National Geographic

So claims the Knickerbocker Ledger:

A name has not yet been released, but sources close to those with the New York State Republican Conference have confirmed a thirty-second vote has been “secured” for the passage of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Marriage Equality Act. As the Senate goes through what is being called “the big ugly” – property cap reform, tuition for public colleges, and rent control regulation – the vote for marriage equality may not be until the wee hours on Thursday.

RELATED: That fucking lying liar from NOM who published today's lie-filled National Review article that NOM has successfully thwarted New York marriage? Now's he's angrily tweeting that OUR SIDE is lying.

Or tomorrow. More vagueness from New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Skelos also hinted that his conference and Cuomo are close on amendments to the same-sex marriage bill that would further clarify protections for religious organizations. “My colleagues and [the governor's] counsel’s office are looking very closely at religious protections and I think they will conclude that. Once we have final legislation we’ll discuss it in conference,” Skelos said. For the first time, Silver said he saw a draft of the amendments, and is agreeable on the concepts. He said a vote could be held tonight “if the Senate says they’re doing it and they agree on it.”

Frothy Mix: "This is, in my opinion, a conscious effort on the part of the left, who has a huge influence on our curriculum, to desensitize America to what American values are so they are more pliable to the new values that they would like to impose on America." Ed Shultz goes right to the Palin clips. Hah!

From an extensive Rolling Stone profile by Matt Taibbi:

Bachmann's entire political career has followed this exact same pattern of God-speaks-directly-to-me fundamentalism mixed with pathological, relentless, conscienceless lying. She's not a liar in the traditional way of politicians, who tend to lie dully, usefully and (they hope) believably, often with the aim of courting competing demographics at the same time. That's not what Bachmann's thing is. Bachmann lies because she can't help it, because it's a built-in component of both her genetics and her ideology. She is at once the most entertaining and the most dangerous kind of liar, a turbocharged cross between a born bullshit artist and a religious fanatic, for whom lying to the infidel is a kind of holy duty.

Definitely read the full article.

(Tipped by JMG reader Justin)

Sarah "The Quitter" Palin has called off the second half of her much ballyhooed "patriotic bus tour" of American historical sites.

While the tour was never clearly defined with specific stops (especially to the media), Palin had made clear her intention to visit the very politically influential states of Iowa and South Carolina, which raised reasonable expectations that she had some sort of political goal in mind. Well it appears that those stops, and all others, have not been shelved and the Palins have retreated to their home of Alaska for the rest of the summer. Roughly a month ago, the entire media world seemed particularly vexed by Palin’s One Nation bus tour. Several prominent personalities wondered what was the point of Palin taking a tour through numerous swing states if not the most obvious explanation: running for President.

According to leaked excerpts from Bristol Palin's new book, the first time she had sex with Levi Johnston she was so drunk she awoke with no memory of the encounter.

Bristol Palin writes in her new book of losing her virginity to boyfriend Levi Johnston on a camping trip after getting drunk for the first time on too many wine coolers. She awoke in her tent, alone, with no memories of what had happened as Johnston "talked with his friends on the other side of the canvas." She had vowed to wait until marriage. And she had lied to her parents about where she was going.

Bristol's allegations have ignited an internet debate on what constitutes "rape."

(Via - Towleroad)

More insanity here.

Led by GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, 23 anti-gay members are the U.S. House are seeking to thwart the certification of the repeal of DADT. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:

The GOP letter to Obama states Congress should have the opportunity to review the new regulations before the president and defense leaders give the OK for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal. “Merely providing ‘training and educational’ briefs to our service members is not enough to justify moving forward with certification when consequential policy and regulatory changes associated with implementation must be reviewed by Congress under its oversight function,” the letter states. “Until those policy changes have been delivered and reviewed by Congress, it would be irresponsible to proceed with the certification process.” Additionally, the letter states that certification at this time would be premature because of “apparent confusion” at the Defense Department in creating new policies for open service.

Today the Daily Beast reports on a 2005 incident in which Michele Bachmann called the police when lesbian activists spoke to her in a ladies room.

A few dozen people showed up at the town hall for the April 9 event, and Bachmann greeted them warmly. But when, during the question and answer session, the topic turned to same-sex marriage, Bachmann ended the meeting 20 minutes early and rushed to the bathroom. Hoping to speak to her, Arnold and another middle-aged woman, a former nun, followed her. As Bachmann washed her hands and Arnold looked on, the ex-nun tried to talk to her about theology. Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. "Help!" she screamed. "Help! I'm being held against my will!"

Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Then she called the police, saying, according to the police report, that she was "absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her." The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, "It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann."

As the above-linked story notes, just before Bachmann's ladies room encounter, she'd been exposed by the local press for hiding in the bushes (with a bodyguard) to observe a gay rights rally at the Minnesota capitol building.

The wingnut fallout from this will be delicious.

Clip description: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) regarding the $500,000 contracted by the Office of the General Counsel for the defense of the Defense of Marriage Act."