"I do not support gay marriage. Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman." (From the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Presidential questionnaire) - Barack Hussein Obama

A rash of attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the country - including the severe beating of a New York man whose attackers believed he was gay - suggests the number of reported assaults could rise in 2008, an advocacy group said.

The number of reported attacks against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender increased 24 percent in 2007 over 2006, and they were expected to jump in 2008, said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.

Officials are still compiling the 2008 figures, which will be released next spring, Stapel said.

The baseball bat beating of Ecuadoran immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay in New York last week was the latest in a number of reported assaults, said the project, which coordinates organizations that document violence against gay and HIV-positive people. The attack left Sucuzhanay, 31, brain dead.

Since the fatal February shooting of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old Los Angeles boy who endured harassment after telling classmates he was gay, "We are witnessing what appears to be an increase in both the occurrence and severity of violence motivated by racism, homophobia and transphobia," Stapel said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/14/MNH214NK0L.DTL&feed=rss.gay

But don't worry.....impeachment is off the table.

I always have to laugh when people use the old argument well at least you are free to protest/disagree. So what???

It's not like it will change anything.

The political system has gotten so corrupt that the people's will is completely ignored and congress does whatever it wants.

The presidency bounces back and forth between a near dictatorship (if his party controls congress) or complete deadlock (if the other party controls congress).

The supreme court is a farce and I don't care who you are or what you do, no one deserves that powerful of a position for life. Especially when that position effects the laws of an entire country. It's like royalty.

The sudden crush of worshipers packing the small evangelical Shelter Rock Church in Manhasset, N.Y. — a Long Island town of yacht clubs and hedge fund managers — forced the pastor to set up an overflow room with closed-circuit TV and 100 folding chairs, which have been filled for six Sundays straight.

In Seattle, the Mars Hill Church, one of the fastest-growing evangelical churches in the country, grew to 7,000 members this fall, up 1,000 in a year. At the Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J., prayer requests have doubled — almost all of them aimed at getting or keeping jobs.

Like evangelical churches around the country, the three churches have enjoyed steady growth over the last decade. But since September, pastors nationwide say they have seen such a burst of new interest that they find themselves contending with powerful conflicting emotions — deep empathy and quiet excitement — as they re-encounter an old piece of religious lore:

Bad times are good for evangelical churches.

“It’s a wonderful time, a great evangelistic opportunity for us,” said the Rev. A. R. Bernard, founder and senior pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York’s largest evangelical congregation, where regulars are arriving earlier to get a seat. “When people are shaken to the core, it can open doors.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/nyregion/14churches.html

ps

"Watch it Dad, you're the highly suggestible type" Lisa Simpson

"Yes, I am the highly suggestible type" Homer Simpson

"Rahm Emanuel, who has been tapped by Obama to be his White House chief of staff, had conversations beginning just before the Nov. 4 election with Blagojevich's administration about who would replace Obama in the Senate, according to a report Saturday in the Chicago Tribune."

"Obama said Friday he will release in a matter of days the results of an internal investigation into what conversations his aides and advisers may have had with Blagojevich, who has been accused of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat.

Obama's staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. While Obama has promised openness throughout his service, his staff has locked down on inquiries for now."

"Another question that Obama's staff didn't answer is how he knows that his office had no involvement if he has yet to gather all the facts about conversations they had with Blagojevich's office."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_ILLINOIS_GOVERNOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

They know it the same way Nancy "impeachment is off the table" Pelosi knew Bush was innocent of illegal wiretaps without holding any hearings.

Who else:

1. does not pay taxes

2. receives tax money to spread their propaganda

3. owns property

4. gets to host a presidential debate

5. gets to remove other people's civil rights

6. enjoys every governmental service that other people's money pays for

?

corrupt and incompetent corporations, foreign or domestic.

at the expense of his base?

How very un republican.

after lying to the UN, who cares what he says.

is it any wonder they continue to support him and help spread his lies?

Reminds me of the way the media sucked up to Bush in the beginning.

I'd say this is just a little poetic justice.

The Democratic party had no problem with the media smearing the Clintons and giving Obama a free pass but now they cry foul.

What a bunch of hypocrites.

belonging to any organized religion is.

someone must have an extra canister of sarin gas laying around?