Month: May 2012
Rubio: Obama Most Divisive Figure in Modern American History
For all the policy disagreements that we may have with the president, it is hard to understate how much he inspired people across this country four years ago, with his promises to unite America and lift it up. The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person. We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history as we have over the last three and a half years.
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), quoted by ABC News, at a South Carolina Republican dinner.
How Would America Be Without the Filibuster?
Let’s take only the Obama presidency. Had the filibuster not applied, the United States would have a market-based system to control carbon emissions, which would limit the damage from global warming, vitalize the clean technology sector, and challenge other large polluters like China and India to do the same. The new health care law would have a public option. Children of undocumented immigrants who served two years in the military or went to college could become US citizens. Women paid less than their male colleagues because of their gender would have broader legal recourse against their employers. Billionaires would not be able to manipulate the political system from behind a veil of anonymity.
— Joshua Green, writing in the Boston Globe.
Mick Jagger Warns That Romney Isn’t So Nice After All
Among the many highlights of Mick Jagger’s recent performance on Saturday Night Live was this song, “Tea Party,” written by Jagger and accompanied by Jeff Beck. Our favorite part: “You know Mr. Romney, he’s a mensch,* he plays it straight and fair. Yeah, Mr. Romney, he’s a hard-working man…But don’t ever let him cut your hair.”
* “Mensch” is a Yiddish word that has come to mean a good person, a nice guy, or someone of reliable honor and character.
A Message for North Carolina Democrats: Vote in November
The hilarious, if a little lewd, columnist Wm.™ Steven Humphrey has a message for North Carolina, which passed a constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage during its recent Republican primary.
Dear entire state of North Carolina: Please forward the following message to your customer service department…In the past, I’ve excluded you from my vicious rants about hillbillies largely because—even though you’re squarely in the South—Clay Aiken was born there. However, there aren’t enough Clay Aikens in the world to make me forgive your recent vote in favor of Amendment 1, which puts a statewide ban on same-sex marriage, partnerships, and civil unions.
This was dumb. Why? …your state still allows people to marry their first cousins. I know, I know, if you were to ban those marriages, half the state would be forced to marry their sister or something.
NAACP Board Endorses Marriage Equality
Whatever that weird thing is with black churches and gay people is one step closer to being resolved, following an action by the NAACP, which followed an action by Pres. Obama.
Florida is home to the largest city in the country that still offers no protection in housing or hiring based on sexual orientation
The board of the N.A.A.C.P. voted to endorse same-sex marriage on Saturday, putting the weight of the country’s most prominent civil rights group behind a cause that has long divided some quarters of the black community.
The largely symbolic move, made at the group’s meeting in Miami, puts the N.A.A.C.P. in line with President Obama, who endorsed gay marriage a little over a week ago…
Borrowing a term used by gay rights advocates, the resolution stated, “We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
In a statement, Roslyn M. Brock, chairwoman of the 64-member board, said, “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”
Well, Chair Brock, you haven’t — if we’re talking about gay people — until now but let’s not get technical. The important thing is that it’s never too late to do the right thing so welcome to the 21st century!
A War of Words
70%
Proportion of political ads produced in 2012 that have been negative, according to a study by Wesleyan University cited by the Los Angeles Times. At this point in 2008, 9% of ads were classified as negative. Most of the increase is attributed to super PACs and the Supreme Court’s decision to allow anonymous corporate money in races in the Citizens United ruling.
Even the Staples Guy Says Mitt Was Trying to Make Money, Not Jobs
The only one who doesn’t know what the goal of Bain Capital was when Mitt Romney ran it is, apparently, Mitt Romney. Tom Stemberg, the Staples guy himself, says Bain was not trying to create jobs but was instead trying to create wealth for its principals. Duh.
A top surrogate to Mitt Romney said making money — rather than creating jobs — was the primary goal of the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee when he was running Bain Capital LLC, saying he “acted responsibly” as chief executive officer of the private-equity firm.
“The role of private equity as fiduciaries is certainly to make money,” said Tom Stemberg, the founder of Staples Inc. (SPLS), in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital.” Bain also helped businesses grow, so “these things had redeeming social value, in addition to making Mitt and his investors a lot of money.”
Stemberg made the remarks to set the record straight in an ad perceived as negative toward Romney, which portrays Mitt as a corporate raider. While objecting to that spot, Stemberg gave $20,000 to the Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future to make negative ads about Obama.
Trayvon Martin Murder Case Shows State Legislatures are Letting Gun Extremists Call the Shots
Is it self-defense if you pick a fistfight and then, when you realize the other person is winning, shoot to kill?
Laws that protect and encourage gun violence are moving America closer to becoming a society based on the whims of thousands of tiny militias
That’s the question legal reporter Dan Abrams poses in a column that gets to the heart of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman mess.
Abrams finds that Florida’s NRA/ALEC written “Stand Your Ground” law contains two exceptions that could mean the answer is yes and that Zimmerman will go free.
