Within the next few weeks, if things go as scheduled, Elena Kagan’s SC nomination will be up for a vote in the full Senate. Who cares, right? Her whole confirmation process has been a snoozefest, and it’s basically a given that she’ll be confirmed. So how to make it more interesting? Put money on it, clearly. Poplicola and I were chatting the other day, and he opined quite forcefully that while Kagan will indeed be confirmed, it will be with exactly 60 votes, predicting all the Dems and only a single Republican will vote for her. I...
Continue reading...United States
How long until we're employed again?
The economy seems to be leveling out, but how long will it take to get employment back to where it was before the Great Recession? Brookings has this frightening chart with some explanation: In recent months, on this blog, we described the job gap — the number of jobs it would take to return to employment levels from before the Great Recession, while also accounting for the 125,000 people who enter the labor force in a typical month. After today’s employment numbers, the job gap stands at almost 11.3 million jobs. How long will it take to...
Continue reading...Candidate for Congress Ed Martin thinks Barack Obama wants to stop you from being saved
Via TPM, we learn that Ed Martin, who seems to get his energy from the tea party movement, is afraid that the president wants to take away your freedom to worship. His logic? Well: One thing I like to say is: America is great, not because of our genetics. We’re great because we created a place and space where people can be free. And they can choose Christ, they can choose to be faithful. They can worship, and they find their way to the Lord. And — or some of them don’t. We sure want them all...
Continue reading...Good News from Nebraska
Well, that was quick. Today the US District Judge in the Nebraska biased counseling case I mentioned yesterday issued an order– just a day after hearing oral arguments. She agreed that the clinic filing the suit has a likelihood of prevailing on its claims, and agreed to block the state from enforcing any of the bad provisions of the statute until the case is resolved. Victory! Judge Smith Camp noted that the NE legislature explained its motivation for the law as concern that the existing preabortion screening and counseling procedures were not accurate– and then pointed out...
Continue reading...Biased Counseling
I’ve talked before about my frustration at the skillful ability of the right-wing to harness language. This comes out all the time in regard to abortion, and sometimes, the issue is that the other side does a really good job of making something sound rational when it really isn’t. An example is the wave of so-called “informed consent” laws, which sound not only innocuous but also inarguable. Who could oppose making sure women have given their informed consent before undergoing an abortion? Not me, nor, I’m sure, any other pro-choicer, including anyone who provides abortions. And in...
Continue reading...Justice Ginsburg on Roe and more
I would have loved to have heard Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in person when she spoke recently at the Aspen Ideas Festival, but I’ll have to content myself with reading excerpts from the conversation she had with Jeffrey Rosen. Justice Ginsburg, who was introduced by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, described herself as a “flaming feminist” and talked eloquently about the economic realities of abortion rights, among other subjects. (Quotes courtesy of these two articles on the event) ~On her husband Marty, who recently passed away after 56 years of marriage: He “was the first boy I...
Continue reading..."Irrational Prejudice"
I’m on my way out of town right now, but a pretty huge development occurred yesterday that really needs mentioning before I go. In two decisions yesterday, Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. HHS and Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro held section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. The Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed back in the ’90s in a cynical play against a weakened President Clinton when same-sex marriage was barely on the horizon, prohibits the federal government from recognizing either state-sanctioned or non-state-sanctioned same-sex marriages and...
Continue reading...Sharron Angle attacks Harry Reid for…saving jobs?
Sharron Angle may want to stop talking. In case you’re not sure who she is: Angle’s a tea party favorite running for Senate against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. She beat out prohibitive favorite Sue Lowden in the Republican primary, mostly due to Lowden saying some ridiculous things. However, she also tends to say ridiculous things and get in trouble for them. As a result, she doesn’t get out much. Earlier this week, she got riled up because the Reid campaign dug up her old website and, well, put it back online. I’m not an...
Continue reading...Ginni Thomas & Tea Parties
Ok, let’s start with a few facts about Virginia “Ginni” Thomas: 1) She is married to US SC Justice Clarence Thomas. 2) She founded and is president of a tea party-related “think tank and advocacy group called Liberty Central.” On the website for said organization, she posted an open letter that starts “Dear Liberty Central Patriots,” in which she assures readers that Believe me, we are not alone! I conducted market research that identified 57 million of us in this great nation who respect the principles of our founding, and that number is growing daily. Is that all? ...
Continue reading...Oh Noes! Traficant's comeback bid thwarted by one of the most ridiculous of roadblocks
Oh Mr. Traficant, maybe among my favorite of former disgraced congressman, I have to admit this news makes me terribly sad: Former U.S. Rep. and convicted felon James Traficant’s improbable bid to return to Congress appears to have ended before it began. The Ohio Democrat, who spent seven years in prison on a bribery and racketeering conviction, fell about 100 names short of the necessary number of signatures to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate in Ohio’s 17th congressional district, according to Trumbull County Board of Elections official Jodi Dibble. Traficant had submitted 4,000 signatures...
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