• Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) is making news. Not for his entry into the presidential race but for remarks he made about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Biden, like so many senators, is deeply in love with the sound of his own voice and never knows when to shut up (think John Kerry). Personally, I do not think Biden is a racist but I am providing this link to his remarks and everyone can come to their own conclusion. Our politically correct national dialogue seems on the verge of destroying normal discourse. Everyone makes a gaffe from time to time - even U.S. senators.
• Speaking of gaffes, Mary Cheney, the rightwing, conservative lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney characterizes her pregnancy as “a baby” and “a blessing from God” and “not a political statement.” Well yes Mary, pregnancies usually involve babies, so thank you for pointing out the obvious, but whether your pregnancy is the work of God or the work of a sperm donor and nature is open to debate. As far as trying to ignore the political component of your pregnancy is just nonsense. When you’re the daughter of a Vice President who works for the most homophobic administration in history, you can’t pretend politics won’t factor into how the blessed event is viewed. Get serious, Mary.
• Molly Ivins, the best-selling author and columnist lost her battle to breast cancer yesterday. She was arguably the last high-profile Texas liberal voice. Molly leaves behind legions of admirers and fans. Her biweekly column was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers. Ivins was an equal-opportunity critic, taking jabs at and making fun of both Republicans and Democrats. Despite the ravages of her illness, Molly completed Stand Up Against the Surge, which argued cogently against President Bush’s ill-conceived call to send an additional 21,500 troops to civil war-ravaged Iraq. Molly was an original and she will be missed.
• A jubilant lesbian couple registered what officials are calling Mexico’s first gay civil union on Wednesday in the northern city of Saltillo. The couple, Karina Almaguer and Karla Lopez, traveled to Saltillo from their home state of Tamaulipas to register as a “civil solidarity union” under a newly passed law that made Coahuila the first of Mexico’s 31 states to grant recognition to such unions. Television footage showed the couple smiling broadly and shaking hands with officials after the simple ceremony at a registrar’s office. The ceremony was the first gay civil union in Mexico. Congratulations!
• Germany has ordered the arrest of 13 suspected CIA agents over the alleged kidnapping of one of its citizens. Munich prosecutors confirmed that the warrants were linked to the case of Khaled al-Masri, a German national of Lebanese descent. Mr Masri says he was seized in Macedonia, flown to a secret prison in Afghanistan and mistreated there. Let’s hope German justice works as efficiently when they attempt to prosecute former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes later this year.