Romney announces support for corporations to marry

From PlanetPOV:

In the high stakes game of Presidential one-upmanship, Mitt Romney has responded to President Obama’s support of gay marriage by declaring that he supports the right of corporations to marry.

“Corporations are people, my friend. White people with nice hair and attractive shoes. They can propagate and multiply just as people do and as any businessperson can attest, they can screw multiple partners,” Romney explained. “Why should they be denied the same ability to get divorced and be paid alimony that other people have?”

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Video: I debate same-sex marriage, and sex with turtles, on CNN

No lectures about the lack of jacket and tie - I'm in Chicago and don't have any business clothes with me, so you get casual John for this appearance. Also, there are the glasses, which are a first for me and TV - I'm getting cataract surgery later this week, so not permitted to wear the contacts. Now back to the substance. The segment was about media bias vis-a-vis President Obama's marriage equality announcement this past week (i.e., was the media too giddy?). The conversation veered into some other unexpected areas as well, but I think it went well overall. See what you think. JOHN

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Men are victims of reverse sexism, according to new book

While there are a few valid points raised (child custody), the overall theory sounds as silly as the nonsense spouted by the right when they talk about discrimination against white men or Christians in the US. You would have to be living in a cave to ignore the ongoing discrimination against women in the workplace, who make less for the same work. Women also are much less represented in corporate management and the last time I looked at Congress or many First World parliaments, women are severely underrepresented.

Baloney:

You might not have realised it, but men are being oppressed. In many walks of life, they are routinely discriminated against in ways women are not. So unrecognised is this phenomenon that the mere mention of it will appear laughable to some.

That, at least, is the premise of a book by a South African philosophy professor which claims that sexism against men is a widespread yet unspoken malaise. In The Second Sexism, shortly to be published in the UK, David Benatar, head of the philosophy department at Cape Town University, argues that "more boys drop out of school, fewer men earn degrees, more men die younger, more are incarcerated" and that the issue is so under-researched it has become the prejudice that dare not speak its name.

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Elizabeth Warren calls for Jamie Dimon's resignation from Fed

For those wondering why we have such a failed banking system, take a look at how it works. People like Jamie Dimon are sitting on the board of the NY Federal Reserve, the board that is supposed to be keeping an eye on Wall Street. Tim Geithner was schmoozed by Wall Street and bought into their lies, just as NY Fed presidents before and after. The relationship between banks and those tasked with oversight are too cozy.

Warren is right to ask for Dimon to step down, but that should be a minimum. The days of close and friendly relationships between the feds and the banks needs to end. That system has run its course and needs major reform. Bloomberg, speaking with Elizabeth Warren:

“After the biggest financial crisis in generations, the American people are frustrated that Wall Street has still not been held accountable and does not appear to consider itself responsible,” she said. “Dimon should resign from his post at the New York Fed to send a signal to the American people that Wall Street bankers get it and to show that they understand the need for responsibility and accountability.”

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Former Murdoch journalist: stories made up, lived in culture of fear

Anyone who has been paying attention can't be surprised. The Rupert Murdoch empire has been bullying opponents for years so it's perfectly believable that they also bullied employees.

The former Murdoch journalist raises a key point about the way Murdoch's News Corp is run. News Corp desperately needs to be investigated because there's too much smoke around its operations. The Guardian:

A former News of the World reporter has claimed that journalists at the now defunct newspaper regularly made up stories and unethical practices were rife because of a "culture of fear" at the tabloid.

Graham Johnson, who worked at the newspaper between 1995 and 1997, said many employees carried out illegal operations and fabricated articles due to pressures from the top.

He told the BBC: "You can't get through the day on a tabloid newspaper if you don't lie, if you don't deceive, if you're not prepared to use forms of blackmail or extortion or lean on people, you know, make people's lives a misery. You just have to deliver the story on time and on budget, and if you didn't then you'd get told off.

"The News of the World culture was driven by fear, because it's a hierarchy, it's a military operation, it's a seamless operation."

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Wash Post acknowledges role of gay bloggers in Obama's "evolution"

As Joe wrote here, Obama's "evolution" didn't just start with Biden's gaffe — it started with the Bloggers Roundtable in October 2010 and our own Joe Sudbay.

Washington Post with that part of the story:

Liberal bloggers were seated around a big table in the Roosevelt Room, peppering President Obama with policy questions. Suddenly, one of them turned to Obama and ... made a very personal appeal.

“You can’t be equal in this country if the very core of who you are as a person and the love — the person you love is not — if that relationship isn’t the same as everybody else’s,” said Joe Sudbay, a gay writer for Americablog who said his community was “desperate” to know more about Obama’s stance on marriage rights.

“While I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon,” Obama said, according to a transcript Sudbay posted on his blog after the October 2010 encounter, “I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about. That’s probably the best you’ll do out of me today.”

It took a year and a half, but Obama gave Sudbay the answer he was looking for, affirming his support for full marriage rights in a Wednesday television interview.

There's more on this in the full article.

Thanks, Joe. Job well done.

GP

To follow on twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius
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The Clash - London Calling

Jamie Dimon probably loved hearing "London calling" in the last few weeks.

Spring has finally arrived for more than a day which means this weekend is a cycling weekend. I ventured out along the Marne yesterday and it was packed full of people participating in the Festival d'Oh along the river. There were shuttle boats from outside towns that took people through the lock, to more festivities (music, outdoor cafes, etc.) in Paris across from the BNF. Looks like Paris will again be doing a lot of fun things this year along the Seine in that otherwise quiet part of the riverbank. Read the rest of this post...