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Rick Santorum was well into his speech during a campaign rally in Arlington Heights, Ill., on Friday when two men in the crowd embraced in a rather passionate kiss, prompting a "mic check" and two guards to escort them from the rally.

The crowd reacted with audible screams, gasps and wagging fingers. Another man jumped up and followed the pair out as the audience began chanting "U-S-A" until they left the gym at Christian Liberty Academy where Santorum was speaking.

Santorum, who often expresses his opposition to homosexuality, continued his speech without addressing the incident, prompting cheers from the audience. It wasn't clear whether the two men are gay or simply making a political statement.

"I don't think the message should be about what my sexuality is," one of them told a reporter. "It's the message that [Santorum's] saying about sexuality that matters."

[Hat tip Patch.com]

And I am both proud and saddened to bring it to you...

In a nutshell, a collection of some of Santorum's craziest statements on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, global warming, Social Security, blacks (or "blahs"), Hitler, napkins, freedom and the left.

For daily updates on creepy sh*t Santorum says, visit Santorum Exposed on Facebook.

There's a lot to like about Marines. They're bright people, loyal to the Corps, strong-minded and elite warriors troops. Most of them are more well-versed on military history than the majority of Army soldiers. And yet, when they latch onto a bad idea, they will stubbornly refuse to consider that they made a really bad decision in the first place. And so we watch as General James Amos, newly minted commandant of the Marine Corps, follows his predecessor in saying that the Marines aren't ready for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

In comments to reporters in California this weekend, General Amos said that ending the ban in the middle of two wars would involve “risk” for Marines, who, unlike other service members who generally have private quarters, share rooms to promote unity. “There is nothing more intimate than young men and young women — and when you talk of infantry, we’re talking our young men — laying out, sleeping alongside of one another and sharing death, fear and loss of brothers,” said General Amos, 63. “I don’t know what the effect of that will be on cohesion. I mean, that’s what we’re looking at. It’s unit cohesion, it’s combat effectiveness.”
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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen effectively rebuked General Amos when he told reporters in Melbourne, Australia, “I was surprised by what he said and surprised he said it publicly.” Admiral Mullen, who supports repeal, also called General Amos on Sunday night to speak directly with him about the comments, said General Amos’s spokesman, Maj. Joseph M. Plenzler. Major Plenzler said he did not know the tone of the call or specifics about the conversation.

Mr. Gates, in his own comments to reporters en route to security and diplomatic talks in Australia, said, “I would like to see the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ but I’m not sure what the prospects are and we’ll just have to see.”

Someone needs to show Gen. Amos this 1993 RAND report that suggested that the presence of homosexuals in police and firefighter organizations within the United States, as well as in foreign militaries, did not in fact cause any losses of unit cohesion or trust. These points are probably irrelevant to him and others who continue to stubbornly refuse to listen to the majority of the United States citizens who believe that it's time to repeal this act. DADT is going to go away, despite the slow-roll approach being implemented by DOD leadership. But as Kevin Drum notes, the real villains are the Republican politicians who are ignoring their own constituency and the Dem politicians who are ready to roll over and play dead on this issue.

Democratic spinelessness on this is worth mocking. But let's get real: the problem isn't with Senate Democrats, 97% of whom voted to repeal DADT in September. The problem is with Republicans, 100% of whom voted against repeal even though, as the Gallup poll above shows, repeal is favored by 60% of Republicans, a majority of conservatives, the Secretary of Defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

100%. Not one single Republican was willing to buck the tea party hordes and vote for DADT repeal. Even Susan Collins of Maine, the only Republican who publicly supports repeal, concocted a transparently bogus excuse not to vote for it.

Democrats may not be profiles in courage here, but they aren't the villains on DADT repeal. They just aren't. Republicans are. They're willing to unanimously filibuster funding for the military in order to pander to the small percentage of their own party that thinks gay people are icky. And they'll keep doing it, too. They don't care about the military report due in December and they don't care whether DADT repeal would actually affect military readiness in any way. They'll defund the entire Pentagon if that's what it takes to keep the tea partiers happy. They're the enemies of national security here, not Democrats.

But somehow, I think that message will get lost in the debate on the Hill. The Dems are just that stupid and afraid that they can't see the opportunity that's been handed to them: to demonstrate how out of touch the Republican leadership really is.

Bizzaro World

via PITZ

"(Bill) LD 908, would make it illegal in Maine to abort a fetus that is known to have the 'gay gene.'"Ah, the spectre of eugenics being used to drive a wedge between liberals who identify primarily as pro-choice and those who identify primarily as supporters of gay rights."

Of course a Republican proposed this bill. Rep. Brian Duprey told the Portland Press Herald that he got the idea for the bill while listening to Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show.

This legislation borders obviously on the insane. However, if enough anti-abortion lobbyist and evangelicals tried to sign on to this bill, then wouldn't it have to force them to acknowledge that homosexuality is not a learned behaviour? TWhen the bill goes down in flames,... you get the point.

Today, SecDef Bob Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen are expected to announce that the Defense Department will stop aggressively pursuing third-party charges of homosexuality against service members. They will also announce the formation of a group to study the issue for a year and (one would hope) to develop an implementation plan for eliminating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Gay rights groups are calling the hearing historic even as they question how quickly the administration is prepared to act. But Republicans are already signaling that they are not eager to take up the issue.

“In the middle of two wars and in the middle of this giant security threat,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC, “why would we want to get into this debate?”

Still, it is undeniable that a variety of 21st-century forces — a new generation in the military, a change in climate at the top levels of the Pentagon, pressure on the president from a critical interest group, even Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand’s anticipated Democratic primary battle in New York — converged to begin repeal of a 1993 law that has led to the discharge of more than 13,000 gay men and lesbians, including desperately needed Arabic translators.

As Mr. Gates told Mr. Obama last year, it was no longer a question of if the ban would be repealed, but when, said the meeting participant, who declined to be named to discuss internal White House deliberations.

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Polls now show that a majority of Americans support openly gay service — a majority did not in 1993 — but there have been no recent broad surveys of the 1.4 million active-duty personnel.

A 2008 census by The Military Times of predominantly Republican and largely older subscribers found that 58 percent opposed to efforts to repeal the policy; in 2006, a poll by Zogby International of 545 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that three-quarters were comfortable around gay service members.

I understand President Obama's desire to postpone this debate until the health care issue was resolved. Since that issue is now nearly concluded, it is certainly time to move toward closure on DADT. The Republican claims that the military would lose efficiencies or be uncomfortable around Teh Gays just doesn't hold water. But that shouldn't matter, since they are the minority party, right? I'm much more concerned that conservative Democrats will try to hold up the issue in fear of election year backlash. What we ought to see is the Senate Democrats placing a short paragraph in the FY 2012 National Defense Appropriations bill. That would seal the deal, but do they have the guts? Will the Dems in fact grow a spine this year? I guess we'll find out.

Also see these articles discussing the positions of Rep. Pat Murphy (D-PA), a former Army officer, and CPT Tim Hsia, an active duty infantry officer.

A Tiny Revolution: Paddy Chayefsky and the Supreme Corporate's idiotic decision.

Washington Monthly: Steve Benen's strategy memo on health care reform.

Pam's House Blend: Homosexuality is like... anorexia?

Lance Mannion: Tax credits? Tax credits?

Satirical Political Report: Massachusetts lesson learned.

Jonah Goldberg, Glenn Beck and the tea bag crowd don't know much about history, but it's International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Guest post by Batocchio. Temporarily e-mail tips to batocchio9 AT yahoo DOT com.

Illinois Republican Andy Martin is about as slimy as they come. He gleefully accepts credit for starting a nasty smear campaign against President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, and continues to ramp up the hate as he runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate:

Andy Martin, a noted conservative dirty trickster, put out a spot on local radio in which he pushes a "solid rumor" that fellow Senatorial aspirant, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), "is a homosexual."

"I helped expose many of Barack Obama's lies in 2008," the ad goes. "Today, I am fighting for the facts about Mark Kirk. Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a 'solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual.' Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals."

The seedy spot seems to take a page out the Karl Rove playbook -- in which allegations of homosexuality are pushed by innuendo and 'simple demands for the truth.' In a statement to a local Illinois station, the Kirk camp vehemently condemned and denied its content.

In a stunning move, the Illinois Republican Party has denounced Martin and his tactics. Maybe Republicans is learning?

The Illinois Republican Party disavows the statements made today by Mr. Andrew Martin in his statewide radio advertisements. His statements today are consistent with his history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party. Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican Candidate by the Illinois Republican Party. Read on...

Bigotry is not a natural instinct, it is taught. Homosexuality is as natural as the sun in the sky, but ignorant, hateful people will never accept that fact. The suspension of this high school teacher in Piasa, Illinois is a perfect example of how this hatred and ignorance infests the minds of our children:

Yesterday, Mr. Delong, a 10th and 12th grade Honors English teacher in Piasa, IL was suspended for assigning an article about homosexuality in the animal kingdom to his students. Should teachers ask their students to read about controversial topics? Should we allow parents veto power over the curriculum

Mr. Delong is reportedly a married, heterosexual teacher who identifies as an ally of the GLBTQ community and clearly has the respect and admiration of his students. This is just one of many examples of how teachers are taught to be conservative and non-controversial and why GLBTQ youth don't feel safe in schools. If a school district considers teaching with a scientific article written by a professor at Stanford University and published in a popular science magazine as controversial and worthy of suspension - then how can we convince other educators to stand up and teach critically? In order to help students learn to become critical thinkers and active citizens in a participatory democracy, it is essential to have teachers encourage students to question normative thinking and learn to critically evaluate information for themselves -- particulary with respect to sex, gender, and sexuality.

I applaud Mr. Delong for attempting to teach his students the art of critical thinking and to open their minds to facts. There is a Facebook page supporting Mr. Delong, stop by and show your support if you like.

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Rachel Maddow featured a hilarious bit from this weekend's "Values Voters Summit" in Missouri, featuring a fellow named Mike Schwartz, who is Republican Sen. Tom Coburn's chief of staff. Matt Corley at ThinkProgress actually had this first (and deserves credit from those who later make use of it -- ahem!), and has the transcript too:

SCHWARTZ: But it is my observation that boys at that age have less tolerance for homosexuality than just about any other class of people. They speak badly about homosexuality. And that’s because they don’t want to be that way. They don’t want to fall into it. And that’s a good instinct. After all, homosexuality, we know, studies have been done by the National Institute of Health to try to prove that its genetic and all those studies have proved its not genetic. Homosexuality is inflicted on people.

How does Schwartz know this? Well, a friend of his was once tragically caught up in "the homosexual lifestyle":

SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants." You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.

You can't make this stuff up. This is a truly special level of stupid we are reaching here in America.

The full video is at YouTube.

Huckabee's big lead in Iowa is certainly stirring things up on the GOP side. Looks like Murdock's gang has their guns pointed at Huckabee. Not that his postion on AIDS is excusable at all.

- Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."

When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease....read on