i hope to soon have some cogent thoughts on this mack truck of a wedge issues the republicans have unleashed upon our country with regard to same-sex marriage and the constitution, but i've lately been reading too much about it to venture anything original.

all i can say for now is that the notion of an amendment that explicitly denies a group of people rights is abhorrent. go here and here to read some measured and clearheaded reasons why.

and the only thing worse than a wedge issue is one that wedges for sole purpose of making people choose x or y, when even reasonable people may have problems with both x and y. Fortunately, it looks as though the votes aren't there to allow this to pass the senate.

sadly though, this whole issue will have likely done its job of making decent people like edwards and kerry look like wafflers and equivocators, and of making bush look like the patently offensive Christian soldier so many on the right fringe want him to be.

after all, he'll want to resemble a soldier of some kind come november.