FROM BUSH TO OBAMA — CONTINUITY CONTINUES! “Obama says he opposes DOMA as a policy matter and wants to repeal it. Nothing in the DOJ brief prevents him from acting on that belief. He is, he says, a ‘fierce advocate’ for gay and lesbian Americans. When does that part start?”
Andrew Sullivan, meanwhile, says the brief is “defensible” though “terribly deflating.”
THAT SHOULD BE POPULAR: House Health-Care Proposal Adds $600 Billion in Taxes.
A REPORT ON THE HOUSTON TEA PARTY’S PELOSI PROTEST:
Hundreds of protesters showed up outside the Wortham Theater in Houston to let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi know they weren’t happy with Washington. Protesters held signs saying they were upset with the stimulus plan. They also called for tax cuts, spending cuts and a major change in congress.
Protest video at the link. And another report here:
Those who attended paid $19 to $144 to hear her answer questions about international and national affairs and discuss her book, Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters.
In front of the Wortham Center, activists offered their own greetings to those attending the speech.
“Turn back while you still have the chance! Don’t support the liar!” Doug Audirsch, of Porter, shouted while hoisting a sign over his head that called for “Less 1984 — More 1776.” . . . Police estimated the crowd at 600. Houston Police Department officials at the scene said there were no reported incidents or arrests.
These protests just keep happening. Here’s a picture from a reader.
TAKING TIME OUT TO HATE: It’s Not Rush Limbaugh Hollering About the “Jewish Lobby.”
I DON’T BLAME GAY ACTIVISTS FOR BEING UPSET about the Obama Administration’s position on the Defense Of Marriage Act, but I think it’s wrong to attack Mormons. Instead, I think they’d be better off pushing hard for DOMA repeal, and putting Obama — and Congressional Democrats — on the spot. The post-Prop 8 attacks on Mormons, etc., seem to have caused gay marriage to drop in the polls. Meanness seldom sells. “You can’t make the point that people should be allowed to love by advocating hate.”
MEGAN MCARDLE ON NOMINAL VS. REAL FRIENDSHIP: “As far as I could make out, they were trying to prove that what had happened to me couldn’t possibly happen to them.”
You get a lot of that if you have a serious health problem, too.
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: Military Covering Up Fireballs From Space. “Priceless observational information derived from the spacecraft were made quickly available, giving researchers such insights as time, a location, height above the surface, as well as light-curves to help pin down the amount of energy churned out from the fireballs. . . . But all that ended within the last few months, leaving scientists blind-sided and miffed by the shift in policy. The hope is that the policy decision will be revisited and overturned.”
CHICAGO-ON-THE-PERSIAN GULF: Ahmadinejad Is Declared Victor in Iran. “Fraud has been a prominent concern for Mr. Moussavi’s campaign, with many of his allies warning that Mr. Ahmadinejad could use the levers of state — the military, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Basij militia — to cajole or intimidate voters, or even engage in outright fraud.” Why would anyone expect an honest election from these people?
BITES FROM THE APPLE: Much more on the iPhone 3GS.
THE AUDACITY OF BULLYING: “The important thing is for Obama to be tough. Because when you can’t be tough with Iran, Syria, North Korea or Russia the next best thing is to beat up on Israel, right?”
I WISH I WERE A SENATOR, SO I COULD GET THIS KIND OF HOUSING-MARKET APPRECIATION: Dodd’s Irish Cottage: Was $190,000. Now $658,000. “A new appraisal of the Irish cottage owned by Sen. Christopher Dodd concludes that it is worth about three times as much as Dodd has been reporting on his financial disclosure forms. . . . Dodd has been criticized for low-balling the worth of the cottage in his disclosure forms. Questions also have been raised about his original purchase of the cottage with a Kansas City businessman William Kessinger, who he met through long-time campaign contributor Edward Downe.”
USA TODAY: SO HOW’S THAT “STIMULUS” WORKING OUT? “People who still have jobs are faring worse than at any time since the Great Depression, a USA TODAY analysis of employment data found. Furloughs, pay cuts and reduced hours are taking a toll on workers who so far have escaped job cuts. . . . Unemployment rates for workers 45 and older have soared to their highest level since at least 1948, when the government started tracking it.”
JEFFREY GOLDBERG: “Reading Judith Warner’s column this morning on the recent upsurge in hate crimes, I was struck by what she left out. Two weeks ago, a Muslim extremist shot two soldiers, killing one, outside a recruiting station in Arkansas. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad acted alone, just as James von Brunn apparently did. He was, like von Brunn, captive to a supremacist ideology that, in his mind, justified the murder of an innocent man. Like von Brunn, authorities said, he had mapped out Jewish targets for potential attack. And yet, no mention of the hate crime committed by a Muslim; only hate crimes committed by white, right-wing extremists were worthy of mention in Warner’s column. This is true for other columnists on the liberal side of the spectrum. The murder of Private William Long seems to be of no concern, and without larger meaning.”
WHAT EVERYBODY NEEDS: A Goat Tower.
BILL MAHER IS ALREADY SICK OF SEEING OBAMA ON TV. It’s gonna be a long four years, Bill . . . .
PHIL BREDESEN WILL let the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act pass into law without his signature. A.C. Kleinheider thinks that Bredesen is confused, though: “If he feels the way he obviously does, he should have vetoed it. Otherwise he should have let it pass without comment.”
A BUNCH OF markdowns on cookware.
BOY HIT BY METEORITE. No, really, that’s the story, though it’s a bit sketchy on details. Wouldn’t be the first person so struck, though. In fact, the famous Sylacauga Meteorite struck a woman in my dad’s home town.
FROM CONSERVATIVE LESBIAN CYNTHIA YOCKEY, More on how to get Letterman fired — and why Republicans need to do so. Do they? Well, Democrats would do it.
Anybody interview Don Imus on this subject?
UPDATE: Austin Businessman Files FCC Complaint over Letterman Joke.