Political Heat

What does Memorial Day mean for you? For too many of us, it's just another day off. Some might go to a parade, others might enjoy some other festivities ( Brat Fest comes to mind). That's fine, and perfectly acceptable. But please, take some time out this weekend to remember a soldier whose life has affected you in some way. This past week, the war in Afghanistan saw its 1,000 U.S. casualty. The milestone may seem small to some -- the Iraq war has seen more than four times that number -- but we seem to forget the enormous sacrifice that our soldiers give when we put things into numbers. Each life that is lost is another story, another tale of a person with tremendous spirit, humility, and bravery, who has given their life to defend the nation they love. Imagine the feeling you'd have at losing a brother or a sister, a mother or a father, because of this war. That feeling is multiplied thousands of times over for countless family and friends of soldiers who have given thei...

Good Christians don't act this way. A christian rock organization that has been prominent in national politics (being hailed, for example, by far-right politicians like Michelle Bachmann ) has condemned the homosexual acts of gay and lesbian Americans. That's nothing new: far-right groups like these have been doing that for years, and will continue to do so for years to come. What's terrible about this group is that it is applauding and encouraging the belief that homosexuality should be punishable by death . "Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America," says Bradlee Dean, head of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide , the organization in question. He added, "This just shows you they themselves [Muslims] are upholding the law that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian god, but they seem to be more moral than the American Christians do because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination....

If a company is able to prevent a disaster by spending a significantly small portion of its profits, should they feel obligated to do so? Should that same company be held responsible for the damaging effects in the event of a manmade disaster happening as a result of the financial shortcuts that they took? These are the questions -- with seemingly obvious answers -- that we must ask ourselves in light of the oil rig disaster within the Gulf of Mexico. The company in question, BP, could have paid for a device that could have stopped oil flow in the event of a rig explosion. Two other countries, Norway and Brazil, require this device, commonly called an acoustic switch, which is triggered by sound waves. The United States does not require it. Requiring that this device be installed on all oil rigs would be a great start towards ensuring that this mess never happens again. The government must also regulate companies without granting exemptions on environmental concerns , making every eff...

Yesterday, the day before the Republican Party of Wisconsin's state convention, a crazy thing happened. The former chair for the Wisconsin State College Republicans switched sides, choosing to become a Democrat rather than aligning herself with a party that she considers too extreme. The former Chairperson and current Eau Claire Senior Lora Rae Anderson previously expressed concerns that the Republican Party in Wisconsin was "alienating a younger, more progressive" generation within the state. Anderson also expressed concerns over the GOP's rhetoric vs. action in the past, making the case that the Republicans were all talk. "Republicans complain a lot about taxes, but actions speak louder than words," she recently said, noting that, "under Democrats, Wisconsin's tax ranking dropped to its lowest level in almost 50 years." In fact, that's true for most of the country -- taxes haven't been this low for Americans since Truman was in offic...

Rand Paul is trying to explain his libertarianism. His recent comments on whether he'd have supported the Civil Rights Act if he were a legislator in 1964 (he wouldn't in the private sector) have gotten the Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky in a lot of trouble. He isn't a racist himself, he insists, but rather believes that the founding fathers' intent was to allow business owners the right to be. If their establishment wants to be prejudicial, then let them -- and if the market punishes them for it, that will be all the incentive they need to remedy things. In the public sphere, Paul would argue that the government must absolutely adhere to the guidelines of the Civil Rights Act. But in the private sector, the government shouldn't dictate how a private enterprise hires or serves people. It'd be great if things actually worked that way. But if this were how the system worked, Paul would effectively be advocating murder. That may be a harsh statement t...

Most of us are aware that Facebook groups can be used to take on a political cause. " One Million Strong for Barack Obama " is just one example of a political cause coinciding with a national movement on the popular social network. Even politicians now have Facebook pages, updating their statuses and sometimes causing political mayhem on the blogosphere. At the state level, another interesting social movement is developing. Dick Leinenkugel, a Republican candidate vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold for his U.S. Senate seat, is getting flack from some Facebook users who are encouraging a boycott of his family's brewery, Leinenkugel's. My first reaction to this idea was that it seemed kind of silly. Dick Leinenkugel isn't a direct part of the beer company -- his brother Jake runs most of the operations, and is quoted as saying, "Beer is beer, politics is politics -- I prefer beer." Not much of a fearful tone in that statement. Then I thought...

In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, CNN projects that Rep. Joe Sestak has ousted five-term incumbent, Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter. Also in Pennsylvania, CNN projects that Mark Critz will beat Tim Burns in a special election to fill the late Rep. John Murtha's seat. Though held by the Murtha for years, the district the Democrat represented was considered more conservative than anything else. The victory by Critz signals a strong rejection of hard-right views and a push for more mainstream progressive policies, at least in the district held by the late Congressman. Critz himself is no liberal -- he's pro-life and pro-Second Amendment -- but he is left of center in several other areas, including job creation and energy independence. Though other races are still going on, these victories by liberal candidates in the Senate primary and in Rep. Murtha's former seat are indicative, in my mind, of what we can expect come November. More Am...

A new AP poll released shows that more Americans prefer Democrats over Republicans in terms of who should control Congress following this November's midterm elections. Yet another poll shows that Americans want to allow the health reforms passed earlier this year to take effect rather than have it repealed altogether, an idea Congressional Republicans have been promoting since its passage this spring. Most Americans still are upset with incumbents: only about a third would even return their own member of Congress to Washington. But the shift in party preferences shows that Americans still reject the policies of hard-right conservatism. They may not always agree 100 percent with what the Democrats have to offer, but they still prefer a slight move to the left rather than the hard-right turn that the GOP is offering them. Yet another sign of a voting public that rejects the party of "no."

Every once in awhile, I like to blog on non-specific subjects -- not something that's necessarily current events, but rather an abstract thought or theory that has been running in my head for the past couple of days. With that in mind, I want to talk about rights. Everyone loves rights. We all know them (or at least pretend to): most of our rights are protected in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, aptly titled the Bill of Rights. These rights include various protections that are granted to the people not by the government but by a common creator (whether you believe that to be a specific deity or nature itself is up to you) that has made all men and women equals. There are no kings, nor classes of people, who are deemed more worthy of protection in terms of rights protected by the government (at least in theory). It is government's role not to create rights for its citizens but rather to protect the rights entrusted to them through a shared creator. But when we thin...

President Barack Obama has selected Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his pick for Supreme Court Justice, replacing the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens was considered the leader of the "liberal bloc" of justices on the Court, serving for over 30 years in that post. His retirement is a significant departure as a leading voice within the Supreme Court. Kagan comes with a stellar background, though none of it contains any real judicial experience. A former dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan took the reins of the prestigious academic institution amid growing tension among liberal and conservative professors, fostering an environment of understanding and cooperation among the feuding factions. Speaking to the group of conservative professors, Kagan told them that she was herself a liberal. But she did emphasize that, despite her ideological differences, she wouldn't stifle the work of others she disagreed with simply because it didn't coincide with her views. In ...

The latest jobs report shows that the Obama administration's efforts to spend their way out of the recession -- despite conservative concerns over the method -- are paying off. Though unemployment numbers went up (attributed to a number of Americans who had given up now re-searching for employment), it appears that almost 300,000 new jobs were created in April. That's the largest increase in four years. Most of these jobs, too, have come from the private sector . If ever there was proof that the stimulus package was working, this is it. If these trends continue, the Democrats will have something strong to run on come November of this year.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is beside himself. He cannot understand how a federal loophole could allow terrorists who are on the no-fly list to still be able to purchase guns, ammunition, and explosives. Perhaps he should talk to some Republican lawmakers. Apparently, the right to bear arms, in their minds at least, extends even to those whom we deem the most dangerous with respect towards preserving our national security. Bloomberg thought the idea reprehensible, and told a Congressional committee recently that he had great difficulties coming to terms with it. “Shouldn’t FBI agents have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on terror watchlists, and [those] deemed too dangerous to fly?” he asked rhetorically . The New York City mayor, and independent, is absolutely right -- and in light of the recent terror plot that failed to come to fruition, thankfully, it would make sense to disallow these enemies of our country the right to purchase weapons and e...

With the 2010 midterm elections fast approaching (less than seven months away!), political insiders are predicting a resurgence of conservative politicians taking many seats back in Congress. This is actually more common than people like to admit -- Reagan, Bush I and Clinton all lost seats in Congress after their first midterm election. We shouldn't be too worried, then, as liberals if the Republicans take some seats away from us (the average is 32 seats in the House per first midterm election), but we should be concerned if they manage to take control of either house of Congress (only 35 seats needed in the House). We've seen what obstructionist tactics the GOP have used in the past year and a half, and we can only imagine what would happen if they were actually able to table every measure the president proposed through control of either the House or Senate. We cannot afford to lose pivotal ground this election year. Consider what we can expect if the GOP does win control of...