Month: April 2013
Americans Want to Stay Out of Syria, North Korea
62%
Of Americans say that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to intervene in Syria and 56% think that North Korea is a threat that can be contained for now, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.
Americans Don’t Know that Obamacare Is in Force
58%
Of Americans are aware that Obamacare is still the law of the land, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Key findings: 23% don’t know if it’s the law, 7% think the Supreme Court struck it down and 12% say Congress repealed Obamacare.
Congress Lifted the FAA Sequester for the Sake of … Lawmakers
The group that Congress is helping the most by lifting the FAA sequester isn’t business flyers. No, lawmakers are helping themselves. There is no more pampered class of air traveler than members of Congress… The point is, Congress’s decision to lift the sequester was even more self-serving than you probably imagined. After casting their votes on Friday, most members raced to the airport and went home.
— Joshua Green, noting in Businessweek that the decision to reverse the automatic cuts that were causing air-traffic controllers to be furloughed — delaying hundreds of flights — wasn’t about business air travelers.
Gun-Rights Activists Exploit Native Americans (Again)
Some local folks in Greeley, Colo., decided they’d make a statement about protecting their Second Amendment rights by exercising their First Amendment right while ignoring the privacy rights of Native Americans by using this image without permission on a couple of billboards.
Greeley resident Kerri Salazar, who is of Native American descent, told local TV station KJCT she was livid when she learned about it. She said she doesn’t have a problem with the apparently pro-gun rights message, she’s offended the Native American people were singled out, apparently without their consent.
The GOP Drive to Deregulate Industry Goes ‘Boom’ in Texas – But Gov. Perry Diverts Attention by Feigning Outrage over a Political Cartoon
The loss of life in West, Texas, was tragic, but the tragedy itself is an illustration of the downside of the Republicans’ unstoppable zeal for deregulating industry at any cost. The cost in this case included the lives of 14 people who were killed when a fertilizer plant exploded on April 17.
In the wake of the blast, however, Gov. Rick Perry, who loves to brag about “poaching” businesses from California, where regulations are enforced, in part because the environment is fragile, deftly sidestepped accountability in the media, at least, by feigning outrage over a cartoon in the Sacramento Bee that shows depicted him saying, “Business is BOOMING in Texas,” in one frame and a giant explosion in the next. Perry has created quite a kerfuffle in the media by demanding an apology from cartoonist Jack Ohman.
For his part, Ohman is not budging:
The Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor are Getting Screwed
28%
Amount the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, from 2009 to 2011, as the economy began to emerge from the financial crisis, a new Pew Social Trends report finds.
Basketball’s Jason Collins Steps Up to Be First Professional Player to Come Out
The coming out manifesto from free agent NBA center Jason Collins, published by Sports Illustrated, shows how far the struggle for equality and dignity for people of all sexual orientations has come.*
Collins waited for another major league team sports professional to be the first to tell the world he or she was gay. None have.
I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport…I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, “I’m different.” If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.
Collins says he decided the time was right after becoming a free agent, after the Boston marathon bombings, and after watching his straight friend, Rep. Joe Kennedy, march in a gay rights parade — while he stood on the sidelines.
I’m seldom jealous of others, but hearing what Joe had done filled me with envy. I was proud of him for participating but angry that as a closeted gay man I couldn’t even cheer my straight friend on as a spectator. If I’d been questioned, I would have concocted half truths. What a shame to have to lie at a celebration of pride.
He also wanted to beat the gossip sites to the punch.
My maternal grandmother was apprehensive about my plans to come out…She worries that I am opening myself up to prejudice and hatred. I explained to her that in a way, my coming out is preemptive. I shouldn’t have to live under the threat of being outed. The announcement should be mine to make, not TMZ’s.
*Update: A search on Twitter for the words, “Jason Collins faggot” shows how far we have yet to go.
Off His Bicycle
He’s been kind of liberal since he was just a tike.
Appointed to SCOTUS by Clinton, what’s not to like?
But Justice Stephen Breyer
Might fare a little better
If he’d just sit on the bench and stay off his bike.
