Stunning, simply stunning, in a very good way. If/when video comes out I’ll post a link.

**UPDATE**

Video and transcript. Where the hell has this GWB been?

Faces mean a lot in terms of physical attraction but I have to point out that sometimes all it takes are nice arms, tattoos, a military uniform, and a large automatic weapon. The gloves are a nice touch too.

The war is won in small battles. In-and-of themselves, winning these small battles may not seem like much. Yet in the end, they can add up to change the world.

I have to admit it. I am really cynical when it comes to other people. It takes a really long time for me to trust anyone and I have maybe two people in this world I have assigned the designation “friend” to. So that is why I feel the need today to single out one person in particular and thank him for being just a really great person.

Mark Jaquith, author of Tempus Fugit, is one of those genuinely nice people. Mark willingly gave a lot of his time for the Take Back the Memorial petition, which is deeply appreciated. But more recently, he saw my post regarding my broken trackbacks. I have let the problem go for weeks because I just didn’t have the time. Mark offered to dig in there and fix the problem - and he did. He didn’t ask for anything. He just did it.

Now, he will say he didn’t have much else going on, and that may well be. But of all the many things I am sure he could have done to fill his time, he offered to help out nearly a perfect stranger.

Maybe its just me, but I don’t often run into that kind of selflessness very often, especially from someone that only knows me as a name at the other end of a computer somewhere.

Thanks Mark. We could sure use more people like you.

WOW. I didn’t see this.

I just started thanks to seeing the link in a few places. Michael Yon is an author spending a great deal of time in Iraq, visiting the parts of Iraq we never hear about in the MSM, hearing things from Iraqis we never hear in the MSM.

An Iraqi. A Kurd. A Yezidi. A village Headman. Whatever the label, more than forty years after his birth, this man came home. Only now, after the latest war, does Mr. Qatou finally have confidence in the peace, after more than a half century of life lived under orders or under sentence.

This seemed like the moment to ask the question, “What do you think of the United States?”

“We cry when America loses one soldier. We pray for the soldiers every night.”

Many Kurds had expressed the same sentiment. One had said poetically: “For every drop of American blood, we shed one thousand Kurdish tears.”

Make Michael’s blog a regular read. It will do your resolve good to hear some good news from someone that is actually there, walking among the people.

Give it up for Crystal!!

Dear Robert and Greg,

Thank you for contacting our office regarding congressional tours during your stay in Washington, D.C. Below, you will find your REVISED confirmation dates and times for tours that we were able to secure for you. Should you have any questions please feel free to contact us at 202-225-8104. We look forward to your arrival and to making your visit to our nation’s capital a memorable one.

Capitol: Friday, May xx, 2005 at xx:xx am. Please come by our office located in the Cannon House Office Building, Room 205. (Metro: Capitol South)

Sincerely,

Crystal

Crystal xxxxxxx
Staff Assistant
Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo

I am so excited I could piss myself!

I finally hit the 10,000 visitors mark today! Thanks to everyone that has stopped by since September 2004!

Not that we will be moving anytime soon, but it is nice to know there are options for a nice conservative gay couple.

Connecticut’s House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday that would make the state the second to establish civil unions for same-sex couples, and the first to do so without being directed by a court.

The state Senate overwhelmingly approved a civil-unions bill last week, and lawmakers said they expect to endorse the House version as early as next week. Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) said Wednesday that she will sign it.

The House also passed an amendment — favored by Rell and designed to make the bill more palatable to more conservative members — that defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

“It’s an unbelievable victory,” said Rep. Michael P. Lawlor (D), one of the bill’s main supporters. “The idea that both houses endorsed this concept of civil unions is an incredible step.”

Yeah for Connecticut! Ed @ Captain’s Quarters sums it up quite nicely.

If a momentum toward Civil Unions can be built on actions like this, it could verly likely start an irreversible trend in most states. As I have said before, I am for gay marriage but I will take anything that means a hospital can’t tell me I can’t see my partner.

The most dramatic and touching moment in the entire speech. The embrace between a soldier’s mother and the Iraqi woman whose freedom her son died for.

How can this not be right? How can this not be one of the most important things this country will ever do?