by TChris

Saturday's Million More Movement in Washington D.C. brings together individuals who hope "to create a lasting and broad national movement with the goal of eliminating poverty and injustice." These lofty goals expand the framework created by the Million Man March ten years ago.

The Million Man March 10 years ago focused on black men and the challenges facing them. This time, organizers are hoping to target issues that cross gender and racial lines.

The Movement's website has more details.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The press is beginning to hit us with fears of a bird flu pandemic as noted virtually everywhere: NY Times, WashPo, Chicago Tribune, and CNN.com. Each source has more than one article everyday now as the fear grows.

Moveon.org has a post calling the nation's bird flu czar unqualified for anything in public health.

by TChris

The Schuylkill County Department of Children and Youth Services has threatened to take away Melissa WolfHawk's baby as soon as it's born. Why? Because the baby's father was convicted of raping two teenage girls in 1983. He served his sentence for that crime, but that's not enough to satisfy the Schuylkill County social workers. The ACLU hopes to persuade a court that the County has no business meddling with the family when it lacks evidence that the baby will be endangered.

The ACLU argues that officials in Pennsylvania have no right under state law to question Melissa WolfHawk about her unborn baby, and that DaiShin WolfHawk should not be punished further. "There's just no evidence in this case that Mr. WolfHawk has engaged in criminal acts against very young minors," said attorney Paula Knudsen. "And while the charges that were lodged against him in the early 1980s are not excusable, he certainly has paid his time for those crimes and has moved on."

A good read: Writer Leonce Gaiter of Bourbon Street:

Bennett's comments reminded me of a seminar I attended in LA years ago. The seminar was arranged by right wing freak David Horowitz....One of the speakers was Bill Bennett's wife, Elayne, discussing her Best Friends Foundation, which teaches abstinence education in the DC public schools.

She stood there, this white, bleach-blonde, faux Stepford horror, talking about teaching young black adolescent girls the joys of not f**king, and I couldn't help wonder what other lessons she taught as well. Here she was, the white woman come to save the colored girls from their racial predisposition toward moral looseness. The Great White Mother, preaching abstinence-only to girls who need to know the benefits of delaying sex until intellectual maturity, but who also desperately need to know how to protect themselves now -- should they choose otherwise.

by TChris

Bill Bennett now justifies his racist remarks as a "thought experiment" that proposed a deliberately racist hypothetical to illustrate its "noxious" nature. Bennett indeed proved that he has mastered the ability to think noxious thoughts, but his latest spin defies reason.

Bennett spoke in response to "a caller who suggested that Social Security would be in better financial shape if abortion were illegal, leaving more people to pay into the system." What fallacy in that suggestion does Bennett's response -- that "you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down" -- illuminate? The caller's hypothetical suggests that banning abortion would have a positive consequence, while Bennett argued that forcing abortion (but only with regard to black women) would also have a positive consequence. If this non sequitur was a "thought experiment," the experiment went badly awry.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Robert William Bennett two days ago proved he was a bigot as noted here. Not to be outdone by the controversy raging around him that he remains completely oblivious to, he goes to the friendly forum of FoxNews with Hannity & Colmes where the questions will be slow pitches he can hit out of the park. Instead, he leans into the pitch and gets beaned. For such a smart man, he sure can act like a dumbas*.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio program has an alleged 1.25M listeners. He is also the author of "The Book of Virtues." In this audio clip from yesterday's show, he proves he is a bigot. This was found on MediaMatters.org.

MSNBC carries a story about the outrage. The appalling transcript is below.

by Last Night in Little Rock

As the Chinese Proverb says: "May you live in interesting times." This has been an interesting week for the Republicans.

Waiting for the other shoe?

by Last Night in Little Rock

The protestors arrested outside the White House, including Cindi Sheehan, were subjected to "catch and release," according to Raw Story.

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) wrote to the Park Police Chief that the problem was that many were held in handcuffs for 12 hours, many were grandmothers and some were senior citizens, and they were released from a holding facility in Anacostia at 4:30 a.m., after the Metro stopped for the night, there were no taxicabs, and people were unfamiliar with the city to walk anywhere.

Legendary Nazi-hunter and fighter of anti-Semitism Simon Wiesenthal has passed away in Austria. He was 96.

From Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles:

"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier told The Associated Press. A survivor of five Nazi death camps, Wiesenthal changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.

by TChris

The nation's largest retailer is facing about 40 lawsuits alleging workplace violations. The first of those to go to trial alleges that Wal-Mart systematically denied its California workers the right to take a lunch break.

The case concerns a 2001 state law, which is among the nation's most worker friendly. Employees who work at least six hours must have a 30-minute, unpaid lunch break. If they do not get that, the law requires they are paid for an additional hour of pay.

Wal-Mart settled a similar suit in Colorado for $50 million.

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN.com reports that Pope Benedict XVI's envoy to the U.S. bring $6M in Catholic Charity aid said on Vatican radio "Many were struck by ... poverty, at times shameful, in rich America."