Nebraska Same Sex Marriage Ban Reinstated

The 8th US Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court ruling that blocked Nebraska's same sex marriage ban.

LINCOLN, Neb. — A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that struck down Nebraska's same-sex marriage ban.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon, who ruled last year that the measure was too broad and deprived gays and lesbians of participation in the political process, among other things.

Seventy percent of Nebraska voters approved the amendment in 2000.

The court said the amendment "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate the Constitution of the United States."

The court ruling, in effect, overturns judicial activism and reinstates the proper procedure for making social engineering changes. That is to say, at the ballot box, not by judicial fiat.

Palestinians Declare War On Egypt

Wow, these people have absolutely, completely, totally lost their collective minds. Palestinian gunmen attacked Egyptian police and stormed a border crossing in Rafah.

Palestinian militants forced open a border gate between Egypt and Gaza on Friday, wounding an Egyptian officer before letting hundreds of people who had been trapped on the Egyptian side of the border to get into Gaza.

Armed militants stood by as people carrying suitcases crossed into Gaza. Some walked through on crutches while others walked or ran through the gate.

Egyptian police Capt. Mohammed Abdel Hadi said masked Palestinian militants firing guns broke into the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, clearing the way for the trapped Gazans.

One Egyptian border policeman was wounded when the militants stormed the border, said Abdel Hadi, who heads police on the Egyptian side of Rafah.

This is astounding. They have lost all control and are willing to set the entire world against them.

“People Are Disgusted”

Said Democratic fundraiser Michael Granoff, a longtime Lieberman supporter from New Jersey about the situation in Connecticut.

"If the message is, 'There's no room for Joe Lieberman in the Democratic Party,' that means a whole lot of people are not welcome there. People are disgusted."

This is yet another danger in the netroots campaign to destroy Joe Lieberman. How many hawkish Jewish Democrats will flee the party or sit out the election if Lamont wins the primary? How much lasting damage will be done to the Democrats?

Some Democrats are nervous that if Senator Joseph Lieberman loses his primary to an antiwar challenger, thousands of hawkish Jewish Democrats who see the Connecticut lawmaker as their standard-bearer will either abandon the party or sit out the November election.

That, say several political observers, could make the difference in some hard-fought Senate races — including contests in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — that Democrats must win in order to have any hope of taking back the Senate this year.

"Tons of activist Jewish Dems could be really bitter about it," a Washington strategist with close ties to the Democratic leadership said of the prospect of a Lieberman primary loss to Connecticut cable company executive Ned Lamont. "Observant Jews could stay home. They won't vote in those races."

Even if Lieberman wins, some of the sentiment unleashed by the anti-Lieberman campaign might make Jewish voters feel uncomfortable. Lamont, a largely self-funded millionaire candidate from Greenwich, catapulted to prominence as the head of an Internet-based faction that long has inveighed against Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war. Support — and donations — for Lamont have built across a string of left-leaning blogs, such as Daily Kos, MyDD and Huffington Post, on which comments posted about Lieberman sometimes wax vitriolic.

Many of these diatribes have raised the specter of dual loyalty, attacking him for supporting Israel. (Here's a flavor of such rhetoric, from a reader of Huffington Post: "Has anyone considered that the loyalties Rabbi Joseph Lieberman is talking about, is to Israel, where he is also a citizen. The Rabbi believes that going into Iraq is good for the security of Israel and that is why he has steadfastly supported this immoral and illegal war.")

Now the real danger in publicizing the left-leaning blogs the way this article does is that some people who have never heard of those blogs will be going over to take a look. And after exposure to some of the downright toxic waste that prevails in many places, a lot of people are going to be very, very put off.

I've maintained that this primary challenge was an ill-thought out waste of money and resources. It may be the first time in recorded history where I have agreed with Chuck Schumer about anything.

Lieberman's pal Senator Charles Schumer of New York — the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — has staunchly refused to go as far as Clinton, declaring on "Meet the Press" this week that "we're doing everything we can to help" Lieberman and refusing "to speculate on what happens after the primary." Lieberman has promised to align himself with the Democrats if he ends up winning as an independent.

In an interview with The New York Observer, Schumer castigated the bloggers' anti-Lieberman crusade. "It's money that could go to a better place," he said. "Because even if you are vehemently opposed to the war, my argument would be that taking back the Senate is the best thing we can do. We have more effect changing the course that way."

If the netroots fail to unseat Lieberman, they may well have shot their bolt and will become irrelevant. If they do unseat Lieberman, they may find themselves very important in a very unimportant and essentially unelectable, political party.

UPDATE: Bruce Kesler does not see a major shift in allegience, though.

Send In, er, Run From, The Clowns

If You live in Western Washington state and you see someone dressed in black, wearing clown makeup and carrying a machete, it would be a good idea to beat feet in the opposite direction.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Police are on the lookout for members of a machete-wielding gang in angry clown make-up after a rampage of robbery and violence that left nearly two dozen people injured in a park in western Washington state.

The group, who said they were "juggalos," devotees of the Detroit-based rap-metal group Insane Clown Posse, attacked and robbed visitors to Fort Steilacoom Park while shouting "Woo, woo, juggalo!" to each other, according to court documents.

Prosecutors in Pierce County south of Seattle charged three people with assault and robbery last week, but police in the City of Lakewood said they are searching for another eight to 10 suspects who took part.

And people wonder why there has been a rash of cases of coulrophobia. Instead of "Can't sleep, clown will eat me" maybe it should be, "can't jog, clown will beat me".

Just to be safe, our advice is to stay away from all clowns, everywhere. Forever. And Mimes, too.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Sex workers in Las Vegas demonstrated in front of the courthouse demanding additional rights and protections. No they didn't demonstrate demonstrate, they carried placards and shouted slogans.

 LAS VEGAS - Strippers and hookers are trying to get some respect in Sin City. The so-called sex workers demonstrated yesterday on the steps of the courthouse in downtown Las Vegas. They're calling for more legal protection and decriminalization of the world's oldest profession.

Starchild, a 36-year-old former Army Reservist stood amid rallying sex workers in Las Vegas on Thursday and boasted of his bid for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

"And that ballot is going to say 'escort/exotic dancer,'" he said, beaming.

Protesting prostitutes, strippers and men and women of the night said they came to the downtown courthouse steps to try enable others like Starchild — active advocates for sex workers. The group called for more respect and stronger legal protections for legal and illegal workers in the sex industry. They complained that a series of new antihuman trafficking laws restrict their freedom and called for the decriminalization of the world's oldest profession.

"No one here would say prostitution is good for everyone," said Elizabeth Nanas, 33, a former prostitute and sex worker advocate who organized the rally to cap off a three-day conference. "We're saying the attention and money should be spent on areas where there are problems."

Organizers said the conference, sponsored by the Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA, was the largest meeting of academics, advocates and prostitutes in nearly 10 years. On the agenda were discussions on police brutality, online organizing and a lecture about journalism for sex workers.

"Overall, the biggest issue was looking at criminalization policies and asking, are they doing anything to stop prostitution? Are they protecting and empowering women? Are they making our communities safer?" said Kate Hausbeck, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociology professor and advocate. "Are they improving the health, safety and well-being of prostitutes?"

The group met in a state in which 10 rural counties allow prostitution in 28 operating brothels.

But the nation's only legal bordellos aren't a model for advocates, said Priscilla Alexander, a 67-year-old activist with COYOTE, a sex workers' rights organization. Nevada brothels often hire women to work for just weeks at a time, require prostitutes to live on the premises and mandate costly STD tests too frequently, she said.

"Most sex workers don't want to work in those restrictive conditions," she said.

Which begins to show the problem, doesn't it? These folks want something decriminalized, but don't want restrictions. This would be a bit of a conflict, wouldn't you say? Now, putting aside the overall concepts of right and wrong on this issue, there are examples out there in the world that show that the people pushing for legalization might just want to be careful about what they wish for.

For example, in Australia, legalized sex workers are complaining about an influx of Asian sex workers who are operating illegally.

Brothel owner Mary-Anne Kenworthy said cut-price Asian sex workers are flooding the Australian market, stealing the "bread and butter" from the more expensive local prostitutes.

The madam, from the West Australian city of Perth, told the Australian Associated Press she had spent thousands of dollars investigating Asian women who listed their sexual services in local newspapers.

She found hundreds of them working out of illegal suburban brothels for half the going hourly rate of 250 dollars (188 US).

"Most of these aren't being run as businesses, they are just a complete cash economy," she said, adding that the majority of these prostitutes were working illegally on tourist and student visas.

"And I think that is unfair. We're doing the right thing, paying our taxes. It costs me 50,000 dollars a year for special checks on everything to make sure my property is safe and above-board.

Which just highlights the fact that there are always unintended consequences when social engineering occurs.

Big Dig Update

Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has signed emergency legislation giving him control over the inspection of the problems with the Big Dig and the ultimate reopening of the closed sections. The report uses the words "seized control" which is a ridiculous statement since it is the legislature that ultimately gave him the authority.

BOSTON - Gov. Mitt Romney seized control Friday of inspections in the Big Dig highway system where a woman was killed by falling concrete, saying an independent assessment was necessary to restore public trust.

Inspectors had already pinpointed at least 242 points where bolts were separating from tunnel ceilings, and their review was continuing.

"When it comes to an issue of inspecting the tunnel system, to have the person who's been responsible for it for the last several years say, 'I'm going to inspect it' and tell us, 'It's now safe,' that's not enough," Romney said.

The Republican governor signed emergency legislation Friday morning that gives him ultimate say on when the tunnels reopens, taking that power away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. State lawmakers approved the bill within hours of Romney's request.

Romney was to meet Friday with representatives from the Massachusetts Highway Department, the Federal Highway Administration and the Turnpike Authority for a briefing on the status of the inspection, spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.

The eastbound section of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel under South Boston, part of the main route to Logan Airport, has been closed since late Monday when 12 tons of concrete ceiling panels fell, crushing a car carrying Milena Del Valle, 38, and her husband, Angel Del Valle, 46. He escaped with minor injuries.

Maybe someone from Massachusetts can tell me if my guess here is incorrect. In New York State, once the state creates what is called an "authority" that entity, for all intents and purposes, becomes virtually autonomous with very little control exercised by either the legislature or the governor. If it's the same in Massachusetts, that may well be a contributing factor to the mess the project has become.

The Birds! The Birds!

The animal uprising continues unabated with the animal air force attacking in full force. San Luis Obispo, California is under siege from Brewer's blackbirds. Residents will just be walking along and 'wham' the birds are all over them, pecking away! Seal your doors and windows folks!

"On a bad day, we get about 15 attacks an hour," Nautical Bean coffee house business manager Brett Jones said. "I thought about naming a coffee after them."

Customers are often seen flailing their hands over their heads as they walk toward the Laguna Village Shopping Center cafe.

Last week, while walking into the Nautical Bean Espresso Cafe, customer Charlie Magnuson felt tiny claws tug on his peppered hair.

"Once you've been scratched," he said, "it does scare you a little. But not really, because they won't go for your eyes. I think it's a fun thing as long as no one gets hurt."

Oh sure, it's all fun until someone gets hurt. So-called experts say the birds are just protecting their young. We, of course know the real truth. The birds are out to eat your young! Be afraid!

Hazleton Update

Hazleton, Pennsylvania has passed the strongest anti-illegal immigrant law in the country. (Initial report on Hazleton here). The controversial measure would fine landlords renting to illegals and deny business licenses to employers who hire illegals.

City documents would be printed in English, landlords would face $1,000 fines for each illegal immigrant found renting their properties and business who employ illegal immigrants wouldn't be granted licenses.

The ordinance, designed to make the city one of the most hostile in the country for illegal immigrants, passed on a 4-to-1 vote after two hours of passionate debate.

"The illegal citizens, I would recommend they leave," said Mayor Lou Barletta, who said he wore a bulletproof vest to the vote as a precaution because the issue was emotionally charged.

The measure has divided the former coal town about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia and thrust the 31,000-population city to the fore of the national debate on illegal immigration. After the vote, hundreds of people on both sides of the issue congregated outside City Hall, separated by a line of police officers brought in anticipation of any trouble.

Barletta proposed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act last month as a response to what he said were Hazleton's problems with violent crime, crowded schools, hospital costs and the demand for services. Opponents argued it was divisive and possibly illegal, but supporters argued illegal immigrants' growing numbers have damaged the quality of life in this northeastern Pennsylvania city.

"What you see here tonight, really, is a city that wants to take back what America has given it," Barletta said.

The usual attempts to reframe the issue by activists is, of course, underway. One person is quoted as calling illegal immigrants "undocumented". Another legal immigrant says she feels "unwelcome". Nope, if you're legal you are welcome. If you came here illegally, just don't try to live in Hazleton.

Hazleton will be a battleground for the activists is what I predict.

More On Lebanon

David Ignatius, in today's Washington Post is about halfway onto the same page I presented in the previous post. Unfortunately, he can't quite make it all the way.

Israeli and American doctrine is premised on the idea that military force will deter adversaries. But as more force has been used in recent years, the deterrent value has inevitably gone down. That's the inner spring of this crisis: The Iranians (and their clients in Hezbollah and Hamas) watch the American military mired in Iraq and see weakness. They are emboldened rather than intimidated. The same is true for the Israelis in Gaza. Rather than reinforcing the image of strength, the use of force (short of outright, pulverizing invasion and occupation) has encouraged contempt.

He's got it right that Iran is seeing weakness. What he leaves out is that the reason they are seeing it is because of the absolutely relentless focus of the media, both in the US and abroad, on trying to paint the worst possible picture of the war and of the US itself. The media's relentless attempts to undermine the administration. The media's relentless presentation to the world that America is in internal disarray. The media and it's willingness to publish details of secret programs thereby destroying the effectiveness of the programs doesn't help a whole lot either.

The first is that in countering aggression, international solidarity and legitimacy matter. In responding to the Lebanon crisis, the United States should work closely with its allies at the Group of Eight summit and the United Nations. Iran and its proxies would like nothing more than to isolate America and Israel. They would like nothing less than a strong, international coalition of opposition.

A second point — obvious from Gaza to Beirut to Baghdad — is that the power of non-state actors is magnified when there is no strong central government. That may sound like a truism, but responding wisely can require some creative diplomacy. The way to blunt Hamas is to build a strong Palestinian Authority that delivers benefits for the Palestinian people. The way to curb Hezbollah is to build up the Lebanese government and army. One way to boost the Lebanese government (and deflate Hezbollah) would be to negotiate the return of the Israeli-occupied territory known as Shebaa Farms. That chance is lost for now, but the Bush administration should find other ways to enhance Siniora's authority.

Much the same as what I concluded earlier. The important thing is that the G-8 would be a good place to start, but I honestly do not believe the UN would be worth involving. NATO could be the right tool and could force Europe to step up instead of mindlessly criticizing all things American.

A final obvious lesson is that in an open, interconnected world, public opinion matters. This is a tricky battlefield for an unpopular America and Israel, but not an impossible one. To fight the Long War, America and Israel have to get out of the devil suit in global public opinion. For a generation, America maintained a role as honest broker between Israel and the Arabs. The Bush administration should work hard to refurbish that role.

In the Lebanon crisis we have a terrifying glimpse of the future: Iran and its radical allies are pushing toward war. That's the chilling reality behind this week's events. On Tuesday the Iranians spurned an American offer of talks on their nuclear program; on Wednesday their Hezbollah proxy committed what Israel rightly called "an act of war." The radicals want to lure America and Israel deeper into the killing ground, confident that they have the staying power to prevail. We should not play their game.

Public opinion does matter - and it's time for the press to stop playing a negative role in the process. We in the US and the rest of the West must pull together and an adversarial media is not helping. If the press could refrain from their automatic "blame Bush-blame America" stance it might help us all survive.

The press should be taking a very hard look at what it has been doing to help create the situation that is now happening. If it keeps on along the same path, war will come.

War will come.

UPDATE: Frau Budgie at Red Hot Cuppa Politics has some Lebanese reaction that asks Israel to hit Hezbollah harder and destroy the terrorist infrastructure.

The Tragedy Of Lebanon

Writing in today's New York Times, Michael Young, the opinion editor for the Daily Star in Lebanon gives a lot of background about what is happening in Lebanon and how the situation developed to the point it has.

This is not to say that the cycle of attack and retaliation between Hezbollah and Israel is merely a proxy war. The two sides have long engaged in a conflict in southern Lebanon — albeit, since Israel’s pullout in 2000, one mostly limited to a disputed territory known as the Shebaa Farms and contained by unwritten rules. This week, however, Hezbollah transgressed three political lines.

The first was its expansion of military operations outside the Shebaa area. While Hezbollah has done this before — even killing some Israeli troops — the latest operation was certain to be intolerable to an Israeli government already dealing with the kidnapping of another soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, by Hamas in Gaza.

A second line that Hezbollah crossed was its evident coordination of strategy with Hamas; this went well beyond its stated aim of simply defending Lebanon and left Israel feeling it was fighting a war on two fronts.

The third line crossed was domestic. By unilaterally taking Lebanon into a conflict with Israel, Hezbollah sought to stage a coup d’état against the anti-Syrian parliamentary and government majority, which opposes the militant group’s adventurism.

Hezbollah holds seats in the 128-member Parliament but has an uneasy relationship with the majority, which has been on the defensive as Syria has tried to reassert control over Lebanon after its military withdrawal last year. Hezbollah hoped to humiliate the anti-Syrian politicians by forcing them to endorse the kidnappings and showing how little control the government has over the party.

Israel wants Lebanon to pay an onerous price for its ambiguity on Hezbollah: it has imposed an air and sea blockade and is launching air attacks well into Lebanon, including several on the Beirut airport. Pointedly, however, Israel has failed to mention the regional facet of the crisis. Israeli officials have left Syria out of their condemnations, in jarring contrast to the Bush administration’s statements that have rightly highlighted Iranian and Syrian responsibility for Hezbollah’s behavior.

Iran and Syria are the real puppet masters behind Hezbollah, but the weakness of the Lebanese government has let the situation fester. Lebanon was once arguably the most tolerant and progressive state in the Middle East. Then the long, drawn out civil war destroyed all that. They were only just barely getting back on their feet after finally getting Syria to withdraw. Young proposes:

It would be far smarter for Israel, and America, to profit from Hezbollah’s having perhaps overplayed its hand. The popular mood here is one of extreme anger that the group has provoked a conflict Lebanon cannot win. The summer tourism season, a rare source of revenue for a country on the financial ropes, has been ruined. Even Hezbollah’s core supporters, the Shiite Muslims in the south, cannot be happy at seeing their towns and villages turned again into a killing field.

What to do? While the United Nations has been ineffective in its efforts toward Middle East peace, it may be the right body to intervene here, if only because it has the cudgel of Security Council Resolution 1559, which was approved in 2004 and, among other things, calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The five permanent Security Council members, perhaps at this weekend’s Group of 8 meeting, should consider a larger initiative based on the resolution that would include: a proposal for the gradual collection of Hezbollah’s weapons; written guarantees by Israel that it will respect Lebanese sovereignty and pull its forces out of the contested Lebanese land in the Shebaa Farms; and the release of prisoners on both sides. Such a deal could find support among Lebanon’s anti-Syrian politicians, would substantially narrow Hezbollah’s ability to justify retaining its arms, and also send a signal to Syria and particularly Iran that the region is not theirs for the taking.

Which is actually not a bad idea, although I think Young's call for Israel to simply stop their offensive is both unworkable and actually makes success of diplomacy less likely. The more Israel weakens Hezbollah, the more likely it is that the group can be disarmed. I'm also not all that hopeful that the UN will actually do anything useful, but this could be a chance for Europe, acting through NATO, to step up and do something to help save a struggling democracy. The G-8 meeting would be a good place to start the process of fending off the tragedy in Lebanon.

Pointing A Finger

Indian intelligence authorities are now officially indicating that they believe the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was behind the Mumbai train bombings.

Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the “mastermind” of the blasts that killed about 200 people.

The Mumbai Police, meanwhile, identified the trio who planned and executed 11/7: Rahil, Zahibuddin Ansari and Faiyaz, linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Of them, Rahil had reportedly made an abortive bid to trigger a blast at Byculla railway station on March 11 — the eve of the anniversary of the 1993 Bombay blasts.

The agencies, which briefed National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi, said the blueprint for Tuesday’s blasts was made by the ISI while the “plan” was executed by “local Indian operatives”.

A senior intelligence officer said the synchronised explosions had the “hallmark” of an ISI operation. Militants operating in Kashmir were not capable of such meticulous planning and could only carry out fidayeen attacks or plant bombs in crowded places like markets.

“A lot of planning went into the blasts. This is typical of an ISI operation, as was revealed during the 1993 Bombay blasts,” said an officer.

Rahil, Ansari and Faiyaz could be the local operatives the intelligence agencies hinted at. Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy told HT: “We’re looking for Rahil, Ansari and Faiyaz who orchestrated the seven blasts.” Roy said Rahil, “a SIMI old-timer”, had been leading a LeT module, while Ansari and Faiyaz were wanted in the Aurangabad explosives-seizure case.

If true, this is very bad news. If not true, it's worse than that. I do not think it was a good idea, at all, for the Indians to give this kind of information to the press absent irrefutable proof in hand. The Bush administration better be trying hard to defuse this one, we really do not need two allies going at each other.