August 31, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The founding charters of the United States of America were designed to create a system of democratic government in which terms and structures linked to historical exclusions and injustices could be redefined in order to serve a more democratic, more tolerant system of civil government. The argument regarding civil marriage services, provided by government, and the consequent legislative and fiscal benefits assigned to married couples, that traditional “definitions” of marriage should have a bearing on the ruling of the courts do not apply, because they do not allow for the specific Constitutional role of the judiciary: to interpret laws as applied to citizens equally and without prejudice.
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August 26, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
The American right has been relentless in its assault on the character, talents and leadership qualities of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter since the Republican campaign against him in the 1980 presidential election cycle. Their attacks have rested on the assertion that his altruistic politics, his emphasis on responsible governance, and his wariness of handing public services to private profit-makers, were a general failure of leadership. In fact, their attacks on Carter are rooted in a rhetorical sympathy for the fundamentalist clerics who took power in Iran.
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August 18, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The women’s suffrage movement finally achieved the goal of full citizenship for women, by way of equal voting rights, 90 years ago today. The victory was hard-one and long in coming. Lydia Chapin Taft, a colonial resident of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was allowed to vote in three town meetings, beginning in 1756, and the state of New Jersey became the first state to allow women the right to vote, provided they met property requirements, from 1790 until 1807. But in no other state were women provided full voting rights until 18 August 1920.
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August 16, 2010 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
Republican House minority leader John Boehner, of Ohio, said last Sunday on Meet the Press that, whether or not tax cuts are paid for, Pres. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans must not be allowed to expire. He refused, in increasingly heated and defensive language, to say whether or not tax cuts are paid for. His refusal was as good as an admission that there is no way to pay for the tax cuts and that his party does not, in fact, believe the trickle-down theory behind the Bush tax cuts will actually work.
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August 15, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Judge Vaughn Walker has lifted the temporary stay he placed on his ruling, which declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Civil marriage for same-sex couples will resume in California on 18 August 2010, Wednesday of next week. Proponents of the ban will have time to file an appeal, but experts question the legal viability of such an appeal, as the state of California does not intend to defend the ban.
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August 8, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Justice Elena Kagan was sworn in today, taking two oaths, to serve a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the United States of America. Kagan, who served as Pres. Obama’s solicitor general, is now only the fourth woman ever to serve on the United States Supreme Court. She joins Justices Sonia Sotomayor (sworn in 2009) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (sworn in 1993). Kagan is the 112th Supreme Court justice, and her swearing in means one-third of the Court are women, for the first time in history.
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August 8, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The spreading notion that the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed, in order to stop illegal immigration, is a direct assault on all Americans. Most of us became citizens because we were born in this country. We required no special paperwork beyond a recognition of our birth and the giving of a legal name. We were given social security numbers and citizenship, due to our being born on American soil, and our citizenship was not conditioned on our parents’ behavior or origins.
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August 8, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
John Boehner says the United States should not have any qualities or any conditions of life that might serve as “an incentive for illegal immigrants to come here”. He was commenting specifically on the question of whether the Constitution should grant citizenship to anyone born in the United States, but his reaction suggests that anything of any kind which might be considered a point of attraction for anyone from another country should not be tolerated.
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August 7, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
A federal judge has overruled California’s ban on gay marriage. Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the referendum banning same-sex marriage, an already existing right, violated the Constitution’s due process and equal protection requirements. The ruling has been touted as one of the most thorough and fact-based examinations of the legality of such laws, designed to bar access for some people to a right most others enjoy. Walker found there was no legitimate legal reason to so limit the rights of same-sex couples, that same-sex marriage causes no discernible harm to any party, and that banning it does cause severe harm to same sex couples and their children.
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August 7, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
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August 1, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
SB1070 is a threat to the freedom and quality of life of all Americans, but first to Arizonans. The law’s draconian anti-immigrant provisions, —which not only include random stops based on “reasonable suspicion” (clearly an indication that visual profiling is required) but also a form of domestic “extraordinary rendition”, or prisoner transfer out of jurisdiction with no judicial oversight— are an attack on basic Constitutional freedoms that protect all U.S. citizens.
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August 1, 2010 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, a Republican who supports the draconian anti-immigrant law, today lied on CBS’ political show ‘Face the Nation’ when he said the federal policy on immigration law is to deliberately “not thoroughly enforce the law”. He also lied about the capability of the “papers please” law to combat organized crime and a rash of kidnapping in Arizona. Responsible citizens must remember: SB1070′s absolute ban on safe interaction with government or community turns hundreds of thousands of people into targets for a drug mafia protection racket.
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