Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The ACLU is seeking to overturn Alabama's voter disenfranchisement law. The Boston Globe calls on the state to restrict unequal retirement plans that pay women less than men. Online adoption business discriminates against gay couples. John McCain: Anti-contraception. 16 years after "the year of the women", women … [Read more...] about Civil Rights Roundup: 07/22/08
Women Achieve A Kind of Work Place Equality (Dep’t of Good News/Bad News)
The New York Times came up with what I'd call a strange title for this article: Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy. And the key points are oddly framed: [F]or the first time since the women’s movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Each of … [Read more...] about Women Achieve A Kind of Work Place Equality (Dep’t of Good News/Bad News)
Sunstein’s influence on Obama: the right kind of Nudge
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Satullo had a column Sunday looking at Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's Nudge: Been nudged lately? You have, whether you know it or not. If you've ever obeyed your computer's invitation to install some software in the "standard (recommended)" mode, you've been nudged, in a helpful way. If you're still paying for that magazine … [Read more...] about Sunstein’s influence on Obama: the right kind of Nudge
About those oil spills
In a previous column which touched on energy policy in general and domestic oil drilling in particular, a point was brought up in comments. Since the oil companies have failed to develop the oil and gas leases they already hold, and because many of those are easier than offshore drilling, and because oil companies lost dozens of oil platforms in the last few hurricanes, and … [Read more...] about About those oil spills
Mukasey & Congress: The AG Changes His Tune But The Song Remains The Same
In keeping with the myriad outrages that it has perpetrated in fighting the so-called Global War on Terror, the Bush administration has not lacked for cojones. Congress was a mere handmaiden or not consulted at all when the White House decided to establish a parallel court system to try terror suspects, when it tossed the Geneva Conventions into the Potomac and embraced the … [Read more...] about Mukasey & Congress: The AG Changes His Tune But The Song Remains The Same
Some Thoughts On Media Biases
Although I sometimes see a story that makes me wonder, I have not generally been one to obsess over media biases against Republicans or the political right. I recognize that the news media today is a business and that the basic rule is to go after any juicy scandal. My basic view has been that perhaps personal biases sometimes cause the reporter to lean to a Republican … [Read more...] about Some Thoughts On Media Biases
Obama Will Do Just Fine at the Siegessäule
After demurely having to admit that the German people prefer Obama over McCain by an overwhelming margin (67 percent to 6 percent), Kristol uses the rest of his much-awaited Monday morning NYT column to express his hope that Obama will be “for victory” when he addresses the expected huge crowds at the Siegessäule — the Victory Column — in Berlin. Mr. Kristol ought not to … [Read more...] about Obama Will Do Just Fine at the Siegessäule
Nepal’s First President: Dr. Ram Baran Yadav
Nepal, world's youngest Republic, on Monday elected its first president, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, of the Nepali Congress (NC). Yadav defeated his nearest rival from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Constituent Assembly on May 20 abolished the 240-year-old Shah monarchy and decided Nepal would be a federal democratic republic. A medical doctor by profession, Yadav spent … [Read more...] about Nepal’s First President: Dr. Ram Baran Yadav
On South Dakota’s unbelievable new abortion law
In this morning's civil rights roundup David brought us the headline -- doctors in South Dakota are now required to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last week lifted a preliminary injunction handing a victory to antiabortion forces: The … [Read more...] about On South Dakota’s unbelievable new abortion law
Vote Inflation
While the media continues to swarm over the Obama trip to "points beyond," John McCain is hitting some key swing states to talk about more pressing domestic issues, including energy policy. As the New York Times points out, these are key battlegrounds and it's a message which may resonate with the hurting pocketbooks of voters more than the opinions of foreign … [Read more...] about Vote Inflation
Question for the Candidates: “Is Pursuing Justice, Partisan Bickering?”
In a recent post, “Bush’s Aspirational Words on Timetables, and Torture,” I briefly touched on the Bush administration’s sorry record when it comes to the issue of torture. It would be my hope that, one day, those guilty of trampling our Constitution, our laws, and international Conventions and treaties on any issue, but especially on the issue of human rights, would be made to … [Read more...] about Question for the Candidates: “Is Pursuing Justice, Partisan Bickering?”
Welcome Obama: A Man Who Has ‘Played His Cards Right’
Well, Barack Obama's long-awaited world tour has finally begun - and according to this editorial from France's Le Figaro newspaper - things have been going his way. First, dwelling on Obama's amazing popularity in Europe, Pierre Rousselin warns: "This capacity to restore the image of an America that wants so badly to be loved is an electoral asset. Provided, however, that … [Read more...] about Welcome Obama: A Man Who Has ‘Played His Cards Right’
What McCain gets wrong about the surge and Iraq
Multiple statements by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki have confirmed his supported for a short timetable for US troops to withdraw from Iraq. Even the spokesman responsible for a clumsy and half-hearted walkback of that timetable went on camera today and reaffirmed that US troops should be gone by 2010. As Spencer Ackerman notes, this puts John McCain in quite a box. … [Read more...] about What McCain gets wrong about the surge and Iraq
Iran’s nuclear program, Israel and the US : buying time after Geneva
Iran’s goal seems to be to bait Israel into quickly making precision attacks on its nuclear installations before diplomatic options are exhausted. Its apparently irrational regime may think the mess in the region will be so great that it will obtain even bigger gains in political influence than those from the debacle in Iraq. So it is deftly buying time through diplomacy and … [Read more...] about Iran’s nuclear program, Israel and the US : buying time after Geneva
Bringing Back a Black-and-White World
A London gallery next week will show pictures of Johnny Cash, an American legend, some of them unseen for almost half a century. Taken by my friend Marvin Koner, they show, not the familiar man in black with a life-scarred face, but a smooth-skinned 27-year-old at the brink of a career that would sear his voice and music into America's memory. Koner was one of the young men … [Read more...] about Bringing Back a Black-and-White World
Civil Rights Roundup: 07/21/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The Boston Globe has a report on Democratic efforts to find an "anti-Scalia." Could Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a former bigwig in the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department, be that guy? A dissident Catholic group claims it has ordained three women as priests. I missed this while I was in NY, but … [Read more...] about Civil Rights Roundup: 07/21/08
Squandering Those Few Shreds Of Credibility
The kerfuffle over whether Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki explicitly endorsed Barack Obama's Iraq troop withdrawal plan will pass quickly, but it is worth noting before it does that the Bush administration just can't help but squander what few shreds of credbility it still has left. In case you missed it, Al-Maliki tokld Der Spiegel over the weekend that he found much to … [Read more...] about Squandering Those Few Shreds Of Credibility
New Yorker Reporter Denied Seat On Obama Overseas Trip Plane
Was the campaign of Democratiic presumptive Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama sending a publication -- and perhaps the press in general -- a petulant or hard-ball message? Or was it strictly coincidence? And if it is to explained and dismissed by some as a coincidence is it as believable as being a coincidence in the political world as to the weekend clarification … [Read more...] about New Yorker Reporter Denied Seat On Obama Overseas Trip Plane
A New Candidate for the GOP
No, I'm not talking about replacing John McCain for this year's election. While almost all of the political news from the weekend for McCain looked better suited to an M. Night Shymalan film, I don't expect anyone to be rushing the Senator toward the door. But for the moment, let's assume that Shaun Mullen was correct in his earlier column and Barack Obama wins in November. (By … [Read more...] about A New Candidate for the GOP
India’s Nuclear Dilemma: Washington Crosses Fingers
On Tuesday the crucial vote in the Indian Parliament over the India-US civil nuclear deal would decide the fate of the present coalition government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The Washington establishment is keeping its fingers crossed and lips sealed before Tuesday’s trust vote," says The Economic Times. "The White House and the State Department have refrained … [Read more...] about India’s Nuclear Dilemma: Washington Crosses Fingers