Edward Moore Kennedy 1962-2009
On a personal note, Ted Kennedy is a hero of mine. The Ted Kennedy I knew was a man spending his life atoning for his sins. He spent every day trying to help his fellow neighbor. I will miss you Teddy.
Again, Color Of Change has encouraged major retailers to drop ads from Glenn Becks programming after he declared Obama a “racist”.
From Huffington Post:
While I will never understand the need to own or carry a firearm, I do believe in the right to own one. However, there needs to be a limit as to where one can be carried. For example, you do not carry a semi-automatic assault rifle to a Presidential town hall meeting. Obama has made no threat to eradicate guns; and even if he did, there would be no chance that the law would ever make it through congress. Not going to happen.
So to all you wingnuts out there carrying loaded guns to political rallies, KNOCK IT OFF! You are not helping your cause. There is no place for loaded weapons near our President. Had someone shown up at a Bush town hall meeting, would the NRA be backing that persons right? I doubt it.
From the AP via Huffington Post
The Obama administration filed court papers Monday claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as government lawyers continued to defend it.
Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration’s response to the case has angered gay activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by Barack Obama last year.
In court papers, the administration said it supports repeal of the law.
Yet the same filing says the Justice Department will defend the statute in this case because a reasonable argument can be made that the law is constitutional.
The government’s previous filing in the case angered gay rights activists who supported Obama’s candidacy in part because of his pledge to move forward on repealing the law and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military.
“The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, because it prevents equal rights and benefits.
The department is obligated “to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration’s policy preferences,” Schmaler added.
The law, often called DOMA, denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
“DOMA reflects a cautiously limited response to society’s still-evolving understanding of the institution of marriage,” according to the filing by Assistant Attorney General Tony West.
The administration also disavowed past arguments made by conservatives that DOMA protects children by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
“The United States does not believe that DOMA is rationally related to any legitimate government interests in procreation and child-rearing and is therefore not relying upon any such interests to defend DOMA’s constitutionality,” lawyers argued in the filing.
Obama has pledged to work to repeal the law.
Monday’s court filing was in response to a lawsuit by Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who are challenging the federal law, which prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes and benefiting from other federal rights connected to marriage.
Justice lawyers have argued that the act is constitutional and contend that awarding federal marriage benefits to gays would infringe on the rights of taxpayers in the 30 states that specifically prohibit same-sex marriages.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts became the first state to challenge the law in court.
Media Matters is reporting that GMAC Financial is pulling their ads from Glenn Beck’s Fox News show. This proves the fallout is still continuing after Beck referered to Obama as a “racist”.
The new line-up for Dancing with thhe Stars was announce this morning. Normally I would not care who was on it, not my cup of tea, but this name stuck out…Tom Delay. I don’t even know what to say. Tom Delay. Wow.
Remember when Barack Obama sent the right into a tizzy by saying “arugula”? They called him an elitist and we came out to defend him. And where do we get our arugula? Well, for a lot of us leftists, it will no longer be Whole Foods.
Founder and C.E.O. of Whole Foods, John Mackey, has came out against universal health care in a recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed:
“Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?
“Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America.”
Not bright when the vast majoirty of Mackey’s clientel are left-wing, pro-reform, arugula eating liberals like myself. Contact Whole Foods and let them know how you feel…and boycott!
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
550 Bowie Street
Austin, TX 78703-4644
512.477.4455
512.477.5566 voicemail
512.482.7000 fax
She even brought notes
This is why Rachel Maddow is one of the news greats. In this segment from her MSNBC show, she shows how Palin, Limbaugh and Gingrich were for end-of-life counseling before they were against it.
Today on This Week, Orrin Hatch was asked if Sarah Palin was right calling end-of-life counciling “death panels”, to which he stated he wouldn’t comment on. Orrin Hatch has no comment on death panels. Thankfully, my least favorite Democrat, Arlen Specter, was on hand to not only point it out but call the claim bogus. Shame on you, Senator Hatch.
