Memorial Day

Among the 58,178 who died in Vietnam ...

TERRY ALBRIGHT - Marine Corps - PFC - Age 21;
DENNIS CALTON - Army - 1LT - 196th Light Infantry Brigade - Age 23;
ANDREW CHICANTEK - Marine Corps - LCPL - Age 18;
RAYMOND CHURCHILL - Army - SGT - 25th Infantry Division, Age 19;
ROBERT CRAWLEY - Army - SP4 - 9th Infantry Division - Age 22;
ERROLD FARRAR - Army - SGT - Special Forces - Age 22;
RONALD HAGEN - Army - MSGT - Special Forces - Age 39;
ROBERT HASZ - Navy - AN - Age 21;
LELAND JOHNSON - Air Force - A1C - Age 21;
JOHN KAZANOWSKI - Army - CAPT - Special Forces - Age 31;
THOMAS KLEMP - Army - SP4 - 1st Infantry Division - Age 19;
CLAYTON LUTHER - Army - PFC - 1st Infantry Division - Age 19;
GUADALUPE MARTINEZ - Army - SFC - Special Forces - Age 32;
RONALD NEUBAUER - Army - CAPT - Special Forces - Age 29;
THOMAS NEWMAN - Army - 1LT - Age 24;
MICHAEL PROTHERO - Army - PFC - 101st Airborne Division - Age 19;
HECTOR RIVERA-COLON - Army - SFC - Special Forces - Age 30;
WILLIAM ROEGLIN - Army - SGT - 4th Infantry Division - Age 20;
ROBERT SCHELL JR - Army - SP4 - Special Forces - Age 22;
JEROME SCHUETT - Marine Corps - PVT - Age 19;
RICHARD STEIN - Army - SP4 - Age 20;
MURREL THOMAS - Army - SSGT - Special Forces - Age 37;
KENNETH WORTHLEY - Army - SSGT - Special Forces - Age 22.

... and of the 58,178 ...

... approximately 2,000 were deemed by the military to be unfit to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States because they were gay or lesbian.

Stupid beyond stupid ...

Associated Press - May 16, 2008 - Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him. Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor."

Nobody laughed. Even the most hard-core Obama opponents are not stupid enough to joke about the very real possibility that Barack Obama will be assassinated.

It just blows me away ...

Minnesota is a state where citizens get tired of waiting around for politicians to do anything, and take the initiative in bringing change.

Jack Baker and James Michael McConnell, for example, applied for a marriage license in Hennepin County, Minnesota in 1970, the first known attempt by a same-sex couple to marry in the United States. The license was denied, and this denial was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. Not surprising, but Baker and McConnell acted in the best tradition of citizen action.

Alan Benson got tired of waiting around, too. After buttonholing politicians for two years, he drafted his own legislation mandating equality in Minnesota marriage laws, and the bill was introduced last week by two DFL legislators, Representative Phyllis Kahn and Senator John Marty. Currently, the bill has 14 sponsors in the House and five in the Senate, the maximum allowed.

As Benson put it: "I'm 54 years old, and I'm sick of waiting." Benson and his partner have been together for almost twenty years, so I can emphatize with his impatience.

The bill won't be passed this year, because it was introduced late in the legislative session, and it will have to be reintroduced next year. Benson is nonplussed. He is determined to change the discussion in Minnesota from "protecting marriage" to a discussion of marriage equality, according to news reports.

Benson, who has been lobbying for marriage equality for two years, said: "There are a lot of legislators here who support marriage equality. Some who are in unsafe districts are even willing to lose office in order to see marriage equality become reality in Minnesota. They have told me this. They're an inspiration." As to the bill itself, Benson said: ""Many of the 19 legislators who signed on to this bill did so without even batting an eye. It just blows me away."

It blows me away, too. Good for you, Alan Benson.