The Senate, to no one’s great surprise, voted 68-31 to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. Georgia senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, again to no one’s great surprise, voted against Sotomayor’s confirmation, but maintained a degree of civility about the process. Three Republican senators from Deep South states did break ranks and vote for the judge: Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham and Mel Martinez.
The classiest response, as always, came from the anti-immigration groups who don’t even try to mask their hatred of all those brown-skinned Hispanics who’ve been settling in the U.S. “We just received word that the La Raza supporters are jubilant and arranging immediate celebrations and festivities for their wins,” said race-baiter William Gheen. “Those of you in areas of dense illegal immigration might have a rowdy night on your hands.”
CNN commentator Lou Dobbs – whose own wife, interestingly enough, is named Debi Lee Segura – was reported to be in mourning . . .
The Sotomayor vote in the Senate brings to a full circle the entertainment and political career of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken. Franken, the most junior member of the Senate, presided over the chamber and announced the final vote confirming Sotomayor. As a member of the Saturday Night Live cast, Franken also portrayed Illinois Sen. Paul Simon (the Paul Simon who did not write “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”) in a 1991 skit lampooning the confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas. The video clip of that skit seems to have disappeared from the intertubes, but you can still read a transcript of it here . . .
The American Psychological Association overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that knocks down the idea floated by Christianists that faith-based therapy and a love of Jesus in general can transform gays and lesbians into heterosexuals. These “therapeutic” efforts to turn gays into straights often bring on depression and suicide, the association noted. Somebody needs to break the news to Ted Haggard . . .
It looks like John Ensign, Mark Sanford and David Vitter can invite another politician to come visit that house on C Street in Washington. Republican Paul Stanley, a Tennessee state senator, has resigned from the Volunteer State’s legislature after it was disclosed that he had been carrying on an extramarital affair with a 22-year-old intern (a female intern, if you really must know). Stanley, of course, had sponsored legislation that would have prohibited gay couples from adopting children and opposed funding for Planned Parenthood because he said unmarried people should not have sex. “Just because I fell far short of what God’s standard was for me and my wife, doesn’t mean that that standard is reduced in the least bit,” Stanley said after announcing his resignation.
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