Defense of Hypocrisy Act

It’s back, kids! The Defense of Marriage Act is being reintroduced! From The Carpetbagger Report:

Just this week, a group of Republican senators re-introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, which, as we know, would ban gay marriage.

And once again, the language is pretty straightforward:

Section 1. This article may be cited as the `Marriage Protection Amendment’.

Section 2. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.’.

But the funny part is looking over the list of the 10 original sponsors. Most of the names are predictable — Brownback and Inhofe, for example — but there are two others whose names stand out: Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Yes, two of the principal sponsors of a constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage include one far-right Republican who hired prostitutes and another far-right Republican who was arrested for soliciting gay sex an airport men’s room.

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(From left to right: David Vitter, Wendy Vitter, Larry Craig, Captain Underpants, Vito Fossella, David Dreier)

We’ve Only Just Be-gunned

From the International Herald Tribune:

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Thursday embraced the long-disputed view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun for personal use, ruling 5 to 4 that there is a constitutional right to keep a loaded handgun at home for self-defense.

The landmark ruling overturned the District of Columbia ban on handguns, the strictest gun-control law in the country, and appeared certain to usher in a new round of litigation over gun rights throughout the country.

The court rejected the view that the Second Amendment’s “right of the people to keep and bear arms” applied to gun ownership only in connection with service in the “well regulated militia” to which the amendment refers.

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They should have used harsh interrogation tactics on them!

From The Washington Post:

Two key architects of the Bush administration’s controversial interrogation policies defended their legal positions today, sparring with House Democrats over whether discredited Justice Department opinions led to unlawful torture of military and CIA detainees.

The testimony from David S. Addington, chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, and John C. Yoo, a former senior Justice Department lawyer, was light on details but heavy on semantic disputes with lawmakers on a House Judiciary subcommittee.

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And Bias For All

From The Boston Globe:

LAST YEAR, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had to resign after he could not explain why the Justice Department had fired nine US attorneys, all Bush appointees, who had prosecuted Republican officials or declined to pursue flimsy cases against Democrats. Now it turns out that the politicization of the Justice Department under President Bush went even deeper. A report by the department’s inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility finds that officials used political litmus tests in the hiring of staff lawyers and even interns.

According to the report, applicants for the department’s entry-level honors program — which attracts highly qualified lawyers from top schools — would get tossed in the reject pile if they had links to organizations like The Nature Conservancy or the Battered Immigrant Women Project. One rejected applicant was a high-ranking law graduate who had written a paper on the detention of people under the USA Patriot Act. By the same token, department officials went out of their way to hire members of the conservative Federalist Society. Investigators found e-mails from officials clearly indicating political bias in hiring.

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Boo!

From The Washington Post:

Charles R. Black Jr., one of McCain’s most senior political advisers, said in an interview with Fortune magazine that a fresh terrorist attack “certainly would be a big advantage to him.” He also said that the December assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, while “unfortunate,” helped McCain win the Republican primary by focusing attention on national security.

“His knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us,” Black told the magazine in its upcoming issue.

What’s with all the terror talk lately from the Rethugs? Newt Gingrich, John Bolton. and Rudy Noun Verb 9/11 Giuliani have all been flapping their lips and doing their best Chicken Little imitations. Who told them that these kind of scare tactics would work? Oh wait….now I remember…..

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Trouble Brewing for Captain Underpants?

From the Los Angeles Times:

Hensley & Co., one of the nation’s major beer wholesalers, has brought the family of Cindy McCain wealth, prestige and influence in Phoenix, but it could also create conflicts for her husband, Sen. John McCain, if he is elected president in November.

Hensley, founded by Cindy McCain’s late father, holds federal and state licenses to distribute beer and lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve public health and safety.

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Hey, kids! Bonus movie poster down below!!

McNot

From the Washington Post:

ATLANTA — A fiery former GOP congressman who gained national prominence for doggedly pursuing impeachment of President Clinton has some Republicans worried he’ll play spoiler in a tight presidential contest.

Bob Barr’s Libertarian Party bid for the White House is the longest of long shots, but political experts say he may be able to exploit the unease some die-hard conservatives still feel about Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting. Combined with the surge in turnout among Democrats during the primaries and a difficult political climate for Republicans, they see what could be a recipe for trouble for the GOP.

“Bob could be the Ralph Nader of 2008,” said Dan Schnur, a GOP consultant in California who worked on McCain’s 2000 campaign but is not involved in this year’s contest.

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It’s Exhausting

From the Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON — Escalating a fight with Democrats on Capitol Hill, the White House on Friday invoked executive privilege in refusing to turn over documents to a congressional committee investigating the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to deny California permission to implement its own vehicle emission standards.

The Bush administration asserted executive privilege hours before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was to vote on whether to bring contempt-of-Congress proceedings against EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and Susan Dudley, administrator of regulatory affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget, for refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents.

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