Still Fighting

Activism

Yesterday, former Representative Nick Lampson (D-TX) filed papers to run for Congress in Texas's District 22. Why "former," and why District 22? Turns out that Lampson was one of the four Democrats squeezed out of office by Tom Delay's unprecedented redistricting last year, and Lampson was one of four Democrats to lose their seat because of it. As a result, Lampson is charging ahead with a $4 million campaign against DeLay in 2006. Although Lampson's primary focus will be ethics, it's interesting to note that, since there is no presidential race, DeLay could be the biggest target of Democrats, who would love nothing more than to get DeLay out of office. And if the recent poll numbers are to be believed, Lampson is off to a great start. Check out Lampson's website to find out a little more about him, and make a contribution, if you can. As we get closer to next November (18 months and counting!), we'll be telling you more things that you can do to get horrendous politicians like DeLay and Santorum out of office.

News

FDA To the Fab Five: No Thanks. In what has to be their dumbest move since last year's mad cow disease debacle (although the new food pyramid comes close), the Food and Drug Administration, led by that champion of rights Lester Crawford, is releasing new guidelines to clinics across the country. The FDA is set to enact a rule that was announced last year, and will go into effect on May 25. That rule? Men who have engaged in homosexual sex within the past five years will be prevented from making anonymous donations to sperm banks. Proponents of the law argue that HIV has a higher transmission rate in homosexual males, but that doesn't change the idea that clinics could require an HIV test, which would provide a result within 72 hours. Never mind that there's no science to back up this ridiculous exclusion -- what's irritating is the more obvious reason for this guideline. Republican leadership feel that less homosexual sperm "on the market" will lead to fewer homosexual children being born. Again, an absurd notion, given that identified homosexual donors are still OK. The law simply applies to anonymous donors. It seems everywhere you turn nowadays, this administration is finding more and more ways to restrict the rights of those that they morally object to. How sad.

Curriculum Woes. Kansas is hosting a courtroom-style debate over evolution being taught in schools. The religious right wants schools to teach Intelligent Design alongside creationism. Remember, ID is the idea that the universe was created by "an intelligent being". Leaving aside the questions that we've already asked (for example, what about the Buddhist idea of how the universe was created?), we're fascinated by one of the quotes in the column. William Harris, co-founder of the Intelligent Design Network, wants to "remove the bias against religion that is currently in schools." Pardon us, but there's no place for endorsing any religion in required classes in public schools. Voluntary classes? Absolutely. College? No question. But requiring students to be proselytized to is a fundamental step backwards in the separation of Church and State. It's the reason why students shouldn't be required to say "One Nation, Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. It's why school prayer was removed. And just in case this isn't enough of the religious right monkeying around in schools for you, Montgomery County (Maryland) Superintendent Jerry Weast has suspended a sex education curriculum that was set to begin on Monday. You see, a federal judge had placed a temporary suspension on the curriculum, which discusses homosexuality and the proper use of condoms, for 10 days. Weast then cancelled it for the school year. The judge wrote that the discussion of homosexuality portrays only one view - "that homosexuality is a natural and morally correct lifestyle -- to the exclusion of other perspectives." Well, what are they supposed to teach? That homosexuality is a horrible, evil lifestyle, like many Christians believe? Remember, parents are not required to send their kids to Sex Education - in fact, they have to sign off permission for their children to go. What we're seeing here is the religious right demanding religion be placed into a mandatory curriculum (Intelligent Design) and demanding that issues they don't agree with not be taught in voluntary classes (homosexuality in Sex Education). It makes us sick.

Hey Big Spender! Remember when Republicans were considered the party of fiscal responsibility and small government? Neither do we. According to the Cato Institute, Bush has presided over the largest increase in spending since LBJ. Spending increased a whopping 33% in his first term alone. Now, with budget passed, every single cabinet-level agency is just as funded as it was when Bush took office, if not more so. And we're supposed to be impressed that he claims he's going to cut the deficit in half by 2010? (Even though he's not going to?) A deficit he created?

Editorials

News Is News. Steve Gilliard's editorial discusses a rather touchy subject - he writes about the Iraq war, and gets very few responses. He writes about the "runaway bride," and gets 80 comments. Why is that? Gilliard asserts that "News is news," and blames the snobbish left for not realizing this, and demanding more outrage at Iraq or DeLay than at the bride. He also blasts the left for ignoring the bride, but chortling with glee when Bill O'Reilly got caught in a sex scandal. The difference there, Steve, is that O'Reilly is a national figure who had repeatedly preached moral values. We'd agree with you if O'Reilly had been caught, say, embezzling money. But O'Reilly's act painted him as a fraud; a man who doesn't live by the words he speaks on the air. This point notwithstanding, Gilliard's editorial paints a very important picture, and rings true. Americans still get more vocal and emotional over Michael Jackson than they do about the filibuster. But that's why we're here, no? To make you care about these things. If you want to learn about unimportant things, go watch CNN.

The Christian Complex. We don't normally link to George F. Will here, mostly because, well, he's a conservative columnist. But his latest editorial speaks to us, and not just because we are residents of the state of None. Will calls out Christians who are crying over the "persecution complex," because it simply isn't true. In everything from mass media to Presidents ending any major address with "God bless America," there is no assault on Christian values, and Christians are not being persecuted. Instead, Will writes, religion has become such an issue that Bush said, during last week's news conference, "If you choose not to worship, you're equally as patriotic as somebody who does worship." Well, gee, Mr. President, thanks for validating the 29.4 million Americans who don't worship. It's nice to know that we have your approval to be patriotic.

Tuning in to Jon Stewart, and Britney Schmidt. Thomas Friedman's new column makes two interesting points. The first is that, as he found out on his recent book tour (for The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, an insightful book that we encourage you to read), more and more people are getting their news from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Maybe it's becuase Stewart's writers are very good. Maybe it's because the folks at CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, et al don't really have their act together. Or maybe it's just easier to laugh at Tom DeLay than get agitated over him. Friedman also talks about how many schools are becoming rote, and how it may be more important to take classes from teachers who care (as opposed to taking classes based on subject matter). This may not be a popular point, but we find it to be true. You may not remember anything from your high school philosophy class, but you sure will remember the snarky, cynical teacher who got you excited about taking it. As Friedman writes, with Congress focusing on such important issues as steroids in baseball, there's been no focus on improving America's education system, and that's the bad news.

Activism

Food. You eat it, you feed it to your family, your guests, your pets. It's pretty fair to say that you need food to survive. The next wave of genetic engineering includes plants that have been altered to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals, and there are no safeguards for this. For example, "The heart of A Growing Concern is a technical report written by six agricultural experts commissioned by UCS to analyze the feasibility of growing corn and soybeans as pharma crops while ensuring virtually zero contamination of the food supply. They concluded that the current production processes and production areas for corn and soybeans cannot be used without substantial modification to completely protect human food and animal feed supplies from contamination." Yet nothing is being done about this. Send a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, encouraging closer federal oversight here. This directly impacts you, and although it may sound a little far-fetched, it should be taken seriously.

News

FDA Gets Put On Hold. A few months ago, Bush nominated Lester Crawford to head the Food and Drug Administration. Not so fast! Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have been vocal in their mistrust of Crawford, because he has yet to make a decision on Plan B, "an emergency contraception that may prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse." Democrats want the drug to become available over-the-counter (because of the 72 hour time limit, it would be more difficult for a woman to obtain a prescription in time), and Republicans are just as happy to leave it as a prescription medication, because wider availability would lead to "more promiscuity." But Crawford has not made a decision either way, leading Democrats to demand some sort of timetable (which he has said he will not do). This isn't a question of whether or not the drug is safe for you - it's already been approved by the FDA. It's a question of its availability, and since the drug has been available for years, it shouldn't be that difficult of a decision. However, as we've learned with Republicans, any decision that doesn't involve the words "Schiavo," "filibuster," or "pay raise and tax cuts for self" is rarely easy.

Bill Clinton's Legacy. Every comedian on the planet has taken shots at Clinton's personal life and problems. His infidelity captured the grotesque interests of this country with the same fervor usually reserved for the Brad and Jen breakup. Yet there's no denying (well, no factually denying) just how great of a president he was. His contrast to Bush couldn't be sharper. So, it's probably no surprise that when he attended the Pope's funeral, he was mobbed with chants and praise. Isn't that what you'd want out of a president? Foreign citizens' love of the president translates to love for the country, which makes international relations far easier. Political parties aside, we'd much rather have a promiscuous president who does what is best for the country, and doesn't lie to the country about his intentions regarding affairs of the state, than what we have now.

A History of Rick Santorum. With minimal reservations, we're going to say that Senator Rick Santorum's (R-PA) Senate seat is the most important for Democrats to pursue in 2006. Regular readers of Still Fighting know how much we loathe the Senator, from his outdated views on homosexuality to his take-no-prisoners pro-life attitude to his transparent attempts to appear bi=partisan. Mark Leibovich profiles Santorum, but (thankfully) doesn't make any partisan judgments. He lets you do that. As we gear up for Bob Casey's run against Santorum, it's important to know as much as possible about Santorum, to be able to counter any arguments about his effectiveness you may come across.

Editorials

The Case for the Draft. Philip Carter and Paul Glastris make an interesting and well-researched case for America reinstating the draft. Despite Rumsfeld's recent comments, we wish that we didn't even have to think about this. If Bush had not completely destroyed our international relations, we would have been able to handle all of Iraq with our international allies, thus lessening the burden on our military. (Of course, "if wishes were fishes," and all that). Instead, we have the overwhelming majority of troops stationed there, and if something were to happen at home, or in another part of the world, that would require us to deploy the military, we probably wouldn't be able to do it. And really, would other countries come to our aid? Given the way Bush has treated them, it's highly unlikely. So while we wish we could simply say that the above editorial is "interesting," we're afraid that it might become "factual."

It's a Sicilian Message. It Means Luca Brasi Sleeps With the Fishes. Digby writes about the mess Tom DeLay has made. Although this editorial is a few weeks old, it still rings true today. From Republicans being blackmailed into backing DeLay through this "time of trouble" to the recognition of God through the 10 Commandments, DeLay has really made a muddle. Regarding judges and God, though, Digby has the quote of the day. "Funny, I thought 'we the people' were the sovereign source of law, liberty and government. Silly me." And that sums it up nicely.

Eat the Rich. Max on why the "Death Tax" isn't as confusing as everyone makes it out to be. Now that the The Estate and Gift Tax is law, here's what you'll need to know about it. Max also has a link to a fantastic article by William G. Gale that goes into even more detail about the tax. Confused about what the Estate Tax is, and why it matters? You won't be, after you read these two articles.