THINGS THAT PISS OFF CONSERVATIVES

First, from the Houston Chronicle:

DeLay faces noisy debate on ethics

The reports added new details to events examined by the ethics committee last year, contested recently in a civil lawsuit concerning TRMPAC, and still being investigated by the Travis County grand jury.

Potentially most damaging was a story in the Washington Post about a trip to Britain by DeLay, his wife, two congressional aides and two lobbyists.

In his financial disclosure forms, DeLay said the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy Research paid for the trip, which was verified by the center. But the Post reported that it may have been underwritten by Jack Abramoff, a registered lobbyist, and two Indian tribes that were his clients. House rules prohibit registered lobbyists from paying for members' travels.

Two months after the trip, the Post reported, DeLay voted against a bill that could have hurt the tribes' gambling interests. Six months after the trip, the report said, he made a floor speech in which he called one of the tribe's leaders a "champion of peace and prosperity."

DeLay has said he opposes expansion of legal gambling.

Click here for the rest.

This really makes me wax nostalgic for the Clinton era scandals about expensive haircuts, blowjobs, land deals that lost money, and using the wrong telephone to make fundraising calls. While far worse, this DeLay stuff just isn't as fun.

Next, from the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Judge finds California's marriage law,
barring same-sex weddings, is unconstitutional

A judge ruled today that California's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional — a legal milestone that, if upheld on appeal, would open the way for the most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Judge Richard Kramer of San Francisco County's trial-level Superior Court likened the ban to laws requiring racial segregation in schools, and said there appears to be "no rational purpose" for denying marriage to gay couples.

The ruling came in response to lawsuits filed by the city of San Francisco and a dozen gay couples a year ago after the California Supreme Court halted a four-week same-sex marriage spree started by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Click here for the rest.

Like I keep saying, it is now only a matter of time before gay married couples sue for the right for their marriages to be recognized in non-gay marriage states. Then it'll go to the Supreme Court. They'll probably rule against it, but it'll be as messy a decision as was 2000's Gore v Bush. That is, the US Constitution clearly says that all states must recognize contracts made in other states, marriage for instance. I can't wait to see what kind of bullshit the Supremes come up with to violate the Constitution.

Damned conservative judicial activists.

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