Sorry this is so late getting out. I was working on a client project last night and didn’t finish up before bed. Of course as is the nature of this series the longer I put it off the more stories fill my RSS Feed and the more I have to write. So here is my daily roundup of the best from the progressive blogosphere yesterday and this morning. As always consider this an open thread to discuss anything you like.
Rush Limbaugh has been trying to get Republicans to interfere with the Democratic process of voting for the presidential candidates in what he is calling “Operation Chaos“. I would thank that just thought of disrupting the foundation that our free democracy is built upon should sicken anyone who truly loves America. Apparently white supremacists loving Sean Hannity disagrees with me.
On that note while I would never condone anyone interfering with the voting process in any way here are some online polls that you can vote on. (h/t PZ Meyers Link Here and Here). The bottom two polls are on the same page.
- Should local governmental bodies be allowed to open their meetings with a prayer?
- Do you believe the Virgin Mary has appeared as an apparition? and
- Are you surprised the church officially recognized the Virgin Mary sightings from the 1600s?
Vice President Al Gore gave an interview with NPR the other day. During that interview he spoke very critically about George W. Bush’s approval of torture. (h/t Think Progress).
GORE: Ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people. And these kinds of outrages, a president saying that he has the right turn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants with his assistants gathering in the basement of the White House — according to recent revelations — personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene.
New treatments can reduce the chance of transmission of HIV from mother to infant to nearly 0%. This will be very useful in the future once the anti-choicers have taken away women’s right to use birth control.
Washington University has announced its plans to award anti-feminist and all around bitch Phyllis Schlafly an honorary doctorate. As a “national leader of the conservative movement” Phyllis Schlafly has stated that it is impossible for married women to be raped and has pushed for bans on women in “non-traditional” fields. Read more about how the students are protesting and what you can do to help over at Feministing.
The Office of Special Council was raided by the FBI as they sought evidence on charges of alleged obstruction of justice by agency chief Mr. Bloch. Now we will get to hear the “obstruction of justice isn’t even a real crime” argument that conservatives used when Scooter Libby was convicted all over again.
Only in Texas would it be illegal to operate a needle exchange program. Needle exchange programs are highly effective in cutting down on the spread of blood borne diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
Pennsylvania voted yesterday on an constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. How fitting that they should try to restrict marriage rights shortly after Mildred Loving passed away. UPDATE Looks like the amendment has been abandoned! Yay!
Wolfrum over at Shakesville has posted a great summery on the false right wing talking points on oil prices. Very informative and well written. I learned a lot from reading it and highly recommend it.
William ~ WWJV4.com
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2008-05-07 14:12:36
Two comments.
First, my state loves banning gay marriage. I always hate ignorance and hate but sometimes I really don’t like (ahem) my current local. I hope someday to introduce a resolution in Blacksburg which will explicitly allow gay marriage. Of course, it won’t fly ’cause of state’s rights and all. I’ll see also about putting out a resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush. But first I must attend to other more busy things in my life and I don’t really want the press attention. Yes, in some areas, I am a coward.
Terry Gross’ conversation today was with Ricardo Sanchez, Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. who commanded ground troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. It absolutely disturbed me that making prisoners kneel on the ground for four hours straight (in a very painful manner) is NOT NOW and HAS NEVER BEEN considered torture by our Army. I thought the Geneva Convention forbade deliberate acts of cruelty and humiliation. I’m probably way off though since, because our Army and our leaders think this is okay, it must be. (:rolleyes:) But the worse thing is that this is the supposedly legal position that was abandoned by the Bush Admin to actually allow (ahem) “real” torture. This is what was allowed before our leaders said we don’t have to follow the Geneva Convention.
So, I have this question for any military people who might know about this sort of thing: are there any leaders in the Army that actually have good morals any more? Seriously, who in their right minds considers deliberately inflicting severe pain on anyone, be it physical or mental, NOT torture? And let me state that any “24″ type scenario doesn’t make it okay either. There’s a saying, two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because you think you will save 1000s of lives by supposedly forcing information out of someone doesn’t make it true. And it’s not worth it in the short run or long run. In the end, you and the U.S. always looses this way.