David Kernell Guilty on Felony Count in Palin E-mail Hacker Case

A Tennessee jury found David Kernell guilty of obstruction of justice. That makes Kernell a felon. The maximum for this charge is 20 years, with a fine of up to $250,000. Now we wait for the judge to rule on the penalty.

Twenty years is obviously overkill. I seriously doubt that Kernell will get anything remotely approaching 20 years, more likely he'll get community service and parole. I mean his dad is a State Rep.

Kernell was also found guilty of unauthorized access to Palin's computer, a misdemeanor with a penalty of 1 year, maximum.

Thanks gxm17!

Politics Tennessee News Sarah Palin

Tell Gov. Bredesen To Respect Women's Reproductive Rights

Amazing how many ways they find to restrict women's rights.

National Women's Law Center (my inbox):

The Tennessee legislature has sent an extremely anti-choice bill to Governor Bredesen’s desk that plays politics with women’s health.

Governor Bredesen must decide in the next few days whether to sign or veto this bill. He needs to hear from you! Tell the Governor to veto this bill that harms women’s health.

House Bill 2681 would prohibit coverage of abortion in any insurance plan that will participate in the health exchange eventually established in Tennessee because of the federal health care reform law. That means that women in the exchange would not be able to obtain coverage for abortion even if they are paying entirely with their own funds. This extremely restrictive bill contains no exceptions — not in cases of rape or incest and not in cases when the woman’s life is in danger.

Don’t let Tennessee’s anti-choice legislature hijack women’s health. Tell Governor Bredesen to veto this restrictive bill.

Politics Feminist News Gender Tennessee Abortion Rights

Delusional Rielle Hunter to Oprah: 'I'm Not a Home-Wrecker' (Video)

Lest anyone doubt that Rielle Hunter is certifiable:


Rielle Hunter . . told Oprah Winfrey in a program broadcast on Thursday that John Edwards had a secret affair with her because “he wanted to live a life of truth.”

"It is not my experience that a third party wrecks a home," Hunter said . . . "I believe the problems exist before a third party comes into the picture."

Hunter, who never lost her poise (except for when she briefly teared up while remembering her daughter and baby daddy's first meeting) has the knack of articulating completely narcissistic and delusional thoughts with a disarming blitheness. . . After posing for GQ wearing nothing but pearls and a man's dress shirt — and after inviting the most popular talk show host in the English-speaking world into her home to discuss, among other things, her sex video — she dismissed Oprah's question about her relationship with John. "I'm a very private person," she says. "I need boundaries."

Politics Feminist News Gender

Spill Baby, Spill

The oil slick is said to be at least five times worse than originally thought. Rapidly, it is oozing toward the shore. It's looking like a huge eco-disaster for birds, sharks, whales, sea turtles, dolphins, fish, not to mention humans. And poor old New Orleans.

Florida Governor Crist has changed his mind about offshore drilling. If he keeps on changing his mind, he'll be a Democrat. The fishing industry is slapping BP with class action lawsuits because their jobs are dying in the water, along with the fish.

Gee, I can hardly wait for Obama's brilliant plan to drill baby drill kicks in. And I'm not alone.

A 120-mile oil slick advanced to within a few miles of the mouth of the Mississippi River on Thursday as authorities scrambled to keep the spill from damaging wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico. The slick was about three miles off the Louisiana coast on Thursday night, according to Coast Guard spokesman Shawn Eggert.

Ten wildlife refuges in Mississippi and Louisiana are in the oil's likely path, with the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area at the tip of the Mississippi River likely to be the first affected, Jindal announced. . . Wildlife conservation groups said Thursday the oil could be a disaster for coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. . "We have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, including a true catastrophe for birds," . . .

Oil spill photo via ABC News.

Politics Polluted Environment News

Jenny Sanford on Rielle Hunter and Life After Divorce (Video)

Politics John Edwards News Gender The View

Laura Bush: From Old Maid of Midland to Stepford Wife

Laura Bush's memoir, Spoken from the Heart, goes on sale next week. The reviewers couldn't wait that long. The New York Times calls it two books, one, a very personal account of Laura Bush's childhood and youth in Texas. The other, the typical dreary and predictable spin of a political wife.

One of these days perhaps husbands of pols will be criticized for defending their wives. It sounds like a fairy tale, but maybe.

Laura Bush is a good wife, and good wives can't win. If she's a loyal wife, she's a Stepford Wife. If she's her own person, she's "polarizing" like that she-devil bitch Hillary. If Laura throws caution to the wind and chastises her husband publicly (like everyone else in the whole wide world has already done), she will hurt her family and probably wreck her marriage, but the reviewers will love her, well, some of them will.

Like the "Stepford Wife" photo on the cover of the book, it's all about gender. Laura's father wanted a son. Laura proved her self-worth the old-school way, she married a rich man. I want a president who doesn't have a wife.

Mrs. Bush recalls that the mother of one of her friends marveled at the marriage of “the most eligible bachelor in Midland” to “the old maid of Midland.” (She was all of 31 at the time.)

Politics Feminist News Gender

Arizona Tea Forced to Show Its Birth Certificate

Don't boycott Arizona Tea because it's not from Arizona -- it's from New York (unlike U-Haul & Cold-Stone):

To All Our Friends, Customers and Loyal Fans,

We have become aware of misinformation being circulated about AriZona Beverages and we would like to make sure statements about our company are correct. As many of you know, AriZona Beverages proudly traces its origins back to New York. In 1992, two hard working guys from Brooklyn with a dream created AriZona Iced Tea. Since then, and despite the wonderful success AriZona has enjoyed throughout the United States and internationally, we have remained loyal to our family run business based in New York. For the last 16 years our headquarters have remained on Long Island where we continue to sell and distribute AriZona Iced Teas and beverages.

Politics Arizona News Gender

Helen Thomas: Proud to Be a Liberal (Video)

The legendary Helen Thomas defends her progressive values as she takes on the boys over at Fox Business. Helen also plugs her book, co-authored by Craig Crawford who suggests that Helen "should coach liberals on how to stand up for themselves." I wish someone would.


Politics Progressive News Gender

Sandra Bullock Files for Divorce AND Has a New Baby

Sandra Bullock has "filed for divorce" AND has a new baby. The baby is her first. She sure looks happy. The divorce was filed in Texas. The baby -- Louis Bardo Bullock -- was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. What a sweetie! Hey, this is almost like the movie that Sandra won her Oscar for, The Blind Side.

"He's just perfect, I can't even describe him any other way," Bullock reveals exclusively in the new issue of PEOPLE, announcing that she is the proud mother of Louis Bardo Bullock, a 3½-month-old boy, born in New Orleans. "It's like he's always been a part of our lives."

Bullock says she is now finalizing the adoption as a single parent.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Michael Moore: Break Up the Banks (Video)

Politics Progressive News

Obama Admin Supports Paid Sick Leave

Paid sick days or basic respect for workers, almost half the private workforce in the USA doesn't have it. Yet another reason to move to Europe.

Here in the U.S., the biggest problem isn't whether or not you get paid for sick days, the bigger problem is that you can get fired if you have the nerve to get too sick to show up for work. And if you want a day off because your child is sick -- and you aren't employed as a middle class professional -- move to Europe:

[T]he Obama administration is supporting legislation to provide mandatory paid sick leave for more than 30 million additional workers who are some of nation's lowest-paid employees. . More than 50 million American workers — nearly 40 percent of the private labor force — don't get paid if they miss work because of illness.

The problem is most pronounced in lower-paying industries such as food service and child care, in which only 27 percent of workers get paid sick leave. A recent report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research estimates that people who came to work while they were sick with the H1N1 virus may have infected 7 million people at the height of the outbreak last year.

After trying to call in sick with the flu several years ago, 23-year-old Megan Sacks of Tacoma, Wash., was told she would have to be "on her deathbed" in order to miss her lunchtime shift as a waitress. After she showed up visibly ill, however, a customer contacted the health department to complain. Sacks, who didn't have paid sick leave, was kept off the schedule for three weeks and later fired because her boss thought that she'd called the health officials. "I was really hurt and upset because I thought I was a valued employee," she said. "And to this day I still don't know who called the health department. If I knew, I would have asked them not to, because I lost my job over this."

Politics Feminist News Gender

Boycotting Arizona & Jon Stewart on Arizona's Xenophobic Law (Video)

Calling Arizona "The Meth Lab of Democracy," Jon Stewart notes the lunacy of the laws passed in Arizona of late, especially the law mandating racial profiling. Stewart reminds us that laws are here to protect us, but, as always, the fight is about who the hell 'us' is.

In Breathing While Undocumented, Linda Greenhouse vows to forever shun the state of Arizona while it remains "a police state." All those planning to boycott Arizona can come to New York, says the never shy New York Mayor Bloomberg. Meanwhile San Francisco talks of bigger or "sweeping boycotts," and the nation of Mexico agrees completely and talks of ending all business with the state of Arizona and everyone and everything inside said shameful state. And Governor Brewer goes deeper into denial.

Blue Texan sums up Governor Brewer's position on the proposed economic boycott of Arizona thusly: "Shorter Brewer: At a time of recession, how dare people not financially support our racist xenophobic laws."


NPR: The bill might not have become law if Democrat Janet Napolitano had still been governor. Napolitano vetoed similar measures. And Arizona's Latino community hoped that Brewer, who replaced Napolitano, would veto it. . . Of course, there will be legal challenges, and there will likely be boycotts of Arizona's hotels and conventions. That happened after the state refused to celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, and led eventually to Arizona giving in. There will also be political repercussions. While Republicans may pick up a few more percent of the angry white vote in November 2010, they can kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye -- and not just in Arizona.

"We express our outrage in the face of this abuse of power. We call for a boycott of all goods and services from Arizona and pledge to avoid tourism in the state as well. Let's send a signal of our disgust with an arrogant state government that asserts powers it does not have in order to persecute a minority population." -- La Opinión (via Gawker), largest Spanish-language newspaper in the US

Politics Arizona Hispanic Boycott Arizona News

Defense Rests in Palin E-mail Hacker Case (Video)

The defense rested their case at 9:50 a.m. this morning in Knoxville, Tennessee. Next up are closing arguments. Alleged hacker David Kernell did not take the stand. After the stupid and sexist remark he made last week, that was probably a wise move:

[T]he defense has rested its case after only putting one witness on the stand Friday, an FBI agent who said Kernell had been emotionally upset. . Convictions on the identity theft and three other felony charges carry a maximum possible penalty of 50 years in prison.

Sarah Palin Comments on E-mail Hacker Case

Politics Tennessee News E-mail Hacker David Kernell Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's Presidential Ambitions

In an eight page story, in New York magazine, about the life and ambition of Sarah Palin -- The Revolution Will Be Commercialized -- we learn that Sarah Palin has long had her eye on the Oval Office:

In 1996, a few weeks into her run for Wasilla mayor, Palin revealed to Laura Chase, her campaign manager at the time, the scope of her ambition. “We were sitting at my table one night and I said, ‘Sarah, one day you could be governor.’ She just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t want to be governor, I want to be president.’”

Politics Feminist News Gender

John Edwards to Testify About Sex Tape

Reportedly, John Edwards will testify about his infamous sex tape, as well as the source of the funds used to hide his mistress Rielle Hunter during the presidential campaign of 2008. The former senator and presidential wannabe has been summoned to give a sworn deposition on May 13 in the case of Rielle Hunter v. Andrew Young.

And Rielle Hunter will appear on Oprah this week -- April 29.

Politics Edwards Sex Scandal News

Betty White Hosts SNL May 8 (Video)

Politics Feminist News Gender

Sarah Palin In Knoxville, Testifying in Tennessee E-Mail Hacker Case

[Updated] Sarah Palin is in Knoxville today testifying in the Yahoo e-mail hacker case against David Kernell. Kernell is apparently enjoying the attention, or so it seems in light of his incredibly self-centered juvenile remark about Bristol Palin not being his type. Gawd help the women who are this arrogant young fool's "type."

Todd Palin will also testify today:

Memphis Commercial Appeal: KNOXVILLE - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is testifying in U.S. District Court against a former University of Tennessee student charged with illegally accessing her private e-mail account. . An FBI agent testified Thursday that files were deleted, the Internet history dumped and folders emptied a day after her e-mail account was illegally accessed. . Kernell is charged with four felonies including identity theft and wire fraud.

WaPo: Palin told jurors she was in Michigan campaigning as the Republican vice presidential candidate when she first learned from a news report that her e-mail had been hacked. A few minutes later, her campaign manager and a Secret Service agent told her the report was true, she testified. David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic Tennessee lawmaker, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of identity theft, mail fraud and two other felony charges.

Update#1 : Knoxville blogger Michael Silence has photos of Sarah and Todd Palin in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Video Update #2: Palin Takes Stand

Politics Tennessee News Palin

National Day of Prayer Ruled Unconstitutional. Obama Will Appeal.

Gawd, a judge who believes in the separation of Church and State. Where the hell did she come from? Or exactly what country does she think she's living in? Never fear, this moment of sanity will not last. The Obama Administration will appeal:

The Justice Department says it intends to appeal a federal court ruling that found the National Day of Prayer to be a violation of the separation between church and state. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed against President Obama and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. One week ago, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that the president's declaration of a national day for prayer was unconstitutional.

Judge Barbara Crabb ruled last week that while the government can be involved in prayer when it serves a secular purpose, it cannot go further and call for religious action on the part of its citizens.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Anderson Cooper: The South Park Death Threats (Video)

This is so creepy. In Wednesday's South Park, Comedy Central censored every single reference to Muhammad. Quaking in their boots cowards? Or folks who are simply wise enough to know that a cartoon is not worth dying for?



L.A. Times: In its 200 shows, the irreverent animated program "South Park" has mercilessly satirized Christianity, Buddhism, Scientology, the blind and disabled, gay people, Hollywood celebrities and politicians of all persuasions, weathering the resulting protests and threats of boycotts.

But this week, after an ominous threat from a radical Muslim website, the network that airs the program bleeped out all references to the prophet Muhammad in the second of two episodes set to feature the holy figure dressed in a bear costume. Comedy Central declined to comment on the latest incident. But "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone clearly disagreed with their bosses' handling of the situation.

Politics Liberal Media News First Amendment

Bristol Palin Testifies in Tennessee Yahoo Hacker Trial

David Kernell -- privileged son of Tennessee State Rep. Mike Kernell -- could get 50 years (!) for the crime of hacking into Sarah Palin's Yahoo account. Fifty years? What kind of country is this? Maybe we should throw stones at him and behead him too.

On second thought, after reading Kernell's comment in the AP article excerpted below, 50 years may not be long enough for the a-hole:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Bristol Palin said she received countless phone calls and hundreds of text messages when her cell number was posted online after her mother's e-mail account was hacked. Only one really scared her. Palin testified Wednesday that she was 17 and pregnant in 2008 when her mother Sarah Palin's Yahoo! account was invaded after the former Alaska governor was picked as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Bristol Palin said she worried when a bunch of boys called, claiming they were at her front door and wanted in.

Authorities say Kernell answered personal security questions about Palin, such as her having met her husband, Todd, in Wasilla, Alaska. Kernell is accused of resetting the e-mail account password, making screenshots of contents and posting some information on public websites.

Bristol Palin testified that she had to turn her phone over to investigators and went without cell phone service for weeks because she couldn't sign a new contract as a 17-year-old. . After court ended for the day, Kernell was asked by WMC-TV of Memphis what he thought of Bristol Palin. He replied, "She's not my type."

Knox News: Palin's daughter: Crank calls started after e-mail account compromised

Politics Sarah Palin News Gender Tennessee

Olbermann's Anger Cancels Donny Deutsch’s “America the Angry” Series

In a segment entitled "America the Angry," MSNBC's Donny Deutsch questioned the media's role in the rising tide of enraged anger sweeping across the nation. Too bad for those of us interested in a public discussion of the obvious, Deutsch and his series were axed after he included one of MSNBC's own in a clip of leading perpetrators in the media-driven hate fest. (Speaking of perps, Deutsch was filling in for the indefinitely suspended MSNBC bad boy David Shuster.)

Apparently, you are not allowed to criticize Keith Olbermann on the air at MSNBC, lest the reigning drama king lose his famed temper. This is not the liberal media we were waiting for:

A weeklong anchoring stint on MSNBC by Donny Deutsch ended abruptly on Wednesday, and four people briefed on the decision said the cancellation stemmed from an unflattering mention of that channel’s No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, a day earlier.

Mr. Deutsch had labeled his hour on MSNBC “America the Angry,” and Mr. Olbermann was shown briefly in a series of clips of media figures during a segment that pondered what role the media plays in fomenting the public’s anger. The four people briefed on MSNBC’s decision said Mr. Olbermann’s anger about the segment prompted the cancellation of the weeklong “America the Angry” series.

Politics Liberal Media News MSNBC

Obama Sends Mixed Messages on DADT

This thing needs to get done before November else people are going to be holding some very serious grudges against the promise breaker:

As LGBT activists grow more desperate to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” before the midterm elections, a picture is emerging of a divided White House where President Barack Obama’s own words are sometimes odds with the message his administration is sending about repeal.

Repeal advocates feel a simultaneous sense of urgency and possibility, since they are only two to three votes away from having the 15 votes necessary to enfold a repeal measure into the DOD authorization bill in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Successfully attaching the measure in committee would put the onus on opponents of repeal to find the 60 votes in order to strip it out on the Senate floor.

“We have 12 to 13 firm votes for repeal,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. . . “We need the president to become actively engaged in this vote, not unlike the way he is engaged with financial services reform right now,” he said.

Politics Gay News Don't Ask Don't Tell Gender

Roman Polanski Begs Obama for Mercy

Famed director and privileged child-rapist Roman Polanski got French President Nicolas Sarkozy to hand-deliver a letter to President Obama last week. The pedophile was begging Obama for mercy. Polanski wasted his time and his ink. Barack Obama will never grant him mercy. This President doesn't even like to take a stand on the easy ones.

"It is unclear what Polanski or President Sarkozy, for that matter, think that Obama might be able or willing to do for a man who has acknowledged giving a Quaalude and champagne to a 13-year-old girl he then sodomized."

Politics Feminist Rape News

White House Closes Lafayete Park Due to DADT Protesters, Kicks Out Media

What the White House doesn't want you to see: "President Obama, It's Time for Leadership. End Don't Ask, Don't Tell Now." And six gay and lesbian veterans handcuffed to the White House Gates.



Most transparent White House ever... Police chased reporters away from the White House and closed Lafayette Park today in response to a gay rights protest in which several service members in full uniform handcuffed themselves to the White House gate to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." People who have covered the White House for years tell me that's an extremely unusual thing to do in an area that regularly features protests.

Pam Spalding: In a move that suggests the White House is feeling the heat on its slow-motion approach toward repealing DADT, it's now resorted to trying to stop press coverage of direct actions.
Update: Video of Arrests

Politics Gay News LGBT

Catalyst: UnEqual Pay Day (Video)

Happy UnEqual Pay Day, today's the day that women's earnings catch up to what men made last year, not much to be happy about. After all these many years, women earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. We are stuck in Inequality. Catalyst has the numbers . . .


Politics Feminist News Gender Pay Gap

Gay Activists Heckle Obama at Barbara Boxer Fundraiser

This is the face of your pissed off president. It appears that President Obama doesn't like to be heckled.

LGBT activists (from GetEQUAL) repeatedly interrupted Obama's speech with chants urging the immediate repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell . . . repeatedly, right to the end of the tape.

Obama says don't bother him, leave him alone already, he'll get to it. Yeah, he'll get to it after the Pentagon studies it for a freaking year and after Republicans obliterate the Democratic majority in Congress. You aren't the only one who is pissed, Mr. President.

John Aravosis says these are the same folks who were with Lt Dan Choi when he handcuffed himself to the White House.



The AP has a video clip too, Towleroad has it and more. .
Update: DADT Protester Talks About Disrupting Obama Fundraiser for Boxer

Politics LGBT Activists News Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Hillary Clinton's Other Husbands

Quote of the Day

"I think she'd be a great Supreme Court judge. But I think she probably thinks that it'd be better if he appointed somebody younger. Although if you look, I mean, my mother-in-law's 91. I mean, Hillary's going to live to be 110. I joke with her all the time. She might have three husbands after me. You know, she's going to live forever."

-- Bill Clinton

Politics SCOTUS News Gender Supreme Court

Gun Rights Nuts Gather In D.C. on Oklahoma City Bombing Anniversary

You'd think these people could pick a better day. Marching for gun rights on "the anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history" sounds like a deranged and dangerous plan to me. President Obama signed a bill allowing gun nuts to carry guns in our national parks? Gawd. Even Reagan didn't go that far. Is there anything President Obama won't do for a little Republican love? The President should change his name to Wannabe Worse than Reagan.

At the Washington Monument, gun owners will gather in an unarmed rally to support gun rights called the "Second Amendment March." . . The March is almost vehemently unarmed. D.C. law doesn't allow the carrying of firearms, and organizers make it clear they don't think that carrying a gun is a necessary part of arguing for less restrictive gun laws. At the top of the list of the March's " official rules of conduct" is, "NO UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF FIREARMS."

The same can't be said of another event held just outside town today at Ft. Hunt National Park in northern Virgina. According to the Washington Post, protesters at the "Restore The Constitution" rally will take advantage of new gun laws signed by President Obama allowing the carrying of firearms in national parks to make an armed stand for liberty today. .

Even groups inclined to agree with Almond under other circumstances are not amused by his plan to gather armed men with grudges against the government in the shadow of the Capitol on the fifteenth anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.

Politics Obama News Reagan

Sarah Palin Coming to Knoxville for E-mail Hacker Trial

Sarah Palin is coming to Knoxville, Tennessee to testify in the infamous Yahoo E-mail Hacker case. The case of the college student hacking into Sarah Palin's Yahoo account (2 months before the election) goes to trial this week.

The alleged perpetrator is then student David Kernell, son of Democratic Tennessee State Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis. Palin wrote about the incident in her book, calling it: "'the most disruptive and discouraging' incident in the campaign . . it 'created paralysis' in her state office."

David Kernell is 22 years old:

David Kernell has put college on hold to deal with the charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty to all four counts: identity theft, wire fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer in furtherance of aiding and abetting the same offense, and obstruction of justice.

Politics Democratic News Tennessee Sarah Palin

Sexism Is Funny? (Video)

File this one under Sexist Idiots in High Places. Thomas Mitchell, editor of Nevada's largest newspaper, wrote a lame, not funny, column suggesting that women should lose the right to vote: "Time to repeal the 19th Amendment?" [via Washington Monthly]

The idiot's biggest complaint is that most women vote Democratic. Um, that would be because the Democratic Party is the way lesser of the two evil parties and most women know that. (Women in the House - 73: 56D, 17R; Women in the Senate - 17: 13D, 4R.) I can't wait for the day when the Dems have to scramble to keep up with an actual liberal feminist party. We're not there yet, but surely the day is coming soon, or else we're so doomed. But I digress.

In a subsequent column, Mitchell suggests he was only joking, he was being satirical, but no one got it. As support for the contention that sexism is one big hilarious oh so funny joke, Mitchell posts a not so funny video clip of Obama joking about sexism. But not racism. Like I said, self-centered sexist idiots.


Politics Feminist News Gender

Tennessee Lawmaker Advocates Vigilante Justice

Quote of the Day

"First of all, we know that Tennessee is one of the most violent states in the union. What we’re doing now of trying to protect our citizens is not working. So let’s let the good guys, those that go through the permitting process and are citizens who obey the law, let’s let them see if we can’t stop some of this violence that’s going on in our bars and in our restaurants."

Tennessee State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin)

The Tennessee lawmaker was making an argument on behalf of the Guns In Bars bill, a bill that would allow gun-nuts with easy-to-get permits to scare the bejesus out of ordinary Tennesseans by carrying guns into bars. I've heard arguments for vigilante justice before, but never from an actual duly elected lawmaker. I wonder what Nashville's finest think. This is a really bad and dangerous message for Rep. Casada or any lawmaker to be sending.

Politics Tennessee News Guns In Bars

Bill Clinton: It Was Anti-Government Rhetoric That Inspired McVeigh (Video)

Meanwhile the Arizona Governor just signed a gun bill allowing people and total nutjobs to carry concealed weapons, no permit necessary. Here in Tennessee, lawmakers are hard at work bringing back another law that would allow guns in bars. The last Guns In Bars law was ruled unconstitutional, but our cowboy lawmakers think (sic) they've found a way around that little problem. These are some of the yahoos who need to listen to Clinton. What would the Timothy McVeighs of the world do without this kind of assistance from lawmakers?

Bill Clinton Warns Critics & Tea Partiers: Think Progress: Fifteen years ago, a deranged anti-government extremist named Timothy McVeigh set off a truck bomb below the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children under the age of six. In a speech delivered at the Center for American Progress Action Fund today, President Clinton drew eerily parallels between that incident and the current atmosphere of right-wing, anti-government hatred.

Politics Feminist News Gender

The Evils of Capitalism: Padded Bras for Little Girls

Padded bras for 7 year olds and push-up bras for tweens, what is wrong with people?!%@!?? They've been recalled, at least in Britain, but only after the guilty parties were shamed into it:

Today in disspatches from obvious-land: 7-year-olds don't need padded bikinis. That's what the British clothing line Primark learned after it was lambasted by children's advocacy organizations for introducing a sparkly pink-and-gold bikini, complete with cleavage-boosting cups for the tween set. Primark removed the top from the racks yesterday, apologizing and donating any profits from the teeny-weeny bikinis to a children's charity. .

The bikini top is only the latest in a long line of sexualized products for children, from Tesco's ill-conceived kiddie stripper pole to "bralettes" for 6-year-olds and bikini waxes for prepubescent girls. Even the less outrageously explicit kids' toys have disturbingly grown-up undertones, like the scantily clad Bratz dolls. As Gigi Durham, author of "The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It," noted in her 2008 interview with Broadsheet, these marketing tactics are all kinds of bad news for kids. . .

Politics Feminist News Gender

Arkansas Judge Strikes Down Oppressive Adoption Ban

It's hard to keep up with all the oppressive laws in red states. Banning adoptions and foster parenting by gays and lesbians? They can't even get away with that here in the red state of Tennessee, though Republicans threaten it every year. Thanks to one lone judge -- Judge Piazza (read his ruling) -- the red state of Arkansas just took a step out of the very dark (conservative) ages:

LITTLE ROCK — A circuit judge Friday struck down a state law banning unmarried couples from adopting and serving as foster parents. . Piazza sided with the ACLU in its argument that the ban reduced the pool of potential adoptive and foster parents to the point where many children could go without homes. . The state had argued children are better off raised in traditional family settings, with married parents, and that the law should be upheld because it protects children from abuse and neglect.

Politics Gay News Gender

Obama Orders Hospitals to Honor Same-Sex Partner Rights

Under the new rule, hospitals must allow lesbian and gay persons to have visitation rights. This is the kind of rule change that everyone thought Obama would implement in the first days of his term instead of only months before an election which some fear will be a Democratic bloodbath. Better late than never.

The new LGBT family-friendly policy was inspired by the total creeps at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. The hospital refused to let a woman (who had power of attorney documents) visit her dying partner of 17 years. The couple's (Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond) 4 children were also barred. Their mother died alone. I think I'd rather die on the sidewalk than in such a cruel and soulless hospital. Obama called the surviving partner to tell her he was inspired by her sad story to issue the memorandum. There are a lot of questions about the actual enforcement of this directive when up against the kind of monsters found at Jackson Memorial in Miami. See:

Pam Spaulding: Breaking: Presidential memo boosts hospital rights of LGBT partners and their families

Update: Jackson Memorial Inhumane Hospital, in Miami Florida, has apparently changed its cruel policy:


Politics LGBT News Gay

J.K. Rowling: The Single Mother's Manifesto

J.K. Rowling, famed author of the Harry Potter books, recalls the 1990s, the days when she was a despised and stigmatized single mom in need of a friendly welfare state. Like many single moms, in both the U.K. and the U.S., J.K. Rowling has some very bad memories about the 1990s. As a despised and stigmatized single mom who lived in the U.S. during the 1990s, I can relate.

Very bad memories have something to do with why J.K. Rowling has never voted for a Tory. While Tories and Republicans seem equally horrendous to me, I cannot forget that here in the U.S., it was ultimately the Democrats who did the dirty work of shafting single moms via a welfare reform meant to punish women and bribe women to get to the chapel or else. But it's remarkable how pols in the U.K. and the U.S. use the same hateful talking points and policies against women. Oh wait, it's the patriarchy.

J.K. Rowling: The single mother's manifesto:

So here we are again, taking stock of where we are, and of where we would like to be, both as individuals and as a country. Personally, I keep having flashbacks to 1997, and not merely because of the most memorable election result in recent times. In January that year, I was a single parent with a four-year-old daughter, teaching part-time but living mainly on benefits, in a rented flat. Eleven months later, I was a published author who had secured a lucrative publishing deal in the US, and bought my first ever property: a three-bedroom house with a garden.

I had become a single mother when my first marriage split up in 1993. In one devastating stroke, I became a hate figure to a certain section of the press, and a bogeyman to the Tory Government. Peter Lilley, then Secretary of State at the DSS, had recently entertained the Conservative Party conference with a spoof Gilbert and Sullivan number, in which he decried “young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing list”. The Secretary of State for Wales, John Redwood, castigated single-parent families from St Mellons, Cardiff, as “one of the biggest social problems of our day”. (John Redwood has since divorced the mother of his children.) Women like me (for it is a curious fact that lone male parents are generally portrayed as heroes, whereas women left holding the baby are vilified) were, according to popular myth, a prime cause of social breakdown, and in it for all we could get: free money, state-funded accommodation, an easy life.

An easy life. Between 1993 and 1997 I did the job of two parents, qualified and then worked as a secondary school teacher, wrote one and a half novels and did the planning for a further five. For a while, I was clinically depressed. To be told, over and over again, that I was feckless, lazy — even immoral — did not help.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Women Who Take A Husband's Name Earn Less Money

Take your husband's name, or don't. Either way there will be negative consequences:

If you take your husband's name, you must be dependent and incompetent. If you don't, of course, you're a ball-busting feminist — or that even more pitiable creature, someone without a husband at all. And, in most cases, you still have a name that came down to you patrilineally anyway.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Poll: Tea Party is Angry White Male Club

Most Tea Party members are angry wealthy white educated married men over the age of 45, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found that one of the biggest gripes of the Tea Party crowd is the fear that the Obama Administration is disproportionately "helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich." That must be the fear of "Socialism." They may call themselves the Tea Party, but they sound like plain old selfish Republicans to me.

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45. . They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”

Politics Feminist News Gender