In a bit of good news for those who believe that every American, regardless of who they are, has a right to try to live free from harassment and attack, the Senate yesterday passed the Matthew Shepard Act, which, according to the Human Rights Campaign website “updates and expands the federal hate crimes laws to include bias motivated violence based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability, and provides new resources and tools to assist local law enforcement in prosecuting vicious crimes.” To prevent a possible veto, the Senate has bundled it together with a defense authorization bill and claimed that fighting domestic terrorism in all of its forms is as important fighting it anywhere else.

Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho?

He voted against the bill…