A recent study from the National Journal found that Obama was the most liberal senator last year–his votes were the most liberal of all the senators. But this may just be because he missed more of them.
Clinton was ranked 15th most liberal. But of the measures on which Clinton and Obama both voted, they only differed in two votes:
To establish a Senate Office of Public Integrity to handle ethics complaints against senators. January 18.
Clinton: No (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was no).
Obama: Yes (liberal position)
To allow certain immigrants (Y-1 nonimmigrant visa holders) to stay in the United States while renewing their visas. June 6.
Clinton: No (conservative position)
Obama: Yes (liberal position) (Majority democrat position was yes)
Do not vote for Clinton if you care about women’s rights. She doesn’t give a fuck if Arab women die.
Do you remember when gravel called Clinton out on Iran?
Clinton responded like an arrogant jerk. She was the only democratic candidate to vote for the Sept. 2007 bill, which designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, part of Iran’s army, as a terrorist organization.
A few weeks ago, Sergio Bendixen, a Clinton pollster and Latino expert, publicly articulated what campaign officials appear to have been whispering for months. In an interview with Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker, Bendixen explained that “the Hispanic voter — and I want to say this very carefully — has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates.”
But that is a crock. Many black mayors and congress members were elected because of Latino voters. (more…)
as we were coming home a few minutes ago, i flicked off the capitol building as an acknowledgment of the state of the union address.
and now i wonder if i should hesitate before expressing myself in the future. haven’t we all been known to grumble obscenities at the president under our breath? apparently, it’s an arrestable offense:
today at 2pm a man was arrested on penn. ave for “uttering threats against the president.” supposedly, he also had a suspicious package with him, but that was later deemed not dangerous. It kind of looks like his suitcase to me: (more…)
-would “fully exempt any law or regulation written to protect public safety or promote the public interest.”
-would “strictly limit” the right of corporations to sue governments over public good regulations
Edwards
-would ensure trade pacts don’t undermine labor and environmental standards
Gravel
- “a disaster for the working class of both the U.S. and Mexico and a boon to the international corporate interests”
The Amazon is the largest and most diverse tropical rainforest in the world. It represents over half of the world’s remaining rainforests, but deforestation threatens its viability. Already as much as 20% of the rainforest has been destroyed.
The destruction of the rainforests matters because it has real impacts on people’s lives and wellbeing. Deforestation harms the Amazon’s indigenous communities and the growing numbers of relocated landless farmers. Multinational corporations violently attack and murder indigenous people to seize and then destroy their lands. Meanwhile, large landowners violently force many small farmers from their productive lands into the rainforest, where they face new terror from the multinationals.
Earlier this year, Brazilian officials were lauding decreases in destruction of the rainforest. In August 2007, President Lula announced a great victory: the rate of deforestation was at its lowest in 15 years:
These receptors are paired with AIB interneurons, which are associated with local search and pivoting behavior–focusing on local food and not moving in search of food. When the receptors are over-expressed, AIB associated behaviors are suppressed and the nematodes have less local searching/pivoting behavior; when it’s under-expressed, the behaviors are seen more frequently–so the nematodes stay near a local food supply.
Local foraging/pivoting behavior is an energy conserving strategy when food is readily available. The organisms move less, burn less energy.
Danny Glover is a big union supporter, especially of unite-here’s hotel workers rising campaign. Today he and two unite-here organizers were convicted of trespassing during a rally on Sept. 16, 2006 at the Ontario “Sheraton on the Falls” hotel.
Danny Glover at a unitehere rally in canada; the Sheraton on the Falls hotel.
The third most viewed article on BBC right now: Australian party teen turns pro”–about a teenager who threw a party that caused A$20,000 ($18,000; £9,200) in damages. So the kid thinks he can make a career out of it. There are worse things he could do.
Shots have been fired at the Rafah crossing where Palestinians have been demanding that the crossing into Egypt be opened to ease the blockade imposed on the territory by Israel. Several police were injured in the skirmishes, as well as protesters. Gaza has been under lockdown for five days now, although the blockade was eased earlier when Israel allowed a fuel shipment through.
i saw people on the metro today carrying pro-choice signs–why? It is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the January 22, 1973 supreme court decision giving women the right to choose.
there were also bus-loads of anti-choice evangelicals with “their obese kids” dumping onto the mall this morning. speaking via remote from the white house, bush addressed the tens of thousands of anti-choicers before they marched the streets.
it just makes me think: damn those bushes for nominating such young fucking people to the supreme court–Roberts is only 52 and Thomas is just 59!
Bush is trying to sneak a bill through congress that would pardon himself for war crimes committed against detainees (torture and treatment). Such crimes are possibly punishable by death.
Mike wonders if we should support Hillary Clinton because she is the only candidate who would execute Bush–in order to prove her masculinity as President.
Dow Jones has launched “dharma indexes” to track the stocks of companies that observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. …
Advisory committees of religious leaders and scholars will screen and monitor companies’ policies on the environment, corporate governance, labor relations and human rights, among other criteria. Companies from business sectors deemed un-dharmic, such as weapons manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, casinos and alcohol, are barred from the index.
Socially responsible investing now encompasses about 10 percent of the $24 trillion U.S. investment marketplace, according to the Washington-based Social Investment Forum.
Well, there goes the stock market: “Stocks Plunge Worldwide on Fears of a U.S. Recession”
The new anti-choice movement attempts to revive an earlier time when men made all the decisions for women:
“As a sidewalk counselor, I wait outside abortion clinics until the men come out to use their cellphones. I tell them I’m not there to judge them. I’m there to help,” said Valentine, 20, one of about 800 participants in the District yesterday for the annual conference of Students for Life of America. “Sometimes they break down and cry and go back and bring out their girlfriends to reconsider.”
Jan 18, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a statement on Israel’s closing of the Gaza borders: “Such action cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals. If this situation endures, the closure will also cause further shortages of food, medical and relief items in the Gaza Strip.”
“We have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms,” said Health Ministry official Moaiya Hassanain.
After international outcry, Israel is allowing a one-time shipment of fuel and medical supplies, but not without Olmert making a stupid assertion: “As far as I’m concerned, Gaza residents will walk, without gas for their cars, because they have a murderous, terrorist regime that doesn’t let people in southern Israel live in peace.” Walk without cars, he says. Or is it: die without medicine, starve without bread, become ill without sanitation…
About the South Carolina Primary: “It sure looks like Clinton and Edwards are splitting the white vote…”
Obviously, white people in SC can’t vote for a black person. Per Huckabee on the racist confederate flag: “South Carolina people know true conservatism when they see it.You don’t like people outside the state telling you how you ought to raise your kids, you don’t like people from outside the state telling you what to do with the flag. In fact, if somebody came down to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell’em where to put the pole.” (more…)
The result: the unite-here local, the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 workers–far more than any other union– in Nevada is supporting Obama for the key primary.
And what does Obama turn around and do–he praises Reagan. (more…)
The United States has been listed as a country where prisoners are at risk of torture in a training document produced by the Canadian foreign ministry.
“You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government. And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms.”
President Bush, Sunday in the United Arab Emirates [codepink dc listserv]
israel closes the gaza borders and strikes from the air. now trapped without medical supplies. at least 32 palestinians have died this week.
Israel’s raid on Tuesday killed at least 19 palestinians. In response, Hamas fought back by firing rockets into Israel–they have not fired any rockets fired into Israel for months. Israel closes the borders, cutting off their supply of food and medical supplies.
“Gaza is completely shut down. This will only add to an already dire situation,” said Christopher Gunness of UN Relief and Works Agency. (more…)
A study released last year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press dubbed Americans age 18 to 25 as the “Look at Me” generation and reported that this group said that their top goals were fortune and fame.
“There’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Kali H. Trzesniewski, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario. Ms. Trzesniewski, along with colleagues at the University of California, Davis, and Michigan State University, will publish research in the journal Psychological Science next month showing there have been very few changes in the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of youth over the last 30 years.
The Amazon is the largest and most diverse tropical rainforest in the world. It represents over half of the world’s remaining rainforests, but deforestation threatens its viability. Already as much as 20% of the rainforest has been destroyed.
