As many of you are no doubt aware, Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected president of Honduras, was ousted in an illegal military coup last June. Obama originally issued a condemnation of the army, who stormed the presidential palace and removed and forcibly deported Zelaya while he was still in his pajamas. Obama’s extremely reasonable response [...]
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By now, you’ve likely heard of the most recent allegations regarding U.S. soldiers’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners: they include rape and other sexual assault, of both female and male detainees, and there may be photographs of the assaults among those which Obama has recently decided not to release. You can read the details here — [...]
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Yeah, we commit them in secret prisons. WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday made public detailed memos describing brutal interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency, as President Obama sought to reassure the agency that the C.I.A. operatives involved would not be prosecuted. In dozens of pages of dispassionate legal prose, the methods [...]
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President Obama is set to speak at Notre Dame on May 17th, and some folks aren’t too happy about it. Why? Because he’s pro-choice, and giving him a platform would violate the rules laid out in Catholics in Political Life. The pertinent guideline reads, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who [...]
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I just watched it live on CNN.com! Whoa! The executive order is a reversal of an executive order issued by President Bush in 2001: Because stem cells have the potential to turn into any organ or tissue cell in the body, research advocates say they could yield cures to debilitating conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s [...]
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So by now, I hope we all remember that dangerous HHS rule that Bush implemented during his final days in office? The one that prevents health care providers from “discriminating” against employees who refuse to to do their jobs, when they include things like providing patients with birth control and accurate reproductive health options? And [...]
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Two of the most important women’s-rights-related bill-signings in the past few years. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003: And the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009:
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Executive orders from the office of the new President are trickling in at a faster pace now. Here’s the rundown so far: Guantanamo Bay must be closed down within a year. Nothing is clear yet about what exactly the government plans to do with the detainees, whose trials have been suspended. Along with Guantanamo, the [...]
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Rumor has it that Jill is present in the crowds in D.C., but the rest of us are watching the inauguration on the tube. What are your thoughts on the switch in power? Chris Matthews’ wacky commentary? Joe Biden’s goofy smile? Hillary Clinton’s cabinet seat? Bill Clinton’s yellow scarf? George Bush’s final exit? Obama’s historic [...]
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As promised, today is the virtual shoe throw hosted by Lisa at My Ecdysis, in solidarity with the “Iraqi shoe-thrower” Muntader al-Zaidi, and in a final act of extreme disapproval towards Bush on what is finally his last day in office. As Lisa said best: in defiance of terror, in defiance of war, and in [...]
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And good riddance. This oral history of the Bush Administration lays out the astounding incompetence, ignorance, and misguided agendas at play in the White House. For chrissakes, these people were gaslighting, spying on, and sabotoging each other for eight long years. I went to a communications meeting the day after [Jim] Jeffords switched. I remember [...]
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An interesting move has been made in the fight over George W. Bush’s last-minute DHHS rule that complicates the definition of abortion and revokes funding from those health providers that “discriminate” against employees (or potential employees) on the basis of their religious or moral opposition to abortion and hormonal birth control. It’s one that I, [...]
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