And That Makes Six

As he promised, New Hampshire governor John Lynch signed into law that state's same-sex marriage bill, making the Granite State the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Traditionally conservative New Hampshire today became the sixth state in the nation -- and the fifth state in New England -- where same-sex couples will be allowed to marry.

"Today we're standing up for the liberties of same-sex couples by making clear they will receive the same rights, responsibilities, and respect under New Hampshire law," Governor John Lynch said before signing the legislation in a State House ceremony at about 5:20 p.m.

Lynch said it was a New Hampshire tradition "to come down on the side of individual liberties and protections, and that tradition continues today." The room, filled by scores of the bill's supporters, resounded with applause as he signed.

"We're thrilled to death," said Mo Baxley, executive director of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition. "We're equal. Equal isn't nothing. Equal is everything."

Gay marriage is now legal in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts -- all of the new England states, except for Rhode Island. Gay marriage is also legal in Iowa.

Lynch signed the bill after it was approved by both the House and Senate earlier in the day.

Remember, this is a country where almost 40 years ago in the South, a black person and a white person could not legally be married. It was against the definition of marriage in a number of states.

Things change.

The Man Has A Goal

I swear, it's almost like Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) is on a mission to be the biggest asshole in the GOP.

Gov. Mark Sanford issued a veto Tuesday to a much-debated payday lending bill that various lawmakers had described as the most important issue to come before the General Assembly this year.

For two years, lawmakers wrangled in heated, emotional debate over the concept of placing greater restrictions on payday lenders, finally reaching a breakthrough on the last day of the 2009 General Assembly session.

Payday lenders, lawmakers and various consumer advocate groups finally came to terms on the legislation, marking the first new regulations to be put on the $155 million-a-year industry in South Carolina since its 1998 startup.

But Sanford said the new regulations violate his commitment to free market principles.

“There are a number of people who I admire tremendously who I know I will disappoint with this veto,” Sanford wrote in a three-page letter explaining his decision, “but it is my hope that in time they see my consistency in pushing for limited government and maximized individual freedom. ...”

Yes, including the freedom to have to pay $15 on every $100 borrowed in two weeks and then getting trapped in a spiral of penalty fees and having to take out loans to pay the fees on the loans you can't pay the fees on.

See, Sanford's just looking out for his unemployed constituents.

But let's not kid ourselves about what the opinion is about people who take payday loans in SC: they're all black people on welfare. Check the comments in the article, like this one:

Many of these people are the dregs of society who could not possibly borrow money any place else due to their poor behavior and character.

And so legalized loan sharking is all "these people" deserve.

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

Bush, Biden, and Condi.

Bush found himself perplexed by the flap over Joe Biden describing Obama as "articulate and bright and clean" in January 2007. So, naturally, the president turned to the top U.S. diplomat, the trusted Condi Rice, to explain what the heck this was all about.

Here's the tidbit from the first chapter of Wolffe's book:

Bush was so taken aback with the public criticism of Biden that he called in his African American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. "I don't get it," he said. "Condi, what's going on?" Rice told him what everyone else had said: that white people don't call each other articulate.

One has to ask: can we really blame Bush for not knowing the conventions attached to that particular adjective?

And this is the point where the complete sense of mind-numbing depression hit me so hard, I lost control of my motor functions for a few seconds and my head just hit the desk here like a lead weight.

Important Reminder

Today is National Fist Bump Day.

The End Of Affirmative Action

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows pretty grim statistics on Americans and affirmative action.

American voters say 55 – 36 percent that affirmative action should be abolished, and disagree 71 – 19 percent with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayer’s ruling in the New Haven firefighters’ case, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

More than 70 percent of voters say diversity is not a good enough reason to give minorities preferential treatment in competition for government or private sector jobs, the independent Quinnipiac University survey of more than 3,000 voters finds. Looking at specifics of affirmative action, American voters:

• Support 55 – 39 percent affirmative action for the disabled in hiring, promotions and college admissions. Protestants and Catholics support it, 49 – 46 percent and 49 – 47 percent, respectively. Jews also support it 59 – 25 percent;
• Oppose 70 – 25 percent giving some racial groups preference for government jobs to increase diversity. Black voters support it 49 – 45 percent while Hispanic voters are opposed 58 – 38 percent; · Oppose 74 – 21 percent giving some racial groups preference for private sector jobs to increase diversity. Voters in every racial and religious group oppose this;
• Oppose 64 – 29 percent affirmative action for Hispanics in hiring, promotion and college entry. Black voters support it 59 – 30 percent while Hispanics split 47 – 48 percent;
• Oppose 61 – 33 percent affirmative action for blacks in hiring, promotion and college entry. Black voters support this 69 – 26 percent, as do Hispanics 51 – 46 percent;
• Oppose 62 – 32 percent affirmative action for white women in hiring, promotion and college entry. Women oppose this 58 – 35 percent but blacks support it 55 – 37 percent.

“Whether it’s a belief that the statute of limitations on past wrongs has run out or economic pressures on workers, programs that supporters call affirmative action and opponents label racial preferences are unpopular with most American voters,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Americans are pretty much against affirmative action at this point, and the the economy bad and getting worse, the number of Americans against it will only increase.

After all, it's easier to have workers fighting each other for the jobs left then to question the system that took their jobs in the first place.

Dear America:

"People have accused me of being unfair to Sonia Sotomayor, and even have accused me of being racist. In order to prove I am not, I will now give a fair and balanced argument of the pros and cons of Sonia Sotomayor. Ahem. Here I go. Is Sonia Sotomayor the most pathologically racist Whitey-hating Supreme Court nominee of all time, or just the most pathologically racist Whitey-hating Supreme Court nominee of the Obama administration? For our influential friends in the Village media, please remember to restrict the scope of your discussion and all future media discussions of Ms. Sotomayor only to the preceding question. Thank you."

--Newt Gingrich, Human Events

Keep Your Friends Close, Keep Your GOP Closer

Obama continues to outmanuever, outthink, and outwit the GOP as his plans to pick off and convert GOP well-respected Republican moderates continues. After a fugly start with Judd Gregg, Obama has been on a roll. His latest convert? NY Republican Congressman John McHugh has been named Obama's Secretary of the Army.

Since taking office in January, Obama has made an effort to convert GOP moderates in nearly every region of the country, ranging from a former Midwestern congressman, Ray LaHood, who became transportation secretary, to Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was recently named ambassador to China.

Obama also made a play for two of the four remaining Northeastern Republican senators — meeting with success in the case of party-switching Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and near-success in the case of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, who initially accepted the president’s appointment as head of the Commerce Department before backing out.

And with McHugh’s appointment, Obama has managed to cut New York’s ever-shrinking GOP House delegation by one-third. The state delegation now includes just two Republicans in its 29-member contingent — down from 10 as recently as 2004.

Between high-profile conversions from the Northeast to the Midwest to the Rocky Mountain West — not to mention Obama’s warm relations with the nation’s two most prominent moderate Republican governors, California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida’s Charlie Crist — it’s beginning to look like a strategy that isolates conservatives, reinforces the impression that the GOP is defined by the borders of the Deep South and all the while underscores Obama’s stated goal of working across party lines.

“It’s very smart politically on a lot of levels. First, it’s a demonstration that he’s keeping his promise to govern in a bipartisan way. Second, the fact is, every time you open up a seat in the House or Senate that an incumbent Republican holds, you give your party an opportunity to win one back. And some of those seats may come our way,” said Tad Devine, a veteran Democratic strategist. “It forces Republicans to defend their own territory and spend money on defense.”

“Boxing the Republicans into a South-dominated party is very good strategy, because the more you reduce the Republican Party, the more conservative and reactionary it will become, and thus less attractive to moderates,” said Tom Schaller, a University of Maryland-Baltimore County professor and the author of “Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South.” “The Midwest and the Northeast are the places where there are still remnants of old-line Rockefeller Republicans. And these are the places where the Democrats will build durable majorities.”

Obama is taking the long view, while the GOP is burning all its long-term plans in order to try to make short-term gains. In the end, Obama and the Democrats are looking to render the GOP as an obsolete, regional party rather than a vibrant national one.

It's a smart plan. I just wish the GOP wasn't so hell-bent on walking right into their own destruction.

Ain't Skeered

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

EXCLUSIVE:

U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al Qaeda recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group's determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland.

The video aired earlier this year as a recruitment tool makes clear that al Qaeda is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by The Washington Times.

The officials, who spoke only on the condition they not be named because of the sensitive nature of their work, stressed that there is no credible information that al Qaeda has acquired the capabilities to carry out a mass biological attack although its members have clearly sought the expertise.

"So in conclusion, we have no credible evidence whatsoever that terrorists have the ability to attack the US with bioweapons, but you should be scared out of your goddamn mind anyway. Why does President Obama hate America so much that he's not willing to seal the borders?"

More Job News

ADP is estimating 532,000 more job losses in May. Considering we've been consistently over 600,000 in weekly claims, absolutely. I'll take 545,000 as my number when the official digits are out Friday.

Meanwhile, Jim Cramer is officially calling this a bull market. The bears are wrong, BUY BUY BUY into great economic news like California's budget crisis eliminating the safety net for 1/7th of the US, and the next wave of foreclosures being powered by rising unemployment!

You do that. Dow 14,000 is just around the corner...

Right?

The Attacks Begin

As Obama tries to make inroads with the Muslim world, he's being brutally attacked here by the "Kill the raghead sunzabitches!" Winger crowd for appeasement, surrender, etc. Naturally the Wingers are seizing on Obama Derangement Syndrome Playbook play number seven: Jump on a Jake Tapper article and run with it ad hominem.

In September 2008, candidate Obama told a Pennsylvania crowd, "I know that I'm not your typical presidential candidate and I just want to be honest with you. I know that the temptation is to say, 'You know what? The guy hasn't been there that long in Washington. You know, he's got a funny name. You know, we're not sure about him.' And that's what the Republicans when they say this isn't about issues, it's about personalities, what they're really saying is, 'We're going to try to scare people about Barack. So we're going to say that, you know, maybe he's got Muslim connections.'...Just making stuff up."

Back then, the campaign's "Fight the Smears" website addressed the candidate's faith without mentioning his father's religion:

"Barack Obama is a committed Christian. He was sworn into the Senate on his family Bible. He has regularly attended church with his wife and daughters for years. But shameful, shadowy attackers have been lying about Barack’s religion, claiming he is a Muslim instead of a committed Christian. When people fabricate stories about someone’s faith to denigrate them politically, that’s an attack on people of all faiths. Make sure everyone you know is aware of this deception."

The website also provided quotes from the Boston Globe and Newsweek mentioning his father's roots.

Since the election, however, with the threat of the rumors at least somewhat abated, the White House has been increasingly forthcoming about the president's roots. Especially when reaching out to the
Muslim world.

In his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament, President Obama referenced how many "Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them."

Needless to say, the reaction to Obama's trip to be nice to Islam is pulling out the most egregious of the "OBAMA IS REALLY A SEKRIT MOOSLIM" Winger attacks.

It doesn't matter what the man does. There is a large segment of the population that will always despise the man.

StupidiNews!

• Nixon went to China, Obama goes to Saudi Arabia to begin his major Mideast tour.
• Brazilian officials have confirmed the crash site of Air France flight 447.
• Last winter's oil price crash could mean considerably higher oil prices in 2010.
• It's cut wages or cut jobs in Spain...or it could mean both as the Spanish recession rolls on.
• Microsoft Windows 7 will indeed be shipping on October 22.