TN Lawmakers Pass Bill To BAN NON-DISCRIMINATION at Colleges (WTF?)

While the rest of the grown-up world is hard at work trying to ban discrimination, Tennessee's reptile-brained lawmakers are trying to ban NON-discrimination! 

This is just another bizarro way of endorsing discrimination against gays. Heck, that's what half the bills coming out of Tennessee seem to deal with anyway. How to better discriminate against gays or whatever group the old white grumpy men in charge decide they don't like, that is the ultimate mission of the reptile-brained GOP lawmakers in Tennessee. 

Pathetically primitive and deeply embarrassing. 

A proposal to bar public universities and colleges from implementing nondiscrimination policies for student groups is headed to the governor for his consideration. The measure passed the Senate 30-0 on Wednesday. It was approved in the House 75-21 earlier this month.

The legislation does not include private institutions such as Vanderbilt University — a provision that caused Republican Gov. Bill Haslam to veto last year’s version. The governor’s office says it’s OK with the current legislation.

Sponsors say the measure is aimed at preventing colleges from creating policies requiring student groups to open membership to all students and allow all members to seek leadership posts. Christian groups have protested a similar policy at Vanderbilt University.

 
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

TN Democratic Party: The Real Bill Haslam Rejects Medicaid Expansion

Governor Bill Haslam is playing with real lives in his rejection of the expanded Medicaid plan offered by the federal government.  

Bill Haslam has got health care for his family. Those of us who don't are on our own.  

Shame on Bill Haslam. If he goes to church this Sunday, the sermon should be about him.

 via Tennessee Democratic Party fb

"Lucy Maynard cried for two hours in a borrowed home at the dead-end street of a trailer park in Old Hickory after watching Gov. Bill Haslam announce that Medicaid wouldn’t be expanded in Tennessee."

“Governor Haslam’s decision not to accept federal dollars to provide health coverage to hundreds of thousands of working Tennesseans is a tragic disappointment. The economic impact, especially on rural communities, will be devastating, and probably permanent.”  -- Tennessee Justice Center

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Ashley Judd Not Running for Senate (Boo)

Too bad.

It would have been such a spectacular race.

Mitch McConnell can stop shaking in his boots now: 

Ashley Judd has announced via Twitter that she will not run for Senate. “After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family,” she wrote.  

 A source close to Judd said that Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes’s interest in potential race made the decision not to run easier. “The timing just wasn’t right,” said the source.

  
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Gay Marriage: The 10 Democratic Senators Who Still Do Not Support Marriage Equality (Video)

Remember in November the Ten NINE Democratic Senators who do NOT SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE:

1. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) backs civil unions but not gay marriage.
2. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) continues to back DOMA, in addition to opposing same-sex marriage.
3. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) has not publicly come out in support of marriage equality, although she did oppose North Carolina's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
4. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) believes marriage is between a man and a woman.
5. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) supported allowing states to decide what to do about marriage but did not take a position beyond that.
6. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has mostly shied away from discussing gay marriage in public, offering only her support for people's right to "love who they love."
7. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) opposes DOMA and co-signed an amicus brief last much that urged the Supreme Court to invalidate Section 3 of that law. But the senator has yet to endorse same-sex marriage as a legal right.
8. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) does not support same-sex marriage.
9. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) opposed same-sex marriage during the campaign. His office said it would send offer a statement of explanation for his current position, though it hadn't done so by the time of publication.
10. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) does not support same-sex marriage.

 UPDATE: US Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage 

Read More

Bloomberg Gun Control Ad (Video)

Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg:




via NY Daily News: Mayor Bloomberg launches advertising assault on pro-gun senators in states around the nation 


The ads, credited to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group co-founded by Bloomberg, hope to influence U.S. senators on supporting new gun control measures making their way through Congress. A group of senators across the country who haven’t signaled support for gun control are being singled out by Mayor Bloomberg in a $12 million advertising blitz. 


Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Chris Hayes Signs Off On Last Up Show (Video)

via Mediaite: Chris Hayes Signs Off On Up With Grateful Speech And Mouthful Of Pastry

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Ashley Judd Hints At Senate Run

It sure sounds like she is running: 

Ashley Judd made a rare reference to her possible political aspirations today, saying her mother, country star Naomi Judd, can’t wait to turn her garage into campaign headquarters.
According to Cincinnati station WXIX-Fox 19, Judd spoke about her future while giving the keynote address at the American Counseling Association’s 2013 conference at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, which borders Kentucky.

Judd also tweeted about her speech, saying, “Heartfelt thanks to American Counseling Assoc for having me as your Keynote Speaker today. Thank you for your dedication to hope & healing.”
According to the station, Judd referred to her potential campaign against Mitch McConnell and what is likely to be a large budget of attack ads, saying when she started counseling she didn’t like to hear criticism, which she said was ironic because she’s “about to get $40 million worth of it.”
Judd has only rarely spoken publicly of her political aspirations, but is seriously considering entering the Democratic primary to take on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY-R), according to Kentucky political sources. 

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Charles M. Blow: The G.O.P.’s Bachmann Problem

[A]s long as the party has Bachmanns, it has a problem.

Liberal Politics Michele Bachmann News Gender

Read More

State Lawmaker Shares Photo of His Penis

Another lawmaker stuck on his penis. Is this a new fad amongst legislators? Is this coming to Tennessee soon?  

This yahoo is from Massachusetts:

 State Representative John Fresolo, a Worcester Democrat, is the subject of a House investigation that includes allegations that he took lascivious photos of his privates and sent them to a State House computer, several State House sources said.

Fresolo is also suspected of inflating his travel reimbursements. He submitted per diem slips for 220 days of travel from Worcester to the State House, but no one on Beacon Hill remembers seeing Fresolo that frequently.

Fresolo is now on paid administrative leave but could be forced to resign.“It’s bad enough that he pulled an Anthony Weiner and had pictures of his penis on State House computers, but then he tried to get his per diem pumped up.
 
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

FAA To Close 149 Air Traffic Towers Due to Dysfunctional (GOP) Government

Fly at your own risk:

The closures will not force the shutdown of any of those airports, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers under procedures that all pilots are trained to carry out.

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Phil Donahue: I Was Fired From MSNBC For Being Too Liberal (Video)

Liberal icon Phil Donahue talks with Amy Goodman about MSNBC and other fickle corporate media:


via Democracy Now!

In 2003, the legendary television host Phil Donahue was fired from his prime-time MSNBC talk show during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The problem was not Donahue’s ratings, but rather his views: An internal MSNBC memo warned Donahue was a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war," providing "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Donahue joins us to look back on his firing 10 years later. "They were terrified of the antiwar voice," Donahue says. [includes rush transcript]

ABOUT CHRIS MATTHEWS: 
  "I think he saw me as a threat to his supremacy," Donahue told HuffPost Live's Marc Lamont Hill. "He wanted to be the face of MSNBC and here comes this talk show host. I had the benefit of recognition ... I think I was a threat to his goal of being the man at MSNBC. He was quite emotional. He was emotionally upset."

 ABOUT JOE SCARBOROUGH:
 MSNBC at the time decided to go full-on pro-war as a ratings strategy, and so it canceled a show by liberal peacenik Phil Donahue and hired a bunch of pro-war conservatives, including a former congressman named Joe Scarborough.  Joe Scarborough has a TV show because of his boundless enthusiasm for waging the Iraq War.  That’s the problem with the “who could’ve possibly foreseen that this was all bullshit” stance: Lots of people saw that it was bullshit, and they were ridiculed and marginalized by people like Scarborough.
 

  PHIL DONAHUE: Well, I think what happened to me, the biggest lesson, I think, is the—how corporate media shapes our opinions and our coverage. This was a decision—my decision—the decision to release me came from far above. This was not an assistant program director who decided to separate me from MSNBC. They were terrified of the antiwar voice. And that is not an overstatement. Antiwar voices were not popular. And if you’re General Electric, you certainly don’t want an antiwar voice on a cable channel that you own; Donald Rumsfeld is your biggest customer. So, by the way, I had to have two conservatives on for every liberal. I could have Richard Perle on alone, but I couldn’t have Dennis Kucinich on alone. I was considered two liberals. It really is funny almost, when you look back on how—how the management was just frozen by the antiwar voice. We were scolds. We weren’t patriotic. American people disagreed with us. And we weren’t good for business.

 Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Tell Your Legislator to Stop Discriminating in Tennessee

 Sign the Petition addressed to Tennessee lawmakers: 

The Human Rights Campaign has a petition asking Tennessee lawmakers to stop discriminating.  The yahoos don't know how to craft a bill that doesn't discriminate.  The bills in question are:
 
SB 234/HB 1332 (the "Don't Say Gay" bill) and SB 1241/ HB 1150, which would prohibit any college or university from operating a police force if they have a non-discrimination policy that covers student activities.

Sign the Petition: 

Two bills before the Tennessee General Assembly could cause immense harm to the state's LGBT community. One would force school officials to out students who come to them because they're gay or think they might be gay. The other would prohibit the operation of a police force at any college or university with a non-discrimination policy protecting LGBT workers and students, also known as an "all-comers" policy. Republican Governor Bill Haslam has said these bills are unnecessary and now you can tell your legislator the same.

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gende

Read More

Hillary Clinton Beats Jeb Bush & Sen. Rubio By Landslide In 2016 Florida Poll

 Yet more evidence. If Hillary runs, the race is so over: 

Mrs. Clinton, who shows the most strength of any potential 2016 aspirant in Quinnipiac University's national polls, leads Jeb Bush 51 - 40 percent and bests Sen. Rubio 52 - 41 percent in a poll of Sunshine State registered voters.

Clinton is viewed much more favorably than either man, 62 - 33 percent favorable for Clinton, compared to 50 - 35 percent favorable for Bush and 41 - 34 percent for Rubio.
 
 "We probably won't know for some time whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, but if she decides to make the race, she begins with a sizable lead in a state that Republicans cannot win the White House without," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Florida voters have a very positive view of Mrs. Clinton and it's not just Democrats who feel that way."
 
Mrs. Clinton is viewed favorably by 26 percent of Republicans, not bad for a Democrat who's had her share of battles with the GOP, and gets a 57 - 35 percent favorability among the key voting group, independents. Not surprisingly, she gets 93 - 5 percent favorability among Democrats. She has a 10-point gender gap: 66 percent of women and 56 percent of men view her favorably.

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

TN Lawmakers OK Discrimination At Public Universities

The nation's worst lawmakers aren't just trying to promote discrimination at Vanderbilt, they are also pushing a bill that would outlaw nondiscrimination policies at public universities. 

You can't make this stuff up. 

Tennessee lawmakers are doing their utmost to usher in a new historical period:  

The Anti Civil Rights Era.  

The pro discrimination bill is sponsored by Republican Senator Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet.

The rest of the country moves forward, Tennessee moves backward:


A representative from the governor's office said Wednesday that the governor supports the current proposal.

Sponsors say the measure is aimed at preventing colleges from creating policies requiring student groups to open membership to all students and allow all members to seek leadership posts.

  
Liberal Politics Gay Tennessee Homophobia

Read More

Nashville Police Chief to Crazed TN Lawmakers (R): Leave Vandy Police Alone!

 The nation's most insane body of legislators got called out today by Nashville's Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson and Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson. Homophobic state lawmakers are still pushing a bill that would punish Vanderbilt University -- for refusing to discriminate against gays and lesbians --  by abolishing the Vanderbilt Police force!

Rep. Mark Pody and Sen. Mae Beavers are responsible for this perverted threat to public safety.

Obviously, the bill would also punish Nashville, but the super majority of right-wing state lawmakers seem to delight in anything that would hurt left leaning Nashville (and Memphis). 

If taking 90 cops off the street in order to hurt gays and lesbians sounds really dumb and irresponsible, well, we have quite a few Tennessee lawmakers who make it their daily mission to be as dumb and irresponsible as humanly possible. 

The Attorney General has already declared the anti Vanderbilt Police bill to be unconstitutional, to which one of Tennessee's crazed lawmakers replied, "This is just his opinion."

Gawd. Where do we find these yahoos? And how much damage are they going to do before they go home?  

Nashville Police Chief Anderson and District Attorney General Johnson express their disapproval in today's front-page headline story (in the print edition, photo above) in The Tennessean:

 “Are they serious about that?” Johnson asked in disbelief about the legislative initiative.
 
Vanderbilt stoked the ire of conservative lawmakers when it adopted the all-comers policy, which bans student groups from discriminating against people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. The policy was adopted after a Christian fraternity tried to exclude gay members.
Anderson said if lawmakers eliminate Vanderbilt’s police force it will mean the loss of about 90 police officers from the streets of Nashville.

 Whether you agree with Vanderbilt’s philosophy about the all-comers policy, to say that we’re going to take 90 law enforcement officers off the street is just not in the best interest of the public in general,” he said. “That means that I have to take some of the 1,300 officers that we have and devote them to that area.”

 “I’m not sure why the legislature would even want to consider that.”
 
Liberal Politics Vanderbilt News Gender

Read More

Liar Michele Bachmann Runs Away From CNN Reporter (Video)

Via 

 “During last year’s GOP presidential race, Bachmann racked up the highest ratio of Four-Pinocchio comments, so just about everything she says needs to be checked and doublechecked before it is reported,” the Washington Post reports:

 Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Rainbow Gay Equality House Goes Up Beside Westboro Antigay Church

The hateful antigay members of the Westboro Baptist Church don't deserve to gaze daily upon a house painted beautifully in the rainbow colors of the Pride Flag, but they get to anyway.

Now this is sweet justice. Hahahaha:

Members of the antigay Westboro Baptist Church woke up to a technicolor surprise this morning, when a progressive nonprofit began painting a house directly across the street from Westboro's compound in the bright, bold colors of the rainbow flag.

 Six months ago, Planting Peace, a nonprofit historically dedicated to environmental conservation, bought the house at 1200 S.W. Orleans St. in Topeka, Kan., directly across the street from the series of homes owned by Westboro members and the church itself, known as the Westboro "compound." 

"I feel the Westboro Baptist Church is the poster child… that's pushing inequality," Planting Peace founder Aaron Jackson told The Advocate. "So I thought the best place to start was to counter the Westboro Baptist Church's message."

'God Hates Fags' church is now sitting opposite the Equality House, proudly displaying the colors of the gay pride flag

 ‘Someone took a picture of it and it went viral. It caught my attention, and one day I looked at Google Earth I saw the house from across the street and it had a ‘For Sale’ sign. It hit me, I’m going to get my foundation to buy that house and paint it with the rainbow colors.’

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Gail Kerr: TN lawmakers Pushing Nutty Homophobic Bills Again

Gail Kerr weighs in on Tennessee's perpetually embarrassing legislators. The nation's wackiest lawmakers are now pushing yet more "blatantly homophobic" bills. One of which is aimed at punishing Vanderbilt University for NOT discriminating against lesbians and gays. 

And as always, there's the despicable Don't Say Gay bill. 

Meanwhile Mississippi residents are happily and proudly declaring: 'Thank God we aren't as bad as the gay-hating state of Tennessee.' 

TN legislators promote bills that support discrimination: 

Despite every effort by Republican leaders to urge state lawmakers this year not to go down the “fringe” road, pushing nutty, hateful bills, some legislators just cannot resist.

Along with the perennial “don’t say gay” legislation, just rewritten to make it even worse, lawmakers are debating two bills that endorse discrimination.
 
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

History Channel's Satan Looks Like Barack Obama

 Funny how Satan just happens to look like the guy they love to hate.  

Gee, the show was put together by the same religious zealot responsible for Donald Trump's TV career.  

 The white guy below is the actor who plays Satan/Obama.  Note that the white guy does Not remotely resemble President Obama.
 

 













Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Hillary Clinton Comes Out: Supports Gay Marriage (Video)

Hillary's first statement since leaving the State Department is one in support of marriage equality.

Making herself ready for 2016? Dear Goddess we hope so.

March 18, 2013: Hillary Clinton Supports Marriage Equality

video via Americans for Marriage Equality.

"I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples."

  --Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2013

 
"Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights."

-- Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2011

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

CNN Empathizes With Steubenville Rapists (Video)

I found today's coverage by CNN of the Steubenville rape verdict to be eye-popping amazing. The poor little rapists will have ruined lives, gushed the CNN broadcasters almost in unison.

Were they all reading from the same teleprompter?

There is something seriously wrong with CNN.

@katespencer

Kate Spencer

.@CNN's coverage of #Steubenville is shameful. Asking abt "lasting impact" for these "2 young boys." What abt impact 4 victim? @crowleyCNN

@JillFilipovic

Jill Filipovic

CNN's @poppyharlowcnn talking about how "it was very difficult for me to watch" the #Steubenville sentence come down @cnn should be ashamed.

  
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Dianne Feinstein Smacks Down Tea Party Idiot Ted Cruz (Video)

video via TPM

“I’m not a sixth grader.. It’s fine you want to lecture me on the constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve passed on a number of bills. I’ve studied the constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated, and I thank you for the lecture.”


Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Chris Hayes to Replace Ed Schultz at MSNBC 8 P.M. Slot

As much as I like Chris Hayes (a lot!), I'm very sorry to see Ed Schultz moved to weekends. 

Hayes is young and wonky. Yay! 

Ed Schultz, on the other hand, has genuine working class passion, a perspective that is pretty well nonexistent on any news show.  

Scott Prouty, the man who broke the famous 47% story agrees:

 “I thank you for speaking out for workers all across America. That’s the reason I’m here today is because you have a voice that — I think we need more voices like yourself.”

The Ed Show will be moved to 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Does anybody watch TV at that ungodly time?  This is not good. 

 Mr. Schultz had an average of 1.01 million total viewers at 8 p.m., 249,000 of whom were between the ages of 25 to 54, the key demographic for cable news advertisers. These numbers might have been satisfactory to MSNBC, were it not for the fact that the channel’s other two prime time programs were stronger. “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9 p.m. had 1.14 million viewers, 339,000 of whom were between the ages of 25 to 54,
  
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Report: Ashley Judd Will Run Against Mitch McConnell (Video)

MSNBC'S Howard Fineman is reporting that Ashely Judd has decided to run and will announce her candidacy for the U.S. Senate this May. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Actress Ashley Judd, who has reportedly been exploring a Senate run since last December, will announce her candidacy in the spring, MSNBC’s Howard Fineman reported Sunday. Her candidacy would pit her against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

GOP Strategist: We Don’t Have Enough Women (Video)

On Meet the Press yesterday, former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt pointed out that any organization without women at the table is an organization that cannot compete.  Yeah, he was talking about the old white male GOP.




 I think in any organization where women are not at the table, where it is skewed male in today’s day and age, that’s an organization that’s deficient. That’s an organization that’s going to have problems. It’s one of the problems we have structurally in the Republican Party. We don’t have enough women at the table. But any company, any organization in today’s day and age that doesn’t give equal opportunity to women, that doesn’t advance women to the table, is going to be an organization that has difficulty competing.  --  Steve Schmidt


Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Ashley Judd Would Be First Woman Elected to US Senate by Kentucky

Michele Bernard has a piece at She the People making the case that women will come out in droves to support dream candidate Ashley Judd should she choose to run:

On the heels of the 2012 elections, no one should underestimate the power of women voters and activists in Kentucky and nationwide should Judd mount a senatorial bid.

Women looking at a potential race will be mindful of the fact that no woman has ever been elected to represent Kentuckians in the U.S. Senate.  Additionally, women interested in the possibility of Judd running will be mindful of the fact that all six of Kentucky’s congressional seats are held by men and that Kentucky has only elected two women to the U.S. House of Representatives in its history, once in 1927 and again in 1997, 70 years later.   Moreover, they will be mindful that in Kentucky, the wage gap (the difference between men’s and women’s wages) is evident at all education levels and all occupations with, “77 cents to every dollar paid to a man working full time, year round.”

If Judd runs, one can only imagine that she will campaign on these and many of the other issues that affect the lives of all Kentuckians, especially women and children...   Judd has survived the gender politics of Hollywood.  Surely, if she chooses to run against Mitch McConnell, she can navigate her way through the political high jinks and gender politics the McConnell re-election campaign machine might throw her way. She could very well be a very formidable opponent.

 Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Wisdom from Molly Ivins On Guns

Wisdom from the late great Molly Ivins:

 via Art Against Ignorance

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Congresswoman Diane Black (R-TN) Fights Birth Control

You can't make this stuff up. What an effing embarrassment: 

 Known as the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, the bill would give any individual or group that opposes contraception an automatic exemption. . 

“I am proud to introduce the Health Care Conscience Rights Act to protect religious freedom, disempower Obamacare, and stop the administration’s assault on Americans’ First Amendment rights,” Black said in a statement.

 Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Nashville Animal Care & Control Reform News (76% Kill Rate!)

From Concerned Citizens to Reform MACC:

The petition to reform Nashville's Metro Animal Care & Control is growing every day and we are certain our government leaders are watching. 

We need to show them we are not going away! 

Our next step is to attend the quarterly Metro Animal Care & Control Advisory Council Meeting on March 13, at 3pm. 

Our goal is to fill the room and silently & respectfully observe the meeting, as we, the public are allowed to do. Our presence will speak volumes! 

Lenz Public Health Center 
Room 212 
311 23rd Ave. North 
Nashville, TN 37203 

Please join us. Let us know if you can make it so we can anticipate how many people will show up.  

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Ban on Abortion at 12 Weeks Passed by Womb-Obsessed Republicans In Arkansas

 Yet another unconstitutional abortion ban from womb-obsessed Republicans:

 

 Arkansas adopted what is by far the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion on Wednesday — at 12 weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can typically be detected by abdominal ultrasound. The law, the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, was passed by the newly Republican-controlled legislature over the veto of Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The State Senate voted Tuesday to override his veto and the House followed suit on Wednesday, with several Democrats joining the Republican majority. 

The law contradicts the limit established by Supreme Court decisions, which give women a right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks into pregnancy, and abortion rights groups promised a quick lawsuit to block it. Even some anti-abortion leaders called the measure a futile gesture.

 Adoption of the law, called the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, is the first statewide victory for a restless emerging faction within the anti-abortion movement that has lost patience with the incremental whittling away at abortion rights — a strategy used by groups like National Right to Life and the Catholic Church while they wait for a more sympathetic Supreme Court.

 Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

TN Lawmakers Attack Vanderbilt University, Again

Religious zealots in the Tennessee State Legislature aim to force Vanderbilt University to allow university sponsored clubs to practice bigotry. Unless Vandy complies with their wishes, the proposed bill would retaliate by transforming Vandy police into security guards.    

They don't call Tennessee lawmakers the worst in the nation for no reason.  Indeed, Tennessee legislators are so practiced at the art of repressive lawmaking that it can be quite difficult to keep up with their many offenses against we the people. 

This latest is the effort of a couple of lawmaking religious zealots -- state Rep. Mark Pody and state Sen. Mae Beavers -- to force Vanderbilt University to embrace discrimination against gays (and whoever else Christian students happen to feel like shunning).
  
In other words, the lawmakers are intent upon protecting the right of religious groups to practice bigotry:  

A pair of Middle Tennessee lawmakers said they will press ahead with a bill that would strip the Vanderbilt University Police Department of state recognition unless the school abandons its “all-comers” policy. That policy requires university-sponsored clubs to follow its rules against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. The bill would defy the wishes of Gov. Bill Haslam, who vetoed a measure last year that attacked the all-comers rule from a different angle...

  “I just find it unbelievable,” said August Washington, chief of the Vanderbilt University Police Department.

Senate Bill 1241/House Bill 1150, sponsored by state Rep. Mark Pody and state Sen. Mae Beavers, would take police powers away from any university that has adopted policies that “discriminate” against religious student organizations. Seventeen universities in Tennessee have their own police departments.

 
THINK PROGRESS: Tennessee Bill Would Eliminate Campus Police If Universities Don’t Allow Christian Clubs To Discriminate  

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale to Al Jazeera

Al Gore makes the point that Al Jazeera's climate change coverage has been outstanding. 

Wish we could say the same about the, presumably not owned by the oil industry, U.S. networks:
  

Current TV's $500 million sale to Al Jazeera has prompted a lawsuit that claims co-founder Al Gore originally was opposed to the deal but had a "change of heart" on selling his cable network to oil-rich Qataris.

 Terenzio is suing for breach of implied agreement, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit ("what one has earned"). He's seeking $5 million for each cause of action

Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More

Jimmy Carter on the Death of Hugo Chavez

 Statement From Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on the Death of Hugo Chavez

Rosalynn and I extend our condolences to the family of Hugo Chávez Frías.  We met Hugo Chávez when he was campaigning for president in 1998 and The Carter Center was invited to observe elections for the first time in Venezuela.  We returned often, for the 2000 elections, and then to facilitate dialogue during the political conflict of 2002-2004.  We came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized.  Although we have not agreed with all of the methods followed by his government, we have never doubted Hugo Chávez's commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen.

 President Chávez will be remembered for his bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments and for his formidable communication skills and personal connection with supporters in his country and abroad to whom he gave hope and empowerment.  During his 14-year tenure, Chávez joined other leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean to create new forms of integration.  Venezuelan poverty rates were cut in half, and millions received identification documents for the first time allowing them to participate more effectively in their country's economic and political life. . .

Read more . . .

 
Liberal Politics Feminist News Gender

Read More