• SENATE APPROVES GAY HATE CRIMES/WAR BILL: The Senate finally approved after 10 billion years a measure to include gay people and all sorts of wacky gender hybrids under the “hate crimes umbrella,” as part of a massive massive war/death/killing Defense Appropriations bill. Now gays can get married! [NYT]

• Unpopular elected official Harry Reid is just all about including the public option on the new health care bill. [New York Times]
• John Kerry is so busy and fulfilled chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he totally doesn’t even have time to think about 2004. [Washington Post]
• A team of pilots flying a commercial airliner overshot their destination, the Minneapolis airport, by 150 miles yesterday. The FAA first blamed terrorism but is now blaming sleep, the terrorism of trying to stay awake at work. [CNN]
• Legislation stating that violence against gay people is, legally-speaking, a hate crime is THISCLOSE to becoming law. All Obama has to do is sign the dotted line, which he will. [Los Angeles Times]
• Barry is trying to convince Iran to fulfill all its uranium enrichment needs overseas somewhere. Iran is trying to cultivate an arsenal of nuclear weapons. These things may be mutually exclusive! [AP]
• Britain is still in the midst of its own recession. Ehh, and everyone though the third quarter was going to be the turnaround one for the economy over there. Alas. [Reuters]

Hey look, the New York Post has created an online video game where you can beat the shit out of Hillary Clinton! All you have to do is select a character and then click your mouse forever. [NYP]

Oh oh, we know how this will play out: because Obama defended himself and hit McCain back, Obama’s still the black guy so HE will go to jail, right? Right? It’s always the same when these old white Panamanian men hit middle-aged black men. [ABC News]

House leadership today was forced to drop language from the Defense Department authorization bill that would have made sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability protected categories under the current federal hate crimes law. While the stand-alone hate crimes bill supposedly enjoys wide support from Democrats and moderate Republicans in the House (and was, in fact, added to the bill by the Senate), the fight to include the language failed because many liberal Dems always vote against authorizing the Department of Defense (and wouldn’t change their votes) and because many conservative Dems and Republicans didn’t support the legislation and/or its inclusion in the defense bill. Although the bill supposedly has all this broad support (which one would think would make it easy to pass), there’s no word when or if the House will vote on it. Pelosi says, that she’s “strongly committed” to the bill, though, so I’m sure it will be really soon. [CNN]

Dems sneak “Matthew Shepard law” onto war-funding bill. [AP/Google]

Is it still a Hate Crime? MORE »

Photo illustration via Fark, which had so many great ones to choose from

Yesterday, we met Justin Zatkoff, the Michigan area College Republican who was savagely beaten by gay black communists after leaving a party. The CR have an official statement:

I think the assailant broke Justin’s nose, cheekbone, eye cavity, and nasal cavity. The attack was completely unprovoked. I urge all of you to be careful and travel in groups when possible, especially until the elections are over.

A vigilant reader asked for more information on the situation from Truth Caucus, and a portion of their IM conversation is reprinted below:

truth caucus: well…
truth caucus: there isnt physical proof that it was from a liberal attacker…
truth caucus: he doesn’t remember anything about what happened
truth caucus: And, I’m think that he might be jewish
truth caucus: and Ann Arbor has a large muslim population
operative: wow!

We knew it! ISLAMOFASICSTS! Get Hitch and Sully on this, stat!

More of their exchange is reprinted after the jump.

College Republican beaten after leaving party [Fark]
Carlson Issues Statement [Truth Caucus]
Earlier: Young Republican Attacked by Either Gays or Blacks

MORE »

This young man was assaulted yesterday as he left a meeting of the Michigan College Republicans. Justin Zatkoff is the apparent victim of a hate crime, perpetrated almost without doubt by– well, we’ll let “a source close to Justin” explain: MORE »