• New York's High Court agreed to hears same-sex marriage case. Jo-Ann Shain, a 53-year-old medical publication editor, and her partner, Mary Jo Kennedy, 50, hope to celebrate their 25 years together by getting married. They also hope that could happen soon as New York's highest court hears arguments by Lambda Legal on behalf of same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses. The session before the Court of Appeals is the last step before the court makes the ultimate judicial decision on the legality of gay marriage in New York.
• May job growth was much weaker than expected. Despite all the helium-induced, blatherings by President Bush, the rightwingers on FOXNews (GOP-TV) and CNN, U.S. employers added only 75,000 new workers to their payrolls last month, far fewer than the expected 175,000 and the weakest gain since hurricane-depressed October. But the unemployment rate slipped to a five-year low of 4.6 percent, the Labor Department said on Friday. Outside of the drop in the unemployment rate, however, the overall tone of the jobs report, which showed employment growth slowing for the third straight month, was weaker than economists had expected.
• Haditha may not be an isolated case of U.S. military depravity. The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians. The video appears to challenge the US military's account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March. The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.
• June is a month known for bugs, BBQ's, brides and radical, rightwingnuts desperate to rally their shrinking political base. Next week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. At his side, naturally will be President Bush, as well as the usual Christian fundementalists who loiter at the fringes of the GOP. The effort is expected to fail but, but with Nixonian job apporval numbers, and a midterm election 5 months away, the Republican party has little else left at their disposal except culture war issues, which include attacking the gay community.
• President Bush was named the worst president in 61 years by the Quinnipac University National Poll. Bush even beat out uber-GOPer Richard Nixon. Do these findings suggest the 'cult of Bush' is in its final throes? Let's hope so. Let's also hope this pitiful excuse for a president stays the course right up to the November midterm elections. His ineptitude as a leader will guarantee Democrats regain the House and Senate in November.