New York Joins States Challenging DOMA

As readers of this blog know full well, I believe that federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") is blatantly unconstitutional and enshrines religious based anti-gay bigotry in the federal laws. The First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment clearly bar this law and it's something that ought to be painfully obvious to anyone other than religious extremists and political whores who are afraid of offending the sensibilities of bigots and the aforesaid religious extremists. Now, with the implementation of New York State's marriage equality law, New York State has joined the list of jurisdictions challenging DOMA's constitutionality. First, some highlights from The Advocate on this development:
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New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed a brief Tuesday in the case of Windsor v. United States to challenge the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, arguing that DOMA violates same-sex couples’ right to equal protection under the law and must be invalidated.
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The friend-of-the-court brief, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, argues that DOMA, which in section 3 prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions valid in the state, violates same-sex couples' right to equal protection under the law. The Obama administration announced earlier this year that it would no longer defend DOMA.
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Here are highlights from a press release from Schneiderman's office on the filing:
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NEW YORK – In papers filed in the case of Windsor v. United States, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today challenged the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), which redefined marriage for federal purposes to exclude same-sex unions that are valid under state law. The papers—filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York— ask the federal court to accept the Attorney General’s friend-of-the-court brief, which argues that DOMA violates same-sex couples’ right to equal protection under the law as required by the U.S. Constitution. This legal action, which follows Attorney General Schneiderman's pledge last summer to join the court battle over DOMA, follows the historic enactment of the Marriage Equality Act of 2011.
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“The federal Defense of Marriage Act clearly violates the principle of equal justice under law as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and improperly intrudes on the traditional role of states in defining marriage,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “The State of New York has long recognized out-of-state, same-sex marriages and the enactment of the Marriage Equality Act further cements our state’s position on this critical civil rights issue. My office will fight every day to defend the fundamental guarantee of equal protection under law for all New Yorkers.”
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It goes without saying that we can expect more shrieking and wailing from the Christianists and self-enriching whores like Maggie Gallagher and Republicans busy giving the political equivalent of fellatio to the likes of Tony Perkins and religious extremists who disdain the U.S. Constitution.

Christianists and Far Right Continue to Claim that Norway's Breivik Wasn't One of Them

Personally, I believe that the facts and a connection of the dots if you will referenced in Anders Breivik's self-described "Manifesto" make the conclusion very clear: Brevivik is the not too surprising end product of the constant hate and militant language of Christianists and anti-Muslim zealots on both sides of the Atlantic. It's a reality that I suspect many in the far right acknowledge in their hearts even as they disingenuously shriek that Breivik wasn't really one of them. They can yell and scream and posture all they want, but the truth is that Breivik took their their hate speech and propaganda to be true and put it into concrete action. An example of this phenomenon of haters trying to disavow the fruits of their own actions is self-described religious leader Michael Brown who has a piece in Townhall.com. Take a good look at the photo via The Telegraph of Tore Eikeland, age 21, one of Breivik's young victims, set forth above. It's individuals like Brown who have helped set the stage for the murderous rampage of Breivik - and future Breiviks in our midst. And Brown's not alone. With him are many in the GOP and professional Christians like Tony Perkins, Don Wildmon, Linda Harvey, Maggie Gallagher and many others. Here a sampling of Brown's drivel:
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[T]he murderous acts of Anders Breivik in Norway will be seen as proof that conservative Christians in America might just turn violent too, as if the demented actions of an anti-Muslim, anti-multiculturalist Norwegian have anything to do with the spiritual, moral, and cultural aspirations of American Christ-followers who espouse the non-violent teachings and example of the Master himself.
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Sadly, the atmosphere in our country has become so toxic that venerable ministries like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association have been branded as “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, while People for the American Way sends out regular warnings about evangelical Christian leaders on its RightWingWatch website. And this will surely intensify in the days to come in the wake of the tragedy in Norway.
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Let us, then, who call ourselves conservative Christians, redouble our efforts to expose the folly of these false charges, overcoming evil with good and hatred with love, thereby proving ourselves to be genuine followers of Jesus.
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Right Wing Watch has more examples of hate merchants playing the victim here. Excuse me as I run to the bathroom and vomit.

Who Really Caused the Budget Deficit?

UPDATED: A reader asked for the source of the chart. It's from a New York Times analysis described as follows: It's based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. . . . It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts. An additional significance of the chart: it identifies policy changes, the things over which Congress and Administration have some control, as opposed to largely external shocks -- like the repercussions of the 9/11 attacks or the deep worldwide recession following the 2008 financial crisis.

The dishonesty of the Congressional Republicans and Speaker Boehner is beyond shocking. As the graph above demonstrates, it the failed Bush/GOP policy of tax breaks for the wealthy and the fiasco in Afghanistan launched by the Chimperator that are the largest causes of the nation's budget woes. Would that Obama and Democrats had the spines to call the GOP on these lies.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Lazy Summer Days

One of our summer past times is to attend a friend's Sunday afternoon pot luck pool parties in Virginia Beach where everyone brings food and beverages and at some point gets involved in the extremely competitive and sometimes comical volley ball games in the pool. The photo above is from last Sunday's get together (the boyfriend is in the hat at left).

Andrew Sullivan: Breivik Is A Living Definition Of Christianism

Given my previous post on Maggie Gallagher's statements - similar statements by convicted felon Chuck Colson who like Gallagher has latched onto the professional Christian financial gravy train can be found here in the Christian Post - comments Andrew Sullivan made on his blog yesterday are very appropriate because the mindset he describes in Norway's mass murder is sadly much the same as the Christianists in this country. The only difference is that they have not resorted to murder and violence on a large scale - at least not yet. But they and their anti-Muslim allies are the ones responsible for creating an atmosphere and a world view fueled by hate that made the step to murder and violence seem the next logical step to someone like Breivik. And frighteningly, there are likely others out in society who may follow his example. Here are excerpts from Andrew's post:
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I coined the term "Christianism" many moons ago to defend Christianity and the gospels from their political co-opters. And I think it's indispensable in understanding the motivations of the terrorist, Anders Breivik. . . .
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One of the core messages of Christianity is a rejection of worldly power. The core message of Christianism is, in stark contrast, the desperate need to control all the levers of political power to control or guide the lives of others.
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But Christianist? Breivik's picture should accompany the term in any dictionary. Christianism is all about power over others, and it has been fueled in the last decade by its mirror image, Islamism, and motivated to fury by hatred of what it sees as is true enemy, liberalism. Both Islamism and Christianism, to my mind, do not spring from real religious faith; they spring from neurosis caused by lack of faith. They are the choices of those who are panicked by the complexity and choices of modernity into a fanatical embrace of a simplistic parody of religion in order to attack what they see as their cultural and social enemies. They are not about genuine faith; they are about the instrumentality of faith as a political bludgeon.
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It is his fear of his lack of real faith that propels him to pragmatically embrace the psychological structure of religion to murder his cultural enemies, to reify "Europe" or "Christendom" or "the Church" in order to defend them and give some meaning to his life.
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Like all such weaklings in the face of modernity, he is obsessed with sexual control of others and the sexual repression of oneself. He literally embraces a return to the mythic model of the 1950s, in which women remain at home, gays belong in the closet, and white Christians are the only kinds of Americans there are. He is obsessed with demography and reads at times like a parody of Mark Steyn, brooding over the out-breeding infidels. He is still angry at Betty Friedan.
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A pseudo-believer, he nonetheless favors the arch-authoritarianism of the Old Catholicism rather than contemporary Protestantism (just like the atheist neocons).
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My point is this: this was about as far from an act of meaningless violence as you can get. It is an explicitly articulated, carefully argued conclusion from a mishmash of every current far right platitude out there. Breivik does not merely claim influence by someone like Robert Spencer, he quotes him and so many others at great length as part of his manifesto! It's a pastiche of vast tracts of the far right blogosphere.
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[I]t does seem to me to prove beyond any doubt that Christianism is indeed a phenomenon in its own right, and that its evolution into neo-fascist violence, like Islamism's embrace of neo-fascist violence, is now something that cannot be denied.
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If you think that contains no lessons for the United States, you might want to open your eyes a little more widely.

Maggie Gallagher: It’s Gonna Be A Bloody Mess In New York

In the wake of the atrocities in Norway committed by a self-described cultural conservative one would think that anyone with a modicum of decency would at least temporarily avoid language that is indicative of murder and blood shed. But not so with the Christianists and self-enriching cow Maggie Gallagher in particular. Nope, in a statement Ms. Gallagher says that the battle to over turn same sex marriage in New York will be a "bloody mess." Frankly, while they claim to abhor violence, in their hearts Gallagher and her allies would like to exterminate LGBT Americans - or at least those who refuse to continue to be treated as third or fourth class citizens. Gallagher's latest comments come in connection with the filing of a lawsuit by the grossly misnamed "New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms" to attempt to over turn New York's same sex marriage law. Not surprisingly, the always toxic and dishonest Liberty Counsel is representing the theocrats. Here are highlights from the New York Daily News on the lawsuit:
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Twenty four hours after New York's landmark same sex marriage law went into effect, the anti-gay-marriage group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms today has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn it.
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The group, led by the Rev. Jason J. McGuire, claims that the state Senate, in adopting the legislation, violated the state’s Open Meetings Law by closing off Senate hallways and lobby; and by holding closed door meetings with Mayor Bloomberg and others who backed the law.
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The group also claims, among other things, that Gov. Cuomo and the Senate ignored the constitutionally mandated three-day waiting period before a bill can be acted upon and that lawmakers approved the legislation in exchange for campaign contributions from Bloomberg and other high profile "Wall Street financiers."
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Gov. Cuomo's spokesman Josh Vlasto blasted the lawsuit as baseless. "The plaintiffs lack a basic understanding of the laws of the state of New York. The suit is without merit.”
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Christianity - at least as practiced by Gallagher and her fellow hate merchants - has become a powerful evil in this country and the world. These nasty people epitomize why I no longer can apply the term Christian to myself. To be a "Christian" of this type is to be something evil. Meanwhile, too many "good Christians" sit on their hands and remain silent.

More Monday Male Beauty

Far Right Tries to Duck Ties to Terrorist Even As AFA's Bryan Fisher Says Breivik Views Were "Accurate"

It has been entertaining - if such a term can be used in the wake of the horrific slaughter in Norway last Friday - to watch the anti-Islamic bloggers, neocons and far right columnists and Christianists strive to distance themselves from the actions and views of mass murderer Anders Breivik who quoted many of them in his "manifesto" and obviously took many of their rantings, bigotry and messages of hate to heart. Those feigning shock range from gay conservative Bruce Bawer who used a Wall Street Journal column to dodge his own responsibility for anti-Islamic rhetoric to the anti-Muslim blog FrontPageMag led by conservative activist David Horowitz. In contrast to these, and not surprisingly to those who follow his daily doses of poisonous screeds, American Family Association’s hate merchant in chief, Bryan Fischer, said that after reading Norway terrorist Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto, he concluded that Breivik’s “analysis of cultural trends in Europe and the danger created by Islamic immigration and infiltration is accurate.” All disclaim the violent actions of Breivik even though his actions - at least to the mind of a fanatic - were arguably the natural result of their lies and propaganda. Here's a sampling of Fischer's disingenuous bullshit:
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Much of his analysis of cultural trends in Europe and the danger created by Islamic immigration and infiltration [sic] is accurate. . . . Breivik’s angst was caused by the presence of so many Muslims in Norway and Europe, which he correctly observes is leading to “cultural annihilation.’ But he blames their presence not on the Muslims themselves but on the “cultural Marxists” and their obsession with diversity and unrestricted Islamic immigration.
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Fischer then goes on to try to argue that Breivik wasn't a "true Christian" apparently on the premise that Christians don't engage in mass murder. Fischer seems to forget the atrocities committed during the Crusades, the treatment of Moors in Spain, the religious wars in Europe in the 16th Century, etc. He also ignores the passages in the Old Testament celebrating the destruction of the opponents of Israel be they men, women or children.

Joe Scarborough Envisions the Coming Decimation of the Republican Party

I do not always agree with his views, but nonetheless, Joe Scarborough - who could likely not be elected in today's GOP - often demonstrates that one can be a conservative without the requirement of being clinically insane. Now, Scarborough has authored a piece that looks at "the morning after" should the GOP extremists and betrayers of America in Congress block a raising of the debt limit. As a Virginian, I applaud the fact that Scarborough targets Eric Cantor, a duplicitous weasel if there ever one, in particular. I truly hope that a default is averted. But if it happens, one can only hoe that it sounds the death knell of the GOP. A after that will be most deserved. Here are highlights from Scarborough's column at Politico which is date August 3, 2011:
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It was a financial storm that even an economics professor could see coming. The debt crisis that had gripped Washington for a month came to a sudden, horrifying climax that left America’s economy looking like a nuclear wasteland. Credit markets suffered life-threatening seizures as the stock market dropped a staggering 25 percent. U.S. Treasuries plummeted as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating — instantly adding trillions of dollars in interest costs to the national debt.
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The threat of exploding interest rates on home mortgages, cars, student loans and credit cards caused growing concerns. But it was the gutting of 401(k)’s and pension programs that would soon stir panic.
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President Barack Obama went before TV cameras to try to calm Americans. Despite his shaky on-air performance, the president’s message was convincing and explained why the overwhelming majority of Americans surveyed in an overnight Gallup Poll blamed Republicans for the financial catastrophe that had quickly brought the world’s largest economy to its knees.
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For the next hour, markets continued to drop. By late afternoon, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ took the extraordinary step of closing their markets. . . . . But the damage was already done. In a day’s time, America’s credit rating had collapsed, the dollar had fallen into disrepute and the life savings of millions of Americans had been wiped out.
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Inside the office of the speaker of the House, Jamie Dimon and Jeff Immelt joined Geithner and Bernanke to explain in the bluntest terms possible the stakes that lay before John Boehner’s Republican caucus. Bernanke summarized their positions. “Mr. Speaker, this Congress can either pass a long-term deal tonight to bring sanity back to the markets or can expect to face unimaginable economic consequences in the morning.” The Fed chairman stood up to leave but left Boehner with a final jab. “There is no Plan B. Not after Congress’s performance today.”
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Boehner entered the grim caucus room and went straight to the podium, telling members that the events of the day had made irrelevant any ideological argument. He was finished in a few minutes and then turned the mic over to Cantor, who told conservatives that the only option left to them was to live to fight another day. Only Michele Bachmann and a handful of freshman members delivered impassioned pleas to keep waging their war on Obama. But those short speeches were written more as fodder for future press releases than to persuade fellow Republicans.
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The meeting was quickly adjourned with the understanding that Boehner would immediately call a vote to stop the hemorrhaging of world markets by extending the debt ceiling. In so doing, Boehner and his conservative caucus would be giving the president what he had been asking for all along.
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The $4 trillion deal that the speaker had once hoped for was now nothing more than an opportunity lost. His party could have had a historic deal to reduce the national debt. His caucus could have made a real difference. Instead, their intransigence crippled America’s economy and clinched the reelection of Barack Obama.
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I hope that Scarborough's vision proves true and is in fact what overtakes the GOP if the party continues to place playing politics ahead of the welfare of the nation and rank and file citizens.