kallen

Corporate Cosmology by Ned Beatty 1976

The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party

When David Koch ran to the right of Reagan as vice president on the 1980 Libertarian ticket (it polled 1 percent), his campaign called for the abolition not just of Social Security, federal regulatory agencies and welfare but also of the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and public schools — in other words, any government enterprise that would either inhibit his business profits or increase his taxes. He hasn’t changed. As Mayer details, Koch-supported lobbyists, foundations and political operatives are at the center of climate-science denial — a cause that forestalls threats to Koch Industries’ vast fossil fuel business. While Koch foundations donate to cancer hospitals like Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, Koch Industries has been lobbying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from classifying another product important to its bottom line, formaldehyde, as a “known carcinogen” in humans (which it is).

Tea Partiers may share the Kochs’ detestation of taxes, big government and Obama. But there’s a difference between mainstream conservatism and a fringe agenda that tilts completely toward big business, whether on Wall Street or in the Gulf of Mexico, while dismantling fundamental government safety nets designed to protect the unemployed, public health, workplace safety and the subsistence of the elderly.

via www.nytimes.com

Scaring white people for fun and profit: Maddow on Ground Zero Mosque

Rachel Maddow says she didn't want to cover the controversy over the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, but Fox News left her no choice.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

via www.huffingtonpost.com

On Prop 8, it's the evidence, stupid - CNN.com

In politics, anything goes: Vague, sinister comments about same-sex marriage threatening children or undermining the sanctity of heterosexual marriage were prevalent during the Prop 8 campaign. In court, same-sex marriage opponents needed solid evidence to back up these and other claims.

Despite "able and energetic counsel," they never produced it. That's why they lost, resoundingly, in the federal district court. And that lack of evidence should dog opponents up through the chain of appeals that is now beginning, because appellate courts are required to review only the evidence in the court record and to give great deference to Judge Vaughn Walker's findings of fact. He was there, after all, presiding over the trial, and the appellate judges weren't.

via www.cnn.com

Legal analysis of the Prop. 8 appeal to the Ninth circuit

Let us hope that the deposit on the floral arrangements is refundable because for now, California will have to wait a little while longer for a second dawn of marriage equality.

As expected, the Ninth Circuit granted a stay – a delay or postponement – of Judge Vaughn Walker’s Aug. 4 order allowing same-sex marriage. This is one of the many procedural hurdles that marriage equality will have to jump before it becomes a reality in the Golden State. But, while we should get our deposits back on any marriages planned for Aug. 18 or later, there is no reason to lose hope.

The Ninth Circuit is fast-tracking the appeal in this case. The three-judge panel should hear arguments in San Francisco in the first week of December. That may sound more like the glacial pace of a snail hitching a ride on the back of a turtle, but in a system where regularly scheduled appeals can take more than a year to be calendared for oral argument, this schedule is Bugs Bunny fast.

The court’s order specifically asked both sides to address the issue of standing.

via sdgln.com

Flash Mob Takes Over Target | Gay Rights | Change.org

Ready for the coolest take ever on a Depeche Mode song? Check out what a group of activists did inside a Target store this weekend, mixing up the words to "People are People" to provide a new anthem for folks angry at Target over its financial support of an anti-gay candidate in Minnesota. The message? "Target Ain't People."

"Target ain't people so why should they be, allowed to play around with our democracy," folks chant, while busting a move to some band instruments. "I can't understand what makes Target, think they'll get away, gonna make them pay."

via gayrights.change.org

GO SHILOH GO! Shiloh Cried Over Having Long Hair, Wears Boys' Swim Trunks

Angelina Jolie says her daughter Shiloh chooses her own boyish clothes and even cried over having long hair. Shiloh, 4, was photographed in California this week in boys' swim trunks. See other pics of Shiloh's fashion choices here and here.

Angelina tells Grazia magazine (via Monsters and Critics) of her hair:

"It's not my choice. I have a very strong-willed four-year-old girl, who tells me what she wants to wear and I let her be who she is. I think people think kids should be a certain way, but I feel they should wear what they feel like wearing and they should express themselves. Shiloh cried one night and said, 'Please cut my hair off. I don't want to have long hair.' I'm not going to leave it long because somebody thinks I should."

via www.huffingtonpost.com

fun lil outbound bandwidth spike during Prop 8 announcement

yay geekery

we can haz ENDA now?

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

ENDA has been introduced in every Congress, except the 109th, since 1994, albeit without gender identity protections, but gained its best chance at passing after the Democratic Party broke twelve years of Republican Congressional rule in the 2006 midterm elections. However, some sponsors believed that even with a Democratic majority, ENDA did not have enough votes to pass the House of Representatives with transgender inclusion, and dropped it from the bill, which passed and subsequently died in the Senate. LGBT advocacy organizations were divided over support of the changed bill.

via en.wikipedia.org

Judge Declares Proposition 8 Unconstitutional

“Because Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, the court orders entry of judgment permanently enjoining its enforcement; prohibiting the official defendants from applying or enforcing Proposition 8 and directing the official defendants that all persons under their control or supervision shall not apply or enforce Proposition 8.”

via www.towleroad.com