Plunderbund

I didn’t hear much about this yesterday, but there was a hearing before the Senate subcommittee looking into the UT mine disaster last month. More evidence of how pathetic the Bush Administration is…and I agree with the president of the United Mineworkers (full disclosure: this is another union my company works with) that SOMEONE […]

A federal judge yesterday knocked down some provisions of the Patriot Act.
A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing “national security letters” that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that […]

No comment needed except… 1) Wow! and 2) It will be interesting to see how this story will play out alongside the presidential primary election cycle. Surely there will be a hailstorm of commentary on that over the next few days.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa’s law banning gay marriage and ordered the county recorder to permit gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied at the Polk County recorder’s office for a marriage license, and for the first time the application was accepted. The process of granting a license to marry in Iowa takes three days.

When I finally got close to the front of the line at my polling place in 2004, a pollworker told me to cover my T-shirt. It had the words “Vote Explosion” on it.

Seeing as I had nothing to cover it with and had just spent 3 hours in line, I politely pointed out that there was no partisanship expressed by the shirt. Vote Explosion was just a loose group of friends registering folks to vote at rock shows. She replied that they were trying to avoid even the slightest possible implication of impropriety.

OK, fair enough. Polling places are supposed to be inner sanctums of nonpartisanhip. Neither voters nor pollworkers may wear political shirts, stickers, or buttons within a 100 foot radius. Although the words “Vote Explosion” aren’t explicitly partisan, neither are the words “Eagle Forum” or “MoveOn.” I think it was a wise move to err on the side of overzealousness, and simply prohibit T-shirts bearing all of the above.

The guy behind me in line loaned me his sweatshirt, and I was able to step forth to express my partisanship in the privacy of the voting booth. As an ongoing tribute of thanks to sweatshirt guy, ever since that day I’ve stowed an extra large, plain T-shirt in my purse whenever I go to vote - just in case a fellow voter is asked to cover up.

Until I read Monday’s Columbus Dispatch, it had never occurred to me that I might someday want to offer my spare shirt to a pollworker.

In the ol’ mailbag yesterday:
Just months after beginning his inventory of underused state properties, Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray joined Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman and City Council members to cross a significant site off the list and help bring nearly $200,000 dollars into state coffers.
A […]

Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona appeared Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, charging that top Bush administration officials silenced him in his public health reports. According to Carmona, during his four-year term (2002-2006) he was not allowed to speak or issue reports regarding stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or […]

It’s been seven long years, but over the weekend Rage Against The Machine played the Coachella festival out in California. They’ve got a few other planned dates… but might they be encouraged to write new music?
I hope so.
Bonus bootleg footage after the jump.

It’s good to see Tony back to work. Hopefully his treatment will put him on the road to permanent recovery.
DAVIDSON, N.C. –White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who will soon begin chemotherapy to fight a cancer recurrence, told fellow alumni at Davidson College that he feels great and plans to return to […]