What if the Tea Party was black?

Argentina

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner reflects on the passage of gay marriage.

If we think that 50 years ago women couldn't vote, and that it hasn't been that long since interracial marriage was prohibited in the United States, and that here in Argentina the only way to marry was through the Church, and we see how all that changed, then we can say that this has been a positive step that defends the rights of the minority."

It really is that simple. But change doesn't come easy. In America, interracial marriage was opposed by more or less the same people who oppose our own President, the result of such a marriage, today.

It will hardly surprise regular readers of this blog that in Argentina, the most vicious rhetoric against gay marriage came from the nation's cardinal, Jorge Bergoglio.

Regarding same-sex marriage advocates, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, stated in a letter sent to several monasteries in the province that, "theirs is not a simple political struggle, it is about their intentions to destroy God's plan," he stated.

In the letter, Bergoglio warned about a situation "that might gravely damage the family."

"The family's identity and survival is what's at stake here. Mom, dad, and their children," he said, while adding that "the lives of many children are in danger of being discriminated and deprived, before hand, of the human maturing that God professed involving a mother and a father."

"What's at stake is a blatant rejection to God's law, which is branded in our hearts," he explained.

Bergoglio accused the bill of being more than just "a simple legislative instrument" and said it was "a move by the devil, looking to confuse and deceive all children of God."

It's all rather strange. The man who appointed Bergoglio, Pope John Paul II  (likely to be named an antipope in 100 years), covered up the systematic rape of children, a crime about which Bergoglio has been strangely silent, no doubt because his new boss, Benedict XVI, was in charge of the operation. So the idea of a consensual relationship between two adult males is termed satanic, while the coverup of nonconsensual adult-child "relationships" is accepted, even praised.

Small wonder that Argentines turned their collective back on the Church on this matter. I understand that in some corners, that's referred to as the work of the Holy Spirit.

From a letter from Keynes to FDR

The quote comes courtesy of an anonymous reader of the New York Times. The full letter is available here.

"You are engaged on a double task, Recovery and Reform;--recovery from the slump and the passage of those business and social reforms which are long overdue. For the first, speed and quick results are essential. The second may be urgent too; but haste will be injurious, and wisdom of long-range purpose is more necessary than immediate achievement. It will be through raising high the prestige of your administration by success in short-range Recovery, that you will have the driving force to accomplish long-range Reform. On the other hand, even wise and necessary Reform may, in some respects, impede and complicate Recovery. For it will upset the confidence of the business world and weaken their existing motives to action, before you have had time to put other motives in their place."

Guided by an arrogant, visionless and possibly corrupt economic team and an arrogant, visionless chief of staff, Obama chose a weak, watered down stimulus that promised a double dip recession. Now we're on the cusp of a second downturn.

Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are still the greatest team the United States has had in 40 years. The Republican Party is hellbent on keeping enough Americans jobless for political gain. Progressive legislation will falter no matter which party actually runs Congress from 2011-2012 (the filibuster-proof majority, already gone, will be further reduced in the Senate,  and Blue Dogs will join the "America Must Fail Under A Black President" party on any votes that matter).   It is, therefore, hard to see reform or recovery any time soon. Thanks, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Rahm Emmanuel!

"We invite you with open arms to our wonderful country"

A FIFA promo for the 2010 World Cup.

Best lines ever in a Bond film?

Way up there, in any case. This is the scene in Casino Royale where Bond first meets Felicity Shagwell Vesper Lynd:

From today's DOMA opinion

A wonderful section from conservative Nixon-appointee Joseph Tauro's decision:

And even within the narrower class of heterosexual married couples, this court cannot apprehend any rational relationship between DOMA and the goal of nationwide consistency. As noted above, eligibility requirements for heterosexual marriage vary by state, but the federal government nonetheless recognizes any heterosexual marriage, which a couple has validly entered pursuant to the laws of the state that issued the license. For example, a thirteen year-old female and a fourteen year-old male, who have the consent of their parents, can obtain a valid marriage in the state of New Hampshire. Though this court knows of no other state in the country that would sanction such a marriage, the federal government recognizes it as valid simply because New Hampshire has declared it to be so. [...]

In fact, as Plaintiffs suggest, DOMA seems to inject complexity into an otherwise straightforward administrative task by sundering the class of state-sanctioned marriages into two, those that are valid for federal purposes and those that are not. As such, this court finds the suggestion of potential administrative burden in distributing marriage-based benefits to be an utterly unpersuasive excuse for the classification created by DOMA. [...]

As irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest, this court must hold that Section 3 of DOMA as applied to Plaintiffs violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

BOOYAH.

Now, if he had only waited till after the election. Also, someone call Scott Brown and find out if the nude model turned Senator agrees.