Blog Profile / AlterNet Blogs: Speakeasy
| URL : | http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | US Politics / Liberal | |
| Posts on Regator: | 13969 | |
| Posts / Week: | 49.7 | |
| Archived Since: | January 31, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
In Letter, Texas Department of Health Accused by Ten Democratic Legislators of Subverting Democratic Process
Written by Andrea Grimes for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. In opposition to new proposed abortion reporting restrictions in Texas, ten Democratic legislators have sent an open letter to Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs urging him [...]
Anti-Gay New York GOP Rep to Teach Courses in “Feminine Elegance” to Help Women “Act Like Proper Ladies”
Written by Editor-in-Chief Jodi Jacobson for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. Thanks to colleague Rachel Sklar for the original tip on this piece. I would say this is in the category of… “you can’t believe it,” but these days there [...] Comments Comments
Why Are Sex Workers Being Banned From Participating in the International AIDS Conference? A Call to Action on Sex Work and HIV
Written by Darby Hickey and Cassandra Warren for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. In July, the International AIDS Conference is being held in the United States for the first time in over twenty years, after the successful repeal of the ban on HIV-positive [...]
Romney’s Independence Day Advice: Buy Foreign
America commemorates its Independence Day this week with food, festivity and fireworks. To supply these events, Mitt Romney recommends: Buy foreign. Americans naturally think the patriotic choice would be to buy American. But for Romney, capitalism trumps patriotism. Romney goes where the money is. He made big bucks as CEO of Bain Capital by investing in [...] Comments Comments
Questions for Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and Other Opponents of Health Care Reform: Where Are Your Facts?
Written by Amanda Marcotte for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. The Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Thursday has caused a rush of panic from the opponents of universal health care. Lots and lots of [...] Comments Comments
FRC Action Hints High Court “Obamacare” Decision Sides with Satan
Predictably, the folks at the Christian Right Family Research Council and its political arm FRC Action, are not happy with the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Obama healthcare plan. On the day the decision was handed down, Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President of FRC Action, sent out an e-mail to donors asking for funds so [...] Comments Comments
Street Harassment: A Means of Control That We Need to Get Under Control
Written by Marianne Møllman for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. Street harassment—sexual harassment of women in public—has gained notoriety in Western media since the start of the Arab spring. Most recently, a harrowing first-person narrative of a mob sexual [...]
Hot Air and the Stench of Brimstone: Chaplains, Gutter Journalism, and 66 Lawmakers vs. Religious Freedom
“Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.” - Oscar Wilde, Irish novelist, poet, and gadfly Mikey Weinstein The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the civil rights organization that I founded and preside over, has lately been accused of holding exaggerated sway within the Pentagon. No doubt, our organization has managed to effect [...]Show More Summary
A Pyrrhic Victory? In ACA Ruling, Roberts Court Takes Big Swipe At Social Safety Net
Written by Jessica Mason Pieklo for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. When the legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act first started taking form, the assertion that Congress did not have the power to regulate the health insurance industry [...] Comments Comments
The 2012 Global Family Planning Summit: Will Issues Be Adequately Addressed?
Written by Marianne Møllman for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. In mid-July, world leaders will gather in London to discuss a real and urgent need: increased funding for family planning. Over the past 15 years, the United States—one of [...] Comments Comments
Victory on Healthcare a Loss for the Kochs
Co-authored with Jesse Lava The victory on health care reform is a victory against the Koch brothers, who spent massive sums to defeat the Affordable Care Act at the Supreme Court. It turns out the Kochs can lose and democracy can win. Consider just how involved the Koch brothers had been in this case. [...] Comments Comments
“Right to Work” Really Means “Union Busting”
How dare I claim that “Right to Work” really means Union Busting? Let’s start with some quotes by the former head of the anti-union National Right to Work Committee, Reed Larson:The union hierarchy, operating on billions of dollars plucked from workers’ paychecks, comprises a political machine unmatched by any other in America—a political machine whose philosophy [...]Show More Summary
Sucks to be You! North Carolina Republicans Vote to Deny Compensation for Victims of Forced Sterilization
Again, our politics have proven themselves to be sick. In a healthy democracy the social compact is respected. Political ideology is trumped by the common good. Divides of party are superseded by decency and common sense. With little fanfare, last week the Republican Party in North Carolina demonstrated that such basic understandings about government (and [...] Comments Comments
Vagina is Not a Dirty Word
Written by Beverly McPhail for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. “Vagina” is not a dirty word, although legislators in the state of Michigan seem to think so. Recently, in response to the debate over a strict anti-choice bill that [...] Comments Comments
VIDEO PREMIERE: Arizona, We Are All “Illegals”!
On the eve of the Supreme Court’s decision on Arizona anti-immigrant law SB1070, we need now more than ever, to stand together and send a strong & united message: In this country – We Are All “Illegals”! The decision, while hopeful in some areas, leaves a huge gap – one in which allows for the discrimination, [...] Comments Comments
Fortnight for Freedom – Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Written by Debra Haffner for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. The Catholic bishops have begun a two-week campaign leading up to July 4th with the central focus of removing contraceptive coverage from health insurance reform. Of course, the Supreme [...]Show More Summary
Three Lessons on Religious Freedom from North Dakota
Written by Lon Newman for RH Reality Check. This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post. June 12th, in North Dakota, voters rejected a constitutional amendment (Measure 3) that, in the name of religious freedom, would in reality have empowered institutional discrimination. The voters affirmed [...]Show More Summary
Humans May Have Lived With Fire Breathing Dinosaurs? Romney Ed. Plan Would Fund This “Science” Lesson
“…is it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes. They have found large chambers in certain dinosaur skulls… The large skull chambers could have contained special chemical-producing glands. When the animal forced the chemicals out of its mouth or nose, these substances may have combined and produced fire and [...]Show More Summary
Robin Hood Tax: Economic Justice
Robin Hood popped up all across America last week. A bunch of green-suited Merry Men protested in front of Wall Street bank branches in 15 cities. Another felt-hatted group demonstrated in Washington D.C. during J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s testimony about why his bank shouldn’t submit to regulation even after flushing $2 billion down the [...]Show More Summary
NYT: Why Is Sheldon Adelson Donating Millions to Romney? “His Disgust for a Two-state Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
Cross-posted from Tikkun Daily By David Harris-Gershon During the height of Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign, the Sheldon-Adelson-backed Republican candidate caused waves when he called the Palestinians an “invented people”...Show More Summary