A Chance to Honor Thurgood Marshall (and Counteract "Reagan-Naming")

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Monday January 31, 2005 · 5:59 AM PST

2005/01/31 · 05:59

At a time when everyone seems to want to name everything after Ronald Reagan, it's refreshing to see this.

A Democratic delegate in the Maryland assembly has introduced legislation to rename Baltimore-Washington International Airport the "Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport." The legislator, Emmett Burns, wants to honor "the greatest civil rights hero of our time."

While there might be some arguable hyperbole in that description, it's no doubt true that Marshall deserves recognition and honor. And this is a chance to stake a progressive claim on the naming of a major public facility -- not easy these days.

More detail below for those who are interested, and some contact info if you support the proposal. Read More

A Reason to Root For the Florida Marlins

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Friday January 28, 2005 · 9:46 AM PST

2005/01/28 · 09:46

If you're shopping for a baseball team to root for, look no further. Carlos Delgado, the new first baseman for the Florida Marlins, has said that he will continue this season the practice he followed last season playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. He will refuse to stand during "God Bless America," because "[h]e didn't like the politicization of baseball making use of the song" and tying it to 9/11 and Iraq. Says Delgado:

"I wouldn't call it politics, because I hate politics," Delgado said Thursday after finalizing his four-year, $52 million contract. "The reason why I didn't stand for God Bless America was because I didn't like the way they tied God Bless America and 9/11 to the war in Iraq in baseball.

"I say God bless America, God bless Miami, God bless Puerto Rico and all countries until there is peace in the world."

Kudos should go to the Marlins' organization as well, whose president has taken the position that "what he does is up to him."

A bit more below. Read More

A Moral Dilemma

Spiral Stairs

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Friday January 21, 2005 · 8:38 AM PST

2005/01/21 · 08:38

Someone just sent an interesting moral dilemma to me.

With all your honor and dignity what would you do? This test only has
one question, but it's a very important one. Please don't answer it without giving it
some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you
stand morally. The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where
you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs
to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this
is important for the test to work accurately.

See below for the dilemma. Read More

Scalia v. Breyer: Death Match

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Friday January 14, 2005 · 5:54 AM PST

2005/01/14 · 05:54

Supreme Court justices are notoriously secretive. So it was both unusual and, in the words of the Washington Post's Charles Lane, "electrifying," when Justices Scalia and Breyer squared off yesterday in a very public forum. They participated in a "conversation" hosted by American University and broadcast on C-SPAN.

As Lane says, "[i]t was the first time in recent memory that two sitting justices representing opposing factions on the court took their disagreements so completely public."

Fascinating tidbits -- and a scary fact or two -- below. Read More

Supreme Court overthrows federal sentencing guidelines

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Wednesday January 12, 2005 · 8:57 AM PST

2005/01/12 · 08:57

(From the diaries -- kos)

This morning, the Supreme Court issued a widely anticipated decision on the constitutionality of the federal sentencing guidelines. While details are scarce at the moment, it appears that the Court has declared the guidelines largely unconstitutional, holding that they can no longer be considered mandatory.

For those unfamiliar with the issue, the sentencing guidelines are intended to operate as mandatory rules for federal judges imposing criminal sentences. They have been widely criticized -- even by federal judges on the bench. The chorus of criticism is based on the fact that the guidelines deprive judges of the discretion to tailor sentences to the facts of the crime, and often create greatly disproportionate and unfair disparities in sentences (despite their supposed goal of increasing uniformity).

More detail below. This is big news -- and good news for all who believe in reform of the criminal justice system. Read More

Grilling Gonzalez on the Death Penalty

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Thursday January 06, 2005 · 9:36 AM PST

2005/01/06 · 09:36

I can't watch the hearing here at work, but I just read that Senator Feingold is grilling Gonzo on his role as Governor Bush's advisor on clemency requests by death row inmates. Earlier today, Senators on the Committee received a report prepared by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty on this issue.

I strongly recommend that people interested in opposing Gonzo read this report, as well as some of the memoranda written by Gonzalez in these cases.

I've copied some details from the report below. In sum, it concludes that Gonzalez did an "arbitrary" and selective job of presenting the facts to Bush, thus "call[ing] into serious question Mr. Gonzales's commitment to due process."
Read More

The House of Cards Is Falling; Army Reserve Commander Says Force is "Broken"

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Thursday January 06, 2005 · 6:29 AM PST

2005/01/06 · 06:29

CNN reports that James Helmly, commander of the Army Reserve, is warning that the military's unprecedented reliance on Army Reserve volunteers in Iraq and Afghanistan risks creating a "broken force." Specifically, General Helmly stated that he believes that the Reserve is "no longer able to meet its commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor can it 'reset and regenerate' units for future missions." Equally importantly, "Reserve commanders spend too much time trying to accommodate troops who don't want to serve, leaving the force unable to meet its mission requirements."

This appears to be an official acknowledgement that our military effort in Iraq and Afghanistan is built on a crumbling house of cards. Will we need a draft to shore up the house? He seems to have studiously avoided that issue.

Red, Blue, and the Impermanence of Color

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Wednesday January 05, 2005 · 9:35 AM PST

2005/01/05 · 09:35

I grew up a baseball fan in an American League city. The American League has traditionally been associated with the color blue and, as a result, I have fond, nostalgic feelings toward the color. So I'm happy to identify myself with the "blue" party.

As we all know, the "red-blue" divide gained linguistic currency during and after the 2000 election. Before then, people really didn't talk too much about the "colors" of parties. (Except in another, very different sense.) And, as discussed below, it is a pure accident that the Democrats have ended up blue -- and there is an interesting issue about color assignments in the 2008 election. Read More

Bush and the Tsanami: The View From the Red

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Wednesday January 05, 2005 · 6:14 AM PST

2005/01/05 · 06:14

Here in the shining light of dailyKos, Bush has been roundly condemned for his slow, aloof reaction to the tsunami tragedy. You'd be hard-pressed to find any defense at all of his reaction. Instead, you find diaries like:

No surprise to see these sentiments on Kos. But what about Bush's defenders? What do they say? Here's a case study based on my conversation with the ardent, unwavering Bush supporter I know best: my Mom. Read More

Yet Another Former Bush Cabinet Member Comes Out of the Republican Closet

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Sunday January 02, 2005 · 6:01 PM PST

2005/01/02 · 18:01

Christine Todd Whitman's new book is scheduled to hit the shelves near the inauguration, to maximize coverage of its message: Bush's abandonment of moderates is ruining the Republican party.

The Washington Post reports that Whitman's book "touts the importance of moderates to the future of the Republican Party and flays Bush and his team for ignoring the country's middle."

Yet another former Bush cabinet member flailing against him. Good! More below. Read More

New Book Claims Kerry Won!

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Thursday December 30, 2004 · 9:34 AM PST

2004/12/30 · 09:34

Err, so it appears. See this Amazon listing, for a book tantalizingly entitled "John Kerry: Our Forty-fourth President."

It's number 16,742 on Amazon's sales rankings.

It's only $28.50, and according to the publisher's data, it comes out on January 1. Reserve your copy of this piece of history now! Read More

U.S. Response to Americans Involved in Tsunami Disaster: Awful.

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Wednesday December 29, 2004 · 11:24 AM PST

2004/12/29 · 11:24

Having observed what seems to be a disturbing lack of empathy by the administration toward the tsunami victims, I assumed it was limited to non-Americans involved in the disaster. But no. Our government has been no more helpful to Americans, at least based on anecdotal evidence. In this article, an American who was diving at the time of the disaster describes her experiences.

In brief:

At the airport in Bangkok, other governments had set up booths to greet nationals who had been affected and to help repatriate them, she said.

That was not the case with the U.S. government .... It took the couple three hours, she said, to find the officials from the American consulate, who were in the VIP lounge.

More from this infuriating article, and a few thoughts, below. Read More

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