Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Happy Mother's Day

post from Daily Kos on 13 May 2012 07:32:49 AM. © Daily Kos

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Visual source: Newseum

First, President Obama's Mother's Day Proclamation:

Mothers raise children under an array of circumstances, and many work long hours inside and outside the home balancing myriad demands. Mothers are leaders and trailblazers in every part of our society -- from classrooms to boardrooms, at home and overseas, on the beat and on the bench. We celebrate the efforts of all our Nation's mothers, and we recognize that when more households are relying on women as primary or co-breadwinners, the success of women in our economy is essential to the success of our families, our communities, and our country. That is why I created the White House Council on Women and Girls as one of my first acts in office -- to ensure we integrate the needs of women and girls into every decision we make. I was proud to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which continues to help women secure equal pay for equal work, and my Administration continues to promote workplace flexibility so no mother has to choose between her job and her child. And because of the Affordable Care Act, women finally have more power to make choices about their health care, and they have expanded access to a wide variety of preventive services such as mammograms at no additional cost.
Today, let us pay respect to mothers across America by embracing the women who continue to guide and inspire us, and by holding fast to the memories of those who live on in our hearts.

From the White House archives, take a look back and visit the Meet the Presidential Moms Gallery.

Now, on to the punditry...

Lisa Miller at The Washington Post:

This Mother?s Day, Obama?s declaration [of support for gay marriage] gives gay and lesbian couples, as well as interracial couples, infertile couples and single parents ? as well as every mother who fears she?s not doing it right ? a reason to rejoice. [...]
Today, 40 percent of births are to unmarried women and a third of children live in single-parent homes. Single-mother households, like the kind in which Obama grew up, may not be biblically approved, but they are increasingly the rule, not the exception.
The Bible?s wisdom may be eternal and its stories and teachings eternally mined for broad lessons about God?s justice and love. Together, the Hebrew Bible and the gospels emphasize family love and respect, fidelity in marriage and to God. The Scriptures teach about welcoming strangers and caring for the ?widows and orphans,? the weakest members of society.
Obama?s faith and his moral compass have pointed him to the inevitable conclusion: On the specifics of what constitutes a ?good? or ?right? kind of family, the Scriptures offer no guidance at all.

Meanwhile, at Liberty University...

Mitt Romney reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage yesterday in a commencement address at an evangelical Christian university aimed at energizing core Republican Party activists.
?Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman,? he told cheering, standing graduates of Lynchburg, Virginia-based Liberty University, a regular campaign stop for Republican presidential candidates since President Ronald Reagan visited it a month before Election Day in 1980. [...]
Romney senior strategist Eric Fehrnstrom said the speech was ?not a policy speech? and was meant to focus on the universal themes of family and faith.

At The Los Angeles Times, Nilmini Gunaratne Rubin writes of a dark chapter in our nation's history:

During her pregnancy, at age 30, [my mother] received care from one of Pullman's few obstetricians. She endured labor without drugs, and I was born healthy in 1972. Because fathers weren't allowed in the maternity ward overnight, my dad went back to their apartment when I was a few hours old.
As soon as he left, the doctor cut out my mom's uterus.
He didn't ask permission to perform the hysterectomy. In fact, he ignored her pleas. "There are too many colored babies already," he told her. Exhausted from labor, my mom was too weak to resist as she was wheeled into the operating room and put under anesthesia. On her medical record, the doctor wrote "exploratory" as the reason for the operation. The real reason, of course, was eugenics, the racist pseudoscience of human breeding.
My mom was not alone in her anguish. According to historian Mark Largent, more than 63,000 people were forcibly sterilized under eugenics-inspired official state programs in the U.S. between 1907 and 1980. [...] It was a horrifying exercise in genetic engineering. The intent was to strengthen the gene pool and reduce welfare rolls. The victims were usually women, including African Americans, Asians, Jews, Latinos, Native Americans, alcoholics, the disabled, epileptics, illiterates, the mentally ill, petty criminals, the poor, the promiscuous, rape victims and "anyone else who did not resemble the blond and blue-eyed Nordic ideal the eugenics movement glorified," as Edwin Black noted in his book "War Against the Weak."

On a different topic, and also at The Los Angeles Times, Doyle McManus looks at political ad spending:

I sent messages to the Koch brothers and all four directors last week asking if they were willing to disclose their contributions. The only reply came from a Koch Industries spokeswoman, who confirmed that David Koch and his company support AFP but offered no details.
To its credit, though, the organization's staff responded energetically ? and vigorously defended every allegation in their advertising.[...]
Not surprisingly, he disagreed with my contention that his donors' anonymity made it easier for the organization to play fast and loose with the facts. "The more incendiary and wild an ad is, the less credible," he said. "We didn't call President Obama a bad man."
And he said identifying his donors by name would "definitely have a chilling effect" on their freedom of speech, because they'd instantly become targets of anger from the left.

Joshua Stockley at The News Star:

[North Carolina's ban on civil unions and gay marriage] amendment could be used to strip child custody and visitation rights, property rights, end-of-life rights (wills, trusts, power of attorney), and health benefits to any unmarried partner relationship ? gay or straight. The hypocrisy is obvious. Republicans claim to be the party of small government, but the reality is that they're the party of using government when they see fit. When dealing with religious beliefs, Republicans talk about government staying out of the way. When it comes to personal choices dealing with relationships, what religion others follow, or choices about a women's body, small government rhetoric is pushed aside and intrusive government arrives with a vengeance.

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The Clash - London Calling

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 13 May 2012 07:00:42 AM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

Jamie Dimon probably loved hearing "London calling" in the last few weeks.Spring has finally arrived for more than a day which means this weekend is a cycling weekend. I ventured out along the Marne yesterday and it was packed full of people participating in the Festival d'Oh along the river. There were shuttle boats from outside towns that took people through the lock, to more festivities...

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Sunday Open Thread

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 13 May 2012 07:00:00 AM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

Keep fighting for animals by making compassionate,
cruelty-free choices every day and encouraging
those around you to do the same.

Bea Arthur

Born May 13, 1926

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Justice For the Rich, But Not On Them

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 13 May 2012 07:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @KYYellowDog

If a homeless person cut down just one of those trees to build a lean-to and make a small fire, that person would be in prison for the rest of his life.

Why is Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder walking free?

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money:

Rain makes trees grow, but only if they're planted. This new book asserts that after chopping down public-easement trees to improve his mansion's view of the Potomac River, Chainsaw Dan Snyder tried to ruin the career of the National Park Service ranger who blew the whistle. Click "media kit" for a summary of the allegations. Your columnist has no way of knowing whether the book's charges are true. It is known that a 2006 federal report found Snyder had "undue influence" at the Park Service.
The clear-cutting happened in 2004. After being caught, Chainsaw Dan promised to replant. Seven years later, no new trees. Since saplings take a decade to acquire height, years of putting off the replanting assured Chainsaw Dan of a long period of unobstructed view. If an average person cut down Park Service trees, there would be immediate retribution. When a wealthy person does the same, the government goes lapdog.

If you want to know how we got to this point, read Glenn Greenwald's "With Liberty and Justice for Some."

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No Excuse for losing $2 Billion

post from Where Is The Outrage? on 13 May 2012 06:42:54 AM. © Where Is The Outrage?

In spite of what some people will tell you, the reason that we are in the Great Recession, the reason that millions of Americans are out of work, the reason there was a downturn in our economy was because of irresponsible recklessness on Wall Street. The folks on Wall Street will have you believe that

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Three Dog Night

post from Where Is The Outrage? on 13 May 2012 06:29:58 AM. © Where Is The Outrage?

Now this is a really fun tune - Mama Told me not to come by Three Dog Night. Artist: Three Dog Night Tune: Mama Told Me not to Come

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Railroaded for 126 years

post from The Politics of Jamie Sanderson on 13 May 2012 05:01:01 AM. © The Politics of Jamie Sanderson

"In our search for wealth and prosperity, we created something that's gonna destroy us."
~ Robert Monks

When the Supreme Court decided for corporations in the Citizens United v FEC case, it elevated the doctrine of "corporate personhood" to new heights. Hundreds of thousands of people now know what those words mean.

But as awful as Citizens United is, corporate personhood wasn't created with that case. Corporate Personhood was concocted by corporate lawyers 126 years ago.
On May 10, 1986 in the Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad case, the Court is said to have given corporations their first foothold in the Constitution.
In the case, corporations argued they are protected under the 14th amendment ? the amendment passed to ensure equal protection of African Americans after slavery was abolished. Since then, there has been case after case in which the Court expanded the Constitutional "rights" of corporations.

Fortunately, we?re not as stupid as corporate America thinks we are.
Move To Amend is leading the Constitutional amendment charge ? educating and organizing to stop corporate personhood in its track. Among the many resources and tools we offer, is the Motion to Amend. Our goal is to surpass 500,000 signatures this year, and to hit the 250,000 mark by the end of May. Help us reach our goal; please share the link to the motion your networks and urge them to sign our petition.

Move To Amend is not anti-corporate, we?re against corporations claiming the same inherent rights as human beings. Check out this timeline; it outlines the Supreme Court decisions, which have expanded rights over the centuries. You?ll find the Supreme Court sides with corporations much more frequently than it expands rights to human beings.

For our democracy to flourish, to become more perfect, it requires that every one of us, in whatever community in which we reside, to stand up, join together, and move to amend the Constitution to eradicate the doctrine of corporate personhood. If we do not, then as Robert Monks suggests, we will certainly be destroyed.

On this anniversary of Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad, will you do your part for real democracy by finding ten people to sign the Motion to Amend? If everyone on our list collects 10 signatures we would reach over a million people!

Yours for democracy,

Ashley Sanders, Ben Manski, Daniel Lee, David Cobb, Egberto Willies, Jerome Scott, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Laura Bonham, Leesa "George" Friday, Nancy Price, Stephen Justino

Move to Amend Executive Committee

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Sunday Talking Heads: May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day MOM! Got you tickets for a show.[...]

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Sherrod Brown: Join the fight for Paycheck
Fairness

It is astounding to me that in a year that begins with a ?2?, women in this country only earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.

In Washington they call it the gender wage gap. I call it a major problem.

In the Senate, we?re trying to close this gap with a piece of legislation called the Paycheck Fairness Act -- a law designed to help make paycheck equality a reality for everyone.

This is a critically important bill that needs to be passed now. But, in the latest exciting installment of their anti-women sideshow, far right members of the Senate are prepared to oppose it.

That?s why I?m joining forces with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Ben Cardin, Debbie Stabenow, Bob Menendez, and Maria Cantwell to urge immediate passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. But in order to get this done, we need your help.

We?re circulating a petition telling the Senate GOP to stop playing politics with the financial security of women and their families. Click here to sign on today.

There are 6.3 million households in the United States headed by working single mothers. Millions more rely on women as the sole or co-breadwinners. To them, the gender pay gap is not just a woman?s issue -- it is a family issue, and a huge strain on the financial security of middle class families everywhere.

This is the 21st century -- it?s time our equal pay policies reflected that. There is absolutely no reason why full-time, working women should make less than full-time, working men in this country.

Paycheck fairness is going to be a front-and-center issue in Washington in the coming weeks. My colleagues and I are doing everything we can. We?re only missing one thing -- you.

We need to show the right wing that our network stands strong behind paycheck fairness. Click here to sign now.

Women?s financial security is too important to play politics with. Sign on today to help us fight for Paycheck Fairness now.

Thank you for your help.

Sherrod

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