TGIF was cancelled in Washington yesterday. Nobody was celebrating the end of the work week on Friday afternoon; instead legislators were negotiating an eleventh hour stop gap funding bill that would avoid an expensive shutdown of the federal government. John Boehner may be the ultimate winner in this legislative dance. He managed to get two things done: Democrats moved beyond the Republican starting point for cuts; and he got the GOP freshmen to see the reality that they have to compromise if they want to get anything done. They only control one of the levers of government.

TGIF was replaced by a wake in Denver yesterday, because on Thursday, the GOP voted to deny people living together, without benefit of marriage, some of the legal rights of married couples.  After listening to eight hours of testimony, Colorado Senate Bill 11-172 was killed, with the GOP voting against and the DEMs voting for a civil unions bill. The GBLT community is still a community of second class citizens. Read the link below to see some of the passion that was exhibited in the eight hours of hearings.

Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin, election officials are investigating the sudden appearance of just enough votes to give a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice another term on the court without a vote recount. What I can’t figure out is why the county clerk in Waukesha County stays in office. It seems that she makes huge human errors frequently, and is always having to apologize for getting the initial results wrong. She was even once granted immunity in a criminal case. She sure sounds like the kind of person I want responsible for counting my votes. NOT.

Who needs soap operas when one can just watch politicians tie themselves in knots? If it weren’t so early, I think I’d pour myself a drink…

Homework

No Shut Down

Colorado Civil Unions Bill Dies

Wisconsin Election

Yesterday the blog was about distractions. While we are distracted, the world keeps spinning, and there are things that should be the focus of our attention. Three come readily to mind: Civil Unions, Oil and Gas Commission, and a government shutdown.

The House District 54 Representative, Ray Scott, sponsored a bill that would take the agency that regulates Colorado’s oil and gas industry back to where it was before those pesky ranchers and environmentalists demanded a seat at the table. That bill will be heard in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee today. Evidently enough people have gotten to Scott that he is willing to make some concessions, but since the commission was just restructured last year, the question needs to be asked why this bill is needed at all. Hopefully the committee will agree and just kill the bill.  (HB 11-1223.)

On Thursday, the Civil Unions bill will be heard by the House Judiciary Committee. Senate Bill 11-172 is finding some unusual support from editorial boards all across the state. They have been making the point that if the GOP really is about small government, then there is no place for government in the regulation of marriage.  The conservative Colorado Springs Gazette had this to say, "Society should head toward complete withdrawal of the State from the regulation of marriage, which is best left to the partners and their respective religions." Hopefully the committee will pass this bill so that it reaches the floor of the House, where some Republicans are ready to vote in favor of civil unions.

And finally the Tea Party is at war with the Republican Party. There still is no budget in place for the year that is now almost eight months old, and another budget fight is looming over the budget for the year that starts in September. The most recent continuing resolution expires on Friday, and the Tea Party is moving the Republican Party even further to the right. The Democrats caved, and now support the opening position originally proposed by Representative Ryan of Wisconsin. (Can’t seem to get away from Wisconsin these days, can we?) But the Republicans are no longer interested in their own opening bid; they want more. To complicate matters, Operation Odyssey Dawn just blew a hole in the budget. If the target keeps moving, there will never be a budget this year or next year, and the government just may shut down until we can elect some grown-ups.

I don’t know exactly how to react to this possibility. While I want seniors to keep getting their Social Security checks, I think that if they don’t, because of some boneheaded move by Republicans, Republicans won’t find elections quite so easy in the future. Seniors vote, and while their memories may be shot, they do know a lot about Social Security and who messes with it.

Homework

Colorado HB 11-1223

Colorado SB 11-172

Story About Pressure on GOP Lawmakers to Pass Civil Unions Bill

Cantor VS Boehner

Yesterday Colorado’s Senate approved a bill sponsored by Pat Steadman that would approve civil unions. Pat Steadman is an openly Gay legislator, and all around nice guy. What you may not remember is that he was the Senator who carried Steve King’s masturbation bill. Steve King voted against this bill, but three Republican senators, Jean White, Nancy Spence and Ellen Roberts, crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the bill even though it would have passed without any Republican votes.

The bill now goes to the House, where it faces a tougher audience. The Democrat carrying the bill in the House says that he has found Republican representatives who will vote for the bill, but the fear is that it will be killed in committee.

This bill is carefully crafted to give both heterosexual and homosexual partners rights if they are living together, but not married. Steadman argued that the person making health care decisions during health emergencies should be the person closest to the patient. Sometimes people living together have alienated family members, so it doesn’t make sense that those alienated family members should be making health care decisions. They may not have the best interests of the patient in mind.

I support Gay marriage, but Colorado passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. This bill will not undo that constitutional amendment. What it will do is make civil unions available to people who love each other, but for some reason choose to live lives together without benefit of marriage. In the case of homosexuals they make that choice because there is not another choice available in Colorado. In the case of heterosexuals, my guess is that they make that choice because of a fear of the legal agonies of divorce. As a woman who has been married and divorced twice, I would prefer a live-in lover to any marriage proposal. For the record, my current bedmate is a real dog.

Homework

Story About Civil Unions Bill

House Speaker's Tweet About the Bill

Text of Senate Bill 11-172