(CNN) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington State voted Wednesday in favor of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, putting Washington on the path toward becoming the seventh state in the nation to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

“With today’s vote, we tell the nation that Washington state will no longer deny our citizens the opportunity to marry the person they love,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Demorcrat who has vowed to sign it. “We tell every child of same-sex couples that their family is every bit as equal and important as all other families in our state. And we take a major step toward completing a long and important journey to end discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

The law will go into effect in June, when the legislative session ends, unless opponents halt its implementation by putting it on the November 2012 ballot.

The 55-43 vote in the House included two Republicans in support of the bill. The Senate vote last week was 28-21 and included four Republicans.

“Like thousands of other same-sex couples, my partner Eric and I are very grateful for these protections that the law now provide,” said state Rep. Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat, moments before the vote. “But domestic partnership is a pale and inadequate substitute for marriage.”

State Rep. Jay Rodne, a Republican, disagreed. “Marriage is about life,” he said. “It’s about joining that man and that woman as husband and wife and mother and father, linking them with their natural-born children or adoptive parents and carrying forward our civilization.”

The National Organization for Marriage, which opposes the law, has said it will seek to gather the 120,577 signatures needed to put the issue to voters as a referendum in November. The group did not immediately return a call.

Joseph Backholm, director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, has said the issue should be put to a public vote. “If we as a state are going to take the position that mothers and fathers are interchangeable and replaceable, if we are going to send a message to fathers and potential fathers in this state that it isn’t important to be in the lives of their children because dads specifically don’t matter, that is something we should all do together,” he said last month.

But Thalia Zepatos, director of public engagement for Freedom to Marry, questioned the fairness of a vote. “Is it appropriate for all the voters to vote on the rights of a small minority group of people?” she asked.

Advocates of same-sex marriage have followed several paths toward legality in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, New York and the District of Columbia. “In each state, the question of marriage has come up either through the courts, through the legislatures or directly at the ballot,” Zepatos said. “I think this demonstrates the growing support nationally amongst Republicans, Democrats and Independents who see that allowing committed and loving, same-sex couples to get married does not take anything away from the marriages of their friends, neighbors and family members.”

The benefits of same-sex marriage translate into benefits for the larger community, said Zepatos, citing one study that predicted $88 million in additional spending would occur in Washington once the practice becomes legal. “It’s a real boost for small business in particular,” she said.

In 2009, Maine state legislators passed a same-sex marriage bill that drew subsequent challenges by opponents who pushed for a referendum that ultimately overturned the law with 53% of the vote. Proponents are trying to get it back on the ballot this year. Gay rights advocates have already garnered thousands of signatures in an effort to force a second referendum in November.

In California, a 2008 public vote outlawed gay and lesbian couples’ right to wed.

Two years later, a federal district court overturned the voter-approved measure known as Proposition 8, saying couples were unfairly denied their rights. A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday against California’s ban, arguing that it unconstitutionally singles out gays and lesbians for discrimination.

The ban has remained in place during the appeals process and could soon get a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Similar battles have unfolded in Maryland, where same-sex marriage opponents have pressed for referendums to counter bills that appear to enjoy growing support in their state houses.

Listen to the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show on your Sony Playstation®3

View this video to learn how!

Rapper may be penalized after flipping the bird in front of 110 million Super Bowl viewers at Madonna half-time show

On Monday night, 10 News Investigator Mike Deeson uncovered the use of psychrotrophic drugs on foster children.

“Our society as a whole is over medicated. We’re over vaccinated from craddle to grave,” says nationally syndicated radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge, who has his own thoughts on the overmedication of Americans.

Hear what he has to say by clicking on the video.

www.wtsp.com – INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Eli Manning and the Giants one-upped Tom Brady and the Patriots again, coming back with a last-minute score to beat New England 21-17 Sunday night for New York’s fourth Super Bowl title.

It was a rematch of the 2008 NFL championship, when Manning led New York past New England to ruin the Patriots’ bid for a perfect season.

This was the first Super Bowl with two starting quarterbacks who previously won the big game’s MVP award – and they took turns being brilliant. Manning became the first QB to open a Super Bowl with nine consecutive completions. Later, Brady put together a run of 16 completions in a row, breaking another Super Bowl mark.

But in the end, it was Manning – who was selected as the MVP – who directed the nine-play, 88-yard drive that put New York ahead.

Ahmad Bradshaw capped the winning drive with a 6-yard run up the middle. He wanted to stop at the 1-yard line but fell backward into the end zone.

Less than a minute later it came down to one last play, when Tom Brady’s long heave into the end zone fell incomplete among a maze of players.

New England had the ball for all of one play in the first 11 1-2 minutes, and that play was an utter failure, a rare poor decision by Brady. After Steve Weatherford’s punt was downed at the New England 6, Brady dropped to pass in the end zone and had time. With everyone covered and Giants defensive end Justin Tuck finally coming free to provide pressure, Brady heaved the ball downfield while still in the pocket.

Only problem: No Patriots receivers were anywhere near the pass. The Giants were awarded a safety for Brady’s grounding in the end zone.

Manning, meanwhile, couldn’t have been more on target early, hitting six receivers in the first period, completing his first nine throws, a Super Bowl record. He also was aided by Ahmad Bradshaw, who hardly looked like a running back with a bad foot. Bradshaw broke a 24-yard run, and New England made another critical mistake by having 12 men on the field on a third-and-3 on which the Giants fumbled.

Instead, New York got a first down at the 6, and two plays later Victor Cruz beat James Ihedigbo on a slant to make it 9-0, prompting Cruz to break into his signature salsa move.

Manning’s first incompletion didn’t come until 1:19 into the second quarter.

At that point, it was 9-3 after Stephen Gostkowski’s 29-yard field goal. The Patriots got to the Giants’ 11, but All-Pro DE Jason Pierre-Paul blocked a third-down pass.

Soon after, when the Patriots had a three-and-out and Pierre-Paul blocked another throw, Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien had a quick discussion. Then O’Brien, soon to take over as Penn State coach, went over to the struggling Brady.

The talk must have helped. On the final series of the opening half, Brady was masterful. Starting at his 4, and ignoring the last time the Patriots began a series in the shadow of the end zone, he was vintage Brady.

With New York’s vaunted pass rush disappearing, Brady went 10-for-10 for 98 yards, capping the drive that included two Patriots penalties with Woodhead’s 4-yard TD reception with 8 seconds to go in the half. Hernandez and Woodhead each had four catches on the drive that, stunningly, put New England ahead despite being outplayed for so much of the first 30 minutes.

Brady kept firing – and hitting – in the third quarter, with five more completions. The Giants didn’t come within shouting distance of the record-setting quarterback. He capped a 79-yard drive to open the second half with a 12-yard TD to Hernandez, but then the game turned. Again.

Consecutive field goals by Lawrence Tynes of 38 and 33 yards brought New York within 17-15. Brady then threw deep for his tight end after weaving away from two pass rushers. His throw was short, and Chase Blackburn picked it off early in the fourth quarter.

Although the Giants moved into New England territory again, as they did on every drive to that point, they bogged down and punted.

Listen to the show this week to hear the first week live from the new studios. This week we have television personality from The Insider, Brooke Anderson, Top 5 countdown of the country charts, Dr. Mark in studio, Actor/Director Kevin Smith, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, plugs for pain, and the pheromone challenge!

(CNN) — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Wednesday that an illegal immigrant who was injured and lost most of her family in Sunday’s multivehicle wreck in Florida will not face deportation.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Miss Lidiane Carmo as she deals with the tragic loss of her family,” ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said. “Reports of her facing deportation are completely false.”

“ICE’s stated priorities include convicted criminals, immigration fugitives, repeat immigration law violators and recent border crossers,” Gonzalez said in a written statement.

Lidiane Carmo, 15, the sole survivor among her immediate family, came to the United States from Brazil when she was only 2, according to a pastor at International Church of the Restoration in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

“She is like any regular American girl. (But) she wasn’t born here,” the Rev. Aron Amazonas said Wednesday. “She acts like an American girl. She almost can’t speak the Portuguese language. She doesn’t know the people there.”

Church members were concerned that the teen could face deportation.

Lidiane and five members of her family were part of a church delegation returning Sunday from a conference in Orlando.

Jose Carmo, another pastor at the church; his wife, Adriana; and their daughter Leticia were killed, along with Jose Carmo’s brother, Edsom Carmo, who was driving one of the church’s vans, and a companion.

“The Carmo family was in the United States illegally,” said Alonso Oliveira, a family friend and pastor. “The family wanted to obtain legal status but had no laws to help them do so.”

The family stayed in the United States after their visas expired, CNN affiliate WSB reported.

Lidiane, who remains hospitalized, learned Tuesday that her parents and sister had been killed, Amazonas told CNN. “We know she is trying to process everything.”

Amazonas said the church’s top priority is taking care of Lidiane and sending the bodies of the victims back to Brazil.

“We are shocked with everything that happened with us and this lovely family. We are trying to give them the support they need,” he said.

A local high school was scheduled to hold a vigil Wednesday night.

“We could never imagine such tragedy would come, and the whole congregation is totally devastated,” said Amazonas.

On Sunday, according to the Carmo family, Florida Gov. Rick Scott visited the girl in the hospital and assured the family that Florida would take case of expenses, including the transportation of the bodies back to Georgia. The girl has no medical insurance.

“The governor gave the family members a phone number to call. They have called the number a few times, with no answer or returned call,” a source close to the family told CNN.

According to Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham, “On Sunday, Gov. Rick Scott stopped by the Shands Hospital in Gainesville where several victims are being treated for the fatal pileup on 1-75. Gov. Scott wanted to express his condolences and let the families know he was praying for them.”

When CNN asked Graham to confirm that the governor promised to take care of financial costs, she declined, saying that the conversations with the accident victims were personal and that she does not have any details about them.

Scott had been set to appear on CNN on Wednesday to discuss the previous night’s primary, but his office canceled the interview when told that CNN also would ask about his offer of help to the family. Scott’s office said it canceled because the network changed “the terms of the interview just hours” beforehand.

The death toll from the string of crashes on Interstate 75 near Gainesville — amid heavy smoke from a nearby brush fire — has risen to 11 with the discovery of another body, the Florida Highway Patrol said. An additional victim was found in a Dodge truck, the highway patrol said in a statement Tuesday. The body was not immediately identified.

The National Weather Service warned that patchy smoke and fog may still be present in the area Wednesday.

The smoke is from a brush fire at the nearby Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. The Boardwalk Fire was 100% contained, but smoke could linger for months, Ludie Bond, wildfire mitigation specialist for the Gainesville area, said this week.

Meanwhile, questions remain about the deadly crashes. The Florida Highway Patrol had reopened the section of I-75 where the crashes occurred barely half an hour before the pileup.

The interstate was closed for about three hours earlier Sunday, after a pair of crashes late Saturday on I-75 and nearby U.S. 441, Highway Patrol Lt. Patrick Riordan said Monday. Troopers, the state Department of Transportation and the local sheriff’s office reopened the road after determining that conditions were improving, he said.

I-75 reopened at 3:26 a.m. Thirty-three minutes later, callers began to report chain-reaction crashes in both the north and southbound lanes.

Scott has asked the state Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the circumstances behind the crashes.

www.ocala.com – ZUBER — The worker circling the dirt track here on a road grader last week was none other than nationally syndicated shock jock Bubba “The Love Sponge” Clem.

“This is therapeutic,” said Clem, a lifelong racing enthusiast who bought the track most recently known as Ocala Speedway last year and renamed it Ocala Bubba Raceway Park.

Clem, a racer himself, has a hands-on approach at maintenance that includes leveling the surface with heavy equipment while holding Bianca, his Yorkie pup.

Clem, who claims to be the second-most fined DJ in radio, sports a ball cap, dark glasses and black sweatshirt marked “censored” while he and Bianca later pace the track on foot, intently checking the dirt on the D-shaped oval.

Clem, 45, who hosts his five-day-per-week, talk-only radio show out of FM-102.5 in Tampa, hopes to breathe new life into the speedway with some major improvements and big draw events — including the inaugural Bubba Army Late Model Modified Winter Nationals with Hulk Hogan as grand marshall on Feb. 18.

“We put down 300 truckloads of fresh clay, widened the track by about 20 feet and increased the banking in the turns from 7 degrees to 18 degrees,” Clem said. “We added more guard rails, concrete walls and $20,000 more (in) lighting.”

Clem’s big plans for the start of the season also includes visits by the UMP Open-Wheeled Modified series, the USAC Winter Dirt Games, and the All-Star 410 Winged Sprints.

Clem said the purses at the three-eighths-mile track are “double other local tracks” and the combined purse for February’s planned events will be “almost $400,000.”

His ambitious plans for the 2012 season, along with his technical approach to the track, have been endorsed by racing regulars such as 2011 late model points champion Ivedent Lloyd Jr.

“He has an edge because he’s (both) a driver and a track owner,” Lloyd said. “He knows how to help the drivers and keep them in balance.”

Lloyd, 45, the two-time defending champion of the track’s signature Powell Memorial annual event, said Clem’s attention to the track’s condition has opened the door for more competitive racing by allowing lapped drivers the opportunity to fight their way back into the race.

Lloyd also praised Clem’s ability to promote the track — Clem often talks about the past weekend’s racing during his Monday radio broadcast.

“I once got a call from a contact with Hoosier Tire after a remark about their tires on his broadcast was heard in Indiana,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd said the larger-than-life personality heard daily on Clem’s radio show is “entertainment,” and not necessarily the same guy who runs the speedway.

Clem also separates his radio persona from his role as a father, businessman and racer.

“Schwarzenegger wasn’t The Terminator when he was governor,” said Clem, who traces his “Love Sponge” nickname back to his football playing days at Indiana State University, where he majored in broadcast journalism.

Once at the track, he’s just “Bubba” — until he returns to work on Monday. He said he prefers Marion County’s solitude and “wide open spaces” to the alternative, which would be to “stay in his St. Petersburg mansion.”

“I’ve sort of infused myself here,” said Clem, who said he’s a regular at regular-guy Ocala establishments such as Waffle House and Cody’s Steakhouse. He also lauded the recent relocation of a Scorpion Racing Products facility into Ocala as a boost to the racing community.

“I love this area,” he said, adding that his dirt-track roots in Indiana, Marion County’s relaxing atmosphere, and the desire to support his family racing efforts all pointed him toward buying the Marion County racetrack.

His 9-year-old son, Tyler, also factored into the decision. Tyler, Clem said, is a developmental driver with Stewart–Haas Racing — co-owned by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, and the track “is a natural way for him to practice.”

“We’ve made a go-kart track near turn one,” Clem said, “I plan to make a mud bog area nearby.”

Clem also plans to race this season in the track’s late model division, which begins racing on March 3.

It’s all part of a busy agenda for a famous voice who’s just looking for a quiet place to pursue his passion for racing.

“I’d like to build a house in those woods,” Clem said, pointing his finger just outside the track compound, “and live right here.”

Invisible Empire A New World Order Defined

Jason Bermas presents Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined produced by Alex Jones.
The film can be ordered here http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/inemnewwoord.html

Loose Change

Loose Change Final Cut is the third installment of the documentary that asks the tough questions about the 9/11 attacks and related events.