More great news for lovers of American Values such as the equal protection (supposedly) guaranteed to all under our U.S. Constitution!

On the heels of a ban on discrimination against same-sex marriage by the Iowa Supreme Court's conservative reading of their state's constitution last week, the Vermont legislature today has overridden their Governor's veto to officially recognize the right of same-sex partners to be officially married under the protection of state law.

Vermont becomes the fourth state (following MA, CT and IA) to currently recognize marriage equality, after they'd formerly adopted "first-in-the-nation civil unions law" nine years ago. We're delighted to see two-thirds of each Statehouse chamber override the Governor's veto of a law which will correct the injustice of segregation via "civil unions".

Vermont's Legislature is the first in the Union to affirm the right to marriage equality. Previous rulings, in four states, have been made by state Supreme Courts, each with a Republican-appointed Justice penning the majority opinion.

4 states down, 46 to go, in the quest for Constitutional Conservatism and the equal protection for all. (At least in this matter.)

LATE UPDATE: Congratulations are due to Rachel Maddow (or someone on her staff) for her headline tonight: "I Now Pronounce You Ben & Jerry"

From an emailer in Florida...

And we continue to hear from other sources that the bottleneck in Florida is at check-in with the state's new, computerized voter registration system, not with the new paper ballot op-scan system which is used after a voter votes. (Though there have been reported problems with the state's new Diebold print-on-demand system for printing ballots for voters to fill out as well.)

Rachel Maddow correctly noted (see video below) that these waits in FL, GA, and elsewhere, amount to a "poll tax." She's right.

As I noted last week, we have just one early voting location in all of Los Angeles --- the largest voting jurisdiction in the country, larger than 41 states combined --- and at this point, I have no idea if I'll be able to vote myself if the lines are too long tomorrow, since I have to go on air LIVE, hell or highwater at 3pm PT to anchor the NovaM Radio Network's "Special Election Night Coverage."

Here's what the lines looked like this weekend at L.A.'s only early voting location, a 40-minute drive from where I live (photo: Margery Epstein)...

And here's Rachel making her case, and pointing to 10 hour lines in Atlanta and elsewhere...

Guest Blogged by Brad Jacobson of MediaBloodhound

Considering many of the staggering results of Thursday's New York Times/CBS News poll, overall media coverage and examination of the findings have been less than thorough. With the seeming sea change that has occurred, when comparing public opinion before both conventions to public opinion now (the period measured in the poll), you might think it would garner at least as much attention as, say, lipstick-on-a-pig palooza.

Taken as a whole, findings of this poll --- some noted in Thursday's national media discourse, some not --- paint the bleakest picture yet for the McCain/Palin ticket.

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

Does anything that George W. Bush and John McCain say matter? Based on this colloquy between Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on "Countdown" last night, apparently not:

Here's the question Bush was asked in May 2007, as well as a bit of preamble to the money quote:

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

I happened to catch the end of Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC a couple of Fridays ago, and heard him sign off with this:

All eight of you? It's not often you hear a cable host admit his ratings suck.

I knew someone at TVNewser would pick this up, and, sure enough:

In the background, of course, is the ratings success of "Countdown," Keith Olbermann's groundbreaking show at 5 p.m. Olbermann has surprised nearly everyone in the cable news business by creating a rating success with news slanted to the left and commentary that often excoriates George Bush and his regime.

"Countdown" has been on for more than four years so it was just a matter of time before the executives at MSNBC noticed (or could no longer deny) that Olbermann's show is the most successful live show in their line-up. Now it seems they're ready to copy Olbermann's success by bringing on another liberal host (which would make a grand total of two in all of TV land).

Once again, the fine folks from Air America's Unfiltered program spent a decent chunk of time yesterday morning chatting about some of the latest BRAD BLOG news. Last time we heard about them going on about us, it was about ourClint Curtis/Raymond Lemme story. This time, they picked up on our new friends Thor and Dyke of the American Center for Voting Rights (the phony GOP front group pretending to give a damn about the rights of voters).

Host Rachel Maddow and her guest, Isaac Davey Aaronson (we hope that's how it's spelled!), chat it up for about 10 minutes and have some very nice things to say about The BRAD BLOG in the bargain.

Here's your pick of the litter: Streaming RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or MP3 Download.

By the way, we'd still be happy to guest on Unfiltered if they'd like the latest skinny from the actual horse's mouth. Feel free again to suggest it to them! Or to Randi Rhodes or to Al Franken or all the rest of 'em!

(Hat tip to the several folks who shouted out to us about it and to AirAmericaPlace.com for making the bulk of AAR's shows available in the archives!)

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.

Yesterday morning Air America's Unfiltered program discussed the latest wrinkles in the Clint Curtis/Raymond Lemme revelations reported here earlier this week. It was a quick hit. Just a few minutes during a short segment on some recent news items with host Rachel Maddow and her guest, Isaac Davey Aaronson (we hope that's how it's spelled!).

A few points in the story were bungled and they missed one big one (the photos that didn't exist!), but they mentioned BRAD BLOG enough times that we're more than willing to overlook any innocent transgressions on their part. (Never let it be said we aren't generous!)

The clip is short enough that even dial-uppers should be able to give it a quick listen.
About 3.5 minutes: Streaming RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or MP3 Download.

By the way, we'd be happy to guest on Unfiltered to give 'em the unbungled skinny if they'll have us. Feel free to suggest it to them!

(Thanks to eagle-eared BRAD BLOG friend, Jaime, for catching it, and letting us know! And thanks to Air America Radio Place for making AAR archives available! We've heard tell of many BRAD BLOG mentions on AAR in the past, but never knew where to go back and hunt 'em down until now! Free BRAD BLOG T-Shirt to the next BRAD BLOG reader who catches another BRAD BLOG cite on AAR!...If we should ever have BRAD BLOG T-Shirts that is...And while you're at it, ask Randi Rhodes to have us on as well!...And Al Franken...And all the rest!...Let's go, people! I can't do everything around here!)