• Sarah Palin

    Video: Sarah Palin and Thanksgiving Turkeygate

    Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pardons a turkey and more…..

    Sarah Palin has a cute time pardoning a tom turkey for Thanksgiving but later is interviewed while Turkeys are slaughtered in the background. Of course, MSNBC makes the snide comments.

    Sarah-Palin-and-Turkeygate

    NBC News could have had a laugh with this but have turned it into something gross because they love the ‘cuda sooo much. Catch Shuster’s condescending tone/remarks around 6:15.


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  • California Supreme Court,  Gay Marriage,  Joyce Kennard

    Does California Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard’s Vote Yesterday a Good Sign for Proposition 8?

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    California Supreme Court Justices, from top left, Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, Carlos R. Moreno, Joyce L. Kennard, Marvin Baxter and from lower left, Ming Chin, Chief Justice Ronald M. George and Carol Corrigan

    In yesterday’s post about the California Supreme Court accepting California’s Proposition 8 that restored the traditional definition of marriage (one man and one woman) to the California Constitution for review, Flap briefly mentioned the fact that Justice Kennard did NOT sign the order.

    From the order:

    Justice Kennard would deny these petitions without prejudice to the filing in this court of an appropriate action to determine Proposition 8’s effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before Proposition 8’s adoption.

    Justice Kennard, in fact, voted against reviewing the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

    Why?

    While both sides cheered the court’s decision to take up the cases, Kennard’s lone vote to deny review could spell trouble for opponents of Prop. 8.

    Kennard is the court’s longest-serving justice, having been appointed in 1989, and has been one of its foremost supporters of same-sex couples’ rights. Without her vote, the May 15 ruling would have gone the other way. But she wrote Wednesday that she would favor hearing arguments only about whether Prop. 8 would invalidate the pre-election marriages, an issue that would arise only if the initiative were upheld.

    “It’s always hard to read tea leaves, but I think Justice Kennard is saying that she thinks the constitutionality of Prop. 8 is so clear that it doesn’t warrant review,” said Stephen Barnett, a retired UC Berkeley law professor and longtime observer of the court.

    For those seeking to overturn Prop. 8, “I would not think it would be encouraging,” said Dennis Maio, a San Francisco lawyer and former staff attorney at the court.

    Flap thinks the court ultimately will support California’s voters and uphold the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Flap predicts a 6-1 vote with Justice Moreno dissenting.

    Justice Kennard has sent a message to her fellow Justices yesterday that she plans to uphold Prop. 8.

    Or did she?

    Stay tuned……


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  • Gay Marriage

    Poll: 3 of 5 in California Say Gay Marriages Before Proposition 8 Should Remain Legal?

    gaymarriageprop8toremain

    Newlyweds Sharon Papo (L) and Amber Weiss toast each other outside of San Francisco City Hall after exchanging wedding vows on the first full day of legal same-sex marriages in California on June 17, 2008

    The Survey USA poll of 500 Californians conducted November 19, 2008:

    The Question: What should happen to gay couples who were legally married in California before the law changed? Should their marriage remain legal? Should their marriage be immediately annulled? Or, do you not know enough to say?

    • 59% Remain Legal
    • 34% Immediately Annulled
    • 6% Do Not Know Enough
    • 1% Not Sure

    However, look at the cross-tabs of the poll and particularly the sample (which is small) of minority voters (majority of African-American and Latino voters opposed Proposition 8 whereas in the California election approved the measure) – Question 3 and page 2 of the Pdf.

    This poll with an error margin of +/- 4.5% may be an outlier.

    An earlier poll, however, conducted in San Diego on November 14, 2008 leads to similar results:

    • 56%     Remain Legal
    • 37%     Immediately Annulled
    • 6%     Do Not Know Enough
    • 1%     Not Sure

    Regardless, the California Supreme Court will likely decide the issue sometime early next year since the disposition of these marriages should Proposition 8 be found constituional is at issue: “If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?”

    What are the options before the court?

    UCLA Law School Professor Eugene Volokh outlines:

    1. One option is that they may remain valid, whether because the initiative is construed as not applying to existing marriages, or because the courts conclude such an interpretation is constitutionally mandated by the Contracts Clause (“No state shall … pass any … Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts ….”).
    2. Another is that pre-initiative same-sex marriages will become domestic partnerships, which under California statutes give most of the rights of marriage.
    3. A third option is that same-sex marriages will be eliminated altogether, and that married couples will remain domestic partners only if they had entered both into a marriage and into a domestic partnership.
    4. Finally, it’s possible that the legislature will step in, specifically providing that any invalidated same-sex marriage will become a domestic partnership.

    Flap bets 3 or 4 of the above should Propositon 8 be ruled consitutional – which I think it will. The new California Legislature is set to meet the first week of December and watch to see if such legisation is introduced.

    Of course, the anti-proposition 8 folks could circulate an initiative, but it would leave the same sex married couples hanging until June 2010. Flap’s guess is that they would wait a ruling by the California Supreme Court due sometime late Spring or early summer next year before any such action.

    Stay tuned…..


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  • Media,  Technology

    PC Magazine Going Online ONLY

    pcmag

    PC Magazine logo. PC Magazine, which has documented the explosive growth of the personal computer since 1982, announced on Wednesday that it was dropping its print edition next year and going online only

    Flap is surprised the publishers waited so long.

    Others which have foresaken print editions this year are: US News & World Report and the Christian Science Monitor.


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  • NBC

    Rosie O’Donnell on the Down Lo Regarding California Proposition 8

    May 23, 2007 TV Show “The View” on ABC Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck went head to head during the “Hot Topics” segment. Rosie calling Elisabeth “Cowardly”.

    Loud mouth married lesbian Rosie O’Donnell has been conspicuously quiet about California’s Proposition 8 that banned gay marriage.

    Why?

    Well, Rosie has a new NBC variety show she is trying to sell to NBC network execs.

    Some reporters questioned why O’Donnell has been “oddly absent” from the uproar of California’s passing of Proposition 8, which denies same-sex marriage.

    But the comedian scoffed. “This is nothing new for me. When I got married it was an act of civil disobedience as much as it was a love story. There is not any person in the country who doesn’t know I’m for gay marriage.

    “I’m not vocal enough? I got married before anyone else did. I’ve been living it and living it for a very long time.”

    Yeah right.

    Money talks and the NBC producers told you if you want to work again, keep it down, like Ellen.


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  • Iran,  Iran Nuclear Watch,  Israel

    Shocker: Iran Has Nuclear Fuel to Make an Atomic Bomb

    iran-one-atom-bomb

    No, not really a shock since the United States and EU have been screwing around with Iran regarding their uranium enrichment program for years.

    Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

    The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

    Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.

    “They clearly have enough material for a bomb,” said Richard Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised Washington for decades. “They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that’s another matter.”

    United Nations sanctions have been ineffective since China and Russia (Iran’s business and trading partners) have watered down the resolutions. Lately, the Bush Administration has downplayed any tougher measures to punish Iran.

    The ball will now be in the Obama Administration’s court or in Israel’s military ability.

    The danger now is that Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Syria (already has developed a program that Israel bombed with USA help) and Egypt will desire to develop their own nuclear programs to counteract Iran’s hegemony in the region.

    An announcement from Iran of BREAKOUT CAPABILITY may be next.

    iran nuclear facility map

    Map of Iran’s nuclear facilities

    Previous:

    Another Worthless United Nations Resolution on Iran

    Sarah Palin Watch: The Iran Speech Palin Was NOT Allowed to Give

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran May Be Hiding Secret Nukes

    Iran Nuclear Watch: More Nuclear Power Plants

    The Iran Nuclear Watch Archive


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  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2008-11-20

    • Second is New York’s gubernatorial race, where incumbent David Paterson is also expected to seek his first full term (he came in power after Elliot Spitzer was forced to resign last spring). It is hard to see the GOP mount a strong challenge given their dismal state after the 2006 and 2008 elections, but one Republican could make the race interesting: Rudy Giuliani.

      Siena came out with a poll testing the match-up yesterday. It found Paterson narrowly leading, 49% to 43%, suggesting that Rudy could at the very least make things competitive. When paired up against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Giuliani takes a 46% to 44% lead. However much Cuomo wants to move to the gubernatorial mansion, however, it looks like challenging Paterson in a primary would be a bad idea: the incumbent crushes him 53% to 25%.

    • But the realities of politics today are such that the GOP cannot win national elections without the enthusiastic support of white evangelical Christians. They can try; it won't happen. That depresses moderates in the party, it depresses atheists and agnostics in the party, but it's the reality. The results of 2004 showed that, given certain conditions and issue sets, winning coalitions can be formed. Maybe the Bush-Iraq-Terrorism-Economy-Katrina event chain has changed all of that forever; maybe not.

      To throw this out there: it will be easier for a conservative Catholic nominee, like, say, Bobby Jindal, to expand the Republican coalition rather than a white evangelical protestant like Mike Huckabee.
      +++++++
      Mick Huckabee will stay at Fox News

    • Maybe there is some significant overlap with the so-called “oogedy-boogedy” set, but then the problem with them wouldn’t be their religiosity or their social conservatism or any of the cultural markers that freaked out every pundit east of the Appalachians when Mike Huckabee would start to speak. Instead, the problem is that they were too wedded to the Bush administration and its failed record, and they were too dependent on reciting the trite slogans they heard on the radio and read in syndicated conservative columns.

      Of course, the war was a major reason why the GOP fell into disrepute, and Parker notably still has nothing to say about that. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that she has rarely, if ever, written a single word of serious criticism of the administration regarding the war. You cannot diagnose what ails Republicans if you have no credibility on this most basic of policy questions, and there is no reason to think that Parker has any.

    • Iran is forging ahead with its nuclear programme, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported on Wednesday, deepening the dilemma facing US president-elect Barack Obama over his campaign promise to engage with Tehran.

      The latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that Iran is rapidly increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, which could be rendered into weapons-grade material should Tehran decide to develop a nuclear device.
      The agency says that, as of this month, Tehran had amassed 630kg of low enriched uranium hexafluoride, up from 480kg in late August. Analysts say Iran is enriching uranium at such a pace that, by early next year, it could reach break-out capacity – one step away from producing enough fissile material for a crude nuclear bomb.
      +++++++
      Israel must be getting nervous. What will Obama do?

      (tags: iran israel)
    • Criticize me all you want. But why is this fourth grade homophobic crap the first thing that always comes into their minds?
    • As we observed throughout the campaign, Barack Obama gave indications that his election would mean a return to the September 10 mentality, a national-security outlook marked prominently by its lack of seriousness about the terrorist threat. In choosing Eric Holder to be his attorney general, President-Elect Obama has taken a step toward confirming those misgivings.

      Holder was the Clinton administration’s last deputy attorney general, succeeding Jamie Gorelick in 1997 under Janet Reno. That appointment marked the final elevation in a series of Clinton-era promotions that punctuate his résumé. Holder’s rise, like Obama’s own, is of symbolic significance, as he now has been nominated to be the nation’s first black attorney general. Symbolism, however, cannot camouflage the fact that Holder is a conventional, check-the-boxes creature of the Left.

    • Since the potential for additional Republican gains among married white Christians appears to be limited, Republican leaders will need to find ways to reduce the Democratic advantage among voters who are not married white Christians in order to maintain the party's competitive position. However, given the generally liberal views of this group, this will not be easy. In 2006, according to data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, 57 percent of these voters supported a woman's right to choose an abortion under any circumstances, 66 percent opposed a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, and 71 percent favored a single-payer health care system. Any attempt by Republican leaders to significantly increase their party's support among voters who are not married white Christians would therefore require changes in some of the party's longstanding policy commitments — changes that would clearly upset a large segment of the current Republican base.
      (tags: GOP democrats)
    • Gay rights groups clearly hope the Supreme Court will take an opportunity to issue another decision that tilts their way, but to do so, Chief Justice Ron George and his colleagues would have to make quite a legal stretch, and if they did so, they'd be accused a second time of substituting their personal philosophies for the will of voters. Their first decision earlier this year overturned a statutory ballot measure that only marriages between men and women would be recognized, even as gay marriage opponents were offering it to voters again as a constitutional amendment.
      ++++++
      The stage for recall of the California Supreme Court has been set.
      (tags: gaymarriage)
    • Readers already concerned about what they perceive as liberal bias in the media will probably look with skepticism on coverage financed, even indirectly, by foundations that generally support more activist government. At the same time, though, conservative activists are lapping up the unique coverage offered by Flashreport.org, which features a network of Republican activists and consultants who participate in politics and write about it in real time.

      If nothing else, all of these projects seem to show that as long as the public has a hunger for information, someone will try to feed it. Still to be determined is a new economic model that allows those who do the work of gathering and distributing the information to make a living at it over the long term.
      ++++++++
      Although Jon is a friend of mine, the Right has a long way to go to support the new media. There are those of us who would wish to do more with the right financing.

      (tags: new_media)
    • It's ironic, isn't it? The Catholic Church has crushed dissension over Proposition 8 within its ranks. And now, the gay community has crushed dissension as well.

      It proves again that in the city of Sacramento, coming out against gay marriage is dangerous politically. Gay leaders have the clout to strike back.

      Still, the question remains: Is this the best way to persuade a majority of voters to support gay marriage?

      Potential votes can be lost when beliefs – and hearts – harden like stone.
      ++++++++
      Indeed – not the best approach

      (tags: gaymarriage)
    • "This push-back in the last two weeks has actually mobilized the Yes on 8 people," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. If the California Supreme Court were to overturn Proposition 8, "you will see a mobilized group like you have never seen in the state of California."

      Recall talks

      Rodriguez said in an interview Tuesday that some religious leaders are discussing a potential recall of Supreme Court justices. He expects the Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, and if that happens, "there are grounds for a recall. We saw that with Gray Davis," he said. "We have an oligarchy, an oligarchy in judges' role in the state of California."
      +++++++
      A recall of the Justices in 2010 would be easily accomplished.

    • You’d think that Floyd Norris would know something about securities regulation, since he is the chief financial correspondent for the NY Times and the International Herald Tribune. If his story/blog port today on the Mark Cuban SEC case is anything to go by, however, the guy’s a typical MSM idiot.
      ++++++
      Well, the New York Times, Professor. What do you expect?
    • Unless you’re Andrew Sullivan, who takes as true any development unfavorable to Republicans, no matter how freaking wild it sounds.

      This is why people mock you, Sullivan. Because you’re a shrieking, hysterical, gullible moron.

      And that’s me pulling my punches.
      ++++++
      Pulling?

    • Eric Holder, Rahm Emanuel, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Greg Craig, Ron Klain, maybe Larry Summers…

      I feel like I should grow a goatee, smoke an American Spirit and crank up some Smashing Pumpkins.

      Gotta go, "X-Files" is on.
      +++++++
      Obama is lost in a time warp…..

    • TIME Inc. today becomes not a publisher of magazines but of pink slips instead.
      The magazine giant is expected to cut more than 250 from the payroll as part of an overall plan by Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and Editor-in-Chief John Huey to slash 600 jobs from its overall work force of 10,200 employees worldwide.
      +++++++
      More collapse of the MSM
    • "We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us" in order to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, IAF commander Maj. -Gen. Ido Nehushtan told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Tuesday.
      +++++++
      Israel will not wait for "The One."
    • At the risk of overstating my case — the quotes in themselves are ridiculously damning — we should recall that John McCain stated, truthfully, in January, that the lost jobs were not coming back and that Michigan would need to innovate to find new jobs. Romney disagreed, saying that McCain was being a cranky pessimist and that he would “fight for every single job” while offering a $20 billion aid package. Now Romney is saying that we need to let the auto industry cut “excess labor” and not be given any checks from Washington. I can’t properly convey the frustration, the mental thrashing that’s occurring in my head right now. Perhaps it’s best to say it succinctly: at long last, has he no shame?
      ++++++++
      But, Romney is Right on Detroit in his latest piece.
    • IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

      Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
      ++++++++
      Mitt Romney certainly knows more about economic matters than McCain.

    • Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda's No. 2, calls President-elect Barack Obama a "house negro" in a new audio message, the Associated Press reports. He also says Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans."
      +++++++
      Wondering how Farrakhan will respond?
      Just wondering?