Midday open thread

• Tom DeLay's going to prison. Get your mockery on in Land of Enchantment's diary.
• Thrice-married, serial adulterer Newt Gingrich, also known as the great defender of marriage, concern trolls New York's passage of gay marriage, saying we're "drifting toward a terrible muddle."
• But that's nothing compared to Pat Robertson's reaction to teh gay marriage. Apparently, it makes God angry:
  

  In history there?s never been a civilization ever in history that has embraced homosexuality and turned away from traditional fidelity, traditional marriage, traditional child-rearing, and has survived. There isn?t one single civilization that has survived that openly embraced homosexuality.

  Thanks a lot, New York. Now we're doomed!

• Speaking of New York, apparently there was a celebration or something?
• Look out, Orrin Hatch. The teabaggers are coming for you.
• Whoa:
  

  Members of the House of Representatives reported up to $6.1 million in staff bonuses between January and March even as they debated spending cuts and came within minutes of shutting down the federal government over fiscal problems, a CNN investigation has found.

  At least one congressman gave thousands of dollars to his staff as he criticized other federal workers as being overpaid.

  So much for that whole "overpaid government workers" argument, right? Except it looks like Democrats are generous ones:

  Members of both political parties reported bonuses, though Democrats outspent Republicans, with up to $3.1 million in staff bonuses compared with $908,000 for GOP members. The remaining $2.1 million CNN found was disbursed by committees. Committee spokesmen did not respond or were not able to delineate between Democratic and Republican staff members.

• Maybe we need to start invading countries with cooler climates:

  The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion.

  That's more than NASA's budget. It's more than BP has paid so far for damage during the Gulf oil spill. It's what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.
  

• Via Andrew Sullivan, Joe McGinnis calls bullshit on the title of Sarah Palin's movie, "The Undefeated":
  

  She was defeated, most famously, in her run for vice president in 2008.

  Prior to that, she was defeated in her run for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002.

  Those are two defeats in tries for elective office.

  But Sarah?s history of defeat is much more extensive.

  She was defeated in the Miss Alaska pageant.

  She was defeated in four different attempts to graduate from college before she finally managed it at University of Idaho.

  She was defeated in her attempt to get a creationist majority elected to the Wasilla School Board in the early 1990?s.

  She was defeated in her attempt to have abortion banned at the Mat-Su Valley hospital.

  Before her election as Wasilla mayor, she was defeated when she applied for a position as dispatcher with the Palmer, Alaska, police department and was not hired.

  After her election as Wasilla mayor, she was defeated in her attempt to appoint Alaska Independence Party and John Birch Society member Steve Stoll to the city council.

  As mayor, she was defeated in her attempt to fire Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons in 1997, a move that nearly led to her recall.

  The list goes on. And on. And on.

• Huh?
  

  You may be aware that there has been one persistent question surrounding a passage of Bristol Palin?s new memoir wherein she describes her first ever sexual encounter, with then-boyfriend Levi Johnston, as being fueled by too many wine coolers. Was this young woman, people wanted to know, raped? Was she coerced into having sex? Could she have said no if she wanted to?

  Palin is addressing those concerns, telling USA Today that the drunken encounter was ?a dumb decision,? and sharing that she had agreed to it with the hope that she and Johnston would one day marry:
  

  I?m not accusing Levi of date rape by any means. I?m just honestly looking back on it with the eyes of an adult. That was five years ago, and I?m realizing that it was a dumb decision.

  Right. She's not accusing him of rape, just of getting her drunk on wine coolers and having sex with her when she was unconscious. But I guess her clarification makes sense. After all, under the Republican definition, that's not rape. It's just sort of rape-ish.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/PzVYxuQ4fD8/-Midday-open-thread

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