Meanwhile On The West Coast...

(LA Times) The California Senate voted Thursday to allow homosexuals to marry, becoming the first legislative body in the United States to embrace the idea and setting off a scramble for three votes needed for passage in the Assembly.

With so much of the nation's attention being focused on New Orleans and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, perhaps enough of it has diverted the usual hellfire the religious right would typically unleash on such heathen behavior.

There have got to be some other progressive advances in human rights out there that might also benefit from the glare of the TV cameras and front page headlines focusing on the disaster along the Gulf Coast. These days we need all the help we can get.