June 2011

A mother gives the blessing for her 16 year old daughter to marry a 51 year old man and the marriage is performed. Sounds like something you might hear of in the Middle East, but nope, this story happened right here in the United States:

Cue the reality show: Doug Hutchison, a 51-year-old actor who has appeared in Lost, The Green Mile, and The X-Files, married 16-year-old aspiring country star Courtney Alexis Stodden in Las Vegas last month. "We're aware that our vast age difference is extremely controversial," the couple told E! Online through a spokeswoman. “But we're very much in love and want to get the message out there that true love can be ageless." Nevada requires marriage applicants to be 18 years of age. Luckily for Stodden, a former Miss Teen USA contestant, she had her mother’s blessing. "We are totally supportive of this marriage," her mother tells RadarOnline.com, before over-sharing: "Courtney was a virgin when she married Doug. She is a good Christian girl."

And yet we have 18 and 19 year olds in this country going to jail and being labeled sex offenders for having sex with their 16 and 17 year old girlfriends.

Who says money can't buy you love?

The right has long championed for total free market rule in the U.S. In their mind the federal government should be nothing more than a payroll department, doling out the checks to these private entities.

While free market works great in some places, there are certain elements of society where it is a disaster. One such area would be the prison system, as noted here by Think Progress:

Yesterday, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) released a report chronicling the political strategies of private prison companies “working to make money through harsh policies and longer sentences.” The report’s authors note that while the total number of people in prison increased less than 16 percent, the number of people held in private federal and state facilities increased by 120 and 33 percent, correspondingly. Government spending on corrections has soared since 1997 by 72 percent, up to $74 billion in 2007. And the private prison industry has raked in tremendous profits. Last year the two largest private prison companies — Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group — made over $2.9 billion in revenue.

So we have these private prisons doing whatever they can to make more money. Really, they aren't to blame; that is free market and what business should do. The problem is that our country shouldn't be enabling such an industry.

Just take a minute to think about this. The jail/business is doing whatever it can to increase revenue, including trying anything to keep people incarcerated longer. That means they are doing it for money. Where is that money coming from? Well that would be you and me, through taxes. How will we ever get government spending under control with such a system in place?

During Netroots Nation, a conservative blogger was arrested for harrassing a couple of women because they were wearing Muslim hijabs (headscarves). From Minnesota Public Radio:

A St. Paul blogger faces misdemeanor charges after he allegedly harassed two Muslim women last week in downtown Minneapolis.

Minneapolis police say John Hugh Gilmore, 52, who writes a blog called Minnesota Conservatives, caused a scene Thursday night on Nicollet Mall. Sgt. Bill Palmer, a police spokesman, said Gilmore appeared to be drunk when he confronted the two women wearing the Muslim headscarf known as the hijab.

"Mr. Gilmore made some comments that he didn't believe the women should be in the United States, and that he thought that they were ruining America," Palmer said.

One of the women, University of Minnesota student Jamila Boudlali, said she's lived in Minnesota her entire life and has never been hassled about her religion.

John Aravosis, who was at the convention, has a great rundown, including this response from the prominent right-wing PJ TV:

Suddenly, a man from "PJ TV" stuck a microphone in front of the lead woman and started to question her. He got increasingly upset, and basically charged her, and me, with lying about the incident with the GOP blogger the other night, simply beacuse the woman couldn't recall the name of the GOP blogger who had been arrested. You can watch the beginning of the woman's statement, and the GOP "reporter" getting more and more upset with the woman, and with me.

All major news organizations are reporting that Anthony Weiner has advised his associates that he is resigning from Congress. ABC reports the following:

Weiner, 46, has begun sharing his decision with close friends, the sources said, but has not yet sent a formal letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo indicating his intentions.

A Democratic source said Weiner called House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Wednesday night while they were at a White House picnic to inform them he would resign today.

If any good comes from this, maybe the media will move beyond this story soon. This has become such a major story and distraction.