Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

07 Feb 2012 20:41

tags

Politics: Tuesday primaries, caucuses not really all that super. … zzzzzz

  • Currently watching the results from the biggest primary day of the season thus far. That doesn’t mean much, though. In Missouri’s non-binding primary (which means that the results of the primary will have no effect on how delegates will be decided next month, i.e. it means nothing), it’s a fairly close race between Romney and Santorum, and the two caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado are happening tonight, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 18:30

tags

Politics: Some important nuance regarding Proposition 8

  • A quick note about today’s prop 8 ruling: While the court did rule in favor of gay marriage, the court did not assert that gay marriage is a fundamental or constitutional right. That’s not the angle the court was coming from, and in fact, it intentionally deferred answering that question. Rather, the ruling rested on two assertions. One, the notion that US Constitution requires a “legitimate reason” for states to pass laws that treat “different classes of people differently.” Two, the fact that “under California statutory law, same-sex couples had all the rights of opposite-sex couples, regardless of their marital status.” Because of this fact, Proposition 8 serves only and exclusively to “lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.” The court ruled that this isn’t “legitimate reason,” and therefore, is unconstitutional. As we’ll explain later, this nuance has significant implications for future court rulings. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 16:32

tags

U.S.: Bashar al-Assad knows a thing or two about easy-to-remember passwords

  • 12345 Assad’s password; go check his e-mail source
  • » The second-most-common password online: Anonymous had an easy time hacking the Syrian president’s e-mail Monday, finding that the password was as easy as QWERTY (except one line up on the keyboard). Many of the 78 accounts at the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs had this porous password. Among the finds? An e-mail prepping Assad for his interview with Barbara Walters, where he infamously denied involvement in the killing of his own citizens. Read more about the incident over at Haaretz. (ht Mashable)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 15:23

tags

Politics: The Obama campaign promotes their Super PAC, with a disclaimer

  • The President opposed the Citizens United decision. … He continues to support a law to force full disclosure of all funding intended to influence our elections, a reform that was blocked in 2010 by a unanimous Republican filibuster in the U.S. Senate. And the President favors action—by constitutional amendment, if necessary—to place reasonable limits on all such spending. But this cycle, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands.
  • Obama campaign manager Jim Messina • From a blog post on BarackObama.com, titled “We Will Not Play by Two Sets of Rules.” In it, Messina attempts to explain why the Obama campaign, despite stated opposition to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling (and ostensibly Super PACs themselves), will be playing the same Super PAC game as the GOP candidate this year. This strikes us as a hard sell, especially to independents — saying President Obama needs to use a corrupted system in the hopes of ending said system doesn’t seem like an argument that would have much appeal to those not already extremely trusting of his administration. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:59

tags

U.S.: South Carolina AG sues Justice Department over voter ID law

  • then The U.S. Justice Department blocked enforcement of a new law in South Carolina, which would have required government issued photo identification in order to vote at one’s polling place; Justice says the law would have inordinately disenfranchised minority voters.
  • now The attorney general of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, has sued the Justice Department, hoping to get it overturned. The Republican Party has supported the law as anti-voter fraud, with many Democrats opposed, saying it amounts to voter suppression. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:55

tags

U.S.: CDC: majority of Americans’ salt comes from bread

  • Too much salted dough? A report by the Center for Disease Control claims the majority of salt in the American diet comes from bread consumption. You might find this surprising, especially considering evidently high-salt items like potato chips rank far lower on the list (tenth, in fact). The CDC attributes this to people’s willingness to overindulge in those sorts of foods, which despite a lower salt content in general can smuggle a high sodium total into the body. Salt intake for an otherwise healthy adult is advised at no more than 2,300 milligrams per day, but the average American consumes 1000 milligrams more than that. (Photo by Charles Haynes) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:43

tags

Politics: Human Rights Organization Calls Out NOM in Minnesota

  • What NOM and its allies are doing in Minnesota is shockingly bold.
  • Human Rights Campaign’s Kevin Nix • Commenting on allegations that the Minnesota branch of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) skirted campaign finance laws in a series of emails directing contributions to the Minnesota Family Council. John Helmberger, chairman of NOM, is also the acting head of the Minnesota Family Council, a non-profit organization that backs NOM and is not required to disclose its donors. source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Feb 2012 14:17

tags

About: New writer at ShortFormBlog: Manic, Chill’s Scott Craft

  • Greetings Internet! My name is Scott Craft, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be joining the amazing team here at SFB as a weekend contributor. A bit about me: I’m an IT professional, native Texan, and current Denver resident who you will rarely spot without headphones. An avid fan of hip hop, in my spare time I blog about music, being bipolar, politics, and more at my personal blog “Manic, Chill“. Now back to the news you care about, in the shortest form possible!
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:05

tags

Politics: California’s gay marriage ban, Prop. 8, struck down by court panel

  • Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.
  • The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals • On today’s 2-1 panel ruling, which overturned California’s gay marriage ban on constitutional grounds. This is a validation of a previous ruling against Proposition 8 back in August 2010, made by now retired Judge Vaughn Walker. ProtectMarriage, the group that backed Proposition 8, still has legal recourse, however; they can seek the ruling of a larger 9th Circuit panel, or try to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The likely “swing vote” in that case is thought to be Justice Kennedy, who could therefore occupy the unusual position of holding millions of people’s future marriages and families in his hands. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 10:20

tags

Politics: Biden pitches affordable education plan to Florida college students

  • The single most significant thing we can do is have the best educated population in the world. It literally is the thing, the key that leads to everything else from our economic security to our physical security.
  • Vice President Joe Biden • Speaking at Florida State University about America’s education. Biden said in his speech that he wants to make education in America more affordable, citing his own experience with higher education, in which his father was initially denied for a loan. Biden ended up going anyway, eventually getting a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware, a law degree from Syracuse and a spot in the White House.  Biden says the Obama administration won’t waver from its goal of providing better education, while at the same time making it more affordable for more parts of society. Biden’s a bit up against it, though: His visit to Florida comes as the state legislature plans to vote on statewide tuition hikes. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>