Massive Racist and hatemonger Hal Turner Arrested!

From The Hartford Courant: Shock Blogger Hal Turner Arrested

Wow. Just wow. But surely he was just arrested for something minor, couldn't possibly for any of the things he should actually be arrested on.

Arrested on charges of inciting violence and criminal harassment.

Shit. Well, surely he couldn't have said something that bad.

"It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally," the blog stated. "These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die."

And, the post continued, "If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they're going to get uppity with us about this; I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too."

... HOPE YOU LIKE PRISON HAL! MEET YOUR NEW CELLMATES: BUBBA, NAIL AND SNAKE.

President Obama at White House Correspondents' Dinner

You really should watch this. It's good to have a Prez who's funny and not just a babbling moron.

And then, once you've watched that, watch this: Wanda Sykes tearing the GOP a new asshole immediately after.

Note that Sykes' comments are going to be the next GOP talking point. You heard it here first.

On Local Radio

I was looking at 1190 AM WOWO's Program Lineup when an idea suddenly came to me, a realization of amazing proportions.

You and I both know (presuming you live around here) that WOWO is, by and large, Ft. Wayne's home for insane right-wing horseshit. That shouldn't be too surprising to anyone. What came to me is this: When the sanest program you have in your lineup is Coast to Coast AM, your radio station has some serious problems.

Vermont joins the party.

From the Battleboro Reformer: Vermont legalizes gay marriage with veto override

The House recorded a dramatic 100-49 vote - the minimum needed - to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto. Its vote followed a much easier override vote in the Senate, which rebuffed the Republican governor with a vote of 23-5.

Vermont was the first state to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples and joins Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa in giving gays the right to marry. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.

So in the span of what? A week? We've had both Iowa and now Vermont legalize same-sex marriage. Considering how long we went with no more states added to the small list that allowed for same-sex marriage, it's weird to think of 2 happening so quickly.

Still, its great news to wake up to. One state at a time.

Iowa lives up to its motto.

From CNN: Iowa high court strikes down same-sex marriage ban.

Iowa becomes the third state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Friday's decision upheld a 2007 ruling by a lower court that Iowa's 1998 law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples went against the state's constitution. It becomes effective in 21 days.

"This is a great day for civil rights in Iowa," said attorney Dennis Johnson, a co-counsel with Lambda Legal, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking to marry in Iowa. "Go get married. Live happily ever after," he said at a news conference where there was loud clapping among plaintiffs.

This came out of left field for me, and I'll be blunt, I hadn't expected it. It was wonderful news to wake up to, that's for certain.

Iowa: "Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain"

Amen.

Michael Steele: Gone, Baby, Gone

From the GQ Blog on men.style.com: The Reconstructionist

Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”
(...)

The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.

Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.
(emphasis added)

Wow. Just wow. Yeah, I'm wagering he'll be gone by this time next week at the latest. After this, they're really going to accelerate the process of throwing him out on his ass.

The truth is, I've formulated a very large, very paranoid theorem as to why this whole thing with Steele happened in the first place: Steele was put in as head of the RNC for an important reason: He's a sacrificial lamb. They knew that he wasn't the far-right demagogue you'd expect to be heading the GOP - why else would there be all this talk of Rushbo as "the de facto head" of the party? - and that his views weren't entirely in line with the major points of the party.

His election sent the racists into screaming fits, swearing that they'd leave the GOP and never return, because the party's main components know there's no follower quite as devout as the one who leaves and comes back. Steele's views, which the right's talking heads can spin as being "liberal", will be cited as the reason that they're putting together a vote of no confidence against him, conveniently whitewashing (if you'll pardon the expression) that the vote is being pushed by someone who became a Republican because the government desegregated his school.

Steele will be ousted, and the right-wing talking heads will claim it's a victory for "conservative values" over "liberalism", with the added coded message that they put a black man "in his place". This is also the main reason why I don't buy into the idea floated by some that the GOP won't oust Steele because it'd make them look like a bunch of racist crackers: their cover story is already written for them, thanks in large part to this interview.

Now, you can buy into all that, or you can just say, "Steele's got diarrhea of the mouth." Hey, either way, the result is the same. The difference is whether you're going to take the logical, succinct approach, or you're going to come up with a sprawling, meandering, half-baked conspiracy hypothesis like I did.

Meet our new Secretary of State.

From the Guardian: Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job

Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of secretary of state offered by Barack Obama, who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration, the Guardian has learned. Obama's advisers have begun looking into Bill Clinton's foundation, which distributes millions of dollars to Africa to help with development, to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. But Democrats do not believe that the vetting is likely to be a problem.

Honestly? I like the choice. Hillary has instant name recognition, and foreign respect. For an incoming President, who needs to rebuild our foreign relationships, that goes a long way. There won't be the long awkward time period where foreign leaders slowly get to know the new Secretary of State, because a lot of them will already know her well, both from her time in the senate and presidential bid, and also as the former first lady.

I'm hoping we'll get some stateside confirmation on this soon, the Guardian's usually pretty reliable, but another source would be great.

The Internet Is Over; Go Home, Everyone

From PunkAssBlog via Pandagon:A comment on the post, "(waving hand wildly in the air) Me, me! I have one!"

“Democrats think they ought to live in a society where success is determined solely by personal merit; Republicans think they already do.”

That's it, the Internet is over, Andrew has won, we can all go home now and resume our normal lives.