Still Hating On Prop 8

On Tuesday the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. If you don't know what Prop 8 is where have you been?! aah well in short it's a ban on gay marriages in California, voted in November 4th last year, ironically, on the same day as Barack Obama, whose message as you most likely know was "change". Due to the highly famous community in Cali many celebrities have lent their voices to the cause, particularly since the controversial remarks of Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA, at the Miss USA pageant in April.

The most fascinating factor of the whole debacle, though, is the amount of difference a few celebrities making themselves heard can make. The piece of legislation probably wouldn't have been reviewed if it weren't for the increased focus placed on the issue. True, technically the review of the ban was due to three lawsuits, however it is hard to tell whether these lawsuits may have had as much power if the celebrity voice that encouraged them had so much influence.This was notable in the large and varied celebrities who attended the Anti Prop 8 rally on Tuesday night, following the supreme courts announcement.

(Copyright Perez Hilton/Unknown)

However, despite the disgust with which the decision was received it's hard to ignore the fact that Prop 8 was voted in through good old fashioned democracy, and by a clear majority. This will make it hard to overturn. It's also hard to tell whether, once the furore surrounding Miss USA, and indeed Prop 8 itself, dies down this issue will really be fought for publicly and vocally by so many celebrities, as opposed to those who it actually concerns - homosexual members of the Hollywood community.

For a video of the protest click here.

Expensive Expenses

You know what I'm like with journalistic trends....useless. So yeh I haven't written about expenses despite the fact this issue has been at a head for a over a month now. I kinda decided it was time for a catch up. And to ensure I gathered all the information in this one post (to save time...a LOT of time) I decided that i'd just extend award season by a few months and hand out the Awards for the most Expensive Expenses.

Award for the Best Denial:
Ben Chapman on overclaiming £15,000 on his mortgage "It is clear that I was mislead by the fees office into the arrangement in question". Uhm what?! What does that even mean?!

Award for starting a trend:
Sir Peter Viggers, who now famously claimed for a floating duck house. Description of said house? 'The Stockholm, is based on an 18th century building reconstructed in Stockholm. Its situation on a floating island is the ideal protection from foxes while giving its residents immediate access to the water.' Only the finest for an MPs ducks.

Award for most logical reasoning:
Shaun Woodward, Northern Ireland secretary, standing up for the common mans right to biscuits "I have just had a cup of tea in the green room getting ready for this programme, and there were biscuits next to the make-up tray. The BBC is funded by the taxpayer. Those biscuits were actually paid for by a taxpayer. I have, in my office, claimed for biscuits for my constituents. So my constituents should not have biscuits, but someone coming on this programme should?”

Award for most cheerful goodbye:
Anthony Steen announcing he would be stepping down from office "I've had a good innings, there is no bitterness, but as the saying goes, all political careers end in tears"


Award for most called for resignation:
Michael Martin, controversial Labour Commons Speaker, was expected to resign almost from the very beginning of the controversy. Of his role he said "We have let you down very badly indeed. We must all accept blame and to the extent that I have contributed to this situation, I'm profoundly sorry."

Award for most bizarre claim:
Another famous case is the cleaning of a moat, as claimed for by Douglas Hogg. I'm sure we all feel that the cleaning of our moat is an essential and everyday service, universally used.

Award for Biggest Political Casualty:
Well this one is pretty unclear. Until the next election we will not know if this issue will affect Gordon Brown's hold. Opinion polls suggest it might, however the issue is universal to all parties and so there is not really an 'innocent' leader to turn to. What is for certain though is that the next election is likely to become one of the biggest Commons overhauls since 1945, due to the number of MPs who have been affected by the scandal, meaning that parties will be forced to use 'fresh faces' to appeal to the voter.

The most significant development of the last week? The tide began to turn on the press that has been at the heart of the row and the man, John Wick, who revealed the details in the first place. This row is becoming more pandemic than swine flu!

Leave of Absence

I totally took one because exams have become my life. But I kinda totally have a break. So I'm back!

Week of Dramz

It's been a controversial week for Obama. He's remained silent on the whole Gay Marriage thing. Though he has previously stated he is against it (as a christian) the fact he is now being repeatedly and solidly quoted by the 'opposite marriage' community is making his position both awkward and uncomfortable as it is kinda unclear what his, well, current stance really is.

The prez has also had various troubles nominating his cabinet and administrative posts, with obvious examples of obstructionism getting in the way. The latest? His pick to run the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel - Dawn Johnsen. The system is so backlogged with blocks to Obama's nominations that the Seante Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has suggested he simply cannot push through Johnsen's nomination.

Final controversy is possibly the worst. Obama has done a total 180 on the release of Iraq abuse pictures, choosing to block the release of the photos of abuse of prisoners in Iraq by US soldiers. The issue here, btw, is not that this is the wrong thing to do but the fact that it is the second time in a week Obama has gone against his own policy.

On a lighter note the Correspondents Dinner took place in DC this week with the great and good of Hollywood making the pilgrimage to attend the first of these dinners to be held by Obama. The man himself garnered giggles when commenting on Michelles 'right to bare arms'. She looked fabulous on the night

Cash Cows

The Bank of England are becoming addicts - they just keep injecting and injecting. Latest? £50bn more and extension of overall spending from £75bn to £125bn. They have to use this method of quantitative easing as it is virtually impossible for them to cut interest rates to any lower than the 0.5% they are at now. This follows the announcement earlier this week that the European Central Bank is cutting its interest rates from 1.25% to just 1%. The scheme of quantitative easing has come under a lot of attack in the UK since its introduction late last year, the most common criticism being that it is essentially 'printing money'.

A sign that the recession has really hit? Lorry numbers are in decline peoples! They fell 12% in the first quarter of this year. Although people like myself to find this headline tres amusant it is still kinda serious, showing that the industrial sector at least is in major decline.

A sign that the recession is getting better?! The service industry is on the up. So are these macro or micro changes? Up or down? Good or bad? Services or industry? Does this even make a difference?! no, really I need to know i have an economics exam in two weeks....

....and now I'm more confused than ever!

How To Look Good Naked

It's makeover time peoples! Who's up? Why, it's the GOP (just seeing that makes me laugh). Time for a timeline!

May 1st 2009 - Michael Steele once again became a big thorn in his party's side by telling moderates that they were welcome to his party, as long as they quiet their own view and fall in with the far-right party line. Image change? What image change?

May 2nd 2009 - Three major-league republicans (Eric Cantor, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney) met at a Virginia restaurant for the first of a series of town hall meetings. Sound familiar?!

May 4th 2009 - Obama requested that the GOP start becoming more open to his policies. His hope for a bipartisan age have been slowly fading as only 3 republicans have voted for his major policies and one of those, Sen. Arlen Specter, ended up changing party allegiances entirely!

May 5th 2009 - Jon Ensign Nevada Sen. discusses the slipping fortunes of the GOP specifically the "litmus tests" that candidates wanting to represent the party had to go through. He suggested that this was making elections in the North East particularly uwinnable, as candidate simply did not appeal to voters.

I have to say the headline "GOP gives Palin the cold shoulder" did make me lol - although hypocrites much?! so what do YOU think of the image change? Will it work out for the GOP? Should Bristol Palin-style teen pregnancy and 'opposite' marriage be eliminated from their policies? or is there something else that makes them so damn unappealing?

NOH8

This warms my heart:

If you don't know what this is about which rock have you been hiding under?! And can I come join! These three beauty queens, including Miss USA 2008 (right) and Shanna Moakler, president of the Miss California pageant and former Miss USA (centre) are representing the NOH8 campaign, a Californian body aiming to overturn Proposition 8 - that is the bill that made gay marriage illegal in the state of California last November. Why is this issue relevant now?

This is Carrie Prejean Miss California 2009. On the 19th April she competed in the 58th Miss USA pageant. She ended up first runner up. This image shows her answering a question asked by celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton. The question?
“Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalise same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”
Her answer?!
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” Prejean said. “And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

The main criticism of her answer was not the fact she is homophobic (the answer does not suggest this but her statements since have). It was that she did not answer in a way that a winner of Miss USA should with Perez's suggested answer rounding up the overall view of those involved in the pageant.

But the most important part of the controversy is that it has resulted in a national focus on the issue of gay marriage in America resulting in multiple states legalising these types of marriage in the last week. This week a national vote was taken by CBS where 42% supported marriages for same-sex couples up 9 points from last month, 28% said same-sex couples should have no form of marriage at all, down 7 points and 25% support civil unions for the couples. Progress is change! In fact the Grand Old Party is even starting to recognise the damaging effect their gay policy is having on them - if that can change you know these times they are a-changin'!