Crazy person that I am, I thought Lawrence v. Texas invalidated state laws against gay sex. Can someone explain why Montana only just decided to overturn theirs? I suppose the question applies to Ken Cucinelli’s weird sodomy crusade as well.
Then again an open gay MT state Rep named Bryce Bennett introduced the bill, so I would guess Montana law enforcement spent the same manpower on gay business as they do on vestigial state codes forbidding other menaces like witchcraft, interracial dancing and swearing on Sunday.
Moving on to international news, this happened.
Embarrassed Malian authorities said on Tuesday that they would give Mr. Hollande a replacement camel, and that this time they would deliver it to him in France.
“As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel,” an official in Timbuktu told the Reuters news agency. “We are ashamed of what happened to the camel,” said the official, who asked Reuters not to identify him because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “The new camel will be sent to Paris. It was a present that did not deserve this fate.”
A classic case of history not per se repeating itself but at least echoing a little, this brings to mind a sad tale involving Germany, North Korea and several dozen giant rabbits.
karl
For anyone who remembers the TV show Action: “Is that my goat?”
KG
Fun fact about constitutional law: typically a decision under the Fourteenth Amendment renders that particular law unconstitutional (and by extension all similar laws), but it does not necessarily remove them from the books. So, this is mostly housekeeping by the legislature
Tim F.
@KG: ok, but that does not explain Ken Cucinelli. WTF is that guy smoking?
Violet
Mmmm…tagine. Yum. Bet it was delicious.
Amanda in the South Bay
I made an app on Google App Engine that tracks you in real time and displays it to the world to see on Google Maps.
BruceFromOhio
@Violet: Suggests a new epithet, ‘Your camel makes a poor tagine.’
Perhaps JeffreyW has a suitable photograph.
@Amanda in the South Bay: Can it be made to track the camel of the French President?
That could be useful.
Thank you, Gaia, for the river of moisture in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. May all your springs run clear and cool, may your sight behold the bounty of spring.
lamh35
Time for me to go to bed now, but looking forward to seeing”42: An American Legend”, also need to decide if I’m gonna go to the French Quarter Festival in NOLA this weekend. I probably will if it doesn’t rain
hamletta
@karl: OMG! You remember Action?
Lord, that show was brilliant.
Violet
@Tim F.: Ken Cucinelli seems to want to control everyone else’s behavior. Armchair psychology has me thinking perhaps it’s himself that Ken Cucinelli cannot control. Anyone’s scandal antennae going on that possibility? Live boy? Wetsuit and dildo? Appalachian trail? Illegal substances?
KG
@Tim F.: some people aren’t capable of explanation
David Hunt
@Tim F.:
I suspect that there are two things going on.
1) Sandra Day O’Conner has been replaced with reliable Samuel Alito and he thinks that he might be able to get his legalized gay-bashing through the court and invalidate Lawrence.
2) Probably the bigger factor, he’s running for Governor and thinks symbolically bashing gays with this effort will help him get the GOP nomination.
Mnemosyne
For some reason, I keep associating Camelgate with Horsemeatgate. Like, is there any quadruped that the French and their former colonies won’t eat?
But then I hear Mike Nelson say, “Servo, what is with you and the French?!” (about 2:45 or so)
Gex
@Tim F.: As far as I can tell, he’s trying to get around that by intimating that he wants to enforce the ban for everyone. Lawrence v. Texas found that a state may not differentially apply sodomy laws to gays versus straights. However, he will not say that directly because most of the straight people who are cheering him for banning sodomy like it quite a bit themselves.
Anya
Ken Cuccinelli has deep seated psychological problems. It’s really sad that it’s even a posibility that he might be a governor.
Violet
@BruceFromOhio: Heh. Sounds suitably insulting.
Linda Featheringill
Not political, but you said open thread.
Ahem.
Ta-da! Le jacket, she is finished!
Chanel style monster, took tons of hours of work, was a hell of a project.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8640656697/
The model [me] is shy and asked to be taken out of the picture.
mumbly_joe
The law was unconstitutional and legally unenforceable, but is still technically on the books. A handful of *silly* laws that lack the symbolism but are nevertheless unenforceable are still on the books in many states.
Oh, and also there’s Florida, where the law in question is non-silly and has plenty of nasty symbolism, and repeal attempts have repeatedly failed.
srv
@Violet: Socialcon, wingnut, 27%’er, all these don’t seem to work anymore.
We need new words. I’m thinking Bedroom or Uterus Federalist.
Violet
@Gex: How does VA define sodomy? I’ve seen it defined as anal only, oral and anal, and men having sex. Doesn’t seem to be a clear definition. If it’s oral and anal and that includes hetero, I would hope that Democrats are highlighting that aspect of the law–that Cucinelli wants to outlaw oral sex.
Anya
I haven’t been around yesterday and today so I am sure this issue was discussed to death already, but I am I the only one who thinks Progress Kentucky are bunch or morons? So far they’ve made Mitch McConnel sympathetic twice.
Mnemosyne
@Linda Featheringill:
Nice! Though that picture gives me a weird feeling that it’s being modeled by the Invisible Woman. :-)
RaflW
@Violet: Reports I saw said it included hetero oral. The alleged framing was that the Cuch wanted to be able to protect vulnerable teenage girls.
I think he was on some morality bender having to do with wanting desperately, psychotically, for this to be approximately 1963, not 2013.
Violet
@Anya: Who or what is Progress Kentucky? Did they have something to do with the recording. =
Violet
@RaflW: How was that framed? If oral sex is legal, someone might convince teenage girls to do it?
Suffern ACE
@mumbly_joe: is it actually inoperative? If, say, immigration reform takes shape where the immigrants are granted legal residency status but forbidden to become naturalized citizens until “the border is declared secure”, would we have a class of people who could not hold property under Florida law?
Anya
@Violet: Via TPM:
This (Progress Kentucky: Worst super PAC ever?) should give you little bit more information
Suffern ACE
@Anya: ugh. But they raised 1,005 dollars. Why are they even called a super PAC? They’re the type of group whose membership, employees and founders are probably all the same people.
Violet
@Anya: What a bunch of idiots.
? Martin
@KG:
Well, more than that – it’s important to reiterate that the legislature agrees with the courts. See RvW for how that is indeed important.
And even more than that, it’s never a bad idea to get your Republicans on the record to proclaim their continuing racism/homophobia/etc.
Punchy
First one in with the “Does MT’s openly gay congressman(!) represent Butte?” joke…
Anya
@Suffern ACE: Because they’re democrats and the media has a different stand for dems. These clowns are mudding the water.
@Violet: I know. They should have left political games to adults. But why did David Corn even bother with these clowns. The issue is now about these clowns instead of McConnell’s potential ethics violation or his words.
lojasmo
My posts (#1 and #2) got eated. WTF?
My posts on John’s disappeared and reconstitued stomp thread stayed.
Wag
@Mnemosyne:
That might have sucked 3 years from my life, except I had servo to protect me.
Here’s one that’s just as much fun, but not in a soul sucking way
THE TOUGHEST BRIDGE IN AMERICA!
Heywood J.
Buenos nachos, Juicers! Couple more days left in the free promo week for my e-book and single on Kindle. Be a mensch and steal them both, wouldja? There will be more photos of Dexter the Giant Wonder Kitten this weekend to show my appreciation.
Oh, and Action was the shiznit. Criminally underrated show.
scav
@Mnemosyne: Horsemeatgate has not much to do with the French and their choix de viande. Truth in labelling, lack of controls and lots of cross-border shenanigans. Similar stuff going on with fish.
Heywood J.
Also, too, Cucinelli is a closet case. Has to be, nothing else makes sense.
karl
@hamletta: “Did you get a haicut?”
“NO!!”
Suffern ACE
@Anya: yeah, great. Someone linked to them on my FB feed and they’re bragging that they have 6,000 members! Now if they can get those “members” to do anything other than claim that they’re members I might be impressed.
Mr Stagger Lee
Isn’t Montana a state where men are men and the sheep are afraid? Or is it Idaho?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Violet: He’s always had my gaydar buzzing. But that dogshit pile of a law makes no fucking sense, and if he wants to protect minors, they can raise the penalty for statutory rape. It’s a control issue thing. They are who we thought they are, and they are awful.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Violet: They are considered idiots in KY, but kinda dangerous because of their name, which can create confusion with actual progressives. The Executive Director has been sued by the estate of his murdered former roommate. Details in Part One of the series.
Yutsano
@Mr Stagger Lee: There are more Mormons in Idaho, so it’s a close call. But yeah that’s usually Montana we up these parts say that about.
Montana is breathtakingly beautiful. Definitely worth a visit.
(And FYWP.)
RaflW
@Violet: If I remember right, it was that they were having a hard time protecting girls pulled into sex trafficking. I guess if they could bust the johns for violating the sodomy law they’d get a better conviction rate or be able to threaten a conviction to get the girls out?
I’m just not gonna spend much time looking it up, but I just can’t help but wonder, are the DA’s that shitty in Virginia that you gotta go stomp on consenting adult’s liberties as the fix?
YellowJournalism
@karl: You mean the absolute last time Jay Mohr was funny? Yes, yes I do.
Steeplejack
@Linda Featheringill:
Nice work!
Steeplejack
@YellowJournalism:
He does a great Christopher Walken, though.
Ruckus
@Tim F.:
WTF is that guy smoking?
It would be wrong not to speculate but he may be a dick smoker. Inhales and everything.
Joel (Macho Man Randy Savage)
I’m suuuurrre the camel being eaten was a misunderstanding. I’m equally positive that Francis Hollande will be delighted to receive a bigger,
smellierbetter camel in France.Tim F.
@Joel (Macho Man Randy Savage): Also my reaction. I wonder what the diplomatic protocol is for re-gifting. I bet the house of Windsor would love a camel.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tim F.:
They’ve already got one. It is verra nice.
Paul in KY
@Anya: We wouldn’t have heard those words without the recording.
Should have been a more elegant way of getting the recording out there, though.
Paul in KY
I feel sorry for the bunnies sent to the PRK. Think a bunny the size of a dog would be a good outdoor pet.
Rebecca
@Punchy: Of course he doesn’t represent Butte! Have you ever been to Butte?!? (It’s been a while for me, but last time I was there, the only thing that looked like a diner was actually a strip club.)