links for 2009-01-10

But few remember that 32 years ago, when Brown was governor of California, he played a crucial role on the same issue – he signed the landmark bill that changed the state's definition of marriage from a contract between two persons to one specifically between a man and a woman.

At the time, proponents of the bill praised it as one that would "outlaw marriages between homosexuals."

The author of that bill, former Republican Assemblyman Bruce Nestande of Orange County, told The Chronicle this week that he wrote AB607 to specifically limit marriage to being between a man and a woman. He won support from conservatives such as state Sen. John Briggs of Fullerton, who would later author the notorious but unsuccessful Briggs Initiative that attempted to ban gays from working in public schools. Briggs carried Nestande's bill in the Senate and said it would "restore some sense of morality to the state of California."
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Jerry Brown reflects what is politically expedient

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin expressed displeasure Friday with media reports of her recent comments about Caroline Kennedy.

“I was not commenting at all on Caroline Kennedy as a prospective U.S. senator, but rather on the seemingly arbitrary ways in which news organizations determine the level and kind of scrutiny given to those who aspire to public office,” Palin said. “In fact, I consider Ms. Kennedy qualified and experienced, and she could serve New York well.”
“I’ve been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope,” Palin said during the interview. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”
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Caroline Kennedy is a weak candidate and the GOP should welcome her

Citing a lack of experience, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) is leading an effort to thwart Barack Obama’s expected nomination of CNN’s Sanjay Gupta to become surgeon general.

But there are also indications that Conyers’s opposition is linked to a 2007 public clash between Gupta and the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore.
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Michael Moore continues to be a MORON

The dust had barely settled on Sen. Kit Bond's (R-Mo.) announcement that he would not seek a fifth term in 2010 when word came out of Ohio that Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) was also weighing retirement.

The Columbus Dispatch headlined its piece "Voinovich said to be iffy about running in 2010"; Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Brent Larkin offered this assessment: "Running in 2010 remains an option but my guess (actually, it's more than a guess) is that Voinovich is giving serious consideration to stepping aside."
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Rob Portman or John Kasich would be better candidates than Voinovich.