From Fannie Lou Hamer to Barack Obama

August 11, 2008

The Nation is proud to be sponsoring the Denver Public Library's "I Am the Library" project.

Here's the project's compelling new video created by the ultra-talented Audrey Sprenger:

Edwards Lied! Who Cares?

August 8, 2008

Yes, it's a disappointing surprise, especially to fans of his wife Elizabeth, that John Edwards has admitted that the National Enquirer got it right when it reported he'd been having an affair, and that his denials have been lies. But the important thing to remember, in my view, is that his sex life is none of our business. We're interested in him because of his public life. Yes, he lied but, to me, that's a part of who he is that has nothing to do with his policy work -- the aspect of his life that we should care about.

If we limit political office to only those few of us who have lead pure personal lives, we're going to limit the pool considerably. I think FDR was a pretty good president but he had multiple affairs. So did Martin Luther King, Jr and I think he would've made a great president.

As Kay Steiger of Campus Progress blogs, "He's a politician and his life is public, but his sex life is none of my concern. Making this public certainly doesn't help his family, which is already dealing with a difficult situation. Millions and millions of people have affairs every year. Why do we care about Edwards? Him cheating on his wife doesn't diminish the work he has done on poverty and health care." I agree.

Counter Terror With Justice

August 4, 2008

On June 12, the Supreme Court issued the landmark ruling Boumediene v. Bush, which affirmed that detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to the Constitutional right of habeas corpus--the fundamental right to challenge the legality of one's detention.

Though a tremendous victory for the rule of law, far more work must be done to ensure that the United States government halts torture and effectively ends Constitutionally-suspect detentions. When the Supreme Court ruled that detainees have the right to habeas corpus in the June 2006 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision, Congress responded by passing the Military Commissions Act -- an effort to diminish that right in practice. With approximately 270 detainees from approximately thirty countries currently at Guantanamo Bay, robust and sustained advocacy is critical to prevent Congress and the Bush Administration from once again circumventing the Supreme Court's judgment.

Enter Amnesty International USA's "Counter Terror With Justice Campaign." After joining the International Bar Association, the International Federation for Human Rights and the International Law Association to provide an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Supreme Court in the Boumediene proceedings, AI launched a multi-pronged advocacy program to stop torture, close Guantanamo and end the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Take Back the Tap

August 1, 2008

This video by Elizabeth Klein of the University of Cincinnati was the recent winner of the I *Heart* Tap Water Student Video Contest.

The contest is a part of Food & Water Watch's Take Back the Tap college campaign which encourages students to organize their campuses and communities to cut contracts with bottled water companies and promote the use of tap water. The case against bottled water is easy: Tap water is better for consumers' health, their pocketbooks, and the environment. Millions of barrels of oil are used to produce and transport plastic bottles annually, and in the end, 86 percent of the bottles end up in landfills.

Want Some Basic Human Dignity with that Burrito?

July 29, 2008

In recent years, Taco Bell and Burger King have foolishly resisted efforts by activists to marginally raise the piece rate they pay tomato pickers only to eventually buckle under the pressure of well-deserved bad press. Chipotle Mexican Grill seems to have learned nothing from their lessons.

Although Chipotle, the expanding Colorado-based restaurant chain formerly owned by McDonald's, touts its fair treatment of animals and its locally-sourced organic avocados, its colorful, interactive website neglects any mention of the fair treatment of farm workers. While CEO Steve Ells boasts about his "Food With Integrity" brand, he has ignored countless letters and petitions from all over the country, asking for an extra penny per pound for his tomato pickers.

Migrant pickers typically work ten to twelve hour days, earning a piece-rate of about forty-five cents for each thirty-two pound bucket of tomatoes. Work is never guaranteed, there is no health care, and no overtime pay. The average annual income for a farm worker is $10,000.

Send Karl Rove to Jail

July 22, 2008

Karl Rove has spent a career putting politics before due process, democracy and civil rights. So it's not surprising that when recently faced with a subpoena from Congress, Rove refused to testify. This refusal was a violation of federal law -- Rove's attorney Robert Luskin asserted executive privilege as an excuse to ignore Congress; however, President Bush has not invoked the privilege. (And why would he since that would be an admission that the President sought advice on the politicization of the Department of Justice.)

Since Rove regards the law with such contempt, it's high time the law and Congress hold him in contempt as well. Our friends at Brave New Films have launched a new video campaign and petition asking the House Judiciary Committee to cite former presidential adviser Karl Rove with contempt for failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena. The video explains the issues surrounding Rove's failure to testify and makes a compelling case that he should be held in contempt and sent to jail. Watch the video and sign the petition.

South Dakota Showdown

July 21, 2008

I've blogged in the past about efforts in South Dakota to impose draconian restrictions on women's reproductive rights. Falling short of their ultimate goal of overriding Roe v. Wade, the state's anti-abortionists gained a major victory last Friday when the state attorney general told doctors in South Dakota that they are now legally required to tell women "that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."

Women also would have to be told they have a right to continue a pregnancy and that abortion may cause them psychological harm, including thoughts of suicide. "So basically," as Jessica Valenti blogged at Feministing, "they have to provide patients with false information."

Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota is fighting back against this law, the only one of its kind in the US, which forces doctors to give ideologically charged, nonscientific and inaccurate messages to their patients. "We remain optimistic that, in time, the court will find that the law is unconstitutional," says PPMNS President and CEO Sarah Stoesz.

Honoring the Next Generation

July 17, 2008

The final piece of the first season of This Brave Nation, the Brave Nation Young Activist Award was designed to celebrate a next generation of progressive activism.

A collaboration between The Nation and Brave New Films, This Brave Nation comprises five episodes featuring intergenerational conversations between historic figures discussing the issues and movements that have inspired and informed their work.

Participants include Pete Seeger, Majora Carter, Dolores Huerta, Tom Hayden, Naomi Klein, Bonnie Raitt, Van Jones, Carl Pope, Ava Lowery and Anthony Romero, who all share their ideas, lessons and experiences so as to inform, enlighten and inspire a new generation to seize the moment.

Standing Up to FISA

July 15, 2008

Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel's recent post explained why The Nation has joined with the ACLU in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of New York challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act.

Moments after President Bush signed the bill into law, the ACLU filed suit challenging the law's constitutionality. Congress has not only legalized the Bush administration's secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to our phone calls and read our emails than even the administration itself claimed for itself under its secret program. And, by granting telecom companies immunity, it has made it highly unlikely that we will ever learn the extent of the administration's lawless actions.

Watch this brief clip of Senator Russell Feingold, one of the Senate's foremost Constitutional defenders, detailing the ramifications of the new FISA bill.

Tide is Turning on Big Media

July 11, 2008

The Senate voted in overwhelming numbers recently to reject an FCC ruling that would unleash a new wave of media consolidation across America. Spurred by a grassroots campaign by our friends at Free Press, more than a quarter-million people took action and sent a powerful message to Washington demanding that legislators curb the ability of a few giant corporations to control the bulk of the nation's media.

The fight now moves to the House, where a bipartisan version of the Senate "resolution of disapproval" (H.J.Res.79) needs your support. Free Press has set an ambitious goal of convincing 100 legislators to agree to co-sponsor the House version of the bill in the next 100 days. The Nation is joining the campaign and asking readers to support Free Press' efforts and sign your name to a new Nation petition calling on House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi to make passage of H.J. Res. 79 a top legislative priority as soon as Congress comes back from recess. (This petition will be delivered to Pelosi as soon as the House reconvenes after its summer break.)

Watch this video by Free Press' Alexandra Russell for a re-telling of how the recent Senate victory was achieved and what still needs to be done to secure victory in the House.