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I’m late writing about the proposed flag-burning amendment. This is mostly because I cannot believe that an amendment was re-introduced. I thought that we had already dealt with this issue last decade! Burning the flag is a despicable act, but it is also constitutionally-protected free speech. Banning this act would be restricting our First Amendment rights. This amendment would destroy one of the ideals that the flag stands for in an effort to protect the flag. Which just doesn’t make sense.

Well, it didn’t take long to to find a good reason to vote for Bill Ritter for Governor of Colorado in ’06: He has an extremely balanced and educated view of reproductive rights:

However, voters do have a right to know where I stand on this issue. I am pro-life as a matter of personal faith. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision of whether or not to legalize abortions reverts to the states, and if the Colorado Legislature passes a bill banning abortion, I will sign the bill only if it provides protections for women who are victims of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother. However, should the Colorado Legislature pass a complete ban without these protections, I would veto that bill. That said, Roe V. Wade is the law of the land and abortions are legal. As Governor I will act in the same way I did as DA. I will respect the law as it stands, and I will not act to undermine the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion. For example, as Denver DA, I prosecuted those who caused damage and created disruption at family services clinics.

I do believe that there is much to be done in our society, and in our state, to make abortions rare. In the area of teen pregnancy prevention, greater efforts can be made in educating our youth. We can examine the adoption policies of this state and look for ways to support girls and women who find themselves confronting an unplanned pregnancy.

Actually, Mr. Ritter provides a few answers in this interview with ColoradoPols that make me think that he’d be a good choice for governor. Definitely give this interview a read.

Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like someone has finally realized that there might be something fishy about Halliburton’s no-bid contract in Iraq.

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress berated the Pentagon for withholding information about Halliburton’s disputed billing under a $2.5 billion contract for Iraqi oil site repairs and fuel imports.

Saying the Pentagon is acting as if ‘it has something to hide,’ Representative Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, said at a hearing Tuesday that he would support issuing a subpoena to the Pentagon next week if it did not provide long-requested documents relating to the contract, which was awarded to Halliburton in early 2003 without competition.

As expected, Democratic congressman are not happy about the contact, and want to find out what happened to all that money. But the interesting thing about this article is it points to some pissed off Republicans, too. A bipartisan investigation should have no problem getting some answers. And those answers are not going to be good for some people in the White House *cough*Cheney*cough*