Author: Randy Slovacek

Posted on

Minnesota Gov. “vetoes” anti-gay amendment bill

It has no effect on the anti-gay marriage amendment Minnesota’s homophobic legislature has sent voters for the 2012 ballot, but the veto that Governor Mark Dayton symbolically issued today is not without its praise.

“I do not have the power to prevent this divisive and destructive constitutional amendment from appearing on the ballot, in November 2012, the Legislature sent it to me in the form of a bill,” writes Gov. Dayton in a letter to the Minnesota legislature. “Thus, symbolic as it my be, I am exercising my legal responsibility to either sign or veto it. The path of social progress, of human compassion and understanding, would be tragically reversed by this amendment. Minnesotans are better than this. I urge Minnesotans to reject this amendment.”

Kids, this is what political courage looks like. Standing up for what you believe – equal rights for all when the darkness surrounds you.

Good for Gov. Mark Dayton. This is what a hero looks like. Take a very good look.

Posted on

GOP congressman keeps his gov’t healthcare because “it’s free”

Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA) faced criticism this week when video was released of him telling a constituent that she should sponsor her own health care instead of using the government’s Medicare program.

The Georgia Democratic Party released more video Wednesday from that same town hall event where Woodall explained why he wouldn’t give up his own government-funded health care program.

“You take government-subsidized health care, but you are not obligated to take that if you don’t want to,” Democratic activist Ilene Johnson told Woodall. “Why aren’t you going out on the free market in the state where you are a resident and buy your own health care?”

“It’s because it’s free,” Woodall replied. “It’s because it’s free. The same reason I went out to Walgreens and bought Activon when I don’t have any arthritis pain. Because it’s free. Folks, if you give people things for free, don’t blame them for taking them.”

So he wants to know why private citizens expect to take part in Medicare when they’ve PAID into it all their lives, but he keeps HIS government healthcare because “it’s free.”

OHHHHH. Now I get it.

(vis crooksandliars.com)

Posted on

Prop 8 supporters undercut their own argument

Campaigners for California’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2008 told traditional families they had much at stake: the future of marriage itself and the need to “protect our children,” as one ad put it, from the impact of legalized gay and lesbian unions.

Now, as the sponsors of Proposition 8 try to convince the courts that the judge who overturned the measure had a built-in bias as a gay man with a longtime partner, their opponents are invoking that same campaign message: If Prop. 8 was meant to preserve opposite-sex marriages, they argue, then any judge, gay or straight, would have the similar conflict of interest.

In their latest court filing, the measure’s supporters reply that they never promoted Prop. 8 as a benefit for married couples – just for society as a whole.

“Our argument is that adoption of same-sex marriage will likely harm the institution of marriage over time, not that any individual’s existing marriage will be affected,” said Charles Cooper, lawyer for the Prop. 8 campaign committee, a conservative religious coalition called Protect Marriage.

“The notion that all married heterosexual judges have a direct and substantial personal interest in the outcome of this case is, of course, patently absurd.”

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for two same-sex couples and a gay-rights group that challenged Prop. 8, said the measure’s sponsors were contradicting their campaign message that heterosexuals needed protection from same-sex marriage.

“It’s a stunning admission that all the arguments they were making before are completely baseless,” he said.

Ethics expert, Stephen Gillers of New York University, said an unreported long-term, same-sex relationship should not be grounds for disqualifying a judge. Since Walker could have married his partner in California before Prop. 8 passed, and could marry him today in a number of states, Gillers said, “his decision has no consequence to him.”

Click here to read more at SFgate.com

Posted on

Jim Stynes date with Olivia Newton-John

From the Herald Sun:Jim Stynes is facing one of his biggest challenges in the two years since he was diagnosed with cancer, with more risky surgery scheduled for next week.

But the main thing on his mind was the chance to share the stage tomorrow night with singer Olivia Newton-John before the Demons-Carlton match to help raise money for her Cancer and Wellness Centre.

Stynes says he fell in love with Newton-John as a 13-year-old watching Grease with his little brother.

Yesterday she visited him at The Alfred hospital as he recovered from his latest bout of surgery to remove persistent tumours.

They had a laugh and did an impromptu rehearsal of Grease hit You’re The One That I Want.

She said Stynes was an example of why Melbourne needed the new centre, which would help patients’ “body, mind and soul”.

The centre, due to open next year, still needs $10 million in public donations.

“This is an exciting chance for the club to support a worthwhile cause. I should be right to be there,” he said.

Stynes brushed off suggestions he’d sing with Newton-John, but Sam said he had had been practising You’re The One That I Want in the shower every morning.

Stynes’ former teammate, Russell Robertson, who sings with his own band, is expected to vie on stage with Stynes for Newton-John’s affections.

“Russell might win in the singing side of things, but Jim’s certainly going to get more sympathy points from Olivia,” Sam said.
 
To donate to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre visit www.oliviaappeal.com

Posted on

John Edwards may be indicted on misuse of campaign funds to cover up affair

The Justice Department plans to move ahead with criminal charges against the former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, contending that he misused campaign funds to cover up an affair with his mistress, a person close to Mr. Edwards said Wednesday morning.

“DOJ has made its decision to move forward with charges,” the person said in an e-mail.

Mr. Edwards, 57, has been the subject of a two-year investigation into whether he used more than $1 million in political donations to hide his affair with Rielle Hunter, his campaign videographer, while he ran for president in 2008. Hunter was an aide in Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign.

Edwards has denied any misuse of campaign funds.

If Mr. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and trial lawyer, makes a plea arrangement, he could admit to wrongdoing and avoid a costly trial.

A former top aide, Andrew Young, told a federal grand jury during nine hours of testimony in 2009 that Edwards had directed a well-funded campaign to keep the media away from Hunter — and hide the fact that Hunter had given birth to a daughter. Young initially had claimed he was father of Hunter’s child, but Edwards later admitted that he fathered the girl.

Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, died last year of cancer.

Posted on

Officer X on DOMA/marriage equality in the armed forces

Officer X has a new post on TIME Magazine’s website regarding DOMA and marriage rights in the armed forces.

Me getting married to another man does nothing to diminish the love of any heterosexual couple’s marriage. The act is anything but hostile and I don’t see why some feel they need “protection” from it happening. I understand and respect certain churches’ reluctance to accept homosexuality based on their interpretation of the Bible. Based on that precedent I can understand the desire of individual churches to not recognize gay marriage.

In essence, DOMA hurts gay couples, especially those in the military. After I get married it will keep me from being able to live in base housing with my spouse. It will deny him the same medical benefits I would be able to pass off to a wife. It also does nothing to “protect” straight couples, or their faith’s desire to exclude gays.

For those who haven’t read his posts, Officer X is a gay pilot in the United States armed forces who is serving actively in the military. Time has invited him to share his experiences with readers as we watch the end of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy from the perspective of the boots on the ground.

Read his latest post in full here.

Posted on

NV Gov. Signs Transgender Protections Law

While Republicans in the South and Midwest are passing bills that strip rights away from LGBT people, Nevada’s GOP governor signed legislation on Tuesday that will protect transgender people in the workplace.

Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the transgender bill into law at a ceremony in Carson City. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that LGBT leaders were hopeful that Sandoval would be receptive to the legislation, as he previously served as a federal judge.

AB 211, which goes into effect on October 1, says businesses with more than 15 employees cannot discriminate against people based on their gender identity or expression and people cannot be refused work or fired simply because they are transgender.

Thank you Gov. Sandoval!

It’s estimated Nevada is home to 25,000 transgender people.

Posted on

Kathy Hochul wins NY-26 congressional election

Democrat Kathy Hochul has been declared the winner of the special election for the congressional seat in NY-26.

The election seemed to have been flipped on the basis of Hochul’s opposition to changing or “voucher”-izing Medicare.

The rural-suburban district between Buffalo and Rochester is one of the state’s most conservative. But Corwin saw her early lead dissolve after coming out in favor of a Republican budget plan that would cut billions from Medicare, the government health plan for seniors.

With 83 percent of precincts reporting, Hochul had 48 percent of the vote, compared with 42 percent for Corwin.

The seat became vacant in February when Republican Rep. Chris Lee resigned after shirtless photos he sent to a woman surfaced online.

More at HuffingtonPost

Posted on

Sarah Palin – New Film to Premiere in June

From RealClearPolitics: Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request.

Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin’s governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.

The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He’d make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself — to the tune of $1 million.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska’s most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home.

When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won’t run.

Read more here.