From the Seattle Times yesterday:

Sen. Cheryl Pflug is joining other lawmakers willing to vote to give same-sex couples the full rights and benefits of marriage.

[...]

Pflug of Maple Valley is the second Republican senator in recent days to say she will support gay-marriage legislation. She has voted for domestic-partnership benefits twice and believes strongly in fairness for all.

"I have been a longtime supporter of human equality," said Pflug. "I do not feel diminished by having another human being experience the same freedom I am entitled to exercise. I would feel diminished by denying another human the ability to exercise those same rights and freedoms."

Good on Pflug. And good on Sen. Steve Litzow (R-Mercer Island).

Ultimately, too, good on Washington gay marriage advocates for taking a legislative, as opposed to judicial, route in attempting to ensure the state will allow gay marriage. [intro]

With three months remaining in 2011, and the presidential race firming up, I've spent a lot of time recently thnking about the respective candidates, their pros and cons, and who I would feel most comfortable supporting. The reality is, I think we're going to be looking at a Perry-Romney showdown, when push comes to shove. And in that context, it's pretty clear at this point to me that I'm in the Perry camp.

I've had some people ask me why that is recently. I originally became known in the blogosphere for being a squishy moderate/squishy libertarian, and some people seem to see that as consistent with preferring Romney to Perry, if those are the choices. So on a relatively quiet Friday, I figured I'd take a minute and spell it out, especially since reasons #1 and #2 are topical and in the news today.

First, from AFP:

A potent US free-trade group that opposes legislation to punish China over its alleged currency manipulation pressed Republican presidential hopefuls Thursday to say where they stand on the bill.

"Voters deserve to know where the Republican candidates stand on the important issue of trade with China," Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said in a statement as the US Senate geared up to act on the measure next week.

The legislation, which enjoys Democratic and Republican support, would make it easier for US firms to seek retaliatory tariffs against Chinese imports if Beijing is found to keep its currency and thus its goods artificially cheap.

[...]

Leading Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney has called China an "economic threat" and vowed to designate Beijing a "currency manipulator," a step that can trigger retaliatory US sanctions....

Lots of news to catch up on:...