Many people were a bit surprised when the Candie’s Foundation, a nonprofit group, selected Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol, 20, to be their national advocate against teen pregnancy. Now, the judgment of Candie’s Foundation officials has been put into even greater question with the disclosure that the nonprofit paid Palin $260,500 for this role.
Continue reading “Raiding the Candie’s Jar: Bristol Palin Paid $260,500 To Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy”
Category: Politics
Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared to confirm this week one of the greatest fears for civil libertarians in the aftermath of the burning of the Qu’ran (Koran) by Rev. Terry Jones. With Muslims murdering innocent people as a protest to the book burning, Senator Graham has called for Congress to go hold people accountable for such acts. The message is clear and predictable: if someone’s exercise of free speech has caused problems, limit the free speech.
Continue reading “Graham: “Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.””
China has continued its effort to avoid the type of protests for freedom seen in other authoritarian regimes. By permitting free speech or association? No, a more classic approach. The Chinese are rounding up bloggers, lawyers, activists, and anyone who has expressed free thought in the last few years. The latest is prominent artist Ai Weiwei, who was arrested trying to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Continue reading “China Arrests Leading Artist in Crackdown on Free Speech”
The Obama Administration is in talks with BP over the resumption of deep water drilling after the President’s call for more drilling of oil and more coal development. They could have an agreement before the one year anniversary of the April 20 blowout on the Deep water Horizon rig. In the meantime, Transocean Ltd. gave its top executives bonuses for achieving the “best year in safety performance in our company’s history” — despite the explosion killed nine of its own employees and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
It seems like everywhere you turn there is a story about the how bad the deficit is and how the government must make drastic cuts to save the economy and reduce the deficit. The Tea Party is clinging to their demands for $100 Billion in budget cuts or they say they will shut down the government. “Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, a tea party favorite in Congress, urged taking a hard-line on budget cuts – and if that meant a shutdown, then so be it. “If liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and shut down the government instead of making a small down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, shut it down,” Congressman Pence said, eliciting a chant of “Cut or shut! Cut or shut!” from the crowd. Republicans worried about blame for a shutdown might not be so happy with Pence for that.” Christian Science Monitor Continue reading “Tea Party Versus the Middle Class”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
On December 23, 2010, Bei Bei Shuai, a 34 year old pregnant woman who was suffering from depression, attempted suicide, which in Indiana is not a crime. Friends found her in time and persuaded her to go to the hospital and get help. Six days later, the baby was delivered, prematurely, by cesarean section and four days after that the newborn girl died.
On March 14, 2011, the State of Indiana arrested Shuai, jailed her, and charged her with murder and attempted feticide.
There is a disturbing case out of Florida where EllenBeth Wachs, 48, the legal coordinator for the Atheists of Florida had been arrested for unauthorized practice of law because she signed letters using “Esq.” for esquire.
Continue reading “Florida Prosecutors Charge Leading Atheist Advocate With Unauthorized Practice of Law Due To The Use of Esquire”
The Indiana House has approved one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, but not after a bizarre debate led by sponsor state Rep. Eric Turner (R). When Democratic legislators asked for an exception for rape and incest, Turner cried foul and warned that women would just fake rapes to get some of those free abortions. The Indiana House agreed and rejected the amendment.
Continue reading “GOP Indiana Rep Warns That Women Will Fake Rapes In Order To Get Free Abortions”
President Barack Obama has continued his morphing into George W. Bush this week with a speech today calling for expanded oil drilling — a departure from his promise to focus on renewable energy. Tell me who this sounds like: “Producing more oil in America can help lower oil prices, can help create jobs and can enhance our energy security.”
Continue reading “Obama: Drill, Baby, Drill”
Indian legislators in Gujarat have banned a book by Pulitzer-Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld because it reportedly suggests that Mahatma Gandhi was gay. The book discusses Gandhi’s relationship with a German man named Hermann Kallenbach (who is shown here on the right with Gandhi). Lelyveld insists that the legislators are misreading the book, “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India,” but the legislators want the book banned. Of course, Candhi was a champion for free speech but the legislators see no contradiction.
Continue reading “Indian Province Bans Book on Gandhi Over Suggestions That He Was Gay”
Sometimes I get the feeling that politicians engage in a type of political Garanimals games: match any two or three signature words to enhance their political effect. Newt Gingrich warned citizens of how atheists and Islamic radicals would join together to destroy American. Now, presidential candidate Rick Santorum has combined abortion with social security to say that America’s
“abortion culture” is the reason that the Social Security system is failing. He would have gotten the full ten points if he added “feminists” or “environmentalists” in the dire warning.
Continue reading “GOP Garanimals? Santorum Blames Abortion For Social Security Problems”
Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey are accused of locking a van of teens in a police van without heat or water for 14 hours. The teens were rounded up at high school house party over the weekend and apparently forgotten until a passerby heard the teens screaming.
Continue reading “New Jersey Police Leave Teens Locked in Van For 14 Hours Without Heat or Water”
Newt Gingrich is on a roll. Only a couple of weeks ago, Gingrich explained how his “passion” for the country led to his repeated adulterous affairs. Now, he is warning about the importance of the next presidential election — and presumably his election: “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.” There you have it. Atheists and Islamic radicals will take over — a curious alliance to be sure.
For those of us who are incredulous at the changing rationales for our intervention in the Libyan civil war, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough has come to the rescue. He told reporters that “we don’t make decisions about questions like intervention based on consistency or precedent. We make them based on how we can best advance our interests in the region.” Thus, inconsistency is the consistent policy that we are trying to advance?
Continue reading “Obama Aide: “We Don’t Make Decisions . . . Based on Consistency or Precedent””
If the simple pot possession case against Willy Nelson is any measure, West Texas justice appears based on some fundamental differences from the rest of the country. While such minor charges are generally handled by mail, Hudspeth County’s judge Becky Dean-Walker has demanded that the star appear before her in her courtroom. Now, County Attorney Kit Bramblett is joining in on the fun with Nelson by offering a plea only if Nelson sings “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” for the court. I hate to be a cold blanket, but find this neither funny nor tolerable for a legal system. Both the judge and the prosecutor appear to be intoxicated by celebrity crime.