Morning News 5/27/10

Serious Balls. JMG tells us this morning that Lt. Dan Choi and Captain James Pietrangelo have gone on a hunger strike to demand an immediate end to DADT.

She carries the Sandra Day O'Conner seal of approval. Former justice approves of Elena Kagan.

No, Just No. Israel plans to divert, deport activists who attempt to break three-year Gaza blockade.

Great Parenting Skills You've Got There. Video of a real smoking toddler lit up the internet yesterday. MSNBC quotes the two-year-old's father:

"I'm not worried about his health, he looks healthy," shrugged the boy's father Mohammad Rizal. "He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted." 

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Whew! I Think. Los Angeles Times reports that initial results in the BP "Top Kill" effort are working.

(Thanks to all my glamorous readers. Consider following The Flaming Chef. It's a low-sodium alternative to reading the damn paper or turning on the idiot box.)

Chris Geidner is Calm and Smart: A Blog Recommendation

Regarding my tendency to shake my tiny fist in rage, I would like to offer a reading recommendation to the screaming hordes who would kill themselves instantly if I stopped blogging for even one second.

Law Dork has some great pictures from yesterday, which was a major one for LGBTQ activism.

There were the Don't Ask Don't Tell hearings in Congress.

There was Dan Choi and James Pietrangelo's civil disobedience and arrest at the White House.

Also, members of the new group Get Equal got arrested as a result of their sit-in at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, demanding that she call a floor vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Chris has marvelous photos of all three of these events.

Chris Geidner's blog, Law Dork is well worth keeping tabs on. He is the senior political writer with DC's Metro Weekly and his level-headed analysis provides necessary perspective on some of the angrier blogs out there.

Evening News 3/18/10

Fess Parker died today at age 85.

"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree
Kilt him a bar, when he was only three
Davey, Davey Crocket, king of the wild frontier..."

--from the Ballad of Davey Crocket
Music by George Bruns
Lyrics by Tom W. Blackburn

You can hear the whole song here.


The Democrats are still considering passing health care reform.

More on Dan Choi's arrest. I heard earlier that he crashed the HRC rally where Kathy Griffin was speaking before his arrest. She didn't mind though, tweeting later, "I dig that dude."

More about Get Equal, the group that staged Choi and Pietrangelo's disobedience. They also staged a sit-in in Nancy Pelosi's office today. They said they weren't going to leave until Pelosi committed to bring the Employment NonDiscrimination Act to the floor for a vote, or until they are arrested.

It reminds me of the good old days.

Well Spoken Cutie Pie, Definitely Arrested

In an update to my earlier post, Lt. Dan Choi was arrested today while protesters chanted:

"What do we want?
Equality!
When do we want it?
Now!"

I have embedded the footage Joel Silberman uploaded to youtube.




There is some more footage on Joel Silberman's youtube channel of Choi and fellow soldier James Pietrangelo leading the protestors in the pledge of allegiance. Check it out and rate it and thanks Joel, for posting it.