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Paragraph Four of the Department of Justice Memo says it all:

After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.

This is a huge victory. FINALLY.

UPDATE: House Speaker John Boehner, in an absolute fit of political amnesia, released a statement.

While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation.

Because abortion, slavery, and lay-offs are not controversial? So be it.

Town Square Political Theory Daily Review

From The Nation, a debate of Labor's Future (including Sweeney, Stern, Wilhelm, McEntee, Cohen, and Hoffa). From In These Times, more on Wobblies!, and the religious right wants to include moral values in the debate over how our taxes are spent? Bring it on. Do Democrats need to get religion? Jim Wallis and Susan Jacoby go at it.

From WSWS, an article on secularism and the American Constitution. Christopher Caldwell on the sacred cow of religious rights. An article on Islam and the institutions of a free society. A review of Occidentalism: A Short History of Anti-Westernism.

From LRB, a review of The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination, and an article on secularism and the American Constitution. Christopher Caldwell on the sacred cow of religious rights. An article on Islam and the institutions of a free society. A review of Occidentalism: A Short History of Anti-Westernism.

From LRB, a review of The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination, and an article on.

From NYRB, Peter Galbraith on Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic. Brendan O'Neill on how a risk-averse West has inflamed the terrorism it fears. What turns a man into a terrorist, and what can be done about it? And from Foreign Affairs, an article on How to Help Poor Countries

THOSE CRAZY MUSLIMS      recovering liberal the London bombs.

From NYRB, Peter Galbraith on Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic. Brendan O'Neill on how a risk-averse West has inflamed the terrorism it fears. What turns a man into a terrorist, and what can be done about it? And from Foreign Affairs, an article on How to Help Poor Countries

Thou Shall Not Suck

Subject: An investigation that was supposed to look into the expenses of first-grade-teacher/plumbing-company-owner turned biologist/zoologist/anthropologist/paleontologist Connie Morris, who averaged $600 a day for a trip to Miami.

Hypothesis: The KBoE has lost it’s collective fucking mind.

Evidence: This is outstanding (use to view).
 
Remarks: You’ve got to read this:

Despite criticism of one member over her expenses during a Florida convention, a State Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday against proposing changes in board travel policies.
 
Board member Connie Morris, of St. Francis, was criticized last month because her trip in April to Miami for a six-day conference on magnet schools cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $3,600.
[emphasis added]

So what’s the problem?

But the subcommittee—whose three members include Morris—decided against recommending revisions to the full board, which was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday. bugmenot to view).

Remarks: You’ve got to read this:

Despite criticism of one member over her expenses during a Florida convention, a State Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday against proposing changes in board travel policies.

Board member Connie Morris, of St. Francis, was criticized last month because her trip in April to Miami for a six-day conference on magnet schools cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $3,600.
[emphasis added]

So what’s the problem?

But the subcommittee—whose three members include Morris—decided against recommending revisions to the full board, which was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday.
[emphasis again added]

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The three-member (insert penis joke here) panel that looked into the expenses included Morris?? That’s like having a trial where the defendant is also one of the jurors.

“There has to be some latitude for different expenses in different parts of the country," said subcommittee Chairman Ken Willard, of Hutchinson, a conservative.

“Not guilty, ya honor!”
 
She averaged $600 a day! How much latitude are you going to give a person? Hell, I’ve had three meals in a 4-star restaurant, drained an entire mini-bar in a 5-star hotel, and STILL not been able to ring up that kind of bill. And we know she wouldn’t do that—according to her bio, she’s a born-again Christian. Of course, that sure does explain a lot.

[…]
Morris' expenses included $339 a night for a room at the hotel where the convention was held. She said no cheaper rooms at the hotel were available when she registered for the conference. She also wanted to avoid walking from another hotel to conference events.
[emphasis again added]

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The three-member (insert penis joke here) panel that looked into the expenses included Morris?? That’s like having a trial where the defendant is also one of the jurors.

“There has to be some latitude for different expenses in different parts of the country," said subcommittee Chairman Ken Willard, of Hutchinson, a conservative.

“Not guilty, ya honor!”

She averaged $600 a day! How much latitude are you going to give a person? Hell, I’ve had three meals in a 4-star restaurant, drained an entire mini-bar in a 5-star hotel, and STILL not been able to ring up that kind of bill. And we know she wouldn’t do that—according to her bio, she’s a born-again Christian. Of course, that sure does explain a lot.

[…]
Morris' expenses included $339 a night for a room at the hotel where the convention was held. She said no cheaper rooms at the hotel were available when she registered for the conference. She also wanted to avoid walking from another hotel to conference events.

So she fleeced Kansas taxpayers because she: a.) didn’t get off her ass and book her room in time; and b.) didn’t want to walk across the street? After looking at her picture, my guess is that she could probably use the exercise.

She said little during Monday's meeting …

Apparently she’s not totally retarded …

… but in the past has suggested criticism of her is political and part of the board's ongoing dispute over how evolution is taught.

Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that she ripped off the people of Kansas. Granted, what she did was not technically against the rules, but it sure as hell is ethically questionable. Although, that’s never stopped her before ...

Morris upset moderate board members last month with a newsletter to constituents describing evolution as "an age-old fairy tale" and criticizing other board members by name.

In other words, it’s okay for her to attack other board members, but when the tables are turned, it’s wrong.

So she fleeced Kansas taxpayers because she: a.) didn’t get off her ass and book her room in time; and b.) didn’t want to walk across the street? After looking at her picture, my guess is that she could probably use the exercise.

She said little during Monday's meeting …

Apparently she’s not totally retarded …

… but in the past has suggested criticism of her is political and part of the board's ongoing dispute over how evolution is taught.

Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that she ripped off the people of Kansas. Granted, what she did was not technically against the rules, but it sure as hell is ethically questionable. Although, that’s never stopped her before ...

Morris upset moderate board members last month with a newsletter to constituents describing evolution as "an age-old fairy tale" and criticizing other board members by name.

In other words, it’s okay for her to attack other board members, but when the tables are turned, it’s wrong.

The subcommittee also was directed to review policies saying that board members are supposed to treat each other with courtesy and not let debates lapse into personal attacks. The subcommittee decided those policies already are clear.

Fucking hypocrites.
 
Conclusion: You would think that the Department of Education would want to teach kids good ethics by example. Of course, you’d be wrong.
 
Solution: Send the entire school board a copy of this.

Debunking Rove Spin         That Colored Fellas weblog

The subcommittee also was directed to review policies saying that board members are supposed to treat each other with courtesy and not let debates lapse into personal attacks. The subcommittee decided those policies already are clear.

Fucking hypocrites.

Conclusion: You would think that the Department of Education would want to teach kids good ethics by example. Of course, you’d be wrong.

Solution: Send the entire school board a copy of this.

Bush Anxious to Learn More of Deep Throat

Greatscat cued me to this article in the Washington Post.

President Bush said on Wednesday the disclosure that the former No. 2 official at the FBI was Watergate's "Deep Throat" source caught him by surprise and he's anxious to learn more details about his relationship with the news media.

"It's hard for me to judge" whether former deputy FBI Director Mark Felt provided a valuable public service or acted improperly, Bush told reporters.

----------------------------

Since Bush has done everything in his power to make sure there are no "Deep Throats" in his administration, I doubt this took him by surprise at all. Porter Goss's shake-up over at the CIA is certainly an indication that the President wants to plug up any leaks that might come down the pike from there. He'll probably review the Watergate story more thoroughly to make sure he hasn't left himself with any more loose ends to tie up.

The Flawed Report on Dan Rather

By James C. Goodale

(Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, is the former Vice Chairman and General Counsel of The New York Times and represented the newspaper in the Pentagon Papers case. He is Host/Producer of the TV program The Digital Age. An earlier version of the article in this issue appeared in the New York Law Journal. (April 2005)
Report of the Independent Review Panel on the September 8, 2004 60 Minutes Wednesday Segment "For the Record" Concerning President Bush's Texas Air National Guard Service...read on

Yucca data allegedly falsified

WASHINGTON -- Employees of the U.S. Geological Survey who were revisiting scientific study on the key issue of water flow at Yucca Mountain allegedly falsified research documents, an Energy Department review of employee e-mails revealed.

Department officials discovered the e-mails as part of a massive review of millions of program document pages in preparation for submitting an application for a license to construct Yucca. "Multiple" e-mails written between May 1998 and March 2000 indicate that a U.S. Geological Survey employee fabricated documentation of his work, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday. read on

Uhh...what're we votin' for? TALKING POINTS MEMO

"Democrats are already pushing for a return to the observance of the rule which mandated that members of congress must be given at least three days to review legislation in its final form before it was called to a vote. But why stop there? Giving legislators a reasonable opportunity to review a bill before they vote to make it law is the barest of bare minimums, especially now that bills are often coming out of conference in a dramatically new form. But why should only legislators get a chance to look at the bill? Forget the issue of purported centrality of blogs. Why not make bills publicly and readily available (and I emphasize 'readily') for three days before they can be brought to a vote?"

Bush supports exit polls (in Ukraine)

"A tarnished election will lead us to review our relations with Ukraine."
-- George Bush

George Bush has suddenly become a great believer in exit polling -- in Ukraine, that is. The surprise triumph of Russian favorite Viktor Yanukovych has transformed the skeptical Bush into a veritable John Zogby. Now, the chagrined President is threatening to take "concrete measures" unless election results aren't revisited. It's the opening volley in a confrontation that threatens to revive the cold war mentality of East against West.

Needless to say Bush's newfound passion for exit polls hasn't carried over to our own "homegrown" polls; most of them have been dismissed by the administration as "wildly inaccurate". Conservative friends in the American media have gone so far as to remove the original polling data from their web sites so that the "statistical anomalies" can't be examined by curious people who think the unthinkable; that Crawford George may have lost and is trying to bury the evidence. The media has acted with as much accountability as a Florida poll-watcher; shredding the evidence it can't use and dumping the results in the circular receptacle in the corner. The full story...

Trent Lott on Fox News says that Democrats are blocking judicial nominees because of racism!

Video

Lott uses Miguel Estrada's nomination as the basis for racial discrimination.

From Independent Judiciary

Judicial Temperament. A member of the Federalist Society and a board member of the arch-conservative Center for the Community Interest, Mr. Estrada is described by people who have worked with him as a conservative ideologue who is unable or unwilling to distinguish his personal views from what the law requires. That this evidence does not come in the form of law review articles, judicial opinions, or written criticism by colleagues on a state supreme court does not make it any less troubling.

Miguel Estrada is held in high regard by James Dobson from the "Focus on the Family" group and is their hopeful for the supreme court.

Ebay re-instates Virgin Mary sandwich!

Video

Diane Duyser from Miami, FL. has the grilled sandwich up on Ebay:Item number: 5535890757 At first Ebay cancelled it saying that they don't allow joke listing, but after further review(did somebody make a call?)they allowed the item to be relisted.

The Virgin Mary sandwich is bid at $99,999,999.00 at this time.

I want to know who is bidding on this!