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BREAKING: Washington State Senate Passes Marriage Equality | A little more than an hour ago, a bipartisan group of Washington State Senators voted 28-21 in favor of marriage equality.  The state senate was widely seen as the biggest hurdle to marriage equality and passage by the state house should follow.  Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) urged the state house to pass the bill so she could sign it immediately:

Tonight the Washington State Senate stood up for what is right and told all families in our state that they are equal and that the state cannot be in the business of discrimination. I believe that this decision should be made by our state Legislature, and I’m proud our elected leaders recognized that responsibility.

Tonight our families are better for this vote. Our kids have a brighter future for this bill. And our state is better for this bill. I encourage the House to approve this bill and get it to my desk for my signature. I look forward to the day when all Washington citizens have equal opportunity to marry the person they love.

Opponents of marriage equality have vowed to seek the 120,000-plus signatures necessary to force a statewide referendum on the measure.

Climate Progress

Groundhog Decade: We’re Stuck in a Bad Movie, Where It’s Always the Hottest Decade on Record

By Joe Romm on Feb 1, 2012 at 7:49 pm

Somewhere on a Hollywood movie set for Groundhog Day, Part 2: Bill Murray wakes up to find he’s just lived through the hottest decade on record, just as he did in the 1990s, just as he did in the 1980s. And he keeps waking up in the hottest decade on record, until he gains the kind of maturity and wisdom that can only come from doing the same damn thing over and over and over again with no change in the result. Ah, if only life were like a movie.

Somewhere in PA: Punxsutawney Phil saw the shadow of unrestricted fossil-fuel pollution from Homo “sapiens” sapiens today. That means global warming for another six thousand weeks — and then some (see NOAA: Climate change “largely irreversible for 1000 years,” with permanent Dust Bowls in Southwest and around the globe).

If we keep listening to the siren song of delay, delay, delay from the anti-science, pro-pollution crowd and their enablers, then eventually people aren’t going to go through this elaborate charade of wondering whether some large rodent in Pennsylvania can predict the weather — the forecast will always be the same, “bloody hot”:

Read more

Alyssa

Family Research Council’s Anti-’Old Republic’ Hysteria Carries Homophobia To Its Logical Conclusion

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Feb 1, 2012 at 6:36 pm

The Family Research Council, an organization plagued by the fear that someone, sometime might be getting away with something fun, has gone after Star Wars: The Old Republic, because the game allows players to choose to have their characters be in same-sex relationships. As Tony Perkins said in his radio broadcast:

In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it’s launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that “gay” and “lesbian” don’t exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t. On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments–a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!

First, to bring the geek and the sexual orientation history, saying that our same sexual orientation identity categories don’t exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away isn’t remotely the same thing as saying that males and females of any of the Star Wars universe species don’t form same-gender relationships. Sexual orientation is a relatively new concept, but dudes and dudes or ladies and ladies? Not so much.

But I really think things like this are useful because of the way they illustrate right-wing fears and the right wing agenda. Folks like the Family Research Council are invested in declaring that sexual orientation is a choice because then they can push back against the idea of legal protections for LGBT people. But they also would prefer for the possibility of same-sex relationships to be eradicated and made illegal on the off chance that someone actually chooses to be in one, that someone might decide that a relationship with someone of their own gender is more satisfying on every level than a heterosexual relationship. That’s the real terror here, that the vision right-wingers are offering of a mother, father, and however many kids you get if you don’t use birth control might not appeal to everyone. Trying to keep gay relationships illegal or unrecognized, in video games or in the real world, is a last-ditch effort you make when you’re afraid your own messaging isn’t working.

Politics

Two Alabama Tea Party Candidates Run On Platform Of Impeaching Obama

By Adam Peck on Feb 1, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Tea Party candidates Pete Riehm (left) and Dean Young (right)

Two Tea Party candidates in Alabama challenging Rep. Jo Bonner (R) in a GOP primary vowed yesterday to impeach President Obama, if elected.

At a candidate forum hosted by the tea party group Common Sense Campaign, both Pete Riehm and Dean Young were asked if they would introduce articles of impeachment against President Obama, and both replied “yes” to loud applause, according to the Mobile Press-Register.

“First, I would cut off his funding. If that didn’t work, I would introduce a resolution describing what he’s done wrong. The last resort, which I am willing to take, would be to impeach him,” Young explained further. Riehm was equally unapologetic, saying, “failure to recognize wrong-doing is moral dereliction and, when you have the authority, failure to uphold the law is accessory to the crime.” Among President Obama’s crimes, argues Riehm, is his failure to defend the Defense of Marriage Act and failure to enforce federal laws on immigration and elections.

Bonner was quick to distance himself the comments, saying impeachment “is a serious charge, and you better have good reasons before making it.” Even the forum moderator, conservative columnist Quin Hillyer, dismissed the idea as “pure demagoguery.”

Climate Progress

Anti-Fracking Activists Poach the X Games Half Pipe Competition

By Stephen Lacey on Feb 1, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Shaun White sails over a group of fractivists. Photo: Eric Allen, Colorado Independent

I’ve seen plenty of people kicked out of X Games and other snow sports events for a variety of things. But getting kicked out for energy-related activism is a new one to me.

At the X Games in Aspen, Colorado this week, a group of a dozen young activists brought in anti-fracking signs and held a live, prime-time protest against natural gas fracking operations in Colorado during the men’s superpipe event. The signs read “Rig Free for You and Me” and “Stop Frac’ing Colo.”

If you don’t pay attention to the Winter X Games, it’s the premier event for extreme snow sports like freestyle snowboarding and skiing. In other words, a perfect nationally-televised event for raising awareness about an issue. The Colorado Independent talked to the young “Fracktivists” after their successful protest:

The ESPN Winter X Games provided an ideal venue, the activists said, to educate an extremely large and youthful crowd about fracking — a method of extracting natural gas and oil by breaking rocks with a pressurized mixture of fluids. The protestors specifically sought to raise awareness of the threat of drilling in the nearby roadless area of Thompson Divide and energy plays on the other side of the Elk Mountains in the North Fork Valley.

More than once, private security guards tried to physically remove DeVore and his signs from Buttermilk Mountain, where the Winter X Games were held, but he stood his ground. After the competition was over and the awards ceremony began, Pitkin County sheriff’s deputies approached DeVore, informed him that he was on private property and that he could avoid arrest if he left the grounds immediately. He did. But not before lifting his “Don’t Frac It Up” sign high for all to see.

Colorado has a growing number of activist groups focused on fracking issues, including the Thompson Divide Coalition, which is working to stop oil and gas drilling on federal lands in the Thompson Divide Area in central Colorado. Last year, Colorado passed a law requiring companies to disclose chemicals used in the fracking process.

Economy

How Romney’s Economic Policies Would Disproportionately Hurt Hispanic Families

By Marie Diamond on Feb 1, 2012 at 5:55 pm

Despite having the most virulently anti-immigrant platform in the GOP field, Mitt Romney won Florida’s primary handily last night, even capturing a majority of Hispanic voters. Vanessa Cárdenas, Director of Progress 2050 at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, writes that Romney’s strategy to sway Latino voters has been to deflect criticism from his immigration policies by arguing that his economic plans would benefit Hispanic families.

But in her new report, Cárdenas points out that these policies “are out of step with the interests of the Latino community and in fact would hurt more than help.” For instance, his plan to privatize Social Security would disproportionately hurt Latinos who depend on the program for a large chunk of their income:

Latinos rely on Social Security for more of their retirement income and benefit over a longer period of time than most other population groups because of their longer life spans. Because a large number of Hispanics tend to have lower wages and less pension coverage, over 3/4 of Latinos rely on Social Security for at least half of their income.

Approximately 45 percent rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income, while about 38 percent rely on it for all of their income. Twenty-eight percent of Hispanics under 18 who are poor live below the poverty level. Hispanics 65 years and over were 21.8 percent of those who live below poverty. Without Social Security more Latinos would be harmed across the country. Privatization would dismantle the safety net.

Additionally, Romney has pledged to roll back President Obama’s health care reform law, which would be a crippling blow to the 9 million Hispanics who currently lack health insurance. Romney’s proposal to block grant Medicaid would result in deep cuts to the “program that is at the crux of Latinos’ access to health care” and covers more than one in four Hispanics.

Facing criticism for not being conservative enough on many issues, Romney has consistently tried to outflank many of his opponents on the right when it comes to immigration. Among other things, he has vowed to veto the DREAM Act if he becomes president, which would deny undocumented students the chance to come out of hiding and get a college education or serve in the military. After one GOP debate in November, Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom essentially conceded that his candidate’s position was to make immigrants’ lives unbearable to force them to leave the country.

Politics

Gingrich Slams Romney: The Founding Fathers Believed In Equal Opportunity For The Poor

By Igor Volsky on Feb 1, 2012 at 5:45 pm

During a town hall event in Reno, Nevada Wednesday afternoon, Newt Gingrich lashed out at Mitt Romney for suggesting that helping the poor is not a priority. Gingrich quoted Romney’s remarks from CNN and explained, “it gives you a perfect distinction of our two approaches”:

GINGRICH: I’m fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other…the Founding Fathers wrote that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, among with are life and the pursuit of happiness. The Founding Fathers meant all of us. Let me shock the Wall Street crowd. The Founding Fathers meant the 1 percent, who they called Americans. The Founding Fathers meant the very poor, who they called Americans. My goal is to find steps for every American to have a job, every American to work, every American to buy a house. I believe America was founded on a dream that we are in fact created equal and we have a chance to go out and have a chance to pursue happiness and that nobody of any background should be denied.

Watch it:

Other Republicans are nudging Romney to reconsider his comments. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) — who endorsed Romney in 2008 — advised the former Massachusetts governor to “backtrack” and reframe his argument. “He needs to address it,” DeMint told Roll Call. “I think he needs to turn that around because — the middle class is key, and we have to focus on that. And, really, the problem with the middle class is not successful people, it’s politicians — but the key to making our country successful it to get everyone on that economic ladder.”

Still, despite all their new-found concern for the middle class and the poor, all three Republicans — Romney, Gingrich, and DeMint — support policies that would substantially undermine safety net programs and result in massive giveaways to upper-income earners and investors, while doing almost nothing for middle- and low-income Americans.

Climate Progress

Gasland Director Josh Fox’s Statement On His Fracking Hearing Arrest

By Guest Blogger on Feb 1, 2012 at 5:27 pm

Josh Fox, the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, has issued the following statement about his arrest in the U.S. Capitol today.

I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill. I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism. Today’s hearing in the House Energy and Environment subcommittee was called to examine EPAs findings that hydraulic fracturing fluids had contaminated groundwater in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming. I have a long history with the town of Pavillion and its residents who have maintained since 2008 that fracking has contaminated their water supply. I featured the stories of residents John Fenton, Louis Meeks and Jeff Locker in GASLAND and I have continued to document the catastrophic water contamination in Pavillion for the upcoming sequel GASLAND 2. It would seem that the Republican leadership was using this hearing to attack the three year Region 8 EPA investigation involving hundreds of samples and extensive water testing which ruled that Pavillion’s groundwater was a health hazard, contaminated by benzene at 50x the safe level and numerous other contaminants associated with gas drilling. Most importantly, EPA stated in this case that fracking was the likely cause.

As a filmmaker and journalist I have covered hundreds of public hearings, including Congressional hearings. It is my understanding that public speech is allowed to be filmed. Congress should be no exception. No one on Capitol Hill should regard themselves exempt from the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution states explicitly “Congress shall make no law…that infringes on the Freedom of the Press”. Which means that no subcommittee rule or regulation should prohibit a respectful journalist or citizen from recording a public hearing.

This was an act of civil disobedience, yes done in an impromptu fashion, but at the moment when they told me to turn off the cameras, I could not. I know my rights and I felt it was imperative to exercise them.

When I was led out of the hearing room in handcuffs, John Boehner’s pledge of transparency in congress was taken out with me.

The people of Pavillion deserve better. The thousands across the US who have documented cases of water contamination in fracking areas deserve their own hearing on Capitol Hill. They deserve the chance to testify in before Congress. The truth that fracking contaminates groundwater is out, and no amount of intimidation tactics –either outright challenges to science or the arrest of journalists –will put the genie back in the bottle. Such a brazen attempt to discredit and silence the EPA, the citizens of Pavillion and documentary filmmaking will ultimately fail and it is an affront to the health and integrity of Americans.

Lastly, in defense of my profession, I will state that many many Americans get their news from independent documentaries. The Hill should immediately move to make hearings and meetings accessible to independent journalists and not further obstruct the truth from being reported in the vivid and in-depth manner that is only achievable through long-form documentary filmmaking.

I will be thinking on this event further and will post further thoughts and developments.

I have been charged with “unlawful entry” and my court date is February 15.

Related Posts

Alyssa

The Way We Were in ‘The Atomic States of America’

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Feb 1, 2012 at 5:21 pm

The Atomic States of America, the documentary about nuclear power plants based on Kelly McMaster’s memoir Welcome to Shirley, is a timely post-Fukishima look at the risks and opportunities of America’s nuclear energy industry and the capture of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Congress and the monied interests that influence it. It also does something that I think can be hit or miss: using old footage to illustrate where our attitudes towards the issue were, and how much or how little they’ve changed.

The movie starts with a fifties-ish voiceover declaring nuclear energy “the answer to a dream as old as man himself.” The cadences may be different, but the pitch is similar to a recent ad included in the movie, when a cheerful, high-def suburban mom tells viewers “We need to reduce our reliance on foreign energy, and we need clean air.” In old movie footage, a woman with fabulously sequined glasses tells her girlfriends “I declare, with all these atomic plants going up, I wonder if a girl’s safe anymore. I hope they know what they’re doing.” Later, we meet Dr. Helen Caldicott, the life-long Australian anti-nuclear advocate recalling her life as “a medical nun,” then flash back to video her in chic seventies clothing, fighting the cause even back then. It’s hard to believe it’s possible, but it makes Ann Coulter even scarier to see her parrotting the idea that exposure to a little radiation is just dandy when you realize she’s part of an established line of thinking.

The use of those historical warning signs is particularly appropriate given that The Atomic States of America is a horror movie. “I just assumed there was some kind of mysterious curse—breast cancer, lung cancer, thyroid cancer,” McMaster says of her town. “It wasn’t until college when people kept saying ‘why are you going home for all these funerals’ that I realized things were a little different.” She’s not the only one whose trust in authority, be it lodged in industry or government, reaps terrible consequences. “We never really questioned nuclear power,” Eric Epstein, who runs Three Mile Island Alert, tells the audience. “That decision was made for us…I believed my Dad, and my Dad believed the industry.” It’s unfortuante that the movie doesn’t acknowledge that some of Dr. Ernest Sternglass’s research has been repudiated, and he has been accused of exaggerating results in his studies on the impact of radiation exposure. But he does provide a compelling explanation for why so many people in the scientific community and outside of it were so eager to believe in the promise of atomic energy: “We felt guilty, and what did we believe? That the peaceful atom was going to atone for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Justice

Iowa Gov. Branstad Falsely Claims Voter ID Is Needed Because People ‘Falsely Vote’

By Tanya Somanader on Feb 1, 2012 at 5:15 pm

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)

Iowa is joining the 26 states that are already looking to enforce harsher voter ID requirements this year. Succeeding to get a voter ID bill through the House last year, Iowa Secretary of State is set to try again and proposed a new measure last week. Quick with ready praise, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad declared the photo ID requirement a “good idea” to combat the apparent problem of people who “falsely vote”:

“I think it’s a good idea to protect the integrity of the voting process and prevent theft of personal identification,” Branstad, also a Republican, said during his weekly news conference Monday.

Under Schultz’s proposal, voters would be required to present a government- or university-issued photo ID before being allowed to cast a ballot, although it also contains exemptions allowing people without IDs to vote under certain circumstances. The Legislature has taken no formal action on the bill.

“We have had efforts in past elections where people falsely vote in an area where they’re not eligible,” Branstad said. “I think it’s important. I do support requiring identification.”

Of course, those “efforts” are conspicuously absent from Iowa’s — or even the U.S.’s — voting history. As Chairman of the State Government Committee Sen. Jeff Danielson (D) noted, “There’s no evidence that voter fraud is a problem in Iowa or has ever affected the outcome of an election.” Indeed, the Brennan Center for Justice noted that someone is statistically more likely to get struck by lightning than commit voter fraud. Even Schultz admitted when he unveiled the bill that “he didn’t know how common voter fraud was in Iowa but said it was important to close potential loopholes.”

What photo ID requirements like this do actually close is the opportunity for a significant number of Americans to use their right to vote. These voter laws disproportionately affect low-income voters, minorities, seniors, and students and could end up disenfranchising more than five million of them. But according to Branstad and Iowa Republicans, this ranks as just another “good idea.”

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