Skittles' summation of him is as accurate as it gets.

I want every Democrat and rational-thinking Independent to stand up for women's health, privacy, choice, and the separation of church and state. Graham opposes all of this, and unfortunately has a mighty big megaphone which he is not shy about using. Bt every minute he spends sniping at other Republicans is a moment he could otherwise be doing worse things, so there is a bit of a silver lining...

-app

Morford is just spluttering word salad throughout this 'article.' Even when he's making sense, he's veering and careening:

And this is why I understand and admire the muscular defensive posture Israel often (by necessity) takes. Well more than a billion of their neighbors want to see them wiped off the map. If US aid can help stop that, I feel the money is well spent.

-app

I'm glad that we have a standing army in this day and age (it's certainly larger than it needs to be, but that's another discussion), but its existence is only one facet of "the security of a free State." The right to keep and bear arms exists separately and entirely, regardless of the Second Amendment's prefatory clause. Indeed, the right of self defense existed in common law long before the US Constitution and its first ten amendments enumerated some of our most important rights.

RBG is grinding an axe here, rather than upholding the Constitution as she swore to do. As they say in meme-land, "I am disappoint." She might as well say that the Third Amendment could be dispensed with since we have bases and barracks. That's as may be, but soldiers still can't quarter in my house.

-app

Pipoman, myself, and many many others here at DU are not willing to shred the Constitution as you would like. That does not make us bad Democrats; that makes us good Americans, thank you very much.

The US Constitution delineates specific and (ideally) absolute limits upon government power. It says that we all have the right to "keep and bear arms." For "we the people" (as you fancy yourself, yallerdawg) to change that, it would take 2/3 of both houses of COngress, plus 3/4 of the state legislatures. Let us know when you get to that...

Regarding the no-fly list (a Bush-era unconstitutional boondoggle which you defend - are you sure YOU are on the right site yallerdawg?), the US Constitution guarantees us all that we shall not "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." I would say that travel falls well within the sphere of liberty, and is also protected by the 9th Amendment. Putting people on a government list MUST follow a due process, as mandated by the 14th Amendment ("nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." But when you propose to use this unconstitutional, secret, Bush-era list to deny people arms, you further compound its unconstitutionality by also violating the 2nd Amendment.

And you claim to be a liberal? Shame on you.

-app

I'd also recommend this song of Randy Newman's:

https://m.

with an updated verse I sang to myself to make sense of it all back in 2005:

President Bush flew over in an aeroplane,
With a fat man named Karl Rove hired to be his brain.
Then he said "Heck of a job" to his friend Mike Brown,
'Cuz the plan all along was to let the brown folk drown.
Louisiana...

Lyrics for this one updtaed verse copyright 2005 by appal_jack, fwiw, and writtin in commemoration of these photos:



&


-app

Given that actual American blood was shed in order to achieve the successful codification and enumeration of the precious rights in both Second and Fourteenth Amendments (and all the rest of our Constitutional rights besides), how about we as Democrats be the ones who REALLY stand up for the whole Constitution? We can let the Trumpuglicans be the ignorant revsionists...


-app

I called twice when the health care debate was happening, and each time when I got through (to ask about single-payer) the operator ("Dorie," I think at the time) told me that my question or point was not germane to the conversation. I translated that as "we find single payer to be outside the realm of acceptable possibilities."

I count that as a dirty trick. These days, I'm thinking that she considers Bernie Sanders to be outside the realm of acceptable possibilities as well, and is ready and willing to employ similar dirty tricks.

While my second example may not have universal agreement on DU, Diane Rehm also never (and I mean NEVER) lets facts get in the way of her advocacy for more gun control laws.

I agree that she often hosts and facilitates a good discussion. But there seem to be a few issues where she has an axe to grind, and with them she can be ruthless and play dirty. I actually like and appreciate that she is as every bit as much an advocate for women's health and reproductive freedom issues. Anti-choicers can get away with no shit on her show, and that's rare in mainstream media.

-app

All the discussions I have heard and read about Republican efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood seem to state that Planned Parenthood would be specifically and arbitrarily excluded from receiving federal funds for normal and proper non-abortion medical services to women. This specific and arbitrary exclusion strikes me as the very definition of a Bill of Attainder:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder

As the Wiki link notes:


And, the US Constitution specifically prohibits Bills of Attainder:

The United States Constitution forbids legislative bills of attainder under Article I, Section 9. The provision forbidding state law bills of attainder, Article I, Section 10, reflects the importance that the framers attached to this issue.

Within the U.S. Constitution, the clauses forbidding attainder laws serve two purposes. First, they reinforced the separation of powers, by forbidding the legislature to perform judicial or executive functions—since the outcome of any such acts of legislature would of necessity take the form of a bill of attainder. Second, they embody the concept of due process, which was partially reinforced by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The text of the Constitution, Article I, Section 9; Clause 3 is "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed".

(Again from the above Wiki link - emphases in above quotes are mine)

While I certainly hope that the effort to de-fund Planned Parenthood fails on its own merits: it's a terrible idea that will only harm women (and children too) by hobbling an important nonprofit element of the medical services community, I wonder if challenging this ridiculous legislative push on Constitutional grounds would also be worthwhile.

What do the legal scholars and incisive minds of DU say?

Let's stand up for women's reproductive freedom and health every way we can.

-app