Man Admitted to Hospital for Kidney Stone, Discovers He’s a Woman

Wild!

I have trouble understanding how his wife deals with this, but I think it's awesome that she supports her husband.

Obama Finally Nuts Up And Comes Out In Support Of Gay Marriage

Obviously, this news is already out there to anyone with half an interest in current events. However, I just had to give my take.

My first reaction to this was that Obama may have just sunk his chances of a second term, but that he did the right thing by taking a stand on principle (something we rarely see in politicians these days - and something that reminds of someones' earlier slogan about change and stuff…). I was upset, even though I welcomed his manning up in the face of a potentially catastrophic statement, because I felt Biden truly fucked up by dropping his own statement this weekend. That last part may still be true.

But, I also think this is a brilliant stroke of political calculus that may, in fact, shut down Romney completely on the issue.

First of all, and this part is easy, Obama was about to get boxed into a corner on this issue, and that would have happened even if Biden hadn't said what he said. Obama had a record of being wishy-washy on this issue, and Romney has ZERO problem pandering to the hard core right on any issue, but especially about something such as this. In other words, this would have come up anyways, sooner or later, but WELL BEFORE next November's elections. What Obama did here was to dictate his position on his own terms without allowing Romney to define his position for him (something I am sure the Romney camp was absolutely salivating over). And he did so while taking a bold stand that was firm and clear. As we've seen countless times before, the worst thing a candidate can do is to appear to be weak, unsure, and waffling.

Obama now clearly wins on that point.

Second, while Obama now gets to frame his own message, he's also allowed to use it as a means to contrast with the other candidates position. It is now about how Obama believes in marriage equality for all (a clear point that might re-energize the youth vote), but that he has NO intentions of making ANY changes to achieve that goal, since he thinks it is inevitable and up to the states to decide. Romney, by contrast, IS ON RECORD stating that he supports a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

So, Obama will do nothing, and conservatively observe the status quo, while stating his own personal belief (which is to leave the issue to the states), while Romney wants to radically, and actively, introduce discrimination to the U.S. Constitution that STRIPS states of their rights to govern as they see fit.

Who's the radical here? Who's the one with the crazy ideas about big government stepping into the lives of private citizens? Who's the hypocrite who only likes the concept of states' rights when it is politically expedient?

We all know the answer to that.

Now, who's the candidate with balls big enough to publicly say he was wrong before, and that he fundamentally believes something different now? And who's also the one who can control this message with savvy and gentle persuasion, while still maintaining a distance from the dirty work of it become a reality?

We also all know the answer to that.

Political genius.

-P

P.S. MY check is finally in the mail. Godspeed Obama!

Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!

Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.

If you have half a brain, you can't argue with what he says…but that's the problem with right-wingers...

Pizza Hut Middle East Debuts Crusts Made Of Cheeseburgers And Chicken Strips

First there was hot dog stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut UK. Now, Pizza Hut Middle East is upping the ante with crusts made out of cheeseburgers or chicken strips. Clearly, Pizza Hut U.S. is getting the short end of the stick.

These Crown Crust Carnival pizzas aren't just about the pizza perimeter. Lest the cheeseburger crust was not enough meat, the pizza itself includes meat as a topping. Ditto goes for the chicken strips -- there is chicken both on the crust, and as a topping.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little...

Who Is Buying Your Congressman?

When it comes to bills like SOPA and CISPA, money talks. A new site called SopaTrack shines the light on whose votes are for sale, and for how much.

RFL NOW ON TWITTER!

RadioFreeLiberal now has a shiny new RSS feed and a twitter account that will give you tweets when new topics are created.

To get new posts, follow @radiofreelibera on twitter. Note the missing L at the end.

Also,

RSS Feed for ALL posts:

feed://radiofreeliberal.com/feed.php

For JUST NEW topics:

feed://radiofreeliberal.com/feed.php?mode=topics

Feel free to click the RSS button in the URL window for more options (example, subscribing to individual forums or threads).

Cheers,

-P

GOP congressman to women: Give your money to Democrats

“I think these are very precarious times for women, it seems. So many of your rights are under assault,” he said, “I’ll tell you this: Contribute your money to people who speak out on your behalf, because the other side — my side — has a lot of it. And you need to send your own message. You need to remind people that you vote, you matter, and that they can’t succeed without your help.”

A conservative with conscience?

How long before he's tossed from the party?

Judge rules Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional

Proponents of the law said it upheld a definition of marriage that was embedded in the country’s history and tradition. But the judge, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, rejected that line of argument.

“The argument that the definition of marriage should remain the same for the definition’s sake is a circular argument, not a rational justification,” Judge Jeffery White wrote in his decision. “Simply stating what has always been does not address the reasons for it. The mere fact that prior law, history, tradition, the dictionary and the Bible have defined a term does not give that definition a rational basis, it merely states what has been.”

Wow!

Game changer, I believe. Civil rights is always an uphill battle...but a battle that looks like we're winning!

Obama Punks the GOP on Contraception

The fun part of this is that Obama just pulled a fast one on Republicans. He drew this out for two weeks, letting Republicans work themselves into a frenzy of anti-contraception rhetoric, all thinly disguised as concern for religious liberty, and then created a compromise that addressed their purported concerns but without actually reducing women's access to contraception, which is what this has always been about. (As Dana Goldstein reported in 2010, before the religious liberty gambit was brought up, the Catholic bishops were just demanding that women be denied access and told to abstain from sex instead.) With the fig leaf of religious liberty removed, Republicans are in a bad situation. They can either drop this and slink away knowing they've been punked, or they can double down. But in order to do so, they'll have to be more blatantly anti-contraception, a politically toxic move in a country where 99% of women have used contraception.

F-ing Brilliant!

Hannity: Bin Laden would be alive if Obama ‘had his way’

Is he actually serious?

Or is this republican performance art?