Steve Schmidt argues for Gay Marriage – effectively ends his career as a Republican strategist

Steve Schmidt may not have done a wonderful job as a strategist for the John McCain presidential campaign, but here’s a tip of the cap to him for standing up to his party and encouraging them to accept gay marriage:

“It cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un American or threatens the rights of others,” he says in the speech. “On the contrary, it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence — liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

A bold move by Schmidt. A bold move that pretty much ends his career in the current Republican regime, which is flying so fast to the right that they should be completely out of site by the 2010 elections.

–WKW

Dog Day Afternoon

A day in the life of the Wolfrum dogs:

Max and Afonso feeling entitled to some table scraps.

Duchess with her life partner.

Jack, just being Jack.

–WKW

QOTD: Linda Hogan deserves death threats from the Hulk

“If I go lay down on 6th Ave., and I get run over, it’s my fault.”

– Jonna Spilbor on Fox News’ “Kelly’s Court,” explaining that Linda Hogan’s wife pushed Hulk Hogan’s buttons enough to deserve his comments of “understanding O.J.”

–WKW

Conservative cries of victimization over DHS report is one huge lie, or stupidity of the highest order

While I’m aware that you’ll never get rich betting on the intelligence of many conservative squawkers, I find it almost impossible to believe that they believe the nonsense they are spouting about the recent DHS report.

Tom Maguire via John Cole via Sully:

Uh huh – the problem with this DHS study is not that they are threatening extra-Constitutional surveillance and interrogation of people; it is that they are coming very close to attempting to criminalize non-violent political dissent. That is deeply problematic even if they do it with all the proper warrants.

Honestly, these people just can’t be that stupid. They must know that this report is from the Bush Administration. They must know that they are talking about Tim McVeighs, skinheads and the like. And they must know that this report is parroting other reports with titles such as “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11.”

This is faux outrage of the highest order and any cries of victimization from the right in regards to the report should be met with contempt and ridicule. Unless I’m wrong and they really are that stupid.

–WKW

Don’t mess with Rachel Maddow

When you’re a sitting U.S. Senator who brags that he told his family to make a run on the banks, you would be wise to avoid messing with Rachel Maddow.

–WKW

Another Pirate (Bay) attack thwarted

The world of file-sharing has taken a big hit, as the four men who run The Pirate Bay have been heavily fined and sentenced to jail.

Four men connected to The Pirate Bay, the world’s most notorious file sharing site, were convicted by a Swedish court Friday of contributory copyright infringement, and each sentenced to a year in prison.

Pirate Bay administrators Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde were found guilty in the case, along with Carl Lundström, who was accused of funding the 5-year-old operation.

In addition to jail time, the defendants were ordered to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million) to a handful of entertainment companies, including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros, EMI and Columbia Pictures, for the infringement of 33 specific movie and music properties tracked by industry investigators

Sunde, The Pirate Bay’s spokesman, announced the news over Twitter Friday morning before the verdict was official. He remained defiant, and offered comfort to supporters. “Stay calm — Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing whatsoever. This is just a theater for the media.”

The two week trial, which ended March 2, was a joint civil and criminal proceeding that pitted the entertainment industry and the government against the four defendants, who each faced up to two years in prison and fines as high as $180,000. In addition, motion picture and record companies sought $13 million in damages for the 33 movies and music tracks at issue.

The site remains up, and the battle over P2P file sharing remains far from over.

–WKW

When the Geneva Conventions meant something

Waterboarding was designated as illegal by U.S. generals in the Vietnam War. On January 21, 1968, The Washington Post published a controversial photograph of an American soldier supervising the waterboarding of a North Vietnamese POW near Da Nang. The article described the practice as “fairly common.” The photograph led to the soldier being court-martialled by a U.S. military court within one month of its publication, and he was thrown out of the army. Another waterboarding photograph of the same scene is also exhibited in the War Remnants Museum at Ho Chi Minh City.

My initial thoughts on Barack Obama giving refusing to charge CIA officers for their part in torturing “enemy combatants” is that it was the right call. They were just following orders. But, you know what, so was John Demjanjuk.

–WKW

Exclusive photo of singing sensation Susan Boyle after her makeover!!

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with us? Susan Boyle bursts on the scene with a wonderful personality, heartwarming story and brilliant voice, and the biggest story to come out of it is that everyone wants to give her a makeover. I’d be willing to guarantee that the producers of “The Bachelorette” have already contacted her in the hopes of getting her kissed.

Here’s hoping Ms. Boyle avoids being Americanized and enjoys her new career as a singer instead.

–WKW

If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have no reason to worry about your lack of privacy

Glenn Greenwald, June 21, 2008:

The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President’s power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it “fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home” because “the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power.” Rep. Rush Holt — who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers — condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the “bad guys” in the very people who do the spying.

New York Times, Yesterday:

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

How does that argument go again? Oh yeah: If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. At least, that used to be popular conservative thinking.

–WKW

Time to redefine the word “sea”

Hyper-macho-man Mark Hemingway posted this photo of the tea bagging party in Washington D.C.:

Hemingway’s caption: “Approaching the crowd, it was just a sea of umbrellas. ”

That word may not mean what he believes it to mean.

–WKW

Statement from William K. Wolfrum: “My God, you people are slobs”

William K. Wolfrum made this statement to his supporters at 3 p.m.

“My friends, after reading George Will’s recent diatribe against Americans wearing denim, a question popped into my mind – Why are Americans such pathetic slobs?

Obviously wearing Levis is just one of the many reasons. But it’s a pretty big one. As Will wrote: ‘This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don’t wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.’

Will is dead-on here, and in fact has unearthed the main reason for America’s economic slump – We don’t dress for success. Therefore, following Will’s lead, I have decided to point out what should now be considered proper dress for Americans.

For Men:

For Women:

People, denim is destroying society. As Will points out, hard-working Americans of the past had every right to wear jeans. Today’s country-club-lounging Americans haven’t earned the right to wear work pants:

“Today it is silly for Americans whose closest approximation of physical labor consists of loading their bags of clubs into golf carts to go around in public dressed for driving steers up the Chisholm Trail to the railhead in Abilene,” writes Will.

So, my friends, I implore you – stop being such jean-wearing, golfing slobs. It’s unbecoming. To quote Edwin Burke: “If you wear Levis and aren’t panning for gold, then you deserve to be totally screwed over by Wall Street.”

Thank you for your time and I have retained counsel on this matter.”

–WKW

Investigations? Yeah, we’ll get right on that

A Spanish prosecutor has advised that a Spanish court drop its investigation of six former officials in the administration of U.S. George W. Bush for alleged torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

If alleged torture at Guantanamo is going to be investigated at all, that should be done first in the United States, so that the former American officials would have a chance to defend themselves there, Conde-Pumpido added, according to his press chief, Fernando Noya.

So rest easy, Bushies. There will never be any investigations into anything you did.

–WKW

Numbers

Number of people that attended Tea Bag Protests: 225,481

Votes Stephen Colbert Received in NASA “Help Name Node” poll: 230,539

–WKW

A brave Tiger Woods shows greed is still good at the Tavistock Cup

(Note: This is something that I wrote a couple week’s ago that didn’t quite make it past WorldGolf.com’s editing process. It happens.)

When Tiger Woods made his comeback to the PGA Tour a couple weeks ago, most figured that he would take it easy. This is Tiger Woods we’re talking about, however. As we speak, Tiger is rubbing elbows with the nation’s elite at the Tavistock Cup – a tournament masquerading as some great charity event, that is, in fact, a chance for rich folks to watch the world’s best golfers without having to deal with annoying non-elites.

Started by tax cheat Joe Louis, the Tavistock Cup is played at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and hosted by the Tavistock Group. What’s the Tavistock Group? Why not check the FAQs:

Tavistock Group is a privately held investment company, founded by Joe Lewis, with diverse holdings in real estate, life sciences companies, financial services, oil and gas investments, manufacturing, and consumer goods and retail companies. The group’s exclusive residential club communities include the top-rated Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, Old Fort Bay in the Bahamas, and the exclusive Isleworth Golf & Country Club. Tavistock Group has also announced a new development in partnership with Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, called Albany, an ultra-private, residential, golf and resort-style community on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas.

To put it in layman’s terms, the Tavistock Cup is none of your damned business, peasant. Just hope Tiger’s knee holds up while he works on his game and financial portfolio and don’t ask any questions. Because the Tavistock Group may not be as rich as it was last year, but it’s still far too elite to deal with the likes of you.

–WKW

Texas Governor threatens to secede – Downside, Civil war, Upside: George Bush becomes a foreigner

Coming from a state that values creation in its public schools, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that Texas Governor Rick Perry is unaware how badly things worked out for the last U.S. states that took a shot at secession. Even though, you know, Texas was one of those states.

It’s not something that should be dismissed out of hand, however. Texas seceding means famous Texas rancher George W. Bush becomes a foreigner. So maybe it’s something to consider.

–WKW

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