On the Ground in Mass.

Over at BOP a correspondent tells us about the debate in the Mass legislature.

Now, this supposedly polite and proper debate is getting nastier and nastier. State Rep. Marie Parente (D) was droning on and on this afternoon about her background as a foster child and Italian American and how she isn't "anti-color" which I assume means racist in 1930s English. I learned one thing from her, however, apparently the word "Nasty" comes from Thomas Nast's anti-Catholic political cartoons. Speaker Finneran tried to interrupt her to adjourn "briefly" but she talked right through him several times, stating that lawyers briefs were anything but. Then Finneran just turned off her microphone and gaveled the session adjourned to get rid of her.

But the best speech of today so far was Sen. Jarret Barrios (D), who told a personal tale of how his son got sick (104.5 degree fever) once and he couldn't take him to the hospital, because the papers had his partner (he is openly gay) listed as the parent and not him. He spoke eloquently and, in my view persuasively, about how a DOMA [Defense Of Marriage Act] would, in fact preclude any civil marriages.