But, see, Jesus was with us

Obligatory Pride Week Desperate Grab At Celebrity Reminiscence

Before he was a world famous sex columnist and Gay Parent, Dan Savage was a friend of a friend of a friend and one Gay Pride Day I was with him when he threw-up at the corner of Broadway and Belmont.

Obligatory Pride Week Cultural Activity

I added my copy of Judy Garland's 'legendary' Carnegie Hall concert to the 32,000 other tracks in my digital collection. I was given the CD like four years ago. Clang Clang Clang rang the Trolley!

Actually, Mick Jagger in 1969 tour regalia is my gay icon. I'll stick my knife right down your throat baby and it hurts.

Wotta Coincidence!

Cheney scheduled to Speak in Chicago 6/23/06

FBI Robert Mueller scheduled to speak in Cleveland OH about "Homegrown Terrorism": 6/23/06.

Totally lame IslamoTerrorists who needed US Govt mole money to buy boots and a memory stick arrested for plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower 6/22/06.

Cue Dorothy Parker: There's no 'There' there.

(Obligatory Pride Week Innuendo provided by pic of Sears Tower)

Time To Change This Tradition

Tradition: Americans Change It When It Needs To Be

This is how students saluted the flag before WWII

And Of Course, There's This Guy

A man truly getting comfortable in his (American) skin.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN: In 2004 you came out very strongly in support of John Kerry and performed with him - your fellow guitarist, I think is how you introduced him to the crowd. And some people gave you a lot of flack for being a musician who took a political stand. I remember…

SPRINGSTEEN: Yeah, they should let Ann Coulter do it instead.

Think Progress has the both the video and the full transcript.

I do really hate Soledad O'Brien though....

Why Can't The Democrats Get Guys Like This?

Legendary Texas musician, detective novelist and raconteur, Kinky Friedman makes the ballot for governor as an independent. Isn't the guy who wrote "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore" just the type of candidate the Dems need? This shot is from his celebration.

For a bio, go here.

Pride Week Obligatory Broadway Musical Memory

First Raise in Minimum Wage in 9 Years Fails again thanks to Fine Christian Congressmen

More Reasons To Hate Lieberman

Haggard, isn't she?
From ThinkProgress:

Coulter Derides Call For New Iraq Strategy, Endorses Lieberman Approach

Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter appeared on Fox News this afternoon to discuss the war in Iraq. Coulter derided the lawmakers who have called for a redeployment strategy from Iraq, questioning whether “FDR [had] to deal with this during World War II.” She argued that the only type of politician she “admires” is someone like Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) because he “does want to defend America and fight the war on terrorism.” Lieberman has argued “our troops must stay” in Iraq. Watch it.

GT12 Official Pride Week Political Foto-Spread

Amazing how many look like Dana Carvey.

(GT12 soooooo thanks TH from Austin TX.)

People In Glass Houses Catch-Up Post

• From Brownsville [TX] Herald

A young girl featured in a controversial television ad during the 2000 presidential campaign testified this week that the man who developed the commercial molested her for years and forced her to watch pornography and use sex toys.

The girl, now 15, told jurors Carey Lee Cramer — a 44-year-old political consultant who gained national notoriety when he released an anti-Al Gore ad showing a young girl picking daisy petals and ending in a nuclear blast — began molesting her in the third grade, when she lived in Mercedes with him, his then-wife and her younger brother.

...She told jurors Cramer began by taking her into his home office and showing her pornography when she was 8. He would touch her sexually, remove her clothing and perform deviant sexual acts on her. The incidents occurred weekly, when the girl was home alone with Cramer.

By the time she was in the fifth grade, Cramer began to force her to perform acts he would share with her from pornographic Web sites, including oral sex, she said. He also tried to make the girl use a vibrator and other sex toys, she continued. And Cramer forced her to have sex with him three times, she testified.

And a Good Round-Up from Shakespeare's Sister:

In any case…you name it, and the GOP’s got it. Pedophiles, more pedophiles, lots and lots of pedophiles, wife-rapers, mule-fuckers, falafel-creeps, closet cases, gay hookers, Hookergate, dirty novelists—they’ve got it all.

But Some Mavericks Are Real Heroes

Totally unelectable for President but a great great man. A saint with a track record to match.

As GQ (!!??) sums up Russ Feingold:

A brief recap: He was the only U.S. senator to vote against the Patriot Act. The only one with the guts to raise the notion of impeachment. One of the very few to have a consistent record against the war in Iraq. The only senator, it seems, who has truly earned his maverick status.

And, because it is Pride Week and because I spend much of my life trying to find every tax-break possible for my wealthy married clients and because GQ is tooooo straight to even acknoweldge such issues, this too from the Senator hisself:

April 4, 2006 Washington, D.C. -

Responding to a question posed at his Kenosha County listening session over the weekend, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold said he strongly opposed the proposed civil unions and marriage ban facing Wisconsin voters this November. He also expressed his support for the right of gays and lesbians to marry. Feingold holds listening sessions in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties every year. Later this year, Feingold will hold his 1000th listening session as a U.S. Senator.

Proof That Reputed Straight Shooters Are Just Tools

You all know that I love Andrew Sullivan... but his pure heart has led him to believe more altruistic lies than almost any smart person I've ever followed.

That being said, this quote from Andrew today should be all you need to know about what pathetic, empty and wrong-headed leaders these two would make:

McCain-Lieberman: Independents for '08. Just thinking out loud.

I Guess He Jumped The Camel

Al Qaeda is losing popularity in the Muslim world, according to the new Pew poll. A shift against suicide bombing as a tactic has occurred dramatically among Muslims in Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Europe's Muslims seem to be moderating in their views as well. Osama's approval ratings in Jordan have gone from 60 percent to 24 percent in one year.

Why Has It Taken Two Years To Say This?

The single most obvious response to any charge of cutting and running or any other Rovian slander. In Fact, until all of the Dems in Congress realize that this is the only position that is honest, intelligent and equal in force to Rovian Slander they will continue to seem, well, silly.

"If I had known the president was going to be this incompetent in his administration, I would not have given him the authority" to go to war, said Biden, the top Democrat on theSenate Foreign Relations Committee.

...So Don't Even Try, OK?

Poll: Clinton gets high 'no' vote for 2008
Of five potential rivals, Jeb Bush fares worse among respondents

CNN) -- With the presidential election more than two years away, a CNN poll released Monday suggests that nearly half of Americans would "definitely vote against" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Respondents were asked whether they would "definitely vote for," "consider voting for," or "definitely vote against" three Democrats and three Republicans who might run for president in 2008.

Regarding potential Democratic candidates, 47 percent of respondents said they would "definitely vote against" both Clinton, the junior senator from New York who is running for re-election this year, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party's candidate in 2004. (Poll)

Forty-eight percent said the same of former Vice President Al Gore, who has repeatedly denied he intends to run again for president.

Among the Republicans, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani fared better than the Democrats, and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush fared worse.

Only 30 percent said they would "definitely vote against" Giuliani; 34 percent said that of McCain.

As for Bush, brother of the current president, 63 percent said there was no way he would get their vote. The younger Bush has denied interest in running for president in 2008.

Did Anyone Really Think That This Would Happen?

The question is no longer will but do we need or feed Paul McCartney as Macca turns 64 today. Where's Vera, Chuck and Dave?

Not 'If', But 'When'...

At first, because I am genetically cautious, I thought such talk was premature. Recently though, I have reviewed some history and reflected on my belief that no Senator can get elected president. Only two have gained the White House directly from the Capital Building.

There may be a way. One simply has to make sure that they aren't in the Senate for too long. That they don't have a chance to learn the ways of the Senate (ways that are key to our government, but fatal to national aspirations). They don't have a chance to vote for something before they vote against it.

All by way of sharing this item from the Wash Post about our (still saint-like) junior Senator.

Obama's Profile Has Democrats Taking Notice

....Interviewed recently as he jetted between campaign appearances for Democrats in Massachusetts and New Jersey, Obama said he is flattered but so far unmoved by appeals that he seek the presidency in 2008: "It's gratifying to know that my message resonates enough that people are thinking in those terms. But at this stage, I haven't changed my mind from previous demurrals."

Obama, however, is not exactly standing still. He recently hired two nationally experienced political consultants, Anita Dunn in Washington and David Axelrod in Chicago. The senator suggested that a presidential bid is a matter of when, not if.

Of course, here in Chicago, an important Politician hiring David Axelrod is as momentous as deciding to get a beer whilst visiting Wrigley Field.

Read the uplifting and enlightening inspirational tract here.

More Hot Girl-On-Girl Action?

I've always suspected that the biggest stumbling block in Gay Activism is the 'male face' of the movement. There's just not enough for the average hetero running-the-world kind of guy.

Wonkette show us (once again) that even the worst Christianists might support it if we played up the Lesbian Angle.

Republican Strategists, Sex, MySpace, and Pride: A Heartwarming DC Tale

It’s getting so that a couple nice young girls can’t drive up to DC for the Pride parade without getting openly propositioned by Republican Strategists who give them their real names and business cards these days. Take, for example, the MySpace blog of one such lady, whose sordid tale is reprinted (as a warning to the well-endowed) below:

afterward, we got a snazzy hotel room at the mayflower downtown. onthe way over there, this really hot business man in a pinstriped suit walked past me, said hello, and doubled back. he asked me my name and introduced himself (jack burkman, government relations strategies), asked where i went to school, etc, gave me his card, and asked me to call him. i later texted him and never could get rid of him again. he thought he talked to me on the phone several times, but he never did. i always made kat or kristin be me. he told kristin about how he really enjoyed my outfit (TITS GALORE) and that i was beautiful, etc. by the end of the night (5 am or so), he was offering to pay for our room and give us a thousand dollars if two of us would fuck him. oh, jack burkman. his card is my DC souvenir.

Oh, Jack Burkman. As you can see [above], curiosity got ahold of the young lady, and she commenced googling. And posting the results for us all to enjoy.

Jack, if you’re going to pick up girls from out of town, you could pick a better venue than the Pride parade. That’s all we’re saying.

Just a Thought For Friday

Convening Against The Queers

Please help me find something nice to say about the Religious Right. this type of stuff is really threatening my karma.

From ThinkProgress:


Religious Right Seeks Unprecedented Constitutional Convention To Ban Gay Marriage Without Congress

Earlier this month, efforts to ban gay marriage by amending the Constitution failed badly in Senate. Now the religious right is considering appealing to state legislatures to call a Constitutional Convention under an obscure provision of Article 5 that would allow amendments to the Constitution without congressional approval. The Evans-Novak report has the details:

Meeting after the big failure at the offices of the social-conservative Family Research Council, the top leaders of the marriage movement — Catholic, Protestant and Mormon leaders among others — discussed the possibility of an unprecedented Constitutional Convention. Two-thirds (34) of the state legislatures would have to call for such a convention — which could be done only with great difficulty. Even then, no one knows what such a convention would look like or what sort of amendments could result from it.

Right-wing pundit Bob Novak, who writes the report, appears to be pushing the idea even as he calls it “rather fanciful.” Novak argues banning gay marriage through a constitutional convention would be difficult but not impossible:

[I]f such a convention were to pass a marriage amendment, we estimate that 28 states would easily ratify it. Another eight states may do so only after a protracted and bloody political fight (which could span an election cycle). That leaves supporters with two more states to go to reach the threshold of 38 (three-fourths), and only the most difficult ground to fight on — states such as Maine, Rhode Island, Oregon and Nevada are probably not ideal places to win such a fight, although not all would be unwinnable.

Novak notes that such a convention would give liberals the opportunity to write their own amendments. He’s convinced, however, “that there are more than 13 states with legislatures willing to block anything too far out on the left.” That’s a relief.

It's The Stupidity Stupid

Godammmmmmit! At least know What You Believe In!!!!

Steven Colbert interviews A Co-Sponsor of a Ten Commandment Bill (of course the guy wants to get rid of the the Dept. of Education):

Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.

Westmoreland: That's correct.

Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?

Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.

Colbert: What can we get rid of to balance the budget?

Westmoreland: The Dept. of Education.

Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?

Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all.

Not Enough Pictures Today...so, another homage to the importance of Flag Day.

If Kerry Had Karl

From one of Sullivan's readers:

The morning of 9/11, Bush being told America is under attack. He doesn't get up. Start the clock on the bottom. Go split-screen. On the right, we see what the firemen and police were doing in NYC at exactly the same time - rushing to the scene, making plans, acting. In the left half you'd see a man frozen. In the right half you'd see nothing but action and the beginnings of heroism.

Cut to three or four minutes later. On the left side of the screen Bush is still sitting there, paralyzed. On the right side of the screen, firefighters and police officers are rushing into the building. News crews are moving in. Everyone is moving. Just not the President.

Cut to six minutes in. Same thing.

Come back to Bush, full screen, in the moment where he actually begins rocking back and forth a bit.

Tag line beneath Bush: "On 9/11, George W. Bush froze.""Is this the man you want in charge when the next attack comes?"

You could have run that ad over and over again, using footage from different points in the attack on the right, with the same frozen president on the left side. Over and over.The theory is pure Rove - what's Bush's strong point? People liked him on 9/11. So what do you go straight after? How Bush reacted on 9/11. Luckily, you didn't even have to make it up - and you had video tape to prove it.

Peter Daou Warns...

As Bush's numbers have spiraled downward, the outrageous sycophancy chronicled daily by Media Matters and in book form by Eric Boehlert has subsided somewhat.

But the pro-Bush and anti-Dem narratives I've written about haven't changed. And the danger here is clear: any uptick in Bush's polls will be seized upon by the hungry press and spun within an inch of reality to revive the heady years where a 'resolute' Bush could do no wrong and Democrats were mixed up, mangled and muddled.

Democrats would do well to heed that danger going into the midterms. The anti-left and pro-right narratives are unbroken, they've simply been muffled by Bush's plummet in the polls. This recent spate of articles is evidence that the storylines can be revved up at a moment's notice.

Soft, divided, whining, troop-hating, over-eager Democrats battling tough, determined Republicans basking in the glow of Bush's rebound -- that's the storyline we could be dealing with heading into November. Are we ready?

Experience the Whole, Brisk Face-Slapping thing HERE.

Targeting Reagan Democrats

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - James Webb, a former Reagan administration Navy secretary who left the Republican Party over the Iraq war, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to take on GOP Sen. George Allen in the fall.

Webb defeated lobbyist and longtime Democratic Party activist Harris Miller after a bruising primary in which voters decided between a traditional and unabashed liberal (Miller) and a former Republican (Webb) whose populist campaign was aimed at so-called Reagan Democrats - namely, rural, white moderates.

As For Our Side....

Andrew Sullivan (not that he's 'our side') contrasts Bill Maher's approach with Bob Shrum's.

Please remember that Shrum was the mastermind of those great, inspiring Democratic Presidential campaigns of Al Gore and (to a slightly lesser extent) John Kerry.

Maher:

Go for the jugular as the Republicans always do with Democrats. Just keep saying, "The Republicans lost the war in Iraq." Scare the hell out of people about all the ways we are unsafe: from global warming to terrorists so easily being able to penetrate ports or nuclear and chemical plants.

Shrum:

The war in Iraq is over except for the dying. Campaign for a date to bring our forces home. Speak for Americans on big issues like gas prices, health care, the environment and alternative energy. Don't be afraid to say we're for the people, not the powerful. Be Democrats -- for a change.

GT12: We must kill Bob Shrum.

It Won't Work Again?

Bruce Reed, in Slate, thinks that Karl Rove's reprieve is a blessing in disguise for the Dems:

Swan Song: More likely, the White House will gamble that Rovism can win one last campaign, even though the country has soured on its results. With its nostalgic Kerry-bashing, Rove's stump speech sounds more and more like yesterday's strategy. The swing looks familiar, but it just doesn't travel as well without the steroids.

Rove will probably stay at the White House through November, in the hope that avoiding a midterm debacle, like dodging an indictment, will be a form of vindication. But even if Democrats don't win in 2006, the Rove era is already over. The Republican Party of Mark Hanna and William McKinley is dead. Either they turn to Teddy Roosevelt, or they will be stuck in their own tub, like William Howard Taft.

The whole hopeful bit is here.

Well, It's Worked Before

Think Progress gives us House Minority Leader Boehner's plan for the fall elections:

EXCLUSIVE: Majority Leader Boehner’s Confidential Strategy Memo For Thursday’s Iraq Debate

On Thursday, the House of Representatives will hold a debate on the Iraq war. Media reports say Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) “hopes to match the serious, dignified tone of deliberation that preceded the Gulf war, in 1991.”
ThinkProgress has obtained a “Confidential Messaging Memo” from Boehner instructing his caucus to conduct a very different kind of deliberation. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Exploit 9/11. The two page memo mentions 9/11 seven times. It describes debating Iraq in the context of 9/11 as “imperative.”

2. Attack opponents ad hominem. The memo describes those who opposes President Bush’s policies in Iraq as “sheepish,” “weak,” and “prone to waver endlessly.”

3. Create a false choice. The memo says the decision is between supporting President Bush’s policies and hoping terrorist threats will “fade away on their own.”

You can read the confidential memo for yourself HERE.

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

June 14, 1966 - Flag Day - I win my first guitar in a raffle at a local appliance store. 40 years of shame, compulsion and bad study habits have followed. Above shows the shameful current state of affairs. Not pictured? The 7 other guitars I have owned. Let's not even mention the amps. Parents beware.

Now What's The Matter With Kansas?

Republicans leaving the party. The Democrats become the party of economic growth. The Republicans become simply the Religious Right party.

The state is kind of dividing up," Cigler said. "It's the Christian right versus the business interests of the Republican party. That's what Kansas is all about now."

The Kansas Republican Party, Cigler said, "has been ahead of the curve."

Ron Freeman, executive director of the state GOP, says the recent defections are due to the personal ambitions of the politicians, not because of any ideological shift.

"To say it's gone way to the right, that's not a fair analysis," Freeman said, noting that two of the party's four statewide officeholders back abortion rights.

One of those officials, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, is opposed in the GOP primary by a candidate opposed to abortion rights. Another moderate, Secretary of State Ron Thornburg, is facing a primary challenge from a female GOP state senator who was reported in 2001 as saying family values began to erode when women got the right to vote.

Some Kansas voters say they feel shut out. "I'm absolutely fed up with the conservative Republicans," said Richard Meidinger, a retired physician in Topeka. "All the abortion stuff, gay marriage stuff doesn't belong in the legislative debate."

Read the rest here

No Words

Go Here

"I'm a Uniter, Not Divider"

Tell Your God To Ready For Blood

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Huff Po: "Warner the Clear Winner of the Pre-Iowa Caucus"

Miss Arianna Writes:

I just arrived at the YearlyKos convention in Las Vegas and it's already clear that Mark Warner is the runaway winner of this pre-Iowa caucus (partly because many of the other front-runners are no-shows). But money no doubt helped his cause: I'm hearing that Warner, being shepherded by Jerome Armstrong, the MyDD blogger and co-author with Kos himself of Crashing the Gate, has spent over $100,000 courting the netroots here in Vegas.

He spent $75,000 alone to host all the convention-goers at the Stratosphere tower for a party, which included two huge ice sculptures (one of a computer with Daily Kos On the screen), and where Kosmopolitans and Kos-Martinis were served. According to Ana Marie Cox, "As they say on MTV, it was off the chain." Warner spent all of Friday night meeting and greeting every single blogger he could get to.

As Warner told me, "when I arrived at the party and saw the large ice sculpture in the room, I thought 'oh my God -- I must see the receipts.' But no one would think twice if this were a party for donors or elected local officials. Well, it's time we took the netroots seriously. This is a community that needs to be taken seriously, and represents the democratization of the public square of America."

Crazy Train?

We are currently attending a wedding in one of the
more distant suburbs and the Bride and groom entered
the reception tent to the inspiational tones of Ozzy
Osbourne.

Hey, heteros, has Crazy Trian replaced Lohengrin? Just wonderin...

"God rest the souls of that poor family... and pussy's half price for the next 15 minutes."

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The Gore Movement

I have a soft spot for him, I think. But I also know that he's last decade's news.

So I have to post this quote:

....Today (5/31/06), we kick off the formal formation of the Draft Gore 2008 PAC.

You can sign up for $5 here.

Good News For Women ... News That The Christian Right Fought Hard To Prevent

FDA OKs first cervical cancer vaccine
From Christy Feig CNN
Thursday, June 8, 2006;

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first vaccine for cervical cancer -- Gardasil, manufactured by Merck and Co.

Studies show virtually all cases of cervical cancer are caused by a virus known as human papillomavirus, or HPV. It is transmitted sexually and most of the time human immune systems can get rid of it, but in about 10,000 women a year it develops into cervical cancer.

There are more than 70 different types of HPV. Dr. Kevin Ault of Emory University School of Medicine, who led one of the clinical trials, said this vaccine protects against four of them, but they are the four most significant

.

But Before CNN could report this, there was a campaign by the true Culture Of Death Movement to stop this development (NewScientist.com)

In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.

Paris Hilton Tax Lives To Fight Another Day

From AP

WASHINGTON - The Senate rejected Republican efforts Thursday to repeal the estate tax, but GOP leaders promised to try again before this election year is over.

"Wiping this vicious tax from the books is a matter of principle," said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Senators voted 57-41 to advance the bill, but that was three votes short of the 60 needed to overcome objections from a majority of Democrats and a pair of Republicans.

Third Party Piffle

Anytime any of us start thinking too idealistically, it's good to remember what purity can cost.

This from Right Wing News (yes, that's right.)

"Just consider what happens when someone votes for a third party. That person actually takes the time to get up, go to the voting booth, and then he casts a vote for a person that he knows has absolutely no chance to win.

But, what about the opportunity cost of that vote? In order to vote for a third party, he’s passing on the candidate closest to his views that actually has a chance to win, which makes it more likely that someone with diametrically opposing views will get into office. We’re talking about Green Party voters helping to put George W. Bush in the White House by voting for someone other than Al “Global warming is the most serious problem we are facing” Gore. We’re talking about, “who knows how many,” fiscal conservatives over the years losing tight races to big-government Democrats because so many small-government aficionados insisted on voting for some Libertarian wonk, whom the rest of the state wouldn’t have voted for if you put a gun to their heads. In other words, the only thing advocates of small parties ever accomplish, if they accomplish anything, is to help put the people who disagree with them the most in office.

If the goal of third-party enthusiasts is supposed to be to change politics for the better, that would seem to be a rather perverse way of going about it."

Time Wounds All Heels

On Tom Cruise and mortality:

.... The situation may be more dire. One top studio executive wonders whether what's happening with Cruise isn't strictly a function of his extracurricular behavior. "Generations have their icons," he says. "Is there such a thing as a time limit? My kid doesn't give a s--- about Tom Cruise."

Coulter = 10(Colbert + Finley) - Heart ?

As always, Andrew Sullivan finds the good in people (or the closest to good that can be found in this case)

... But the problem with Coulter is that she is a form of camp, is she not? The minute you take her seriously, you lose grip on her reality. She's not a social or political commentator. She's a drag queen impersonating a fascist. I don't even begin to believe she actually believes this stuff. It's post-modern performance-art. I think of Coulter in that sense as more at home on the pomo-left than the Christianist right (which is why the joke, ultimately, is on the Republicans who like her). Devoid of sincerity, detached from any value but performance, juggling rhetoric for its own sake, she is Stanley Fish's model student. Half the time, I tend to think that a Hannity or O'Reilly or Malkin actually believes their own rhetoric. With Coulter, I don't believe it for a second. And so her vileness cannot be taken seriously. She is worse than vile. She is just empty.

Two Can Play At That Game, You Preppy Eedjeet

Salon Responds with a List of Top Ten Liberal Songs (and equally absurd and /or ill-informed justifications for calling them liberal).

The top 10 liberal anthems of all time!

John J. Miller at the National Review recently put together a list of the "Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs of All Time." Needless to say, some of the choices seemed more the product of Miller's analytical desperation and tin ear rather than anything inherent to the song. (The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" as an argument against moral relativism?) The Who's Pete Townshend has even spoken out against his song "Won't Get Fooled Again" landing at No. 1. (You can see what other suggestions readers of War Room had for the list here.)

In the spirit of Miller's list, here are 10 seemingly conservative or innocuous songs that, with a little creativity, can be made to yield liberal or, dare we say it, even subversive messages:

1. Toby Keith, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)"A scathing, ironic indictment of conservatives' use of symbolic language and the violent aftermath (also note the progressive assignation of democracy as a female entity): "Man, it's gonna be hell/ When you hear Momma Freedom start ringin' her bell."

2. Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Red, White and Blue"The veteran Southern rockers offer a rebuke to upper-bracket tax breaks: "My Daddy worked hard, and so have I/ Paid our taxes and gave our lives to serve this great country/ So what are they complaining about?"

3. Merle Haggard, "Okie From Muskogee"Haggard sympathizes with the plight of liberals forced underground by restrictive social mores: "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee/ We don't take our trips on LSD/ We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street/ We like livin' right, and bein' free."

4. The Knack, "My Sharona"A mainstay on the president's iPod, this song offers a provocative inquiry into the psychological state of the sexually deviant: "Is it just destiny, destiny?/ Or is it just a game in my mind, Sharona?/ Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind/ Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind."

5. Metallica, "Don't Tread on Me"Deciphering conservative doublespeak: "So be it/ Threaten no
more/ To secure peace is to prepare for war."

6. Barry Sadler, "The Ballad of the Green Beret"Contrasting the integrity and bravery of the troops with that of those who send them to war: "Fighting soldiers from the sky/ Fearless men who jump and die/ Men who mean just what they say/ The brave men of the Green Beret."

7. Jimmie Rodgers, "T for Texas"A comment on red state inhospitality: "I'd rather drink your muddy water/ Sleep down in a hollow log/ Than to be in Atlanta, Georgia/ Treated like a dirty dog."

8. Grand Funk Railroad, "We're an American Band"The "American" temperament as essentially communal and hedonistic: "We're an American band/ We're coming to your town/ We'll help you party it down/ We're an American band."

9. Lee Greenwood, "God Bless the USA"A sad look back at pre-Patriot Act America: "I'd thank my lucky stars, to be livin' here today/ 'Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away."

10. George Michael, "Freedom"Realpolitik as currently practiced -- think WMD: "All we have to do now/ Is take these lies/ And make them true somehow."

Well, that Was Quick

On To Flag Burning!!!

Senate Rejects Gay Marriage Ban

By LAURIE KELLMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - A constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was defeated as predicted in the Senate Wednesday, but supporters say new votes for the measure represent progress that gives the GOP's base reason to vote on Election Day.

Starting To Do What Has To Be Done

From Political Wire:

Warner Questions Clinton's Viablity

Mark Warner (D), who is eyeing a possible 2008 presidential bid, “questioned in a television interview last night whether Senator Hillary Clinton has widespread enough appeal to prevail in a national race,” reports the New York Times."After saying he had ‘tremendous respect’ for Mrs. Clinton and calling her a ‘formidable candidate’ for national office, Mr. Warner said that Mrs. Clinton was not the presumptive Democratic nominee."

We're reminded of Craig Crawford's excellent observation a few months ago that until one the potential Democratic presidential candidates "shows some inclination to openly challenge her pre-eminence, it is safe to assume that they are running mates in waiting."

Billy Preston 1949 - 2006

Yes, there's the electric piano solo on 'Get Back', the organ on 'Let It Be', and on so much of Exile on Mainstreet. There's by far and away the greatest instrumental of the 70's (OutaSpace). But for this white boy from suburban Ohio, Billy Preston's performance of his first single, 'That's The Way God Planned It' at The Concert For Bangla Desh opened the door to a deeper understanding of where 'my' music came from and what it can strive to achieve.

This Christmas, when I received the DVD of the concert, it was Billy I wanted to see first. A year earlier when I bought the CD, it too was Billy that I had to hear first. The possibility of transcendent joy never seemed so real, and seldom has since, no matter how much more 'sophisticated' and 'expansive' my tastes may have become, all these years later.

Thanks Billy.

If Only It Were Simply Child-Rape Or Complicity In The Holocaust

Then they'd be OK with it. As an ex-catholic who does have a family member's genetic wish that no harm will come to his people, no matter how they err, I say this: F this guy.

From Reuters:

Gay marriage is "eclipse of God" - Vatican

Tue Jun 6, 2006 7:23 PM IST
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -

The Vatican said on Tuesday that gay marriage, abortion, lesbians wanting to bear children and a host of other practices it sees as threats to the traditional family were signs of "the eclipse of God".

A 60-page document, called "Family and Human Procreation," was issued just days after U.S. President George W. Bush urged the Senate to pass a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The document strongly restated many of the Roman Catholic Church's positions on sexuality, marriage and life but went further, saying the family today was more endangered than at any time before in history.

"The causes are diverse but the 'eclipse' of God, creator of man, is at the root of the profound current crisis concerning the truth about man, about human procreation and the family," said the document, prepared by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family.

The Vatican is just another bureaucracy obsessed with it's survival and influence above all else and definitely in lieu of actual reflection on what the march of man's knowledge can tell us about the true nature of good and evil. And the future of the Roman Catholic Church is in the Third World, where understanding about how people are made and operate is just slightly ahead of traditional Voo Doo theory. This sorry old man's foolishness is no better than the Moron in Chief's cynical and desperate pandering to his own knuckledragging 'base' .

The shameful remainder can be explored here.

No Hurry In The Heartland

A shout out to our bassman as we feature this news from his hometown. It is clear why he can't live in the home of John Ashcroft and Kit Bond.


Missouri Repeals Gay Sodomy Law

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
June 4, 2006 - 9:00 pm ET
(Jefferson City, Missouri) Missouri lawmakers have repealed the Sexual Misconduct law - three years after the US Supreme Court ruled such laws were unconstitutional.

In 2003 the high court overturned a similar law in Texas invalidating all other sodomy laws in states where they still stood, including Missouri.

The law had been unenforceable after the ruling but when it was in effect it set a sentence of one year in jail for sex between consenting adults of the same sex.

Despite the invalidation of the law it remained on the books in Missouri until now.

the rest is here.

Another Fallacious 50

The lamest of all lame lists has grown. Another fifty 'conservative' Rock songs. Another List chock full of missed ironies and liberal victories. And, sorry to our one of our loyal readers, more Rush songs.

The Kinks?! Sublime?! Cat Stevens' classic put down of conservatism?!!

Wottamoron.

It's all here. But don't use the 'buy now' links...you only empower this guy further.

I Guess He didn't Love God Enough

From Reuters:

Lioness in zoo kills man who invoked God

KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.

The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

The incident, Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an "animal island" protected by thick concrete blocks.

Not A Well Woman

Desperately Hanging on By His, uh, Her Well Manicured Fingernails

Why is it that people of a religious bent so often refer to strong beliefs of secularists as 'religion'? Is the word that meaningless to them? I myself have always refused to use the holy term 'Rock Music' when referring to things like, oh, most music on AM radio in the 70's.

And don't even try to call Science a religion. How just plain stupid is that?

Anyway, Ann (Andy? What is with that Adam's apple?) Coulter has been let out of the home again and, when examining the streams of thought she offers, I can only draw on my 20 years in Mental Health and say: Loose Associations, rage, lability, gender ambiguity..... Borderline Psychotic.

Here's her with Matt Lauer this AM:


LAUER: Do you believe everything in the book or do you put some things in there just to cater to your base?

ANN: No, of course I believe everything.

LAUER: On the 9-11 widows, an in particular a group that had been critical of the administration: “These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing bush was part of the closure process.” And this part is the part I really need to talk to you about: “These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.” Because they dare to speak out?

COULTER: To speak out using the fact they are widows. This is the left’s doctrine of infallibility. If they have a point to make about the 9-11 commission, about how to fight the war on terrorism, how about sending in somebody we are allowed to respond to. No. No. No. We have to respond to someone who had a family member die. Because then if we respond, oh you are questioning their authenticity.

LAUER: So grieve but grieve quietly?

COULTER: No, the story is an attack on the nation. That requires a foreign policy response.

LAUER: By the way, they also criticized the Clinton administration.

COULTER: Not the ones I am talking about. No, no, no.

LAUER: Yeah they have.

COULTER: Oh no, no, no, no, no. They were cutting commercials for Kerry. They were using their grief to make a political point while preventing anyone from responding.

LAUER: So if you lose a husband, you no longer have the right to have a political point of view?

COULTER: No, but don’t use the fact that you lost a husband as the basis for being able to talk about, while preventing people from responding. Let Matt Lauer make the point. Let Bill Clinton make the point. Don’t put up someone I am not allowed to respond to without questioning the authenticity of their grief.

LAUER: Well apparently you are allowed to respond to them.

COULTER: Yeah, I did.

LAUER: So, in other words.

COULTER: That is the point of liberal infallibility. Of putting up Cindy Sheehan, of putting out these widows, of putting out Joe Wilson. No, no, no. You can’t respond. It’s their doctrine of infallibility. Have someone else make the argument then.

LAUER: What I’m saying is I don’t think they have ever told you, you can’t respond.

COULTER: Look, you are getting testy with me.

LAUER: No. I think it’s a dramatic statement. These broads are millionaires stalked by stalked by griefparrazies? I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s deaths so much.

COULTER: Yes, they are all over the news.

LAUER: The book is called “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” Ann Coulter, always fun to have you here.

GT12: Bastion Of Mainstream American Values

A new poll from the center For American Progress.

* Asked to name the most serious moral crisis in America today, 28% of Americans cite "kids not raised with the right values"; followed by 22% saying "corruption in government/business"; 17% saying "greed and materialism" or "people too focused on themselves"; and only 3% citing "abortion and homosexuality."

* On addressing poverty: 68% of voters strongly agree that "government should uphold the basic decency and dignity of all and take greater steps to help the poor and disadvantaged in America" (89% total agree).

The less charitable side of GT12 snarkily notes that being against abortion or homosexuality is much more appealing from a personal cost perspective. It requires no behavioral effort for the great majority. This clearly makes those opinions more appealing for activism. I mean, what happens to the plasma TV if GT12 Center went on an anti-materialism crusade?

We can easily also endorse the statement that 'Kids are not raised right' since we're not guilty of poor child-rearing.

The Rest is Here

Next Stop On The Tour? Basra!

Barely Mannenuff Stops Crime

Yeah, well who would want to stick around?

Officials in one Sydney Australia district have decided to pipe ... American crooner [Barry Manilow]'s music over loudspeakers in an attempt to rid streets and car parks of hooligans whose anti-social cars and loud music annoy residents and drive customers from businesses.

Following a successful experiment where Bing Crosby music was used to drive teenage loiterers out of an Australian shopping center several years ago, Rockdale councilors believe Manilow is so uncool it might just work.

Read The Whole Copacabana here.

When The Rubber Hits The Road

... The Former First Lady Is Road Kill.

From Friday's Hardball (Norah O'Donnell sitting in for self loathing ex-democrat Chris Matthews):

O'DONNELL: Tom Curry, .... I understand you've been in Iowa recently as well. And so how are they feeling about Senator Hillary Clinton as the Democratic front-runner?

CURRY: You know, Norah, the strange thing that I found when I was in Iowa 10 days ago is that active Democrats, loyal Democrats, they are pessimistic about Hillary Clinton running for their party's nomination.

O'DONNELL: Really? Because they don't think she can win?

CURRY: Because they think she would be defeated in the general election and because they think she is too polarizing a figure.

I didn't ... I could not come across one active Democrat in my four or five days in Iowa who was enthusiastic about her running. But they,oddly enough, they do want her to go out to Iowa to help raise money for local candidates.
(LAUGHTER)

BTW, are Norah and Kelly O'Donnell related?

What a Difference A Year Makes...

Now that he's vulnerable, the country wakes up.

Bar group will review Bush's legal challenges

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff June 4, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The board of governors of the American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office.

The rest is at The Boston Globe online

Some Hopeful News

From Political Wire:

Two Ways to the White House Walter Shapiro was in New Hampshire over theweekend and reports Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Mark Warner(D)"electrified Democrats" with their appearances before the state convention "and underscored a choice of divergent paths toward 2008.

"Putting aside Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) simmering campaign for the moment,"the two Democrats who have had the best run of it in 2006 are unquestionably Feingold and Warner, representing the purist and pragmatic wings of the party. Feingold has made other Democrats look timorous by championing

withdrawal from Iraq and a Senate resolution censuring the president. Warner has emerged as the party's latest Southern white knight, the red-state dragon slayer who combines a sterling record as governor with an appealing business background as a mega-rich cellphone entrepreneur who helped found Nextel."

"Feingold and Warner have, in effect, become the book ends surrounding a hefty, but potentially unreadable, tome called, It Takes a Village of Consultants: The Cautious Political Career of Hillary Clinton. "

The Concord Monitor: "Going by audience claps, whistles and screams, Feingold won yesterday's match-up. Applause punctuated his half-hour speech about 20 times; thunderous claps met his mention of his attempt to censure President Bush."

WTF???

We have stumbled upon some fascinating reports suggesting that at least one marriage important to the right is indeed in need of defense.

June 1, 2006 -- UPDATED --

Rocky shoals for Bush marriage? Informed sources Inside the Beltway report that First Lady Laura Bush has established temporary residence in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC as a result of a tiff with President Bush over an extramarital relationship involving her husband. Mr. Bush's tryst is said to involve Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is not known how long Mrs. Bush plans to remain at the Mayflower, however, her security detail has been present at the hotel during hours when the First Lady would normally be residing in the White House. While she was National Security Adviser, Rice, who has never been married, referred to George W. Bush as "my husband" before she corrected herself and said, "President. Bush" Rice was speaking at a dinner hosted by New York Times bureau chief Philip Taubman when she made her "husband" remarks.

June 2, 2006 --

A White House source, speaking on background, vehemently denied to WMR that there are marital problems between President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush over a reported extramarital affair between Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. However, two mainstream media sources have confirmed that their sources also have reported an ongoing affair between Mr. Bush and Rice.

The mainstream media is hamstrung in reporting stories about Bush's personal life. For example, in 2001, the media highlighted Bush's comments about his passing out from choking on a pretzel while watching a football game in the White House. In reality, Bush, who claims he gave up drinking years ago, passed out from being inebriated. Washington's movers and shakers knew the story about Bush's drinking but the media studiously avoided it.

June 3, 2006 --

WMR can report that a Mayflower Hotel staffer has confirmed that First Lady Laura Bush spent at least one night this past week at the hotel, which is four blocks north of the White House. Mrs. Bush reportedly moved out of the White House after a confrontation with President Bush over his on-going affair with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Mayflower's official position on the story is that they can "neither confirm nor deny" the identities of their guests. Because it's penchant for security and secrecy is well known to the Secret Service, the Mayflower has become a reliable hotel for U.S. and international VIPs.

Some Washington observers believe that the recent flare up between Laura Bush and the president stems from the fact that her poll numbers are twice as favorable as her husband's (60 percent to 29 percent). Laura Bush's recent solo missions to New Orleans, Colorado, and an AIDS conference at the United Nations represent a virtual declaration of independence from the most unpopular president in U.S. history.

"She's [Laura's] taking a page right out of Hillary's book," said one Washington pundit. Rice, on the other hand, has been very close and loyal to Bush since she signed on as his chief foreign policy adviser in 2000. WMR has been told of intimate encounters between Mr. Bush and Rice on trips to New York City (multiple occasions) and New Orleans following Katrina.

And, wierdest of all (though I always suspected this)...

June 4, 2006 --

More on George W. Bush's "Sanctity of Marriage" gay marriage constitutional
ban.

George W. Bush's marital problems have just taken another turn for the worse. Apparently, Mr. Bush has not only engaged in an extra-marital affair with a member of the opposite sex who is also a senior member of his Cabinet, but also a member of the same sex. WMR received the following release this morning from Leola McConnell, Democratic candidate for Governor of Nevada (who has been endorsed by WMR). McConnell is a one-time professional dominatrix.

"President Bush's speech to the nation Monday. If he doesn't say he's a gay American or at the least a bisexual one then he shouldn't be making one at all. And the notion that it would be in regards to writing bigotry into our nation's Constitution is reprehensible. Too bad it isn't me doing the rebuttal because in 1984, I watched him perform (with the enthusiasm of homosexual male who had done this many times before) a homosexual act on another man, namely Victor Ashe. Victor Ashe is the current Ambassador to the nation of Poland who should also come out like former Governor McGreevey of New Jersey and admit to being a gay American. Other homo-erotic acts were also performed by then private citizen George Bush because I performed one of them on him personally.

All of this from The Wayne Madsen Report. I don't know if Wayne is a whack-job (that last endorsement does make him sound a bit, uh, iffy) or a really well connected ex-spook, but after la Affair de' Monica and the Holy Crusade to Resubjugate Gays, GT12 figured to let our loyal readers judge for themselves.

Hollywood Al

An Inconvenient Truth #9 in first week of expanded release. Highest per screen average of all releases. Stats are here.

Colbert Endorses A National Language

“God wrote (the Bible) in English for a reason: So it could be taught in our public schools....read on"

"More Democrats want their leaders to stand up against Bush, war"

From Raw Story.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Anti-war and anti-Bush fervor is growing among rank and file Democrats, threatening to pull the party to the left and creating a rift between increasingly belligerent activists and the party's leaders in Washington.

Many outside-the-Beltway Democrats want the party to turn forcefully against the war in Iraq and to investigate, censure or even impeach President Bush should the party win control of Congress this fall.

Yet party leaders such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York have maintained support for the war while criticizing the way Bush handled it, and have shied away from talk of using power to go to after him.

Jeff's Note: I apologize to anyone to whom I ever made the statement "I Like Hillary".

Read the whole thing, then email your congressman and Senators

Speaking of Ovens

I have to admit, I question whether anyone willing to support these people can really be friends of mine.

From Newsweek:

Though Bush himself has publicly embraced the amendment, he never seemed to care enough to press the matter. One of his old friends told NEWSWEEK that same-sex marriage barely registers on the president's moral radar.

"I think it was purely political. I don't think he gives a s--t about it. He never talks about this stuff," said the friend, who requested anonymity to discuss his private conversations with Bush.

White House aides, who also declined to be identified, insist that the president does care about banning gay marriage. They say Monday's events with amendment supporters--Bush will also meet privately with a small group--have been in the works "for weeks" and aren't just a sop to conservatives.

Read the whole article here. Maybe I should be less sensitive.

I Got In Trouble With This In November of '04

An acquaintance, a nice but unworldly John Kerry worker, wanted immediate and bloody if necessary challenging of the vote in Ohio. For any number of reasons I thought that the idea was crazy and counterproductive. He wound up accusing me of not being a Democrat and we never spoke again (OK, there were a lot of reasons for not speaking).

It was almost as bad as that yelling match I got into w/ a gay Republican worker for Bush 1's '88 campaign (think lots of yelling about being the first in the ovens and counter arguments related to not having any income taxed all flavored by Jack Daniels)

Salon.com takes a look at RFK Jr's investigation of Ohio in 2004. Whole Story Here.

Thesis quote:

"The evidence he cites isn't new and his argument is filled with distortions and blatant omissions."

I also liked this one:

"... the Democratic Party's report once again -- notes conclusively: Despite the problems on Election Day, there is no evidence from our survey that John Kerry won the state of Ohio.' But Kennedy doesn't tell you that."

Too Good To Be True

Hot Rumblings about my congressman from Politcal Wire:

Emanuel Could Replace Pelosi: "

Talk is increasing among House Democrats that if they fail to regain control after 12 years of a Republican majority, Rep. Nancy Pelosi should be replaced as the party's leader in the House... there is speculation about Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a second-termer who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as Pelosi's logical replacement."

Escape From the Nursing Home!

He's Back.....

LONDON - The Rolling Stones, assured that Keith Richards is fully recovered from a head injury, will kick off their rescheduled European tour in Milan, Italy, on July 11.

The tour announcement on the Stones' Web site said Richards had made a "complete recovery from his accident" and was ready to return to the concert stage.

Richards, in a statement, apologized to fans.

"Excuse me, I fell off of my perch! Sorry to disrupt everyone's plans but now — it's full steam ahead! Ouch!!"

What we want to know, is when did the coolest man in the world become a doddering old man telling vaudeville jokes? We are traumatized.

What We'll Be Listening To This Weekend

Amy Rigby, GT12's fave Mod Housewife, latest effort, "Little Fugitive" shows all of her acid wit and great melodies to fine summer fashion, proving the truth of the opening track "I'm like Rasputin, I always get back up". Hit Me Again!

Our beloved Cracker (who has always been our model for how GT12's band should sound) revolts against their commercial difficulties and revels in their essential white trashiness with a set of rural faves called 'Countrysides'. As they remind us, 'Baby, it won't suck itself''.

What About The Top of the Tower???

From ABC news:

No Icons, No Monuments Worth Protecting

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News.

That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent--from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

Read All About It Here then get your flight booked so that can visit NYC before it gets blown up.

Oh, Now I Understand The Brits

One in six Brit workers drunk at work

One in six UK workers have partaken of alcohol during working hours, a shock YouGov survey of 1,500 full time employees commissioned by Royal & SunAlliance has revealed.

Or rather, one sixth of the Brit workforce has been "under the influence of alcohol at work in the last six months", while two million wobbly employees have pulled a hangover-induced sickie during the same period.

This "crisis" is, according to Royal & SunAlliance's Alcohol in the Workplace, set to escalate into a full-blown business disaster next month as staff abandon their desks and rush to the nearest boozer before sinking the obligatory twelve pints as England go down 3-1 to Trinidad and Tobago.

Indeed, an estimated 2.9m workers - representing one tenth of the working population - will bunk off early to watch the footie. Of these, 1.4m will soak up a skinful in the pub before returning to work.

Read the wobbly rest here.

Anti-Big Government, Anti-Anti-Gay Marriage

A new study released today by the Cato Institute:

The Federal Marriage Amendment: Unnecessary, Anti-Federalist, and Anti-Democratic

by Dale Carpenter
Dale Carpenter is associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Executive Summary
Members of Congress have proposed a constitutional amendment preventing states from recognizing same-sex marriages. Proponents of the Federal Marriage Amendment claim that an amendment is needed immediately to prevent same-sex marriages from being forced on the nation. That fear is even more unfounded today than it was in 2004, when Congress last considered the FMA. The better view is that the policy debate on same-sex marriage should proceed in the 50 states, without being cut off by a single national policy imposed from Washington and enshrined in the Constitution.

A person who opposes same-sex marriage on policy grounds can and should also oppose a constitutional amendment foreclosing it, on grounds of federalism, confidence that opponents will prevail without an amendment, or a belief that public policy issues should only rarely be determined at the constitutional level.

There are four main arguments against the FMA. First, a constitutional amendment is unnecessary because federal and state laws, combined with the present state of the relevant constitutional doctrines, already make court-ordered nationwide same-sex marriage unlikely for the foreseeable future. An amendment banning same-sex marriage is a solution in search of a problem.

Second, a constitutional amendment defining marriage would be a radical intrusion on the nation's founding commitment to federalism in an area traditionally reserved for state regulation, family law. There has been no showing that federalism has been unworkable in the area of family law.

Third, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage would be an unprecedented form of amendment, cutting short an ongoing national debate over what privileges and benefits, if any, ought to be conferred on same-sex couples and preventing democratic processes from recognizing more individual rights.

Fourth, the amendment as proposed is constitutional overkill that reaches well beyond the stated concerns of its proponents, foreclosing not just courts but also state legislatures from recognizing same-sex marriages and perhaps other forms of legal support for same-sex relationships. Whatever one thinks of same-sex marriage as a matter of policy, no person who cares about our Constitution and public policy should support this unnecessary, radical, unprecedented, and overly broad departure from the nation's traditions and history.


Full Text of Policy Analysis no. 570 (PDF, 126 KB)

I don't Know Why We Let Them Have Our Music

Exile at 42?!?!

We at GT12 (whose collection includes almost all of the top ten) are aghast at our Limey Bros wimpiness. We do agree that Revolver has a place in the top ten. With the exception of The Smiths and Dark Side we even like the albums on the list.

Thriller (#35) did better than Born To Run (#84). I say we stop their foreign aid.



British Vote Oasis Album Best of All
- - - - - - - - - - - -

June 01,2006 LONDON -- "Definitely Maybe," the debut album by Oasis, has beaten the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in a British vote for the greatest album of all time, organizers said Thursday.

The Beatles also took third place with "Revolver" and had three other albums in the Top 100 in the vote staged by British Hit Singles & Albums, an annual publication, and NME.com.

The vote was announced in last year's edition of British Hit Singles & Albums, said editor David Roberts. Anyone could vote for as many as 10 albums, in rank order, and probably 95 percent of the 40,000 votes came from Britain, he said.

...

The top 10:
1. "Definitely Maybe," Oasis.
2. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," The Beatles.
3. "Revolver," The Beatles.
4. "OK Computer," Radiohead.
5. "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" Oasis.
6. "Nevermind," Nirvana.
7. "The Stone Roses," The Stone Roses.
8. "Dark Side of the Moon," Pink Floyd.
9. "The Queen Is Dead," The Smiths.
10. "The Bends," Radiohead.
--__
On the Net:
http://www.bibleofpop.com/
http://www.nme.com/

History In The Making?

From Political Wire:

The Worst

President Bush is the worst president in the last 61 years, according to a new national Quinnipiac poll.

Bush is named by 34%, followed by Richard Nixon at 17% and Bill Clinton at 16%.

Meanwhile, Bush's approval rate is at 35%, with 58% disapproving of his job performance.

Even in red states, where Bush's margin was more than 5% in 2004, voters disapprove 52% to 39%.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: "Bush's job approval numbers remain in the cellar. But he might finally have hit bottom."

Gore Glows, Clinton Crashes

I know that 'what's the matter with Kansas' is that they vote against their self-interest, but I am beginning to believe that Hillary's 'inevitable' nomination is going to be a few million votes short of ever occurring.

From Political Wire:

Study Says Gore Would Win

A new "Affective Encryption Analysis" study conducted by Media Psychology Affiliates is predicting with "93% accuracy" that "a landslide victory for former Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the 2008 presidential election. However, should Hillary Clinton gain the Democratic nomination, any potential Republican challenger will win the presidency."