Reporting on a campaign fundraiser, BoifromTroy notes that the husband of a straight married opponent of an openly gay Los Angeles City Council candidate has

made a habit of having her husband contribute to her campaign whenever she fell behind in the fundraising race. Unlike the rest of us, candidates’ spouses can contribute unlimited sums of money to a campaign. A spouse can draw upon the wealth of their husband or wife because property may be transferred between the two without taxation–something which is not allowed for gay and lesbian couples

Since neither the federal government nor any state government (save Massachusetts) recognizes gay marriages, the spouse of a gay or lesbian candidate could not make similar unlimited contributions to his (or her) beloved’s campaign. Boi wonders whether this limitation of gay and lesbian candidates’ fundraising abilities also limits their ability to “seek and hold public office.”
Interesting point. I would raise another one. This is just another example of the absurdities of campaign finance reform legislation. The provision that Boi references benefits not all straight candidates, just those straight married candidates (like John Kerry) who have wealthy spouses. (A spouse of modest means would not have the resources to pour into her (or his) beloved’s campaign.)
Perhaps, this example will stir gay and lesbian activists to join conservatives and libertarians who seek to repeal McCain-Feingold and other such campaign finance laws. Log Cabin has joined conservative groups in supporting Social Security reform. Here’s another opportunity for them to work for conservative reform which benefits gay people.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

It’s not just Jane Fonda. Another liberal admits wrongdoing, this time in a court of law. President Clinton’s national security advisor Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives.

Jane Fonda says that it was a “betrayal” for her to pose on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun in 1972, a gun used to shoot down American planes, like that piloted by John McCain.
It’s about time she acknowledged this mistake. And it’s up to those brave Americans who fought for our country in Vietnam over three decades go to forgive her. I can’t blame them if they don’t. Many of them use a word stronger than betrayal to describe her conduct thirty-three years ago.

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest,
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute of awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore . . .
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
–William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice
Emphasis added.
Render a deed of mercy in Florida. Err on the side of life. Reinsert the feeding tube and let Terri Schiavo live.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

As our nation is transfixed with the fate of Terry Schiavo, political consultant and GOP activist Chuck Muth writes

When thoughtful debate and disagreement on an issue takes place, it’s almost ALWAYS among conservatives themselves.

As conservatives debate the appropriateness of congressional action, Muth notes that it is is:

A difficult question. A complicated question. A serious question. And not surprisingly, Democrats have been pretty much left out of the debate. No one really cares what they think. This intellectual and constitutional battle over the Schiavo matter is taking place almost exclusively among those on the right, with bona-fide card-carrying limited-government types finding themselves on opposite sides of the issue.

Chuck quotes a number of conservatives who have weighed in on the issue. And I recommend his piece. (You may need to click on “Opinion Columns” and then on “Brain-Dead Politics on the Left.”)
In addition, Hugh Hewitt has a good piece on the topic here (and has been blogging about it regularly) while Peggy Noonan, the conservative Athena, has penned two excellent pieces here and here.
UPDATE: On his blog Gay Orbit, reader Michael links to an interesting piece by Neil Boortz on Terri Schiavo. I join Michael in encouraging you to read the whole thing. I don’t exactly agree with Boortz’s argument, but he makes some valid points and in doing so, confirms Chuck Muth’s argument in the piece above–the serious debate on this issue is largely on the right.

While in Cleveland for the Bar Mitzvah of one of the PatriotNephewsWest (hence the light blogging), the eldest PatriotBrotherWest (the one who lives in Cleveland) alerted me to an article in Cleveland?s Plain Dealer Newspaper. According to that journal, Ohio counted 78% of its provisional ballots. Including Alaska (97% of its provisional ballots counted), Ohio was one of only six states (the others being Oregon, Washington, Nebraska and Colorado) which counted more than 75% of their provisional ballots.
Barbara Boxer could not be reached for comment.

Roger Simon offers some valuable insight on the former president:

His problem is that he was and is President Zelig, unable to experience conflict at a level which would allow him to stand by his opinions or even remember them. In some ways this kind of excessive empathy has value. When it comes to dealing with religious dictatorship, it is a moral and physical disaster, for the people of those countries most of all.

Read the whole thing. Roger also has a post on the “Good Bill.”

I noticed that our gay conservative compatriot in Australia, Dreadnought, has taken up the cause to rid the world of taxpayer funded liberal-think.
I told all of you that Australia was more conservative than the USA… but noooo one believes me. *grin*
PS – Dreadnought has better eye candy on his site than we do here. C’est la vie.

Okay… sign me up! As a former Pennsylvanian, I am so excited about this prospect I can barely stay in my seat. First of all, Rendell has been a disaster. Second of all, how cool will it be to have an African American REPUBLICAN Governor from the not-Blue-much-longer Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!?! (Hat tip – VtheK)
Lynn Swann Forms Gubernatorial Committee – Channel 4 News, Pittsburgh
[Read more…]

Joined by Senator John Kerry, the Democratic junior Senators of the two largest “blue” states, California’s Barbara Boxer and New York’s Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed “The County Every Vote Act” a bill for electoral reform, which would, among other things, allow felons to vote.
My friend Rick Sincere has just posted an excellent piece on his blog showing why, as he puts it, this bill is so bad in so many ways. Rick is particularly suited to write on this topic. Having run for office on the Libertarian ticket, he has learned the hard way about the problems “third-party” candidates face in our electoral system. And he currently serves as chairman of the Charlottesville, Virginia Electoral Board.
[Read more…]

Heh. I wasn’t sure what “category” to even put this in. I’m certainly not creating one for this bizarre story.
I wanted to draw your attention to this Jonah Goldberg posting over at The Corner. I agree with Jonah, this is a well-thought out position from the left that doesn’t involve digging into someone’s personal life and exploiting it.
Now… drum roll please…. while I think the obsession with this story is overblown, especially to the slander committed by Eason Jordan against our troops in a time of war (maybe Jordan wants to run for Prez in 30 years? It worked for Kerry)….
I hereby say that allowing Gannon access to the White House Press Room was stupid, sloppy and dangerous. Who knows who is responsible, or was asleep at the wheel. If all the blame lies with the Secret Service or other fail-safe measures, I’d like to know.
If in fact this was some Republican media plant in the White House, then this is very stupid and reckless and someone in the Bush White House should be held accountable.
There, I’m done for a while until we find out Gannon had connections to an al-Qaeda prostitution ring… then I’ll have a stroke.
-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

So I get home late last night from a long day of interviewing prospective job candidates for positions I’m trying to fill, and I flip on our local radio news channel on my drive home from Dulles Airport.
I was absolutely shocked to hear that the United States Senate (as in the one that sits in Washington, DC) actually passed Tort Reform legislation. I nearly ran off the road.
Here is Scrappleface’s take: Senate Curbs Class Actions, Lawyers Shop New Senate
The House has passed it many times, and it was Item #9 of the original GOP Contract with America back in 1994.
The Democrats and Bill Clinton had stopped passage in the Senate using the Democrat’s favorite tool — the filibuster. Yet when it came time to vote, 18 Democrats joined every Republican Senator in voting for it (two GOP Senators did not cast a vote).
So the question I have to ask is… how many of President Bush’s judicial appointments would pass with a similar wide margin if the Senate Democrats didn’t use the UNCONSTITUTIONAL filibuster against judicial nominees?
-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com