From the “Be careful what you wish for” department: Boston Globe staffers have been told that health and dental benefits for gay employees’ domestic partners are being discontinued. Gay couples who want to keep their benefits must marry by Jan. 1.

A memo sent to the Globe’s Boston Newspaper Guild members, and obtained by the Herald, states that Massachusetts gay Guild employees can extend their benefits to their partners only if they marry.

Now that gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts companies that offer benefits to gay employees’ partners risk hearing cries of discrimination from unmarried straight couples.

"We have no evidence that the U.S. was able to sabotage North Korea's Taepodong-2 missile, which malfunctioned 42 seconds into launch on Tuesday and crashed.
But we do note that special operations forces (SOF) are playing an increasing role, overt and covert, in the world under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's rule. We also note that one of the reasons that SOF procured the powerful .50- caliber Barrett's sniper rifle was to have the capability to disable ballistic missiles. It's a scenario for missile defense you won't see in any literature from the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency: insert a commando behind the lines, who positions himself within shooting range of the launchpad.

"One of the original reasons for procuring the .50-caliber sniper system was to disable missiles," a SOF source says. "A round pumped in prior to launch, or during to cover the noise, in the right place would cause a catastrophic malfunction."

I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s my idea of “quiet diplomacy.”

Two major decisions in the defense of marriage occurred today. A 4-2 decision issued July 6 by the New York Court of Appeals upheld the state’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman and said that it was up to the state legislature to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriage.

In Georgia, the case revolved around a 2004 ballot initiative. Seventy-six percent of Georgia voters had approved a ban on gay marriage. But opponents of the ban sued, arguing that the ballot language was misleading. The ballot measure had asked voters to decide on allowing both same-sex marriage and civil unions. State officials argued that Georgians knew what they were voting on when they overwhelmingly approved the ballot measure.

These decisions are also important for the rule of law as each court took the opportunity to rule on the issue based on existing law or, in the case of Georgia, a portion of the State constitution. Hopefully this trend will continue and help curtail the habit of the left rushing to the nearest judge to overturn the will of the people.

“North Korea responded to international anger over its missile tests by threatening today to launch still more missiles, and warned of "stronger physical actions" if other nations impose sanctions on it.”

The increased rhetoric and threats to launch additional missiles and provide “stronger physical actions” are expected as the North Koreans are attempting to recover from their latest misstep. The launch of the test missiles last week was intended as a show of force and to increase their negotiating position. As an added bonus, a successful launch of the Taepodong II would help their sales of technology to foreign customers. Unfortunately, the long-range Taepodong-2 intercontinental missile failed just 41 seconds into its launch. Although additional short range missiles were used, the long range version was to be the centerpiece of the launch and its failure caused a loss of face and a weakening of their negotiation position.

Despite the international condemnation, they North Koreans will continue to make moves to regain their bargaining position in hopes of returns from their behavior. The news that they are making preparations to launch another long-range Taepodong-2 missile and that they have three or four more missiles ready for firing on launch pads is not unexpected. Look for the Bush administration to continue its pressure and efforts to assemble a coalition of countries, including China, to resolve this issue before force is required.

E.J. Dionne, Jr, Op-ed columnist writer for the Washington Post, penned a piece titled A Dissidents Holiday, proclaiming the goodness of the never ending America bashing from the progressives. Dionne asks:

Have you ever noticed a certain hesitant quality to the expressions of patriotism by progressives or left-wingers? The patriotism of the conservative goes unquestioned But the progressive and the reformer have a problem with what passes for unadulterated patriotism. By nature, the reformer is bound to insist that the country, however glorious, is not a perfect place, that it is capable of doing wrong as well as right.

A certain hesitant quality? Were it only true. My experience is that finding true expressions of patriotism from hard core progressives is like a treasure hunt: You keep hearing that it exists, but you can never seem to find it. Consider the statements of people like Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in the London Telegraph.

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country I don't see why people care about patriotism."

Well she is just a country singer, right? What about the feelings of National pride from a well-connected political activist who would certainly know more than a country singer? From the Daily Kos:

Today I walked out of church about a third of the way through the service. A soloist was performing "God Bless the USA." I have always found that song to be especially cloying, but when I noticed it listed in the bulletin I decided to attempt to tolerate it. And I might have managed to do just that had not one or two individuals prompted the entire congregation to stand.

At that moment I felt as though I'd been punched in the gut. And it was a double whammy - not only was I offended politically, I was deeply offended spiritually. I would never under any circumstance stand in tribute to a performance of that particular song. As far as I'm concerned asking me to stand in a sanctuary bordered on blasphemy. How could I in good conscience stand to embrace the lyrics "I'm proud to be an American" in the very same week we learned U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman then murdered her and her family to cover up the crime? What spiritually unwise person planned this nonsense?

Kos, no doubt, is referring to the arrest and charges against Private Steven Green. The charges are horrible and, if true, he faces the death penalty. Kos, it seems, has already convicted Private Green of his charges as he does not have the presence of mind to assume innocence before guilt. But does the action of a lone private acting on his own undermine the sentiment that Im proud to be an American"? Does it undo the good the US did to defeat Naziism? Does it override the benefit of causing the collapse of the USSR? What about other acts of kindness from Americans such as the nearly billion dollars the Congress gave to tsunami victims or the hundreds of millions of dollars we give to fight malaria and AIDS? No? I thought not.

A certain hesitancy on the part of many liberals would be understandable, but why must their patriotic beliefs always be tied to what they believe America must eventually become and be so unwilling to be proud of all that we do which is good? We all have the freedom to believe as we wish, but it is clear to me that the never-ending critisism of the "progressive" will never pass for what we have known for 230 years as patriotism.