Oil spill politics may hurt both parties - Josh Gerstein and Carol E. Lee - POLITICO.com

Oil spill politics may hurt both parties - Josh Gerstein and Carol E. Lee - POLITICO.com: "alk about an I-told-you-so moment.

President Barack Obama was put on the defensive over oil Friday – as a fast-growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico forced the White House to reassure the public that Obama’s plans for expanded offshore drilling won’t proceed without a full review of this accident.

The spill gives fellow Democrats and environmentalists who objected to Obama’s plan a vivid piece of evidence to use against it, as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said the notion of expanded drilling is ‘dead on arrival’ on Capitol Hill.

But Republicans who are usually quick to criticize Obama have barely raised a peep over his handling of the crisis – even as the White House scrambles to deflect questions over why it took nine days to understand the full extent of the spill.

The Republican reticence is a sign that the political danger over the oil spill cuts both ways, especially for a party that made ‘drill baby drill’ a chant at its presidential convention. "

Massachusetts just passed the country's best anti-bullying law.

Massachusetts just passed the country's best anti-bullying law.: "In 1983, three teenage boys in northern Norway committed suicide. Before their deaths, they'd been seriously bullied by other kids. The country's Ministry of Education launched a national campaign against bullying in schools. The grandfather of bullying research, Dan Olweus, is Norwegian, and the campaign had his expertise behind it. The first prevention project involved 2,500 students from 42 schools, whom researchers followed for two and a half years. In the end, student and teacher reports of bullying fell by half. Kids were also stealing and fighting less, and students said their classes were more orderly and their relationships in school improved, according to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, now an international organization.

[more ...]

(Via Slate Magazine.)

Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer

Desmond Tutu: Arizona: The Wrong Answer: "Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu

1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Posted: April 29, 2010 09:24 PM
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Arizona: The Wrong Answer
"

(Via .)

Justice Alito's double standard for the First Amendment.

Justice Alito's double standard for the First Amendment.: "Since joining the Supreme Court in 2006, Justice Samuel Alito has been the main judicial roadblock to sensible campaign-finance laws. By equating money spent on elections with free speech and expression, in the name of the First Amendment, Justice Alito cast the deciding vote in a series of cases culminating with the Citizens United case opening the spigot for corporate money in elections. He authored a 5-4 decision emphatically rejecting the idea that campaign-finance limits could be justified as a means of preventing the wealthy from using their great resources to skew election outcomes and legislation. Indeed, he's twice gone out of his way to write separate opinions inviting future litigants to bring challenges to key Supreme Court precedents upholding campaign finance laws. At Wednesday's oral argument in Doe v. Reed, he alone sounded strident in opposing the disclosure of the names of people signing ballot measure petitions, on grounds that anonymity is part of the right of political expression. He sure sounds like a free-speech zealot

(Via Slate Magazine.)

Editorial - Stopping Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Stopping Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law - NYTimes.com: "

A fight is brewing over Arizona’s new law that turns all of the state’s Latinos, even legal immigrants and citizens, into criminal suspects. And this is not a local fight. The poison is spreading; there is talk in Texas of passing a version of the Arizona statute.

President Obama has called the law “misguided” and promised to keep an eye on it. But when racial separation finds a foothold in any of the 50 states, the president needs to do more than mildly criticize. He should act. Here’s a partial but urgent to-do list:

Poll: Stimulus didn't help

Poll: Stimulus didn't help: "Despite their pessimism, most Americans think the economy will either get better or stay the same.

(Via POLITICO Top Stories.)

Is Teacher Tenure Still Necessary?

Is Teacher Tenure Still Necessary?: "

Tenure has protected teachers against arbitrary dismissal for nearly a century. But some policymakers believe that it provides too much protection, making it difficult to get rid of ineffective teachers. The debate over whether it's time to do away with tenure is playing out in several states.

(Via NPR Topics: News.)

BBC News - Seoul's dilemma over sunken warship

BBC News - Seoul's dilemma over sunken warship



Page last updated at 02:52 GMT, Thursday, 29 April 2010 03:52 UK
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Seoul's dilemma over sunken warship


The Cheonan sank after an as yet unexplained blast on 26 March

By John Sudworth
BBC News, Seoul

Since the end of World War II only two navies, the British and the Pakistani, are known to have used a submarine to sink a battleship.
Now though there appears to be growing evidence that North Korea's underwater fleet may have become the third.
The 26 March sinking of the Cheonan, with 40 lives lost and six men still missing, is certainly a South Korean military disaster.
But it has the potential to become much more than that. (more)

If Democrats are doomed in November, why is it Republicans who are freaking out?

If Democrats are doomed in November, why is it Republicans who are freaking out?: "Before and after health care reform became law late last month, it was widely predicted that Democrats would pay dearly for the bill's supposed extremism. 'They put red bandanas on their head, took a drink of sake, and went out on what I believe will be a kamikaze mission,' said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., on March 22. Not all Democrats disagreed. As recently as April 16, Democratic pollsters Douglas Schoen and Patrick H. Caddell confidently pronounced health reform 'an incontrovertible disaster' leaving Republicans 'ripe to pick up major gains in both chambers this November.' And just last week conservatives turned cartwheels when a poll released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found the public's trust in government to be at its lowest point in half a century.

(Via Slate Magazine.)