“John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death — according to the tragic Beatles star’s last personal assistant.” [Toronto Sun]

• Angry Doves
• Holy Ghost in the Machine
• “I just became the mayor of the Vatican on @foursquare!”

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Should have seen this coming…

Barbara MacEwen, the town clerk in upstate Volney [New York] who is responsible for signing marriage licenses in the town, said she’s morally opposed to same-sex weddings and does not intend to affix her signature to any marriage documents for gay or lesbian couples.

“If there’s any possible way to not do it, legally, then yes, I would not want to put my name on any of those certificates or papers,” MacEwen told POLITICO. “That’s their life, they can do it, but I don’t feel I should be forced into something that’s against my morals and my God.”

MacEwen — who is 75 — is free to resign her post, of course, or not run for her fifth term this fall. But presuming she doesn’t see much business in her sleepy town of 6,200 souls, she might consider reading Leviticus during her down time to ensure that the rest of her behavior doesn’t offend her very picky deity.

N.Y. town clerk: I won’t sign gay wedding license [Politico]

Image: Burnt Sacrifice

“On Monday, Bachmann officially announced her candidacy for U.S. president. She left the stage as Petty’s ‘American Girl’ blared over the loudspeaker. Uh-oh. Petty is unhappy with Bachmann’s choice of exit music, according to political consultant Matt Ortega, and is in the process of sending a cease-and-desist letter.” [Hollywood Reporter, via Political Wire]

In which we present a colloquy between Wee George Stephanopoulos and Michele Bachmann, who is Not a Flake.

Stephanopoulos: Earlier this year you said that the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence worked tirelessly to end slavery. Now with respect Congresswoman, that’s just not true. Many of them including Jefferson and Washington were actually slave holders and slavery didn’t end until the Civil War…

Bachmann: Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that’s absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father’s secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery…

Stephanopoulos: He wasn’t one of the Founding Fathers — he was a president, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you’re right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?

Bachmann: Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.

When the Declaration of Independence was signed, John Quincy Adams was 9.

John Quincy Adams a Founding Father? Michele Bachmann Says Yes [ABC]

It might come as a surprise that Arizona has — well, had — one of the more interesting campaign-finance laws in the country. If you signed on, the state would hand you a pile of cash, as is customary. But the state would also hand you more cash if your non-subsidized opponent money-bombed yer ass. And the state would hand you even more cash if a third-party group money-bombed your opponent — or decided to go all Willie Horton on you.

In other words, Arizona served as an aggressive retailer, meeting or beating any opponent’s offer. The more they raised, the more you got.

Until Monday, when the Supreme Court deemed that unfair competition.

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The Transportation Safety Agency announced on Sunday that it is standing by the June 18 decision of agents at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport to conduct an intrusive patdown inspection of a 95-year-old woman with leukemia who is in a wheelchair, which culminated in the elderly woman removing her Depends undergarment so that the agents could inspect the diaper for contraband or weapons.

The 95-year-old woman was en route to Michigan to visit relatives before moving in to a nursing home. Her daughter, Jean Weber, was traveling with her, and told reporters that she burst into tears watching her mother be subjected to the indignities.  Because Ms. Weber started crying, the agents then moved on from the 95-year-old woman and subjected her daughter to an intrusive patdown, which resulted in such lengthy delays that Ms. Weber missed the flight to Michigan, and her mother traveled without her and without any underpants all the way north.

[CNN, LAT]