Last year, the Washington State Supreme Court handed down its wrong­head­ed decision on same-sex marriage.

In a delightful piece of political theater, WA-DOMA has just filed ballot initiative I-957:

If passed by Washington voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would:

• add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;
• require that couples married in Washington file proof of pro­cre­ation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage au­to­mat­i­cal­ly annulled;
• require that couples married out of state file proof of pro­cre­ation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “un­rec­og­nized;”
• establish a process for filing proof …continue.

Inspired by Drinking Liberally, I've founded my own little pro­gres­sive movie club. It will meet at my house on the first Wednesday of every month. We show a pro­gres­sive film, followed by a discussion. Typically, these will be political doc­u­men­taries, but you can also expect to see non-political doc­u­men­taries, fiction, and even the occasional right-wing piece for contrast.

The first film will be shown this coming Wednesday. Here's the an­nounce­ment that I just sent out:

We'll show ONE of the following movies on Wednesday, February 7th. Those who show up will make the choice.

• Jesus Camp. A growing number of Evan­gel­i­cal Christians believe there is a revival underway in America that requires …continue.

I got a reply from Maria Cantwell's office, regarding the email that I sent about Attacking Iran. Clearly no brain cells were used in sending out this form response.

Dear Mr. Reilly,

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns for the de­vel­op­ment of nuclear weapons in Iran. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As you may know, in­ter­na­tion­al nuclear inspectors continue to monitor whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Such a program would be in con­tra­ven­tion to the nuclear non-pro­lif­er­a­tion agreement that Iran has signed. In November 2004, the countries of Britain, France, and Germany negotiated an agreement with Iran, in which Iran …continue.

Via Digby, a warning about the Bush Ad­min­is­tra­tion trying to gin up a case for war against Iran. Arthur Silber and Scott Ritter have things to say.

I just sent the following letter to my Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, my Rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Jim McDermott, and to Senator Russ Feingold.

Senator:

It is quite apparent that the Bush Ad­min­is­tra­tion is working up to provoking a war on Iran. We went through this before, in the leadup to the Iraq war in 2002.

I hold no brief for Iran. They are bad actors in the region. Clearly, they have worrisome nuclear ambitions. And they have little love for the U.S.

But somehow, we survived more …continue.

Keith Olbermann was on fire tonight, condemning the insanity of escalating a lost war that the American public so clearly wants no more of.

Only this president could look out over a vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834 wounded in Iraq, and finally say, “Where mistakes have been made, the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty rests with me” — only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical mistake ... in Iran.

...-

And yet — without any au­tho­riza­tion from the public, which spoke so loudly and clearly to you in November’s elections — without any con­sul­ta­tion with a Congress (in which key members of your own party, including Sens. Sam Brownback, Norm Coleman …continue.

This video says it all.

Go vote tomorrow!

"This isn't an election anymore, it's an in­ter­ven­tion."

—Andrew Sullivan on CNN.

I don't have much time for either Andrew Sullivan or Christo­pher Hitchens. Both of them bear a lot of blame for getting us into Iraq in the first place.

But here they are on CNN yesterday, ripping into Bush for saying that Rumsfeld is doing a fabulous job and that he and Cheney must stay until the end of his presidency.

(Via Amer­i­ca­Blog)

In the past few weeks, I've received not one but two letters from Christine Gregoire, the governor of Washington State, looking for support in re-electing her. The thing is, is that she's running in 2008, not 2006.

I threw away the first one. On the second one, I wrote something like this and mailed it back:

If this had come in December, I have been willing to support you. But not six weeks from a high-stakes election. What the hell are you thinking? Don't bother me again before 2008.

Sheer idiocy. Why would anyone send her money at the moment, instead of making donations towards the mid-term elections?

I just sent the following letter to my senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as to the Seattle Post-In­tel­li­gencer's Letter Page:

How has America come to this? Is the United States of America truly about to repudiate the Geneva Convention? Is the Senate about to let the President decide when and whom to torture?

This is foul. This is wholly un-American. This is deeply immoral. Every civilized society abhors torture.

How can we claim to be spreading Democracy in the Middle East at the same time that we commit torture? Are we to lose all of our moral standing in the eyes of the world under this wretched Ad­min­is­tra­tion?

Tell me …continue.

Nine-Eleven. The date burned into everyone's brain. One of those dates where everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. Emma and I awoke to the radio telling us that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. We went downstairs and watched the TV in horror.

For a time, an all-too-brief time, the country pulled together in a show of unity and grief. The world joined us in an outpouring of support.

There are many reasons why history will condemn George Bush, but one of the most serious is his squan­der­ing that good will for quick partisan advantage. A better man could have built a bipartisan …continue.