HI House Reps May Seek Extra Religious Exemptions On Marriage

Members of the Hawaii House may attempt to tack a sort of "wedding cake" amendment on to the marriage bill that would allow businesses with five or fewer employees to refuse to serve LGBT customers.

Some House lawmakers want an exemption in the same-sex marriage bill that gives small businesses, especially those in the wedding industry, an "opt out" option. "The purpose is to avoid the type of litigation you're seeing on the mainland where you have same-sex marriage and you have small businesses who feel that they're being imposed upon and being challenged to sacrifice their religious freedoms, their beliefs," Rep. Marcus Oshiro said. But House minority leader Aaron Johanson believes there isn't enough time in the special session to properly cover the same-sex debate, let alone a broader exemption. "For democracy to be at its best, at its fullest, there must be that kind of time to be able to not just consider it but also factor that into the final outcome and the product, and whether we even proceed with it or not," he said.

We'll likely hear more about this "opt out" nonsense during today's hearing.  Any approved amendments would send the bill back to the state Senate, where the Democratic super-majority would have a fit.

Hee said after the Senate vote that he has spoken with leadership in the House and told them that senators may not support expanded religious exemptions if they allow gay couples to be discriminated against as a separate class of people from others. "Those are efforts that I would caution against," Hee told reporters after the Senate vote.

Tea Party Takeover

From Current TV's The War Room. Source.

The Witch Walks Out On Piers Morgan

Failed Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell walked out on CNN last night when the topic of gay marriage was brought up.

Christine O'Donnell Reads From Her Book

"They call us 'wackos'! They call us 'wingnuts'! We call us 'we the people!'"

The Non-Witch Gets Off

The Federal Elections Commission has dismissed the complaint against failed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. The complaint, which had been filed by the Delaware Republican Party, alleged that O'Donnell broke FEC rules by collaborating with the Tea Party Express on fundraising and advertising.

Charlie Crist Apologizes To David Byrne For Ripping Off His Talking Heads Song

(Via - Towleroad)

Here's How Giffords' Opponent Sold Himself In The 2010 Campaign

Andrew Sullivan: "If you are not disturbed by what it proclaims as the essence of true conservatism - a sunglasses wearing soldier with a machine gun in his open crotch - you should be."

NOTE: For those unaware, "RINO" means "Republican in name only." The acronym is commonly used on sites like Free Republic to mock members of the GOP who express anything other than hard-right philosophies. Similarly, some Democrats have taken up "DINO" to describe Blue Dog Dems and other Democrats who support right-of-center ideals.

Teabagger Joe Miller Finally Concedes

But he says can't congratulate Sen. Murkowski because he doesn't have her phone number.

Feds Open Criminal Campaign Finance Investigation Into Christine O'Donnell

NEW YORK: Bloomberg Donated Almost $1M To Help Win GOP Senate Majority

Last week two hotly contested seats in the New York Senate were won by Republicans, giving the GOP a slight edge in the chamber and effectively dousing any hope of marriage equality for years to come. Yesterday the NY Daily News revealed that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated almost $1M to help make that happen. Which is strange because he actually campaigned for one of the Democrats who lost.

Bloomberg secretly gave $900,000 to a barely regulated "housekeeping" account for the Senate Republican campaign, two sources confirm. The account doesn't have to report its finances for another month, but the sources confirm Bloomberg pumped that cash in - an initial donation of $650,000, then $250,000 more to help push the GOP over the edge. "That's what's so weird," said one of Bloomberg's Albany allies. "He's campaigning for Johnson, but then provided some late help for us."

He sure did. The Republicans took back the Senate by a razor's edge - Johnson lost by 451 votes out of more than 85,400 cast - and the next time Bloomberg needs something from Albany, you can be sure he'll remind Dean Skelos how he got to be Senate GOP Leader. Bloomberg and Skelos are still taking each other's measure; they don't yet have the same warm friendship Bloomberg shared with the former Senate GOP boss, Joe Bruno. He pumped $1.1 million into the Senate GOP housekeeping account when Bruno ran it. But the $650,000 check Skelos received was among the biggest Bloomberg has ever written to any politician besides his own campaign.

Bloomberg gives a lot of lip service to marriage equality and frequently speaks on the issue before LGBT rights groups and at rallies. But clearly he has other priorities which outweigh the civil rights of gay New Yorkers.

Incoming GOP House Speaker John Boehner Breaks Down On 60 Minutes

JMG Reader Joe Shaw Elected To Huntington Beach City Council

JMG reader Joe Shaw, who comments here as "Another Joe," has been elected to the Huntington Beach, California city council and is currently the only openly gay elected official in all of Orange County. From earlier this week, here's his opening speech to the council. Congratulations, Councilman Shaw!

MINNESOTA: Tom Emmer Concedes Gov Race, Target's Donation Goes Down Toilet

So much for the huge donation Target made to the campaign of anti-gay bigot Tom Emmer. Via Washington Post:

Republican Tom Emmer has conceded the Minnesota governor's race to former Sen. Mark Dayton (D), bringing a close to the last undecided governor's race of 2010 and finalizing the playing field for the 2011 nationwide redistricting. "Minnesotans have made their choice, by however thin a margin, and we respect that choice," Emmer said. Emmer said he will not press forward with a legal challenge following a recount that left him behind by nearly 9,000 votes. Dayton's win means Republicans will control 29 of the 50 governorships, while Democrats control 20. One seat will be held by an independent, former GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island.

Teabagger Joe Miller Won't Give Up

CALIFORNIA: Democrat Kamala Harris Wins State Attorney General Race

It took weeks of the tedious counting of provisional ballots, but San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has at last been named California's Attorney General-elect. Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley has conceded. Aside from completing a virtual Democratic sweep of all of California's top offices, Harris' win is good news for the gay community as she has vowed not to defend the overturn of Proposition 8. While Prop 8's coming court date will occur before the incoming Attorney General takes office, there was concern that Cooley would attempt some legal maneuver like requesting the case be delayed until he was in power.

Tell 'Em What They Won, Johnny!

SPAIN: Voting Is A Pleasure

Spain's Young Socialists of Catalonia party is raising eyebrows with this orgasmic GOTV ad.

A spokesman for the conservative Convergence and Union Party, Josep Antoni Duran Lleida, called the ad “crude” and suggested it might somehow discourage voters from turning out. Bibiana Aido, Spain’s equality minister, who is a Socialist, admitted that the ad was “misleading,” although, she added, “if it was true, electoral participation would go up greatly.” The leader of Catalan’s Green Party, Joan Herrera, agreed that the ad was not terribly realistic, suggesting that it would be “very difficult to reach orgasm voting for any of the candidates, myself included.”

Quote Of The Day II -Jimmy McMillan

"I would love to put on my website that the Board of Elections can suck my dick, I would love to do that, but I got little children going to my website, I can't do it, the motherfuckers. I would love to, before every one of them go to bed at night, suckin' my damn dick. That's what I'd love to put on my website. Every fuckin' one of them, you know." - Rent Is Too Damn High gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillian, who is suing New York for $350M because they left the word "damn" off his ballot line.

ALASKA: GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski Declared Winner Over Teabagger Joe Miller

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has become the first person elected to the Senate via a write-in campaign since SC Sen. Strom Thurmond did it 56 years ago. Alaska election officials declared Murkoswki the winner today after it became clear that her lead could not be overcome by the remaining uncounted ballots. Teabagger Joe Miller has threatened to sue for a recount, but it seems that may not happen, based on the near-final tally. However he hasn't conceded as of this writing.

CNN is calling Murkowski's win a "huge black eye" for Miller-backer Sarah Palin, who was eviscerated by Murkowski yesterday.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the "leadership qualities" and "intellectual curiosity" to craft great policy. "You know, she was my governor for two years, for just about two years there, and I don't think that she enjoyed governing," Murkowski said. "I don't think she liked to get down into the policy." The Alaska senator added that she prefers a candidate who "goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning thinking about how we're going to deal with" important issues.

New York: Lowest Midterm Voter Turnout

New York state had the worst turnout in the midterm elections, with a mere 32.1% of eligible voters bothering to go the polls. Utah and Texas tied for second-worst at 32.2%. New York's low turnout was probably affected by the "non-competitive" races for governor and U.S. Senate.