“Nazi Medicine.”

I received the following the other day in an email sent to me from one of the finest educational organizations I know, the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. It was originally an essay published on The Huffington Post. It’s a powerful piece of writing, and I wanted to share it with you. Feel free [...]

Yes!

WASHINGTON (AP)  17 August – The  Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose supporters say is innocent and should be spared from execution for killing an off-duty police officer almost 20 years ago.
Davis has spent 18 years on death row for the 1989 slaying of [...]

“Quakers make the right decision.”

by Rosemary Hartill
(The Guardian/UK) August 3 – Following the decision by the Religious Society of Friends on Friday to become the first historic church to say “yes” to same-sex marriages, Saturday’s Guardian ran an editorial entitled In Praise of .. the Quakers. It highlighted the long history of Quaker trail-blazing – in the reform of [...]

Passing the hat for education?

Curious as to your responses to this:
Parents pass the hat to make up for school cuts
SEATTLE (AP) July 24 – Rachael Bouma calculated the cost of keeping rambunctious kindergartners under control at her son’s school at exactly $227.

That was the amount she and other parents in the Tacoma district figured every family with kids in [...]

What a “radical” idea!

That Tyler Perry  What a “radical” he must be!
Tyler Perry Gives the Gift of Disney World to Philadelphia Campers
(Philadelphia Inquirer) July 21 – Six-year-old Creative Steps camper Dajuan Tucker doesn’t remember much about his last trip to Walt Disney World. He was only 4 years old and has vague memories of water slides and meeting [...]

Yet another reason why I am no longer a Democrat.

Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions
(NY Times) July 16 – A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers.
The so-called card-check provision — which senators decided to scrap to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes — [...]

What we’re (still) up against.

Prepare to be angry.
Montco swim club accused of racial discrimination
PHILADELPHIA, Pa (Philadelphia Inquirer) July 9 - Days before a Northeast Philadelphia day camp’s membership at a private suburban swim club was rescinded, several of the campers said they had heard racial remarks about themselves at the pool.
Parents and staff members of Creative Steps Inc. day camp [...]

What he said.

Seen in San Francisco on Tuesday.
(via Common Dreams)

“The new case against the death penalty.”

by Corianna Barrett Lain
Richmond, Va. (Christian Science Monitor) May 11 - This year, state budgetary crises have given death penalty opponents their most successful argument yet – money.
Just two states have abolished the death penalty in the past 40 years, New Jersey in 2007 and New Mexico in March. The cost of capital punishment played [...]

Way to go, Maine.

Actually, it’s the rest of the country that has a way to go.
Maine becomes 5th state to allow same-sex marriage
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) May 6 – Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the [...]

Happy (human rights hero) birthday.

Happy birthday to Pete Seeger, who turns 90 today.
UPDATE: An essay on why Pete deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Happy (human rights hero) birthday.

Dolores Huerta turns 79 today.
“Si se puete!”

What they said.

(Tony Auth, from Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Laura Flanders has more here (with video).

IOWA!

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) April 3 – Iowa’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage Friday in a unanimous and emphatic decision that makes Iowa the third state — and first in the nation’s heartland — to allow same-sex couples to wed.
Iowa joins only Massachusetts and Connecticut in permitting same-sex marriage. For six months last year, California’s [...]

Happy (human rights hero) birthday.

Happy birthday to Cesar Chavez, born March 31, 1927.
Si se puede!
Sign the petition to support the National Cesar Chavez holiday HERE.

Spread the word to end the word.

We’re all friends here, right?
We respect each other?  We listen to each other?  We can speak honestly, in trust and love?
Cool.
So.
Do me a big favor.
It’s not that big a deal, but it means a lot to me and to a lot of other people.
STOP USING “-TARD.”  As in “retard.”  “F#&ktard.”  “Whatevertard.”
On your blogs, on your [...]

Fired for fighting the good fight.

I can’t believe I missed this story last week…
Gay-themed film cost Oklahoma teacher her job
(USA Today) March 16 – Gay rights groups are complaining about the firing of a rural Oklahoma high school teacher who lost her job last week after assigning a play about the 1998 death of a gay college student. But the tiny [...]

Thanks, Gov. Richardson.

SANTA FE (New Mexico Independent) - [Last night], Gov. Bill Richardson signed his name to a law that abolishes the death penalty in New Mexico, saying, “This has been the most difficult decision of my political career.”

With his signature, Richardson made the Land of Enchantment the 15th U.S. state to ban capital punishment and pushed it [...]

Pants on fire!

Breaking news:
Fox News is lying about the Employees’ Free Choice Act.
A shocking surprise, I know.
Reality check here.
And here.
And here, too.
(Video c/o Think Progress)

Walk a day in our shoes, Bill.*

From the wonderful folks at SEIU.   Again.
(* – But please, wash your feet first!)