Yes, yes, yes.
Although still waiting for Virginia and Montana to be official, winning the House so handily means we'll have some answers and information about this war, our energy policy (It was Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling surely who were the advisors whom Cheney is fighting to hide) and see some debate.
What makes me giddy this morning, though, is our victory here in Montrose where the incumbent rep to our state legislature, Martha Wong, went down in fiery flames. Wong had strongly opposed the gay and lesbian community which is concentrated in her district. She won the seat after the Republicans re-drew the district lines to make sure that the gay and lesbian neighborhoods would be in the minority. The district includes River Oaks, the richest and most Republican neighborhoods in Houston.
When 2 years ago I called Wong's office to urge her not to vote against us, the staff coldly thanked me and sent me away. Wong then voted to put the marriage ban on the Texas Ballot. She also voted to reduce children's health insurance---how does that make sense? I, along with many, was fighting mad. She energized us with the extreme partisan "family values" rhetoric.
Ellen Cohen trounced her!!! The differences during the campaign were stark: Wong's platitudes and Cohen's smart common sense ideas.
For example, Ellen linked gay marriage to end-of-life choices:
"In District 134 we understand that personal life decisions should be made by Texas families, not the Texas Legislature. When Lyon and I had to make end of life decisions it was our decision to make…not the governments. We do not want the government to tell us when life begins or how it should end. We make those decisions with loved ones, physicians, spiritual leaders and from our hearts. We know that every family shares the common value of caring for their loved ones. The recent and courageous vote of District 134 against Proposition 2 shows we do not support hateful measures designed to disenfranchise same-sex partners. And you should not accept a representative unwilling to stand up and be counted on this issue."
Yes, I'm taking the day off to celebrate.
