Photos Of The Week

 

Via Buzzfeed, above are two of the new gay members of the U.S House being sworn in with their partners by their side. TOP PHOTO: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, right, and his partner, Randy Florke, along with their children. BOTTOM PHOTO: Rep. Mark Pocan, right, and his husband, Philip Frank.

Christians Against Yoga in Schools

I mentioned this issue last year and now it appears that Christian parents may take the case to court.

Today's New York Post

Details.

Church Of England: Gay Men Can Be Bishops As Long As They Are Celibate

Via the Guardian:

The Church of England has agreed that gay clergy in civil partnerships can become bishops so long as they remain sexually abstinent, a decision that looks likely to reignite one of the Anglican community's most bitter internal debates.  The decision was taken by the House of Bishops, the section of the General Synod responsible for church teaching. Evangelical Anglicans immediately signalled their opposition to the idea, leaving the church with the prospect of two simultaneous internal rows following the synod's decision in November to block women from becoming bishops.

You can have a boyfriend, you just can't have sex with him.

Email Of The Day - Eugene Delgaudio

"Dear Joe, The Homosexual Lobby is already preparing for the next phase of their assault. Desperate to consolidate power as quickly as they can, the Homosexual Lobby has called in favors owed them by the Democratic Caucus in the Senate. And they got their request. Senator Tammy Baldwin is being placed on key Senate Committees in order to ensure the advance of the Homosexual Agenda. Public Advocate recently caused some controversy by shining a spotlight on Baldwin and her long track record of radical homosexual policies.

"This track record includes: - Introducing the Offense of Marriage Act to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and force homosexual 'marriage' on all fifty states. - Supporting the Thought Control Act, which has been used to punish innocent Americans who dare to 'disagree' with the Homosexual Agenda. - Sponsoring the Gay Bill of Special Rights which if passed would create privileged employment 'rights' for homosexuals and transsexuals. - Supporting the Homosexual Lobby’s attempt earlier this year to use the Violence Against Women Act for their own agenda. - Acting as the 'lead sponsor' of the Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I shudder to think what Baldwin plans to do in the future." - Hate group leader Eugene Delgaudio, in today's money beg to stop Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Tweet Of The Day - Azealia Banks

The above tweet from hip-hop/dance artist Azealia Banks came after this:

US rapper Azealia Banks has defended calling the US entertainment blogger Perez Hilton a faggot during a Twitter argument. The argument began after Hilton posted a criticism of Banks’s feuds with other artists. She then called him “dickbreath” and told him to “gobble a dick”. Hilton told Banks, who last year said she was bisexual: “Some of your music is cute, but your attention-seeking ways are pathetic and hurtful. You drag while others choose to uplift!” Banks responded: “Whatever bitch, you tried to sign me to ur little bum ass label in ’11 with them bullsshit ass artists…” She later tweeted: “omg u should just kill yourself… Like for real… lol what a messy faggot you are.”

For those unaware, Banks is a relatively new artist who won general acclaim in the gay club world last year with her smash hit, 212, which has over 41 million views on YouTube.

UPDATE: Buzzfeed has more of the exchange between Banks and Hilton.

GOP Sen. Mark Kirk: I Saw Three Angels

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) says that three angels appeared at his hospital bed following his massive stroke last year.

For Mark Kirk, there was no white light, no tunnel. What Illinois' junior U.S. senator experienced was three angels standing at the foot of his bed. "You want to come with us?" Kirk was asked. "No," he told them. "I'll hold off."  Kirk's life and outlook would be dramatically changed, the stroke serving as a defining moment that he said deepened his faith and altered his sense of purpose. Sitting at the dining room table of his suburban townhouse, his left arm slack, Kirk gestures emphatically with his right hand as he says the experience made him resolve "to never, ever give up."

Kirk concedes that he doesn't know if the angels were a dream, a medication-created hallucination, or a near-death experience, but his "angel encounter" is being widely touted on Christian sites. On Thursday Kirk laboriously climbed the steps of the Capitol Building for the first day of the 113th Congress.

WAPO: About Scott Lively's Trial For Anti-Gay Crimes Against Humanity

The executive director the Center for Constitutional Rights today explained some of the Scott Lively story for the readers of the Washington Post. The CCR will represent Sexual Minorities Uganda in their crimes against humanity suit against Lively, which begins Monday in a Massachusetts federal court.

Many Americans have heard of the infamous “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda, which has been introduced in several parliamentary sessions since it arose out of an anti-gay conference that Scott Lively headlined in 2009. But the day-to-day reality for LGBT Ugandans is already violence, death threats, severe discrimination and oppression. Meetings of LGBT activists are raided and shut down, and advocates have been arrested for exercising their rights to speech, assembly and association. LGBT Ugandans’ advocacy, indeed their existence, is already criminalized.

No one has done more to orchestrate this situation than Scott Lively. Since 2002, he has worked systematically to strip away human rights protections from LGBT people in Uganda and elsewhere around the world, to silence them and make it impossible for them to organize and defend their rights. While he peddles the usual, age-old lie that LGBT people are pedophiles in order to deliberately provoke the rage that feeds the growing repression and violence, he combines that myth with a new twist, that gays were also responsible for the Holocaust and that Hitler’s Germany is what can happen when a gay movement grows unchecked.

But this case isn’t simply about Lively’s “hate preach.” He long ago moved beyond “mere” hatemongering when he became a kind of persecution consultant, strategizing with influential leaders and cohorts in other countries about ways to further silence and remove LGBT people from basic protections of the law, in particular by criminalizing their advocacy. Persecution, defined as the “severe deprivation of fundamental rights” on the basis of identity, is a crime under international law; to be exact, it’s a “crime against humanity.” This deprivation of fundamental rights of LGBT communities is exactly what Lively aims to bring about. Under U.S. law, foreign citizens who are the victims of crimes against humanity can sue American perpetrators of such crimes. And so Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) is suing Scott Lively for persecuting them. Staff from SMUG and other LGBT advocates who have suffered persecution --arrests, raids, and other severe deprivations of basic rights --will be there on Monday, when the Center for Constitutional Rights will have the honor of representing them in court.

Read the full article.

Maggie Gallagher: Farewell To Optimism

"So in this, my final column, I say my farewell to optimism and my hello to hope. What is the difference? Optimism is a prediction; hope is a virtue. My hope rests on this: The truths to which I've dedicated my life, both professionally and personally, are too important to ignore, too foundational to be abandoned, too much a part of reality to be lost forever. Do not abandon politics. It is one important means to create culture -- to name our shared reality.

"But we need, as well, a next generation of culture creators, of storytellers, with the credentials to name reality: empirical social scientists, novelists, poets, preachers and filmmakers.We need donors to invest in building the networks and communities through which such voices are born, flourish and give meaning to the lives of millions.The future belongs to those of us with enough hope to rebuild on the ashes of optimism, a new American civilization -- uniting sex, love, babies, mothers and fathers in this thing called marriage." - Hate group leader Maggie Gallagher, whose nationally syndicated column was "retired" this week after 17 years.

RELATED: Gallagher does an exit interview (of sorts) today with the Huffington Post.  Interviewer Lila Shapiro asks if anything good can come of gay marriage. Gallagher:  "Not really. I hope I'm wrong though. Oh, except for making it less likely the Supreme Court will decide that gay people are politically powerless and need special court protection to function in a democracy. Oh, and of course it would make some gay people happy so that's a good thing. Good that someone will be happy!"

ALSO RELATED: While Gallagher left NOM over two years ago, she remains busy in the anti-gay hate industry and now chairs the legal group that is defending Jewish "ex-gay" crackpots JONAH against the fraud lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Illinois Bishop Who Put "Handcuffs & Ball-Gag Priest" On Leave Testified Against Same-Sex Marriage Yesterday

Yesterday Diocese of Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki testified against same-sex marriage before the Illinois state Senate. His testimony came just days after he was forced to put one of his own kinky priests on leave for calling 911 to get help to free himself from handcuffs and a mouth gag.

NO SEX UNTIL MARRIAGE!

Below is the letter Paprocki is demanding that all priests in his diocese read aloud this Sunday. NOM blogger Thomas Peters has also posted the letter on his blog at Catholic Vote. (Psst: They use Disqus.)

Vladimir Putin Grants Actor Gerard Depardieu Russian Citizenship

Associated Press: "French actor, Gerard Depardieu was granted Russian citizenship Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actor is hoping to avoid France's proposed super tax on millionaires."

Flu Season Hits Hard & Early

Epidemiologists says that the 2013 flu season has arrived weeks ahead of normal and may be notably worse than usual.

"I think we're still accelerating," said Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman. Twenty-nine states and New York City reported high levels of flu activity, up from 16 states and NYC the previous week. Flu was widespread in 41 states, up from 31 states, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of the week ending Dec. 29, 2,257 people had been hospitalized with flu, and 18 children had died from complications of the illness, CDC reported.

It's not too late for a flu shot.

Sandy Rios: Hillary Was Faking

"I think the point I want to make is that Hillary Clinton has a long history. Many of us remember what a liar she is. She sat at the feet of Saul Alinsky, she wrote her master’s thesis on how to do propaganda and lie; I see her finger prints on Benghazi, I see her finger prints on this illness. I have to say this is like the ‘Boy that Cried Wolf,’ when you lie that many times in your life, when you won’t testify in all of these scandals with your family, when you destroy women that your husband’s been involved in by lying about them, when you create this vast right-wing conspiracy, then who can believe you when you say you’re sick? I’m sorry, I’m not there." - Fox News contributor, former Concerned Women president, and American Family Association radio host Sandy Rios, adding that Clinton's two doctors have female names, which proves the conspiracy, apparently.

House Approves Sandy Aid Bill

67 Republicans voted against the bill, which was "dramatically" scaled back to only $9.6B.

INDIANA: State GOP Rep Intro's Bill Mandating Lord's Prayer In Schools

Indiana GOP state Rep. Dennis Kruse has introduced a bill that requires public schools to force students to recite The Lord's Prayer.

The chairman of the Senate education committee, who last year unsuccessfully sought the teaching of creationism in schools, now wants public schools to have the option of beginning each day with the Lord’s Prayer. Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, has filed a bill that would allow school districts to require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, though individual students could opt out if they or their parents preferred. With Republicans holding overwhelming majorities in both the Indiana House and Senate and former U.S. Rep. Mike Pence preparing to take office as governor, some critics have anticipated an easy path for certain socially conservative issues in this year’s legislature.

Senate legal staffers say the bill is doomed as blatantly unconstitutional. But hey, Kruse probably just got a shitload of donations from Teabagistan.

Illinois Catholic Priest Calls 911: "Help! I Can't Get Out Of These Handcuffs!"

The 911 operator in Springfield, Illinois fielded an unusual emergency call from the local Catholic church in late November.  The story was published yesterday by the Illinois Times.

The pastor of St. Aloysius church on Springfield’s north end has been granted a leave of absence after he called 911 from the rectory and told a dispatcher that he needed help getting out of handcuffs. “I’m going to need help getting out before this becomes a medical emergency,” Father Tom Donovan told a dispatcher who sounds a bit incredulous during the Nov. 28 call. “You’re stuck in a pair of handcuffs?” the dispatcher asks. “(I was) playing with them and I need help getting out,” Donovan responds. Donovan told the dispatcher that he was alone in the rectory. It’s not clear exactly how he ended up in handcuffs or why he feared a medical emergency. His voice sounds garbled or muffled on the tape, and sources say that police discovered some sort of gag on the priest when they arrived. The diocese has been tight-lipped about the matter, saying only that Bishop Thomas Paprocki granted Donovan’s request for a leave of absence at some point before Christmas.

Bolding is mine. It took me a few extra minutes to write this post because I was laughing so hard at the 911 call. I am a horrible person.

(Tipped by JMG reader Michael)

JSpot: The Straight Jewish Grindr

A Brooklyn woman has launched JSpot, a straight version of Grindr for Jews. Interestingly, you can't join JSpot until the owner determines (via your Facebook page) that you aren't a "jerk."

Elissa Shevinsky has been combing the streets of Williamsburg, Bushwick, Park Slope, Crown Heights, and other neighborhoods packed with singles under the age of 40, looking for recruits who are turned on by the idea, which will officially launch in the next month. While there are several dating options, Shevinsky said sex is what’s selling her site. Users can click whether they are interested in “Casual Sex (Emphasis on Casual), “Casual Sex (and you can stay for breakfast),” a “Long Term Relationship,” “Meeting Great People,” or “Dating & Adventure.” Applicants are allowed to join either site once Shevinsky determines whether they are a “jerk” by analyzing their Facebook profile. “Normally you think of Jewish culture in Brooklyn as people in Borough Park with fur hats,” said Brooklyn Heights tech writer Josh Ross, 38, who is trying to join Jspot. “There’s a lot of people who are culturally Jewish...(and) fine with something more casual.”

Shevinsky is also launching a version for non-Jews.

Record 20 Female Senators Take Office

Last night Diane Sawyer sat down with most of the record 20 female members of the Senate. There are also now 82 female members of the House. That's a record too.

HomoQuotable - Anthony Romero

"President Obama has utterly failed the first test of his second term, even before inauguration day. His signature means indefinite detention without charge or trial, as well as the illegal military commissions, will be extended. He also has jeopardized his ability to close Guantanamo during his presidency. Scores of men who have already been held for nearly 11 years without being charged with a crime--including more than 80 who have been cleared for transfer--may very well be imprisoned unfairly for yet another year. The president should use whatever discretion he has in the law to order many of the detainees transferred home, and finally step up next year to close Guantanamo and bring a definite end to indefinite detention." - ACLU head Anthony Romero, slamming the president's signing of the defense funding authorization bill, which also contains a "conscience clause" that may enable anti-gay members of the military to freely harass gay soldiers.

O'Reilly Slams Al Gore Over Current Sale

Temporary HIV Vaccine Shows Promise

A therapeutic HIV vaccine that temporarily "puts the brakes" on the growth of the virus has shown promise in a small study conducted by researchers in Spain.

The vaccine, based on immune cells exposed to HIV that had been inactivated with heat, was tested on a group of 36 people carrying the virus and the results were the best yet recorded for such a treatment, the team said. "What we did was give instructions to the immune system so it could learn to destroy the virus, which it does not do naturally," said Felipe Garcia, one of the scientists in the team at Barcelona University's Hospital Clinic.

The therapeutic vaccine, a shot that treats an existing disease rather than preventing it, was safe and led to a dramatic drop in the amount of HIV virus detected in some patients, said the study, published Wednesday in Science Translation Medicine. After 12 weeks of the trial, the HIV viral load dropped by more than 90 percent among 12 of the 22 patients who received the vaccine. Only one among the 11 patients who received a control injection without the vaccine experienced a similar result.

After 24 weeks, the effectiveness had begun to decline, however, with seven of the 20 remaining patients receiving the vaccine enjoying a similar 90-percent slump in viral load. No-one in the control group of 10 patients experienced such a decline in the virus.

Wingnuts Warn IL Legislators

Last summer the anti-gay Thomas More Society was granted standing to defend Cook County, Illinois against marriage equality lawsuits brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU.  Those cases are still active despite the recent push in the state legislature.  Yesterday Thomas More issued a warning to any politician that backs the marriage equality bill.

Our Youngest Senator

When Vice President Joe Biden swore in Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) yesterday, Murphy's toddler son Ryder played along.

Barney Frank: I Want To Be Senator

This morning former Rep. Barney Frank told MSNBC that he has asked Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint him interim Senator to replace John Kerry. Two weeks ago Frank said he "wouldn't say no" if Patrick appointed him.  Via Politico:

“A month ago, or a few weeks ago, I said I wasn’t interested,” Frank said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It was kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said: ‘You gotta go to summer school.’ But [the fiscal cliff deal] now means that February, March and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial history.” He added, “I’ve told the governor I would now like, frankly, to do that [serve as interim senator].” Frank said he wouldn’t run for Kerry’s seat in a special election, which would likely take place this summer.

Frank spent 32 years as a member of the House.

IL Marriage Fight Moves To New Session

Despite last night's win before an Illinois Senate committee, activists say that they will take the marriage equality fight to the next session of the legislature. Via press release from Equality Illinois:

Today, the movement for marriage equality achieved a milestone victory, with the adoption of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act by the Senate Executive Committee. This was the first step of many. Today's victory builds on all the work we have done, adds to the momentum that the supporters have created, and puts us in great position to advance the freedom to marry in the coming months. With just a handful of days remaining in the current lame duck session, time to move the bill through both chambers is not on our side. So we will act in the new General Assembly that convenes next week, on Wednesday, January 9.

"We have come so far. Just to be able to witness the historic public debate over the desire of all loving, committed couples to be able to marry in Illinois is a major accomplishment. And with the landmark action by the Senate Executive Committee in favor of the bill, for the first time ever an Illinois legislative body voted to extend the freedom to marry. Never before has the issue gone this far in the Illinois legislature," said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, the state's oldest and largest LGBT advocacy organization. "Our opponents should not believe they have turned the tide against the growing national and Illinois consensus favoring marriage equality. The clock simply ran out, and our legislative supporters ran out of time," he said.

The above release closes by noting the expectation that "the new Illinois House and Senate are considered to be more supportive of LGBT issues."

UPDATE: Another activist group, the Civil Rights Agenda, thinks this is the wrong call.

"What I have learned—and I have been down here [in Springfield] for 20 years, and I have worked things—is that on every piece of legislation I have worked on, there are dark times, when you think it's not going to go. You push forward, and you stand firm, you move and move until you can't move any more. To throw in the towel now is a stupid maneuver. TCRA is here, and we've been here for past three years, and we knew nothing about this decision until we saw the press release."

Maddow: Goodbye 112th Congress

Last night Rachel Maddow opened her show with a lengthy goodbye to all the scoundrels (plus the few good guys) of the 112th Congress.

ILLINOIS: Senate Committee Begins Debate On Same-Sex Marriage Bill [UPDATE: Bill PASSES By 8-5 Vote!!!]

There's a bit of confusion in the activism back channel as to what's going on, since earlier reports indicated that we were done for the week in Illinois. But click over right now and watch as an Illinois Senate committee debates its marriage equality bill. At this writing some bigot is droning in the familiar manner about the oppression of Christianity.

UDPATE: The bill just PASSED out of its committee by an 8-5 vote!!!  On to the full chamber!

UPDATE II: The below message from NOM is now being gleefully passed around on Twitter. Snork!

RHODE ISLAND: Marriage Bills Introduced

Marriage equality bills were introduced today in both the Rhode Island House and Senate.

The identical bills were sponsored by Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, (House bill 5015) and Sen. Donna Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket. Handy said 42 of 75 House members had signed on as cosponsors, while Nesselbush said 11 of 38 Senate members had signed on as of 4:50 p.m. The bills would define marriage as the "legally recognized union" of two people.

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

MISSISSIPPI: Five LGBT Couples Request Marriage Licenses In Vain

Yesterday five LGBT couples requested marriage licenses in Hattiesburg, Mississippi as part of the Southern Equality's "WE DO" campaign. Read more here.

LCR Slams DOMA Defense Funding

"At a time when sound fiscal policy should be front-and-center, diverting taxpayer funds to defend the Federal Defense of Marriage Act should not be a priority, period. But the beltway buzz about Congressional Rules ignores the big picture: this debate would be nonexistent if DOMA was repealed. Following a week in which Republican Congressmen Richard Hanna and Charlie Bass joined Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in support of the Respect for Marriage Act and DOMA repeal, we urge the Republican Congress to focus on our core tenets of small government and avoid engaging in distracting social issues that do nothing more than provide political fodder to the left." - Interim Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory T. Angelo, via press release.

Delgaudio Booted Off County Committees

The Loudoun County, Virginia board of supervisors has convened for their new session and one of their first actions last night was to boot hate group leader Eugene Delgaudio from all four committee posts he once held.

In other organizational shifts Wednesday, controversial Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) will not serve on any standing committees in 2013, something sure to please his critics. Many of those opponents have called for Delgaudio to be removed from committees while an investigation revolving around alleged inappropriate political fundraising is ongoing. Delgaudio previously served on the board’s Finance and Government Services and Transportation and Land Use Committees.

Today Delgaudio reacted through his lawyer.

"It’s unfortunate Chairman York used parliamentary rules to accomplish what he knew he could not through the proper process. If Chairman York believes Supervisor Delgaudio engaged in misconduct he should invoke Robert’s Rules of Order to pass a resolution, establish a committee, conduct an investigation and, if necessary, hold a hearing...Supervisor Delgaudio hoped voting for the investigation would clear his name faster. He voted for the committee assignments to avoid embroiling the entire Board in another controversy."

For those unaware, Delgaudio is being investigated by the very body to which he was elected after a former employee charged that she was forced to perform fundraising tasks for his anti-gay hate group while on the clock for the county.  Delgaudio is also being sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center for using the wedding photo of a gay couple in anti-gay mailers. (Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

Sullivan's New Model Booms In First Day

"If our goal was an annual income of somewhere around $900K (we erred on the safe side), we have gotten a third of the way there in 24 hours, which is why we're all somewhat gob-smacked. We feared it would take far longer for us to get that kind of support. Total number of paid subscribers? Almost 12,000 right now. That's still only 1 percent of our total monthly readership - so we have plenty of room to talk more of you into subscribing before the meter hits. And the current number is misleading because of that. We really won't know how effective this is going to be until we actually have the meter in place. That's the only true measurement of how many readers will eventually pay to read the Dish." - Andrew Sullivan, announcing $333K in membership fees on his first day. Lots of graphs at the link.

No Illinois Vote On Marriage This Week

The Windy City Times reports:

Senate Democrats had hoped for a vote on Thursday, but they failed to secure the votes to waive a 24-hour rule on the posting of the original marriage bill. Democrats then tacked marriage equality onto an unrelated bill in an attempt to push it through faster. But two supportive senators have been called away from Springfield on family emergencies, leaving sponsors scrambling to secure needed votes.

LGBT leaders and lawmakers declined to name the two missing senators. Also missing is Evanston Democrat Jeffrey Shoenberg who is reportedly on vacation for the remainder of his term. "It doesn't mean that the whole marriage equality bill in the lame duck session dies," said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois. However, a big push remains for supportive senators. The Senate will have to be called back for a special session on Jan. 8 if they are take up marriage equality before Jan. 9. That would mean that the House will be voting on marriage before the Senate takes it up.

If the bill does not pass in the lame duck session, many are convinced that it will when the new Democratic super-majorities are seated for the next session.

This Will Be Attempt #34

If at first you don't succeed, try again 33 more times.

Teabaggers: Bachmann's Now A RINO!

It just doesn't get any funnier, does it kids?

UPDATE: Daily Caller has already removed the dig at Bachmann.

You Stay Classy, GOProud

Another Tea Party Defeat As Rep. John Boehner Re-Elected House Speaker

How entirely shocking that Breitbart and Daily Caller totally got it wrong! Even more amusingly, there were two votes for ousted teabagger Allen West, one of which came from freakazoid wingnut Rep. Louie Gohmert.

Tweet Of The Day

NOM: We'll Destroy Pro-Gay IL Reps

Yesterday Illinois GOP chair Pat Brady began calling Republican legislators to urge them to support the same-sex marriage bill. Today NOM is calling for Brady's resignation and is vowing to unseat any Republican who heeds his call.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today pledged to form an Illinois state PAC and spend $250,000 defeating Republican legislators who vote in support of same-sex 'marriage' in Illinois, just like the group successfully did in New York. The group also called on state Republican Chairman Pat Brady to resign or be removed from office for violating the national GOP platform and urging state Republicans to redefine marriage.

"Any Republican in Illinois who betrays the cause of marriage will be casting a career-ending vote and will be held accountable to their constituents," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "We will spend whatever it takes — hundreds of thousands of dollars if necessary — to remove them from office, just as we did three of the four turncoat Republican state Senators in New York who were responsible for gay 'marriage' passing there. We will not hesitate to support pro-family Democrats to replace them, as our record in New York proves."

This will only make the coming Illinois victory all the sweeter.

House GOP To Re-Fund DOMA Defense

In one of the first actions of the 113th Congress, which begins today, the House GOP is pushing to reauthorize the funding for the defense of DOMA.  Reactions below.

Freedom To Marry

"It's truly disheartening that, on a day of new beginnings on Capitol Hill, the leadership of the House of Representatives is advancing a measure, through its rules, to continue spending taxpayer dollars on expensive lawyers to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court. This law has been struck down as unconstitutional 10 times, with support from judges appointed by Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes. It's past time for the Republican leadership to listen to their constituents, a majority of whom support the freedom to marry, and stop wasting precious resources in an effort to treat fellow Americans as second-class citizens."

Human Rights Campaign

“In their very first act of the 113th Congress, House Republican leaders have written their commitment to their multi-million-dollar defense of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act into the Rules of the House. It is particularly disappointing that this historic Congress – with the largest-ever class of openly lesbian, gay and bisexual Members and same-sex congressional spouses – has begun with a vote that disrespects those new Members and all LGBT Americans. To date, the GOP leadership in the House has spent nearly $2 million on DOMA – despite the fact that a majority of Americans support marriage equality. The new rules package codifies that the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), charged with the defense of DOMA, speaks for the entirety of the House. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats, however, oppose spending taxpayer dollars on defending DOMA.

IL Senate Marriage Vote May Come Today

In a slick move, the Illinois same-sex marriage bill has been withdrawn as a standalone item and will instead be attached as an amendment to a bill that mostly concerns car rentals. The state Senate is expected to vote on the item shortly.

Illinois Senators will no longer be voting on the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, a bill that LGBT leaders had been working for months to gain support on. Instead, the legalization of gay marriage had been added as a Senate amendment to HB4963, a bill that deals with automobile rentals and the Collateral Recovery Act, according to Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov. The move comes after Senate Democrats failed to secure enough votes to waive a 24-hour rule on the posting of the bill Wednesday night. That could have delayed a vote on marriage a day or more. The amendment will allow the Senate to vote on the bill as early as 11 a.m. this morning. "Everything can change at a moment's notice," said Cherkasov. "It's still absolutely crucial that people contact their lawmakers."

Stand by!

UPDATE: Watch the proceedings live.

UPDATE II: NOM is ever so pissed.

Dan Savage Thanks Straight Allies

Crimes Against Humanity Case Against Scott Lively To Begin Monday

This Monday the case of Sexual Minorities Uganda Vs Scott Lively will begin in a Massachusetts federal court. The suit alleges that Lively committed crimes against humanity in his campaign urging Uganda to implement harsh persecutions of LGBT people.  The case is the first-ever sexual orientation-related suit brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which is described as a "powerful legal tool that allows foreign victims of human rights abuse to seek civil remedies in U.S. courts."  Sexual Minorities Uganda is being represented by the Center For Constitutional Rights.  Lively will be defended by the anti-gay hate group, Liberty Counsel.

When the lawsuit was filed in March, the New York Times reported:

The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 2002, Mr. Lively conspired with religious and political leaders in Uganda to whip up anti-gay hysteria with warnings that homosexuals would sodomize African children and corrupt their culture. The Ugandan legislature considered a bill in 2009, proposed by one of Mr. Lively’s Ugandan contacts, that would have imposed the death sentence for homosexual behavior. That bill was at first withdrawn after an outcry from the United States and European nations that are among major aid donors to Uganda, but a revised bill was reintroduced last month. Mr. Lively is being sued by the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda under the alien tort statute, which allows foreigners to sue in American courts in situations alleging the violation of international law. The suit claims that Mr. Lively’s actions resulted in the persecution, arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals in Uganda.

Proceedings begin at 11am on Monday at the federal courthouse in Springfield at 300 State Street. Interested parties are advised to arrived early for seating.

RELATED: Last month Lively endorsed Uganda's allegedly revised Anti-Homosexuality Act, which he claims now does not contain the death penalty for homosexuality, but does include other severe penalties including life imprisonment. LGBT activists insist that the bill has not been revised.  Lively's endorsement was approvingly reprinted by World Net Daily.

Kesha: I'm Bisexual

"I don't love just men. I love people. It's not about a gender. It's just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you're with. I'm all about standing up to gay/lesbian/transgender bullying, but it's also about my little brother. He's 13 and he gets made fun of because he has a stutter. I just have zero tolerance for people making fun of others." - Pop star Kesha, coming out as bisexual to Seventeen Magazine. Kesha - for or against?

Conspiracy Theory Of The Day

Wingnut sites like Free Republic are passing around a story claiming that Hillary Clinton was actually hospitalized because she was "severely injured" in a plane crash during a secret mission to Iran.

A startling Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that President Obama was informed by White House medical personal shortly after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s   return to the United States that her health prognosis was “grim” as her likelihood of survival was “diminishing by the hour.” As we had previously reported in our 30 December report, Clinton Injured, US Navy Seal Killed In Secret US Mission To Iran, Secretary Clinton was severely injured over a fortnight ago when her US military C-12 Huron aircraft [photo 2nd left] crash landed at Iran’s Ahwaz International Airport during a US secret mission to that Persian Gulf nation where she was reported to be “unconscious” and “bleeding profusely.”  US mainstream propaganda news sources have, so far, denied the truth of this incident and as late as 28 December were reporting that Secretary Clinton would be returning to work this past week after her having suffered a bout of the flu and a concussion. Within hours of the GRU releasing their information on the Iranian air crash of the US military C-12 Huron, however, these same American media propaganda news sources began reporting that Secretary Clinton was hospitalized for what they described as a blood clot on her brain near her skull.

And that's just one of the stories flying around today. Hit the link and enjoy the cray-crazy.

Syndicator Drops Maggie Gallagher's National Opinion Column

Universal Uclick has announced the "retirement" of Maggie Gallagher's nationally syndicated column.

Gallagher has been a nationally syndicated columnist for over 17 years; Universal Uclick launched her first column in June of 1995. She began publishing a column twice a week, but for the last three years has written a column once a week. Maggie is particularly known for writing about life, sex, babies, marriage, and culture--culture war topics but with a civility and grace that seeks to explain, not denounce. Universal picked up Maggieʼs column after she spent a year as a columnist (alternating with Rich Vigilante) for the now-defunct Manhattan edition of New York Newsday.

Maggie Gallagher reacts:

“When I first began this wonderful journey as a syndicated columnist, Sydney Callahan wrote to me to say, ʻThis wonʼt be forever, at some point you will start writing columns about your kittens, and you know it will be time to stop,” said Gallagher. “I havenʼt yet reached the kitten-inspiration point, but I felt it was time to end on a high note -- in particular to give myself time to write in longer format, to experiment with creative projects, and to use new media to reach my audience on a personal basis."

Universal Uclick formed in 2009 after the merger of the Universal Press Syndicate and Uclick. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Marylanders Counter-Protest Westboro

President Obama Signs Defense Funding Bill That Includes "Protections" For Anti-Gay Military Members & Clergy

Last night President Obama signed the funding authorization bill for the Department of Defense which includes "protections" against the punishment of military members and clergy who harass gay soldiers. Those so-called protections, sponsored by Rep. Todd Akin, were discussed here last month and were backed by GOP House members opposed to the repeal of DADT.  The president included a signing statement which indicates his objection to the anti-gay portion of the bill.

Section 533 is an unnecessary and ill-advised provision, as the military already appropriately protects the freedom of conscience of chaplains and service members. The Secretary of Defense will ensure that the implementing regulations do not permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct. My Administration remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members; Section 533 will not alter that.

In December the Washington Blade analyzed the anti-gay language of the bill.

Under the language, the U.S. military would have to “accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and religious beliefs of the members of the Armed Forces concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality” and may not use these beliefs as the basis of any adverse personnel action or discrimination. Additionally, it would prohibit the U.S. military from taking action against military chaplains who decline to serve a particular service member based on religious beliefs.

This language has been understood to mean service members could actively harass their fellow comrades for their perceived or actual sexual orientation without fear of reprisal. Additionally, it has been understood to mean that chaplains would have free rein to discriminate against service members on any basis — including religion, gender, sexual orientation, race or any other characteristic — simply by saying serving them is contrary to their beliefs.

Our enemies will surely call this a victory and I'll have their reactions later today as they arrive.

UDPATE: The ACLU has issued a reaction.

"The language is too broad," said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, who cautioned that it could lead to claims of a right to discriminate. "We strongly support accommodating beliefs, so long as doing so does not result in discrimination or harm to others," Murphy said. "The hastily drafted provision, though, has the potential to give rise to dangerous claims of a right to discriminate against not just lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members, but also women, religious minorities, and in the provision of health care." In a signing statement that accompanied the NDAA, President Obama said his administration "remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members" and that the Department of Defense, in implementing Section 533, will "not permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct." Murphy said, "It is encouraging that the president recognizes why this provision is so problematic. Going forward, it is essential for the Department of Defense to ensure that no accommodation of religious belief or conscience can result in discrimination or harm to others."

Al Jazeera Buys CurrentTV

In a move that has wingnuts screaming, Al Jazeera has acquired Al Gore's CurrentTV.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar.

For Al Jazeera, which is financed by the government of Qatar, the acquisition is a coming of age moment. A decade ago, Al Jazeera’s flagship Arabic-language channel was reviled by American politicians for showing videotapes from Al Qaeda members and sympathizers. Now the news operation is buying an American channel, having convinced Mr. Gore and the other owners of Current that it has the journalistic muscle and the money to compete head-to-head with CNN and other news channels in the United States.

The deal is valued at $500M with about $100M going to Gore.  The new channel will be called Al Jazeera America with about 40% of its programming coming from the respected (by some) Al Jazeera English.

Quite predictably, Pam Geller is furious.

Full circle and out of the proverbial closet. The left goes full-on jihad. Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV. More jihadist propaganda on your cable dial. Lord knows that there is a plethora of Muslim Brotherhood mouthpieces on broadband, but a dearth of pro-freedom voices (i.e. SUN TV). Al Jazeera is the leading terrorist propaganda organization in the world.

RELATED: Last last night Time Warner Cable announced that they will not carry the new channel.

UPDATE: Below is the image appearing this morning on Current's channel for Time Warner NYC.   I'll miss watching the Stephanie Miller Show.

WND's Woman Of The Year

World Net Daily has named Michele Bachmann their "Woman Of The Year."

For her extraordinary dedication to America’s founding principles and steadfast defense of the Constitution, WND has named Rep. Michele Bachmann 2012 “Woman of the Year.”  Bachmann is a gutsy, pro-life fiscal conservative who dared to vote against raising the debt ceiling. She’s a God-fearing, gun-loving advocate of tax cuts and domestic oil drilling – and has proven to be one of Obamacare’s worst nightmares. Since her ascension to the House, she has been a persistent defender of the American way of life, championing America’s Christian heritage and the values of limited government.

WND’s “Woman of the Year” award is presented to the woman who “did the most to represent goodness, womanliness, perseverance and character” and “had an impact on wider American, and global opinion.” Runners-up for the honor included Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer; Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union; and Phyllis Schlafly, a guiding light conservative movement and recipient of WND’s 2012 “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Ladybird has just the thing to wear to the ceremony.

Satan Wrote The Fiscal Cliff Bill

SPOILER: American Horror Story

Stay out of the comments if you've not yet seen last night's episode. Otherwise dive in and dish!

Open Thread Thursday

Resolutions?

Clinton Leaves Hospital [UPDATED]

A smiling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was seen leaving New York-Presbyterian Hospital late this afternoon. She walked out unaided and in the company of the former president and their daughter. Hurray!

UPDATE: CNN is reporting that Clinton has not been released from the hospital.  Reuters and the Associated Press have both retracted their earlier reports.  It's not yet known why Clinton was seen leaving the hospital, but some are speculating that she was merely being moved to another building, possibly for more tests.  The hospital has referred all questions to the State Department, which has not revealed more at this writing.

UPDATE II:  The above retraction has been retracted. 

Illinois GOP Chair Backs Marriage

Whoa!

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady of St. Charles is calling GOP lawmakers asking them to support a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage, he said today. Brady said he was making the calls as a citizen, outside of his official role with the Illinois Republican Party. "I think it's time for people to support this," Brady said.

A state Senate committee may begin debate on the bill tonight.

UPDATE: The marriage bill was "stalled due to a procedural process" tonight. It is expected to be heard tomorrow morning. 

Patti Page Dies At Age 85

The New York Times has the obit:

Patti Page, the apple-cheeked, honey-voiced alto whose sentimental, soothing, sometimes silly hits like “Tennessee Waltz,” “Old Cape Cod” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” made her one of the most successful pop singers of the 1950s, died on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 85. Ms. Page had briefly been a singer with Benny Goodman when she emerged at the end of the big band era, just after World War II, into a cultural atmosphere in which pop music was not expected to be challenging. Critics assailed her style as plastic, placid, bland and antiseptic, but those opinions were not shared by millions of record buyers. As Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times in 1997, “For her fans, beauty and comfort were one and the same.”

Over her decades-long career, Patti Page scored 57 Top 40 singles. The first was 1948's Confess, the most-recent was  Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte which reached #8 in 1965. She continued to perform well into her 70s.

Starbucks Backs Same Love

JMG reader Ben writes with the tip that Same Love, the viral hit by Macklemore & Lewis, is Starbucks' pick single of the week.  Get the free download code at your local outlet or by using your Starbucks app.  The track has earned almost 11 million views on YouTube in just three months.

Christie Slams Boehner Over Sandy Aid

"This is why the American people hate Congress."

Does Christine Quinn Have Secret Deal To Keep NYPD Chief Ray Kelly Out Of Race?

The New York Post sure thinks so.

The police commissioner and council speaker have cut a private deal that will keep him as top cop for a fourth consecutive mayoral term with a Quinn victory in the November race to succeed Mike Bloomberg, sources said. Confidants in both camps confirmed the secret pact — which will bolster Quinn’s anti-crime credentials while allowing Ray Kelly, 71, to keep the powerful post he loves. “Ray is going to stay on if it’s Quinn,” said a source close to Kelly, adding that the commissioner decided months ago that he would agree to keep his job if the next mayor asks him.

Republicans have longed for Kelly to run for mayor as the two other declared GOP candidates (MTA head Joe Lhota and billionaire grocer John Catsimatidis) are considered very long shots against Quinn or any other Democrat. While Quinn's alleged "secret deal" would take out her best-polling GOP opponent, keeping Ray "Stop-And-Frisk" Kelly in the top cop job will surely sour many prospective Quinn supporters, who could turn to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, one of stop-and-frisk's loudest detractors. 

David Barton: Hate Is A Virtue

"We've got to get to the point where tolerance is seen as a sin because we're tolerating a lot stuff that destroys our families, that destroys our own character and we can't tolerate that stuff.  We have to get back to the point where hate is a virtue, at least certain kinds of hate.  The fear of the Lord is to hate evil and we need to have a hatred of things and get off this fence of having no passion about anything.  You know, 'I tolerate anything, I'm not going to have a passion good or bad, I'm not going to hate anything.' We just can't do that and we've got to get back to that same type of intolerance, that we're going to be intolerant of liberalism." - Disgraced Christianist "historian" David Barton, saying that hating liberals is as good a virtue as "hating Nazis." (Via Right Wing Watch)

Barney Frank: How Smart Is Congress?

Andrew Sullivan To Install Paywall

Andrew Sullivan today announced that he is ending his relationship with the Daily Beast and will erect a paywall on his new standalone site. He writes:

"Remember the classic saying: 'If you're not paying for the product, you are the product being sold.' We want to treat our readers better than that, because you deserve better than that. Hence the purest, simplest model for online journalism: you, us, and a meter. Period. No corporate ownership, no advertising demands, no pressure for pageviews ... just a concept designed to make your reading experience as good as possible, and to lead us not into temptation. So for the next month, we're going to offer you advance membership of the Dish for $19.99 a year, which translates to $1.67 a month, which is around a nickel a day.

The meter won't start until February, and the price won't change then, but by pre-subscribing, you give us a crucial financial bridge to get to independence - and you'll never notice a thing when the transition happens. To be honest, we didn't know where to set the price - we have almost no precedents for where we want to go - but $19.99 seemed the lowest compatible with a serious venture. We wanted to make this as affordable as possible, while maximizing revenues."

Many newspapers already have paywalls, but Sullivan is (possibly) the most prominent blogger to go that route.

Drudge Poll

Email Of The Day - Donald Wildmon

"What will religion look like in the year 2060? Conservative Christians will be treated as second class citizens, much like African Americans were prior to civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Family as we know it will be drastically changed with the state taking charge of the children beginning at birth. Marriage will include two, three, four or any number of participants. Marriage will not be important, with individuals moving in and out of a 'family' group at will. Churchbuildings will be little used, with many sold to secular buyers and the money received going to the government. Churches will not be allowed to discuss any political issues, even if it affects the church directly. Tax credit given to churches and non-profit organizations will cease.

"Christian broadcasting will be declared illegal based on the separation of church and state. The airwaves belong to the government, therefore they cannot be used for any religious purpose. We will have, or have had, a Muslim president. Cities with a name from the Bible such as St. Petersburg, Bethlehem, etc. will be forced to change their name due to separation of church and state. Groups connected to any religious affiliation will be forced out of health care. Health centers get tax money from the state, making it a violation of church and state. Get involved! Sign THE STATEMENT." - Hate group leader Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association.

Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge 2013

It shrinks? Like a frightened turtle!

Secretary Clinton Still Hospitalized

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains hospitalized for the fourth day since her medical team first predicted a 48-hour stay. Clinton's team continues to maintain that a full recovery is expected.

“It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage,” Dr. Lisa Bardack of Mt. Kisco Medical Group in New York and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi of George Washington University said in a joint statement. “To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the secretary with blood thinners. She will be released once the medication dose has been established.” This is a standard and safe therapy for such a blood clot, according to a review published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005. Dr. Jan Stam of the University of Amsterdam said the clots are rare – affecting 3 to 4 people out of a million every year. Some doctors fear that blood thinners for a clot near the brain could be dangerous, but it’s the best way to dissolve the clot.

“More than 80 percent of all patients now have a good neurologic outcome,” Stam wrote. It’s also likely Clinton, who is 65, had a headache that could have tipped doctors to a potential problem – 90 percent of people who develop these clots have headaches, he said. The statement from Bardack and El-Bayoumi put an end to grumblings that Clinton was feigning illness to escape testifying about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Beghazi, Libya in which the ambassador and three other Americans were killed. Clinton had been expected to testify on Dec. 20 before the House of Representatives and Senate foreign affairs committees.

Both former President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea have been at the hospital daily.

GRAPH: Gay Rights By State

Click over to the Guardian for their interactive pinwheel graph on the current state of LGBT rights around the nation. (Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

Pope Denounces "Unregulated" Capitalism

In his New Year's Day address, yesterday Pope Ratzinger sat on his jewel-encrusted throne and denounced "selfish" capitalism.

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned "unregulated capitalism" for contributing to world tension, in a new year address to worshippers. The Pope also thanked the world's peacemakers and said humanity had "an innate vocation for peace". The Roman Catholic Church leader spoke at a Mass in the Vatican, then greeted a crowd outside St Peter's Basilica. He deplored "hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor". Those "hotbeds" also grew out of "the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism", as well as "various forms of terrorism and crime", he said.

The reactions on Twitter have been amusing.