The Human Rights Campaign has released the 2008 Buyers Guide. This handy pamphlet can be used in making purchases throughout the year. It is compiled using criteria such as Employer's recond on LGBT issues, presence in the LGBT community, and HR policies.

You can download your very own copy here:

link

I am currently in a state of devastation as my top candidate has withdrawn himself from the race. This follows his results from tonight in the Iowa caucuses, where he won less than 1 percentage point of the vote. I don’t like to make excuses for things so I will leave it at that and pick myself up and go on with life.

 

I’d just for a minute like to pay tribute to Sen. Joe Biden who is a leader of the kind of caliber that America has not know in quite some time. One of my primary concerns entering this campaign season was that the rift between the two America’s had grown so large that I feared it could not be healed. Americans had forgotten how to participate in intellectual discussion about politics without the conversation turning disgustingly nasty. I felt that Sen. Biden was the ointment that could heal this wound, I saw him as a candidate that both Democrats and Republicans could rally behind. Sadly this will not happen.

Sen. Biden has a long personal story that is heart wrenching and warming at the same time; I will not go into detail about it but I will give the best recommendations to “Promises to Keep”, Biden’s campaign biography. As you should all be aware from me constantly saying it, Biden is the chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and as such has more foreign policy experience than all of the other candidates combined and I feel he would have guided the country in a path that was good for our standing in the world.

Joe has inspired me over that past month as he has participated in a brutal campaign agenda that would kill someone half Obama’s age.

While I am saddened by his decision to pull out (and I sure as hell don’t agree with it) it was his decision and his alone and I support him. Over the course of his career Senator Biden has taught us all what it means to be a true “public servant” by truly serving his constituency and the nation. I believed that I had found with Senator Biden something that I had been looking for, for a long time now, and that is a candidate that I could have 100% confidence in and support to the hilt. Sadly as life teaches us things that are too good to be true often aren’t and while Biden was the real deal his candidacy has come to an end and that is truly a loss for the country which we all call home.

I thank the Senator and his family who have worked tirelessly on this campaign winning voters across the nation. I myself am from a Southern state where I am one of maybe 5 people who know who he is. In this first part of the campaign process I have given the Senator several hundred dollars, which is a lot for a poor starving college student LOL, and I am happy to say that as of 7:05 this morning the campaign’s media fund which started up just a short time ago reached $833,690 and I am proud to say that I contributed to that total.

Biden is truly one of the great leaders of this country and I hope he remains in the public specter for years and years to come. I will say now that I will now be supporting Sen. Clinton in her bid for the party’s nomination.

Again I thank Sen. Biden for inspiring people like me to have a renewed faith in the state of the world as well as in the political process. You will truly be missed from this race.

For old time’s sake:

 Biden 08!!! Clinton for President!!!

First off I’d like to say good job to all of the Obama supporters out there, really good job. Iowa has me disappointed because Biden is not in the single digits, but there are more states out there so I say make we our march to New Hampshire. I’m also upset by Hillary’s showing… 3rd blah. I’d just like to say I’m sitting here watching the Iowa caucus still on C-SPAN and I’d just like to say good job Iowans, you are debating issues in a civilized manner, good job. This type of discourse makes me happy and out legislators should look at them to see how to conduct themselves sometimes. I’m also a little sad that so many people turned out for the presidential nomination part of the caucus but when time comes to talk about the issues there’s like 10 people left.The apathy of the American people what can I say. Learn more about Sen. Biden and support his campaign in any of the other 49 states HERE. Biden 08!!!

With Iowa caucusing tonight there has been little talk of anything else that is taking place in the political world at the moment.

 

Yesterday California Congressman Tom Lantos announced that he will not be reaching re-election due to medical reasons.

 

"Routine medical tests have revealed that I have cancer of the esophagus.  In view of this development and the treatment it will require, I will not seek re-election.” 

Congressman Lantos is the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in the Congress. He was elected into the House in 1980; Lantos is the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he is a strong voice for responsible international involvement, and advocate for participation in international organizations, and particularly for Human Rights. I ask that everyone go to the Congressman’s website and write him a little note thanking him for his service to our nation over that past three decades. The Congressman has served our nation as an inspiration for the “American Dream”.  Email Here 

Tom and his wife Annette are the parents of two daughters - Annette and Katrina - they have seventeen grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

It comes up that if you’re not in the 12th Congressional District of CA your email will not be responded to but say thank you anyway.

During the past two weeks, Senator Hillary Clinton has earned the endorsements of key newspapers across the state of New Hampshire, including 11 Salmon Press weekly papers, Foster's Daily Democrat and Laconia Citizen, four Cabinet Press weekly papers, the Keene Sentinel and the Concord Monitor.

All agree that Hillary is the right candidate to tackle our country's toughest challenges starting on day one.

Hillary has tirelessly stood up for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people. She is the best choice for our community. Her vision and her record are unmatched by any other candidate in 2008.

HILLARY'S VISION

She supports civil unions, declaring that all Americans in committed relationships should have EQUAL benefits -- from health insurance to life insurance and property rights. She supports passage of ENDA, to end discrimination in the workplace against Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual AND Transgendered individuals. She supports ENDA with the same rights for Transgendered people as for the rest of the LGBT community. She supports ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military. She supports passage of federal hate crimes legislation. 

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Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico is a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. He is at the top of the 'second-tier' candidates and is moving up in polls as people learn more about him. He was a Congressman from New Mexico for 14 years, and was United Nations Ambassador from the U.S. and Energy Secretary, both under President Bill Clinton. He was elected Governor of New Mexico in 2002 with 58% of the vote, and was re-elected in 2006 with 69% of the vote. He has negotiated hostage releases with the leaders of North Korea, Cuba and Iraq prior to the Iraq war, and is still called upon - most recently negotiating a ceasefire in the Darfur region of the Sudan in Africa. He has made New Mexico a leader in clean and green energy and environmental issues, cut taxes, brought thousands of new jobs to one of the poorest states in the nation, and made sure all New Mexicans will have health insurance. He is THE candidate with the experience to actually be president and restore the U.S.'s place as a respected world leader. He is Latino, is bilingual and will deal with the immigration issue in a strong but compassionate manner.
But - for gay and lesbian people and our friends, Governor Richardson is also a strong supporter of gay rights. Immediately upon becoming governor in 2003, he signed an executive order extending domestic partner benefits to state employees, he pushed for and got in the legislature sexual orientation and transgender protections statewide, and pushed through a hate crimes bill the former governor had refused to sign. While he does not support same-sex marriage (at this point), he has called the New Mexico legislature back into special session in part to pass a statewide domestic partnership bill. When some conservative lawmakers in New Mexico attempted to push through a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, Governor Richardson flat out said he would veto it, keeping New Mexico one of only five states that does not have a constitutional amendment nor a 'defense of marriage act' prohibiting same-sex marriage. He has already called for a repeal of "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" and stated unequivocably that General Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was wrong to call homosexuality 'immoral' unlike any of the front-running candidates.
Below please find an article in the Albuquerque Journal from Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 which details the Governor's support for OUR rights. He is way out ahead of the so-called 'front-runners' Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, on our issues. I hope you will read the following article and consider supporting Governor Bill Richardson for President! Please see www.RichardsonforPresident.com for more information.


Albuquerque Journal, Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Gov. Talks Tough On Gay Rights

By Jeff Jones
Journal Politics Writer
A call to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy concerning gays in the military. A rebuke of a top general's comments on homosexuality. And a call for a special legislative session, in part to deal with a domestic partners bill.
Gov. Bill Richardson has done all three in less than a weekâ?" shortly before two planned speeches to national gay rights groups. And one nonpartisan political observer said Tuesday the 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful appears to be courting the gay vote, which she said is in play.
"It can be a pretty big voteâ?" and it can be worth a lot of money," said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor for The Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C. "This does seem to be a group up for grabs, that has been a little disappointed with the response they've gotten from the front-runners."
Richardson presidential campaign spokesman Pahl Shipley said Tuesday that Richardson has a long record of promoting diversity and equality.
The governor "has been consistent throughout his career in fighting discrimination and supporting civil rights for all Americans," Shipley said. "This is nothing new."
Richardson on Saturday is scheduled to speak at a National Stonewall Democrats convention in Las Vegas, Nev., followed by a keynote speech at a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Los Angeles. The former group bills itself as the nation's only grassroots Democratic lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization; the latter group is the largest gay rights group in the country.
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military was in the national news last week when the Pentagon released figures showing the number of homosexuals discharged under the policy dropped in 2006. And Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, angered gay advocacy groups when he said he considered homosexual acts "immoral."
Gay rights groups faulted Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for what they saw as less-than-direct responses to Pace's comments. But Richardson took the issue head-on.
In addition to calling for a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Richardson said he did not believe that homosexuality was immoral, called Pace's comments "unfortunate" and said the Bush administration should reject them.
A Journal message left Tuesday for a Human Rights Campaign spokesman was not returned. Duffy of The Cook Political Report said the campaign in many ways speaks for the gay community.
"This is a very well-connected group of people," Duffy said. "It is a community that will support the candidate who has been, at the very least, sensitive to their issues."
Richardson has said he opposes gay marriage, but supports civil unions.
In 2003, he signed an executive order extending benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian state employees. That year, he signed a hate crimes law that can tack additional prison time onto offenders' sentences.
A measure he backed in the just-concluded regular legislative sessionâ?" and again is seeking in a special sessionâ?" would extend what are essentially marriage rights to certain unmarried couples, whether gay or straight.

Well, I never thought the Republican Party or one of their candidates could surprise me but I guess I was wrong. Mitt Romney is so desperate to get young people involved in his campaign he is now paying them to raise money for him and of course, the young republicans are falling for it hook, line and sinker.   Read More »

 Gen. Pace Calls Homosexuality Immoral
(Washington) The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday he considers homosexuality to be immoral and the military should not condone it by allowing gay soldiers to serve openly, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace likened homosexuality to adultery, which he said was also immoral, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

 

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Longtime Democratic activist Buck Massey passed away peacefully in his sleep this Tuesday night.   Read More »