CalvinBall wrote:Jonathan Weisman ✔ @jonathanweisman Rep. Markwayne Mullin says there are 4 branches of government and they all need to negotiate

pacino wrote:Democrats did not filibuster, did not shut down the government. They put up a protest vote and did not demand that he get rid of something they previously lost on. There is a difference and you know that.

Terry Mutchler, the state's highest-ranking openly gay official, has found herself biting her lip more than once over comments coming from Gov. Corbett or his administration since he took office in 2011.

First, she said, as a woman, she was offended by Corbett's remark that women who would be forced under proposed legislation to undergo ultrasounds before an abortion could "just close your eyes."

Then there was his legal team's comparison in a court brief of gay marriage to underage people's getting wed.

But for Mutchler, executive director of the Office of Open Records, the final straw came last week, when Corbett said same-sex marriage was the equivalent under the law to the marriage of a brother and sister.

"When the governor compared gay marriage to incest, and did so with a bit of a smirk, I felt compelled to speak," Mutchler said in a speech to archivists Monday at the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

In her first public comments since Corbett's television interview Friday, Mutchler called his analogy "very sad" and said his apology hours later was "halfhearted."

"I find it sad that a governor - with a team of intelligent, thoughtful staff around him, some of whom are gay - has such a basic misunderstanding and, more distressing, an overt meanness about any issue, let alone a human-rights issue," she told the group.

The broadcast touched off a fresh round of debate on gay unions in the state, and shortly afterward, Corbett issued a statement apologizing to "anyone who was offended" and said he was thinking with his "legal head" when he spoke.

When asked to respond to Mutchler's statement, Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni said Monday that "the governor's apology was sincere."

Mutchler was the leadoff speaker at a meeting of 200 state archivists discussing the state's open-records law. She said she felt compelled to go off topic at the end of her 50-minute speech to address a controversial issue that hit close to home.

Mutchler, who is in a committed relationship but is not married, said that Corbett had a right to his personal views, but that as the leader of the commonwealth, he had a responsibility to unite citizens, "not further inflame the issue."

"There is no easy way out of the forest on gay marriage," Mutchler said after her speech. "I personally believe the governor needs to help us get through it, not add fuel to the fire."

Mutchler was appointed by Gov. Rendell in 2008 as the state's first director of the Office of Open Records. Her six-year term ends next year.

td11 wrote:Note: My sociology-major turned CEO wife almost worked for the CDC, until realizing that the CDC doesn't actually save lives.

td11 wrote:Note: My sociology-major turned CEO wife almost worked for the CDC, until realizing that the CDC doesn't actually save lives.

Werthless wrote:

td11 wrote:Note: My sociology-major turned CEO wife almost worked for the CDC, until realizing that the CDC doesn't actually save lives.

I see through your ruse. No sociology major could be a CEO.

CalvinBall wrote:

td11 wrote:Note: My sociology-major turned CEO wife almost worked for the CDC, until realizing that the CDC doesn't actually save lives.

youre married now? huih

TenuredVulture wrote:Don't like to bet against America ...

CalvinBall wrote:Jonathan Weisman ✔ @jonathanweisman Rep. Markwayne Mullin says there are 4 branches of government and they all need to negotiate

CalvinBall wrote:

td11 wrote:Note: My sociology-major turned CEO wife almost worked for the CDC, until realizing that the CDC doesn't actually save lives.

youre married now? huih

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Don't like to bet against America ...

I find that lounging on the boat's sun deck downing wine coolers with bikini clad hawt wife greatly mitigates any "unpatriotic" guilt from betting against America.

Technically it's a smallish yacht but I don't call it one because it seems pretentious.

Werthless wrote:

MoBettle wrote:

Werthless wrote:

MoBettle wrote: And given the origionalist philosophy most Republicans have on the constitution, I doubt he will find much support in his party for such an interpretation, assuming they are being consistent (Which I admit might be a stretch of an assumption)

You're right. That's why I commented when pacino originally criticized it, since I would have thought that liberals would find favor with such a position (of course, if it wasn't stated by Rand Paul).

Here's a fun one:

Rand Paul wrote:The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.

Well no, just because you think certain parts of the constitution were written in such a way that the application of them CAN change over time, it doesn't mean that ALL parts of the constitution were written that way, or that any weird interpretation of it that someone comes up with is acceptable. Otherwise you get to the "Well if two guys can get married, why not a brother and sister" logic.

I do think it would find more traction among liberals in the abstract though.

"Well no," huh? I said you were right. My language was sloppy, so I point you back to the article I posted.

This thread is very entertaining!

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Don't like to bet against America ...

I find that lounging on the boat's sun deck downing wine coolers with bikini clad hawt wife greatly mitigates any "unpatriotic" guilt from betting against America.

Technically it's a smallish yacht but I don't call it one because it seems pretentious.

Werthless wrote:

pacino wrote:Democrats did not filibuster, did not shut down the government. They put up a protest vote and did not demand that he get rid of something they previously lost on. There is a difference and you know that.

Government shut downs happen all the time, many of times at the hands of the Democrats. In fact, it's happened when Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and executive branch (list of shutdowns). What's your point that the situations were not identical?