OK, I know he's had his senior moments the past couple of years.  But maybe we can turn that into an advantage.  

I mentioned elsewhere the possibility that Obama might be looking for a one-term VP candidate to set up a second-term run for someone like Schweitzer or Warner.  Someone thought maybe I was hinting at Reid.  Which I wasn't, but it got me to thinking.  (A dangerous pasttime, I know...)

Anticlimatic, I know, but same-sex couples in the reddest part of California tied the knot today with virtually no opposition despite the efforts of the Kern County Clerk.

...well, in Bakersfield, California, anyway.  The local County Clerk, having waffled on whether or not her office would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, was overruled by the County Counsel.  He said specifically that such licenses would be issued.

Which led to her retaliatory action announced today.  Although her office will comply with the recent California Supreme Court decision and hand out marriage licenses, they're doing away with the performance of ALL marriages at the courthouse.

And you people don't think anything ever happens in Bakersfield...

Just a quick rundown of the stuff you're missing by not living in the nuttiest part of California:

I reported last week about a planned protest by the slimy Fred Phelps and his "God Hates Fags" group at the funeral of a local soldier who left behind a pregnant widow.

They never showed up.

The planned protest got quite a bit of attention here in Bakersfield, and I gather quite a few angry phonecalls went out to the Phelps' home slimepit.  There was some talk of a boycott of whatever local motel was unlucky enough to book their rooms.

But the protesters never showed up and the funeral went on as scheduled with quite a large local attendance.

The solder, who was 19, had been married only seven months.  His younger brother wants to join up to "avenge" him, something his father is trying to prevent.

Protesters affiliated with the loathesome Fred Phelps plan to be in my town Saturday to picket the funeral of a local Iraq vet who left behind a pregnant widow at 19:

PICKET PLANNED FOR LOCAL FUNERAL: The "God Hates Fags" group - that actively opposes gay rights with pickets and demonstrations - is coming
to Bakersfield to protest a soldier's funeral. In a flier - the group says that Army Private Ramon A. Villatoro was killed in Iraq by the
same type of bomb that was used against their church. The flier argues that God is killing Americans in retaliation - "They turned America
Over to fags - They're coming home in body bags."

One more local soldier reported in today's paper as KIA in Iraq.  Pfc. Ramon Villatoro.

With a wife of seven months.  A pregnant wife.  

He was 19.

19.  

He went to my daughter's high school.  Graduated in her class.

My local freeperville newspaper here in Bakersfield rather accurately reported on an anti-gay marriage rally last Saturday by a local Rethuglican.  Fully three times as many opponents showed up to laugh at the state senator and guest Rev. Lou Sheldon of the "Traditional Values" group.

Read the article below:

I've come into possession of three authentic HALLIBURTON jumpsuits, the kind you'd use to work on an oil rig, or plunder a nation's wealth, whatever.  (I've got receipts).

I'd like to donate them to someone who'd put them to good political use--not, I repeat, NOT if you want to use 'em to sneak onto Halliburton property.  Legal uses only.  They're ripped on one leg but should be good as-is or easily sewn.  Pirate eyepatches not included.  I'm in Central California but will ship anywhere in the country for shipping charges.

Cheney's coming to my town today and it'd be the perfect thing--but alas, just got 'em and no time to set it up.  Special consideration given to anyone who'll be at the RNC or similar venues.  And who knows---I'm keeping the red one and may get another chance!

A judge has dismissed the "sailor mongering" charge against Greenpeace for boarding a ship at sea and hanging a political banner, I wondered:

Just what is the statute of limitations on sailor mongering?

I seem to recall last May a similar incident where someone boarded a US warship and hung a "Mission Accomplished" banner for political reasons.  How 'bout it--George Walker Bush, first president of the United States to be impeached for "sailor mongering."  It has a nice ring, don't you think?

A friend forwarded to me the latest (to me, at least) in slime techniques from the right--an attempt to use Chappaquiddick against Kerry. A quote from the e-mail:

"It is time for the GOP, and all Democrats over the age of 40, to stand up and remind America why Sen. Kerry's chief spokesman had to abandon his own presidential bid in 1980. It is time to say the words "Mary Jo Kopechne" out loud. "

FWIW, there's a false rumor about Rumsfeld making a veiled Chapaquiddick reference in defense of the administration's WMD fiasco, debunked at http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/kennedy.asp