Motley Moose – Archive

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The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In his weekly address, President Obama said he took action this week to launch new manufacturing hubs and expand a competition to fund transformative infrastructure projects. Both are policies aimed at expanding economic opportunity for all by creating jobs and ensuring the long-term strength of the American economy. Congress can boost this effort by passing a bipartisan proposal to create a nationwide network of high-tech manufacturing hubs and taking steps to invest in our nation’s infrastructure – rebuilding our transportation system, creating new construction jobs, and better connecting Americans to economic opportunities.

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Found on the Internets …

Facing Overwhelming Opposition, Arizona Governor Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill

After a week of national backlash, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has vetoed SB 1062, which would have allowed religious beliefs to be used to justify discrimination against LGBT people and others. Explaining her veto, Brewer said, “I call them like I see them despite the cheers or boos from the crowd.” She added that the bill does not address a specific concern and that she knows of no examples of how religious liberty has been under attack.

Opposition to the bill came from individuals and companies across the country, including the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, Apple, and Mitt Romney. Many other states have introduced similar bills, some specifying that businesses could refuse services to marrying same-sex couples, but most have stalled or died, particularly those introduced this week during the backlash against Arizona.

Media Matters: Fox News Has A Nasty Anti-Gay Hangover

What explains Fox’s sudden cold feet now that several states are acting to deal with the manufactured threat to religious liberty that Fox News helped create?

To hear people like Fox’s Kelly and Tantaros explain it, laws like Arizona’s SB 1062 simply went a little too far. These laws would be acceptable if they only affected businesses directly involved in the marriage and wedding industry, but giving all business owners a license to discriminate against gay customers too closely resembles Jim Crow legislation.[…]

The distinction between marriage-related services and general services used by gay couples is convenient, but it doesn’t stand up under closer scrutiny.

For one, Fox News has aggressively promoted the idea that requiring equal treatment of gay people in non-marital contexts also infringes on businesses’ religious liberty. […]

… many of the network’s personalities are waking up to the harsh reality that their words have consequences. They’re in the uncomfortable position of to decide between disowning the right-wing talking points they helped promote or siding with measures that even they admit look a lot like pro-segregation laws.

More …

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Found on the Internets …

Georgia Issues New Confederate Flag License Plate

In Georgia, the state Department of Revenue’s Motor Vehicle Division approved of a new specialty license plate design that features the Confederate battle flag. Under state law, all license plate proposals are submitted to the Motor Vehicle division to screen out insensitive or offensive license plate designs.

[The design], proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, features a more prominent Confederate battle flag across the background, the emblem of the SOCV on the left side, and a dedication to the organization in a banner across the lower-center of the plate.

Maynard Eaton, spokesman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, called the display “reprehensible” and added “we don’t have license plates saying ‘Black Power’.”

So I guess that glorifying a rebellion that led to the deaths of about a half a million Americans and honoring “confederate veterans” who fought to continue the enslavement of an entire race of human beings is not insensitive at all!!

Or perhaps it is only “insensitive” if you are a member of the race of human beings who were enslaved.

Of course, this honoring stuff is part of Georgia’s Southern heritage and has nothing at all to do with the actual war, why it was fought, and the racism that the flag has symbolized since the 1860s.

So if the “Sons of Nazi German Soldiers” wanted to have a license plate with a swastika, would that be okay? Surely those sons should have a chance to celebrate their heritage.

Or how about this: “Sons of the Guys Who Burned Atlanta” with an American flag and a logo showing screaming white people looking at their plantations on fire.

Stay classy, Georgia, and remove this license plate from your approved list.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comment threads.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama says this is a year of action, and he will do everything he can to restore opportunity for all. The President already lifted the wages for federal contract workers, and he calls on the American people to tell Congress to finish the job by boosting the federal minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 and give America a raise.