Equal Pay for Equal Work!

It should be a right.
It should be a given.

(It was guaranteed by the equal pay law under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.)

However, apparently much of Congress has failed to get the Memo,
(They did get the "nod and a wink" from the "corporate wing" of Supreme Court, however ...)

Time for an update on McCain's growing problem as a serial exaggerator and liar, a facet of this campaign that has gone almost uncovered by the traditional media.  Today, just a half-hour ago, we had the very first major media mention of his
"cross in the sand" story being potentially copied from a story attributed to Alexander Solzhenitstyn.  Jack Cafferty read a letter on the air mentioning this (transcript and/or YouTube).  Cafferty didn't editorialize about it but just read the allegation from one of his emailers.  The rest of the program continued as if this wasn't uttered by anyone, but it's starting to get out there.  A religion blogger for the Dallas Morning News brought it up but tried to dismiss it:

Remember Big Oil -- and who's looking out for you!

They know where their Profits are coming from:

US News & World Report astutely notes:

Exxon nation. If Exxon Mobil were a country, its 2007 profit would exceed the gross domestic product of nearly 2/3 of the 183 nations in the World Bank's economic rankings.

Who is this Robert Bork that John McCain, in his infinite wisdom, spoke so highly of in his support during his (Bork’s) 1987 senate confirmation hearings?  Many of you that are voting for the first time may not have heard of him or his brand of judicial extremism.  The fact that John McCain would associate with, and even endorse wingnuts of this caliber, highlights just what is at stake in the November election.  Supreme Court justices and Federal judges are lifetime appointments.  While it is unlikely that a Robert Bork-type judge would survive Senate confirmation, we should take nothing for granted.

and goddammit, the rest of my fucking gay-ass life with rightwing SCOTUS is too much to bear.

McCain is defining McCain and McCain is defining Obama.  Obama is neither defining himself nor McCain.  WTF???  

I know McCain.  I used to live in Arizona.  I was (and i am ashamed ashamed ashamed) to admit it, but I was involved with the AZ GOP party in the early to mid-nineties.  I know McCain, he will sell his wife to get the presidency.  

 Don't get me wrong. I love may aspects of politics. The ecstasy of a victory after a long, hard fought race. The exultation when finally a significant achievement is reached. It is, after all, the thought that in my lifetime I may yet see a moment like Brown vs. The Board of education, the Civil Rights legislation of the mid 1960s or the great social programs created during the New Deal. It just seems that there are always so many roadblocks in our path. The failure of the Health Care initiatives in the 1990s still pains me today. With that being said I have made a list of 10 things that I have come to hate about politics.

       Right-wing legal scholars love to quote Justice Robert Jackson’s famous maxim that "the Constitution is not a suicide pact." The adage has been cited to support numerous provisions that restrict civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism and social disorder.
Now the right-wing’s guru, Justice Antonin Scalia, has come along to announce that the Constitution really is a suicide pact!
In his majority opinion for the Supreme Court in the recent gun-control case, Scalia announced that a major purpose of the Second Amendment was to provide opportunity for the people to store arms in order to be able to overthrow an oppressive government.  

This is really good to see.

Alaska’s U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Stevens and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has been a toss-up for several months now, but the Democratic challenger is now ahead 50% to 41%. When “leaners” are included, Begich leads 52% to 44%.

Begich began running his first television ads of the campaign on July 8 and the survey was conducted nine days later.

Solving the crisis in education is completely possible, and we can't afford to ignore the state of our schools any longer.

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

The Courts and Congress have come to believe there is reason for fear.  Enemies are everywhere.  Those who wish to do us harm are in our homes.  They talk to us on our telephones.  Some sashay in through our computers.  "Evil doers" are ubiquitous in the United States.  Our open society places the public at risk.  We, the people, must defend ourselves.  Thus, the Supreme Court and Congress have given the government and us the means.  The highest judicial body in the nation has made it possible for the common man to protect himself with a pistol; Legislators provided the President ethereal firearms.  Indeed, individuals and the Commander-In-Chief were bequeathed more than either had asked for.  In 2008, we have entered the Summer of Separation.  In the United States we say, "Farewell to privacy.  Hello to arms."

Civil liberties narrowly survived the recent term of the Supreme Court, but libertarians should be concerned about the way they shook out. In 5-4 decisions in June, the high court affirmed the rights to habeas corpus in the courts and keeping shooting irons at home. But the only common vote in those decisions was Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Yesterday will not be remembered as a day of pride for the government of the United States. Whatever the intentions of passing FISA in its new form, the deed itself was regrettable, to say the least.

DailyKos registers a wide range of impressions on the left. Reactions ranged from minimization to resignation to indignation. There have been repeated attacks on Barack Obama and other 'party leaders' for not throwing themselves on top of the grenade in an attempt to stop legislation that too many others were dead set to pass. It appears that stepsare under way to have the new law challenged on grounds of constitutionality. So a lot of the commentary has dealt with the need to either rescue the Constitution of the United States, or conversely, to have the Constitution rescue us.

I regret having to tell you that neither of those will work, for as much as I hate to break it to you, and would rather not, in fact the original Constitution is regrettably already defunct. It is already regarded as mere literature by those with the power, and has been for some time.

If you do not believe me, or if you would like to discuss, please read on.

Just recieved an email from the ACLU saying they will be suing as soon as Bush signs this bill..

This is an updated appeal in support of fellow progressives arrested for protesting against Guantanamo Bay.  Please help, Kossacks!

Do you recall the famous encounter between Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson more than 150 years ago?  The year was 1846, and Thoreau had been imprisoned in a cell in Concord, Massachusetts for refusing to pay a poll tax that offended his conscience.  Concerned for his friend and perplexed by this act of civil disobedience, Emerson came to the jail to visit Thoreau.  He didn't hold back his incredulity for long, asking, "Henry, what are you doing in there?"

To this, Thoreau responded with a question of his own, one that we should all ask ourselves today: "What are you doing out there?"

Time and again I ask this question of myself -- and cannot help but feel shame.  There is an American detention camp actively offending the ideals of my country -- where the guilty and the innocent have been deprived of due process and subjected to torture -- and I have done little to nothing to shut it down.  

But other Americans have.  Other Americans have risked their jobs and their livelihoods to put an end to our national shame.  And now they need our help.

Yes, you read that right. I said McCain's FISA vote.

The news, and the blogosphere, has been concentrating on today's FISA vote. And a lot of that talk has been about Obama and the vote. So I want to propose something to the Progressive Think Tanks out there: this is the PERFECT opportunity to shine the light on McCain. It could become one of the talking points of the election, but only if we take it.

How? More, after the fold...

Is your heart beating in the back of your throat? Do you spend you days lately reading the blogs and papers with a feeling of dread? Does it seem to you that all your hopes and need for change have been just a cruel primary dream? If so, it is okay, just take a deep breath, hold it, and now let it out. Feel a little better? Good.

I noticed that people really like polls (I certainly get more participation in polls than in replies), so here's another one.

How many supreme court justices will leave in the next four years? For bonus points, guess how many will leave in eight years in the comments. Also, will Stevens break the record that was set by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.?

Tune in tomorrow for more Supreme Court speculation...

Well, as usual, we have members of this site saying they won't/might not vote for the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

It happened in the primaries, with mainly Obama supporters saying they wouldn't vote for Clinton if she became the nominee.

Clinton, and now Obama failed a "purity test" to some people.

To quote New York Mayor Ed Koch has often said that a one-issue candidacy isn’t sufficient to run on. "If you agree with me on 9 out of 12 issues, you should vote for me," Koch often has said. "If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, you should see a psychiatrist."