Blog
All Blogs
-
September 17, 2008 8:43 pm | By Marge Baker
Supreme at Home, But Increasingly Ignored Abroad?
The New York Times reports a declining reliance around the world on what American justices have to say.And I thought we couldn’t slip any further in the eyes of the world.Of particular note:The new [more sophisticated constitutional courts around the…
-
September 15, 2008 5:04 pm | By Willard
GOP Gearing Up for a Comprehensive Voter Challenge Campaign
Well, I guess some people sit around and think, hey this group of people just lost their homes, why don’t we take their vote too? Civil right groups nationwide are up in arms about a reported Michigan GOP scheme to…
-
September 15, 2008 2:15 pm | By Willard
Talk About Judging a Book By Its Cover
More information came out this weekend about Sarah Palin's attempts to ban books while mayor of Wasilla, AK. From a story in Sunday's New York Times: Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from…
-
September 12, 2008 8:41 pm | By Willard
Have They No Shame?
In an election in which so much is at stake, and so many crucial differences between the presidential tickets, our national conversation keeps getting stuck — and not by accident. It dawned on me this week that race and gender…
-
September 12, 2008 2:32 pm | By Willard
Victory for Equal Rights in Maryland
Need a bit of good news this gloomy-weather Friday? Here's some: there was a great victory for equal rights in Montgomery County, Maryland earlier this week. As the good women of Feministing report, the county council passed a law a year…
-
September 11, 2008 9:26 pm | By Willard
We’re All “Pro-Life”
Pop quiz, fellow progressives: how do you refer to the two sides of the abortion debate? Did you say "pro-life" and "pro-choice"? Those are the terms I generally use when talking about the issue too. And, as I was reminded by a conversation…
-
September 10, 2008 7:19 pm | By Drew Courtney
ABC News on Sarah Palin’s Book Banning Past
ABC News ran a story last night on Sarah Palin’s attempt to pressure a librarian to censor the town’s collection of books. It’s stories like this that make me really love librarians.
-
September 8, 2008 9:43 pm | By Drew Courtney
Cheer Up, Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer is all gloom and doom about the prospect of Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justices. “[I]f the next two or three Supreme Court appointments are appointments made by Barack Obama, confirmed by a Democratic Senate...' -- my friends, the things…
-
September 8, 2008 9:19 pm | By Willard
Need to Brush Up on Your Wonk Lingo?
Luckily, the good folks at the ACLU have your back. They've just posted the concluding installment of "Congress-ese," a series of blog entries aimed at teaching you stuff about Congress you didn't learn in social studies class. Find the answers to questions…
-
September 8, 2008 1:31 pm | By Drew Courtney
Rep. Chris Smith Thinks You Don’t Have Any Values
At the RNC this week, Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey declared that America’s schools and universities have become “bastions of moral relativism,” and as a remedy for this, “Our students must find the God of the Bible and Biblical…
-
September 8, 2008 5:00 am | By Stacey Gates
Voting Rights Opponent Appeals to Supreme Court
As expected, the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One (NAMUDNO), a public utility district in Travis County, Tex., filed a direct appeal yesterday with the Supreme Court from a unanimous ruling last May by a three-judge federal district court…
-
September 5, 2008 10:46 pm | By Drew Courtney
Another Shot At Fair Pay
Via TAPPED, it looks like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will be up for another vote in the Senate this month. John McCain has opposed it in the past, and last time it was defeated in a procedural vote.…
-
September 5, 2008 8:33 pm | By Willard
Reigniting the Culture War
For all the talk about reformers and mavericks, the Republican convention this week struck me as a return to the GOP's decades-old culture-war handbook, with speaker after speaker launching attacks on the "elites" in the media and Washington who supposedly…
-
September 5, 2008 3:20 pm | By Willard
The New Normal
One of the amazing and historic things about this presidential campaign is that it's made us blasé about how amazing and historic it's been. No one's really talking anymore about the fact that the Democratic Party just nominated its first…
-
September 4, 2008 5:43 pm | By Drew Courtney
Personally, I Liked Huckleberry Finn
The Anchorage Daily News has a nice rundown of Sarah Palin’s troublesome history of censorship. Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should…
-
September 4, 2008 5:16 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
A Judicial Victory For Church-State Separation in Florida!
Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling that rejects the latest efforts by the far right to undermine religious liberty in that state and pave the way for the return of a state voucher program. Just a few hours…
-
September 4, 2008 2:50 pm | By Drew Courtney
Aren’t Rights a Good Thing?
In her speech last night, Sarah Palin mocked the idea that terrorists would be "read their rights." Well, setting aside the obvious complications that come from prosecuting an international “war on terror,” I’m perturbed by the idea that reading someone…
-
September 3, 2008 2:45 pm | By Willard
Oh, What a Week
By the end of the Democratic National Convention last week my feet were aching but my spirit was soaring. I loved meeting People For members, and had a chance to connect with a lot of progressive advocates, political leaders, and…
-
September 2, 2008 11:02 pm | By Josh
It’s Good to Be the AG – Forgetful Gonzales Gets Off the Hook for Mishandling Secrets
The Associated Press and Washington Post reported today that Justice Department investigators have faulted Alberto Gonzales for repeatedly mishandling national secrets during his tenure as Bush’s White House counsel and Attorney General. The eye-opening accounts reveal that Gonzales failed to…
-
September 1, 2008 6:36 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Governor Palin is Wrong; There’s No Scientific “Debate” Over Evolution to Teach
As soon as news broke last Friday that Senator John McCain had chosen the relatively unknown governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, a media scramble began to find out more about her. In the brief period since…