Eideard

Maryland governor Martin O’Malley after supporting same-sex marriage
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The Maryland Senate voted Thursday evening to legalize same-sex marriage, the latest sign of growing national recognition of such unions among gay and lesbian couples.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has pledged to sign the bill into law. “All children deserve the opportunity to live in a loving, caring, committed, and stable home, protected equally under the law,” O’Malley said in a statement after the vote.

New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex marriage this month, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the legislation. He has said voters should decide the issue in a statewide referendum…

Proving once again what cowards Republican politicians may be.

…Lawsuits seeking to expand civil unions or turn back laws banning same-sex marriages are working through the courts in at least 12 states, including Hawaii, Minnesota and California, the organization said.

The flurry of activity is a stark change from two decades ago, when the issue of same-sex marriage first gained national attention. Just a decade ago, no states allowed such unions…

In November, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported a more divided public — 46% in favor of same-sex marriages and 44% opposed. But Pew also said the uptick in support seems to be gaining steam, having jumped 9 percentage points in two years.

The shifting attitudes have emboldened proponents of same-sex marriage.

“There’s no question that with so many Americans having changed their minds and opened their hearts as they’ve heard the stories of real couples and thought about why marriage matters, we now have tremendous momentum towards ending marriage discrimination,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, which favors recognizing a right to marriage for gay couples.

“We could see a nationwide victory as soon as one to two years. It could also take as much as 10 years.”

The homophobic Right will dedicate their money to referenda in parallel with the history of racists losing control of legal segregation in the United States during the rise of civil rights movements, civil rights legislation respecting the Constitution. Part of their dedication to green power rather than a constitutional dedication to civilization will be the bucks they will continue to spend on trying to save DOMA, the so-called Defense Of Marriage Act which took another just hit, today.

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has sternly rebuked the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in an unusually fractious telephone call, according to media reports…

The Israeli prime minister telephoned Merkel on Monday to say he was disappointed that Germany had voted for a UN security council resolution condemning settlements that was vetoed by the US.

According to a German official quoted by Haaretz, Merkel was furious. “How dare you?” she said. “You are the one who has disappointed us. You haven’t made a single step to advance peace…”

The quoted comments reflect growing impatience in Europe with the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian talks and a belief that Israel is stalling or impeding progress. With the exception of the US last Friday’s resolution was backed by all the security council members including Britain, Germany and France.

Despite the resolution being carefully worded to reflect American policy on settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the US wielded its veto for the first time under Barack Obama’s presidency…

Netanyahu told Merkel that he was planning a new initiative to be disclosed in the next few weeks. “I intend to make a new speech about the peace process in the next two to three weeks,” he was quoted as saying.

The only thing Netanyahu is interested in advancing is more rightwing politics in Israel. If he must stretch himself to vent more hot air and lies into the diplomatic ether – so be it. He has plenty of practice.

And he knows he can count on the United States Congress and the White House to back whatever crap lies he utters.

Israeli settlements built on land stolen by force of arms

The United States vetoed Friday a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have declared Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that while the United States agrees about “the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians.”

Excuse me while I get me Wellies. This much bullshit demands rubber boots.

The veto is the first to be used under the Obama administration.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, objected to the veto in a statement following the vote.

“The proper message that should have been sent by the Security Council to Israel, the occupying power, is that its contempt of international law and the international community will no longer be tolerated,” he said. “We fear, however, that the message sent today may be one that only encourages further Israeli intransigence and impunity. This must be remedied.”

Israel praised the veto…

I used a major American media source – CNN – so our regular readers outside the United States could have a look at mainstream American media proving why we don’t need an official US news agency. The Voice of America is still out there being the parrot it always has been; but, the point is they’re not needed for internal consumption.

Hardly any significant American news source would offend traditional US foreign policy by being critical of Israel.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has vetoed two abortion bills that he said were an unconstitutional attempt by the Legislature to insert government into the private lives and decisions of residents.

One measure would have required women to undergo an intrusive ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before having an abortion. Mr. Henry, a Democrat, said Friday that the legislation was flawed because it did not exempt rape and incest victims…

Mr. Henry said that “it would be unconscionable to subject rape and incest victims to such treatment” because it would victimize them again.

Like, uh, Republicans want folks to think they care about anything more than their wallets.

“State policymakers should never mandate that a citizen be forced to undergo any medical procedure against his or her will,” Mr. Henry said, “especially when such a procedure could cause physical or mental trauma.”

Under the ultrasound legislation, doctors would have been required to use a vaginal probe in cases where it would provide a clearer picture of the fetus than a regular ultrasound.

The governor vetoed similar legislation in 2008 but was overridden by lawmakers. The bill was struck down by a judge before it went into effect…

The second bill the governor vetoed was one that would have prohibited pregnant women from seeking damages if physicians withhold important information or provide inaccurate information about their pregnancy.

They all belong to the same country clubs. Can you imagine the shock and horror on the first tee if the state legislature supported rights for women?

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, fighting for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, stirred more speculation he may leave the party and run as an independent when he vetoed a contentious Republican measure on Thursday…

Crist vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-led Legislature to eliminate traditional teacher tenure, saying the measure went too far in taking away teacher protections that constituents overwhelmingly wanted to keep. The bill also would have linked teachers’ pay to improvements in student test scores.

The ultimate George W Jeb Bush cheap-out.

Crist trails in [Republican] opinion polls to Marco Rubio, a former House Speaker from Miami who has become the darling of the Republican Party’s conservative wing.

He further distanced himself from Rubio on Thursday by siding with teachers and some of the state’s largest unions, the Florida Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

A Quinnipiac Poll released hours before the veto showed Crist losing to Rubio by 23 points if the Republican primary were held now. If Crist ran as an independent, the poll found he would win a three-way race with 32 percent of the vote, compared with Rubio’s 30 percent and Democratic front-runner Kendrick Meek’s 24 percent…

Crist told reporters the measure was inflexible and too hastily crafted without proper input from teachers, parents, superintendents and school boards and had damaged the morale of teachers, parents and students.

As usual, the Republican version of “reform” is designed to cut jobs and downgrade education.

Of course, keeping someone sensible in office remains a function of the Florida electorate. One of the blogs I’ve been involved with for quite a spell maintains a special logo just for silly things that happen in Florida.

Sarah Palin blows fairy dust at Republican true believers
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Just one week after Sarah Palin stepped down as governor of Alaska, Alaskan lawmakers succeeded in overriding her veto of federal stimulus dollars.

The legislature has voted 45-15 in favor of overturning the former governor’s veto of more than $28 million in Recovery Act funds targeted toward energy efficiency projects.

The Alaska legislature met for a one-day special session in Anchorage. Heading into the vote, Rep. Mike Hawker, who voted in support of finally accepting the stimulus funds, anticipated a close decision, coming down to a couple of votes either way…

RTFA if you think you can penetrate the medieval curtain of ideology cloaking Palin’s brain.

State lawmakers dispute Palin’s objections to the stimulus money. In a letter to Alaska House Finance Committee Co-Chair Rep. Mike Hawker and obtained by CNN, the Department of Energy wrote that the Alaska legislature “does not need to adopt, impose and enforce a statewide building code” in order to qualify for the energy funds.

Palin originally threatened to reject more than $400 million of the state’s $930 million share of the stimulus package. Eventually Palin signed off on all but the three percent under consideration Monday by state lawmakers.

She would rather reject the portion of the stimulus that provides assistance to folks for weatherizing their homes – than deal with her fear of building codes. Another 14th Century mind in a 20th Century Republican skull.

Gay and lesbian couples before the Vermont Supreme Court
Daylife/AP Photo

Gov. Jim Douglas has vetoed a bill to permit same-sex couples to marry in Vermont, citing his belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. The veto was announced shortly after the state Senate voted to concur with a same-sex marriage bill passed last week by the Vermont House.

In his veto message, Douglas said Vermont’s civil union law “has afforded the same state rights, responsibilities and benefits of marriage to same sex couples.”

“Our civil union law serves Vermont well and I would support congressional action to extend those benefits at the federal level to states that recognize same sex unions,” he said.

The House and Senate are expected to try to override the governor’s veto. The Burlington Free Press said the state Senate is expected to override the veto but it was unclear which way the House would vote.

The House voted 95-52 last week in favor of the legislation but it would take 100 votes to override a veto.

In fact, there is a move afoot for all the New England states to create a safe haven from homophobic law. Why not? New England was the core of the Underground Railway movement in Abolitionist days before the Civil War.

BTW – Vermont was the first state in this land to outlaw slavery.

A bill that would permit a presidential line-item veto has been re-introduced in the U.S. Congress.

“This bill is about the need to stop wasteful earmarks especially in this time of economic crisis,” Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said during a news conference. “And if Congress won’t restrain itself, the president should be able to try…”

This bill would allow the president to propose that some earmarks be rescinded and sent back to Congress to be voted on as separate measures, which Feingold said should help the bill pass constitutional muster, unlike a previous line-item veto that was overturned by the courts.

“Now, the critical thing is, in our legislation, they can’t just put the bill that the president’s proposed in committee,” Feingold said. “There is a requirement that it has to be voted on and within a set time frame.”

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, long an opponent of earmarks, said he anticipated the bill would be difficult to pass.

“But I believe that the American people voted for change last November,” McCain said. “They want not only change in the executive branch, but they want a change in the legislative branch in the way that we do business. “

Let’s see if Congress is as willing to institute change on their own. Don’t hold your breath too long.