Ah, the Blue Dogs. Standing up for “fiscal caution”.

And by that I mean “donations from the health care industry”.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., is the point man for the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats who object to portions of the sweeping overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system moving through the House. The group’s objections resulted in compromise legislation that includes higher payments for rural providers and softens a public insurance option.

But publicly available invitations indicate Ross was the guest of honor for at least seven fundraisers held by healthcare companies or their lobbyists this year, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The 52 Blue Dog members outpaced other congressional political action committees in fundraising so far this year, collecting more than $1.1 million through June, the Post said. More than half the money came from the healthcare, insurance and financial services industries, a Center for Public Integrity analysis indicated.

Read on.

The comic XKCD takes the lemons that are the Gates/Cambridge mess and makes lemonade.

With Walter Cronkite’s passing, who is the newscaster that America trusts the most? Time’s poll results are both a pleasant surprise, as well as a bad omen for the state of the mainstream media.

I have been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.

So writes President Jimmy Carter.

Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, argues the act “constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law.” It says the approximately 16,000 same-sex couples who have married in Massachusetts since the state began performing gay marriages in 2004 are being unfairly denied federal benefits given to heterosexual couples.

Read on.

In 1902, when the women’s suffrage movement was just getting warmed up, the American flag had 45 stars.

In protest, the suffragists created their own US flag with only four stars, representing the four states that allowed women to vote…

This is an evolving protest flag for equal marriage rights in the United States.
The stars on the Jan 1, 2010 flag represent the states that actively perform same-sex marriages. Stars are arranged on the blue field in order of each state’s admission into the union.

Read on.

In late December I blogged that all I wanted for Christmas was to hear Bill O’Reilly say “Senator Al Franken”. Looks like I will finally, finally get my very late Christmas present:

Al Franken, a satirist known for his biting political humor, is headed to the U.S. Senate, the survivor of an epic legal struggle that opponent Norm Coleman finally conceded he couldn’t win.

Franken’s triumph followed a 5-0 decision Tuesday by the Minnesota Supreme Court declaring him the winner and a quick concession by Coleman. Franken, a Democrat, could be sworn into office soon after the July 4th holiday.

“I don’t know if it has really sunk in,” said Franken, appearing at his home in Minneapolis shortly after receiving a congratulatory call from Coleman, a Republican. “He said it was a very hard-fought campaign. I said, ‘Norm, it couldn’t have been closer.’

“It was a nice way to end this.”

Read on, happily.