Two things to point out:

First, Obama could have been born on the moon in Newt’s future moon colony, he would still be an American citizen because his mother is American. Any child born to an American is an American. Unless they can prove that Obama’s mother was not American, none of this matters.

Second, as the literary agent later notes:

“This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me–an agency assistant at the time,” Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. “There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.“

While I would love to say “move along, nothing to see here,” I honestly hope the Republicans continue this line of attack. Polls have shown Americans do not believe this birther non-sense.

]]> http://gapolitico.com/en/2012/05/17/drudge-breitbart-go-birther/feed/ 0 http://gapolitico.com/en/2012/05/16/athens-clarke-commissioners-to-crack-down-on-homeless/ http://gapolitico.com/en/2012/05/16/athens-clarke-commissioners-to-crack-down-on-homeless/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 00:54:52 +0000 Dustin http://gapolitico.com/?p=23271-en The Athens-Clarke Commission is considering action that would essentially make it illegal to be homeless on public land:

The Athens-Clarke Commission is considering a law banning people from sleeping on sidewalks, in parks and on other government property in response to a recent protest at Athens City Hall.

Officials also raised concerns about homeless people sleeping on benches and the City Hall steps. They often stash their bedrolls in the bushes, Central Services Director David Fluck said.

Commissioners asked how such a law would affect churchgoers and homeless people who camp out on the greenway.

“We really haven’t defined what those limitations would be,” Snipes said.

While this law would also be used to crack down on the free speech and assembly of protests, it would also ban homeless people from “urban camping.” Many of these homeless people are veterans with mental disorders who have served their country proudly.

Unless the commission wants to spend a bit more money to house some of these victims, we need to make sure that we don’t make it illegal to be homeless and downtown or in the park.

Commissioners, if you are not willing to personally go down and hand a homeless veteran a ticket for sleeping in the park or on a bench, do not support this law.

Forrest’s order prevents enforcement of the provision of the statute pending further order of the court or an amendment to the statute by Congress.

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, declined to comment on the ruling.

The plaintiffs claim Section 1021 is vague and can be read to authorize their detention based on speech and associations that are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Hedges and two other plaintiffs testified in a hearing before Forrest in March, the judge said. A fourth plaintiff submitted a sworn declaration. The government put on no evidence, Forrest said.

Forrest, an Obama appointee who has served on the Manhattan federal court since October, rejected the government’s arguments that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue over the law and that it merely reaffirmed provisions in an earlier law, the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

I understand the need to strike a balance between security and liberty; however, I believe the this bill went far too much toward security and away from liberty. Hopefully, legislators can find a better balance in the future.

Four locations were threatened, the Metropolitan Police Department Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit headquarters, the Human Rights Campaign headquarters, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Police evacuated and searched the buildings before the all-clear was given.

A police spokesperson says one of the threats came through the Los Angeles Police Department.

The LAPD issued the following statement:

“Earlier this am our LAPD 911 dispatch got call from a caller who says he was going to blow up LGBT bldg in DC. They got call about 8am PST. We imediately got in contact with MPD to advise of the threat. We also started an investigation into the threat. It looks like the call came from local (LA) pay phone. As of 1230 PDT no additional evidence was found to validate the threat. The investigation is ongoing. We will continue to coordinate with MPD. LGBT authorities were also notified by MPD, and they’ve taken measures to ensure the safety of their employees.”

Terror is defined as “violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands.” It seems clear that, since four prominent LGBT organizations were targeted with bomb threats, the responsible individuals are attempting to intimidate the gay community.

I am glad that everyone is ok and hope they catch whoever is responsible.

1. If you spent money to robocall the State Committee Members, then there is a good chance I’m not going to be voting for you. See, there are about 373 State Committee Members. You should be able to call or contact most of those people pretty quickly. I understand you may have to leave a message, but spending money to call bank that few of people seems like a terrible waste of money. If you want to waste money, you could have bought an ad on GAProgress.

2. If you don’t send an email, then I’m likely not voting for you. Calling me is aggravating, but leaving a message in my inbox to read at my leisure seems like the least you can do. The emails are on the website, it does not take that much work to send something out.

3. If I don’t see your name/campaign somewhere on the social media sphere (blog, Facebook, twitter, etc), then I’m probably not going to vote for you. If you cannot engage the people where they are in the social media sphere, then how do I know you can keep them informed during the convention?

4. You must be active in Democratic Politics.

5. You must support President Obama (this is a given, but need to mention it).

Make sure you vote for GAProgress co-founder Brett Johns though! He’s running.

Now, over 15 years later, it seems like the two communities have not quite embraced each other. There is no doubt that many of the older Civil Rights leaders support the LGBT community. The Reverend Joseph Lowry and Rep. John Lewis have spoken out in support of the community. However, those who have followed have not been so accepting.

The gay community has not been all that happy either. Since the passage of Prop 8 in California, gays have been disappointed by the black community’s stance on the issue. Many of gay community blame the black community for its passage when an exit poll found that 70% of blacks supported Prop 8.

But as Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.”

Now, President Obama has joined the chorus of black leaders support the LGBT community. With his support comes the support of others, such as Jay Z, who said:

“I’ve always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back,” Jay-Z said of not allowing same-sex coupled to wed. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.”

And Jay-Z is right, discrimination is discrimination. Some of it is exactly the same. The fight against LGBT marriage is extremely, and disappointingly, familiar to interracial marriage.

Another example is segregation of public spaces. It use to be different water fountains and bathrooms; however, we saw the same argument during the debate of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Instead of water fountains it was residence quarters in barracks. Instead of bathrooms it was… well it was still bathrooms.

However, it is not always the same. Blacks were denied the right to vote and have a history of slavery. When John Lewis walked down the street, he was met with dogs and water hoses. While we cannot ignore the violence LGBT individuals suffer at times, it is not the same degree nor publicly accepted the way violence against blacks was during the civil rights were.

There are two things that seem to cause division between the communities. First, many feel being gay is a choice, not something you are born with, such as race. I do not believe this to be true.

Second, the black community tends to be religious – progressively religious. If you enter a black church with a need, it becomes a community need. The sense of community in the black church is simply amazing. However, we should not focus on the antiquated arguments of religious zealots as an excuse to discriminate. Far to long Colossians 3:22 (Slaves, Obey your Masters) was used to keep blacks in shackles and out in cotton fields. I argue the Christianity portrayed in the modern day black church follows the teachings of Christ more than any hateful, anti-gay sentiment in other churches. God doesn’t hate fags, or anyone else for that matter – he loves us all and we should all come together.

So I ask blacks in our country to stand with the gay community now. You have no greater support of your community than I, and I hope that you will say the same thing to us. Our struggles are not always the same; however, there is no denying that many of our fights are the same. Together, we are stronger. We cannot let others divide us. Our whole is more than the sum of our parts. We are your partners in the fight for justice and you are our brothers and sisters.

And the same goes for the LGBT community. I know plenty of white LGBT people who hold racist views. It is time to let those go. They are wrong and unbecoming.

We remember all the time about the tragedy of 9/11 and how it changed the nation. However, this movie gives one a good view of how the tragedy struck the family in the movie and the psychological trauma it did to children. You can watch the trailer below:

Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage has taken the focus of the campaign on the issue. In 2003, Mitt Romney said:

I agree with 3,000 years of recorded history. I disagree with the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Marriage is an institution between a man and a woman. I will support an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution to make that expressly clear. Of course, basic civil rights, and certain appropriate benefits should be available to people in non-traditional relationships. But marriage is a special institution between a man and a woman, and our Constitution and laws should reflect that.

So that means, in his view, for half of the life of the earth (lol), marriage has been defined as one-man, one-woman. However, he must have been born after his great-great grandfather passed away and even before his great grandfather. Hopefully, he will be able to ask his extended cousins of their polygamists marriages about how this history of marriage has not always been one-man, one-woman.

On a mild Tuesday evening near the end of happy hour, people enjoying margaritas at Tortilla Coast and others milling around the area were treated to quite a performance by freshman Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and his wife, Vivien.

A sobbing Vivien Scott was spotted with a name tag stuck to her bare arm, trying to hail a cab and arguing with her husband, the Congressman.

He “was furious with her,” an HOH tipster tells us. “He kept walking away, then she’d chase him.”

The Scotts are something of a power couple in Washington, D.C.

He was voted president of the House freshman class after taking office last year. She was voted president of the Congressional freshman class spouses. She’s been involved enough to even get her own House email address.

The Congressman “stormed off a couple times and came back. Finally, she chased after him and they disappeared.”

Well, I hope they work things out.

In a nod to a dramatic shift in public opinion, Barack Obama on Wednesday became the first sitting president to announce his support for same-sex marriage.

In a sit-down interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Obama completed what has been a markedly long and oft-mocked evolution on the matter.

“I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview that will air in full on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.

Mitt Romney wasted no time supporting H8:

“My view is that marriage itself is between a man and a woman,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told reporters. He said he believes that states should be able to make decisions about whether to offer certain legal rights to same-sex couples.

“This is a very tender and sensitive topic, as are many social issues, but I have the same view that I’ve had since – since running for office,” Romney said. He first ran for political office in 1994, when he challenged Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002.

So here it is – President Obama has stuck his neck out for LGBT citizens. Many in the community have blamed him for not going far enough (despite ending DADT, enacting hate crimes legislation, extending federal benefits, and supporting Gay rights across the globe),  he has not went all the way. We need to make sure we all get to the polls in November!