Fox News: "No Terrorist Attacks From 2000-2008"

This is not a "Fair and Balanced" news network.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

WATCH: Conservative Republicans' Ayn Rand Problem

I hope lots and lots of Republican primary voters watch this video of Ayn Rand spouting her views on religion (which I agree with). It will be interesting to see how they agree with everything he says about capitalism but reject everything she says about "God."

I have no difficulty in saying I reject everything she says about capitalism but agree with what she says about "faith."

Anthony Weiner To Resign

U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner has let it be known that he intends to resign from Congress today.

Politico reports:

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) will resign from his seat in Congress, heeding calls from President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and dozens of other congressional Democrats, sources confirm to POLITICO.

The resignation ends nearly three weeks of tumultuous political controversy since the New York congressman sent a lewd picture of himself over Twitter on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. After spending over a week claiming that the photo was sent by someone who hacked his account, Weiner admitted last Monday that he had sent it himself, and that he had carried on online sexual relationships with at least six women in the last three years. 

Weiner is expected to make his resignation official in a statement to the press at 2 p.m. at a senior center in Brooklyn where he announced his first run for the New York City Council in 1993.

I agree with Rachel Maddow that I don't understand why a progressive Weiner has to resign over a virtual sex scandal when it took years for U.S. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) to resign after committing an adulterous affair with a subordinate's wife and then paying hush money AND U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-LA) who repeatedly paid prostitutes to have adulterous, kinky sex refuses to resign and has been re-elected!

Why are Democrats such wimps?

Rick Perry Invites All Governors To Pray

Rick Perry, Republican Governor of Texas

The Governor of Texas has issued an invitation to the governors of every state in the Union to come to Texas and pray with him on August 6, 2011 in Houston. He is collaborating with notorious hate-group American Family Association to put on something called "The Response USA".

The Friendly Atheist reports:

As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy.Some problems are beyond our power to solve, and according to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, this historic hour demands a historic response. Therefore, on August 6, thousands will gather to pray for a historic breakthrough for our country and a renewed sense of moral purpose.
I sincerely hope you’ll join me in Houston on August 6th and take your place in Reliant Stadium with praying people asking God’s forgiveness, wisdom and provision for our state and nation. There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.

Earlier this year Gov. Perry made headlines when he called on all Texans to pray with him for rain, since there is a fierce drought going on leading to historic wildfires. The Governor went as far to issue an official proclamation:

WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life.

This is clearly a politician who does not believe in a separation between church and state, and who will use a political office to promote a particular religious-based ideology. And now he is thinking of running for President of the United States. He has never lost an election. Beware this man!

Newt Gingrich: "The Good Ol' Boy" Who Wants To Be Prez

Newt Gingrich, with his 3rd wife (and former aide) Calllista

Newt Gingrich has a long and troubled history with making statements which are both counterfactual and controversial. His mendacity and mischievousness know almost no bounds.

Recently, the Republican presidential candidate has become decidedly non-elliptical in his racially charged remarks. Last week, Newt said this before a Republican audience:

Gingrich sought to lay blame for the recession, as well as the economic and social upheaval in Detroit, on Obama and his policies. “President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history,” Gingrich said. “I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.”

Unfortunately for Newt it's not 1994 anymore, it's now 2011 so people like Salon's Joan Walsh and The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates have started to notice Newt's blatant appeals to racial prejudice:

But let me be clear: I might not have paid attention to Gingrich's "food stamp president" jibe had it not come along with a panorama of images designed to make clear Barack Obama is blackity black black. Praising right-wing Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Gingrich said he'll make the U.S. more like Texas, while Obama only "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit." In the speech to Georgia Republicans where he tried out the "food stamp president" slur, Gingrich also told the bastion of the old Confederacy that 2012 would be the biggest election since 1860 -- you know, when Abraham Lincoln got elected and the South began to secede over slavery, commencing the Civil War. He also suggested the U.S. might need to bring back some kind of voting test, banned under the Voting Rights Act. Last year, of course, Gingrich denounced Obama's "Kenyan anti-colonialist behavior," which made him "outside our comprehension" as Americans, spreading the lie that Obama inherited angry African anti-colonialism from his absent African father, though he was raised by his white mother and grandparents. Oh, and he headed the drive to label Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor "racist" when she was nominated in 2009. 

So let's review: Welfare slur? Check. Tie to a troubled, mainly black city? Check. Specious association with African anti-colonialism? Check. Dire reference to Lincoln and the start of the Civil War, while campaigning deep in the heart of Dixie? Check. Suggestion we need a voter test? Check. Oh, and for good measure, calling liberals concerned about racial injustice "racist"? Check. Awesome: They've hit pretty much every way the GOP has used to divide Americans by race in the last 200 years! 

Great job, Newt. You've developed the perfect platform to run a spirited GOP campaign that attracts a cadre of aggrieved white people. You'll never be president of the United States, but you'll be the champion of the declining share of the country that still thrills to what we used to call dog-whistle politics: coded varieties of racism only understood by their intended audience.

It will be interesting to see if  other Republican candidates and politicians call Newt out for his racist remarks, or (more likely) they also use more subtly coded appeals to the predominantly pale populace's anxieties about racial progress. Interestingly, on This Week with Christiane Amanpour even George Will said that Newt "is not a serious candidate" for president.

Let's hope not.

Celebrity Friday: Sam Arora Reneges On Marriage Equality Support

Maryland Delegate Sam Arora ran on a campaign of support
 for marriage equality and accepted thousands of dollars in LGBT donations

As the bill to legalize marriage equality in Maryland, HB 175/S 116, appears to have run into some very serious legislative hurdles in the lower House right before a key Judiciary Committee vote despite passing the Senate 25-21 last week.  LGBT activists are shocked and appalled by the shameful actions of a young progressive politician named Sam Arora who co-sponsored and ran for election on a platform of marriage equality but who has now indicated he will will vote against the bill if it reaches the house floor but will vote for it in the judiciary committee.

John Aravosis and other LGBT activists are perplexed by Arora's traitorous actions since as recently as a month ago, Arora had tweeted his support for marriage equality.

Now that tweet has been deleted from Arora's twitter stream and he is telling associates he doesn't think his religious principles allow him to "redefine marriage," which is basically a right-wing talking point. marriage is not REDEFINED when discriminatory legal barriers to those who can access it are removed. It's about treating LGBT people equally regardless of the gender of the person they love and their sexual orientation.

For his traitorous actions is possibly assisting in the demise of Maryland's civil marriage protection act, Sam Arora is todays Celebrity Friday. Democrats hold a 98-43 advantage in the Maryland House of Delegates but the floor vote (if it happens) is now expected to be close.

UPDATE 03/04/2011 0943 PST
Arora has released a statement saying that even though he opposes marriage equality (he supports civil unions) he will vote for the bill on the floor:

"I have heard from constituents, friends, and advocates from across the spectrum of views and have thought about the issue of same-sex marriage extensively. I understand their concern--this is a very serious issue, and one that many people feel passionately about. As the vote drew nearer, I wrestled with this issue in a way I never had before, which led me to realize that I had some concerns about the bill. While I personally believe that Maryland should extend civil rights to same-sex couples through civil unions, I have come to the conclusion that this issue has such impact on the people of Maryland that they should have a direct say. I will vote to send the bill to the floor because it deserves an up-or-down vote. On the floor, I will vote to send the bill to the governor so that Marylanders can ultimately decide this issue at the polls. I think that is appropriate."

Hmmm, I guess online pressure works! Hat/tip to Gay.AmericaBlog