Midafternoon Madness Continues

Well, we found out why Ben Nelson is acting like an asshole on financial reform. His wife owns $6 million in Berkshire Hathaway which we learned yesterday owns about $30 billion in derivatives. What if there was a conflict-of-interest law, probably no Senator--all multimillioniares--could actually vote on anything having to do with commerce.

Great news! On May 29, here in D.C. we have the first Birther March sponsored by the original birther a 9/11 truther, disbarred lawyer Phil Berg. They are combining the march with a protest against Healthcare Reform, saying that since Obama is not eligible the law is unconstitutional. So we'll have Joe Biden sign it and say it's a "Big F***king Deal".

The Final arguments for the Prop.8 trial has been set for June 16th. They are still hassling over a move by the defense to strike Dr. Tam's testimony. He's the evangelical who argued homosexuals are pedophiles and other noxious things. The other dispute has to do with the motion by the pro-gay lawyers to have the names of the supporters for the Proposition named. Here there is alot of big money from Mormans and the evangelicals involved and they are arguing there will be physical retribution by the gay community if the names are released.

The Orange County Republican Party is in deep trouble because they deceived people into registering as Republicans.

Governor Christie of New Jersey has sunk to a 33% approval rating--not bad for less than a year in office. 18,000 students have organized to protest teacher lay-offs and cuts in budgets for 600 districts. The New Jersey equivalent of the CBO has analyzed Christie's budget and found that lower income familes, senior citizens, and the young will be hurt the most by his budget cuts, while the only beneficiaries are people earning over $500,000 a year. They will earn a few hundred more off their taxes. This is the man George Will and Marc "Torture Man" Thiessen believes should run for President.

Steven King,Christianist Republican from Iowa, defended the Arizona immigration law as an "example of American exceptionalism". Fellow Iowa Republican Rep. Bertoche, running in the 3rd District,wants microchips implanted in immigrants so we'll know where they are. A Christianist himself, he seems to be at odds with his co-religionists who have outlawed the practice in Virginia and Georgia because it means putting the "mark of the beast" on people. Perhaps, there will be an ecumenical meeting on the matters.

The cities of Phoenix and Tucson among others are going to fight the law. It seems there has been a negative economic impact already and the cops are up in arms on having to enforce it. Meanwhile, the state says it needs federal agents to train 12,000 law enforcement officers on how to apply the law. Word from Washington so far has been lukewarm.

Ohio however wants an Arizona-style immigration law of their own. Perhaps to catch all the illegal Canucks. Meanwhile, in California, Republicans want all children of illegal immigrants deported.

Oklahoma has overruled the Governor's veto of the abortion laws. Civil liberty groups are going to sue. The law calls for vaginal probes of pregnant women to produce sonograms of fetuses, which will be shown to the woman prior to any abortion. Then the law protects doctors from malpractice suits if the physician happens to neglect the fetus has birth defects. Let's recall abortion is a constitutionally protected medical procedure. Apparently, some people are having difficulty with that concept.

Florida's Charlie Crist is going to run as an independent and should say so within the hour. This would create a three-way race with Rubio and Meeks. Crist also reacted to the Gulf Oil spill by declaring he is now against off-shore drilling because it's too dangerous.