Minnesota: Anti-gay marriage amendment has strong support

According to a new KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, 50 percent of Minnesotans favor an amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Meanwhile, 43 percent oppose the amendment and 8 percent are undecided.

The amendment is favored in all regions of the state, with the closest margin in the Twin Cities metro area where the “yes” vote is ahead just 46 percent to 44 percent. The amendment is also supported by voters in the 18 to 49 age group by a margin of 48 percent to 42 percent. “Likely voters” over the age of 50 support the amendment 51 percent to 44 percent.

Booo!

(source)

2012 Kennedy Center Honorees announced

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced the selection of the seven individuals who will receive the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors.

Recipients to be honored at the 35th annual national celebration of the arts are: bluesman Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, comedian and television host David Letterman, ballerina Natalia Makarova, and rock band Led Zeppelin.

While Led Zeppelin is being honored as a band, keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page, and singer Robert Plant will each receive the Kennedy Center Honors.

Hillary Clinton’s statement on attacks in Libya

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a statement this morning about the ugly attacks in Libya which took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three aides.

“How could this happen in a country we helped liberate? In a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and at times how confounding the world can be, but we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya.”

Mitt Romney on same sex couples: “I didn’t know you had families”

Boston Spirit magazine has dug a bit deeper into Mitt Romney’s past interactions with LGBT people, particularly during his time as governor.

This new profile illustrates a more profound level of insensitivity to the experience of LGBT people than his past position statements suggest.

David Wilson and Julie Goodridge, two of the plaintiffs whose case led to the legalization of marriage equality in Massachusetts, described meeting with Romney to discuss their experiences. According to Wilson, “it was like talking to a robot. No expression, no feeling.” At one point, Romney remarked, “I didn’t know you had families.” Goodridge recalls her final exchange with the governor, which proved to her that he had “no capacity for empathy”:

GOODRIDGE: Governor Romney, tell me — what would you suggest I say to my 8 year-old daughter about why her mommy and her ma can’t get married because you, the governor of her state, are going to block our marriage?

ROMNEY: I don’t really care what you tell your adopted daughter. Why don’t you just tell her the same thing you’ve been telling her the last eight years.

I’m not sure I can comprehend such a statement to a mother. I can’t wrap my head around that.

This is the man who would be “president.”

More at ThinkProgress

Carly Rae Jepsen Sings Joni Mitchell – “Both Sides, Now”

So…

I really love this song. The song.

Joni Mitchell was channeling serious wisdom when she wrote this. And over the years, Joni’s performance of the song has only grown exponentially deeper.

Bless her little heart, but Carly Rae Jepsen really shouldn’t be singing this song for another decade or two. The only line I believe her singing is “I really don’t know love at all.”

Not her fault but this song is about living life. Life you have to have lived first.

But she does have a very nice voice.

And the biggest song of the year. So she can be content with that.