It was cold and drizzling outside the City Courthouse just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday, but no one seemed to mind among the same-sex couples waiting excitedly for the chance to apply for a marriage license.

“This is a dream come true,” said Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, as she smiled ear to ear and held up her ticket indicating she was first in line with her partner of 12 years, Angelisa Young, 47. “We wanted it so bad.”

Gay-rights advocates hailed the day as a milestone for equal rights and a symbolic victory as same-sex marriage became legal in the nation’s capital.

And shockingly, good for Chief Justice Roberts and his decision to reject a request from opponents of marriage equality to put the new law on hold. John Roberts sure is fabulous.

Roll Call:

POLITICO:

UPDATE post-Massa press conference:

Via FoD:

Barack Obama gets a surprise visit in the night from ex-Presidents Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Ford, Reagan and Carter to get a few pointers about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and why it’s so important.

The gist is, if you follow us and subscribe to our feed in Google Reader, you should now get new articles pushed to you instantly.

“Every child should be taught to cook in school, not just talk about nutrition all day. Good food can be made in 15 minutes. This could be the first generation where the kids teach the parents.” -Jamie Oliver, at TED

What is TED you ask? I don’t really know since they won’t invite me, but these days it’s an annual conference that invites all the cool people you want to hear talk and hang out with, to, well, talk and hang out. It’s about Technology, Education, and Design and it always produces a ton of interesting content. Floating around on the internets today we find a presentation by celebrity chef, writer, and food advocate/activist Jamie Oliver. Check it out.

Jamie was also the winner of this year’s $100,000 TED prize, awarded to an individual to implement his or her “One Wish to Change the World.”

Bob Dylan “The Times, They are a Changin” -

Howard University Choir “Lord, I Don’ Done” –

Natalie Cole “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free” -

Yolanda Adams “A Change is Gonna Come” –

Joan Baez – “We Shall Overcome” –

Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson “People Get Ready” -

UPDATE: TPM has some great pictures from the White House event:

America Is On A Path To Economic Recovery (via Speaker Pelosi)

The Supreme Court is now dominated by a highly politicized conservative majority intent on working its will, even if that means ignoring precedents and the wishes of the elected branches of government.

Obama called the court on this, and Alito shook his head and apparently mouthed “not true.” His was the honest reaction of a judicial activist who believes he has the obligation to impose his version of right reason on the rest of us.

The controversy also exposed the impressive capacity of the conservative judicial revolutionaries to live by double standards without apology.

Murray Hill announced yesterday that it would be filing to run in the Republican primary for the opportunity to challenge Van Hollen come November. Yes, “it” will be running — because “it” is a corporation, more specifically, Murray Hill Inc., a progressive PR firm.

“Until now,” it said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.”

With the campaign slogan, “It’s our democracy. We bought it, we paid for it, and we’re going to keep it,” Murray Hill looks poised to represent its interests, and not Marylanders in the 112th Congress. Check out Murray Hill’s hard hitting campaign ad below.

(h/t DS reader RR)

So, the iPad is FINALLY here…and it’s pretty damn cool. There has been all kinds of reaction throughout Twitter and the internet about the new toy – we’d love to hear what you thin. Maybe Josh will write up his thoughts, once he gets a chance to soak it all in. Here’s Apple’s intro video to America’s most anticipated gadget.

Want to find out more about the new iPad? Check out these links:

Steve Job’s Keynote Address
iPad Website
iPad Features
David Pogue @ the New York Times – “The Apple iPad: First Impressions”
Gizmodo’s iPad Wrap-up

*Check out the crazy hairstyles the awesome makeup woman gave us before the show!

Wyclef Jean sent the following statement following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit just outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti:

“Haiti today faced a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion, an earthquake unlike anything the country has ever experienced.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake – and several very strong aftershocks – struck only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince.

I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now.

President Obama has already said that the U.S. stands ‘ready to assist’ the Haitian people. The U.S. Military is the only group trained and prepared to offer that assistance immediately. They must do so as soon as possible. The international community must also rise to the occasion and help the Haitian people in every way possible.”

Many people have already reached out to see what they can do right now. We are asking those interested to please do one of two things: Either you can use your cell phone to text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (it will be charged to your cell phone bill), or you can visit Yele.org and click on DONATE.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER (@DoubleSpeak)
JOIN OUR FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK
SIGN UP FOR THE DOUBLESPEAK MEDIA EMAIL LIST (Look over on your left <–)

Happy surfing. If you have any questions, please send us a message. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Here at DoubleSpeak…we dig music. I mean, we really, really love music. But, if you’ve been to a concert in the past few years than you are probably aware of the exorbitant fees that vendors like Ticketmaster and Live Nation charge. In some cases, the fees are more than half the total cost of the ticket!

Now, Ticketmaster and Live Nation (the evildoers) want to merge in an evil attempt to be the only major game in town when it comes to ticket sales.

I am not and economist nor am I an anti-trust expert…but it just seems wrong.

Change.org, the company I work for, has recently launched a campaign action widget which allows bloggers like me to post a campaign widget on our sites and ask readers to sign. I have decided to give it a try to see how things go.

I say NO to a Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger.
powered by Change.org
Start a Petition »

Feel free to sign and let me know if you have any trouble.