Huckabee: Ignore SCOTUS — The Law — If It Lets Gays Marry

Poor Mike Huckabee; I mean, he quit his job at Fox Not News to wait by the phone in case God called and told him to run for President, but God’s been busy giving AIDS to babies in Africa, or something, so what’s Mike gonna do now?

Well, he’ll talk to anyone and everyone who will listen and say the most non-Presidential things ever, as he did this week when he talked with conservative radio host and law professor Hugh Hewitt to shill his new “book”, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy — wait, is it a cookbook, a bible or a gun nut anthology?

He also talked about how to break the law in this country, you know, if you don’t agree with it. Huckabee told Hewitt he is "angry" about the way states and governors are just bowing down to the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of same-sex marriage:

"If the federal Supreme Court rules that same sex marriage is protected under the 14th Amendment, you still have to have Congress and the President act to agree with it, because one branch of government does not overrule the other two. This idea that a judge makes a ruling on Friday afternoon, and Saturday morning same sex marriage licenses are being given out, that’s utter nonsense, because there’s not been any agreement with the other two branches of government."

Clearly, Huckleberry has no idea how ‘law’ works, which may explain why God hasn’t picked up the phone yet. But Hewitt, a law professor who studied law and not just god and Grist, or some crap, schooled Huckabee on a little something called the Supremacy Clause which establishes that the federal constitution and federal law generally take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions.

Which is why, when the courts rule, the states follow the law. You’d think Huckabee would have remembered that when he was governor of Arkansas, but he might have been too busy playing with his guns or his guitar.

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who is, at this time, still waiting to hear from God, also told Hewitt that when it comes to same-sex marriage, "there does come a point at which I think we have to take a stand. I may be lonely, I may be the only one, but I’m going to stand absolutely faithful to the issue of marriage not because it’s a politically expedient thing to do, because it isn’t. I’m going to do it because I believe it is the right position, it’s the Biblical position, it’s the historical position."

And that’s the exact same argument that was used to support slavery and bans on interracial marriage and we know how that worked out.

Let me make this queer: Huckleberry thinks he can be President and yet he is basically saying that if you don’t like a Supreme Court ruling, a law, in fact, then you should just be able to ignore it.

That’s so Presidential, Mike, and just one more reason why God is  busy watching a Real Housewives marathon on Bravo and not dialing your number at the Crazy House.

via NCRM

I Didn't Say It ...

Mike Huckabee, on why he’s leaving Fox News:

"I've never had so much fun in my life. I've met people I never dreamed I'd meet and I've played music with legends in the music business. But I also realize that God hasn't put me on Earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather God has put me on Earth to try to make a good life. There's been a great deal of speculation as to whether I would run for president. And if I were willing to absolutely rule that out, I could keep doing this show. But I can't make such a declaration."

Wait. So, um, God wants you to leave Fox News? Good on God. But if you want people to believe — at least those folks who believe in God — that with all that’s going on in the world, with terrorism, and famine, and death and disease that She’s taking one second to send you a message about running for the White House again, again, you’re more delusional than even I ever thought possible.

Frank Bruni, in a New York Times column, pondering about our political dynasties:

"Jeb and Hillary. Hillary and Jeb. It’s getting to the point where a mention of one yields a reference to the other, where they’re semantically inseparable, presidentially conjoined. Should we just go the extra step, save ourselves some syllables and keystrokes? The 2016 matchup as envisioned by many: Jebary. Or, more economically still, Heb. The fascination with this pair as possible rivals for the White House makes perfect sense, because it defies belief. We’re talking about tomorrow while trafficking in yesterday. We’re saying we need to turn the page by going back to a previous chapter. We’re a country of self-invention (that’s the myth, at least) in thrall to legacies and in the grip of dynasties, riveted by the mightiest surname in modern Democratic politics and its Republican analogue, imagining not just a clash of the titans but a scrum of the successors."

Well, I can see Hillary in the White House, but Jeb? We’ve gone down that road with two other Bush’s and I know we can do better than that.

Benedict Cumberbatch, on Alan Turing, whom he is playing in The Imitation Game:

"He's a man who died tragically early due to a government he helped free from fascism by his work in World War II cracking the Enigma Code, rewarding him for his nature for quietly confessing to who he was - as a gay man in a time of intolerance in the 50s.”

Even why helping with the war effort in a way no one had ever done before, Turing was literally, physically tortured for being gay.

Jamie Dornan, on wearing a special ‘sock’ for the sex scenes for 50 Shades of Grey: 

“Your dignity is intact as much as it’s all tucked away in a little flesh-coloured bag… As a guy you put all your essentials in a little bag and you tie it up like a little bag of grapes and it’s tucked away. It’s quite a peculiar thing to do every day.”

Is it just me, or would anyone else want to be the one to tie up Jamie’s essentials at the start of filming and then let them out at the end of the day.

Russell Crowe, on women in film not aging gracefully:

“The best thing about the industry I’m in — movies — is that there are roles for people in all different stages of life. To be honest, I think you’ll find that the woman who is saying that [the roles have dried up] is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can’t understand why she’s not being cast as the 21 year old. Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that’s bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be. If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you’re still the young buck when you’re my age, it just doesn’t work.”

I think Crowe has a point. Jennifer Aniston, for example, is a forty-five year old woman but she’s still playing at least 15 to 20 years younger.

That said, the double standard of men in Hollywood acting onscreen with actresses young enough to be their granddaughters, should also be addressed. I saw a graphic yesterday that showed when Denzel Washington was in his 30s and playing married onscreen, the actress who played his wife was twenty-eight. Now that he’s sixty, the actresses who play his wife in films have aged to their mid-30s.Double standard Hollywood.

Today in Christian Love: God Hates Fags ... So Shoot Them

Another day, another Hate Crime.

This time it’s Wayne Steven Odegard, of Minnesota, who harassed patrons outside a gay club in Minneapolis and then, just for fun apparently, because they were gays after all, he decided to shoot a gay couple with a BB gun.

The attack occurred last September, when Wayne Steven Odegard stood outside the Saloon bar and began hurling anti-gay epithets at the people waiting to get into the club, Shortly after his little homophobic tirade, he pulled out the BB gun and began shooting into the crowd of patrons and then ran. Tyler Erickson, the club’s security guard, who witnessed the entire altercation and pursued Odegard as he fled the scene.

"I ran after him and then it ended up he shot a different gay couple in the leg, with that gun and it went through his jeans and drew blood. He told me multiple times that I’m going to go to hell and he’s going to bring me with him. He recited a biblical passage — I think it’s a Deuteronomy passage." — Tyler Erickson

Erickson caught Odegard and held him until police arrived, charged and arrested the man for making terroristic threats; last month Odegard plead guilty to the charges in October and was sentenced to six months in jail, and ordered to undergo chemical dependency and psychological evaluations and attend anger management classes. In addition, given that his crime was based on the sexual orientation of his victims, the court raised his probation period from three years to five years.

Okay. So what?

Here’s so what: I blame every single one of those so-called religious anti-gay bigots, like Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, Bryan Fischer, Peter LaBarbera, Mike Huckabee, Brian Brown and Linda Harvey; I blame NOM and the FRC and the AFA.

For every single time they take to the airwaves to rail against gay folks, and quote the Bible, and pretend that they speak for God, they incite people like Wayne Steven Odegard to physically attack gay people just for being gay.

And yet, these same wingnuts, in the same breath, will rant and rave about how The Gays are out to destroy religion and harm the Christians, and rid the word of God-fearing individuals. And still I wait for that Hate Crime, the one perpetrated by a Gay Man or Woman, waiting outside a church, shooting a BB gun at a Christian couple and shouting anti-Christian epithets.

But that hasn’t happened. I have yet to see one incident of a gay person bashing, shooting, hurling hate speech, at Christians. And yet we have these losers and morons and haters telling their minions that we are an abomination, a sin against nature, and that God hates us; and because they do that, because they couch it in Freedom of Religion, they encourage people like Wayne Steven Odegard to attack gay people in the streets while shouting Bible verses.

I blame Wayne Steven Odegard for what he did in Minneapolis, but I also blame Fischer, LaBarbera, Brown, Perkins, Harvey, Huckabee and the rest.

They all played a part in that attack.

via LGBTQNation

Random Musings

When we were at South Carolina Pride a few weeks back, Carlos found a kilt he wanted to buy. His grandfather was from England — he moved to Mexico as an adult and lived there the rest of his life — and Carlos has always been an Anglophile.

Now, his kilt isn’t plaid, it’s a dark green, but it’s very cool, and once it arrived to the house, he decided he wanted to wear it to our wedding. I had other ideas — I always do — of keeping it simple, with each of us in a nice black jacket, white shirt and nice — nice — jeans.

Carlos said, “Jeans?????”

I said, “Kilt????”

He’s wearing the kilt, and that’s fine, because it looks good on him, but I did ask that he wear a nice black jacket and white shirt. So, he showed me the white shirts he had in the closet; not one from this century, so imagine dirty dishwater white color; and there wasn’t a black jacket in sight.

So, Carlos, who hates to shop, set off in search of a black jacket, a white shirt, and some black boots to wear with his kilt. When he returned home, happy as a clam to have found the items, he gave me a little preview; nice jacket; very nice crisp white, white, shirt, and some cool black boots — rough-trade boots, if you will.

I sat in the chair and muttered, “Wow, you get a whole new outfit for the wedding and I’m wearing my old black jacket.”

“I knew it!” He shrieked, and my ears began to bleed.

“Shout it to the whole neighborhood,” I said.

Carlos walked to the living room window, threw it up, and shrieked outside, “I. KNEW. IT!!!!!”

Today I went and bought myself some new, nice, cool, jeans, a new crisp white shirt, and three pairs of new shoes, you know, because I will not be outdone at my own wedding!!

Last week the Labor Department reported that 248,000 jobs were created last month, pushing the unemployment down to a six-year low of 5.9%.  

Thanks Obama.

See, Rightwingnuts? That's how “Thanks Obama” works. Say Thanks to the President for fixing the mess created by George W. Bush.

And then sit down.

So, naturally, other than my own upcoming marriage, was the news out of SCOTUS this week, which paved the way for marriages in at least five — and perhaps up to eleven — new states. 

I got a huuuge kick out of some of the GOP wingnuts who called the Supreme Court a bunch of unelected judges — um, yeah, that’s how it works — and said they were activist judges.

Funny, though, had the Supreme Court ruled the other way these asshats would have been praising these non-elected activists for doing their jobs.

GOP? Take a seat; you don’t have a dog in this fight any more.

Speaking of GOP loons … Mike Huckabee.

That’s really all that need be said, but I love this Tweet, and the response from Jesus H. Christ.

Who knew Jesus was so funny?

I watched a new comedy last week called A To Z; it’s one of those “relationship” comedies, but it’s just quirky enough not to be sappy, and just well-written enough to be actually funny.

As in the scene where our couple is sitting in a trendy martini bar and the bartender asks the girl if she likes her “Martini Navratilova.”

He then offers to make her a “Martini Luther King Jr.”

Okay, it made me laugh, and I also got a little tingly with the adorkable male lead, Ben Feldman.

I do so love a dork; hell, I’m marrying one!

American Horror Story Freak Show started last night and, naturally, Jessica Lange was brilliant, and fearless and fabulous, and a bit shocking. Plus, all kinds of oddities, some real, I think, and some not, I think. And, if you have a fear of clowns, well, yeah, you know.

Next up for Ryan Murphy, creator of AHS, is American Crime Story, the first season of which will focus on the OJ Simpson trial.

Having lived through it, I’d think that case would be better suited under the Freak Show umbrella.

Did I mention I’m getting married? I think I may have …

At any rate, just yesterday a judge down in Charleston County issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple; one half of the duo was his own sister.

Yup, the Honorable Irvin Condon, accepted a marriage license and fee from his cousin, Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon, and her fiancée, Nichols Bleckley.  After the requisite 24-hour statutory waiting period, Judge Condon says he will issue Condon and Bleckley their marriage license unless a court of competent — is that a trick question — jurisdiction orders him not too.

This would make Colleen and Nichols eligible to become the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in South Carolina.

And then just as that news broke, came the news that Richland County, home to the capital, Columbia, and just a hop, skip and a jump from Smallville, has also begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In freaking South Carolina!

Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch said she accepted applications for the first time because, “I believe it’s time for this to change. It’s a fundamental right to be with who you want to be with.” She also said she changed categories on the county’s marriage license paper application from “bride” and “groom” to “Applicant 1” and “Applicant 2.”

Like Judge Condon, McCulloch is also waiting to see how the Attorney General’s office or the state Supreme Court reacts to taking marriage-license applications from same-sex couples.

But it’s shocking to hear that same-sex couples are getting marriage licenses in, again, freaking South Carolina!

UPDATE: Our wingnut Attorney general has asked the state courts to halt the issuance of marriage licenses; for now, because one day soon he'll look a bigger fool than he did yesterday.

On the flip side, asshat, wingnut, douchebag Utah Republican state representative Kraig Powell opened a bill file in the Utah legislature to revise marriage statutes, suggesting that the law be rewritten to refer to same-sex marriages as "pairages."

I ask that the law be rewritten to refer to Powell as an effing moron, and I think my bill will pass first.

Look at that Clay Aiken, so sharp-tongued and quick-witted.

Clay is running to be North Carolina second district representative, and recently had a debate with the incumbent Republican Renee Ellmers, who, like all race-0baiting goose-stepping GOPers keeps trying to tie her opponent to Barack Obama because, well, I guess they think that’s bad.

And Clay ain’t playing that, and when Ellmers uttered the line, “This Obama-Aiken economy is just killing us,” Clay responded, “You might need to get a new writer because calling it the Obama-Aiken economy is just preposterous.”

Still, Ellmers kept at it, this time alluding to Aiken's vocal prowess and showmanship while discussing the U.S. military:

“It's almost as if as an entertainer, you believe that you can just go in with a song and dance and change the mind of the military leaders.”

Aiken said, and it still makes me giggle, “The most embarrassing reality show in the country right now is Congress.”

Two snaps up for Aiken!

I Didn't Say It ...

Bill Maher, on The View, addressing the recent allegations of brain damage that Karl Rove used in an attack on Hillary Clinton:

“I mean look what Karl Rove did to her a couple weeks ago, bringing up brain damage and just saying, ‘well, I’m not saying she does, I’m just putting it out there.’ I wonder if Karl Rove’s gay lover that he murdered …. Oh, I’m not saying that’s definitely true, I’m just putting it out there.”

Thanks to Maher for showing up Karl Rove and his ignorant asshattedness.

Stephen Hawking, on death:

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

Could be true, but no one knows until they die, eh? I mean, if you die and it’s all nothingness then there is no Heaven — though you won’t know that.

But, if you die and there is “something”, well, you’ll be dead so it’ll be hard to get word back to those of us on this side.

Mike Huckabee, failed presidential candidate, at NOM’s Hate March for Marriage, warning that God will punish everyone who supports the LGBT community’s fight for equality:

"There is no doubt in my mind that this country would not exist had it not been for the providential hand of God. And I'm also convinced that if we reject his hand of blessing, we will feel his hand of judgment …and it’s time for us as an American people to say to our own government 'Enough of you restricting us, enough of you redefining our institutions.' We are not under an obligation to defy God in order to obey you. We are under an obligation to obey God and the law and, if necessary, to defy an institution that is out of control."

God created America, y’all. Though, apparently in the delusional minds of wingnuts like Huckleberry Hound, God had no hand in creating any other country on the planet.

Yeah … right.

Francis Slay, the mayor of St. Louis, on performing the weddings for four same-sex couples in his office this week:

“It makes me proud as a citizen and as a mayor. I, and all of us standing here, are doing this to force the issue and to get the law settled for everyone who wants to get married in the state of Missouri.”

Every day another step forward; every day. In courts, in voting booths, in County Clerk’s offices, in mayor’s offices.

The march goes on. 

Rick Santorum, on marriage equality:

“We haven’t even lost yet and the majority of Americans still believe in marriage, and yet our side is willing to fold our tent and go away. We have to understand that this is a war and if we don’t engage in this war we will lose this war.”

Frothy has obviously attended the Michele Bachmann School of ‘If You Say It Enough Times, Then It Must Be True’ because there is nary a poll of late that doesn’t show support for marriage equality above 50% of the people in America.

But, maybe, Rick’s not so got at The Math?

Gary Oldman, apologizing for defending in which he defended Mel Gibson's racist and anti-Semitic remarks and Alec Baldwin's homophobic slurs:

"I said some things that were poorly considered. And once I had seen it in print, I could see that it was offensive, insensitive, pernicious and ill-informed...From my heart, I am profoundly, profoundly sorry...I should be an example and an inspiration, and I'm an a-hole. And I'm 56, and I should know better."

In this day and age of wanting everything instantly, it seems people don’t even take the time to think before they speak. There is political correctness and there is hate speech; Gibson and Baldwin’s rants fall into the latter.