This rant started out as a guideline for what I was going to say to my representative regarding the recent retroactive telecom immunity capitulation by Congress.  It didn't take long to warp itself into a rant regarding Congress' incompetence and inability to claim it's Constitutional place.  It is somewhat unfinished, but I don't have the time to write as long and as in depth as I'd like, there volumes to be written.

Hello, my name is Hiro and I'm a constituent of %representative%.  I'm calling to inform you that I am very disappointed with %representative% and Congress as a whole regarding their inability to fufill their constitutional obligations as a coequal branch of government.

Specifically regarding the multiple "compromises" that Congress has made with the Whitehouse which are nothing more than prettied up capitulation.  Over and over we see this trend: The Whitehouse makes demands, Congress hems and haws and makes a show at resistance, then completely gives in to whatever it is that the Whitehouse wishes.  

I've just returned from my polling place in Arlington, VA (South Arlington, west of I-395) and there was a constant stream of people into the polling place.  Things of note:

My wife went at 8AM this morning and there were >50 people there, and the wait was an hour long!

I went at 10:45AM and there were ~30 people in front of me in line to vote.

It took 25 minutes for me to get to the front of the line.

The length of the line stayed a constant 30 people deep the entire time.

From my very unscientific observations while I was in line, the ratio of Democratic ballots to Republican ballots taken was about 7 to 1, but our neighborhood (and in fact most of Arlington) is very Democratic.

The age, economic, and racial makeup was all over the map, I saw it all as I waited, very encouraging!

So if nothing else, it appears that people are are at least involved, and this bodes well for the Democratic party in November!

Last night I was reading the extensive diary by Evil Paula, regarding The Latino Coalition.  She found a lot of information, and all of it pointed to an republican astroturf organization, and not just because Raising Kaine said so.

I did some digging and found the name & address of the firm that registered The Latino Coalition's domain.

Sullivan & Mitchell PLLC
1100 Connecticut Avenue NW #330
Washington
20036

But then I did some more.  I found that Cleta D. Mitchell was not only a founding partner of Sullivan & Mitchell PLLC (briefly a lobbying firm in DC for Educational Testing Services, Inc. aka ETS), but when ETS started using Foley & Lardner LLP (a HUGE multi-state law firm, with their fingers in everything) Cleta was right there, on the Lobbyist Disclosure form.

Not terribly significant perhaps, but then I found her bio. (after the fold for more)

Looks like Rummy is at it again, saying people who disapprove of the administration's policies "lack the courage to fight terror" i.e. saying that they are cowards.

By that logic, since ~70% of the citizens of the United States disapprove of the way that the Bush Administration has handled the Iraq war, we all "lack courage".

From  CNN:

"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counterterrorism policies of lacking the courage to fight terror.

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from "moral and intellectual confusion" about what threatens the nation's security."

Well, it looks like Virginia may get to show it's true colors regarding human rights come this November, as this referendum just passed both the Virginia House and Senate.

Now the only hurdle for the referendum is now Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).  Considering the vote was unanimous in both the House & Senate his will is largely irrelevant.

I have a lot of faith in Virginians as moderate practical people.  I am proud to have been born and raised in Virginia, but on this subject I'm very afraid the side that many people will come down upon.  Anyone who values equality needs to start thinking about what they are going to do to start the process of making sure that Virginia doesn't write inequality into it's constitution.

Summary below the fold.

UPDATE: It was not clear to me when I found this that it was in fact a vote to ammend the original referendum to display the entire bill at the ballotbox. Thanks to VirginiaBelle for pointing that out.