HUCKABEE (On Bill Bennet's radio show):
"The very people who voted for Barack Obama in California…also voted to sustain traditional marriage. I refuse to use the term, “ban same-sex marriage.” That’s not what those efforts did. They affirmed what is. They did not prohibit something. They simply affirmed something that which has and forever has existed."
Delusion #1: "Something that has and forever has existed." All hyperbole aside, for the one trillionth time, where do Christofascists get the idea that one-man-one-woman marriage has ALWAYS existed? Huckabee has "Father Knows Best" on the brain. There have been one-man-ten-women (or much more) marriages. History has even seen one-woman-ten-men marriages. There have been group marriages. There have been societies where incest was the norm! There have been (according to scholar John Boswell) same-sex marriage in pre-modern Europe. There have been consensual marriages, but, more often then not, there have been arranged marriages. Totally consensual, one-man-one-woman marriages are relatively new in history. Just who "married" Adam and Eve? God? A dinosaur? Who? How many wives did Solomon have? Four hundred?
Delusion #2: People can affirm something by amending the Constitution. If they have to "affirm" something - anything - then there is something wrong with the thing they have to "affirm". It's not strong enough to be backed by the Constitution as a general right, it has to be singled out as a "specified" right. Exit polls suggest that first-time voters -- the vast majority of whom were driven to turn out by Obama (he won 83 percent [!] of their votes) -- voted against Prop 8 by a 62-38 margin. More experienced voters voted for the measure 56-44, however, providing for its passage.The people who voted for Barack Obama wanted CHANGE in government. The people who voted for Proposition 8 DID NOT WANT CHANGE in their idea of marriage.
A better picture of the situation - Separate But Equal??
According to Mike Huckabee, gays have just not suffered enough to have their rights linked to "civil rights." On The View, Huckabee went on and on about his pride in America in electing Barack Obama, but when Joy Behar asked him about gay rights, he immediately went into phobic mode: gay rights are "different rights." He then went on to suggest that the turmoil of the African American Civil Rights movement, was too staggering to be compared to gay rights.
Tara Wall, deputy editorial page editor at the Washington Times, wrote today that “[t]here is no comparison” between blacks’ struggle and gay people’s struggle because “[b]lacks were stoned, hung, and dragged for their constitutional right to ’sit at the table.’ Whites — gay or not — already had a seat at that table.”
(TP) To suggest that a civil rights movement must meet some sort of violence threshold is an incredibly dangerous argument — not to mention blind to the serious violence gay people have already suffered. 16.6 percent of all hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2007 “resulted from sexual-orientation bias,” and the number of hate crimes directed against gays and lesbians increased six percent from 2006. More striking, a 2007 study by the University of California, Davis, found that “[n]early four in 10 gay men and about one in eight lesbians and bisexuals in the United States have been the target of violence or a property crime because of their sexual orientation.”
Isn't 97.2% ENOUGH?
This summer, six attorneys “rejected from civil service positions at the Justice Department filed a lawsuit” against “former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and three other top officials for allegedly violating their rights by taking politics into consideration” in the hiring process for the Honors and Summer Law Intern Programs.Today, McClatchy reports that the Justice Department has agreed to pay for a private lawyer to defend Gonzales, which could cost taxpayers up to $24,000 a month: According to a person with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department has imposed a limit of $200 an hour or $24,000 a month on attorneys’ fees. Top Justice Department attorneys generally earn no more than $100 per hour. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! We've Been Waiting For Something Like This for EIGHT years!! Praise Jesus! Praise the Goddess Justitia! (and I never thought I'd say this)
Praise Texas!
(From Think Progress.com)
A South Texas grand jury has returned multi-count indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers:
The indictment accuses Cheney and Gonzales of engaging in organized criminal activity. It criticizes Cheney’s investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers.
It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees by working through the prison companies. Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers. 
Of course, you know they'll walk away from the indictment scott free! But Who Cares? It's a step in the right direction! It may open up indictments from other states. And from other countries!!
Could the next indictment be against someone whose last name begins with a "B"?
Oh PLEASE! Pretty please! Pretty Please with chocolate on it! Anything!
Karma, please don't stop it! Buddha, meditate on a continuum! Energizer Bunny! Just everything, everyone, keep going! Time is precious now. If anyone has anything on this vile administration, release it NOW!
... reports that Focus on the Family “is poised to announce major layoffs to its Colorado Springs-based ministry and media empire today.” The layoffs come after the right-wing group spent more than $600,000 to defeat marriage equality in California. Praising the passage of Prop. 8, the group said that the measure “helps protect millions of children from radical indoctrination in the homosexual lifestyle.” The group also touted its involvement collecting signatures and gathering donations, patting itself on the back for being “integrally involved” in the fight against marriage equality.
Something's not right: a mere pittance of $600,000 is causing the non-denominational pseudo religious Focus on the Family to "major layoffs?" Gimme a break! This is an entity that has its own lobby in Washington, for chrissakes! Did its zealousness in denouncing gay marriage cost them more than $600,000? Does this building in Colorado Springs look like a corporation on the verge of bankruptcy? (Bad architecture is always a sign that your prayers and donations are safe) Although when I first saw the picture, it reminded me vaguely of the Disney character Goofy, it looks like a fairly healthy media empire and "ministry." FOF spends that much on one of its fundraising letters!Some observers interpret Dr. Dobson’s reduced role (he recently resigned as president) as a sign that FOF is preparing for his eventual departure. With donations already taking a slight downturn (FOF has recently made reductions in its operating expenses leading to staff layoffs and program cutbacks), many people are concerned about the long-term future of FOF.
Financial Ratios Database Average 2006 2005 2004 2003 Fundraising Cost Ratio 6% 7% 8% 8% NA Contributions Reliance 83% 91% 91% 93% NA Spending Ratio 97% 103% 107% 97% NA Program Output Ratio 78% 87% 90% 80% NA Degree of L-T Investment 3.36 4.43x 5.35x 6.43x NA Current Asset Turnover 4.88 6.82x 8.12x 7.96x NA
Focus on the Family Action pulled a video from its Web site today that asked people to pray for "rain of biblical proportions" during Barack Obama's Aug. 28 appearance at Invesco Field at Mile High to accept the Democratic nomination for president.
Stuart Shepard, director of digital media at Focus Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family, said the video he wrote and starred in was meant to be "mildly humorous."
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