In this photograph provided by Codepink/Iraq Veterans Against the War, Chloe Jon-Pau, a 71-year-old member of the group Codepink, is confronted by a U.S. Park Police police officer as she attempts to join the Independence Day parade Tuesday, July 4, 2006 in Washington. Jon-Pau and an Iraqi War veteran were arrested by police for attempting to disrupt the parade. (AP Photo/Codepink, Iraq Veterans Against the War)

NY Times: New York's Highest Court to Rule on Gay Marriages

In what one legal scholar called a contest between judicial hearts and minds, parsing of legal texts and private sympathies, New York's highest court is expected to rule Wednesday on whether to permit gay and lesbian marriages in the state.

Our campaign strongly supports marriage equality for same-sex couples, and we hope the Court will do the right thing in this case.

If you'd like to know if Senator Clinton supports gay marriage, we suggest you call her office and inquire. Nobody we know has been able to get an answer to the question.

Today Code Pink launches the Troops Home Fast, a "historic hunger strike to bring the troops home fast."

Events begin today in Washington, and the fast starts at midnight in front of the White House:

While many Americans will be expressing their patriotism via barbeques and fireworks, we'll be fasting in memory of the dead and wounded, and calling for the troops to come home from Iraq.

The fasters' demands are simple:

FASTERS DEMAND...

A commitment to fund a massive reconstruction effort but with funds going to Iraqi, not U.S., contractors

You can JOIN THE FAST, even if you can't go to Washington. What could be more patriotic, on the day we celebrate the American Revolution?

Thousands of New Yorkers are beginning to return to their homes and clean up their property after the disastrous flooding of this past week. Our thoughts are with all of you in Binghamton, Sullivan County, the Southern Tier, Catskills and Mohawk Valley, and throughout the flooded regions. We wish you all the best and hope for drier days to come.

In the aftermath, it's not enough for elected officials to assess the damage and allocate funds to compensate the dispossessed. We must address the cause of these extreme weather cycles that are wreaking havoc around the globe. While the Bush administration would have us believe that intelligent design is a fact while global warming is an opinion, scientists know better.

Paul Epstein of Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment predicts that the type of extreme storms we have just experienced will only become more common in future. As Reuters reports:

"Scientists and climatologists are looking at one another and we're just stunned because no one, even in the 1990s, projected the magnitude of the storms and degree of warming in the Arctic that we are seeing," [Epstein] said.

Democracy for NYC has endorsed Jonathan Tasini by an overwhelming margin. This non-profit political action committee, with chapters throughout the city, is committed to the ideals espoused by Democracy for America, the organization founded by Howard Dean. Jonathan is honored to receive their endorsement.

This is one more in a series of endorsements by progressive political clubs around the state, clubs whose members are determined to take our party back. We thank them!