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

MY SOTU Thoughts

I get it, I do. The State of the Union address is generally kind of a pep rally for one party or another; the chance to crow about what you’ve done, and what you want to do. And I get that it’s almost always partisan, with the side that doesn’t have the White House sitting there stone-faced while the President speaks.

Both sides do it, I get that.

But what I don’t get is how, while Obama was speaking last night and talking about how far we’ve come in the last six years — the economy, jobs, healthcare, the War Based On Lies In Iraq — is why the GOP sat on their hands. I mean, they couldn’t even be bothered to clap for the fact that the economy is better than it was, that the jobs outlook is better than it was, that millions of people who’ve never been insured before now have healthcare.

They couldn’t even be bothered to applaud for America, for Americans, because the guy in charge while all this was going on is a Democrat and, yes I’ll say it, a Black Democrat at that.

It sickened me to see Orange Is The Old Boehner sitting their smug and disinterested when the President talked about rebounding from a recession; sure there’s work to be done, but we are better off than we were in 2008 after the Bush Regime, and yet Boehner cannot even be happy with that.

It sickened me to see Paul Ryan not even bother to show a modicum of respect for the President because he’s a member of the ‘other’ party. Why not cheer that things in America are improving? Why not cheer all that your party has done to make things better for—

Oh, yeah, maybe Ryan and Boehner and Paul and the rest of those Republicans couldn’t cheer for the successes of the Obama president y because they tried to thwart him at every turn.

Or maybe they couldn’t cheer because he schooled them …

 “I have no more campaigns to run …”

And there was a smattering of GOP applause because, they know, if he did have the option to run again, he’d wipe up the floor with them, again, and then he said:

“I know, because I won both of them.”

The GOP was served in that moment, and it was priceless.

And it was priceless that he made mention of marriage equality, after being the first sitting president to advocate for same-sex marriage; it was priceless that he became the first president to mention of transgender and bisexual, brothers and sisters during a State of the Union address.

It’s priceless, because his approval numbers are up, and will probably continue to go up, and things will continue to change and we will see marriage equality across the country, and we will see LGBT rights expanded and we will see the GOP sitting on their hands, doing nothing, offering nothing, complaining about everything.

Obama isn’t going to sit this one out, these last couple of years; he’s going to continue working for us …

Unlike the other guy.

Sunday Funnies: The Rest

The Turtle is a Liar

Two things I will not abide by: lying, dumbass politicians and zucchini bread. Guess which one is on my mind today?

Y’all remember back in Ott-Eight when Barack Obama kicked John McCain’s* ass to the curb? I still feel warm and tingly thinking about that. I also feel warm and tingly when I think what The Turtle, AKA Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, said at the time … and I’ll paraphrase:

“Our one job is to make sure Barack Obama is a one-term president.”

He said it, I didn’t. And what’s worse than saying it is that he and the rest of his Angry Rich White Men Only Party, couldn’t even do that; Obama kicked GOP ass again in 2012, so The Turtle was wrong about that, though he was right about one thing: the GOP had one job during Obama’s first term and they would do, and did do, absolutely nothing else.

Unless you count the fifty-some-odd attempts to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act, which they couldn’t even do. Unless you count the government shutdown, for which We The People are now paying some $24 billion.

So, Mitch and his cronies did absolutely nothing for six years and yet, and it still boggles my mind, a lot of you voted them into power and even re-elected the dumbasses who sat on their cushy fat asses — when they weren’t on vacation — and did absolutely nothing. And now The Turtle is back to his old tricks of saying things that are untrue … okay, they’re outright lies …

Mitch McConnell is trying to rewrite his history of obstruction and failure by taking credit for the economic growth that has occurred under President Obama by saying this on the Senate floor:

“After so many years of sluggish growth, we’re finally starting to see some economic data that can provide a glimmer of hope. The uptick appears to coincide with the biggest political change of the Obama administration’s long tenure in Washington: The expectation of a new republican congress.”

Wait. What? All of this happened the Wednesday after the election last November? We suddenly went from Bad to better in the space of about twelve hours?

Siddown Mitch, your stupid is showing.

The facts are that the economy gained over 11 million jobs in spite of Mitch McConnell and his Angry Rich White Men Only Party’s efforts to keep the recession going; or does Mitchy expect anyone to really believe that the economy started improving back in 2011 because we knew the GOP would take control of Congress in 2014?

Mitch? Pull your head back inside your shell, your stupid is showing.

The GOP has done nothing in the last six years and with nothing to show for their hefty paychecks, free healthcare, paid vacations, they need to so-opt Obama’s victories and try to play them off as they own; but they can’t … except to those dumbasses who checked off the GOP box last November, and voted for a party that has done nothing for them — unless they’re rich and white and male — for far too long.

I could go on, but I’ll let DNC Communications Director Mo Elleithee respond to Mitch McConnell’s lunacy:

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha. That Mitch McConnell is one funny guy. He likes to remind people all the time that he’s not a scientist. Now we know he’s not a mathematician or an economist either. The fact is, under President Obama we’ve had 57 straight months of private sector job growth leading to nearly 11 million jobs added. All Republicans have given us is a government shutdown that cost the economy $24 billion. I get why he wants to take credit for the economic recovery. But maybe he should first do something to help contribute to it.”

Siddown Mitch, before someone turns you on your back and you can’t get up again.

Hmmmmmmm ….

*Correction, thanks to Anonymous
via PoliticusUSA

Jeb Fumbles On Same-Sex Mariage ... Again and Again

That darn Jeb Bush; he’s oh-so-presidential, or at least he’s trying to be.

As governor of Florida, he was against same-sex marriage even though he withheld his enthusiasm, and support, for the state’s 2008 campaign to rewrite the Florida Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman; but that was only because he left office in 2007.

However, in 2012, during a PBS interview, Jeb suggested that gay parents could be … could be … held up as role models, even as he added that “traditional marriage is what should be sanctioned” by the government. See, he was saying that The Gays are “okay” as parents but, you know, marriage? Oh hell no.

But last year, in a speech to some Republican group, Jeb warned against the GOP being a party seen as against too many things … as in against everything … including being “anti-gay” because, you know, they might look like haters.

And so that fumbling and flip-flopping and saying nothing at all leads us to today, as Jeb thinks about thinking about running for President, and we find him still fumbling on the idea of The Gays getting married, especially, in Florida:

"It ought be a local decision. I mean, a state decision. The state decided. The people of the state decided. But it's been overturned by the courts, I guess."

A local decision? Oh, if the locality is the state; and what’s with the ‘I guess’? Doesn’t he know what’s happening in Florida, or maybe Jeb is reading the same newspapers that the Mama Grizzly Bore™ used to read.

So, so presidential; that darn Jeb. And because he came off as if he had no idea where marriage equality stood in Florida, and because his statement on Sunday made him sound less presidential and more like his idiot brother, his people decided that they needed to try again to have Jeb talk about same-sex marriage and try to come off less baboonish and cartoonish. So, Jeb sat down again, this time with the New York Times, to talk about The Gays and marriage again:

“We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law. I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue – including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.”

See what he did there? He basically said the same thing he said on Sunday; he’s not at all a fan of same-sex marriage but that people should respect those pesky gays and lesbians who want equality as long as The Gays respect religious liberty.

Better? No. It’s just Jeb Bush trying out his message for his run at the White House in 2016, coming across as somewhat okay with marriage equality — if that’s what The Gays want — but making sure we all know that he’s not especially for it, and wants to keep religion at the forefront of the discussion.

He’s kissing asses and pandering to his base at the same time, y’all, and we have 22 months left of it.

via NCRM

Sunday Funnies

Oy! What A Year We Had ...

Lots on my mind as we wind down another year …

I keep thinking about Leelah Alcorn, the transgender girl who killed herself because her parents told her she was wrong, and a sin, and an abomination … and that since God doesn’t make mistakes, she must have been mentally ill to think she as transgender.

Too bad they couldn’t have thought, “God doesn’t makes mistakes so She sent us a transgender child to open our eyes and the eyes of the world.” Maybe then Leelah wouldn’t have walked in front of that truck.

I think about all those LGBTQ kids who felt they could no longer go on this year because of being bullied by friend, fellow students, teachers and their own parents. Think of what any of those kids might have accomplished if we all just learned to accept people for who they are, and not what we think they should be.

My sister died this year … I remember one of the last times I talked with her, about a month or so before she passed. She didn’t seem to know who I was, didn’t even ask about Carlos — which she always did — and just talked about what was on the TV screen she was watching. I realized then that the sister I’d loved my whole life was leaving me. I realized then that things would never be the same.

I still called and still talked and made sure that, even if she didn’t quite understand, the last words she heard from me were, “I love you.”

I also realized then that when she did go, on February 15, she was in a much better place, and didn’t hurt, and had her hair, and was laughing with my Mom. It’s not a God thing, it’s a universe thing.

I’m a happily married man, to another happily married man. 

When I met Carlos I never thought this was a possibility … even after Massachusetts and Iowa … even after California. Then the tide started turning and we started talking about it; we both wanted to be married, we both wanted to have a husband. We wanted that. And then to have my Dad ask to be there, well, that was the icing on the wedding cake, with the added cherry of having marriage equality come to South Carolina … South FREAKING Carolina … after we got back from Washington.

Amazeballs.

We used to shop at Kroger until we learned that Kroger has a ‘Meh’ attitude about Open Carry in their stores; I’d always said that if the day came when I had to ask someone to move their assault weapon so I could get a loaf of bread, it was time to shop elsewhere.

So we did; we went back to Publix — where we shopped when we lived in Miami — and now Publix is in the news. But for a good reason: starting tomorrow, Publix stores will offer full benefits packages to their employees’ same-sex spouses.

Guns. Equality. I choose equality.

Of course, when you factor in that kid who shot his mother with her own gun in a Wal-Mart, Kroger should be prepared for that to happen in one of their stores.

Lotsa coming out parties this year, too, and lots of Coming Out Toaster Ovens and copies of The Gay Agenda—a one page pamphlet, actually, featuring one word: “equability”—being sent out from HOMO HQ.

Michael Martin took his boyfriend to prom and came out at the same time. Daniel Franzese, who played the  'almost to gay to function' in Mean Girls is now openly gay; as is Derrick Gordon, a sophomore starter for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team; Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman, two country music stars … yes, country music … decided to live their lives as gay men out and proud. 

Nate Alfson, a high school, baseball and volleyball coach for a Catholic high school came out as gay and kept his job!

Chip Sarafin, an offensive lineman for the Arizona State football, came out, as did John Fennell, who represented Canada in the luge at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. 

British singer Sam Smith came out with the release of his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, saying the album “is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back.” Tyler Glenn, the lead singer of Neon Trees and a Mormon, also came out; Mitch Eby, a Junior and defensive end for the Chapman University Football team, too.

Federico Díaz, Uruguayan actor and telenovela heartthrob, is now openly gay, along with high school swimming star, Jack Thorne, and Pete Cahall, principal of Washington DC’s Wilson High School who chose the school’s annual Pride Day event to finally tell his students that he is gay. Adam Joseph, Philadelphia meteorologist for 6ABC, announced the birth of his first child, publicly, acknowledged his partner of five years, Karl, and came out as gay.

Brad Thorson, a former college football player and former player for the Arizona Cardinals and Neal Baer, the executive producer and showrunner for CBS' 'Under the Dome' are out and proud; and after years of speculation, rumor, questions, guesses, dreams, Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe came out as gay.

Kristian Nairn, an actor from Game of Thrones, came out, and so did Democratic Arizona State Senator Steve Gallardo, after listening to the arguments for that Arizona anti-LGBT, so-called religious freedom bill;  Matt Kaplon, student and baseball player for Drew University, came out to his team and the world last weekend after being inspired by the coming out story of NCAA basketball player Derek Schell; Brazilian diver, and Olympic hopeful, Ian Matos came out as gay, saying he was inspired by fellow diver Tom Daley’s coming out.

Djuan Trent, Miss Kentucky 2010, came out as lesbian on the heels of that federal judge ruling that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Marcus Juhlin, a Swedish football player, is gay; so is actress Ellen Page and retired Premier League footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, a U.S. snowboarder who missed the cut for Team USA, has come out as lesbian, and Michael Sam said he was gay, making him the first openly gay professional football player in this country.

We’ll be restocking the shelves with kitchen appliances and pamphlets as soon as possibly, because after last year we made need even more!

Politics. 

You cannot keep Obama down; even after that ridiculous 2104 mid-term election fiasco, he is not gonna  sit idly by and let the Republicans run roughshod over this country and try to turn back the clocks to the 1950s, when The Gays were in closets, and women couldn’t chose and racism was fun.

Gossip. I do so loves me some gossip. Paltrow? Loathe you, but you keep me in stitches with your shenanigans. 

Lohan actually made her stage debut and, while the reviews weren’t great, she wasn’t a major screw up … onstage. Off-stage she’s still Party Hardy Lohan. 

And Justin Bieber … I’ve made fun of your size … I’ve called you a talentless hack and a spoiled brat … I giggled when you wet yourself after getting arrested …, I found you obnoxious and ridiculous and just plain sad … That’s all.

Police shootings. And most of the victims are Black. Please try to tell me there isn’t a double standard when Michael Brown, a Black man, gets gunned down in the streets for allegedly stealing some cigars and Eric Garner, a Black man, gets choked to death for selling loose cigarettes, but Julia Shield, a White woman, strapped on armor and drove around a Chattanooga neighborhood shooting at people and police, and was just arrested. 

Explain to me the difference between John Crawford III, a Black man, holding a BB gun in a Wal-Mart and is shot to death by police, but two white men who go into a Wal-Mart, take BB guns off the shelves, load them and then start shooting are simply arrested.

There should be no difference, yet because there seems to be one, we have a lot to talk about in 2015.

It’s been a year of ups and downs, and highs and lows, but, for me, the ups and the highs outweigh the rest. I’m still here, still loved and in love, still Dad to some weird wild wacky pets. Still living in Small-town South Carolina. Okay … that might be a down.

I kid.

Tomorrow, we are off to the Round-The-Way-Gays, Neal and David’s, New Years Day, Newlyweds — three couples in our little group got married last year — and Not-So-Newly-Born Party. It’ll start 2015 just right!