermont.

I was liveblogging at the time, so I’m going to correct some of the typos in the quotes I provide below.  

Here’s one of my early comments from the liveblog:

Next speaker is reading from a sheet of paper — clearly nervous — strong supporter of same-sex marriage.  Thanks his teachers, many of whom are in the room.  Thinks its shameful that same-sex marriage hasn’t happened yet.  Calls arguments against same sex marriage attempts to mask intolerance.  Speaking for a long time with good arguments about the changing definition of marriage.  Making the comments a bit personal about people who oppose same-sex marriage as having no family values of their own.  As with other speakers, mentions separate but equal.

Next speaker refers to separate but equal, referring to same-sex marriage as “separate but not equal” and chokes up while referencing her daughter’s lack of rights to marry.  Jokes later about all the (nonexistent) songs about civil unions.  To heterosexuals who oppose same-sex marriage, would they be satisfied with civil unions?

One of the things I want to note about this testimony is that it happened well over a year before the actual vote in Vermont on same-sex marriage.  But those arguments above didn’t change much at all when it came to the final debate in the VT legislature.  People opposing same-sex marriage claimed it was rammed down their throats, but they didn’t show up for these hearings, and didn’t voice their opposition during the months over which we had these hearings, many of them more than a year before the actual vote on the issue.

One of my later comments:

Etan Nasreddin-Longo talks about how his parents, one European woman and one African American were not allowed to marry when they met 50 years ago, and how even a year after his birth, it was still illegal for them to marry.  Very powerful speaker.  “As a black man and as a Jewish man I have never tried to participate in my own oppression and I will not do it today by participating in a civil union.”   Very short, to the point, and extremely powerful…

This was great, and I still remember the speech.  Here’s a great point about economic issues:

Lisa Frick is next… she’s got a civil union with someone who lives in nearby Massachussetts and her taxes are a MAJOR mess.  “Every time I hear the phrase ‘domestic partnership’ my accountant’s bill goes up $100.”  She’s focusing entirely on the practical elements, which is valuable.

Vermont’s law hasn’t completely changed this, but it makes things easier for people who live and/or work in VT and/or MA.  If we get it passed in NH as well, my life will become a lot simpler, as my partner and I both live in VT but I work in New Hampshire.  My organization was great about making sure she’s covered under my benefits but it took some unnecessary paperwork and was a nuisance, whereas if we’d been able to just be treated as any spouses were, it would be a lot simpler.

Another part of that same comment:

Angie Dodd is speaking now about her own experience with having a civil union and believes it helps to have stability but that it’s not quite as strong a thing as civil unions.  She mentions something important– that whenever you deal with a state agency as someone who’s part of a civil union, you’re required to come out to members of that agency.

I remember this as an issue– I used to do contract work for the state of Vermont.  I worked in a department that, as part of its work, tracked some people accepting public assistance.  When people would apply for some of this assistance, they had to specify their “marital status.”  The options included “civil union” (which is a bit odd to have as a choice for “marital status” given that it’s not supposed to be one, but anyway…), which basically meant that whenever you were applying for public assistance you had to come out of the closet.

One of my later comments combined several great speeches:

Jane Baker speaking now.  Elderly woman was proud of Vermont in civil unions and believes that it’s time to move forward and that Vermont is ready.

Mike Mrowicki, a friend and state representative, is speaking now about how his ex-wife, who came out years into their marriage, deserves her rights.  Wow.

Melissa Mahoney, very young, new Vermonter, speaking about access– braille, wheelchair ramp, etc… good points about equal rights for everybody.

Laura Wood, who came here with Melissa, is speaking now about how her parents [I think mixed-race, which is why this is relevant, which I forgot to note in the original comment] could not get married 17 years before she was born and how big a deal that is.  I love the way kids can get engaged with activism.  I don’t know how to describe how good her speech was.  VERY direct– “if I don’t have the rights I need in Vermont, I’m going to move my brilliant self to Massachusetts.”  Awesome.

I want to just say– I still remember Laura’s speech, and I really hope she decided to stay in Vermont.  She was really cool.  Mike Mrowicki, for those of you who were following the debate in the house, was the legislator who spoke out against a referendum, talking about the problems caused in California by outside interest groups.

I also want to note that I think groups such as the National Organization for Marriage, which bombed the state with robocalls about this issue, probably helped us more than they hurt– they provided the framework for the out of state interests trying to push Vermont and caused a small amount of backlash.  This is one reason I was asking people from out of state on our side to stay out of the debate, not to e-mail Vermont legislators, etc.

When the hearing was all said and done, no one, and I mean no one had spoken out against same-sex marriage.

Here’s a comment I posted after I got home (slightly edited for clarity):

I think in New England the anti-gay forces just know they’ve lost.

They’re on the losing side of a moral battle and can’t admit defeat so they’re pretending that everyone is against them.  The group MassResistance has gone completely off the deep end, to the point of posting personal information about one of the members daughters on their web site as part of their anti-gay agenda.  This article is still posted on the front page of their web site, a month after it was posted, and it’s clear that this is a desperate, freaked out article based more on a distraught mother losing her grip on reality than anything else.

This desperation seems to be reflected in the new anti marriage groups which are popping up.  They don’t have an agenda that reflects reality, so they have to make one up.  Take for example, something I posted a few days ago about their primary talking point:

Language to avoid at all costs: “Ban same-sex marriage.” Our base loves this wording. So do supporters of SSM. They know it causes us to lose about ten percentage points in polls. Don’t use it. Say we’re against “redefining marriage” or in favor or “marriage as the union of husband and wife” NEVER “banning same-sex marriage.”

These are not people who have reality on their side.

There are a lot of reasons that same-sex marriage is now scheduled to become legal in Vermont: enough Republicans (even a majority in the Vermont senate) broke with their own party to support it; enough Democrats who opposed it changed their vote to override the veto; all Progressives supported it.  

But I think the biggest reason it passed is because the arguments against it were the exact same arguments that had been made against civil unions, which basically boiled down to “the sky is falling.”  The thing is, pretty much everyone knew that the sky didn’t fall, and that 2nd class citizenship was not really worth as much in retrospect.

So I guess I’m going back to this particular piece of history because, having seen that testimony back in 2007, that’s the first time I actually thought it might be possible for this to become real.

Still, I can’t quite get over it.