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TGIFriday Reads

Posted: April 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: commercial banking, morning reads, We are so F'd, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , |61 Comments

Good Morning!!

Well, I’m hoping that this Friday goes smoother than my last one when what I thought was an innocuous zit turned into MRSA  and sent me to the emergency room.  I’m home now and waiting for groceries to be delivered.  My face was all swollen and I’m finishing off my steriods and antibiotics.  I certainly don’t want to be exposed to anything else for awhile and I availed myself of an internet-based delivery service.  What I really need at the moment is a cook and nurse, but no such luck or fortune. So, I’m going to start out with some good news.

If you follow twitter much, you may have noticed that the New York Bronx Zoo’s Egyptian Cobra went missing and was “tweeting” it’s adventures.  It seems the snake had hid out in its home–the reptile building–and was lured out with the smell of rodent-infested wood shavings.

An Egyptian cobra that drew thousands of Twitter fans has been found alive after it went missing for days from a New York City zoo. “As you can imagine, we are delighted to report that the snake has been found alive and well,” Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny said Thursday. Zoo officials conducted around-the-clock searches for the 3-ounce, 20-inch long reptile, he said.

Breheny said the cobra had sought a secure hiding spot within the holding areas of the zoo’s reptile house — a complex environment with pumps, motors and other mechanical systems. But it was lured out after zoo officials sprinkled wood shavings from exhibit beds across areas where they guessed the cobra was hiding. “It was the scent of rodents (on the wood clippings) that we hoped would bring her out,” Breheny added. “The key strategy here was patience,” he said in a prepared statement. The snake went missing Saturday from an off-exhibit enclosure, prompting the zoo to close the reptile house.

The cobra’s twitter ego was a blast to read.  There were various comments about Samuel Jackson and Sex and the City’s Samantha.  Anyway, I’m glad the little asp is back in his nest and that’s no April Fool’s day joke.  I wish this next item was a bad April Fool’s day joke, but it’s not.  A Democrat in Florida’s legislature was rebuked for using the word uterus on the floor. I guess a few people think girl parts are dirty words. (h/t to pdgrey)

During last week’s discussion about a bill that would prohibit governments from deducting union dues from a worker’s paycheck, state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, used his time during floor debate to argue that Republicans are against regulations — except when it comes to the little guys, or serves their specific interests. At one point Randolph suggested that his wife “incorporate her uterus” to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn’t want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn’t like the one-liner. They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor. “The point was that Republicans are always talking about deregulation and big government,” Randolph said Thursday. “And I always say their philosophy is small government for the big guy and big government for the little guy. And so, if my wife’s uterus was incorporated or my friend’s bedroom was incorporated, maybe they (Republicans) would be talking about deregulating. “It’s not like I used slang,” said Randolph, who actually got the line from his wife. He said Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus. “I think it’s a sad commentary about what we think about sex education in the state,” he said.

I’m having a difficult time associated Hillary Clinton with John Yoo but Adam Serwer at American Prospect does just that in calling Obama’s presidency imperial.  Wow, have times changed!  There’s a raging debate right now on congressional war powers again.  Considering the adventures we’ve been on from Korea, to Vietnam, to Iraq, and forward, it seems like an odd time for this issue to pop up yet again.

Look, there’s no other way to describe this other than lawless. The Obama administration and its defenders in the civil-libertarian community have always maintained that, because it derives its authority from Congress, that authority can ultimately be undone by a legislative branch that asserts itself. If this portrayal of events accurately reflects the administration’s view, then this is no longer the case. Moreover, the Obama administration has explained its failure to fulfill certain promises — such as closing Gitmo — on having to obey limits set by Congress. If the administration’s view is that Congress cannot constrain the president’s actions in wartime because he is commander in chief, then those restrictions are ones the administration acquiesces to willingly in order to avoid making good on politically risky commitments. If Congress can’t tell the administration it can’t wage war, it sure as hell can’t tell the president where to keep alleged enemy prisoners.

I wanted to put this Dean Baker link up earlier so here it is: How Credit Card Companies want to Debit You. One of the provisions of Dodd Frank that banks would like to remove is a provision that no longer let’s them take their bad debt out of your backside. Right now, banks charge retailers incredibly high fees that get passed on to consumers on many items.  The deal is that even if you use cash, you still can feel the sting of the fee.

This fee is, in effect, a sales tax. Since the credit companies generally do not allow retailers to offer cash discounts, they must mark up the sales price for all customers by enough to cover the cost of the fee. This seems especially unfair to the cash customers, since they must pay a higher price for the items they buy – even though they are not getting the convenience of paying with a debit or credit card. Those paying in cash also tend to be poorer than customers with debit or credit cards, which means that this is a transfer from low- and moderate-income customers to the banks. This is where financial reform comes in. One of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank bill passed last year instructed the Federal Reserve Board to determine the actual cost of carrying through a debit card transfer and to regulate fees accordingly. The Fed determined that a fee of 10-12 cents per transaction should be sufficient to cover the industry’s costs and provide a normal profit.

The Fed plans to limit the amount that the credit card companies can charge retailers to this level. This would save retailers approximately $12bn a year, at the expense of the credit card companies and the banks that are part of their networks. The prospect of losing $12bn in annual profits has sent the industry lobbyists into high gear. They have developed a range of bad things that will happen if the regulated fee structure takes effect and also argued that big retailers would be the only ones benefiting.

I really liked Mark Thoma’s latest at CBS’s MoneyWatch.  It’s called “What’s Good for Wal-Mart Isn’t Necessarily for America”.  It’s in response to WalMart executives who are in a dither about potential future inflation. Thoma makes three quick points to show you why your interests and there’s are probably not aligned.

1. Labor costs are 70% of production costs. Until we see wage inflation, and we aren’t seeing this yet, there’s little likelihood that prices will be forced upward rapidly.

2. Wal-Mart has an interest in a strong dollar (i.e. anything but inflation). They import most of what they sell, so labor costs here aren’t an issue – but the exchange rate is. However, the road to recovery is not through maximizing what we bring in from other countries, but rather what we export. Increasing net exports requires a falling exchange rate, the opposite of what Wal-mart wants. Thus, in this regard, what’s good for Wal-Mart isn’t what’s good for America.

3. The other thing to note as that to the extent that this is being driven by a change in the world demand for commodities (and almost all the credible analyses I’ve seen places the blame for rising commodity prices on this), there’s very little the Fed can do about it. For example, one of the concerns of Wal-Mart is rising labor costs in China, but the Fed has no control over labor costs in there, so the Fed cannot fix the problem for Wal-mart. However, this could help businesses here who cannot compete with low labor costs and a manipulated exchange rate, and that would help the US generally, but that is not what Wal-Mart wants.

Here’s more to think on when considering Walmart.  This time it’s about the kinds of people that work so that cheapie goods are available to Walmart shoppers and they don’t have to deal with the United Ladies’ Garment workers.

The largest retailer in the United States is making an aggressive push into urban areas such as Chicago, Philadelphia, New York while the United Food and Commercial Workers union plays an underdog role in garnering public attention of Walmart’s abuse of workers from garment factories to employees in their Supercenters. UFCW is trying to highlight these abuses in a Worker Truth Tour featuring people who have or currently work for the massive corporation or a subsidiary.

The tour reached Chicago earlier this week featuring two women from Bangladesh who work in garment factories. The youngest of the two, Aleya Akter, continues to work 208 hours a month for a mere $80. It comes out to 38.5 cents an hour. She started working in the factories at the age of nine in 1994. She claimed there are lots of violations, long hours, and forced overtime. Additionally, she said through a translator, “Enough is enough. We need to change the working conditions in the factories.” Almost as an afterthought Aleya alleged that the workplace in these garment factories are unsafe and some of the women are physically abused by managers.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve got today.  I’m still sort’ve reeling from the drugs, so hopefully you can add some more things from your reading and blogging list for us!!

61 Comments on “TGIFriday Reads”

  1. purplefinn says:
    April 1, 2011 at 7:39 am

    Dak, glad you’re at home and improving. Be gentle with yourself.

    “Those paying in cash also tend to be poorer than customers with debit or credit cards, which means that this is a transfer from low- and moderate-income customers to the banks.” I make it a practice to pay in cash whenever I can because of the fees – thus keeping costs down. I have friends who pay with credit even under $10.00 because they get “points” or in one case because it’s easier. My credit union is asking customers to fight this bill. I refuse.

  2. Glenn McGahee says:
    April 1, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Dak, wow, it happened to me too. What a shocker that bug is. Mine ended up in surgery with a good portion of tissue being removed. I know what you’re going through and my heart is there with you.
    Thanks for the roundup of all the crazy happenings. Didn’t know a thing about the woman parts being used in Tallahassee. I live in Florida and you’d think that would’ve made the news here. To think our international metro areas like Miami are being ruled by some podunks from the Panhandle, otherwise known as the Redneck Riviera, is too much to bear. Been thinking alot about leaving this state along with lots of other folks.
    Take real good care of yourself and take your vitamins.

    • dakinikat says:
      April 1, 2011 at 8:06 am

      I’m glad you’re better. The doc in the ER said it was a good thing I didn’t wait another day to come in or I’d have been in serious trouble. I can see this bug is nasty and they just poured all kinds of meds into me in the hospital and I still have some huge horsepills now. If this is the kind of bugs we’re breeding,we’re going to need a lot of help with better antibiotics. This stuff is pure poison.

      • WomanVoter says:
        April 1, 2011 at 8:33 am

        Glad you are on the mend, but the experience sounds terrible. I hope your recovery at home is a speedy one.

      • Branjor says:
        April 1, 2011 at 8:34 am

        Yes, I was appalled you waited 24 hours for your daughter to arrive before going to the ER.

      • dakinikat says:
        April 1, 2011 at 10:46 am

        Let me tell you, get familiar with the symptoms because supposedly this stuff is every where and lurking. It’s nothing to fool around with.

      • dakinikat says:
        April 1, 2011 at 10:49 am

        I didn’t wait 24 hours. It was more like 6. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see well enough to drive out to my hospital which is in Jefferson Parish. I didn’t want potluck hospital here.

      • Boo Radly says:
        April 1, 2011 at 12:28 pm

        The best news of the day is that you’re recovering Dkat – good advice regarding others to inform themselves because this is being caused to a certain extend by the prescriptions being handed out without serious consideration.

        Dare I say, it’s another epic fail coming to all of us. I won’t mention the gov’t agencies that are enabling a couple of industries to bring this on – TMI.

      • Laurie says:
        April 2, 2011 at 4:31 am

        So sorry to hear about that, Dak.
        Get well soon.

  3. dakinikat says:
    April 1, 2011 at 8:03 am

    Krugman talks about how were replaying the Hoover Administration’s approach to the economy this morning. Get ready for another crash folks!

    But never mind the lessons of history, or events unfolding across the Atlantic: Republicans are now fully committed to the doctrine that we must destroy employment in order to save it.

    And Democrats are offering little pushback. The White House, in particular, has effectively surrendered in the war of ideas; it no longer even tries to make the case against sharp spending cuts in the face of high unemployment.

    So that’s the state of policy debate in the world’s greatest nation: one party has embraced 80-year-old economic fallacies, while the other has lost the will to fight. And American families will pay the price

    • madamab says:
      April 1, 2011 at 9:27 am

      Harper’s Magazine called that shot years ago with Kevin Baker’s article: Barack Hoover Obama. Get past the Obie-worship and it’s dead-on, IMHO.

      Dak, so glad you are feeling better. What a scary experience!

    • paper doll says:
      April 1, 2011 at 9:31 am

      actully that’s the new stock market bubble… not dot.bombs, or housing loans, but every 3-4 years: a crash and then a massive bale out to those who caused the crash , who then keep the ill gotten gains from the crash and the bail out…on an endless loop. Which of course can’t be endless…but they will give it a try.

      glad you are home and on the mend!

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 12:44 pm

      Kat, just saw these two links in my reader:

      This one has a interactive media link:
      Economic Security Beyond Reach of Many Americans – NYTimes.com

      Hard as it can be to land a job these days, getting one may not be nearly enough for basic economic security.

      People rely on food banks, like the Community Food and Outreach Center in Orlando, Fla.

      The Labor Department will release its monthly snapshot of the job market on Friday, and economists expect it to show that the nation’s employers added about 190,000 jobs in March. With an unemployment rate that has been stubbornly stuck near 9 percent, those workers could be considered lucky.

      But many of the jobs being added in retail, hospitality and home health care, to name a few categories, are unlikely to pay enough for workers to cover the cost of fundamentals like housing, utilities, food, health care, transportation and, in the case of working parents, child care.

      This one has a nifty graph that brings that post you had yesterday home to those of us who are visual learners…
      Chart of the Day, Big Government Nanny State Edition | Mother Jones

      • dakinikat says:
        April 1, 2011 at 12:47 pm

        Yes. Jobs today = income insecurity. Many of the homeless people here in New Orleans are actually employed in the hospitality industry but still can’t afford a place to live. I suppose you’re aware that Walmart frequently hands information out to its new employees on how to get on state food stamps, health insurance, and other benefits because they poverty wages in many locales.

      • Minkoff Minx says:
        April 1, 2011 at 12:54 pm

        Oh, my husband talks about some of his fellow Walmart slaves that are on lots of assistance. Of course, then you have those who make just above the amount for any assistance. Like my family, 10 bucks over the monthly amount considered as “poverty for a family of four” which leads to the government saying: “no help for you!”

  4. bostonboomer says:
    April 1, 2011 at 8:11 am

    Okay, I don’t like this April Fools Day joke one bit. I just had to shovel big piles of heavy, wet snow!

    • Wonk the Vote says:
      April 1, 2011 at 8:25 am

      I was talking to someone in CT last night who was expecting snow… snowflake showers in April… wow!

      • bostonboomer says:
        April 1, 2011 at 9:15 am

        We got more than I thought we would. I’m going to have to finish the job when I get home later. I did enough to get my car out.

    • dakinikat says:
      April 1, 2011 at 10:32 am

      Oh, Dear! I hope you made it to teach class in one piece! There’s always one big snowblowout that happens around my oldest daughter’s first day of spring birthday. I hope this is the last of it!!!

      • bostonboomer says:
        April 1, 2011 at 12:06 pm

        I made it to class. It’s a good thing the Red Sox are opening the season in Texas. The scariest part was that huge clumps of wet snow kept falling off the trees and hitting my car roof and windows–they were loud!

    • foxyladi14 says:
      April 1, 2011 at 10:38 am

      no joke B.B. we got some yesterday and noticed you on the news this morning getting all that.

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 11:26 am

      BB this is for you!

  5. okasha says:
    April 1, 2011 at 10:01 am

    Recall petition against Wisconsin Republican State Senator Dan Kapanke will be filed today. Kapanke was one of the Republicans who voted to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Seven more of his ilk have been targeted.

    Mabye democracy’s not dead after all. The EKG just twitched.

    http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_d5240e94-5c0c-11e0-b582-001cc4c002e0.html

    • dakinikat says:
      April 1, 2011 at 10:33 am

      I hope you’re right. They need to get rid of these crazy people.

      • okasha says:
        April 1, 2011 at 11:06 am

        There are seven more in the works–all the Republican State Senators who have served for over a year and are thereby eligible for recall. Walker can’t be recalled yet because he’s only three months into his term, but if Wisconsin can keep up the momentum, his days in the mansion are numbered.

      • okasha says:
        April 1, 2011 at 5:16 pm

        Much more of this and Walker’s goons will be defecting as fast as Ghadaffi’s. According to the morning paper, another major member of the Libyan government went over the wall yesterday.

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 11:13 am

      I hope you are right too.

  6. dakinikat says:
    April 1, 2011 at 10:39 am

    The Muslim Sisterhood
    Visions of Female Identity in the New Egypt

    from Speigal on Line:

    The women of the Muslim Brotherhood played a supporting role in Egypt’s revolution, and now they want to have a hand in shaping its democratic future. Although many wear Western clothing under their veils, use Facebook and Twitter, and talk the talk of emancipation, they still seem to be wrestling with what it means to be a modern Muslim woman.

  7. foxyladi14 says:
    April 1, 2011 at 10:39 am

    glad you are home Dak,rest and get better.

  8. dakinikat says:
    April 1, 2011 at 10:53 am

    Joseph Stiglitz on Income Inequality via Vanity Fare via Lambert and Corrente:

    It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.

  9. Minkoff Minx says:
    April 1, 2011 at 11:19 am

    Mona Elthahawy is doing an interview on CNN right now, it is very good. I will post a link to it when it comes out.

  10. Minkoff Minx says:
    April 1, 2011 at 11:33 am

    Some new updates on Fukushima:

    TEPCO data credibility suffers on serious groundwater contamination | Kyodo News

    The agency said the density readings of radioactive substances in groundwater samples taken on Tuesday and Wednesday from around the No. 1 reactor’s turbine building may be revised downward, as TEPCO’s evaluation programs for materials such as tellurium, molybdenum and zirconium were found to have errors.

    But it said the firm’s analysis programs for radioactive iodine were confirmed to be correct.

    and this:

    Dog drifting atop roof rescued off coast of Kesennuma | Kyodo News

    A dog was rescued at sea off the coast of Kesennuma on Friday after being found drifting atop a roof believed to have been washed away by the killer tsunami triggered by the March 11 earthquake, Japan Coast Guard officials said.

  11. Minkoff Minx says:
    April 1, 2011 at 11:43 am

    Look at what that asshole in Florida, I guess I should be more specific since there are so many assholes in FLA these days. That prejudice intolerant asshole from the religious right…oops, no that clue does not help, okay…the asshole that burned the Qur’an on the quiet this month. UN staff killed in Afghanistan amid protests over Qur’an burning | World news | The Guardian

    Provincial police spokesman Sherjan Durrani said the demonstrators poured out of mosques in the city in the early afternoon, shortly after Friday prayers where worshippers had been angered by reports that a Florida pastor had burned a copy of the Qur’an.

    Last year Terry Jones, a US fundamentalist Christian leader, did threaten to burn copies of the Muslim holy book. He backed down after warnings that Islamic opinion around the world could be inflamed and the lives of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq endangered.

    But on 21 March Wayne Sapp set light to a Qur’an with Jones standing by.

    Durrani said that while most protesters were peaceful, others were seeking targets to attack, including shops and the UN compound.

    Whatever the final death toll, the incident is seen as a disaster for the UN, coming just over a week after the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, announced that Mazar-e-Sharif would be one of the first areas of the wartorn country to be transferred from Nato to Afghan government security control.

    If the number of UN staff killed is high, the organisation will be obliged to consider closing down or dramatically reducing all its operations in the country – something it came perilously close to doing in late 2009 when an attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul killed five staff.

    The UN has already issued a “white city” order, which forces all staff in the country into lockdown in their compounds.

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 11:44 am

      Be sure to look at the link for the photograph that has this as the caption:

      Smoke rises from the UN compound in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, after demonstrators protesting against the burning of a Qur’an by a Florida pastor killed at least eight UN staff.

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 12:48 pm

      And speaking of FLA assholes:

      Rick Scott Slashes Support for the Disabled | Mother Jones

      Continuing his assault on Florida’s most vulnerable, Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order on Thursday that immediately slashes money for the developmentally disabled. The cuts will reduce payments to group homes and social workers by 15 percent. The Orlando Sentinel reports:

      Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered deep cuts Thursday to programs that serve tens of thousands of residents with Down syndrome,cerebral palsy, autism and other developmental disabilities…[which] providers say could put them out of business and threaten their clients’ safety.


      “lt’s not like, ‘Gee, does this mean I have to skip a vacation this year?'” said Amy Van Bergen, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida. “Potentially, these cuts have life and death implications for these people.”

 An estimated 30,000 Floridians with severe developmental disabilities receive services that help them live outside of nursinghomes—typically with family or in small group homes. Aides help them eat, bathe, take medication and otherwise care for themselves.


      But Scott’s executive order is only the first of many cuts that could hurt the disabled. With the governor’s full support, the Florida statehouse is currently considering a bill that would privatize Medicaid—a proposal that would also turn health care for disabled beneficiaries in the program over to private managed care companies.

    • okasha says:
      April 1, 2011 at 5:20 pm

      His last name is misspelled–one “p” too many.

    • Minkoff Minx says:
      April 1, 2011 at 6:29 pm

      Pastor Who Burned Koran Demands Retribution for U.N. Deaths – NYTimes.com

      The Koran’s “punishment” was determined by the results of an online poll. Besides burning, the options had included shredding, drowning and facing a firing squad. Mr. Jones, an evangelical pastor, announced that voters had chosen to set fire to the book, according to a video of the proceedings.

      Unlike the worldwide outcry that greeted the pastor’s plan to burn 200 copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, the event last week at the 50-member church was largely ignored by the national and local new media. As of 2 p.m. on Friday, the video of the Koran’s burning on the church Web site had been seen only 1,500 times.

      “The local strategy of everybody was to ignore this,” said the Rev. Lawrence D. Reimer, pastor of the United Church of Gainesville. “It’s just a horrible tragedy that this act triggered the deaths of more innocent people.”

      In the weeks leading up to Sept. 11, Mr. Jones had prayed about his plans to burn Islam’s holy text and eventually backed down. He acknowledged at the time that he was stunned by the potential consequences.

      Some church members were surprised by the violent reaction in northern Afghanistan on Friday, in which at least seven United Nations workers were killed, said Fran Ingram, an assistant at the church. She explained that it was decided in the weeks leading up to the burning that a jury of churchgoers and volunteers would hear both sides before deciding what to do.

      Mr. Jones declined a request to be interviewed. In a statement, he demanded that the United States and United Nations take “immediate action” against Muslim nations in retaliation for the deaths on Friday in Afghanistan. At least 12 people were killed when thousands of protestors stormed a United Nations center in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. “The time has come to hold Islam accountable,” Mr. Jones said.

      He also called on the United Nations to act against “Muslim-dominated countries,” which he said “must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.”

      Some members of the Dove World Outreach Center said they feared they would be attacked.

      “We have a huge stack of death threats,” Ms. Ingram said. “We take precautions. I have a handgun. A lot of us have concealed weapons permits. We’re a small church, and we don’t have money to hire security.”

  12. cwaltz says:
    April 1, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    Dak,

    I hope you start to feel better. Keep an eye on the MRSA and make sure to make regular appointments. My mom contracted it when she was a property clerk at the jail. It’s cropped up in several instances again when she has had health problems. It never really goes away, it just goes into remission. Yucky,yucky stuff.

  13. dakinikat says:
    April 1, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    Colorado Republicans Block Civil Unions Bill As Opponents Warn Of ‘AIDS Tax,’ End Of Times

    Douglas Napier of the Alliance Defense Fund led the formal opposition against the bill and maintained that civil unions would likely lead to same-sex marriage, despite a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The debate quickly disintegrated from there, as witnesses began quoting the Bible, regurgitating thoroughly debunked claims about ex-gay therapy and even predicting the end of times. The Family Research Institute’s Dr. Paul Cameron — whose so-called ‘research’ on homosexuality has been condemned and refuted by most major medical organizations in the United States and Canada — provided the most colorful testimony.

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