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Justice Can Be Poetic
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2007 CommentPutting a Christian antiabortion zealot in charge of the nation's Population Affairs Office and its $283 million annual budget (as President Bush did last November) would be tantamount to anointing pro-choice poster-woman Kate Michelman as pope. Either would constitute a provocative move designed to offend most of the people to whose needs the organization in question is supposed to minister.
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Is America's Revolt Against the Religious Right Upon Us?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2007 CommentA handful of governors seem to be leading the revolt against the religious right, and a Pew Research Center poll shows the American electorate may not be far behind. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports, "Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed $53 billion budget eliminates an abstinence-only sex-education program. Removal of $1 million in state aid over two years marks a shift in Ohio support for abstinence-only programs, which advocates call a national model. The federally subsidized program encourages schoolchildren to abstain from sex until they're married. Strickland said he thinks abstinence programs don't work well in the long run and does not plan to apply for federal money (when it ends this fall)."
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Testing the Bounds of Tolerance in Quebec
Tweet Share on Facebook March 26, 2007 CommentWhen conservative Islamic women vote today in Quebec's tightly contested elections, they'll enter the voting booth minus their niqabs or not at all. Niqabs are the most restrictive Islamic head coverings, revealing only a woman's eyes to the outside world.
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How the Web Changed Politics This Week
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2007 Comment (1)Two events this week highlighted technology's increasing effect on the political process and proved that this impact is not all for the better. In the first, the creator of a widely viewed attack ad portraying Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as a Big Brother (er, Sister?) figure stepped forward to claim credit for the ad.
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Opt-Out 'Revolution' Fizzles (Again)
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2007 CommentSomething seemed achingly familiar about a front-page story in yesterday's Washington Post. The headline screamed, in part, "Despite 'Mommy Guilt,' Time With Kids Increasing." As one who has devoted much of her career to covering stories affecting women, families, and communities of color, I knew I'd heard this before. So I went online and searched for similar stories. Lo and behold, I came across this front-page story (registration required) that ran last October in the New York Times.
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Four Years After 'Mission Accomplished'
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2007 CommentWhat a difference four years makes. Monday marks the start of the fifth year of the war in Iraq. What better time to revisit some pivotal moments in the war's infancy?
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Gonzales, the Walking Cadaver
Tweet Share on Facebook March 16, 2007 Comment (1)Does the term "walking cadaver" mean anything to you?
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Military Support for GOP Is in Free Fall
Tweet Share on Facebook March 14, 2007 Comment (1)Pardon my tardiness. While searching online for interesting political tidbits, I came across a two-month-old story of towering significance that received a paltry amount of media exposure. The Los Angeles Times reported in January that the Military Times's annual poll of active-duty service members found support among them for the Republican Party is dropping significantly. So significantly, in fact, that the 30-year trend of "Republicanization" of the military has reversed and is in a free fall.
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Democratic Women's Vote Is Up for Grabs
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2007 CommentDear Readers: We've pondered this topic before, but an update from the San Francisco Chronicle merits another go.
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War Divorces 'Marriage President' From Reality
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2007 CommentOf all the depressing statistics emanating from President Bush's invasion of Iraq, this obscure but important figure stands out: 60,000 marriages rent asunder by this war. The Marriage President, who proposed spending billions of federal dollars on a healthy-marriage initiative, may well be doing more to destroy formerly healthy marriages by sending hundreds of thousands of Americans off to war and then not properly counseling them on how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when they come home.
