At a time of intense intolerance and homophobia in American politics, Minnesota GOP Rep. John Kriesel took the floor to beg his colleagues not to vote for a constitutional amendment that would ban same sex marriage. Kriesel’s simple words and humanity offer a true profile of courage to politicians across the country.
This is his first term. He previously survived for ten years in the Minnesota National Guard and was deployed to Kosovo in 2004 as part of a NATO peacekeeping force and to Iraq where he was stationed at Camp Fallujah. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, Purple Heart Medal, and Bronze Star Medal. He lost his legs while serving in Iraq.
In the speech, he mentions Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, a gay servicemember from Minnesota who enlisted in January 2009 and was killed Sunday, Feb. 27, in Afghanistan when an IED exploded during an attack on his unit. He was 31. Below is a tribute to Cpl. Wilfahrt:
Some of his colleagues, however, showed a different view by inviting a homophobia and extremist pastor to give the opening prayer.
Jonathan Turley
http://minnesotaindependent.com/82050/dayton-vetoes-anti-gay-marriage-amendment-in-symbolic-gesture Minnesota is very fortunate to have democrat Mark Dayton as governor. He also vetoed two anti-abortion measures today and a voter id bill.
It’s not like I don’t know or can’t find out what is going on in Wisconsin. If there isn’t a candidate that I like I will write in or I will move. But blind party loyalty, No, not for me. I might support Feingold but ONLY if he steps up to my issues. Otherwise I will publicly criticize him. I don’t buy the idea of Democrats a a popularity club and me as loyal peon.
Thanks for that bit of “good news” about Feingold, Swarthmore mom. I hope that he runs.
Tommy Thompson is the republican that is running for the Senate. Maybe you should take a look at him, kay.
In order for me to support Feingold for senator, he would have to make a public commitment to pro se rights and better insurance regulation. I’m not prepared to support anyone just because they are a Democrat. I have been a Democrat for 35 years. The people in Colorado who hurt me were Democrats. I was an active President Obama supporter. I spent weeks blogging for Obama in the conservative forums I usually choose as a place for confrontation, the WSJ etc.,and I am convinced I brought him votes. I have been really upset about the lack of support from Democrats re pro se rights in general and my constitutional rights in particular. I’m also really upset that the DOJ Data Integrity Committee hasn’t been meeting. I understand that Obama inherited DOJ with Bush hires but I need action.
The most important issue to me is corruption. I don’t care if it’s by Republicans or Democrats, I am against corruption.
I bought the domain name “corruptionresarch.biz”. I don’t have my website up yet but if anyone wants research into government corruption let me know at kaysieverding@aol.com. My rates are reasonable and I am committed. I wrote “Municipal Securities Regulation: A Public Perspective” ISBN 0-916450-18-X.” I’ve always been an excellent researcher. I am ranked in the 99% percentile for reading speed, reading comprehension, and long term thinking.
As far as my legal situation, there have been several recent court opinions totally contradicting the decisions in our lawsuit, in which we were totally “screwed”.