Day: June 19, 2011

Republican State Senator Breaks With Party to Support Same-Sex Marriage

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NY Gay Marriage
N.Y. State Sen. Roy McDonald

“You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing.

“I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”

— New York State Sen. Roy McDonald (R-Saratoga), explaining his support for same-sex marriage.

U.S. Rep. Releases Pictures of Himself Desecrating the Flag

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WestUnderwater
U.S. Rep. Allen West plants the flag in a South Florida reef

U.S. Rep. Allen West (R-FL22) is at it again. What better way to celebrate Flag Day, and make headlines, than to desecrate the flag? The tea party darling, often held up as proof the movement isn’t racist, posted pictures on Flickr of his recent diving expedition to an artificial reef in his South Florida district.

Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Code, subsection B: ‘The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise’

That got flag purists’ attention. They point to Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Code, subsection B, which states, “The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.”

But West isn’t known for following the rules. Before moving to Florida to run for Congress, West was discharged from the Army in 2004 after an incident in Taji, Iraq. Four members of a battalion he commanded beat an Iraqi they suspected of plotting to attack them while they interrogated him. To facilitate the questioning, West himself fired his service pistol next to the man’s head, a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. After the rumors of the plot were found to be baseless, West said, “It’s possible that I was wrong about Mr. Hamoodi.” He avoided a court-martial and was subjected to an “Article 15 proceeding,” relieved of his command, and ordered to pay a fine.

And while flag desecration is small potatoes compared to his past exploits, it’s clear that Rep. West hasn’t learned that you don’t honor your country, or its flag, by ignoring core principles.

Rush Limbaugh’s Show Is Underwritten by the Right-Wing Think Tank Responsible for the Individual Mandate and Romneycare

Jon Ponder

logo-heritageProduct placement has become such a subtle art form these days that it’s hard to tell the difference between advertising and the editorial or entertainment content. Case in point, right-leaning Politico.com a reports that the tea party astroturfers, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, and the Heritage Foundation, a Reaganite intellectual boneyard, are quietly underwriting the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck radio shows, at a cost of several millions dollars:

POLITICO: In search of donations and influence, the three prominent conservative groups are paying hefty sponsorship fees to the popular talk show hosts. Those fees buy them a variety of promotional tie-ins, as well as regular on-air plugs – praising or sometimes defending the groups, while urging listeners to donate – often woven seamlessly into programming in ways that do not seem like paid advertising.

Those fees buy them a variety of promotional tie-ins, as well as regular on-air plugs — praising or sometimes defending the groups, while urging listeners to donate — often woven seamlessly into programming in ways that do not seem like paid advertising…

The Heritage Foundation pays about $2 million to sponsor Limbaugh’s show and about $1.3 million to do the same with Hannity’s…

Those millions also buy lies. […]