PFAW: This Week: Constitution - 2, Bush Administration - 0
People for the American Way writes ...
The Constitution and all Americans had great victories this week!
Today brought a major victory for the rule of law –and a stunning defeat for the Bush Administration. Ruling 5-3 in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court’s determination that military detainees are not entitled to fundamental due process rights including the right to be present at their trials and the right to confront witnesses against them. The hallmark of American justice and that of most civilized nations is that everyone is entitled to a fair trial, and today’s ruling sends a strong signal to the president that his administration cannot continue to ignore the rule of law.
People For the American Way Foundation filed an amicus brief in the case.
Flag Amendment Defeated!
Congratulations. Tuesday night, the Senate voted to reject the Flag Desecration Amendment by one vote. We were just one vote away from changing our Constitution to curtail rights rather than expand them.
Thank you for all you hard work in fighting to protect our First Amendment freedoms.
Another victory and renewed momentum on the reauthorization of key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
Yesterday, a band of renegade GOP House members' effort to undermine critical portions of the Act by imposing what Congressman Lewis (D-GA) called a "modern day literacy test" was soundly defeated.
People For the American Way, and our growing coalition of progressive allies NAACP, ACLU, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO and the NEA, have collected over 35,000 petition signatures in just the past 5 days calling on Congress to immediately renew the Voting Rights Act. Today we head to Capitol Hill to deliver those signatures.
The momentum is building and we must not let up until the Voting Rights Act is renewed.
Please ask your family and friends to add their name to the rolls of the thousands of Americans already demanding Congress renew the Voting Rights Act. Sign the petition here: www.SaveTheVotingRightsAct.org. If you've already signed, forward this email to a friend and urge them to sign.
Let's ensure voting rights for future generations -- Help us get the VRA renewed today.
Thanks for your stalwart activism.
Stay tuned for more updates and more ways for you to take action. Thank you for your continued support and for standing with us in the fight for an America that lives up to American values.
Yours,
Ralph G. Neas
President
People For the American Way
Washington Post: Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals
According to the
Washington Post ...
Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans.
"Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," the Illinois Democrat said in remarks to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty.
He's certainly taking a leadership role in the party. This is a message that needs to be said. Democrats can't keep up this "religion and politics are totally separate" message and expect to influence the vast numbers of religious people - especially those who, at one time in the past, considered themselves supporters of the Democratic Party.
Obama said millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews have traveled similar religious paths, and that is why "we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse. ... In other words, if we don't reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons will continue to hold sway."
A tip of the hat to
Street Prophets.
NYT: Anglican Plan Threatens Split on Gay Issues
The
New York Times (free registration required) reports ...
In a defining moment in the Anglican Communion's civil war over homosexuality, the Archbishop of Canterbury proposed a plan yesterday that could force the Episcopal Church in the United States either to renounce gay bishops and same-sex unions or to give up full membership in the Communion.
The archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, said the "best way forward" was to devise a shared theological "covenant" and ask each province, as the geographical divisions of the church are called, to agree to abide by it.
Provinces that agree would retain full status as "constituent churches," and those that do not would become "churches in association" without decision-making status in the Communion, the world's third largest body of churches. ...
CUUMBAYA: The one thing the UUA does that no one else does
CUUMBAYA notes ...
The one thing the UUA does that no other mainstream organization in America does is welcome those who do not worship the God of Abraham.
I like that. Both its message and its ease of understanding.
The Changing Institution of Marriage
About Atheism quotes from
Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America ...
Just an off-the-cuff list of fundamental changes to marriage would include not only divorce and property reform but also the abolition of polygamy, the fading of dowries, the abolition of childhood betrothals, the elimination of parents’ right to choose mates for their children or to veto their children’s choices, the legalization of interracial marriage, the legalization of contraception, the criminalization of marital rape (an offense that wasn’t even recognized until recently), and of course the very concept of civil marriage.
Surely it is unfair to say that marriage may be reformed for the sake of anyone and everyone except homosexuals, who must respect the dictates of tradition.
People's Movements, People's Press
New from Beacon Press:
People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements by Bob Ostertag.
America has a long history of protest and rebellion. In People's Movements, People's Press, Bob Ostertag recounts the history of the alternative print media that has arisen out of five social movements—abolition, woman suffrage, environmental, gay liberation, and Vietnam antiwar. By telling the story of the newspapers and magazines of these movements, the author shows the power of the written word to mobilize activists behind a political cause.
Ostertag provides a kind of people's history of these social movements by explaining the effect that these publications have had on both the writers and their readership. The newspapers and journals were lively forums in which to argue, express enthusiasm or frustration, mobilize, and educate. People's Movements, People's Press saves these publications, some with print runs of only a few hundred, from being forgotten by a new generation of readers and activists. Ostertag also chronicles the rise of well-known publications like The Liberator, Sierra, and the Advocate.
Concise, accessible, and appropriately urgent, People's Movements, People's Press is an important book of journalism history as well as a call to arms for young activists ready to change their world.
"[A] wonderful book and a delightful read that deserves the attention of all who care about journalism and social justice."
—Eric Alterman, author of What Liberal Media?
"This is a piece of our history that everyone concerned about the past and future of our democracy needs to know."
—Eric Foner, author of The Story of American Freedom
Rep. John Murtha: straight talker
Just got an automated email from the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee over the name of Rep. John Murtha. He tells at as he sees it ...
To all the Republicans who sit in their air-conditioned offices and talk of the courage it takes for them to keep young kids in harm's way - I say enough. Karl Rove talking about "cutting and running" while he sits on his big, fat backside-saying "stay the course." I say enough! That's not a plan! We've got to have a new direction, and it's clear we need more Democrats in Congress to get that done.
No matter how obvious the mistakes in Iraq become, or how many Americans get fed up, Republicans in Congress and the White House will label you a traitor to your country if you stand up and question them.
I'm not naïve enough to think it won't be an issue in the election year but accusing people of being unpatriotic cheats good Americans out of any chance for a real resolution to the mess in Iraq. And while this issue of war is neither a Democratic nor a Republican one, the need for new leadership in the House is clearly an issue.
While the Republicans have been busy name calling, the situation in Iraq has only gotten worse. The insurgency has grown exponentially. IED attacks, where our troops are sitting ducks for an enemy they can't even see, have increased steadily. And the patience of the American people for this flawed policy is running out.
We need to put an end to these outrageous attacks on people who disagree with Bush and his Rubber Stamp Republican Congress's "sit and watch" plan for Iraq. My colleagues in the House Democratic leadership are so committed to winning a Democratic majority that they have offered to match all contributions that come in from before midnight on June 30th.
With a Democratic majority, we would have an honest debate about the war. The American people's concerns and opposition would be recognized.
Double Your Impact Now With a Matched Gift and Help Win a Democratic Majority.
Last week, during the House floor debate, I hoped the Republicans would have realized that the majority of the American people do not support this war. I hoped that they would have recognized that the American people need more from their government than a Republican Congress that asks no questions and demands no answers. But that didn't happen, and it's clear we need a Democratic majority to chart a new course.
When I offered a concrete plan to get our troops out of harm's way, where they have become the target, I didn't expect every member of Congress or every candidate to agree with my specific proposal in this debate. But I did expect them to acknowledge that there is more to be done than sitting and watching.
Double Your Impact Now With a Matched Gift and Help Win a Democratic Majority.
The single most important thing you can do right now as a supporter of the DCCC is make a contribution.
Thank you for all your help, it's so important.
Sincerely,
Jack Murtha
Member of Congress, Pennsylvania's 12th District
P.S. I hope you will join me in my fight. Our candidates have to be able to fight back against the Rove Machine's traitor talk in order to start getting Congress to move towards finding real solutions. We need a Democratic majority to change the direction in Iraq. Contribute before midnight on June 30th and your contribution will be matched, doubling your impact towards winning a Democratic majority.
Respectful of Otters: The Only Good Abortion
Respectful of Otters
discusses a June 26 New Yorker piece about the referendum drive to overturn South Dakota's abortion ban. She talks about a point in the article that's always bothered me about some anti-abortion laws - those that say it's illegal except for rape and incest, and the life of the mother ...
A person who professes to be pro-life but insists on a rape-and-incest exception (which covers most pro-life politicians in this country, including President Bush) is saying one of two things: either it is justifiable to kill children in some circumstances, or what grows in a woman's uterus is a child if the woman had sex voluntarily but not if she was forced into it. [...]
From a simple logical perspective, I would think anti-abortionists (which I am not) should be anti-abortion in all circumstances. Otherwise, their stand just doesn't make sense except from a political point of view.
Reignite: Taking back the Word
Stephen Lingwood (a British Unitarian) says "
Here's something fantastic about Unitarianism: we're reingaging with the Bible."
He ends by saying
Previously Unitarians would have been embarrassed by stories like Jesus walking on water, and would try to explain them away or edit them out (a la Thomas Jefferson). But today we're seeing these stories as deeply important and worth engaging in. This offers a real alternative to fundamentalism, which is something to be celebrated.
I think that's a Good Thing for American UUs to do.
Randall Balmer: Thy Kingdom Come
Randall Balmer is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of American Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, and a visiting professor at Yale University Divinity School. His new book,
Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament, discusses a new generation of evangelical leaders who have hijacked the Christian faith on behalf of the Republican Party. Amazon says
For much of American history, evangelicalism was aligned with progressive political causes. Nineteenth-century evangelicals fought for the abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, and public education. But contemporary conservative activists have defaulted on this majestic legacy, embracing instead an agenda virtually indistinguishable from the Republican Party platform. Abortion, gay marriage, intelligent design--the Religious Right is fighting, and winning, some of the most important political battles of the twentyfirst century. How has evangelical Christianity become so entrenched in partisan politics?
Randall Balmer is both an evangelical Christian and a historian of American religion. Struggling to reconcile the contemporary state of evangelical faith in America with its proud tradition of progressivism, Balmer has headed to the frontlines of some of the most powerful and controversial organizations tied to the Religious Right. With a skillful combination of grassroots organization, ideological conviction, and media savvy, the leaders of the movement have mobilized millions of American evangelical Christians behind George W. Bush's hard-right political agenda.
Deftly combining ethnographic research, theological reflections, and historical context, Balmer laments the trivialization of Christianity--and offers a rallying cry for liberal Christians to reclaim the noble traditions of their faith.
Boston Globe: A military draft might awaken us
A
piece by Joan Vennochi says "Reinstate the military draft and see how quickly the United States ends its war in Iraq."
... If we feared our children were next up to be gutted like fish, we might be less likely to shake our heads at crazy antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. If turning 18 meant your kid's boots on the ground, a resolution to pull troops out of Iraq by a certain date might grab more than six votes in the US Senate. ...
UU Summer Vacation
Now begins Unitarian Universalist summer vacation, that quaint custom of believing UUs need the beach more than they need an un-air conditioned church building in which spiritual reflection is being offered and accepted. Except for the services that are lay-led, of course.
Perhaps. I suppose "suffering is good for the soul" is un-UU on several levels.
Peacebang: Clarification and Musings on Moral Authority
Once again, the Rev. Peacebang posts thoughts that sometimes make me simply want to point my domain name to hers and be done with it.
To me, the first point of breakdown -- and an absolutely astonishing one because it's so unintentionally comic -- is when someone says, for instance, "How shall we share the good news of this religion?" and a thousand people scream, "This is not a religion! Religion is BAD and I want no part of it! And what is this 'good news' thing!!? I left that behind at Bible camp!" ...
... Every religious person I've ever met wants to know this about UUs:
if we're a non-theistic religious organization, whence do we derive our moral authority to make all the public statements we make and to do all the public ministry we do?
Don't we understand that the rest of the religious world claims (for better or for worse, and often for worse!) that their authority comes from God? If we are not going to make the same claim, we are under sacred obligation to declare whence we derive our moral authority in such terms as other people of faith can understand them. ...
Bill Sinkford Responds to Senate's Rejection of the Federal Marriage Amendment
Unitarian Universalist Association President William G. Sinkford issued the following statement today following a vote in the US Senate which rejected a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment:
The latest effort to amend the United States constitution to deny loving couples the rights and responsibilities of marriage is a blatant attempt to write discrimination into our democracy's foundational document. This attack on American couples and families exposes the increasingly cynical efforts by the extreme right to divert the country's attention from far more vital issues. The resounding failure of this proposed amendment is a testimony to the enduring power of the constitution, which has never been altered with the express intent to deny equal protection to an entire class of citizens. May it never be used as a weapon against any of "we the people," but instead be preserved in sacred trust as a guarantee of freedom and liberty for all Americans.
This amendment was a shameful attempt to divide the American people. I am thankful to the thousands of Unitarian Universalists across the country who have borne witness to our liberal religious values and raised their voices to defeat this amendment and affirm that we are in fact one people.
Stephen Colbert's commencement address at Knox College
Stephen Colbert covered a
wide variety of topics in his commencement speech, including immigration ...
... And when you enter the workforce, you will find competition from those crossing our all-too-porous borders. Now I know you’re all going to say, “Stephen, Stephen, immigrants built America.” Yes, but here’s the thing—it’s built now. I think it was finished in the mid-70s sometime. At this point it’s a touch-up and repair job. But thankfully Congress is acting and soon English will be the official language of America. Because if we surrender the national anthem to Spanish, the next thing you know, they’ll be translating the Bible. God wrote it in English for a reason! So it could be taught in our public schools. ...
CUUMBAYA: Why a conservative should support marriage equality
CUUMBAYA says there's
3 reasons:
- Individual liberty
- Economics
- Social factors
Gosh, I'm lovin' these polls
CBS News reports ...
President Bush has been named as the worst president since the end of the World War II in a new national poll. ...
Loving v. Virginia
As long as George W. wants an anti-gay marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution, wouldn't it be consistent of him to support the repeal of
Loving v Virginia?
Loving v. Virginia is a case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restriction on marriage in the United States.
A tip of the hat to Street Prophets.
Cracking down on illegal immigrants 'cept when we need them
The
New York Times (registration required) reports that, once again, we might have to postpone getting rid of illegal immigrants because we really need them ...
The debate over immigration, which has filtered into almost every corner of American life in recent months, is now sweeping through the woods, and the implications could be immense for the coming fire season in the West.
As many as half of the roughly 5,000 private firefighters based in the Pacific Northwest and contracted by state and federal governments to fight forest fires are immigrants, mostly from Mexico. And an untold number of them are working here illegally. ...
Peacebang: Ideals vs lived reality
I always look forward to reading postings by the Rev. Peacebang, none so much as those which, more eloquently, speak to what I strongly feel. (But I learn from those which I may not totally agree with.)
This posting falls into the former category ...
... Oy vey. We constantly mistake our ideals of tolerance, compassion and open-heartedness for a lived reality of tolerance and love. As of yet, they are ideals. They are principles. They are not the reality in most of our churches. One of the greatest, most destructive sins of the current UU movement is that we actually think we are living out our professed ideals, and worse yet, we think we're actually doing a better job of living out our ideals than mainstream Christians are doing at living out theirs. What a tragic misconception. We are not. What we are doing is making sure that we attract and truly include only those people whose attitudes, proclivities and preferences are exactly like ours, and then collectively congratulating ourselves at how well we're doing as a vibrant religious faith. ...
