(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 07 Feb 2003 08:44:21 GMT)

The In­de­pen­dent profiles Con­gress­woman Barbara Lee, the sole Rep­re­sen­ta­tive to vote against President Bush’s resolution of September 15, 2001 asking Congress for the authority to make war on any person, nation, or or­gan­i­sa­tion deemed re­spon­si­ble for the attacks.

Lee’s argument for voting against the resolution: "Pared down to its essentials, it ran like this: Congress rep­re­sent­ed the rational. It was a body that had to remain above the fray. What decisions it made had to consider the lasting good and not respond to the emotion of the moment. By pushing for a vote so quickly, Lee believed, the Bush …continue.

(Originally posted to Politics at EraBlog on Fri, 07 Feb 2003 GMT 03:19:36)

I didn’t listen to Bush’s State of the Union last week, because I was still at work. Reading about it afterwards, I found it to be pre­dictably ob­jec­tion­able.

I’m a Toast­mas­ter, so I found Salon’s "Horrible" speaker, great speech to be an in­ter­est­ing critique of the delivery and pre­sen­ta­tion.

The only parts of the speech that I did care for were the hydrogen car and the promise to help prevent and treat AIDS in Africa.

Hydrogen cars would be a big im­prove­ment over gas-guzzling SUVs, but there are a few problems. First, they’re many years out and the Ad­min­is­tra­tion is making …continue.

(Originally posted to Queer at EraBlog on Fri, 07 Feb 2003 08:51:06 GMT)

Amy Sohn writes about Hasbians: Women who came out of the closet only to end up in het­ero­sex­u­al re­la­tion­ships.

I came out as bi in 1991. I was very careful never to call myself "gay" because that label never fit me. Even so, that must have been what many people heard, because only that can explain their surprise when I told them a few years later that I had fallen in love with Emma and was going to marry her.

Now many people believe I’m het­ero­sex­u­al, unless I take the trouble to educate them. Bisexual In­vis­i­bil­i­ty. <sigh>