dualing resolutions

We heard two resolutions today on the floor of the Colorado Senate.

The first SR09-008 by Senator Newell recognized a season of non-violence. It was mostly a feel-good waste of time for the “give peace a chance” crowd.

I voted for it, heck, I’ll give peace a chance. There were a handful of Republicans who voted against it, though. For my part, I like peace. I don’t really care whether you leave me alone because you are a benevolent person or you know that I will answer your violence with even greater force, as long as you leave me alone. Seems like a workable system.

Then we heard a fairly vanilla resolution, SR09-009 by Senator Foster supporting Israel in the current struggle with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It clearly stated our support for Israel, but also lamented the loss of life on both sides, without blaming Hamas for launching missiles from schools and hospitals.

I see this issue as black and white; Israel is right and should have our support in stopping the rockets that rain down on innocent civilians in the area around Gaza.

I made a few comments about the nature of this battle as one, not over territory, but over the very existence of the only freedom-loving nation in that part of the world. A few others made similar comments and we voted.

Senator “give peace a chance” Newell and one other voted against the resolution supporting Israel.

So I used a parliamentary procedure to bring Newell’s resolution up so that I could run an amendment to it to ask that a copy of the Season of Nonviolence resolution be sent to Hamas.

Senator Newell and all of the Democrats voted against that.