Marriage News Watch, 6/30/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:



Via Joe.My.God., the Mormon-run Deseret News provides this graphic showing the spread of pro-marriage rulings in the year since the Windsor ruling:

Click to enlarge.

Also in the news:

• After Hobby Lobby, Right-Wingers Pray Gays Are Next
• Supreme Court Declines to Review California’s Conversion Therapy Ban

Healthcare? You'll Have to Ask Your Boss

A message from the good folks at Hobby Lobby, praise the Lord:



Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which you should take a great interest in, no matter your age, race, orientation, or sex. Hobby Lobby (which takes in over $2 billion a year and employs 22,000 workers) is headquartered in Oklahoma City and owned by the family of founder David Green (net worth $5 billion), who has donated millions to the likes of Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts.

Green and company are asking the Supreme Court, in effect, to declare that corporations - under the legal fiction of corporate personhood - are entitled to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment, just like any natural person is. And that would mean that under Obamacare, Green or any other employer in America would not have to pay to cover your contraception expenses, or any other medical treatment that God doesn't approve of - according to their sacred, heartfelt beliefs.

Don't shrug this case off just because you're gay and never get even close to a vajayjay. Think about it, guys - some churches don't approve of vaccinations, psychological therapy, blood transfusions, or even of medical science in general (can you say faith healing?) - so if the Supremes buy Hobby Lobby's argument that they shouldn't have to pay for health insurance that covers anything they have a religious objection to, well, millions of people could be totally out of luck next time they need a doctor's care, or a medicine or procedure that offends somebody's notion of what God Almighty is all about.

This is part of the Republicans' war on women, but the implications extend much further, to men as well as children.  And the votes on the Court look to be evenly spread, with only Justice Kennedy between you and the blessings of theocracy. You really want the likes of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry deciding what your doctor can or can't do for you? Why is no one marching in the streets about this? Why are we even having this discussion in 2014? If you haven't paid attention to this case until now - better get up to speed, because it just might hit you right between the eyes, come the high court's ruling in June.

Scotusblog has numerous articles outlining and analyzing the issues. If you don't have time to read all that, at least watch what Rachel has to say about it - your health and maybe even your life depend on on what's going down at the Supreme Court.

Obamacare versus the Affordable Care Act

Honk to Wounded Bird.

The $200 Million Conspiracy to Shut Down the U.S. Government

Lucidly explained by Rachel and well worth your time, if you can stand the sheer horror of it:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update, 2:20 p.m.: Andrew Sullivan, via Joe.My.God.:

There is effectively no Republican party any more. There is a radical movement to destroy the modern American state and eviscerate its institutions in favor of restoring a mythical, elysian, majority-white, nineteenth-century past. This crisis is proving that more powerfully than even watching Fox. We need to see what is in front of our nose: a cold civil war has broken out between those properly called conservatives, defending the credit of the government, empirical reality, and adjustments to modern life and those properly called radical reactionaries declaring our current elected president and Senate as illegitimate actors, bent on the destruction of America, and therefore necessitating total political warfare, even to the point of threatening to destroy the global economy.

Update, 8:30 p.m.: Obama says he's "not paying a ransom" to Republicans who are "out of touch with reality":

Millions Flee Obamacare

As everyone knows, Obamacare starts open enrollment today, and House Assholes Republicans were unable to force its postponement in last-minute voting overnight. Consequently, the Interstates are jammed all across America today as tearful, angry, bewildered Tea Partiers desperately seek an escape route. Staff humorist Andy Borowitz reports on the wild scenes playing out across the country in the New Yorker - a must read:

Millions Flee Obamacare

Meanwhile, all you liberal sheeple, as we are so graciously known by the demented lemmings on the Right, can go enroll in a low-cost health care plan at HealthCare.gov right now - no matter where you live in the country. Even if your state has officially rejected Obamacare and all that goes with it, you can still get coverage. Even if, like me, you live in Bumfuck, Texas.

Horrifying, isn't it?

Related news: In his inimitable way, Jon Stuart skewers and roasts the intransigent Republicans who have now forced the federal government to shut down, with about a million employees out of work immediately, with no pay, and at a cost to the economy of billions of dollars in suspended government services.

I can't get the episode to embed properly, but go watch it here.

I say kudos to the President and the Democratic leadership for having the balls to stand up to the sorry bastards. We saw in the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011 that playing Mr. Nice Guy just doesn't work with these thugs. The one-year Obamacare delay is just a ruse - they will keep postponing every year from now till Kingdom Come if they get away with it this time.

Oh but don't worry - all your Congresspeeps continue to get paid their $174,000 annual salaries right on schedule, of course. And enjoy full coverage of their platinum-plated government-sponsored health care plans - totally free of charge.

What's wrong with this fucking picture?

Show and Tell

Your Head Trucker has been given to understand that these particular images are very popular on that Facebook thing now, which I suppose must be something like television, only with still pictures, maybe? Never have used it myself, and see no need for it, but these are worth a look:

 

 

Get Ready for Obamacare

A friendly little presentation about our soon-to-be wonderful new nationwide healthcare program half-hearted attempt at national health insurance - not even close to what it should be, but at least it's a start. Maybe in another generation or so, we'll catch up with Canada and the rest of the civilized world. I hope.