Rove: Champion of "traditional" divorce



Karl Rove is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, citing "5,000 years of understanding the institution of marriage" as his justification.  He also famously engineered multiple referenda to incorporate a ban on same-sex marriage into various states' constitutions in 2004 in order to ensure that so-called "Christian conservatives" and "value voters" who believe in "traditional marriage laws" would turn out and help re-elect George W. Bush.  Yet, like so many of his like-minded pious comrades, Rove seems far better at preaching the virtues of "traditional marriage" to others and exploiting them for political gain than he does adhering to those principles in his own life:  

Karl Rove granted divorce in Texas

Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, a family spokesperson said. Dana Perino, the spokesperson, said: “Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week. The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship" . . . A family friend told POLITICO: "After 24 years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage."

Rove obtained his divorce under Texas' "no-fault" divorce law, one of the most permissive in the nation.  That law basically allows any married couple to simply end their marriage because they feel like it.  Texas, needless to say, is one of the states which has constitutionally barred same-sex marriages, and has a Governor who explicitly cites Christian dogma as the reason to support that provision, yet the overwhelming majority of Texan citizens make sure that there's nothing in the law making their own marriages binding or permanent -- i.e., traditional.  They're willing to limit other people's marriage choices on moral grounds, but not their own, and thus have a law that lets them divorce whenever the mood strikes.  That's the very permissive, untraditional and un-Christian law that Rove just exploited in order to obtain his divorce.

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1. ew who would marry him
2. it's funny that his first wife was someone named Valerie

I just wanted to share with you all a site I discovered that has some pretty fun party playlists on it.

www.fratmusic.com

It's been having some difficulties lately, but it seems to be working fine now. It's just a simple little site with a couple of different party playlists, from techno and trance to hip-hop and rap, with even a classic rock playlist.

This is a pretty gem of a site, especially when I want to listen to a fun variety but I'm not at my computer or have my ipod available. So enjoy :)

It's especially useful ever since myspace bought out imeem.com and obliterated all my playlists over there. Bad myspace, baaaad.

p.s. also, I just wanna mention to all those who don't know, that I'm doing a song-a-week type journal, where I post a new song every week (ideally I would be posting every day, but alas, life gets the better of me sometimes). So also feel free to stop by my journal and/or friend me if you're in the mood to discover some new music :)

Dov Hikind, NY Assemblyman, Calls For Ethnic Profiling Bill (VIDEO)

In the wake of this past weekend's attempted terror bombing, Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind plans to reintroduce his 2005 bill that would allow police to use ethnic profiling to spot terrorists.

Hikind believes that ethnic profiling is not unconstitutional because "he says a 'compelling governmental interest' in using it to save lives."

Under Hikind's bill, race and ethnicity would be fair game for police officers when deciding who to stop, question and search.

Hikind says he personally does not believe in profiling, but "there are exceptional situations where you have to use exceptional means." He continues:

"We can go after 80-year-old men and women getting on a plane. But the reality is that you look at the profile of what terrorists have looked like, where they come from and so on and it just makes sense to use that along with other things."


We're not saying only look at one group. What we're saying is: Let's go with the odds. It makes sense. We do it in baseball, by the way. We do it in many other areas. It surely makes sense to do it if the possibility is there to save the lives of innocent people all over the world."

Mob retaliation possible after Rizzuto slaying

Mafia experts are warning of a potential organized crime war following reports that Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of Canada's most powerful mobster, has been killed in what they call a "shocking" murder.

Rizzuto — the eldest son of Vito Rizzuto, the so-called head of Canada's Mafia — was gunned down on Monday in broad daylight on a residential street in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood.

The brazen assassination took aim squarely at the entire Rizzuto clan and its leadership, not just Nick Jr., according to Antonio Nicaso, an author and expert on the Mafia.

Attacking an eldest son sends a clear message, and "this is an unprecedented challenge to the power of the Rizzuto clan family," Nicaso told CBC News.

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For some reason it continues to surprise people that Canada has gangs and mafia activity that doesn't involve smuggling maple syrup or something.

Iran detains Nobel laureate's sister

CNN) -- Iranian intelligence officials have detained the sister of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist said.

Ebadi said Monday that three men and a woman arrived at the Tehran home she shared with her sister, searched the house and seized Nushin Ebadi, 47, and her computer.

"They have detained her so I stop my work," Shirin Ebadi, 62, told CNN's Reza Sayah in a phone call from London. "She has done nothing wrong. She's not involved in human rights work, and she's never participated in any of the protests."
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Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) on Tuesday became the first lawmaker to call on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to resign after the recent attempted airline bombing.

The veteran member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee called for Napolitano's ouster in the wake of the attack on the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. 

Earlier this year, some Republicans called on Napolitano to step down after her agency issued a report warning of the dangers of right wing "extremists."

Burton made his remarks on Twitter:

Secretary Janet Napolitano should resign, saying ‘the system worked,’ undermines the confidence of Americans #redin #tcot

Napolitano came under fire after she said Sunday that "the system worked," noting the crew of Flight 253 "took appropriate action" to address the terrorist plot as it unfolded.

But her remarks were met with instant criticism, prompting the Homeland Security chief to clarify herself during a round of media appearances Monday morning.

The secretary then conceded on Monday that the system did not work. 

“Our system did not work in this instance," Napolitano told "The Today Show." "I think the comment is being taken out of context."

Other Republicans, such as House intelligence committee ranking member Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), have criticized the handling of the attempted bombing, saying that the administration has not done enough to address terrorist threats on the United States. 

The Obama administration and several congressional committees have said they will launch full investigations into the attack allegedly carried out by 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Abdul Farouk Adbulmutallab.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs over the weekend stressed that the attack should be a "nonpartisan issue."

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The comments. Oh the comments. Look at this little gem:
"Janet looks and acts like she should be doing the dishes and cleaning up at home…not running the security of our country…please…this administration is such a joke."

As an effort to overturn Proposition 8 makes its way to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco next month, a lingering question is whether the upcoming trial over same-sex marriage will be televised.

Such extensive coverage would be a first for a federal court in the Western states, as there has been a long tradition of prohibiting cameras or restricting them to oral arguments and the like.

A media coalition, including the major broadcast networks, Dow Jones & Co. and Hearst Corp., is asking U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker for permission to broadcast and webcast the proceedings, which are scheduled to begin Jan. 11, with cabler In Session (TruTV's daytime format, formerly known as Court TV News) providing the gavel-to-gavel pool.

The plaintiffs who are seeking to overturn Proposition 8, a state constitutional ban on gay nuptials that passed in California in 2008, do not object to the idea, nor do their attorneys, Ted Olson and David Boies.

But defenders of the proposition do object, citing that the exposure will subject witnesses and litigants to the "potential for intimidation" and that perhaps the "right to a fair trial will be undermined."

In a letter sent to Walker on Monday, their attorney, Charles Cooper, referred to the aftermath of the 2008 election, a time marked by protest rallies, marches and, in some cases, boycotts of those who contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign, including one website that identified donors and their addresses with a Google map overlay.

Indeed, some potential witnesses have indicated that they will not be willing to testify at all if the trial is broadcast or webcast beyond the courthouse," Cooper wrote.

The case, officially called Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, was filed in May by Olson and Boies, after marriage equality supporters exhausted their efforts before the state Supreme Court. A group of entertainment industry activists, including Rob Reiner, Bruce Cohen and Dustin Lance Black, are backing the effort via the American Foundation for Equal Rights, led by political consultant Chad Griffin.

Although there are no procedures in place for televised trials in the circuit, there has been a recent movement afoot to test the waters in federal civil cases that do not have a jury -- just what the Prop. 8 case is. Earlier this month, the Judicial Council for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an announcement that cameras would be allowed in such cases on an "experimental basis," citing the need to keep the public better educated about the judicial process. But such a move in the Prop. 8 case still has to be cleared with Walker.

Given the media interest, Walker already has made arrangements for an overflow courtroom with a closed-circuit feed, and will allow reporters to text and even tweet during the proceedings -- as long as it is not disruptive.

Attorney Thomas Burke, representing the media coalition, said that they anticipated there would be some opposition to the effort, but he noted that because the trial will be public, witnesses will be identified whether cameras are present or not.

Of Cooper's concerns over privacy, Burke said, "That is not an argument for a wholesale ban on coverage."

Burke added that their goal is to obtain "access in the broadest way" yet consistent with conditions placed on them by Walker.

Moreover, given the historic nature of the case, interest among the public in the details of the proceedings are significant, Burke suggested. "It is not about a crime or an individual," he said. "The issues in this case are political, social, religious. It has got it all."

www.variety.com/article/VR1118013160.html

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The birth mother of a 7-year-old Virginia girl must transfer custody of the child to the woman's former lesbian partner, a Vermont judge ruled, adding that it seems the woman has "disappeared" with her daughter.

Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ordered Lisa Miller of Winchester, Va., to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven at 1 p.m. Friday at the Virginia home of Jenkins' parents.

But in the Dec. 22 order denying Miller's request to delay the transfer of Isabella, Cohen wrote: "It appears that Ms. Miller has ceased contact with her attorneys and disappeared with the minor child."

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Source

Pressure rises to stop antibiotics in agriculture

FRANKENSTEIN, Mo. – The mystery started the day farmer Russ Kremer got between a jealous boar and a sow in heat.

The boar gored Kremer in the knee with a razor-sharp tusk. The burly pig farmer shrugged it off, figuring: "You pour the blood out of your boot and go on."

But Kremer's red-hot leg ballooned to double its size. A strep infection spread, threatening his life and baffling doctors. Two months of multiple antibiotics did virtually nothing.( Read more... )

 I've given myself one more week to be holed up in my mind like this.  I work better with time frames.  It's like my body's moving, but I'm not. 

Hey, guys. I'm doing some writing about Hindi films for an audience who I can't assume has any prior knowledge of the topic or of the language, and I'm running into a bit of a problem. I'm trying to give a brief translation of the movie titles just in parentheses, but I don't really know what to do when the movie title is just the name of a character. Is there some kind of set protocol for what to do in this case? I'm not sure how much space each movie I'm mentioning is going to get.

The Boston Molasses Disaster.

I'm sorry to hear about that.

they are great except for the fact that i do not have a dick so i do not get to do anything dirty with them.

They're a bunch of cultural illiterates.

I ate some sugar and now my right eyeball is pulsating. Please GOD make it stop!

Does anyone know of a place to ride horses in Austin or Round Rock, etc.? Not looking for lessons, just a place to take my boyfriend to ride on a trail with a guide. Thanks!

Howdy all-

Someone asked me and I didn't know, so I thought I'd pass along the question: Best place in Austin for pork or beef stew?

TIA!