February 28, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Wisconsin’s Republican governor, whose attack on the rights of public servants has sparked the most persistent and widespread public protests seen in the state’s history. After two weeks of protests, the governor’s abject refusal to negotiate in any way with opponents to his bid to strip public workers of their rights has brought over 100,000 peaceful demonstrators to the state capitol complex this weekend. Gov. Walker is now seeking to bar any further protest in a desperate bid to impose his will on the people.
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February 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Last week, a man pretending to be oil billionaire David Koch, one of the major Republican donors thought to be behind the concerted operation by Republican governors to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights, spoke with Gov. Scott Walke by phone. During the conversation, Gov. Walker revealed much about his own thinking in relation to using the claim of a “budget crisis” to impose massive cuts on public servants’ compensation and to strip them of basic workplace fairness rights.
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February 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
On Friday, Republicans in the Wisconsin state Assembly used unusual rules to push through legislation stripping public servants of collective bargaining rights, at 1:00 am. Opponents and Democrats chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at the Republicans as they filed unceremoniously out of the chamber. The vote has been assailed by critics as a political assault on groups and individuals who don’t support the Republican party. Even FOX News has reported that the bill is “pure politics” and that the so-called “budget crisis” is a false claim being used by Republicans to attack their opponents.
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February 25, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
FOX News’ Shepard Smith has shocked the radical right-wing by telling the truth about Wisconsin. He explained on air that the motivation for Wisconsin’s governor was clearly not economic or budgetary. He explained that there is in fact no fiscal crisis in Wisconsin. The projected budget deficit is far smaller than what the governor claims. [...]
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February 23, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
On Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators protesting the Ohio governor’s plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public servants were denied access to their state’s capitol. The refusal to allow them entry last for hours, until finally, thousands were able to enter. The governor has already been accused to trying to thwart opposition to his plan by blocking basic rights and denying the people access to their government.
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February 22, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
This ad is now running statewide in Wisconsin. Firefighters and other public servants are joining together to oppose the campaign to eliminate collective bargaining rights in their state. They are calling on all Wisconsinites to stand with them in defense of basic civil rights.
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February 21, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
As tens of thousands rallied for the 7th consecutive day at the state capitol of Wisconsin, the governor has repeated his demand that Democrats return to “debate” the legislation, which he says will not be negotiated or altered in any way. The near total ban on collective bargaining rights for public servants in the state of Wisconsin, as proposed by Gov. Walker —in office less than 2 months— has been described as the most extreme reversal of labor rights in US history.
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February 21, 2011 :: The Editors :: 4 Comments
The protest rally opposing Gov. Walker’s draconian plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights is now entering its second week. 14 Democratic lawmakers remain outside the state, in boycott of the plan to impose Walker’s radical agenda on the people of Wisconsin. And today the news comes the last union that had not abandoned Walker, the state police union, has now done so.
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February 20, 2011 :: Denver Lessing :: 4 Comments
The last week has seen mounting protests in Madison, Wisconsin, with crowds occupying the state capitol grounds swelling from 10,000 to 25,000 to 30,000, 40,000 and now on Saturday, 60,000. Schools have been closed, and university faculty and students are striking in order to participate in the protests. The demonstrators oppose Gov. Walker’s plan to strip public employees of all collective bargaining rights.
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February 20, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
The Republican party has revealed the near total lack of economic foundation for its proposed fiscal policy. ‘Reaganomics’ was based not on tax cuts, but on “deficit spending”. The logic was that deficit spending is a “multiplier” that will so produce new sources of wealth in the investor class that they will be induced to spend billions creating new jobs, that entrepreneurship will result from the “investment” inherent in deficit spending, and government revenues would increase.
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February 19, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
The advocacy group Common Cause has found evidence that Clarence Thomas’ office appears to have lied about his participation in a retreat hosted by the Koch brothers, three years ago, and that Thomas appears to be concealing a gift from the oil billionaires, due to the conflict of interest it suggests. It now appears Thomas reported his appearance at the event, at which his office said he “made a brief stop-by”, as an all-expenses-paid four-day trip to Palm Springs.
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February 18, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Forty thousand Wisconsinites today gathered at, and inside of, the state capitol, to protest Gov. Walker’s plan to eliminate labor rights for public employees. Today, state Assembly Democrats delivered a letter to Gov. Walker, demanding a meeting and offering concessions from union members who have agreed to the financial cuts; Walker refused, saying there was no way to guarantee that costs could be cut for every municipality in Wisconsin unless all collective bargaining rights were eliminated.
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February 18, 2011 :: The Editors :: 4 Comments
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) is struggling to get control of the House of Representatives, now filled with a freshman class of rogue Republican lawmakers who are refusing to follow his leadership and splitting the party’s majority on one after another vote. Yesterday, conservatives in the Republican House caucus joined progressive Democrats in handing Boehner a loss and Pres. Obama a victory, in voting to cut funding for an unnecessary duplicate engine for the F-35 fighter jet.
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February 17, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Oil as a combustible fuel is a 19th-century improvement on the 18th-century paradigm of burning coal to produce steam to run industrial machinery. The efficiency and portability of carbon-based fuels, in terms of the built-in energy they can store and which is released when they are burnt, has long been the driving factor in their popularity as an energy source. But new technologies are now making it possible to produce large amounts of portable energy sustainably, with none of the atmospheric damage resulting from the burning of carbon-based fuels.
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February 17, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
The protest movement taking over the capital of Wisconsin, where tens of thousands of ordinary people have flocked to the state Capitol building, led today to an effort by Democratic lawmakers to prevent a vote that would strip the state’s public employees of fundamental labor rights. The 14 Democratic lawmakers crossed the state line and are seeking asylum in a neighboring state, reportedly Illinois. (Some states will extradite truant lawmakers; some will not.) They are said to be seeking shelter at an undisclosed location.
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February 16, 2011 :: staff :: 4 Comments
Tens of thousands of citizens of the state of Wisconsin joined the sixth consecutive day of mass protests in Madison, to protest extreme budget cuts and a plan to eliminate all collective bargaining rights for state employees. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to peaceably assemble, which means government acts to prevent organization for the purpose of protecting rights are prohibited. Today, the protests reached their largest numbers yet, and are reported to be spreading.
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February 15, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Public broadcasting in the United States is not like state-run television in other countries, where the ruling party often influences the editorial stance and the quality of reporting. In the United States, there is an absolute wall of separation between politicians for elective office and the editorial process that shapes what is produced by public broadcasting.
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February 8, 2011 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
The new Republican plan to amend the Affordable Care Act to institute a form of “backdoor ban” on abortion procedures would give legal protection to doctors who let women die without needed treatment, and impose a severe tax on any business that seeks to provide full health coverage to its employees. The original language of the plan specified that only in cases of “forcible rape” would a woman be entitled to treatment where abortion might be the only way to save her life.
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February 1, 2011 :: The Editors :: 5 Comments
Judge Roger Vinson, a federal judge in Florida, has ruled the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 “unconstitutional”, accepting without trial the argument put forward by 26 states’ attorneys general that the “individual mandate” requiring that Americans purchase insurance or face penalties was not only unconstitutional but was “unseverable” from the rest of the law. Judge Vinson’s ruling is fraught with fictions and distortions and appears to be designed to help insurers avoid facing any new regulation.
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January 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Today, the Russian parliament officially finalized ratification of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The ratification, following the December vote in the US Senate, brings the new treaty officially into effect. Bilateral nuclear disarmament is now moving forward, with historic reductions and new provisions to allow for cooperation and verification, and the securing of technologies that could fall through the cracks if not carefully supervised.
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January 26, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) today chaired his first committee hearing on oversight of the administration. Issa has promised literally hundreds of hearings to “investigate” the Obama administration for what he says is an ideological and/or methodological “corruption” of the process of government. But the first hearing, to examine the management of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), was rough going, as he unilaterally decided to deny the ranking Democratic committee member an opening statement.
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January 26, 2011 :: Riga Listin :: Comments Off
An appellate court in Chicago has ruled that Rahm Emanuel cannot run for mayor of Chicago, because he worked for two years as White House chief of staff. The ruling relies on the notion that Emanuel forfeited his Chicago residency by taking a job with the federal government in Washington, DC, but federal law specifies that in such situations residency remains intact.
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January 26, 2011 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House budget committee, gave a vague and meandering response to Pres. Obama’s address, first saying Republicans want to work with the president, then defaming him as a spendthrift socialist bent on destroying American prosperity. He laced his remarks with Republican talking points from the 2010 election cycle, repeating key distortions that have been discredited in the mainstream press.
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January 26, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
The following is an official White House transcript of Pres. Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address, as prepared for delivery in the well of the House of Representatives, 25 January 2011: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and [...]
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January 26, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
One seat was left vacant, in honor of Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), who is currently recovering from a severe gunshot wound to the head, suffered during an assassination attempt that killed 6 people. Pres. Obama opened his remarks with a tribute to the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner of Ohio, a unifying gesture that won loud applause from the hall. Obama then struck a somber tone and asked everyone to consider the lessons of the tragedy in Tucson.
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January 11, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The United States Congress should honor the value of human life and the service of Rep. Giffords and her aides, those who showed uncommon valor and those who lost their lives, by taking up legislation to reinstate the national Assault Weapons Ban, and to make it permanent. There is no sane or defensible reason for allowing people to purchase weapons designed to kill large numbers of people in seconds or minutes. There is no way to justify such a reckless policy as somehow being written into the Constitution.
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January 10, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
Tom DeLay has been sentenced to three years in prison, on conviction for charges of conspiracy and money laundering. The former House majority leader, known in his heyday as ‘The Hammer’, is accused of having committed these crimes as part of a coordinated manipulation of the Texas state-level electoral process aimed at handing Republicans control of seats held by Democrats in the US House of Representatives.
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January 10, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who has been targeted by opponents and conservative critics who have put her in gunsights in campaign advertisements and talked of taking her out, has raised ire across the nation for the mounting campaign of extremist rhetoric that over the last four years has seen repeated violent threats against members of Congress, candidates for public office, minority groups and people favoring healthcare reform. Now, the Tea Party Express is raising money, using the shooting and its aftermath as motivation, saying it will not allow anyone to tone down this extremist rhetoric.
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January 7, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The planned vote to repeal last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [pdf], if successful, would increase the federal budget deficit by $230 billion over the next ten years, would leave 32 million Americans with no access to affordable healthcare insurance, would strip small businesses of tax credits they get to help cover employee health costs, and would increase the cost per insuree across the nation. The Congressional Budget Office has released a study showing the negative impact repeal would have on the federal budget, the welfare of average Americans and the economy more broadly.
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January 6, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Justice Antonin Scalia, long considered one of the most right-wing justices to sit on the United States Supreme Court during the last century, has outraged Constitutional scholars and civil rights advocates by saying the Constitution provides no protection against discrimination for women or for gay Americans. He specifically targeted the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment, arguing that the intent of the words “any person within its jurisdiction” was not to include women or people of homosexual orientation.
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January 5, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
On Tuesday, Pres. Obama signed a raft of new legislation passed during the lame duck session of the 111th Congress. The huge number of signings capped a complicated two-year period of historic achievements and unprecedented Senate obstruction. Here’s a comprehensive list of the new laws Pres. Obama signed on the last day before the Republicans are sworn in as the new majority in the House of Representatives, from the White House…
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January 4, 2011 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
Capping a season of lavish fundraising events where Republican members of Congress raised huge sums from lobbyists, corporate donors and special interests, one Republican freshman is holding a major bash, at $2,500 per person, complete with live performance by Leigh Ann Rimes, $50,000 all-inclusive package deals and luxury suites at the W hotel. Despite Tea Party opposition to corrupt corporate-interest politics, Rep. Jeff Denham is openly positioning himself to be the go-to rainmaker for fellow Republicans.
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January 4, 2011 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
Less than one year after the historic passage of healthcare insurance reform, financial regulatory reform and the initial phase of EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is asking industry to provide a wish list of regulations they would like erased from federal law. Issa is the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, and has announced his intention to use the post to eliminate consumer protections and anti-fraud regulations.
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January 3, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The 112th Congress will be officially sworn in on Wednesday, and its work will be fraught with challenges and controversies from the very first. On Wednesday, for instance, the House of Representatives will vote on a rules change that will allow Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan to dictate spending priorities and caps to the entire House and Senate, by disallowing any revision of his rewrite guidelines, should the two chambers fail to reach agreement on a budget resolution. Issues like raising the debt ceiling, implementing START, mortgage and foreclosure reform and expanding medical coverage, will all pit liberal against conservative in a split Congress.
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January 3, 2011 :: staff :: Comments Off
One of the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks shows George W. Bush’s ambassador to France advised the White House to launch a military-style trade war against any EU nation that opposed the implementation of genetically modified seeds. Despite widespread, credible scientific concern about the possible harm to human health or to the environment or food supply from the use of genetically engineered crops, the Bush administration appears to have used diplomats as sales agents for Monsanto and other major corporations.
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December 31, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC is guaranteed to be controversial long after the shock of its meaning fades from public consciousness. The ruling effectively gave multinational corporations free rein to spend unlimited sums of money with the specific intent of distorting the public discourse and swaying the democratic process in their favor. Some say it amounts to the death of real democracy in the United States.
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December 30, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
With a new wave of elected officials coming to Capitol Hill next week, there is talk of a shift, at least in the House, to a so-called “all-of-the-above” or “let’s-do-everything” approach to energy policy. The idea sounds reasonable at first glance, because it suggests the maximum available energy will be made available to consumers, which should mean more choice, lower prices, less risk. The truth is: “all-of-the-above” is under-thought, ignores major costs associated with certain resources, and is, therefore, a risky economic strategy.
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December 22, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
[W]e are not a nation that says, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We are a nation that says, “Out of many, we are one.” (Applause.) We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. (Applause.) Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now, it is my honor to sign this bill into law.
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December 22, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
The Lame Duck session of Congress is supposed to be ineffectual and, well, “lame”, unable to get things done. It is even more the case in a year when control of Congress changes hands. But this lame duck session has been historically active and engaged. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has been struggling to set himself up as a key leader by undermining signature initiatives put forward by the Democratic majority, but has watched idly as one after another major initiative passes the Senate and goes to the president for signature.
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December 22, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
One of Pres. Obama’s signature initiatives, announced upon taking office, in an historic address to over 100,000 people in Prague, is moving the international community toward a “world without nuclear weapons”. Despite rising tensions with an increasingly authoritarian Russian Federation, under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, Obama negotiated a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Putin’s younger successor, Pres. Dmitry Medvedev.
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December 11, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Bernie Sanders, independent senator from Vermont, delivered an 8 and a half hour speech on the floor of the United States Senate today, an actual filibuster, in order to oppose the passage of a tax-cut plan worked out between Pres. Obama and the Republican leadership. Sanders not only challenged the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress to stand against tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, he showed the both parties what a filibuster really is: an individual stands up and speaks, for as long as his mind and his health will allow, to prevent the close of debate.
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November 13, 2010 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
In one of the least informed, most reckless votes of the 2010 midterm elections, a racist ideologue aiming to intimidate Oklahomans into voting for him and his party, pushed an unconstitutional response to a non-existent threat. The referendum aimed at preventing Islamic sharia law from supplanting the United States Constitution was a response to a non-existent threat, and it includes language that directly contradicts the Constitution of the United States.
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October 31, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Amid allegations the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is using membership dues and donations from foreign firms to wage an all-out ad-war against Democratic politics, at least 275 members are demanding the group cease its “punitive campaign” against anyone who supported the Affordable Care Act and reveal their sources and methods of funding the ads.
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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 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 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 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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