Must Reads: Navy Chaplains To Perform Gay Marriages
Navy chaplains to perform gay marriages
Navy chaplains will soon be free to perform gay marriages on Navy bases, reports Navy Times. A memo from Chief of Chaplains Rear Admiral Mark Tidd preparing for the iminent lifting of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell reads, in part: ‘Consistent with the tenets of his or her religious organization, a chaplain may officiate a same-sex, civil marriage.’ The Obama Pentagon insists this move doesn’t conflict with the federal Defense of Marriage Act: ‘DOMA does not limit the type of religious ceremonies a chaplain may perform in a chapel on a military installation,’ a DOD spokesperson told the paper. [Navy Times]
Florida’s fumble is Acela’s gain
Florida Republican governor Rick Scott rejected $2 billion in high-speed rail funding, and the money is being re-directed to juice the performance of the Acela line in the Northeast, speed up pokey conventional rail lines that connect Chicago to Detroit and St. Louis, and double down on the new high-speed rail project to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. ‘While other states may ignore the benefits of high-speed rail, California is ready to put investments to work immediately,’ said House Minority Leader (and San Franciscan) Nancy Pelosi. [McClatchy]
Libya’s boat people dying in numbers
Refugees trying to flee the clusterfuck in Libya by sea have only found more tragedy. Last Friday, an overcroweded vessel carrying 600 passengers sank just outside the port of Tripoli. ‘At least three other boats have disappeared,’ the AP reports, ‘with hundreds feared dead.’ [Boston.com]
New Orleans man gets life for marijuana crime
Marijuana may have become nearly legal in much of the country – but someone forgot to tell the authorities in St. Tammany Parish. Thirty-five-year-old Cornell Hood II just received a sentence of life after being convicted for a fourth time of possession with intent to distribute. ‘Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea Jr.’ the Times-Picayune reports ‘used Hood’s past convictions on Thursday to argue that he was a career criminal worthy of a severe punishment.’ [Nola.com]
Hollywood’s man in Washington: Chris Dodd
The Los Angeles Times catches up with Chris Dodd, the disgraced former Democratic senator from Connecticut, who has become the motion picture association’s top lobbyist. ‘I would tell you candidly I think they need an awful lot of improvement in marketing their business as a business,’ Dodd tells the paper. ‘I’m going to do my best to see to it that we tell our story.”‘[LA Times]