Burnt Orange Report

Thanks for the update and correction, Byron. It is the self-correcting nature of blogging that maintains the integrity of this new medium.

In the same spirit, I want to amend my original comment--undoubtedly, Rep. Keffer does love his son. But I still take issue with those who preach family values, yet, disown their children or vote against their best interest. I, too, will be disappointed if Keffer's vote goes against providing equal opportunity for his son.

Apologizing when you think you're wrong is always admirable, but I don't think you're wrong here. I don't care if it's a child, parent, best friend of whatever -- if you claim you love someone, and then vote specifically and directly against their equality under the law, against their basic human dignity, against their access to an institution that you take for granted, well, I doubt that love.

There is no possible justification for treating someone you claim to "love" in such a manner. It is completely reprehensible.

This goes beyond politics and party and is a DIRECT question about how you view gay people, whether you think they're truly worthy of equality and the recognition of their basic human dignity.

If this goes to the ballot, and if my parents vote for it, I would consider that a direct attack on me, and will respond accordingly. How much more of a direct attack it would be to have one's own parent write it.

It takes a uniquely terrible person to actively support a bill that will denigrate one's own child.

Sorry, I should have said "How much more of a direct attack it would be to have one's own parent publicly back it." and not "write it." My fingers got ahead of me.

Byron, kudos on the mea culpa, but I gotta disagree with you on the Hate Crimes bill. We should not be doling out special treatment or heightened penalties for crimes depending on what the person was thinking, regardless of how repugnant the thoughts may be to you or me. Thought crime is a very dangerous road to start down.

We have always doled out different penalties for crimes based on why the crime was committed. Adding "hatred of a class of people" to the subset which carries harsher punishment hardly seems like the invocation of thought police.

Shouldn't a crime that was intended to punish a person for being black, and thus wreak terror in the entire black community (thus spreading outward the number of victims), be punished more harshly than, say, an unthinking crime of passion?

Not all crime is created equal.