A former Neo-Nazi Jason Todd Ready, known as JT, allegedly murdered four people, including a female toddler before killing himself. JT Ready belonged to a group called the U.S. Border Guard. This group patrolled the border we have with Mexico, looking for illegal immigrants trying to cross the border. Read more
In a snap vote last night, the House of Representatives passed the controversial Cyberintelligence Sharing and Protection Act, more commonly known as CISPA. The final roll call was 248-168, with most of the Republicans voting in favor and most of the Democrats voting against. Read more
It just occurred to me that, even though there was news about it, I never mentioned what's happened recently with respect to California bill AB2109. As you might recall, I wrote about this bill about four weeks ago. In brief, this bill, if passed into law, would require that California parents seeking a "personal belief" exemption for vaccines to meet with a physician and have a physician sign off on what is more or less an informed consent form stating that the parents had been informed of the risks and benefits of vaccines and, more importantly for purposes of the personal belief exemption, the risks (many) and benefits (virtually none) of not vaccinating. Read more
Recently, large corporations such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Kraft and the latest, Wendy’s, have been dropping out of supporting American Legislative Exchange Council also known as ALEC, a conservative political organization that introduces and pushes pieces of legislation through Congress and state houses across the country. Read more
This week, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that can only be described as historic. Any of you out there (in the U.S. anyway; I realize that my readership is international) who have paid even a passing attention to the news can't help but avoid reporting, debate, and polemics related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which is often disparagingly referred to as "Obamacare." If the law is upheld, or even if most of the law is upheld, it will radically reshape health insurance in this country. Having spent 13 years in the trenches at cancer centers that see a high percentage of uninsured patients, I've come to the view that I hope the law is given a chance to go into full effect, because what we were doing before sure wasn't working. Read more
With the Supreme Court hearing arguments for the next three days on the Affordable Care Act, many commentators, including Dahlia Lithwick appear to have so much contempt for the Roberts court that they believe the issue will likely be settled on politics rather than law. Read more
In the continual spread of assaults on women's reproductive freedom in the wake of the 2010 tea party movement, another state, Idaho, is legislating women receive unnecessary and invasive medical procedures prior to obtaining abortion.
This is part of an unprecedented effort at the state level to restrict reproductive rights, and in 2011 a record number of these measures have passed. Read more
Outrage is the best way to describe the feelings of African-Americans and anyone who has a sense that something went really wrong when a man named George Zimmerman; a Neighborhood Watch captain shot and killed young 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. It’s clear by the audio tapes of Mr. Zimmerman’s calls to 911 that his suspicions were founded on that Trayvon was black and looked suspicious. Read more
Super Tuesday didn't pick a winner, bit it showed
that lower-income voters dislike Romney,
more and more women dislike Santorum
and everyone dislikes Newt Gingrich.
Super PACs are prolonging, not deciding, the race,
promising a protracted pummeling of the candidates,
leaving them less popular than their party in DC.
Super Delegates still threaten to abandon Romney
and force the GOP to choose a new nominee
the public knows less and therefore likes more.
Super Tuesday, Super PACs, Super Delegates,
yet subpar turnout, subpar support, subpar choices.
Forget Super Tuesday -- they're subpar every day.
Yet, compared with the Tea Partiers in the House,
these guys actually might be right on par. Read more
