Michele Bachmann Glittered at Right Online

I found the clip at Instapundit, " Failed glitter attack on Michele Bachmann."

But see also, Gay Patriot, "Throwing glitter rather than debating gay marriage":

Yeah, well, throwing stuff is a lot easier than acknowledging your adversary’s points and countering them with well-thought out arguments.

But check the whole thing. Lots more links.

But the thing I notice at the video, is how easily the protester is able to get to Michele Bachmann. When I first saw Bachmann speak at Knott's Berry Farm in January 2010, she had a staff aide or body guard keeping people away, and she left quickly after making her speech. At this year's Horowitz retreat, however, she was meeting and greeting all the guests and taking pictures, etc. I imagine the ambience was like that at Right Online, being around a bunch of fellow partisans, but there are no metal detectors at these big conferences, and it's scary to think what could very well happen unless she's better protected by security.

New Ruling Upholds Proposition 8

I'm not surprised: "Gay judge wasn't required to remove himself from same-sex marriage case, U.S. judge rules."

I wasn't surprised at all. And ICYMI, yesterday's New York Times had a good piece on the road ahead for gay marriage, "Same-Sex Vote Unlikely in California":

Regardless of how the lower courts rule, most legal analysts believe the Boies-Olson case will eventually be decided by the United States Supreme Court. No one seems to want anything to happen outside the courtroom to prejudice judges at any level.

“We’re right at the cusp, and it is the conventional wisdom that we can’t go to the ballot to repeal and lose,” said Kate Kendell, the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. She said an electoral loss could “create a very toxic environment” for same-sex marriage and “send a message that might chill an otherwise more compassionate court.”

Evan Wolfson, the president of Freedom to Marry, another rights group, echoed that statement, saying the federal case has been a “tremendous boost to public understanding about how the denial of marriage really harms families,” but it’s also had a chilling effect on a California ballot push. “While the case is pending, it has made it harder to mobilize the volunteers and money and energy,” he said. “That’s really been the good and bad of it.”

In addition to the potential impact on the federal case, some worry that a 2012 ballot campaign could also galvanize conservative groups in a presidential election year, and bring more Republican voters to the polls in California in a year when initiatives on issues like immigrant rights and the death penalty may make the state’s ballot.

But the wait-and-see decision will no doubt displease some who feel that the voter-approved ban on gay marriage — in a year in which President Obama was elected — was a low-water mark in the gay rights movement.

Seems weird how long ago it's been. Polls have shifted a bit toward gay marriage, but not that much. Politics will still matter, a lot.

Karen Alloy, Polls, Religion, and Gay Marriage

Okay, here's a placeholder, since I'll be away for a few hours.

And, well, it's a good chance to check out Karen Alloy, who's been scarce around here, which is lame. Anyway, she's right about Islam. And more on religion, from Gallup, "More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God."

And strangely, folks still believe in God, but, hmm, maybe not so much the Bible, which frowns on homosexuality. See LAT, "Support in polls for same-sex marriage could influence Proposition 8 legal battle, experts say." Gallup's cited, for example.

But wait! Compare to Maggie Gallagher, "The Left's Endless Culture War."

Anyway, you're probably not gay if you like Karen Alloy, potty mouth and all.

Okay, check back with me tonight!

Newt Gingrich Glittered!

Boy, he's getting it from all sides, metaphorically speaking, of course:

And of course, the extremists at Rachel Maddow's are down with that. Amazing thing is Gingrich is such a GOP loser. He must have REALLY built up some resentments. Seriously. Good thing these guys weren't leather-clad bomb-throwers. No doubt there's some gay Weather Underground-wannabes out there. And Gingrich is fail on the security. Sheesh.

Also, at KARE11-TV Minneapolis, "Gingrich hit with glitter at Minneapolis event." And KSMP-TV Fox 9, "Protestor Hits Gingrich, Wife with Glitter before Speech."

Debra Saunders: 'Intolerant Left Strikes Again'

At Rasmussen (via Memeorandum):

On April 25, gay-rights advocates -- led by the Human Rights Campaign -- scored a victory after the HRC applied pressure on a law firm hired to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and woman and denies federal benefits to same-sex partners. The firm fired its client. There are two reasons you should be outraged, no matter what your position is on DOMA.

Go read it all. One of the more outraged commentaries I've read on the case. Earlier I meant to juxtapose William Jacobson's commentary on this, "Is There Now A Hostile Environment For Pro-Traditional Marriage Views At King & Spalding?", to that of Dale Carpenter's. William writes, for example:

For whatever their reasons, the supporters of gay marriage have chosen the path of intimidation rather than persuasion. I think this is a mistake, but time will tell.

The comment assumes that this kind of intimidation is new, unprecedented. But is it? Dale Carpenter had an interesting piece at the New York Times the other day, "How the Law Accepted Gays:

THE prestigious law firm King & Spalding has not fully explained its decision this week to stop assisting Congress in defending the law that forbids federal recognition of same-sex marriage. But its reversal suggests the extent to which gay men and lesbians have persuaded much of the legal profession to accept the basic proposition that sexual orientation is irrelevant to a person’s worth and that the law should reflect this judgment. The decision cannot be dismissed simply as a matter of political correctness or bullying by gays.

Well, folks should finish the essay, and they might be a little more convinced, although I'm not. There's something fundamentally different about the struggle for civil rights for gay Americans, and since 2008 that difference has been a level of demonization and intimidation of the opposition that's unprecedented in my political lifetime. But go back and read Debra Saunders once more. Even the leadership of HRC admits they're again ready to pounce and destroy at the next instance of politically incorrect non-compliance to the gay narrative.