Gas prices are down...

Catholics Protest Launch of the Bishops' "Fortnight for Freedom" Campaign

Catholics for Equality, the country's largest national political organization of pro-LGBT equality Catholics, joined hands tonight with several fair-minded and faithful Catholic social justice groups in organizing a peaceful protest outside the kickoff Mass for the bishops' "Fortnight for Freedom" election year political campaign. The Catholic groups came together with prayers and hymns under one giant united banner which read, Bishops: We Need Pastors, Not Politicians, Your Antics are Hurting the Church.

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"The bishops no longer represent Catholics in the pews on so many social issues, from contraception to legal equality for LGBT people," said Joseph Palacios, Director of the Catholics for Equality Foundation. "We also reject the bishops' election year campaign that they are now somehow victims of religious liberty."

According to a new report released today by the Public Religion Research Institute, 57% of American Catholics do not believe that the right to religious liberty is being threatened in America today. The report also notes that 65% of Catholics believe that most employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception at no cost and that 63% believe religiously affiliated agencies should not be able to refuse to place children with qualified gay and lesbian couples.

"The bishops' "Fortnight for Freedom" 2012 campaign is nothing more than election year political posturing," said Phil Attey, Executive Director of Catholics for Equality. "For the past 10 years the bishops' have earned the public branding of abusers, oppressors, and political bullies. Catholics in the pews don't listen to them anymore and nor do political leaders ... including Catholic political leaders. In order to change this political reality, the bishops need to change their branding from bully to victim. But nobody's buying it and they're only bringing more embarrassment to our church."

Things Black Presidents (and First Ladies) Are Not Allowed to Do

The growing list – according to Republicans and Republican-leaning media – of things white Presidents and their first ladies can do, but black ones can’t:

1. Deliver State of the Union without being heckled
2. Complete Rose Garden remarks without interruption
3. Call for a joint session of Congress (the NERVE!)

From GD: Nuns protest GOP budget proposals they say hurt the poor

A group of Roman Catholic nuns is set to leave Des Moines on a two-week bus tour of nine states to protest Republican federal budget proposals that the group believes hurt the poor and vulnerable.

The Nuns on the Bus tour departs Monday and is scheduled to finish in Washington, D.C., on July 2.

The nuns will visit Catholic-sponsored social service agencies and the offices of Republican members of Congress including Steve King’s office in Ames, House Speaker John Boehner’s office in Chester, Ohio, and Rep. Eric Cantor’s office in Richmond, Va.

Organizer Sister Simone Campbell says the tour is not a response to the Vatican’s recent criticism of nuns as being too outspoken on social issues. Network, a Catholic social justice lobby founded by sisters, is sponsoring the tour.

US regains supercomputer crown

Source: BBC

IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers for the US.

The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place.

It is the first time the US can claim pole position since it was beaten by China two years ago.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18457716

Iran's Ahmadinejad to leave politics, newspaper reports

Source: CNN

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will leave politics when his second term comes to an end, and does not envision a Vladimir Putin-style return to office after sitting out for a term, a German newspaper reported Sunday.

"Eight years are enough," the controversial Iranian leader told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

He's barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term in 2013. Russian President Putin was forced out of office by a similar law, spent one term as prime minister, then returned to office this year.

But Putin dominates his country's politics in a way that Ahmadinejad does not, observers say.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/17/world/meast/iran-ahmadinejad/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Why I gave up on being a Republican (GOP "infected by... political rabies")

I'm a life-long Republican. My political affiliation has been woven intrinsically into the very fabric of my being.

My first political act was passionately lobbying my fourth-grade classmates to vote for Reagan over Walter Mondale in a mock election in 1984. As an adult, I continued to be a rock-solid Republican- I helped run my law school's chapter of the Federalist Society and its Republican club. And after the election of President Obama in 2008, I served as an officer in my state Republican Party. For the next two years, I devoted substantial amounts of my time, my talent, and my treasure to supporting local candidates running for office and to building the Party organization.

Today, however, I am a registered Republican no longer.

I came to the decision to leave the GOP not with a heavy heart, but with a broken one.

State Rep. Lisa Brown: My Vagina Monologue: What Michigan GOP Lawmakers Didn't Want to Know

As a state legislator, I have spoken out often and passionately on the things that matter most to me and my constituents. I have spoken out against the defunding of our public schools and against tax increases to middle-class families. So I was shocked to learn Thursday that the leadership of the Michigan House of Representatives had decided to silence me and keep me from doing my job because I had uttered the one word they couldn't stand to hear: vagina.

Let me explain. The day before, we were debating a new anti-choice law that would over-regulate women's health clinics to the point many could no longer offer abortions. It would require doctors to make the equivalent of funeral arrangements for foetal remains, both in the cases of abortion and miscarriage; and it would hinder women in rural areas or who don't have transportation from getting early abortions by prohibiting doctors from prescribing abortion drugs by phone.

When it was my turn to talk, I explained my opposition to the bill. As a Jew, I said that I follow my faith's teaching that when a pregnant woman's health and life is at stake, it's her life that comes first. As a member of a religious minority, I understand that not everyone shares my views, and I respect that. In turn, I asked that they not force their religious views on me. In closing, I told them that I was flattered in their interest in my vagina, but no means no.

Apparently, that was too much for House leadership to bear.

GOP Latinos Site Uses A Stock Photo Of Asian Children

In 2011, the Republican National Committee launched a new Hispanic outreach effort, complete with a new website, RNC Latinos. Until a few minutes ago, though, that website featured a stock photo of children that were actually Asian.

U.S. News & World Report discovered the colossal screw-up. The RNC used a stock photo from Shutterstock, the description of which clearly suggests that the children in the photo are Asian.

The description in the photo reads, in part: "activity, asia, asian, cheeks, children, cool, cute ... interracial, japanese."

The RNC has apparently taken notice and corrected the issue. Here's what the site looked like around 4:30 p.m. today:

House's "for sale" sign makes suspiciously ominous claim

Take a walk through this beautiful home that is in no way inhabitated by the spirits of the dead, and you'll notice features like its three spacious bedrooms whose previous occupants were definitely not shot to death while they slept, walls that never bleed or moan incoherently, and a beautiful spiral staircase that totally doesn't tremble under the heavy, supernatural bootsteps of a vengeful ghost every morning at 4 a.m. The asking price is $300,000, but we'll give you 500 bucks just to spend one night.