Schwarzenegger: Mormon/religious right gay marriage ban is just like banning blacks and whites from marrying

Wow, that's actually pretty strong stuff. (It's also ironic, since the Mormon church was racist towards blacks until the late 70s.)

I think it is unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end, because I think this will go back into the courts, this will go back to the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court very clearly in California has declared this unconstitutional. It's the same as in the 1948 case when blacks and whites were not allowed to marry. This falls into the same category.

I know some people will say "so what?" But you'd be surprised how many people refuse to recognize gay civil rights as equal to other civil rights causes. It's all the same - all different, and all the same - but some, many, still like to think that one cause is more equal than others. And it freaks the religious right out whenever anyone says that opposing gay marriage is exactly like opposing blacks marrying whites. That makes the religious and the Mormons segregationists. Read the rest of this post...

Palin's kids lost their $150,000 underwear

Sarah Palin's father says we just might never see the return of all of the $150,000 in clothes Sarah Palin bought to better look the part of Regular Guy.

Her father, Chuck Heath, said Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party.

"She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out," Heath said. "That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for. Nothing goes right back to normal."

Um, why was the RNC or the McCain campaign or whomever buying the kids underwear? It's one thing to argue that she needs to look nice on camera and at campaign events (though not the tune of $150,000), but, um, who exactly did they need to impress with Palin's kids' underwear?

And oh yeah, Palin is also now saying it's George Bush's fault that she lost. Yeah, couldn't be that you're a blithering idiot. No, the country will be ready for blithering idiot in 2012, just you wait and see. Read the rest of this post...

Olbermann on Proposition 8: "To me this vote is horrible. Horrible"

UPDATE: Here's a link to the MSNBC video, which isn't working on all browsers tonight.

Here's the YouTube:

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AIG closes deal for another $40 billion

The never-ending saga and black hole of cash continues. I'm sure they're minding their budget though and are no doubt only flying Business Class instead of First Class.

The government on Monday provided new financial assistance to troubled insurance giant American International Group, including pouring $40 billion into the company in return for partial ownership.

The action was announced jointly by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. All told, the moves boost aid to the company to around $150 billion.

The $40 billion infusion comes from the recently enacted $700 billion financial bailout package. The government is buying preferred shares of AIG stock, giving it an ownership stake in the company.

As part of the new arrangement, the Federal Reserve is reducing a $85 billion loan it is had made available to AIG to $60 billion. The Fed also is replacing a separate $37.8 billion loan to the insurance company with a $52 billion aid package.

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Mormons Continue to Try to Steal Anne Frank's Soul

Religious freedom, or just plain sick? The Mormons have a plan to convert every single one of you to Mormonism on your death. Did your mom or dad, or child or friend die? The Mormons either have already, or will, baptize your dead family member or friend to convert them to Mormonism against your will, against their will. The Mormons aren't content forcing people of other faiths to live under their religious rules, they're stealing our dead too.

From AP:

Holocaust survivors said Monday they are through trying to negotiate with the Mormon church over posthumous baptisms of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps, saying the church has repeatedly violated a 13-year-old agreement barring the practice....

''Baptism of a Jewish Holocaust victim and then merely removing that name from the database is just not acceptable,'' said Michel, whose parents died at Auschwitz. He spoke on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-incited riots against Jews.

''We ask you to respect us and our Judaism just as we respect your religion,'' Michel said in a statement released ahead of the news conference. ''We ask you to leave our six million Jews, all victims of the Holocaust, alone, they suffered enough.''

....Using genealogy records, the church also baptizes people who have died from all over the world and from different religions. Mormons stand in as proxies for the person being baptized and immerse themselves in a baptismal pool.

Only the Jews have an agreement with the church limiting who can be baptized, though the agreement covers only Holocaust victims, not all Jewish people. Jews are particularly offended by baptisms of Holocaust victims because they were murdered specifically because of their religion.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to know just who the Mormons have already baptized. Who amongst us has had a family member of friend converted to Mormonism against their will, and in secret? Read the rest of this post...

Obama Reportedly Wants Lieberman To Remain In Democratic Caucus

From Huff Post:

President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post.

Obama's decision could tie the hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has been negotiating to remove Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security and Government Reform committee while keeping him within the caucus. Lieberman has insisted that he will split from the Democrats if his homeland security position is stripped.

Aides to the president-elect did not return requests for comment. Senate officials were unclear whether Obama would be comfortable with Lieberman maintaining his current committee post.

There's more:

There is, perhaps, one measure by which Democratic leadership can still reconcile the competing realities of Lieberman's future in the caucus. One Democratic aide said that the party was considering letting the Connecticut Senator keep his post at homeland security but forcing him to relinquish one or both of his spots on two more high-profile committees: Armed Services and Environment & Public Works.

Lieberman is in line for leadership roles in both of those committees should the current chairs leave their posts. On Armed Services, the two senators ahead of him are Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd. On Environment and Public Works, current chair Barbara Boxer may face a tough reelection campaign in 2010 and second in line, Sen. Max Baucus, already heads another committee.

If Democratic leadership were to keep Lieberman on homeland security but impede any chance of ascending to these other posts, that may be enough to placate progressive activists demanding punishment while keeping the Connecticut Senator in the caucus.

There's this sense, it seems, that "liberals" want Lieberman's head. And we do. But it's not just us. Lieberman endorsed the Republican candidate for president. He appeared with him at numerous rallies, including McCain's final rally the night before the election. Lieberman dissed Dems at the Republican convention, a la Zell Miller. Lieberman accused Obama of being un-American.

These are not crimes to the far-left of the Democratic party. This is a betrayal of the Democratic party and our candidate. And it's nice for Obama to want to make nice (not that Obama has much of a choice - what's he gonna say, off with is head?) But at some point, Democrats need to have some backbone. And show some backbone. Lieberman is trouble. And his actions go far beyond some high school prank, contrary to Harry Reid's suggestion. We have no discipline in our party, we can't hold Democrats in line, because we NEVER hold Democrats in line. Because there is never any discipline. The party never gives Democrats a reason to toe the line. And we wonder why they stray?

Joe Lieberman is going to screw us again. I am just counting the days until he starts to hold hearings to embarrass President Obama and his fellow Democrats. Then the Democrats will have only themselves to blame. As always. Markos has more. Read the rest of this post...

As Coleman's lead shrinks, so do his chances for a leadership position -- and let's not forget the shady deal with a top fundraiser

As we've been reporting for the past couple days, Norm Coleman's lead in the Minnesota Senate race has been shrinking. So are his chances of taking a leadership role in the GOP's shrinking Senate caucus:

Sen. Norm Coleman’s cliffhanger reelection race in Minnesota has complicated his long-sought bid to take the reins of an influential Republican campaign committee, senior GOP aides said Monday.

The Senate Republican Conference is scheduled to hold votes Nov. 18 on key leadership positions for the 111th Congress, even though the outcomes of races in Minnesota, Alaska and Georgia have yet to be determined.

Coleman leads comedian Al Franken by just 201 votes, ensuring that the 2.9 million ballots will be recounted by hand and the outcome won’t be known until mid-December, weeks after the party wants to have its new leadership team in place.

It's hard to be in leadership if you're not in the Senate.

But, Norm Coleman's got other problems, too. Legal problems based on allegations in lawsuits against one of Norm's benefactors, via Politico;

We just received a PDF of the second lawsuit filed against Norm Coleman pal Nasser Kazeminy, who allegedly steered $75,000 to a Minnesota insurance company that employs Coleman wife.

Much of the new material echoes allegations made by its former CEO Paul McKim in a previous lawsuit filed in Texas.

Still, there are a couple of new nuggets in the Nov. 3 complaint in Delaware by investors in Kazeminy-controlled Deep Marine Technology.

The Texas lawsuit quotes Kazeminy saying he needed to get cash to Coleman because "U.S. Senators don't make [expletive]."

But the second lawsuit alleges — and it's breathtakingly stupid if true — that Kazeminy at first ordered DMT execs to pay Coleman directly.

"Our clients were advised that Mr. Kazeminy first sought to have DMT make quarterly cash payments of $25,000 to Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota," writes plaintiff's attorney Anthony Paduano, citing a "confidential" informant.

Another new allegation is that the payments made to Laurie Coleman's firm, the Hays Company, weren't needed because DMT, which services offshore oil platforms and port facilities, already used Aon for its insurance.

Coleman is a dirt bag. He's already starting to question the recount process -- the legally mandated recount process. That's why it's important for Minnesotans to know about these lawsuits. When Coleman questions the legality of the recount process, Minnesotans need to consider the source.

Read the rest of this post...

Mormons accidentally rent porn film

Schadenfreude lives.

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Obama planning US trials for Guantanamo detainees

This is what change looks like.

President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed.

Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.

A third group of detainees — the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information — might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers and Democrats involved in the talks. Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans aren't final.

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Four More Years of Keith Olbermann

Maybe this means MSNBC will finally buy some ads on the blogs to show support for their base.

MSNBC has voted for four more years of Keith Olbermann and the top-rated "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," it was announced today by Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC. The new four-year agreement calls for Olbermann to continue as host of "Countdown;" additionally, Olbermann will play a prominent role in MSNBC's coverage of all major news events. He will also continue to co-host NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show.

I don't have a link to the press release, and even if there were one, I wouldn't link to it. MSNBC of late, like lots of other companies and non-profits, has gotten on a major kick of having their high-paid PR people contact the blogs asking for free favors. And while I'll report real news even if it comes from the devil himself (hell, we even quote the cult newspaper Washington Times when they have real news), I only do favors for friends. And friends don't come knocking only when they want something.

Far too many PR firms, non-profit advocacy groups, and businesses fail to understand that there are two major components to the liberal blogosphere: news and advocacy. News we report no matter who sends it (and PR firms, non-profits and businesses rarely send real news). Advocacy we do for causes we believe in, and for friends. SEIU, for example, has been a big supporter of the blogs. I'll help SEIU get its message out, its action alerts disseminated, from time to time because I usually believe in their cause (health care, for example), but I'll also do it as a favor to them - as a favor to a friend who has shown support for the Netroots. But the other six high-paid PR firms who contact me every day asking for free publicity for what is almost always some inane press release you really wouldn't care about, why would we publish their non-news? First, it's not news. And second, they're not our friends and they don't support us. So, why would we publish their stuff? Read the rest of this post...

Norm Coleman's lead drops again. He's ahead of Franken by 204 votes.

The vote count continues to head in the right direction in Minnesota's Senate race:

Al Franken's deficit just keeps on shrinking as the state adjusts the unofficial tally in the U.S. Senate election last week.

Today's latest results show the DFL challenger is now trailing Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 204 votes. That's down from 221 over the weekend.

As of 9:40 a.m., Coleman has 1,211,554 votes to Franken's 1,211,350.

The Coleman campaign is freaking out and we can expect all kinds of drama from Norm:

The Coleman campaign has questioned the validity of changes. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has responded that the revisions are typical and that no fraud is being committed.

From the reports I've read, these kinds of adjustments take place after every election. It usually doesn't matter, because it's just rare that the race is so close. The officials in Minnesota are following the law. But, that won't stop Coleman and his fellow Republicans from questioning the process. That's what they do.

Read the rest of this post...

Dodd tries to blame Obama in effort to save Lieberman

Talk about sleazy.

Democratic Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who until only moments ago the Netroots used to think of as their hero (how quickly things change), just came out and defended Joe Lieberman. Oh, and Dodd didn't just do that. Dodd tried to wring the entire Lieberman fiasco around Obama's neck.

Now that's sleazy.

Dodd knows that Obama wants the first months of his adminsitration, understandably, to focus on the economy. It's kind of the most pressing issue in America right now. So what does Dodd do? In an effort to save Lieberman from being kicked out of the Democratic caucus, Dodd just tried to publicly tie Obama to the entire controversy - so that if Lieberman gets kicked out, it will hurt Obama, and thus, Dodd hopes, Obama will intervene and save Dodd's bff Traitor Joe. (I wonder what Lieberman offered to buy Dodd off?)

Sleazy. Sleazy. Sleazy.

More from The Hartford Courant via Ben Smith:

From the Hartford Courant's Capital Watch blog:

"What does Barack Obama want?" Dodd rhetorically asked reporters Friday after speaking at a childhood nutrition forum at the state Capitol complex in Hartford. "He's talked about reconciliation, healing, bringing people together. I don't think he'd necessarily want to spend the first month of this president-elect period, this transition period, talking about a Senate seat, particularly if someone is willing to come forward and is willing to be a member of your family in the caucus in that sense."

So did you get that? It's all about Obama, according to Chris Dodd. It's all about whether Obama is a hypocrite, whether Obama will let Lieberman be forced to pay a price for betraying the Democratic caucus, for endorsing McCain, for calling Barack Obama un-American.

It seems betrayal is a more widespread problem than we thought, Senator Dodd. Read the rest of this post...

Job cuts announced across the country

The rumors of another 70,000 job cuts on Wall Street are hardly surprising after the meltdown. (Pay raises are admittedly a surprise.) Unfortunately the bleeding isn't ending there as DHL has announced another 9,500 jobs on top of the previous 5,400 job cuts earlier this year. Meanwhile Circuit City will be restructuring and we all know what that means. All of this after the US has lost 1.2 million jobs for the year and it's not over yet.

Restarting the economy after years of Republican economics is not going to be easy. Many talk about trimming the Obama agenda but put me in the opposite camp. Now is no time to be mild and to do so will only drag out the misery longer. It's time to make those investments in the future and get the economy rolling again. The US infrastructure has fallen behind and needs modernizing. It's going to be expensive but it will create jobs and get money moving outside of just the Wall Street boardrooms. Leading the way on the environment and energy will also cost money but by directing money, even more money and jobs will be created. Trimming on areas that will lead us out of the Republican recession is not where we want to go. Read the rest of this post...

Never EVER cross a show queen

A friend tells me that there's a BIG musical theater in Sacramento, California called the California Music theater. It's been around for decades and, you might be shocked by this, but apparently there are gays who work in musical theater. Well, anyway, word get around in the past few days that the Artistic Director of the theater, one Scott Eckern, a nice Mormon boy, donated $1,000 to the hateful bigoted Yes on 8 campaign that repealed marriage for gay couples in California. And I checked the database of every donor (it's quite fun, check it out and look up your neighbors), and what do you know - Scottie did give a $1,000 to the hatemongers.



Now, here's the funny part. About two weeks ago, the hateful religious right and Mormon bigots running the Yes on 8 campaign threatened the livelihood of anyone who donated to the No on 8 campaign. Uh oh. I see a little goose and gander coming.

And what do you know. It seems our friend Scott has, um, angered the gays, to put it lightly. Marc Shaiman, composer of HAIRSPRAY, called Scott's theater, I'm told, and said he is pulling the rights from any of his shows, and is talking to other colleagues about doing the same. And a well known musical actress is now urging her friends to boycott working at the theater. Gosh, sounds like it's going to be hard for that theater to survive with Scott working there.

It's really too bad Scott's hateful bigoted friends in the religious right and in the Mormon Church outright threatened the livelihood of anyone donating to No on 8. That pretty much gives license to the other side - that would be the side protesting in the streets across California and Utah - to target the livelihood of anyone donating to Yes on 8.

Payback is a bitch. With very sharp heels. Read the rest of this post...

President "Least Popular" meets President-elect "Most Popular" at the White House today

I know we've all had our fill of polls, but this latest finding from Gallup adds some perspective to the meeting of Bush and Obama today. It's the ugly past meeting the hopeful future. And, the numbers prove it:

From Gallup:

Monday's White House meeting between President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama presents a remarkable contrast between one of the least popular two-term presidents in modern times at the close of his administration, and one of the most popular candidates to win the presidency.

According to Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Nov. 6-8, only 27% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president. This contrasts with the 70% of Americans holding a favorable view of Obama.

Although this contrast between Obama and Bush is based on different measures -- presidential job approval and general favorability -- the ratings produced by the two typically track very closely for U.S. presidents, and thus provide a good indication of the vast popularity gap that exists between Bush and Obama.

Additionally, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are confident in Obama's ability to be a good president, similar to his 70% favorable reading.

Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

A new week begins.

Today, the next president meets the current president at the White House. Barack and Michelle get to check out their news digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. I know we the campaign lasted almost two years, but some of this still feels surreal. I'm looking forward to seeing those images from the White House today.

The Obama cabinet will begin to take shape this week, too.

A lot going on.

Let's get started...

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Paulson discretely eliminated bank taxes - banks to save billions

Who needs Congress when you have Henry Paulson there to save Wall Street at every corner? Every time I heard a Wall Street pundit tell everyone how fantastic Paulson was and how lucky we would all be if only he could be begged into staying, I wanted to be sick. The sooner he's gone, the better. It's in our national best interest to have a productive Wall Street but there are limits, not that Paulson or the GOP would know. Does the GOP always have to be so one-sided about everything? When they look back at why the US voted them out they can look at sneaky moves such as this as a typical case study in why the country was fed up with their attitude.

The story of the obscure provision underscores what critics in Congress, academia and the legal profession warn are the dangers of the broad authority being exercised by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in addressing the financial crisis. Lawmakers are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers.

The change to Section 382 of the tax code -- a provision that limited a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers -- came after a two-decade effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according to lobbyists.

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AIG unraveling again, seeks new loan for $150 billion

Predictably, the Republicans who all bragged about what a sweetheart deal this would be are nowhere to be found. They're the same ones who wanted to get similar sweetheart deals on Wall Street because it would pay so well. Uh huh.

Embattled insurance giant American International Group, set to reveal its latest financial results on Monday, is reportedly close to securing a new bailout deal from the federal government.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported Sunday evening that AIG's board was close to approving significant changes to the terms of the $123 billion in loans extended so far, and might announce a revised $150 billion deal as early as Monday.

Details were still in flux, but under the plan being discussed Sunday night, the government would cut the interest rate AIG is paying and use its authority under last month's $700 billion bailout law to buy $40 billion in preferred shares, the Journal said.

The government would also stand behind billions of dollars in credit default swap agreements - essentially insurance contracts that AIG had sold to customers worldwide, according to the Journal. Finally, it would backstop AIG's business of securities lending.

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BBC rethinks lack of black reporters

And I would imagine many other countries are having similar debates. For years Europe has droned on about racism in America and yes, there's obviously a problem. Right up until election day I listened to yet another person in Europe tell me how racist America is and that a black person would never be elected. Now that Obama has won, we will a new debate about race and opportunity in quite a few countries that previously preferred pointing at America instead of looking in their own back yard.

The head of the BBC newsroom has admitted his disappointment at the lack of black people participating in the corporation's coverage of Barack Obama's historic presidential victory.

Peter Horrocks, who watched the BBC's election night output from his home in south-west London, said he was "struck" by the paucity of black contributors to panel discussions and by the lack of black journalists on a night when political history was made.

"It just makes you think," he said. "I think if you look at some of the American broadcasters – and this is true of the BBC, ITV and Sky – we don't have as mixed [line-ups] both in on-air BBC people and commentators."

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Everyone is saying they had a hand in Obama's victory

And they're all right.

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