The "Make Room for Serious Criminals Bill"

Barney Frank and I have long sparred on many issues. He's a liberal Democrat; God knows what I am any more, but a libertarian independent conservative may come close. So we're not going to think alike most of the time. But he's a brilliant and very funny man, as anyone who has tried to debate him knows. If he were straight, in my view, he'd be Speaker of the House by now. And however ornery and prickly he can sometimes be, he has also fought these last few years for pragmatic sanity on gay rights unlike anyone else in the Congress. He has recently been razzed by some gays for being pragmatic about employment discrimination, and stood up for himself. His speech on ENDA was very moving and sincere which, for a cranky, emotionally restrained man like him was a sight to behold. Yeah, I sound gushy don't I? Well it's Easter (not that he'd care). And he's done this. It's a strange world where simple sanity requires courage. But good for him.