++Before Andrew Sullivan got smashed yesterday at Stonewall,he penned a moving, patriotic piece about what the day meant to him. People, even in the gay community, always said he was crazy to advocate same sex marriage as he has done over the years way before anyone thought this was a mainstream idea and they also said America was too bigoted to elect a black President. His piece is entitled "I Believe" because he saw. Congratulations for a struggle well-waged,Andrew.
++Court observers have since read Kennedy's majority opinion ruling DOMA unconstitutional and realized that it established the seeds of the argument when the Court will have to rule same-sex marriage the law of the land. The time frame is estimated at 4 to 5 years. Judge Scalia in his raving dissent thinks it will be sooner.
++Little mentioned is that the California Prop 8 case now rests with Judge Walker's original and wonderfully argued decision. Jesuit-trained Jerry Brown has ordered all county officials in California to ready the marriage licenses when the time is ready, which will be about 24 days from now.
++Rep. Steve Chabot asked the CBO to score the reversal of DOMA, expecting it would cost money. The CBO estimates it will save $450 million a year on the federal budget. Fox News Business claimed it will make social security costs soar.
++Rand Paul demonstrating his presidential qualifications said that the court decisions will lead to humans marrying non-humans. Senator Cornyn thinks that people will marry "turtles".
++Mike Huckabee said that Jesus wept. Dan Savage said "I wept too".
++I thought NOM, the National Organization for Marriage had a delightfully bizarre statement. The slammed the Court's rogue decision and they said that millions of Americans will ignore it. Sure, because millions are heterosexual and it doesn't affect them.
++The Mormon Church, the Catholic Bishops, and the Fundamentalists all worried about what the decision will mean to "religious freedom". "Will the Bible be banned as hate speech?" said one fundamentalist. Meanwhile, the National Cathedral rang its bells when the court decisions were announced and the Episcopal, Unitarian, Presbyterian also rang their bells here in the Beltway.
++Chuck Hagel immediately announced that gay couples in the military would have all the rights and benefits of others. President Obama said he expected federal benefits would be extended across state lines into those jurisdictions where same sex marriages are now allowed. Gay activists say that this is easiest for the IRS and federal income taxes but that with Social Security and survival benefits this will take a little juggling.
++E.J. Dionne wants to remind us in today's Washington Post that whatever joys the Roberts Court provided with the gay decisions it is still ruthlessly trying to turn us back to the Gilded Age in terms of economic matters. His column is worth a read.
++Thom Hartman gave an excellent analysis that the United States is heading to a two society country analogous to the pre-civil war period. He points out the disparity between states with same sex marriage, health care innovations, labor rights and those who he calls the Reagan Red States who will move rapidly with the neutering of the Voters Rights Act to put up barriers to minority participation in government.
++Republicans have been very tepid about correcting Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. Nancy Pelosi wants to introduce a bill the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill to restore protections for minority voters. Eric Cantor voiced support for a Voting Rights Act, citing his trip to Selma with John Lewis. John Sensenbrenner, a Republican House member, said that prejudice and racism are still roadblocks to voting and wants the act revamped. John Boehner says the House doesn't have time--(especially before 2014) and Lindsey Graham says that South Carolina has progressed so far that there is no need for a Voting Rights Act.
++Meanwhile in Texas, Rick Perry has called a "special session" of the Texas Senate on July 1 for the sole purpose of passing the draconian anti-abortion bill since the GOP was caught out trying to fudge the vote after Wendy Davis' filibuster.
++Chris Christie signaled he would run by denouncing the same sex decisions of the Supreme Court. I am also betting on Rick Perry making another run on the Christianist Nationalist Platform.
++Meanwhile we may be heading to immigration reform in the Senate today as that body keeps passing the 60 vote margins on everything from the border surge to cloture votes. The game here in D.C. is whether the House would ever pass such a thing. John Boehner has been warned by the Republican Caucus that his job is endangered if he allows a bill to be brought to the floor without a majority of Republicans supporting it. Will he break the Hastert rule again, which would enable the House to pass the Senate bill? Stay tuned.
++Can the Republican Party overcome its epistemic closure? There are some voices in op-eds urging them to deal with immigration reform and not to engage in cultural warfare because the tide has changed on these issues. I am not hopeful because there is a counter-push to double down on efforts to increase their white support, which the gutting of the Voters Rights Act gives them ample motivation. But remember they aren't running against Barack Obama anymore--although they did run against FDR until 1960.
Showing posts with label DOMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DOMA. Show all posts
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
SCOTUS TOMORROW
++SCOTUS couldn't deal with affirmative action in this court. It thought it made a compromise solution on the Voting Rights Act by affirming it with gutting Section 4 which makes Section 5 dormant as Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote. So what about the gay rights cases?
++Remember the huff and puff on whether Prop 8 gang has "standing"? I expect a weasel worded decision that in effect allows same sex marriage to stand in California but be limited to that state. One way to do this is to argue the "standing" issue and affirm the lower court's decision with specific words about it only applying to California.
++DOMA could be the landmark case. Here Judge Kennedy raised the fundamental issue of whether Congress had the constitutional right to pass any law concerning marriage since this is not the purview of the federal government. The Obama decision didn't defend the law but instead allowed the House to mount a defense of it. The implications are wide-ranging for benefits of spouses in same sex states. Since the issue in this case revolves around a widow of a same sex spouse getting hit up with estate taxes I expect DOMA to be struck down.
++But in the long-run public opinion is running so far ahead of the Court and that any negative decision will not have an impact that can not be over-run by state's passing laws to protect same sex couples.
++The Voting Rights decision is awful. The court made a point that in its 50 years it was successful. So if it works, you must gut. The advocates of voter suppression will take the decision and run with it for the next two elections. The problem now is that individuals deprived on voting rights must sue individually so the burden falls on the suppressed voter.
++President Obama and Joe Biden ripped the decision immediately and vowed to correct the situation. Nancy Pelosi did the same and Senate Democrats also vowed immediate action. But no Republicans have come to the support of the ACT. Instead, House Southerners hailed it and the conservative blogs thought it was fair. So much for outreach.
++Remember the huff and puff on whether Prop 8 gang has "standing"? I expect a weasel worded decision that in effect allows same sex marriage to stand in California but be limited to that state. One way to do this is to argue the "standing" issue and affirm the lower court's decision with specific words about it only applying to California.
++DOMA could be the landmark case. Here Judge Kennedy raised the fundamental issue of whether Congress had the constitutional right to pass any law concerning marriage since this is not the purview of the federal government. The Obama decision didn't defend the law but instead allowed the House to mount a defense of it. The implications are wide-ranging for benefits of spouses in same sex states. Since the issue in this case revolves around a widow of a same sex spouse getting hit up with estate taxes I expect DOMA to be struck down.
++But in the long-run public opinion is running so far ahead of the Court and that any negative decision will not have an impact that can not be over-run by state's passing laws to protect same sex couples.
++The Voting Rights decision is awful. The court made a point that in its 50 years it was successful. So if it works, you must gut. The advocates of voter suppression will take the decision and run with it for the next two elections. The problem now is that individuals deprived on voting rights must sue individually so the burden falls on the suppressed voter.
++President Obama and Joe Biden ripped the decision immediately and vowed to correct the situation. Nancy Pelosi did the same and Senate Democrats also vowed immediate action. But no Republicans have come to the support of the ACT. Instead, House Southerners hailed it and the conservative blogs thought it was fair. So much for outreach.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Domestic Affairs
++Gay D-Day is approaching, according to Scotusblog. Decisions on DOMA and same sex marriage will be delivered by June 24th according to court observers. President Obama is sending ENDA back up to the Senate for a vote to end employment discrimination against gays. Marco Rubio says it is alright to fire someone because he is gay and will remove himself from supporting Immigration Reform if gay immigrants are included.
++On immigration, Senator Grassley is putting the slow-motion moves on the bill by his version of mini-filibusters on Amendments. The Gang of 8 slapped down Marco Rubio when he said he supported Cornyn's amendment about beefing up border security before the normalization of undocumented workers begins. According to the amendment you can always say the Border is not completely secure and delay the process indefinitely. Harry Reid called it a poison pill. Now Rubio claims normalization should come first so that the fees aid by undocumented workers could finance the border fence.
++The nativist factions of the GOP are trying to kill immigration reform in the House. Rep. Steve King tweeted this week that his office had been occupied by self-proclaimed illegal aliens. He was, of course, talking about the Dream generation kids who have a stay in their deportation because of President Obama's executive order. King also went to Russia on a fact-finding mission on the Boston Bomber and came home concerned that Chechens were given residence in the United States without vetting from the FBI. Michelle Bachmann, Steven King and Louis Gohmert have called for a rally against "Amnesty" and a series of "Lincoln-Douglas" debates on immigration. Despite all this, John Boehner claims immigration reform could pass by the end of the year. Given the lack of issues for the GOP in 2014, this seems dubious to me. Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter are pointing to the demographics that whites are dying at rates higher than they are being replaced as an argument against immigration reform. Others say if the GOP doesn't get on the train, they are doomed in all national elections. Supporters of immigration reform are concerned that the price of pursuing citizenship will be too high for the undocumented who are here. The House last week voted to deport all undocumented workers here. Good Luck with that.
++The GOP continues to gut Obamacare. The Senate ,fueled by the IRS scandal,wants to make sure that the IRS has nothing to do with figuring out the subsidy for healthcare to low-income workers or the tax on those Americans with a Cadillac healthcare plan. The GOP is putting out rumors that healthcare would be too expensive for Congress and their staffers if Obamacare is enacted. Conservatives are citing Democrat Max Baucus that implementing Obamacare will be a "train wreck". Others are arguing that younger males will see their insurance bill sky-rocket.
++Meanwhile, California has pleasantly surprised by showing that insurance rates are plummeting because of Obamacare. Arizona's Jan Brewer has extended Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act, which will cover an additional 300,000 in the state. While Ohio is balking at Obamacare by saying it will increase the health insurance premiums.So far,no news on my own.
++You can see this train coming down the track. The GOP is preparing for 2014 on the issues of Obamacare,Abortion and Obama's culture of corruption.
++The House is about to pass a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks in all fifty state,including Washington,D.C. Gov. Walker has signed a new abortion bill that requires a transvaginal probe, mirroring Virginia's botched attempt of the same. The ACLU has announced 2013 as the worst year for reproductive rights as states like Ohio continue their march to ban abortion. The Virgina state GOP ticket this year is a trifecta of anti-choice candidates that make the present governor look like a moderate.
++On immigration, Senator Grassley is putting the slow-motion moves on the bill by his version of mini-filibusters on Amendments. The Gang of 8 slapped down Marco Rubio when he said he supported Cornyn's amendment about beefing up border security before the normalization of undocumented workers begins. According to the amendment you can always say the Border is not completely secure and delay the process indefinitely. Harry Reid called it a poison pill. Now Rubio claims normalization should come first so that the fees aid by undocumented workers could finance the border fence.
++The nativist factions of the GOP are trying to kill immigration reform in the House. Rep. Steve King tweeted this week that his office had been occupied by self-proclaimed illegal aliens. He was, of course, talking about the Dream generation kids who have a stay in their deportation because of President Obama's executive order. King also went to Russia on a fact-finding mission on the Boston Bomber and came home concerned that Chechens were given residence in the United States without vetting from the FBI. Michelle Bachmann, Steven King and Louis Gohmert have called for a rally against "Amnesty" and a series of "Lincoln-Douglas" debates on immigration. Despite all this, John Boehner claims immigration reform could pass by the end of the year. Given the lack of issues for the GOP in 2014, this seems dubious to me. Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter are pointing to the demographics that whites are dying at rates higher than they are being replaced as an argument against immigration reform. Others say if the GOP doesn't get on the train, they are doomed in all national elections. Supporters of immigration reform are concerned that the price of pursuing citizenship will be too high for the undocumented who are here. The House last week voted to deport all undocumented workers here. Good Luck with that.
++The GOP continues to gut Obamacare. The Senate ,fueled by the IRS scandal,wants to make sure that the IRS has nothing to do with figuring out the subsidy for healthcare to low-income workers or the tax on those Americans with a Cadillac healthcare plan. The GOP is putting out rumors that healthcare would be too expensive for Congress and their staffers if Obamacare is enacted. Conservatives are citing Democrat Max Baucus that implementing Obamacare will be a "train wreck". Others are arguing that younger males will see their insurance bill sky-rocket.
++Meanwhile, California has pleasantly surprised by showing that insurance rates are plummeting because of Obamacare. Arizona's Jan Brewer has extended Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act, which will cover an additional 300,000 in the state. While Ohio is balking at Obamacare by saying it will increase the health insurance premiums.So far,no news on my own.
++You can see this train coming down the track. The GOP is preparing for 2014 on the issues of Obamacare,Abortion and Obama's culture of corruption.
++The House is about to pass a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks in all fifty state,including Washington,D.C. Gov. Walker has signed a new abortion bill that requires a transvaginal probe, mirroring Virginia's botched attempt of the same. The ACLU has announced 2013 as the worst year for reproductive rights as states like Ohio continue their march to ban abortion. The Virgina state GOP ticket this year is a trifecta of anti-choice candidates that make the present governor look like a moderate.
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