Gay-Marriage Cases Pose Legal Tests for Administration

A report at the Wall Street Journal, "Gay-Marriage Legal Tests Loom":

President Barack Obama last week cast his support for same-sex marriage as a personal view on policy, not a constitutional imperative. But because the Supreme Court long has defined the right to marriage as a "fundamental freedom," legal analysts say his administration is sure to face pressure to weigh in on the marriage question when it reaches the Supreme Court.

That pressure could mount as early as this fall, if the challenge to California's Proposition 8, a voter-approved initiative that barred gay marriage, reaches the final stages.

If that happens, Mr. Obama "will surely be asked by advocates for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] rights to support a decision upholding a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage, which would take it out of the hands of the states," said Theodore Olson, the Republican former solicitor general who has helped lead the challenge to the 2008 initiative restricting marriage to a man and a woman.

Mr. Obama said Wednesday that while he now believes same-sex couples should be able to marry, historically the definition of marriage "has not been a federal issue." He said he viewed the battles over same-sex marriage at the state level as a "healthy process."

Thirty states now ban same-sex marriage, while six states and the District of Columbia permit it. Two additional states have passed bills allowing gay-marriage, though it's possible they could be overturned by voter referendums.

Asked if he would request the Justice Department to join the legal fight against state laws banning same-sex marriage, the president said only that he had "helped to prompt" the department's decision to abandon its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. That 1996 law bans federal recognition of state-authorized same-sex marriages.

"We consider that a violation of the equal protection clause," the president said.

That law and California's Proposition 8 are the two major gay-marriage issues working their way through federal courts.

Chuck Cooper, an attorney representing Proposition 8's backers, declined to comment on the legal implications of the president's remarks. The measure's sponsors have asked the full Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a February opinion that upheld a federal district judge's ruling striking down Proposition 8. Whatever happens in that circuit, the losers are expected to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court.

That's an excellent summary, and there's lots more at the link.

Massive Anti-Austerity Protests in Spain

It doesn't look good over there.

At the New York Times, "Tens of Thousands Protest Austerity in 80 Spanish Cities":

MADRID — Tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets during the weekend to protest austerity budget cuts and commemorate the anniversary on Tuesday of a movement that inspired other groups on Wall Street and across the Western world.

Over all, protesters gathered in about 80 Spanish cities, but again, one of the biggest turnouts was in Puerta del Sol, the Madrid square that almost a year ago became the center of a nationwide, youth-led movement seeking to overhaul Spain’s political parties and other traditional institutions. About 40,000 people gathered in the square on Saturday evening, while a similar number of protesters rallied in a square in Barcelona.

This time, however, the authorities had decreed that protesters would not be allowed to turn Puerta del Sol into an encampment and that any gathering there would have to end by 10 p.m. Instead, to reduce the risk that a standoff could turn more violent, the police waited until 5 a.m. Sunday to clear the square, arresting 18 people. Two police officers were injured during the operation. The protesters — known as the indignants — are vowing to make further attempts to seize control of the square before Tuesday. The movement is known in Spain as 15-M because of its starting date last year.

Underlining the extent to which Spain is fighting the economic crisis, the national government in Madrid warned during the weekend that it might need to take over the finances of Asturias, a northern region, because of concerns that the government there cannot meet deficit-cutting targets. Spain also announced further measures to shore up the banking sector, just days after seizing control of Bankia, the largest and most troubled mortgage lender.

Continue reading.

Michael Kinsley Has Wrong Premise About Capitalism

An awesome letter to the editor at the Los Angeles Times, "Kinsley's views on capitalism."

I'm surprised this one saw the light of day:

Re "Overvaluing the free market," Opinion, May 8

Michael Kinsley has a wrong premise about capitalism. Its justification is not that it makes a contribution to society (though it does that) but that it respects each individual's right to his own life and the fruits of his efforts.

Anyone, rich or poor, who earns his money honestly has the right to use it as he wishes. No on else has a moral claim on it. No one has a right to say how much another person should earn if the money is earned through voluntary trade.

Seizing or limiting another person's wealth because he is judged to have too much is not social justice but exploitation.

 Edwin A. Locke 
 Westlake Village

Top-Heavy Administration at Long Beach Community College

From the letters to editor, at last Thursday's Long Beach Press-Telegram:

Re "It's the government's fault" (Letters, May 3):

Taylor Ramsey notes it's the elected officials' fault, not just students and faculty. I couldn't agree more. In 1986, Long Beach Community College had approximately 25,000 students and one president, three vice presidents, nine deans and six associate deans. Today it has 26,729 students, one president, one executive vice president, four vice presidents, three associate vice presidents, 10 deans, three interim deans and 14 directors -- more than double the amount of administrators. Each of these administrators makes more than $140,000 a year (over $4 million in administrative payroll alone). Next time you hear about layoffs of classified staff, loss of teachers, students who can't get financial aid, can't get classes to graduate, or can't get in to college, remember that the LBCC Board of Trustees approved these huge salaries and the cuts to staff, teachers and classes that're now hurting students.

-- Michael Smith, Long Beach

Smith is responding to the letters from May 3rd, here.

And see the report on the recent campus protest: "Students proclaim death of education at Long Beach City College."

The faculty union has put the latest contract negotiations to a vote, and there's a lot of grumbling among the rank and file. The contract might be voted down and then the negotiations would require some kind of outside mediation. I'll update if there's local news coverage.

Until then...

Femen Activists Get Naked to Raise Political Awareness

At Der Spiegel, "The Body Politic: Getting Naked to Change the World":

The Ukrainian activist group Femen has made headlines around the world by baring their breasts to protest against prostitution, exploitation and corruption. But can their naked stunts change anything, or are they just providing images for a sex-obsessed media?

Oksana Shachko, a girl with a doll-like face, is supposed to go to prison for five years.

It's a cool spring Thursday in Ukraine as the 24-year-old walks through the streets of Kiev with her attorney. She is wearing a leather jacket and black boots, and dangling an almost-finished cigarette between her fingers. Five years, because she bared her breasts in public once again.

The hearing at the Interior Ministry is at 5 p.m., and they are in a hurry. They walk past tall, brown and gray buildings from the Stalin era. They discuss ways to put a positive spin on the expression "kiss my ass," which is what Oksana said to the Indian ambassador. "It was a happy protest. A happy protest for the rights of Ukrainian women," Oksana finally says. She's decided it's what she will say in the hearing at the Interior Ministry.

Shachko is a Ukrainian women's rights activist, and her weapons are attached to her pale, petite body like the two halves of an apple.

Her weapons are the symbol of femininity, motherhood and sexuality, and filmmakers and marketers have used them millions of times to sell everything under the sun, from yogurt to vacuum cleaners. They have put Oksana and her fight onto cover pages around the world, and they've made her and her fellow activists into the cover girls of an international protest movement -- the icons of a naked rebellion.

Their supporters believe that by using these weapons, the women have invented a new feminism. Their critics say that they are turning themselves into pornography with these weapons.....

Oksana is a professional icon painter and lives in a run-down studio apartment in Kiev with greenish mold on the ceiling. In other words, she has a profession and is living an ordinary Ukrainian life of poverty and turmoil. But her apartment is full of protest signs, and she has drawn a picture of a Femen activist, with flowing hair and bare breasts, on the wall. It's a self-portrait of a woman who is causing a lot of trouble.

She was released from a Moscow prison a few days ago, after having tried -- topless -- to steal the ballot box containing Russian leader Vladimir Putin's ballot during the March 4 presidential election. The stunt got her two weeks in a prison cell.

Now she stands accused of hooliganism and occupying the Indian Embassy to protest a claim by the Indian Foreign Ministry that women from post-Soviet countries are going to India to work as prostitutes.

Although the Indian Embassy denied the claim, this didn't stop Oksana and three other women from storming the building. They waved the Indian flag and banged it against windows and doors, shouting: "Ukrainian women are no prostitutes" and "kiss my ass."

There's lots more at the link.

Plus, from Saturday's Toronto Sun, "Topless activists protest Euro tournament."

VIDEO: "More Topless Ukrainian Protest Ladies!"

Arsala Rahmani, Top Afghan Peace Negotiator, Shot Dead in Kabul

At the Los Angeles Times, "Afghan assassination casts more gloom over peace efforts."

KABUL, Afghanistan — A brazen daytime assassination on Sunday offered a grim reminder of stymied progress in a key part of NATO's effort to wind down the Afghan war: peace talks with the Taliban.

Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of the Afghan government body set up to conduct negotiations with the militant group, was shot and killed while traveling by car through the Afghan capital, police said. Coming less than nine months after the assassination of the head of the High Peace Council, the killing cast yet more gloom over Western-backed efforts to bring the insurgents to the bargaining table.

The Obama administration had hoped to have substantive progress on the negotiating front to cite when a NATO summit convenes next week in Chicago. Instead, preliminary contacts appear to have broken down.

Continue reading.

Doctors for the Family 'Risk to Kids' Statement on Gay Marriage Roils Australian Politics

Okay, here's bringing you a comparative and international perspective on the radical left's gay marriage agenda.

See the report at The Australian, "Gay unions a 'risk to kids', claims Victoria's deputy chief psychiatrist":

ONE of Australia's leading psychiatrists has joined forces with 150 doctors lobbying the Federal Government to ban same-sex marriage.

Professor Kuravilla George, who is Victoria's deputy chief psychiatrist and the State Government's equal opportunities champion, claims that gay marriage poses a health risk to society.

In a letter to the Senate's inquiry into marriage equality, the group of doctors wrote that it was "important for the future health of our nation" to retain the definition of marriage as being between a man and woman.

"We submit the evidence is clear that children who grow up in a family with a mother and father do better in all parameters than children without," they wrote.

News of the letter, revealed in today's Sunday Herald Sun, follows Attorney-General Nicola Roxon's announcement yesterday that she would vote for gay marriage when the chance came later this year.

Ms Roxon was speaking as thousands of Australians held protest marches across the country calling on Ms Gillard to change her stance after US President Barack Obama said that same sex couples should be able to wed.

Australia passed an amendment to its laws in 2004 explicitly defining marriage as between a man and woman, but there are several bills before the parliament calling for the right to be extended to same-sex couples.

Also at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "Doctors' group says heterosexual marriage better for kids."

But here's gay radical Jeremy Sear at Crikey, "Herald Sun falsely implies that “doctors” think gay marriage “a risk to kids”":

Any unprotected sexual behaviour comes with the risk of HIV and syphilis, not just homosexuality. What’s wrong with homosexual behaviour being treated as normal? On what basis do they claim it isn’t and shouldn’t be? And as for the headline assertion that kids grow up better in families “with a mother and father” – unless Prof George has commissioned a brand-new study which genuinely would be actual news ( which the Herald Sun doesn’t claim that he has), then that long-discredited claim will without doubt be based on old studies comparing two parent families with one parent families, rather than comparing the the kids of homosexual parents with the kids of heterosexual parents. (You’ll note how George and his mates fudge the claim a little so it implies the latter but is sort of within the ambit of the former. That’s the level of honesty you get from anti-equality advocates.)

Sear's Twitter feed is here.

RELATED: At the Sydney Morning Herald, "Push for Gillard to review gay marriage":

ARGENTINA'S President Cristina Kirchner will write to Prime Minister Julia Gillard to encourage her to support same-sex marriage, after an Australian pair became the first foreign same-sex couple to marry in the South American country.

Prominent same-sex marriage campaigner Alex Greenwich, the national convener of Australian Marriage Equality, married his long-term partner Victor Hoeld in a ceremony in Buenos Aires on the weekend. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Argentina, where more than 90 per cent of citizens identify as Catholic, since July 2010.

Mr Greenwich, of Sydney, was jubilant yesterday about his wedding, but expressed regret that he had needed to leave Australia to marry.

''Our wedding has been the happiest day of my life, and I will return to Australia more energised than ever before to achieve marriage equality,'' he said.

''As special as our wedding was, it is a shame that we had to travel to a foreign country that affords us more rights than the country we live in and love.''

Until recently, Buenos Aires limited marriage to residents of Argentina. But this requirement was dropped after Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wrote to Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri, asking him to make an exception on ''compassionate grounds'' for couples from countries that do not allow same-sex marriage.

Ms Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who both oppose same-sex marriage, were last week accused of being out of step with their international counterparts after US President Barack Obama endorsed gay marriage and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he did not oppose it. British Prime Minister David Cameron has previously expressed support for same-sex marriage, and same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada since 2005.

Quite the globalized campaign, you think?

Atlantic Boulevard Leads Shift Away from L.A.'s Car Culture

I'm up on Atlantic Boulevard in Long Beach pretty regularly. My buddy Greg lives in Bixby Knolls and we have lunch over there.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Atlantic Boulevard's New Stride Reflects Shifting L.A. Street Scene":

The 5600 block of Atlantic Avenue doesn't look like much at first glance, especially if you're zipping through at 45 mph. A dry cleaner, a pupuseria, a T-shirt shop and a medical marijuana dispensary line the low-rise street in the North Village Annex section of Long Beach. About a third of the storefronts are vacant.

But if you climb out of the car, you'll notice that this classic commercial strip — convenient for drivers, charmless and alienating for everybody else — is in the midst of a remarkable evolution.

A crosswalk cuts across the boulevard at mid-block, complete with a flashing signal for pedestrians. Orange and blue bike racks dot the sidewalks. Silk floss trees, lined up in a neat row along the median, frame a piece of tiled public art.

And the Brandon Bike Shop, which opened earlier this year behind a nondescript storefront at 5634 Atlantic, buzzes with activity. On a recent afternoon, Rodolfo Alcantara, a 19-year-old with a white stud in his lip, was working the counter while "Faded," by the rapper Tyga, thumped from speakers behind him.

He said the store caters to the growing number of teenagers and twentysomethings in the neighborhood, including him, who've become obsessed with riding and detailing their bikes.

"It's the new style," Alcantara said.

The changes along Atlantic are emblematic of the way urban planners, architects, shopkeepers and neighborhood activists are remaking the boulevards of Southern California, reversing decades of neglect.

The boulevard, in fact, is where the Los Angeles of the immediate future is taking shape. No longer a mere corridor to move cars, it is where L.A. is trying on a fully post-suburban identity for the first time, building denser residential neighborhoods and adding new amenities for cyclists and pedestrians.

In the process, the city is beginning to shed its reputation as a place where the automobile is king — or at least where its reign goes unchallenged. Cities across the U.S. followed L.A.'s car-crazy lead in the postwar era. This time around we might provide a more enlightened example: how to retrofit a massive region for a future that is less auto-centric.

Continue reading.

Obama Campaign Tried to Pay Jeremiah Wright to Keep Silent

At the New York Post, "The ‘bribe’ to silence Wright."

Also at Lonely Con, "Rev. Wright Claims He Was Offered Bribe to Shut Up During 2008 Campaign."

Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry Play Charity Polo in Ascot

At Telegraph UK, "Princes take part in charity polo match."

Also, at London's Daily Mail, "Athletic Kate cuts a dash in her heels: Duchess tries to run in her towering wedges as she takes Lupo the dog to watch William and Harry play polo at Ascot."

Ann Romney Praises Michelle Obama: 'I Think She's Lovely'

Mrs. Romney's very gracious herself.

At London's Daily Mail, "'I think she's lovely': Ann Romney praises Michelle Obama for her grace under pressure":

Ann Romney, the wife of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has offered unexpected praise for Michelle Obama, saying that the first lady is 'lovely' and speaking positively of the way she has been handling her responsibilities.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Mrs Romney said that first lady's role – one that she hopes to assume if her husband wins the 2012 election – ‘is a very difficult position to be in,’ one in which the husband faces ‘enormous scrutiny all the time.’

Mrs Romney praised the first lady for keeping her calm and having ‘composure.’

And the clip's at RealClearPolitics, "Ann Romney On Michelle Obama: "I Think She's Lovely"."

David Mamet on GBTV

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

And get the book here: The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture.

Greek Elections Loom as Key Bailout Opponent Defies Unity

A report from Business Week:

Greece’s political deadlock looked set to continue for a second week as President Karolos Papoulias failed to secure agreement on a unity government and avert new elections with the country heading toward a possible exit from the euro area.

Greece’s biggest anti-bailout party, Syriza, defied overtures to join the government yesterday, deepening the impasse. Leader Alexis Tsipras won’t attend a new meeting called by Papoulias today for 7:30 p.m., state-run NET TV reported, without saying how it got the information.

“Syriza won’t betray the Greek people,” Tsipras said in statements televised on NET TV after the meeting with Papoulias and the leaders of the New Democracy and Pasok parties. “We are being asked to agree to the destruction of Greek society.”

Papoulias spent the day trying to coax the country’s three biggest parties into a coalition after a week of talks failed to deliver on mandates to form a government. If Papoulias’s efforts fail, new elections will need to be called. Today’s meeting will be with the leaders of two of the three biggest parties, and the head of the smaller Democratic Left party, NET said.

Greece’s political impasse since the inconclusive May 6 election has raised the possibility another vote will have to be held as early as next month, with polls showing that could boost anti-bailout Syriza to the top spot. The standoff has reignited concern the country will renege on pledges to cut spending as required by the terms of its two bailouts negotiated since May 2010, and, ultimately, leave the euro area.

Also at the BBC: "Greece crisis: Far left Syriza pulls out of talks."

Celebrity Shout Outs for U.S. Navy at Battleship Movie Premiere

I think I told my kid I was taking him to see this one, but with Mother's Day and such, I'm a bit behind on my movie outings. It opens to general release next week, but we need also to see "Avengers" so we'll see.

Andrew Sullivan at Newsweek: Obama's Evolution on Homosexual Marriage

Sully's gushing encomium is up at Newsweek, "The First Gay President":

For gay Americans and their families, the emotional darkness of Tuesday night became a canvas on which Obama could paint a widening dawn. But I didn’t expect it. Like many others, I braced myself for disappointment. And yet when I watched the interview, the tears came flooding down. The moment reminded me of my own wedding day. I had figured it out in my head, but not my heart. And I was utterly unprepared for how psychologically transformative the moment would be. To have the president of the United States affirm my humanity—and the humanity of all gay Americans—was, unexpectedly, a watershed. He shifted the mainstream in one interview. And last week, a range of Democratic leaders—from Harry Reid to Steny Hoyer—backed the president, who moved an entire party behind a position that only a few years ago was regarded as simply preposterous. And in response, Mitt Romney could only stutter.

And here's the heroic take on Obama's cheap political money grubbing:

Barack Obama had to come out of a different closet. He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family. The America he grew up in had no space for a boy like him: black yet enveloped by loving whiteness, estranged from a father he longed for (another common gay experience), hurtling between being a Barry and a Barack, needing an American racial identity as he grew older but chafing also against it and over-embracing it at times.

This is the gay experience: the discovery in adulthood of a community not like your own home and the struggle to belong in both places, without displacement, without alienation. It is easier today than ever. But it is never truly without emotional scar tissue. Obama learned to be black the way gays learn to be gay. And in Obama’s marriage to a professional, determined, charismatic black woman, he created a kind of family he never had before, without ever leaving his real family behind. He did the hard work of integration and managed to create a space in America for people who did not have the space to be themselves before. And then as president, he constitutionally represented us all.

I have always sensed that he intuitively understands gays and our predicament—because it so mirrors his own. And he knows how the love and sacrifice of marriage can heal, integrate, and rebuild a soul. The point of the gay-rights movement, after all, is not about helping people be gay. It is about creating the space for people to be themselves. This has been Obama’s life’s work. And he just enlarged the space in this world for so many others, trapped in different cages of identity, yearning to be released and returned to the families they love and the dignity they deserve.

See my previous entries: "Precious Moments: Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Tells Chris 'Tingles' Matthews He's Moved by Obama's Statement, 'We Are Equal Human Beings'," and "Barebackers for Barack, UPDATED! — Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Cover Story at Newsweek, 'The First Gay President'."

Al-Nusra Front Jihadists Claim Damascus Suicide Bombs

A report from Telegraph UK (via Memeorandum):

A little-known jihadist group has claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in the Syrian capital Damascus which killed 55 people and wounded nearly 400.

Many of the casualties were burnt alive in their cars as they waited in rush hour traffic on Friday near offices of a government intelligence organisation, the intended target.

In the video, a group calling itself the Al-Nusra Front says the bombing was in response to attacks on residential areas by the regime of President Bashar Assad.

"We fulfilled our promise to respond with strikes and explosions," a distorted voice said, reading black text that rolled across a white screen while Islamic chanting was heard in the background.

The attack was frighteningly similar to al-Qaeda bombings in next-door Iraq, which have killed thousands of people since the US and British invasion in 2003.

The Al-Nusra Front has claimed past attacks through statements posted on militant websites. Western intelligence officials have suggested it could be a front for an al-Qaeda branch operating in Iraq.

Also at Jawa Report, "Jabhah Al-Nusra Claims Damascus Bombing."

Los Angeles Times Runs Interference for Obama Administration on Health Care Reform

On the heels of the Washington Post's sordid hit piece attacking Mitt Romney as an alleged "anti-gay bully," here's comes a new series from the Los Angeles Times lionizing countries making "investments" in nationalized healthcare and warning against possible disruptions to the purported healthcare "jobs revival" if ObamaCare is struck down by the Supreme Court in June.

Yesterday's report is here, "Global push to guarantee health coverage leaves U.S. behind." And at today's paper, "Healthcare jobs fuel revival in Pittsburgh":

Nationwide, healthcare services have added some 770,000 to their payrolls since the start of the economic recovery in June 2009 — about a third of all new jobs, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Absent the hiring related to healthcare, the country's unemployment rate would be 9.8% today instead of 8.1%, said economist Charles Roehrig of the Altarum Institute, a healthcare policy group in Ann Arbor, Mich. Pittsburgh's latest jobless figure is 7.1%.

Even though healthcare's growth remains solid — the industry added 19,000 jobs nationwide in April — Roehrig and other experts see an inevitable retrenchment.

Spending for medical care is nearing one-fifth of the American economy, much more than in other developed nations and beyond what governments, businesses and consumers can afford.

Uncertainties hang over President Obama's healthcare overhaul while theU.S. Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of the law — a law that is likely to accelerate the already fast pace of consolidation in the industry.

"We're reaching this odd era where the growth rate of resources [is] rapidly declining at the same time the needs for healthcare are going up," Roehrig said.

Healthcare has fueled job growth for a generation. When Pittsburgh's steel industry began its collapse in the early 1980s, healthcare employment was a third of manufacturing's and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was little more than an operator of a single psychiatric hospital.

Today, from his suite on the 62nd floor of downtown's tallest building, once owned by U.S. Steel Corp., UPMC Chief Executive Jeffrey A. Romoff has a wide view of the city's cleaner skies and rivers — and of much of his $10-billion empire.

Notice how ObamaCare is accelerating "the already fast pace of consolidation in the industry," and by implication, if ObamaCare is struck down, this healthcare jobs boom will wither on the vine.

How typical.

Check back tomorrow for an update on the gloom!!

Precious Moments: Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Tells Chris 'Tingles' Matthews He's Moved by Obama's Statement, 'We Are Equal Human Beings'

I don't think you could find better progressive optics. I mean, seriously, Sully's emoting to Chris Matthews, who in 2008 confessed that, "I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election ... the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg..."

Really.

You gotta watch this, via Weasel Zippers, "Video: Trig Truther Andrew Sullivan Tears Up Talking About “Father Figure” Obama’s Support of Gay Marriage…":

PREVIOUSLY: "Barebackers for Barack, UPDATED! — Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Cover Story at Newsweek, 'The First Gay President'."

Hot Rule 5 Sunday!

Via Theo Spark:

Also at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…are a bunch of little carbon footprints who may bring more little carbon footprints into the world, you might just be a Warmist." And Reaganite, "You Need to Check-Out Miss Peru, Son: The Name is Natalie Vertiz."

And at Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Britney Palmer."

BONUS: At Camp of the Saints, "Offend a Feminist: Jayne Mansfield Knew Her Place."

RNC Chair Reince Priebus: Homosexual Marriage Not a Civil Right (VIDEO)

Politico is reporting, "RNC chairman: Gays deserve 'dignity and respect,' but not marriage" (via Memeorandum):

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday that while he supports “dignity and respect” for all Americans, including gays and lesbians, that doesn’t mean gay marriage should be legalized.

“People in this country, no matter straight or gay deserve dignity and respect. However, that doesn’t mean it carries on to marriage. I think that most Americans agree that in this country, the legal and historic and the religious union, marriage has to have the definition of one man and one woman,” Priebus said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

More at Memeorandum.

Barebackers for Barack, UPDATED! — Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Cover Story at Newsweek, 'The First Gay President'

You can't make this stuff up.

As I reported previously, Andrew Sullivan really got off on Barack's coming out: "Barebackers for Barack!"

So now here comes the news that this week's cover story at Newsweek features the cover headline, "The First Gay President."

Politico has an excerpt from Sully's report, via Memeorandum:

It’s easy to write off President Obama’s announcement of his support for gay marriage as a political ploy during an election year. But don’t believe the cynics. Andrew Sullivan argues that this announcement has been in the making for years. “When you step back a little and assess the record of Obama on gay rights, you see, in fact, that this was not an aberration. It was an inevitable culmination of three years of work.” And President Obama has much in common with the gay community. “He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family,” Sullivan writes.

And don't forget about Sully's response when he first heard the news:

I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn't know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes.

Yay, RAWMUSLGLUTES!

Get that dude a tissue! Gotta clean up those milky loads!

And hey, Vanderleun nailed it as well:

Gee whiz. I wonder if Obama will come out or not. He could of course avoid taking a "position" simply giving Andrew Sullivan one hot evening in the Lincoln Bedroom and leaking the photographs to Blueboy.com, but some things are just too revolting to evolve into.

Well Baracky's out and proud now.

More at Gateway Pundit, "Fabulous!… Newsweek Obama Cover: “The First Gay President”."

UPDATE: See Bookworm Room, "Another formerly major American magazine goes off the tracks *UPDATED*."

Also at Blazing Cat Fur, "Milky Loads is at it again."

Happy #MothersDay From the Romneys

In the mail, from Ann Romney:

On this day, I always remember my mother. I remember she was a wonderful cook. I remember how much she loved my dad. Ours was a loving home, where I knew the light was always on. I wish I could tell her again how much I love her.

Cherish your mothers. The ones who wiped your tears, who attended all those ball games or ballet recitals. The ones who believed in you, even when nobody else did, even when maybe you didn't believe in yourself.

Women wear many hats in their lives. Daughter, sister, student, breadwinner. But no matter where we are or what we're doing, one hat that moms never take off is the crown of motherhood.

There is no crown more glorious.

Happy Mother's Day.

Ann Romney

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Theo Sparks, "Cartoon Round Up..."

BONUS: At Jill Stanek's, "Stanek Sunday funnies 5-13-12."

'Earned Success' and American Values

From Arthur Brooks, at the Wall Street Journal, "America and the Value of 'Earned Success'."

And Brooks' new book is here: The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise.

Surfer Garrett McNamara Sets World Record for Surviving Biggest Wave

This is pretty much obligatory. I've been seeing this clip all around the web.

And you don't just "ride" these waves --- you survive them.

At Guinness World Records, "VIDEO: 78-FOOT WAVE SURFED BY GARRETT MCNAMARA CONFIRMED AS LARGEST EVER RIDDEN."

See also USA Today, "Surfer sets Guinness record riding 78-foot wave."

What Would You Say if Your Child Said He or She Was Gay?

This clip is just the first five minutes or so from a fifteen minute segment on MSNBC earlier this week. The full link is here, uploading by a radical leftist. Chris Matthews gets visibly angry and berates Tony Perkins for his views and Barney Frank spits out the gay extremist talking points which make absolutely no rational sense and are designed only to make conservatives look uncaring and bigoted. This is the only way progressives can win the argument. They can't win on the merits. And again, the threat of being attacked and demonized is the main factor that explains the shift in support toward acceptance of gay marriage nationwide. Every single time it's been put to a vote at the state level --- 32 times --- gay marriage backers have lost. Perhaps the culture itself is changing along with the younger demographic. But up to the moment the left has only won through lies and intimidation, in legislatures or the courts.

And to answer the question at top: If my boys came out as gay I'd love them just as much as I always do, although it wouldn't change my opinion on what is the best family relationship for family stability, social and economic well-being, and the regeneration of values.

Police Release Astonishing Hit-and-Run Videotape — Teenager Survives After Being Thrown Through the Air, Flipping Head-Over-Heels

Unreal.

Sometimes you just have to see things to believe them. I'm shocked this kid is still alive.

At New York Daily News, "Buffalo cops release surveillance video of wild hit-and-run accident; teen flipped head-over-heels by speeding madman (VIDEO)."

Victoria's Secret Beach Towel

That's Doutzen Kroes in the bikini.

A Fascinating Look at How Trojan Condoms Are Made

An amazingly interesting report, at Business Insider, "Inside Trojan's Factory, Where They Make More Than 1 Million Condoms Every Day." (Via Right Wing News.)

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser Slams Best Buy's Financial Support for Council on Islamic American Relations

Via Bare Naked Islam:

And see Ryan Mauro, "‘Boycott Best Buy’ Movement Takes Off."

London Considers Rooftop Missile Deployment During Olympics

The Astute Bloggers has the story, "IT'S COME TO THIS: TO DEFEND AGAINST ISLAMO-TERROR DURING OLYMPICS, LONDON IS GETTING MISSILE BATTERIES ON ROOFTOPS."

It's an amazing scenario, in any case. The Brits are really preparing for all possibilities. Reminds me of an earlier era, like the Cold War.

Welcome Sign in Las Vegas an Attraction in its Own Right

We always head south on the Las Vegas Boulevard to stop for gas and drinks before getting on the freeway. And I always notice the busloads of tourists who're stopped at that darned sign. I think, "One of these days we'll stop to take some souvenir photos," but we never do.

In any case, the Los Angeles Times reports on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign.

See, "Vegas sign a tourist attraction in its own right":

LAS VEGAS — It sits along a stretch of median on the less-glamorous south end of this city's glitzy gambling Strip, a stubborn holdover from another era. Yet, as the days turn to night and back into day, it beckons as many tourists, human tumbleweeds and adventure-seekers as any newfangled casino.

They come to see, touch and photograph the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, a 1959 scramble of colors, typefaces and flashing light bulbs. They come in droves, as if on some obligatory Vegas pilgrimage, arriving in taxis, rental cars, stretch limos, golf carts, pickup trucks, motorcycles, double-decker tour buses. One woman even arrived on foot, pulling a suitcase — a wanderer defying the scorching desert heat.

The reason: There's just something, well, fabulous, about this sign.

For one thing, it's survived 53 years in a town with a penchant for bulldozers, wrecking balls and spectacular building implosions, where a 20-year-old resort is considered as ancient as the pyramids.

Designed by sign-maker Betty Willis, who never sought a copyright for her work and instead donated it to her beloved city, the 25-foot-tall kitschy cartoon has become a full-flush symbol of this gambling mecca, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"I just think it's cool. Who knows if those Rat Pack guys once stood here," Utah resident Marsha Hatch, 48, said on a recent Saturday evening. "It's like the Hollywood Walk of Stars, but it's ours. This sign belongs to Vegas."

Willis, now long retired, doesn't speak to reporters anymore. But in past interviews she said that back in 1959 — when Wayne Newton was a teenager and Frank Sinatra joined Dean Martin for the first time on stage at the Sands — the sign's diamond shape was unlike anything on the Strip. She added "fabulous" as the most fitting word to describe this 24-hour resort town.

More at the link.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikipedia.

Greece Should Leave the Euro

According to Arianna Huffington, whose maiden name is Stassinopoulos, at the New York Times, "Greek Tragedy":

As I contemplate the statistics — especially the 54 percent unemployment rate among young Greeks — I think of all the stories behind this appalling data. All the dreams dashed. All the promise unfulfilled. And all the guilt, shame and fear that so often go hand in hand with intractable unemployment and little hope for a better future.

The punitive path of austerity and relentless economic contraction is, not surprisingly, likely to lead to further stagnation in 2013 and cannot be allowed to continue. And as last week’s election results show, the Greek people are not going to allow it to continue; they will instead demand change through either the ballot box or violence in the streets — or some combination of both.

The dangers of violent protest are obvious. But there are dangers in the ballot box, too: an extreme right-wing anti-immigration party received almost 7 percent of the vote, while Pasok, the establishment party of the left, lost 119 seats in Parliament in a humiliating third-place finish. If the European Central Bank does not abandon its destructive obsession with austerity, Greece will have few options but to leave the euro zone. This would be fraught with its own dangers, of course, but the European Union has left Greece with few sustainable alternatives.

RTWT.

The Left's Road to a National Educational Curriculum

Pat Austin reports, "Will Common Education Standards Nationwide Solve America's Education Problems or Is It Another Obama Power Grab?"

California Budget Deficit Skyrockets to $16 Billion

So, expect a huge push for the left's tax-hike initiatives in November.

At the Los Angeles Times, "California deficit has soared to $16 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown says." (Via Memeorandum.)

Also at the New York Times, "Shortfall in California’s Budget Swells to $16 Billion."

Senator Rand Paul Slams Obama's Homosexual Exploitation: 'I wasn't sure his views on marriage could get any gayer...'

What's amazing about this is Paul is libertarian, folks who are supposed to favor less government in the social realm. It guess he's not taking too well to O's pathetic flip-flopping on marriage to keep the progressive campaign money flowing. But what can you do?

At CNN, "TRENDING: Sen. Paul: I didn't think Obama's 'views on marriage could get any gayer'" (via Memeorandum).

At 5:15 minutes at the clip:

Added: From Linkmaster Smith, "Could John Travolta Help Increase Barack Obama’s Marriage Policy Gayness?"

Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Renounces U.S. Citizenship to Avoid $1 Billion in Taxes

Look, that's a lot of money. I don't really care about this Saverin kid, but clearly his case shows that folks like this aren't really American, with no national loyalty, despite gaining U.S. citizenship and becoming fabulously wealthy in this country.

And his decision to renounce isn't going over too well among Facebook fans. See the Los Angeles Times: "Americans feel defriended over perceived Eduardo Saverin tax dodge." I can see why. See, "Facebook's Eduardo Saverin gives up citizenship: Shrewd tax move?":

Here’s a tax tip for Mark Zuckerberg: Give up your U.S. citizenship.

The 27-year-old Facebook Inc. founder could face a tax bill of more than $1 billion after the company’s initial public offering, expected next week.

His former Harvard classmate who is known as “the other Facebook founder” may have found a way to cut the bill. Eduardo Saverin, who now lives in Singapore, has given up his U.S. citizenship. Tax experts say it’s a shrewd move.

Saverin, who was immortalized in the film “The Social Network” as Zuckerberg’s contentious former friend and business partner, has a 4% stake in the company, according to the Who Owns Facebook? website. His stake could be worth nearly $4 billion after the IPO.

“It's definitely savvy tax planning,” said Edward D. Kleinbard, a professor of law at USC who specializes in federal tax policy and international taxation. “He can argue that the value of the Facebook shares in September, when he gave up his citizenship, were significantly less than the value that will be set at the IPO next week.”

"Savvy tax planning."

Well, no. It's called tax evasion.

See the Wall Street Journal, "Taxes Got You Down? Renounce!" And at Bloomberg, "Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO."

And this Savarin kid is a playboy, it turns out. See "The Other Facebook Founder":

SINGAPORE — Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg is one of the world's most famous chief executives. His former business partner and friend, Eduardo Saverin, is big in Singapore.

The Brazilian-born billionaire's skirmishes with Mr. Zuckerberg over the future of Facebook were dramatized in the 2010 film "The Social Network," which portrayed Mr. Saverin as a naive entrepreneur.

Mr. Saverin was squeezed out of Facebook early on, and found his stake in the Internet juggernaut diluted to less than 10% from 34%. Today, after more dilution and sales of some of his shares, his stake is about 2%, according to a person familiar with the matter.

But 2% can go a long way, given that Facebook filed documents Thursday to go public with a valuation of up to $96 billion. It can go especially far in Singapore, a financial center better known for banning the sale of chewing gum than for a thriving technology scene.

Since his arrival in 2009, the 30-year-old Mr. Saverin has attracted intense interest here. Singaporeans avidly track his nocturnal social habits. Many hoped he would fund local tech start-ups, but so far his local investments, which include a cosmetics firm, have been limited.

Mr. Saverin is regularly spotted lounging with models and wealthy friends at local night clubs, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in bar tabs by ordering bottles of Cristal Champagne and Belvedere vodka, according to people present on these occasions. He drives a Bentley, his friends say, wears expensive jackets and lives in one of Singapore's priciest penthouse apartments.

Mr. Saverin didn't respond to multiple interview requests.

Well, no surprise. Who's got time for lowly newspaper interviews when you're partying like a go-go '90s nouveau riche capitalist potentate?

BONUS: At The Atlantic, "Eduardo Saverin Isn't the Only Rich Guy Defriending the U.S."

Queen Elizabeth's Spectacular Diamond Jubilee Pageant

I love this stuff.

At Telegraph UK, "Queen enjoys spectacular Diamond Jubilee pageant at Windsor castle":

Performers from all corners of the globe entertained the Queen in a Diamond Jubilee celebration at Windsor castle on Friday night.

Twirling Mexican dancers, Russian horse riders and New Zealand's army band were among hundreds of artists who took to the stage in the equestrian and musical tribute.

The event's narrators Angela Rippon and Alan Titchmarsh and musicians Joss Stone and Rolf Harris, who will perform during a finale on Sunday, were among the guests.

The 90 minute show promises to take spectators on a "journey around the world" and features 500 horses and 800 performers, in military and equestrian displays.

During a tea party before Friday's performance, the Queen was not only presented with a pair of a pair of African bracelets but made to try on the the handmade jewellery.

The Queen, who was wearing black gloves, appeared to have little choice in the matter but laughed as Rose Kimanzi carried out the role usually performed by the royal dresser.

And here's the photo slideshow: "Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle."

Mitt Romney Speaks Out on Homosexual Marriage at Liberty University

Radical leftists are wigging out that Mitt Romney would affirm traditional values at at Christian university. Oh, the horrors!

See Matthew Shelley at National Journal, "Romney Backs Away From Gay Adoptions."

Also, "Romney Aims High in Speech at Liberty U":

LYNCHBURG, Virginia – Speaking at the graduation commencement of the largest Christian University in the country on Saturday, Mitt Romney – the first presumptive Republican nominee of the Mormon faith – spoke at length about the importance of God and faith, telling the crowd that people of different faiths can meet “in common purpose” through their moral decision-making and commitment to common causes, such as public service.

And in a nod to the social conservative movement he is still working to court, Romney reiterated his position on same-sex marriage, although he largely steered clear of political topics. “Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman,” Romney said firmly as the crowd of about 35,000 stood and clapped.

He spent a significant portion of time discussing the shared challenges and experiences of people of faith, and occasionally leavened his remarks with a self-deprecating anecdote.

 “Your values will not always be the object of public admiration,” he told the more than 6,000 graduating seniors. “In fact, the more you live by your beliefs, the more you will endure the censure of the world. Christianity is not the faith of the complacent, the comfortable or of the timid.”

Romney emphasized the need to balance the material rewards in life with more spiritually uplifting aspects. “What we have, what we wish we had – ambitions fulfilled, ambitions disappointed; investments won, investments lost; elections won, elections lost – these things may occupy our attention, but they do not define us,” he said.

“And each of them is subject to the vagaries and serendipities of life.  Our relationship with our Maker, however, depends on none of this. It is entirely in our control, for He is always at the door, and knocks for us.  Our worldly successes cannot be guaranteed, but our ability to achieve spiritual success is entirely up to us, thanks to the grace of God.  The best advice I know is to give those worldly things your best but never your all, reserving the ultimate hope for the only one who can grant it.”

Plus, at Gateway Pundit, "Mitt Romney on Marriage at Liberty University: “One Man and One Woman” (Video)."

President Obama's Enemies List

A great piece of journalism from Kim Strassel, at the Wall Street Journal, "Trolling for Dirt on the President's List":

Here's what happens when the president of the United States publicly targets a private citizen for the crime of supporting his opponent.

Frank VanderSloot is the CEO of Melaleuca Inc. The 63-year-old has run that wellness-products company for 26 years out of tiny Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last August, Mr. VanderSloot gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney.

Three weeks ago, an Obama campaign website, "Keeping GOP Honest," took the extraordinary step of publicly naming and assailing eight private citizens backing Mr. Romney. Titled "Behind the curtain: a brief history of Romney's donors," the post accused the eight of being "wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records." Mr. VanderSloot was one of the eight, smeared particularly as being "litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement."

About a week after that post, a man named Michael Wolf contacted the Bonneville County Courthouse in Idaho Falls in search of court records regarding Mr. VanderSloot. Specifically, Mr. Wolf wanted all the documents dealing with Mr. VanderSloot's divorces, as well as a case involving a dispute with a former Melaleuca employee.

Mr. Wolf sent a fax to the clerk's office—which I have obtained—listing four cases he was after. He would later send a second fax, asking for three further court cases dealing with either Melaleuca or Mr. VanderSloot. Mr. Wolf listed only his name and a private cellphone number.

Some digging revealed that Mr. Wolf was, until a few months ago, a law clerk on the Democratic side of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He's found new work. The ID written out at the top of his faxes identified them as coming from "Glenn Simpson." That's the name of a former Wall Street Journal reporter who in 2009 founded a D.C. company that performs private investigative work.

The website for that company, Fusion GPS, describes itself as providing "strategic intelligence," with expertise in areas like "politics." That's a polite way of saying "opposition research."

When I called Fusion's main number and asked to speak to Michael Wolf, a man said Mr. Wolf wasn't in the office that day but he'd be in this coming Monday. When I reached Mr. Wolf on his private cell, he confirmed he had until recently worked at the Senate.

When I asked what his interest was in Mr. VanderSloot's divorce records, he hesitated, then said he didn't want to talk about that. When I asked what his relationship was with Fusion, he hesitated again and said he had "no comment." "It's a legal thing," he added.

Fusion dodged my calls, so I couldn't ask who was paying it to troll through Mr. VanderSloot's divorce records. Mr. Simpson finally sent an email stating: "Frank VanderSloot is a figure of interest in the debate over civil rights for gay Americans. As his own record on gay issues amply demonstrates, he is a legitimate subject of public records research into his lengthy history of legal disputes."

Continue reading.

A Majority of 60% of Americans Say Obama's Shift on Homosexual Marriage Won't Affect Their Vote

The main report's at Gallup, "Six in 10 Say Obama Same-Sex Marriage View Won't Sway Vote."

But see also Aaron Blake at The Fix, "Obama’s gay marriage position could be problematic, poll shows":

Six in 10 Americans say President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage will have no impact on their vote this year, according to a new Gallup poll. But of the rest, twice as many say it makes them less likely to support the president.

Twenty-six percent of Americans in the poll said Obama’s switch on the issue makes them less likely to vote for him this November, compared to 13 percent who said it makes them more likely to support him....

We have long known that the enthusiasm on this issue resides largely on the anti-gay marriage side, and this poll reflects that. Even though a majority of Americans — 51 percent — say they approve of Obama’s decision (compared to 45 percent who disapprove), the fact is that supporters are significantly less avid than opponents.

While a strong majority of Americans says this issue has no impact on their votes, the fact that it matters to nearly 40 percent of Americans isn’t insignificant.

And if Obama forfeits some Democratic and independent votes in a tight race, that could matter.

More at Memeorandum.

U.S. Tests SM-3 IB Interceptor at Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii

This is cool, from Telegraph UK, "US downs missile with new interceptor."

Also at Reuters, "RPT-UPDATE 2-U.S. downs test missile with new interceptor."

Anne Hathaway Bikini Pics!

At London's Daily Mail, "Anne Hathaway reveals her slender beach body after losing weight for prostitute role in Les Miserables."

Jamie Lynne Grumet, Time's Controversial Breastfeeding Mom, Interview on 'Erin Burnett OutFront'

She's very well spoken and confident.

Personally, attachment parenting's not my style, but I'm not going to criticize Ms. Grumet. It's her kid --- and her breasts.

Darleen has the story at Protein Wisdom, "Obligatory Time magazine cover post."

And at LAT, "Time magazine breastfeeding cover: A shocking 'stroke of genius'."

'Fighting on My Behalf'

Poetrooper has commentary, at This Ain't Hell:

Good grief, even the rawest buck sergeant knows that his troops are first loyal to themselves, meaning the immediate, cohesive unit, starting with their squad, moving up through platoon and company to a tenuous battalion loyalty; then to the mission, and as a distant last, to flag and country. In six years of active duty in the Army, most of one of those in ground combat, I never once heard a soldier express the belief that he was serving on behalf of John Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson, the presidents of the time. Not once. Had any trooper done so, he would have immediately become suspect by his entire chain of command. For this inept commander in chief to reference the troops as fighting on his behalf can only lead to one conclusion: Obama’s been staring at his own image in the golf course pond for far too long and far too often.

Also from Elliott Abrams, at Weekly Standard.

PREVIOUSLY: "Barack Obama's Abject Political Calculations on Homosexual Marriage."

MSNBC's Tamron Hall Shuts Down Conservative Columnist Tim Carney for Questioning Typical Left-Wing Media Tricks

Robert Stacy McCain reports, "MSNBC Host Loses It When Reporter Won’t Play Along With ‘Get Mitt’ Meme."

This Tamron Hall lady is a progressive b*tch. She cuts Carney's microphone after he called the phony "bullying" story:

What you're doing here is a typical media trick. You hype up a story and then you justify the second-day coverage of the story by saying, oh, well people are talking about it.

And at Breitbart, "MSNBC Host Freak Out: Bullies Pundit Off Air Over Romney 'Bully Story'."

Elizabeth Warren's 1/32 Native American Claim Shot Through for Good

William Jacobson reports, "Genealogist for Elizabeth Warren 1/32 Cherokee claim goes silent, source document shown false" (via Memeorandum).

Also at Lonely Conservative, "Elizabeth Warren’s Claim to Cherokee Heritage Falls Apart":

The Elizabeth Warren Cherokee heritage saga continues. It turns out that the Democrat’s Senate candidate in Massachusetts has no evidence whatsoever of any family ties to the Cherokees. Well, no evidence other than her great-great-great grandfather helping to round them up and a family member’s high cheekbones.

And see Instapundit, "“THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF THE CLAIM THAT ELIZABETH WARREN IS 1/32 CHEROKEE...”"

Romney Leads Obama by Seven Points in New Nationwide Poll

At The Hill, "Poll: Romney opens up big lead over Obama":

Mitt Romney has opened up 7 percent lead over President Obama nationally, according to the latest survey from conservative polling outlet Rasmussen.

Romney took 50 percent of the vote against Obama’s 43. It’s the first time Romney has hit 50 percent in the poll and is his largest lead over the president to date.

The disappointing jobs data released last week could be weighing the president down. Rasmussen found that only 38 percent of those polled said they approved of the president’s handling of the economy, versus 48 that disapproved.

Still, the poll could be an outlier, as most polls show a considerably tighter race. According to Gallup’s daily tracking poll, Romney holds only a 1 percent lead over Obama, while the president holds a one-point lead over Romney in the Real Clear Politics average of polls.

Rasmussen responds to the point about other poll findings:

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. Obama's numbers are almost always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That's because some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote.

And at Gateway Pundit, "Romney Jumps to 7 Point Lead Over Failed President Obama."

PREVIOUSLY: "The Left's Coordinated 'Bullying' Attack on Romney Exposed as 'Unconscionable' Journalism: Progressives Cheer 'Brilliant' Political Strategy of Axelrod and Plouffe."

The Left's Coordinated 'Bullying' Attack on Romney Exposed as 'Unconscionable' Journalism: Progressives Cheer 'Brilliant' Political Strategy of Axelrod and Plouffe

I'm going to agree with this report at ABC News, "Bullying Story Sidetracks Romney's Campaign."

By now it hardly matters that the story has not only been debunked, but the Washington Post has edited its report without publishing a correction. See Ben Shapiro, "Washington Post Romney Hit Piece Implodes":

Today’s unconscionable Washington Post story, which implied without evidence that Mitt Romney was a homophobic bully to one John Lauber back in his high school days five decades ago, has totally imploded.

And Robert Stacy McCain is on the case. See, "No ‘BullyGate’ Pulitzer for WaPo? UPDATE: Using a Second-Hand Source for a Dead Man’s Words? WTF?", and "‘BullyGate’: What Did Jason Horowitz Know, and When Did He Know It?"

And get this, from left-wing extremist Angry Black Lady at Raw Story, "Obama vs. Romney: How the Game is Played":

As I’m reading and pondering this, I’m marveling at the political strategery of Davids Axelrod and Plouffe. Think about it:

On Sunday, Vice-President Biden comes out in favor of same sex marriage.

On Wednesday, President Obama comes out in favor of same-sex marriage, leaving some to speculate that he was backed into a corner, or that he should have done it sooner, or later, or whatever it is that people complain about when they simply can’t shake the need to be outraged about something, like, all of the time. (asiangrrlMN already covered this, but long story short, Obama’s record on LGBT rights is second to none; and he announced his support for the Respect Marriage Act last year, legislation which would repeal DOMA, so can we all calm down for a minute, please?)

Then today — Thursday, a front-page article drops in The Washington Post about how Romney was a big ol’ gay-hating gay-basher.

Are you kidding me?! It’s brilliant!

Back when President Obama was a young man, trying to figure out who he was and writing pensive letters to his girlfriend about T.S. Eliot and other philosophical shit, Romney was picking on and assaulting gay people.

Face? Meet brick.

And here’s the kicker — here’s the dark chocolate inside this croissant d’awesome: Romney’s behavior most assuredly would have constituted a hate crime under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which President Obama signed in 2009, if such a law had existed at the time and had Romney been prosecuted under that law. (The Hate Crimes Prevention Act expanded the existing hate crime law to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, and is the first federal law to extend protections to transgendered persons.)

You cannot convince me that this was not planned. At the very least, the Obama campaign knew the article was going to drop and decided to announce sooner rather than later that President Obama supports same-sex marriage (he had already planned to announce it at some point before the convention.)

This is how it’s done, folks.

Mr. Romney, sir? I do believe you have been served.

Don't you love it?

We're on the same page on the media's utter corruption.

I tweeted Angry Black Lady with the link to Shapiro's report, asking her for a retraction. Her response was to denounce Andrew Breitbart and block me on Twitter, typical for progressives called out for their dishonest hackery.

Progressives on Twitter are all abuzz on this story, cheering Angry Black Lady's ignorance and denial.

Lots more on this at Memeorandum.

This isn't going away. The Washington Post really stepped in it on this one and like the left's attacks on Ann Romney, the effects will further damage media credibility as this campaign winds along.

UPDATE: Linked at Blazing Cat Fur: "Romney is so Gay!" Thanks!

And here's more from The Other McCain: "Hard Times in WaPoVille: ‘BullyGate’ Timing Questioned on ‘Morning Joe’."

Fullerton Cops to Stand Trial in Kelly Thomas Beating Death

The video's from last year, when the story first hit the news, and there's full raw video here.

And from yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Two Fullerton officers to stand trial in death of Kelly Thomas."

Following an emotionally charged hearing, an Orange County judge ruled that two Fullerton police officers will stand trial for the death of a mentally ill homeless man who was beaten in a violent confrontation last summer.

The ruling means that Manuel Ramos, 38, could be the first police officer in modern Orange County history to be tried for murder for on-duty actions .

Ramos is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Cpl. Jay Cicinelli, 40, will be tried on charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force.

Thomas' death, which came five days after his encounter with six officers at a Fullerton bus depot last July, has rocked the north Orange County city, leading to a mass protest movement, the departure of a police chief and an upcoming recall election against three council members.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, who took the unusual step of personally arguing the prosecution's side at the three-day preliminary hearing, said it was hard to prosecute police officers, but he believed that it was necessary in the Thomas case.

"It's a very bad day in Orange County when we have to charge two police officers with these kinds of terrible crimes," he told Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm.

The district attorney also said he had not ruled out filing charges against additional officers, something the Thomas family and supporters have called for.

RTWT.

VIDEO: Victory Celebration for Marriage in North Carolina

I remember all the talk during the primaries, especially from libertarians, about how social issues didn't matter in 2012. I never agreed with the thesis, and I don't believe that the left can win the debate on social issues on the merits. It's gonna be attacks on "bigots" and hyper-emotional appeals to "fairness." And all of it will be wrapped in a cloak of inevitability.

And of course it's also about changing the subject. See the New York Times, "Obama Campaign Pushes the Issue of Gay Marriage."

Catholic League's Bill Donohue: 'I want to promote and to put in a privileged position that institution of marriage between a man and a woman...'

Here's Catholic League President Bill Donohue on Piers Morgan's show:

More: "OBAMA LIKES MEN MARRYING."

And see Lisa Graas, "Proving ‘Gay Rights’ is About Hate, Chad Griffin Tells Bill Donahue Siblings Can’t Marry Because It’s ‘Ridiculous’."

Was John Lauber Really Gay?

I don't know.

There's so much that's utterly bogus about this story is hard to begin. But first off, was this guy John Lauber really gay? That's an important question, since the story is not just about alleged bullying, but "anti-gay" bullying --- and it comes the day after President Obama endorsed gay marriage. It's ridiculously coincidental, and hopelessly redundant to have to point it out, but this is the meme that's been dominating the news today. And of course, it's viciously unfair to Mitt Romney, which is the point. But all's fair in love and war, so what can you do, I guess?

Here's the story, from the Washington Post, "Mitt Romney’s prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents." And note the tentative thesis at the introduction:

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

Look, I read the article. I didn't want to because it's 5,000 words long and equally short on political significance. Until the very last couple of paragraphs, the article states only that Lauber is "presumed" to be gay. Ben Shapiro takes a look at that, "Washington Post Disgraces Itself By Targeting Romney's 'Anti-Gay' High School Story":

Today, the Washington Post ran an egregious hit piece about Mitt Romney … circa 1965. Seriously. They dug up some of his old classmates, who “mostly lean Democratic,” to tell tales of his “vicious” assault on a student, John Lauber, who had been mocked for his “presumed homosexuality.” What happened? Romney saw the student wearing bleach-blonde hair over his eye, and proceeded to lead a “prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. [Fellow classmate Matthew] Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.”

Now, there’s not much to this story. It sounds more like Romney didn’t like Lauber’s hair than that he wanted to bug Lauber for supposedly being gay. In fact, that’s a conclusion drawn by the Post without asking Romney what was going through his head. Why the Post considers certain types of hairstyles evidence of homosexuality is left unsaid.

Beyond that, the timing of the story is obviously designed to protect President Barack Obama, who just yesterday said that he would embrace same-sex marriage. The narrative from the media therefore became: Obama is fine with gays, Romney hates them. Since they had zero evidence that Romney has any antipathy toward homosexuals, they had to dig up an incident nearly 50 years ago, invest it with anti-gay rage, and print it as fact.

This is character assassination of the worst kind. It doesn’t go to Romney’s deeply-held beliefs and positions. It doesn’t show how he was defined as a young man. It’s just an old prank brought up and infused with nastiness, sans evidence, in order to turn Romney into a jerk in the public eye.

Well, yeah.

But again, it's not until the end of the piece that we learn that Lauber "came out as gay to his family and close friends." The rest of the report notes repeatedly that Lauber's homosexuality was presumed, or that the students just know "there was homosexuality there..." That's it. They just knew it. And no one at the report is interviewed with actual evidence of Lauber's homosexuality. So again, it's not just about bullying, which is bad. It's about "anti-gay" bullying --- which is the worst offense imaginable, or so we're led to believe.

And we're also led to believe that this guy Lauber was gay. He's dead now, passed away in 2004. So there's no interviewing him, conveniently.

And note at the clip: Romney says that whether someone was "homosexual, that was the furthest thing from my mind back in the 1960s, so that was not the case."

More from The Right Sphere, "Washington Post Hit Piece On Romney… Embellished?" (via Instapundit).

Added: From The American Pundit, "Whoa: Family of Romney’s Alleged Bullying “Victim” Says Story Inaccurate, They’re Disgusted by WaPo" (via Instapundit).

And at ABC News, "Sister of Alleged Romney Target Has ‘No Knowledge’ of Any Bullying Incident." Plus, from Draw and Strike, "Washington Post Caught Making Sh!t Up Again."

Obama's Pre-Election Change of Heart on Same-Sex Marriage

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama's Marriage Act":

Congratulations to President Obama for matching his public policy with what everyone already knew were his private beliefs. His statement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage spared the public the ruse of waiting until after the election to state the inevitable.

First his Justice Department refused to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, and then Mr. Obama had said his views on the subject were "evolving." The Beltway chatter now is that Vice President Joe Biden's public support this week for gay marriage had cornered Mr. Obama into his own change of heart. But as with pretty much all Presidential actions lately, you don't have to be a cynic to wonder about Team Obama's political re-election calculations.

Everyone agrees that the election's number one issue is the U.S. economy. Insofar as it's not really possible for Mr. Obama to change that subject, he can at least give the chattering classes something else to write about. This qualifies. During a political cycle when few besides Rick Santorum wanted to talk about social issues, Mr. Obama has now reinserted one of the hottest into the debate.

Continue reading.

Michelle is making me laugh at the clip, calling out Obama's flip-flops like "lava lamps."

Inside Obama's Decision on Gay Marriage — Getting Dragged Along, Brutally, by His Party's Extreme Radical Base

From Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal, "Obama's Gay Marriage Leap of Faith":

But his decision also reflects a hard-headed acknowledgement of the changing nature of the Democratic electoral coalition. Indeed, historians may someday view Obama's announcement Wednesday as a milestone in the evolution of his party's political strategy, because it shows the president and his campaign team are increasingly comfortable responding to the actual coalition that elects Democrats today-not the one that many in the party remember from their youth.

Obama's senior advisers see the announcement as essentially a political wash, although polls now consistently show more Americans support than oppose gay marriage. In its latest national measure, the Pew Research Center found in April that a 47 percent to 43 percent plurality of Americans back same-sex marriage. Other recent national surveys, including those by Gallup and the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, have found majority or plurality support for the idea.

Obama's announcement might not significantly change the overall level of his 2012 support, especially in an election where economic issues will dominate. But the announcement may reflect the Obama camp's thinking about the likely composition of his support. It shows the president, however reluctantly, formulating an agenda that implicitly acknowledges the party is unlikely to recreate the support it attracted from the white working-class and senior voters who anchored Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal coalition. Instead, the announcement shows him reaching out to mobilize the new pillars of the Democratic electorate, particularly younger people and socially liberal white collar whites.

"It was crystal clear that he didn't want to get off the fence on this issue before the election if he could possibly avoid it; this is not a bright line he wants to draw," said long-term Democratic strategist Bill Galston, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "He realizes it intensifies the divide between what might be called the emerging Democratic coalition and the pieces of the old coalition that he wanted to retain. But things had gotten to a point where he felt he had no choice."

The "emerging Democratic coalition"?

Right.

These guys are just now recognizing a new party coalition, six months before the election. Give me a freakin' break. The New Deal Coalition collapsed after Vietnam. I don't know what these people are smoking, but the party lurched to the left in the 1970s and by now it's basically a coalition of social democrats and neo-Marxists --- and that's putting it mildly. See Fred Baumann, "Our fractious foreign policy debate." And on the Democrats' gay marriage extremism, see "Gay Activists Go Ballistic on Warren Invocation."

TRIVIA: Check this search from the archives, "Democrats + Vietnam + War."

BONUS: "Occupy Wall Street to Attend Capitol Hill Meeting Chaired by Congressional Progressive Caucus."