Dear Friends,
Shortly, President Obama is going to have to face two issues that he has been avoiding.
The New York Times reported today (here) that President Obama will speak out about guns in relation to the massacre in Tucson. The sources are not talking about what he will say just that he plans to speak on the subject. We should all put pressure on him to, at a minimum, throw his full throated support behind the bills introduced by Representative McCarthy and Senator Lautenberg in their respective houses of Congress. If he cannot even do that, it will be time to give up on him as any kind of a leader on this issue. Banning extended magazines, prohibiting people on the no-fly list from buying guns and closing the gun show loophole that permits guns to be purchased without any background check should be easy for any normal person to support.
The second issue is that two lawsuits are going to force President Obama to finally take a stand on gay marriage. The New York Times article today (here) explains the situation very well, but it goes like this. There are two cases which challenge the constitutionality of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. In previous challenges the Obama Administration has defended the constitutionality based in part on precedent in the circuits in which those cases arose. These two cases are in the Second Circuit that has no precedent so the Obama Administration should be telling the court how they think the court should approach the issue. There is clearly an opportunity for the Obama Administration to help the court rule that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. It will take an amount of courage that President Obama has been only summoned on a very few occasions. The oath of office that President Obama took was to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We should all encourage him to take a firm stand in favor of the Constitution and against bigotry and discrimination.
You can send emails to President Obama here. Do it!!
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Business as usual in the Senate
Dear Friends,
I am afraid that it is business as usual in the United States Senate. Yesterday, the group of mostly newer Democrats in the Senate dropped their effort to minimally reform the filibuster rules. The New York Times article (here) reported that they did so because they did not have the support necessary to change the rules. That means that even though all the Democrats in the Senate signed a letter saying that the filibuster rules needed to be changed, they were apparently unwilling to vote to change them. Any changes are now left to some hoped for compromise by the leadership of the two parties. I hope I am wrong, but the idea of Senators McConnell and Reid coming up with meaningful filibuster reform does not seem likely.
What is almost worse is that last night Senator Merkley (D-OR) appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and gave some incomprehensible explanation about some rules that had never been used before that were blocking the effort. It sounded like a cover up, and if reporting in The New York Times is correct, it was a cover up. See for yourself.
When will politicians actually tell us the truth and when will the change that we all supported and voted for actually happen?
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
I am afraid that it is business as usual in the United States Senate. Yesterday, the group of mostly newer Democrats in the Senate dropped their effort to minimally reform the filibuster rules. The New York Times article (here) reported that they did so because they did not have the support necessary to change the rules. That means that even though all the Democrats in the Senate signed a letter saying that the filibuster rules needed to be changed, they were apparently unwilling to vote to change them. Any changes are now left to some hoped for compromise by the leadership of the two parties. I hope I am wrong, but the idea of Senators McConnell and Reid coming up with meaningful filibuster reform does not seem likely.
What is almost worse is that last night Senator Merkley (D-OR) appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and gave some incomprehensible explanation about some rules that had never been used before that were blocking the effort. It sounded like a cover up, and if reporting in The New York Times is correct, it was a cover up. See for yourself.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Gun Control
Dear Friends,
As I pointed out yesterday, I was disappointed that President Obama did not mention anything about gun control in his State of the Union address. We need strong leadership from President Obama and others on this issue, if we are to make even baby steps of progress. Three items of interest about gun control from today's news.
First, on the good side, Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced three gun control measures in the Senate (here). Make sure to tell your Senators to join as co-sponsors. If they don't, make sure they are forced to explain why not. These are not radical measures. They are common sense measures: limit the size of ammunition magazines, deny people on the terrorist watch list the right to buy guns and close the loophole that permits people to buy guns at gun shows without a background check.
Second, on the bad side, the Minnesota House of Representative which is controlled by Republicans is starting a move to repeal the state's system of gun permits and background checks. Here is the article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Since the Republicans now control both the Minnesota House and Senate, they are likely to be successful, our only hope is that Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, will veto the legislation if it gets to him.
Third, Gail Collins in her column this morning in The New York Times (here) highlighted the fact that the Utah Legislature is considering a bill to make the Browning M1911 pistol the state firearm. What can I say?
Apparently, politicians have very short memories and have already forgotten about the massacre in Tucson. Make sure to remind both your state and federal elected officials that gun control is critical to the safety of the American people.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
As I pointed out yesterday, I was disappointed that President Obama did not mention anything about gun control in his State of the Union address. We need strong leadership from President Obama and others on this issue, if we are to make even baby steps of progress. Three items of interest about gun control from today's news.
First, on the good side, Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced three gun control measures in the Senate (here). Make sure to tell your Senators to join as co-sponsors. If they don't, make sure they are forced to explain why not. These are not radical measures. They are common sense measures: limit the size of ammunition magazines, deny people on the terrorist watch list the right to buy guns and close the loophole that permits people to buy guns at gun shows without a background check.
Second, on the bad side, the Minnesota House of Representative which is controlled by Republicans is starting a move to repeal the state's system of gun permits and background checks. Here is the article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Since the Republicans now control both the Minnesota House and Senate, they are likely to be successful, our only hope is that Governor Mark Dayton, a Democrat, will veto the legislation if it gets to him.
Third, Gail Collins in her column this morning in The New York Times (here) highlighted the fact that the Utah Legislature is considering a bill to make the Browning M1911 pistol the state firearm. What can I say?
Apparently, politicians have very short memories and have already forgotten about the massacre in Tucson. Make sure to remind both your state and federal elected officials that gun control is critical to the safety of the American people.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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