Way to go US DEMS--- thanks (ass holes)

House Dems Reject Obama-GOP Tax Deal

The Senate appears headed toward approval of President Obama’s controversial fiscal deal with Republicans amidst an uproar by Democratic members of the House. This week, Obama agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and reduce the estate tax in return for a 13-month extension of jobless benefits and a handful of tax credits for low- and moderate-income Americans. According to the New York Times, at least a quarter of the tax savings under the deal will go to the wealthiest one percent of the population. The only group that will see its taxes increase are the nation’s lowest-paid workers. The Senate has scheduled a test vote on Monday after opening debate on the measure last night. Meanwhile in the House, the Democratic caucus passed a non-binding measure denouncing the tax deal. At the White House, President Obama urged lawmakers to drop their opposition.

President Obama: "The average American family will start 2011 knowing that there will be more money to pay the bills each month, more money to pay for tuition, more money to raise their children. But if this framework fails, the reverse is true. Americans would see it in smaller paychecks that would have the effect of fewer jobs. So as we meet here today to talk about one important facet of our economic strategy for the future, I urge members of Congress to move forward on this essential priority."

Senate GOP Blocks "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" Repeal, DREAM Act, 9/11 Settlement

The U.S. Senate has failed to advance a measure that would repeal the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." On Thursday, the Senate fell three votes short of advancing a military spending bill with a repeal provision attached. The vote raises the prospect that the ban will not be repealed before Republicans take over the House and weaken the Democrats’ Senate majority next month. In another vote, Republicans also blocked a measure to advance the DREAM Act, a provision that would grant undocumented young people a chance at citizenship. Republicans also blocked a measure to provide up to $7.4 billion to workers sickened during the cleanup at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks. The measure passed the House earlier this year.

Court Rules No Gay Marriages Pending Appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court put same-sex weddings in California on hold indefinitely Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state's gay marriage ban.

The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trumped a lower court judge's order that would have allowed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday.

Lawyers for the two gay couples that challenged the ban said Monday they would not appeal the panel's decision on the stay to the U.S. Supreme Court. They said they were satisfied the appeals court had agreed to expedite its consideration of the Proposition 8 case by scheduling oral arguments for the week of Dec. 6.

Ann Coulter To Headline 'Homocon' Event For Gay Conservatives

One of the more ridiculous things I have read:

Conservative pundit and unlikely gay ally Ann Coulter is set to headline the first annual Homocon, "a party to celebrate gay conservatives" put on by GOProud, the "only national organization representing gay conservatives." The festivities are scheduled to take place in New York City on September 25.

"The gay left has done their best to take all the fun out of politics, with their endless list of boycotts and protests. Homocon is going to be our annual effort to counter the 'no fun police' on the left," said Christopher Barron, Chairman of the Board of GOProud, in a statement. "I can't think of any conservative more fun to headline our inaugural party then the self-professed 'right-wing Judy Garland' - Ann Coulter."

"I can promise you, Homocon 2010 will be a hell of a lot more fun than chaining yourself to the White House fence," Baron pledged, making light of an incident earlier this year where gay soldiers protesting the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy chained themselves to the gates of the White House.

In choosing Coulter, the organizers of GOProud appear willing to ignore her past transgressions against the gay community. The conservative pundit was condemned by gay-rights groups in 2007 when shenotoriously called then-Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards a "faggot."

And earlier this year, Coulter railed against "irritating lesbian" Constance McMillen for challenging the sanctimony of heterosexual-only proms.

But Coulter's selection probably won't be surprising to many gay rights groups who have pointed out that GOProud sometimes exhibits self-destructive behavior. Earlier this year, the gay conservative group planned a fundraiser with Doug Manchester, a California businessman and hotelier who donated $125,000 to anti-gay marriage Proposition 8.

That fundraiser was held earlier this month in an event that GOProud called an effort by Manchester to "make financial amends with the gay community," which had mounted a boycott of Manchester's hotels and accused him of treating his gay employees poorly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/06/ann-coulter-to-headline-a_n_673313.html

Stone Wall Riots.

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries.^{[note 1][2]} Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.