NEWS: Anderson Cooper, Limbaugh, Keith Ablow, Allen West, Obama’s Drug War, Facebook Gay Icons

Anderson Cooper came out today. Smart he did it on a Monday, not a Friday, so we have the week to talk about it. McKay Coppins at Buzzfeed thinks “Coming Out Could Be Anderson Cooper’s Best Career Move Yet.” Meanwhile, El Rushbo, Rush Limbaugh, thinks it was all for ratings — while doubling down on his claims that Barack Obama is gay:

Anderson Cooper has come out of the closet.  He has admitted that he’s gay. “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy.” It’s an AP story.  Wait a minute now.  It worked wonders for Obama’s fundraising.  It may be the best ratings move CNN’s made in I don’t know how long. (interruption) Well, I don’t know how odd it was.  A lot of people knew.  But now the stamp of approval, it’s now official.  Yeah, for those that didn’t know it might give CNN a ratings boost.  We’ll find out.  Yeah, maybe 120,000 up from 115,000.  Who knows.  They’ll take ’em.

On Sunday, Congressman Allen West, who once claimed himself to be a “modern-day Harriet Tubman,” said President Obama “does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning and having that title of American. He’d rather you be his slave.” West didn’t offer any proof, just as he offered no proof when he claimed there were 80 or so Communists in Congress.

Friend of the blog and Good As You founder Jeremy Hooper got to be the first to use Facebook’s new same-sex couple marriage icon. MSNBC notes “The writer, activist and author of the new book “If It’s A Choice…” updated his Timeline over the weekend with his June 2009 Connecticut  marriage to healthcare CEO Andrew Shulman with a photo of the happy couple, and a two-groom, cake topper-style image,” and added, “Hooper’s Timeline update with the new icon was soon followed by that of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who married Sean Eldridge on Saturday.”

In “Obama Will Seek To Scale Back Drug War In Second Term: Report,” the Huffington Post points to Marc Ambinder at GQ and writes, “President Barack Obama will take steps to draw down the nation’s decades-long war on drugs if he wins a second term.”

According to Ambinder, Obama’s “aides and associates” say that the president is looking to prioritize reform, a reflection of the president’s long-held beliefs that strict drug prohibition and enforcement policies have done greater damage to society than good.

Sources close to the White House also told The Huffington Post that the administration is looking at ways that it can reduce barriers to reentering society for those caught up in the drug war, such as a longstanding policy that denies federal financial aid to college students convicted of drug-related offenses, including possession.

Wait until the Right catches a hold of that…

Mother Jones catches Focus On The Family scrubbing a blog post that compared the horrific wildfires in Colorado with pre-marital sex. because, you know…

Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow, taking time off from attacking Chaz Bono, is now freaking out because Apple’s new iOS — the operating system powering iPhone, iPads, and iPods — will be able to receive emergency alerts from the government. Scary, scary stuff! Because now we “can instantly be distracted, en masse, at some critical moment.”

This literally means that Americans on these and other mobile devices can be forced to—at minimum—glance at information that the government wants to convey to them. And at some date in the future, it might certainly be the case that they have to acknowledge having read it. They can instantly be distracted, en masse, at some critical moment. Perhaps they will have to enable their Face Time system to show them reading WEA messages, while they do.

Physician, heal thyself.

“Romney lied about role in Bain’s investment in medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted fetuses”

Gallup: “Obama Now Leads Romney, 48% to 43%”

Terribly sad: A 22-year old intern for the Associated Press, Armando “Mando” Montano, who was gay, was found dead in Mexico City on Saturday. 22-years old. MetroWeekly notes:

Montano had been a Metro Weekly Coverboy back in August 2011. Asked at the time what he was most grateful for, he replied, “To have a lot of supportive people in my life.”

Montano’s first AP byline was published long before his internship, in 2010, when Montano wrote about same-sex marriages being celebrated at pride in Argentina that summer.

 

In honor of Anderson Cooper coming out, The Daily Beast put together this video:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271557391