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December 29, 2005
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
The Other Inaugural. Democracy for America is hosting a series of house parties around the country tomorrow. You can go to their site to find one near you, or even host one yourself! These house parties are a great way for you to start getting involved on a local level.
News
A Tale of Two Polls. The Washington Post conducts poll and reports that "Political Divisions Persist After Election", which is pretty accurate. Only 45% said they wanted the country to go the way Bush would lead it. (Although only 39% said that Democrats would let it in the proper way - that's what we've got to change.) 55% expect Bush to do a better job than his first term. We wonder how many of those believe that he can't possibly do worse. (Never underestimate his capacity for failure.) CNN has done their own poll, and they report "Americans upbeat about next four years". In their poll, a majority believe he will improve security, keep the country prosperous, improve education, and increase moral values. Yet only 53% believe the country will be better off in four years. The strangest thing is that only 46% believe that Bush cut their taxes - maybe the incorrect 54% are the ones who are so optimistic. (Or maybe they are earning so much less that it doesn't seem like he cut their taxes.) If you're interested in more polling data, here's a set of detailed polls on Social Security, showing that Americans still don't know the status of social security, but at least by and large they realize that Bush is gonna screw it up.
High-Ranking Officers May Face Prosecution in Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, Military Officials Say. Well, wouldn't the be nice? We clearly can't condone the acts of the lower-ranked perpetrators of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, as we all know that performing an illegal act is wrong (and illegal) even if one was ordered to do it. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that this wasn't just the case of some rogue officers acting alone, and it'd be nice to see someone at a higher level held accountable, just this once. Certainly, there's the question of justice, which even our detainees deserve. But there's also the issue of upholding our standards and defending the rights of every human, and showing the world that every once in a while, we'll stand up for what's right, even when it's inconvenient. Let's hope (but don't hold your breath) that the Pentagon continues their investigations and actually hold someone of a higher rank accountable? (We can shoot the moon and think about Rumsfeld, but we know that's not gonna happen.)
Va. Educators Seek 'No Child' Waiver. It's almost time to add another state to the pile of seven that are now exempt from No Child Left Behind. Margaret Spellings (new Secretary of Education) came in, promising to bring attention back to NCLB, and hold all states accountable. Well, she's certainly trying, but states like Virginia, when faced with the odious financial and administrative requirements of NCLB, look at their own productivity and say, "Hey, we're in good shape. We've improved from last year. Why should we spend the money and time to implement a whole new strategy, when ours is working just fine?"
Editorials
What's $13 Million Among Friends? Bush tends to blame a lot of problems that occurred on his watch on Clinton's administration. One of those problems was the issue of corporate executives defrauding their own employees and investors out of billions of dollars, including, of course, the infamous Enron scandal. Bush claims to have cracked down on the loopholes that allowed these crooks to get away with their larceny, but has anyone really been held accountable? C'mon, that would be so out of character! 10 former Enron executives (out of 18 being sued) have to pay a grand total of $13 million dollars to settle a class action suit against them. Seems like a large amount, right? Well, it is...until you consider that they get to pocket $117 million dollars in post-tax profits. Boy, we bet they learned their lesson.
Neocon 101. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: "Neocon". Maybe it's some evil robot that will stop at nothing less that global domination. If you were to think that, you wouldn't be far off - just replace "robot" with "philosophy". We throw about the term "neocon" to talk about people like Rumsfeld and other Iraq war architects, but what do we really mean? This article does a nice job of describing the central philosophies of neoconservatives, and how they came about. "Benevolent global hegemon", our collective ass.
The rule of law, and judicial politics. Every now and then, we at Still Fighting like to stray off the beaten path, and find stories that aren't reported by the mainstream media, or even by the mainstream bloggers. And while it takes a bit longer to find worthwhile material, often when we do finally find sometimes, we're left standing with our mouths gaping. Once we shut our mouths and get back to typing, we're stunned that these stories haven't been spread more widely. This particular case focused on a young lady in Alabama, who was seeking an abortion. She was trying to petition a judge to waive the state-required parental notification, but her case was rejected. Read the story - we can't quite do it justice - and then next time Bush talks about "liberal activist judges", think about what happened in Alabama.
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December 29, 2005
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
The Other Inaugural. Democracy for America is hosting a series of house parties around the country tomorrow. You can go to their site to find one near you, or even host one yourself! These house parties are a great way for you to start getting involved on a local level.
News
A Tale of Two Polls. The Washington Post conducts poll and reports that "Political Divisions Persist After Election", which is pretty accurate. Only 45% said they wanted the country to go the way Bush would lead it. (Although only 39% said that Democrats would let it in the proper way - that's what we've got to change.) 55% expect Bush to do a better job than his first term. We wonder how many of those believe that he can't possibly do worse. (Never underestimate his capacity for failure.) CNN has done their own poll, and they report "Americans upbeat about next four years". In their poll, a majority believe he will improve security, keep the country prosperous, improve education, and increase moral values. Yet only 53% believe the country will be better off in four years. The strangest thing is that only 46% believe that Bush cut their taxes - maybe the incorrect 54% are the ones who are so optimistic. (Or maybe they are earning so much less that it doesn't seem like he cut their taxes.) If you're interested in more polling data, here's a set of detailed polls on Social Security, showing that Americans still don't know the status of social security, but at least by and large they realize that Bush is gonna screw it up.
High-Ranking Officers May Face Prosecution in Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, Military Officials Say. Well, wouldn't the be nice? We clearly can't condone the acts of the lower-ranked perpetrators of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, as we all know that performing an illegal act is wrong (and illegal) even if one was ordered to do it. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that this wasn't just the case of some rogue officers acting alone, and it'd be nice to see someone at a higher level held accountable, just this once. Certainly, there's the question of justice, which even our detainees deserve. But there's also the issue of upholding our standards and defending the rights of every human, and showing the world that every once in a while, we'll stand up for what's right, even when it's inconvenient. Let's hope (but don't hold your breath) that the Pentagon continues their investigations and actually hold someone of a higher rank accountable? (We can shoot the moon and think about Rumsfeld, but we know that's not gonna happen.)
Va. Educators Seek 'No Child' Waiver. It's almost time to add another state to the pile of seven that are now exempt from No Child Left Behind. Margaret Spellings (new Secretary of Education) came in, promising to bring attention back to NCLB, and hold all states accountable. Well, she's certainly trying, but states like Virginia, when faced with the odious financial and administrative requirements of NCLB, look at their own productivity and say, "Hey, we're in good shape. We've improved from last year. Why should we spend the money and time to implement a whole new strategy, when ours is working just fine?"
Editorials
What's $13 Million Among Friends? Bush tends to blame a lot of problems that occurred on his watch on Clinton's administration. One of those problems was the issue of corporate executives defrauding their own employees and investors out of billions of dollars, including, of course, the infamous Enron scandal. Bush claims to have cracked down on the loopholes that allowed these crooks to get away with their larceny, but has anyone really been held accountable? C'mon, that would be so out of character! 10 former Enron executives (out of 18 being sued) have to pay a grand total of $13 million dollars to settle a class action suit against them. Seems like a large amount, right? Well, it is...until you consider that they get to pocket $117 million dollars in post-tax profits. Boy, we bet they learned their lesson.
Neocon 101. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: "Neocon". Maybe it's some evil robot that will stop at nothing less that global domination. If you were to think that, you wouldn't be far off - just replace "robot" with "philosophy". We throw about the term "neocon" to talk about people like Rumsfeld and other Iraq war architects, but what do we really mean? This article does a nice job of describing the central philosophies of neoconservatives, and how they came about. "Benevolent global hegemon", our collective ass.
The rule of law, and judicial politics. Every now and then, we at Still Fighting like to stray off the beaten path, and find stories that aren't reported by the mainstream media, or even by the mainstream bloggers. And while it takes a bit longer to find worthwhile material, often when we do finally find sometimes, we're left standing with our mouths gaping. Once we shut our mouths and get back to typing, we're stunned that these stories haven't been spread more widely. This particular case focused on a young lady in Alabama, who was seeking an abortion. She was trying to petition a judge to waive the state-required parental notification, but her case was rejected. Read the story - we can't quite do it justice - and then next time Bush talks about "liberal activist judges", think about what happened in Alabama.
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December 29, 2005
The Other Inaugural. Democracy for America is hosting a series of house parties around the country tomorrow. You can go to their site to find one near you, or even host one yourself! These house parties are a great way for you to start getting involved on a local level.
News
A Tale of Two Polls. The Washington Post conducts poll and reports that "Political Divisions Persist After Election", which is pretty accurate. Only 45% said they wanted the country to go the way Bush would lead it. (Although only 39% said that Democrats would let it in the proper way - that's what we've got to change.) 55% expect Bush to do a better job than his first term. We wonder how many of those believe that he can't possibly do worse. (Never underestimate his capacity for failure.) CNN has done their own poll, and they report "Americans upbeat about next four years". In their poll, a majority believe he will improve security, keep the country prosperous, improve education, and increase moral values. Yet only 53% believe the country will be better off in four years. The strangest thing is that only 46% believe that Bush cut their taxes - maybe the incorrect 54% are the ones who are so optimistic. (Or maybe they are earning so much less that it doesn't seem like he cut their taxes.) If you're interested in more polling data, here's a set of detailed polls on Social Security, showing that Americans still don't know the status of social security, but at least by and large they realize that Bush is gonna screw it up.
High-Ranking Officers May Face Prosecution in Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, Military Officials Say. Well, wouldn't the be nice? We clearly can't condone the acts of the lower-ranked perpetrators of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, as we all know that performing an illegal act is wrong (and illegal) even if one was ordered to do it. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that this wasn't just the case of some rogue officers acting alone, and it'd be nice to see someone at a higher level held accountable, just this once. Certainly, there's the question of justice, which even our detainees deserve. But there's also the issue of upholding our standards and defending the rights of every human, and showing the world that every once in a while, we'll stand up for what's right, even when it's inconvenient. Let's hope (but don't hold your breath) that the Pentagon continues their investigations and actually hold someone of a higher rank accountable? (We can shoot the moon and think about Rumsfeld, but we know that's not gonna happen.)
Va. Educators Seek 'No Child' Waiver. It's almost time to add another state to the pile of seven that are now exempt from No Child Left Behind. Margaret Spellings (new Secretary of Education) came in, promising to bring attention back to NCLB, and hold all states accountable. Well, she's certainly trying, but states like Virginia, when faced with the odious financial and administrative requirements of NCLB, look at their own productivity and say, "Hey, we're in good shape. We've improved from last year. Why should we spend the money and time to implement a whole new strategy, when ours is working just fine?"
Editorials
What's $13 Million Among Friends? Bush tends to blame a lot of problems that occurred on his watch on Clinton's administration. One of those problems was the issue of corporate executives defrauding their own employees and investors out of billions of dollars, including, of course, the infamous Enron scandal. Bush claims to have cracked down on the loopholes that allowed these crooks to get away with their larceny, but has anyone really been held accountable? C'mon, that would be so out of character! 10 former Enron executives (out of 18 being sued) have to pay a grand total of $13 million dollars to settle a class action suit against them. Seems like a large amount, right? Well, it is...until you consider that they get to pocket $117 million dollars in post-tax profits. Boy, we bet they learned their lesson.
Neocon 101. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: "Neocon". Maybe it's some evil robot that will stop at nothing less that global domination. If you were to think that, you wouldn't be far off - just replace "robot" with "philosophy". We throw about the term "neocon" to talk about people like Rumsfeld and other Iraq war architects, but what do we really mean? This article does a nice job of describing the central philosophies of neoconservatives, and how they came about. "Benevolent global hegemon", our collective ass.
The rule of law, and judicial politics. Every now and then, we at Still Fighting like to stray off the beaten path, and find stories that aren't reported by the mainstream media, or even by the mainstream bloggers. And while it takes a bit longer to find worthwhile material, often when we do finally find sometimes, we're left standing with our mouths gaping. Once we shut our mouths and get back to typing, we're stunned that these stories haven't been spread more widely. This particular case focused on a young lady in Alabama, who was seeking an abortion. She was trying to petition a judge to waive the state-required parental notification, but her case was rejected. Read the story - we can't quite do it justice - and then next time Bush talks about "liberal activist judges", think about what happened in Alabama.
