Obama takes a big step forward on the decency front:
President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients’ choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.
This is something he should have done long ago, I think. In any event, I’m glad it’s done now. The next step, I presume, is Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli suing to stop this from taking force in Virginia.
freewheel
Isn’t Va. cutting funding for schools, parks, and transportation? If these are such lean times, how come the AG is so flush with $$$ that he can file frivolous lawsuits against the feds? If they’re not going to impeach him, the legislature should at least cut his funding.
MB
Well, if Virginia’s Democrats would have done their job and at least taken control of the House of Delegates, there might be some chance that there would be some legislative muzzling of the AG. Alas, the GOP – which seems to think that you don’t need education or transportation when you’ve got enough guns – is firmly in control of things there.
Scott Nolan
Frankly it’s not the job of just the Virginia Democrats, MB – it’s the shared responsibility of every rational Virginia voter regardless of party affiliation to make sure lunatics like Cuccinelli and a large number of Delegates never get elected…
Sadly, democracy was asleep during the last election and apathetic voters failed to turn out for the non-presidential election enabling the loons to elect their freaky leader/puppets.
Scott Nolan
in other words…
We are ALL to blame.
MB
Fair point, Scott (in fact, one I’m usually the one making). Still, every time I think about last year’s campaign, I want to kick each of the statewide Democrats.