Month: January 2013

Slow Learner? No – Obama Shows He Doesn’t Have to Make the Same Mistake Twice

Trish
A man who takes an inordinate amount of interest in gay people: Rev. Louie Giglio

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog applauds the announcement from the Obama Inauguration Committee that a Christian pastor who has preached that homosexuality is a “malfunction” that can be cured (cue Macklemore) has been pulled from the roster of the day’s events. Aravosis:

This statement makes it sound more like Giglio was asked to leave, rather than his having parted ways amicably:

Below is a statement from the Presidential Inaugural Committee on Rev. Giglio’s decision to withdraw from the Inaugural Ceremony:

“We were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this Inaugural. Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part for his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world. As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.“ – Addie Whisenant, PIC Spokesperson

That is a GREAT statement. It’s exactly what we could have asked for. Yes, I’d have preferred that this snafu didn’t happen in the first place. But they fixed it perfectly, directly, head-on with no waffling. I didn’t expect this.

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California Projects Budget Surplus for 2013

Jon Ponder

Twelve years after Enron bilked California consumers out of $20 billion and the state coincidentally experienced a budget shortfall of roughly the same amount, two years after California replaced an incompetent Republican governor with an experienced Democrat, and two months after California voters raised taxes on the wealthy through a ballot initiative, Gov. Jerry Brown announced today that the state will have its first budget surplus in more than a decade:

After years of red ink, Gov. Jerry Brown said on Thursday that California’s $96.7-billion general fund is now poised to end next year with a surplus, thanks to years of deep budget cuts and billions in new taxes approved by voters last year.

“We achieved the position we’re in because of tough cuts … and then the people voted for taxes,” he said. “We broke the logjam by going to the people.”

Godwin’s Law Writ Large: Drudge Headline on Govt Effort to Restrict Mass Killing Guns Makes Predictable Nazi Analogy

Jon Ponder

According to Wikipedia,”Godwin’s law (also known as Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies) is an argument made by Mike Godwin in 1990 that has become an Internet adage. It states: ‘As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. In other words, Godwin observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion — regardless of topic or scope – someone inevitably makes a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis.”

After Vice Pres. Joe Biden announced that the White House would be willing to bypass Congress and use executive orders to restrict sales of guns capable of mass killing, right-wing propagandist Matt Drudge skipped all the early stages of discussion referred to by Godwin and went straight to the Nazi analogy in his headline yesterday.

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