Last Call For Utah's Posse Bigot-tatus

Seems that Utah's anti-LGBT bigots aren't going to let same-sex marriage continue in the state without a fight.  Or possible intimidation.  Or maybe actual bloodshed.  Or, well, who knows what might happen...

The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association on Saturday organized a meeting in Highland, Utah to call for an uprising and to express their opposition to same-sex marriage in Utah, Fox 13 Now News Salt Lake City reported. 

"The people of Utah have rights, too, not just the homosexuals. The homosexuals are shoving their agenda down our throats," Former Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack said at the meeting.

You see, LGBT Utahans don't count as people, so whatever may happen to them as a result of this group is going to be unfortunate, but it'll be their fault anyway, the awful perverts.

Mack said that Gov. Gary Herbert (R) failed the people of Utah.

"State sovereignty supercedes what this judge did," Mack said. "The Governor needs to get some courage and grip."

Cherilyn Eager, one of the event organizers, said that people need to speak out.

"We need people to stand up and speak out. We need to get noisy. We need some outrage," she said. "It is about the sheriffs now coming out to protect the people."

Federal law doesn't matter apparently since Utah is no longer part of the United States or subject to the Constitution, and since we've established above that LGBT Utahans aren't people according to these lovely folks, well, "the people" will need these armed officers of the law to "protect" them.

If you catch my drift.

Mack and Eager asked meeting attendees to call their local representatives and ask them to urge clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

"The way you take back freedom in America is one county at a time. The sheriffs need to defend the county clerks in saying, 'No, we're not going to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals,'" Mack said at the meeting.

While we're breaking the law and everything, let's "ask" county clerks to do so as well.  If they don't, well then, maybe the "people" will need "protection" from them, too...

The GOP Unemployment Ploy

Republicans are beginning to realize their position that the long-term unemployed are "just too lazy to find work and don't need benefits" is going to get them killed in November.  All of a sudden, Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner are all for extending benefits.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) remains open to an extension of emergency unemployment benefits even in the face of growing conservative opposition to such a move.

The Ohio Republican maintains the position he expressed last month that Republicans would “clearly consider” an extension of federal help for the long-term unemployed “as long as it’s paid for and as long as there are other efforts that will help get our economy moving once again,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Friday.

And surprise, surprise:  Sen. Rand Paul got the memo that Kentucky's unemployment picture is pretty lousy, so now he's for extending benefits too:

"Well, what I have always said is that it needs to be paid for, but we also need to do something for long-term unemployed people, and that is, we need to create something new that creates jobs. So, what I would like to do, when we get back, is one, if we extend it, we pay for it. But, two, we add something to it that would create jobs. And so what I have been promoting are economic freedom zones, which any area that has unemployment one-and-a-half times the national average, we would dramatically lower taxes to try to spur and stimulate the economy there and create jobs."

Of course, this is the part where Republicans all add on demands for these benefits in order to support the bill.  Both Boehner and Paul want to cut the budget elsewhere to "pay for" these extended benefits.  My suggestion is that Democrats take them up on the offer and start with eliminating big oil company subsidies and tax breaks.

Why, we'd even come out ahead I'm betting.

The Plan For 2014

President Obama will come out swinging on Monday when he's back from Hawaii and ready to take on the GOP over some big issues that they continue to block against the will of the people:  immigration reform, federal unemployment benefits, and helping the working poor by boosting the minimum wage, all issues that have broad approval across a majority of Americans.

The president's advisers hope comprehensive immigration reform, perhaps Obama’s number one goal of his second term, can still be in play in 2014. 

“It remains a top, top, top priority,” a White House official said. 

And Obama’s most pressing concern is to retain the Senate. Republicans believe they can win the six seats they’d need to take over the upper chamber, something that would force Obama to play defense in his remaining years in office. 

To bolster the chances for Democratic Senate candidates and Obama’s agenda, White House aides are looking to tap into the themes of fairness and equality—which they believe helped Obama win the presidency twice. 

Part and parcel of that effort is the immediate push on extending unemployment benefits, an efffot that started before Obama flew to Honolulu. Obama is expected to hold an event to push the issue early this week. 

In the same vein, they plan to aggressively push to hike the minimum wage to $10.10, backing a recent proposal by Congressional Democrats. 

Both issues are intended to telegraph a message about the inequality gap in the country, underlining differences with Republicans that the White House and Democrats think can be exploited in an election year. 

“It’s a fight we’re happy to have,” said the White House official. 

In short, the Republicans are about to remind everybody why a Democrat was elected President...and then re-elected President.