Watch: Michele Bachmann Whines About Obama Being ‘Condescending’ Toward Her During Christmas Party

I’m not going to lie, a part of me is going to miss having Michele Bachmann as a member of our Congress. Not because I think she did a good job as one of our nation’s representatives, but because she was just so absolutely ridiculous. In my opinion, I’m not sure if anyone personifies the tea party movement any better than Bachmann. Someone who just rambles off incoherent talking points that make absolutely no sense, but they sound fantastic to people who don’t like to think for themselves.

Oh, yeah – and everything is President Obama’s fault. In fact, that should really be the motto of the tea party. No matter what’s going in on your life, just blame Obama.

Well, as most of you probably know Bachmann’s last days as a congresswoman are upon us. But before she could make her exit from Washington to take a gig at Fox News and retire as a public representative, she had one last congressional Christmas party to attend. And apparently she had one last crucial piece of advice to give to the president…

Bomb Iran.

No, seriously, that was her last bit of “advice” to President Obama:

“The president smiled, and he was fairly condescending and patronizing and said, ‘Well, it’s not quite that easy, Michele. But that’s okay,’ like I’m just, you know, an idiot and I don’t know anything.”

Poor, poor Michele. It seems the president was a bit condescending toward someone who’s spent the last six years lying and fear-mongering against him to such levels that she has one of the most abysmal ratings for telling the truth of anyone on the fact checking site Politifact.

Not only that, but “bomb Iran” is an awfully stupid piece of advice. That in and of itself proves how little she understands about the world in which we live. You don’t just “bomb Iran.” That’s something some backwoods idiot who thinks they can overthrow the government with ammunition and guns they bought at their local Walmart says. Yet this woman served in Congress for eight years.

It’s terrifying that someone this ridiculous represented this nation for that long.

But I loved how she felt the need to go on Fox News and whine about President Obama dismissing her idiotic “advice.” Did she expect him to say, “You know what, I never thought about that Michele. I think I’m going to do that – thank you”?

Typically when someone who’s very intelligent is approached by someone who isn’t with some kind of asinine comment, it’s really difficult not to be at least a tad bit condescending. Especially when it’s someone like Michele Bachmann who’s structured a large part of her political career around lying about the president.

And while I’d like to say Bachmann’s exit will be the last we will hear from this buffoon, it’s only a matter of time before she takes her place where most ex-GOP politicians go, as a Fox News paid contributor.

Because nothing says “fair and balanced’ quite like employing nearly every single high-profile former Republican member of Congress.

Watch her comments below via Fox News:

NOM: We're Super-Boycotting Starbucks

"The pro-same-sex marriage corporate behemoth Starbucks has taken its ideologically-driven LGBT agenda to a new level with a new ad featuring two reality TV star drag queens. The ad feature Bianca Del Rio and Adore Delano, two drag queens from a reality TV show on the LGBT network, OUTtv. Thus Starbucks continues to serve up a healthy dose of ideology added in with the cream and sugar in its cups of coffee. It's as good a reason as ever to Dump Starbucks if you haven't made the commitment to do so already." - From an unsigned post on NOM's blog. The post links to their boycott page, which after three years shows a measly 70K signatures, which is about as many Starbucks customers served every single day just in the company's hometown of Seattle. (Each Starbucks serves about 500 customers a day and there are currently about 140 stores in Seattle.)

Brian Brown Vs Evan Wolfson

Last weekend Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson faced down hate group leader Brian Brown in an hour-long call-in show on C-SPAN. After you wade through Brown's opening bloviation, you'll get to a great statement by Wolfson.

UPDATE: OMG, the caller at 12:45.

UPDATE II: The caller at 29:30 is wonderful.

UPDATE III: At 43:00 Wolfson nails Brown on being at that anti-gay Kremlin conference.

Wolfson: "Mr. Brown was in Russia, people can go and look it up, for something called the World Conference [Congress] Of Families, that endorsed a resolution calling on other countries to adopt the same kind of vicious, brutal, sweeping anti-gay law that Putin's Russia just enacted that has launched a wave of thuggery and beatings in the street and discrimination against gay people in that country that is now seeking to export that kind of attack. That's not about marriage. That's about beating up and in some cases killing and licensing thuggery. Mr. Brown was part of that conference and that's part of the work he is doing."

Brown: "That's absolutely wrong."

Wolfson: "People can look it up. "

Brown: "His facts are absolutely wrong. All people can look up are Evan Wolfson's and Human Rights Campaign's absolute lies and slurs."

BOOM. That's EXACTLY what EVERY activist who debates Brian Brown should being saying. Huge props to Evan Wolfson

Koch brothers freak out in response to Rolling Stone expose

Tim Dickinson's fantastic expose of the Koch brothers in the latest issue of Rolling Stone has gotten plenty of attention. For very good reason: it's a well-sourced, deep dive into the very toxic—literally toxic—business that earned the Kochs enough money to buy up an entire political party. That and the wrongful death judgement, six felony and numerous misdemeanor convictions, the tens of millions of dollars in fines, and the trading with Iran are all included in the story, well worth your time.

No one has given it more attention, it seems, than the notoriously thin-skinned Kochs. In typical Koch fashion, they don't argue the facts of Dickinson's story. They attack Dickinson,who responds here. Here's the nut of his detailed response.

Koch, in particular, takes umbrage with my reporting practices. 

For the record: In the weeks prior to publication, beginning September 4th, Rolling Stone attempted to engage Koch Industries in a robust discussion of the issues raised in our reporting. Rolling Stone requested to interview CEO Charles Koch about his company's philosophy of Market Based Management; Ilia Bouchouev, who heads Koch's derivatives trading operations, about the company's trading practices; and top Koch lawyer Mark Holden about the company's significant legal and regulatory history. 

The requests to speak to Charles Koch and Bouchouev were simply ignored. Ultimately, only Holden responded on the record, only via e-mail and only after Holden baselessly insinuated that I had been given an "opposition research" document dump from the liberal activist David Brock. (This is false.) From my perspective as a reporter, Koch Industries is the most hostile and paranoid organization I've ever engaged with—and I've reported on Fox News. In a breach of ethics, Koch has also chosen to publish email correspondence characterizing the content of a telephone conversation that was, by Koch's own insistence, strictly off the record. […] 

[I]n the main, the Koch responses attempt to re-litigate closed cases — incidents where judges, juries, and, in one case, a Senate Select Committee, have already had a final say. They only muddy waters that have been clarified by a considered legal process.

Dickinson then provides an exhaustive, 14-point taken down of each of the Kochs' complaints about his story, including every instance in which the Kochs do not actually dispute the facts that he has reported, but attempt to obfuscate them and whine about that fact that he reported them. They also don't acknowledge that Dickinson attempted to give them the opportunity to talk to him about his story while reporting, but they refused.

The Kochs clearly do not stand up well to close scrutiny, and clearly are not prepared for it. For some reason, probably because they're richer than god, they seem to assume that they should be able to swoop into our political system and attempt to buy it without being subject to close examination. That attitude, along with their long history of abusing people, the environment, and the political system, is doing them no favors. They've made themselves the subject of this election, and if Democrats hold the Senate, it will largely be because the Kochs have made themselves such good enemies.

Creationist student challenges her anthropology professor, epic smackdown ensues

We all know the old creationist adage which claims evolution is simply just another “theory,” disqualifying it from being reliable as factual evidence.

Probably the most frustrating aspect of this argument is that it reveals the creationist’s lack of understanding of what the word “theory” actually means when applied to science – or most things in the real world for that matter.

It’s that misunderstanding that reveals itself in the video below when a student questions her professor, asking, “Why should we base the validity of all of our life’s beliefs on a theory?”

Needless to say, he was ready with an answer. Think he got through to her?

Watch:

DOJ: Losing Losers At NOM Deserve No Legal Fees For Their Losing Lawsuit

The Department of Justice has issued a blisteringly scornful response to NOM's demand for nearly $700K in attorneys' fees for their lawsuit over the accidental release of their tax return. Enjoy:

Despite losing all the significant issues in this case and settling a damages claim of hundreds of thousands of dollars for $50,000, the National Organization for Marriage, Inc. (“NOM”) now seeks over $691,000 in attorneys’ fees. The Court should deny NOM’s motion in its entirety. The Court need not delve into NOM’s massive bills and complex algorithms to determine a reasonable attorney fee, because NOM is not the “prevailing party” — either with respect to the amount in controversy or the most significant issue pled. Regarding the amount in controversy, NOM has cherry picked the actual damages it was claiming during the course of this suit and, in fact, received less than half of what it was claiming when all amounts are properly considered. Also, NOM’s view of the most significant issue is belied by the face of its sworn Verified Complaint. Under both analyses, therefore, NOM is not a prevailing party. The Court’s analysis should end there — NOM is not entitled to any attorneys’ fees. 

But even assuming, arguendo, that the Court were to determine that (a) NOM was the prevailing party, and (b) the United States was not substantially justified in defending this suit, NOM’s fee request is deficient in several respects. First, NOM incorrectly uses the Vienna Metro Matrix to determine a reasonable hourly fee for its seven timekeepers; federal law provides for a statutory cap on an attorneys’ hourly rate in such suits against the government. Second, the very request for over $691,000 in fees in order to collect a $50,000 settlement is facially unreasonable. There are also other deficiencies in NOM’s request, including the fact that counsel spent over a year preparing for, researching and drafting its Verified Complaint. Thus, if the Court were to even reach the issue of whether NOM’s fee request is reasonable, which it should not, the Court should significantly reduce NOM’s request and award it minimal fees.

HOUSTON: Divorce Records Show Wife Of Hate Group Leader Jonathan Saenz Left Him For Another Woman

Via Lone Star Q:

Mere months before Jonathan Saenz became president of the anti-gay group Texas Values, his wife left him for another woman, according to Hays County district court records obtained by Lone Star Q. The revelation could help explain Saenz’s seemingly abrupt transformation from socially conservative lobbyist to homophobic firebrand. Saenz, a devout Catholic, has been a right-wing operative in Texas for many years — working on abortion and religious liberty cases as a staff attorney for the Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute as far back as 2005. However, it wasn’t until recently that Saenz emerged as one of the state’s best-known — and most extreme — anti-LGBT voices. Court records indicate that Saenz’s ex-wife, Corrine Morris Rodriguez Saenz, is a member of the LGBT community who was dating another woman when she filed for divorce from Saenz in August 2011. In early 2012, with their divorce still pending, Saenz would take the helm of Texas Values after the organization spun off from the Liberty Legal Institute, where he’d risen to chief lobbyist.

According to the above-linked report, Saenz successfully petitioned a court to bar his ex-wife's girlfriend from being in the presence of his children. That order was apparently dropped when the divorce was finalized over a year later. He also reportedly tried to have his ex-wife jailed for refusing to undergo a psychological evaluation by a doctor who also evaluates sex offenders for the state of Texas.

NOM Boycott of Target is Epic Fail

A laughably measly 2583 people have signed NOM's boycott petition for Target since the retail giant submitted pro-gay marriage briefs last week in the states of Wisconsin and Indiana. NOM's 30-month-old boycott petition for Starbucks has yielded 68,745 names - a number that has scarcely budged in the last two years. Their 25-month-old boycott petition for General Mills petered out in the fall of 2012 and the current total of 27,612 names is only a couple of hundred more than a year ago. And of course, the more recent boycott petition for trillion-dollar international banking behemoth JP Morgan Chase remains stalled with barely more than 7000 names. Are you seeing the trend here?

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Post by Tyrese Gibson.

FOX News Host Tries to Shock Public with All-Gender Restrooms, Fails

Remember how Fox & Friends host Heather Nauert was so confused by Illinois State University's "all-gender" bathrooms that she and her staff laughed openly on camera? They thought that was a well worth going back to, so on Thursday host Steve Doocy took to the streets with a copy of the new bathroom sign and showed it to a collection of Fox News fans to get their feedback. When shown the male/female/trans emblems, their responses were jaw-dropping:

"Maybe a family restroom?"
"Restrooms for both genders."
"Transgender, that's right."

Shocking.

Responding to the viewer's lack of dismay, confusion, or moral outrage, host Brian Kilmeade snarked, "Well, they're better people than us."

And for once, a Fox News talking head said something factual.

Antigay Christians Fear Losing Their Jobs For Being Homophobic At Work

Woe is the antigay Christian in the American workplace.

Conservative Christians are in a state of absolute hysteria over what they fear is a rise in anti-Christian discrimination in the corporate sector, Slate reports.

Robert P. George, a professor at Princeton University and head of the International Commission on Religious Freedom, recently wrote a paranoid blog post that describes a survey reportedly circulated to employees at JPMorgan Chase asking whether they were:

1.) A person with disabilities

2.) A person with children with disabilities

3.) A person with a spouse/domestic partner with disabilities

4.) A member of the LGBT community

5.) An ally of the LGBT community, but not personally identifying as LGBT

As Slate points out, corporations send out surveys like this all the time for a variety of reasons, including to gauge diversity within the company, determine benefits needs of employees, and more. But according to George, the survey indicates a serious threat for homophobes.

He writes: “The message to all employees is perfectly clear: You are expected to fall into line with the approved and required thinking. Nothing short of assent is acceptable. Silent dissent will no longer be permitted.”

Really? Is that the message?

And George is not the only one freaking out.

NOM accused the survey of asking “highly-inappropriate questions” and using “tactics of intimidation.” Conservative blogger and drama queen Austin Ruse called the survey an “LGBT loyalty test” and claimed that Christians are being “bullied” and “coerced” and are now in “hostile territory at work” being held captive by a “dominant sexually correct mafia.” Rod Dreher of the American Conservative went so far as to ask: “Is JPMorgan Chase saying that no traditional Christians, Orthodox Jews, or Muslims need apply?”

We’re going to go out on a limb and say: No, that’s not what the company is saying.

Workplace discrimination against gay people is a very real problem in the United States. Federal law offers no employment protections for LGBT people, and it’s still legal in 29 states for an employer to fire someone simply for being gay. Workplace discrimination against Christians, however, is about as real as the great flood.

Someone needs to tell these buffoons to…

Love Always Wins!

Outside NOM’s Gala, GetEQUAL Wishes Brian Brown A Happy ‘Retirement’

After enduring many recent “traditional” marriage losses, after getting slapped down in federal court and losing to the IRS, after repeatedly being accused of “money laundering” and being found guilty unanimously of state campaign finance laws, and after an embarrassingly dismal turnout at the March for Marriage, is it time for Brian Brown to retire?

GetEQUAL seems to think so. Hours after the March for Marriage ended, GetEQUAL’s grassroots activists stood outside NOM’s gala last night and asked attendees to sign a “Happy Retirement” card for the National Organization For Marriage president.

And they, of course, filmed it.

Is Brown actually retiring? Not as far as we’re aware, but just how many losses can one leader have before a corporation says it’s time to go?

Same-sex marriage opponents rally at U.S. Capitol

Many of the estimated 2,000 people that attended a National Organization for Marriage rally held signs that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The sponsor of a proposed U.S. constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman on Thursday conceded opponents of gay nuptials are losing ground.

“We are falling behind in the struggle,” said Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp during the National Organization for Marriage’s March for Marriage that took place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. “Those who seek to destroy marriage by redefining it to mean anything — and thus mean nothing, are hard at work.”

Many of the estimated 2,000 people from across the country held NOM signs that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Others carried posters reading “each child deserves a father and a mother” in Spanish.

“When we hear time and time again from some in the media that the fight to protect marriage is over, we are here today to say no,” said NOM President Brian Brown. “We are here to say that no matter the circumstances, no matter how difficult it may be, we will stand in and out of season for the truth of marriage.”

San Francisco Roman Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New York state Sen. Ruben Díaz, Sr., Leanna Baumer of the Family Research Council and Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., are among those who spoke during the rally.

Campaign in Support of Oregon's Anti-gay ‘Religious Freedom’ Ballot Measure Suspended

The anti-gay Oregon Family Council along with Friends of Religious Freedom have announced they will not be moving forward with IP 52 – the proposed ballot measure that would allow businesses in the state to turn away LGBT people as an “exercise of religion.” 

The AP reports:

The Oregon Supreme Court approved the ballot language on Thursday. The campaign suspended its efforts 24 hours later, saying the ballot language as written by the office of the Oregon attorney general was unacceptable. 

The campaign sought to portray the issue as one that frees business owners from having to violate their religious beliefs by abiding by Oregon law. 

“But the certified ballot title does not acceptably state this,” Friends of Religious Freedom said in the release issued late Friday afternoon. “Indeed, it states it as intolerant instead of protecting equal rights of conscience.” 

The ballot language approved said a "Yes" vote "creates 'religious belief' exceptions to anti-discrimination laws," language the measure's supporters said unfairly prejudiced voters against them.

Mike Marshall, campaign manager for Oregon United Against Discrimination, released the following statement:

“Thanks to the incredible outpouring of early opposition to this measure—more 462 organizations and leaders, including 190 businesses and 167 faith leaders have joined the Oregon United Against Discrimination coalition—Oregonians have realized that this measure would allow businesses to discriminate against people because of who they are and whom they love. And discrimination is just wrong.” 

“We are thrilled that the Oregon Family Council has suspended their IP 52 effort, likely realizing Oregonians wouldn’t support a measure that would allow discrimination.”

Maggie Gallagher can't stop admitting our imminent victory

After the "protect marriage" movement's most visible face left the National Organization For Marriage, shut down her seventeen-year syndicated column, and began plotting out a new course, I saw many possibilities for where Maggie Gallagher might take her career. Maybe she'd do some consulting work. Write another book. Open a bridal shop with dressing rooms that were specifically sized so they'd accommodate only one woman. The possibilities seemed endless.

I did not, however, expect Ms. Gallagher to go on a de facto promotional tour in which she waved the white flag and told anyone who would listen that the marriage equality movement that she had so viciously fought for so long was going to win the whole thing any day now. Yet over the past year or so, that is exactly what she's done, popping up on radio shows and in print with her admission that the cause to which she attached her legacy (i.e. marriage discrimination) is soon to go down in flames.

Bill Donohue Claims NYC Pride Organizers Worry His Bigot Marchers Will 'Overwhelm' Parade

Last week you may recall that pathetic Catholic League whiner Bill Donohue executed an EPIC FAIL after applying to march in the NYC Pride parade behind a "Straight is Great" banner.

Donohue, who was hoping to make a crass point about NYC St. Patrick's Day parade organizers excluding gays by having his application turned down by Pride organizers, basically turned tail and ran when his application was accepted, and used the sorry excuse of having to attend a mandatory information session about the march (which he redubbed a "gay training session") as the reason for his cold feet.

Now Donohue claims that NYC Pride organizers turned him down because they are worried that there would be SO MANY people who would join his bigot contingent of "Straight is Great" marchers that the parade would be overwhelmed.

The "gay training sessions" that Donohue claims take place, are safety and rules sessions required of all participants, according to organizers:

“These trainings address line-up times, check-in locations, our moment of silence, dispersal activity, NYPD safety policies, attire and vehicle/sound permits. It is imperative that group leaders know this information.”

Says Donohue: "Quite frankly, as a straight guy, I don’t go to gay training sessions. I think I’m pretty much an untrainable guy when it comes to this thing."

Anti-Gay Groups Fail: All Three Illinois Republicans Who Voted for Marriage Equality Win Primaries

Though they were under attack from NOM and local anti-gay 'pro-family groups, none of the Illinois Republicans who voted for marriage equality lost their primaries yesterday.

The Washington Post reports: 

When the Illinois state House passed a bill to legalize gay marriage last fall, just three out of 47 Republicans voted for it. On Tuesday, none of them lost. State Rep. Tom Cross (R) cruised to a 14-point victory in the primary for state treasurer while state Rep. Ed Sullivan (R) easily won renomination in his district. The third, state Rep. Ron Sandack (R), narrowly edged out his opponent by fewer than 200 votes, according to an unofficial tally. The close margin could mean the race goes to a recount. Sandack and Sullivan both faced pressure from third-party groups looking to oust them over their gay marriage votes. In Sandack's case, the issue became a central focus. Had the three Republicans lost, it would have probably given pause to Republicans considering backing gay marriage in other states where the matter comes up in the future. But given two decisive wins and a third tentative victory, gay rights advocates have a lot to be happy about a day after the election.

Oops, Oklahoma!

This week is a story out of Oklahoma, where state Republican officials were so eager to promote government-endorsed religious displays, they inadvertently opened the door to religious monuments they really won’t like.

A New York-based Satanic group plans to submit designs this month for a monument it wants to erect on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capitol.

The move comes after the state’s Republican legislature authorized a privately funded Ten Commandments monument to be placed on capitol grounds last year, according to the Associated Press. A spokesman for the New York-based Satanic Temple credited Oklahoma Rep. Mike Ritze (R) – who championed and helped to fund the Commandments monument – for clearing the path for his organization.

“He’s helping a satanic agenda grow more than any of us possibly could,” the spokesman, Lucian Greaves, said. “You don’t walk around and see too many satanic temples around, but when you open the door to public spaces for us, that’s when you’re going to see us.”

Oops.

In this case, the $20,000 Satanic monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capitol would, like the Ten Commandments display, be privately financed. Taxpayers wouldn’t pay a dime – all the Satanic Temple would need is comparable public space provided by the state legislature for the Christian monument in 2009.

ACLU Oklahoma has already reminded state officials that they cannot discriminate on the basis of religious viewpoints.

Which brings us back to the underlying principle we last discussed in July: in an open forum, the government can’t play favorites. If the government is going to devote space to promoting one religious monument, celebrating the tenets of one faith, it can’t deny space to other religions that expect equal treatment. It’s easy to imagine the Oklahoma state capitol reserving space for everyone: Baptists, Buddhists, and the Baha’i; as well as Sikhs, Scientologists, and Satanists.

There are, after all, no second-class Americans citizens when it comes to the First Amendment. If one group has the right to erect a monument, so does everyone else.

It seems likely that officials in Oklahoma will be less than enthusiastic about welcoming a permanent Satanic display to sit near the Ten Commandments display, but they probably should have thought this through before. They opened the door, and it’s going to get crowded as others walk through it.

Mitt Romney Blames The IRS and Hurricane Sandy For His Loss to Obama

Mitt Romney is still clinging to his skewed polls and claiming that if Hurricane Sandy wouldn’t have hit when it did, and he would have known about the IRS scandal, he would have won the election.

Video:

 
Romney blamed Hurricane Sandy right along with the fact that his 47% comments were off the record for his defeat, “That was not a statement, if you will. It was taken off the record. Nonetheless, it did not reflect my views. I said it didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. But surely, that didn’t help me, and there were other things that didn’t help my campaign either. Obviously, a hurricane with a week to go before the election stalled our campaign.”

CNN’s Gloria Borger asked Romney if he blamed Chris Christie. The former presidential nominee answered by blaming the timing of Hurricane Sandy, “I wish the hurricane hadn’t have happened when it did because it gave the president a chance to be presidential and to be out showing sympathy for folks. That’s one of the advantages of incumbency. But, you know, you don’t look back and worry about each little thing and how could that have been different.”