Hatching a Plan - From his local hometown Deseret News, we get another angle on Utah Senator and Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. Yesterday, Hatch "decried problems in laws that sometimes prevent gays from visiting or determining care of partners in hospitals or that prevent them from gaining insurance or estate benefits for partners." According to the account, Senator Hatch went on to say that "he is willing to work with liberals to help prevent discrimination against gays and to expand rights and privileges for them."

Now, for the money quote: "Gay people have a right to be free...and to live within relationships within their own homes, but that doesn't give them or anyone else the right to define marriage." Unlike President Bush, Senator Hatch actually said the word "gay" and indicated that we have rights. However, he utilizes a very calculated sentence construction that puts the blame for redefining marriage squarely on the shoulders of gays. It's an interesting way to launch a rhetorical attack on gays and activist judges.

Hatch also bet that all 50 would pass the amendment...I'm gratified to know that we're likely not to have the opportunity to assess the validity of that statement anytime soon. In the closing paragraphs of the article, Hatch heads off commentary about his own family history related to marriage. The Seantor noted that Mormon polygamists including "an ancestor, Jeremiah Hatch, had three wives and 30 children...practiced polygamy because they believed it to be a spiritual principle." So does that mean if traditional marriage is also based on a spirtual principle...