S. Dakota Goes After Choice (Again)

By Peter Rothberg

Last week, I wrote about a draconian, anti-choice initiative in Colorado that threatens to criminalize abortion, curtail stem-cell research, and deprive women of access to legal contraception. Meanwhile, in South Dakota, long the epicenter of efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, for the second time since 2006, voters are being asked to outlaw almost all abortions in the state.

This time around abortion opponents are trying to sell their ‘new and improved' initiative as 2006-abortion-ban-light but the new initiative would entail a sweeping ban on abortion that is just as thorough as the 2006 law that South Dakota voters widely rejected.

A group called Vote Yes for Life is pushing the new version of the bill -- Measure 11 despite the fact that South Dakota is already among the most difficult states for women to access abortions. (The climate is so hostile that Planned Parenthood flies in doctors from Minnesota once a week because no South Dakota doctor is willing to perform elective abortions.) One of the Vote Yes' leaders is the Rev. Steve Hickey, who has said that he believes that South Dakota has been chosen by God to challenge Roe v. Wade.

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October 6, 2008

An Amendment Sarah Palin Must Love

By Peter Rothberg

Thanks to Ann Friedman at Feministing.com for highlighting a ghastly, almost South Dakota-like antichoice ballot measure in Colorado, known as Amendment 48.

It's offenses are manifold. As Friedman grimly chronicles, this bill is not just anti-abortion, but anti-contraception; it will disproportionately affect young women, women of color, incarcerated women, and low-income women; it advances fetal rights over women's rights and it misleadingly co-opts feminist language. (The group backing the amendment is called Colorado for Equal Rights.)

Amendment 48 not only bans all abortions in every instance--even in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman is at risk--it also threatens stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, compromises the doctor-patient relationship, and deprives access to common hormonal birth control methods (i.e. the pill and IUD), and to emergency contraception for rape and incest victims.

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October 2, 2008

If Only They Could All Vote

By Peter Rothberg

The outcome of the presidential race -- as well as the resolution of the economic crisis -- will have major implications around the world. So the Economist magazine has decided to poll the world, country-by-country, to try to get a sense of where the globe stands on the US presidential contest.

Using a nifty new online tool that goes so far as to redraw the electoral map, all 195 of the world's countries (including the US) are given a say in the election's outcome. As in America, each country has been allocated a minimum of three electoral-college votes with extra votes provided in proportion to population size. With over 6.5 billion people enfranchised, the result is a much larger electoral college of 9,875 votes.

The results to date are somewhat astonishing – Obama is leading McCain by a landslide of 8,192 electoral votes to 3! The only country in the world voting for McCain is Andorra! If only Economist readers ruled the world! Seriously though, it is interesting that the readers of the free-market bible of the English-speaking world are so overwhelmingly in support of Obama. Check out the map and cast your vote. Voting in the Global Electoral College closes at midnight on November 1st.

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October 1, 2008

Bailout Stalled. Activism Surging

By Peter Rothberg

With the House of Representatives narrowly rejecting the bipartisan $700 billion rescue of the financial industry this afternoon, the markets have plunged again, but at least, as my colleague Chris Hayes just wrote, it shows that "Democracy turns out to be alive and well."

I'm glad the bill went down. It could and should be much, much better. As Arun Gupta and Medea Benjamin explain in a new post at TheNation.com, despite attempts by legislators to portray this as a compromise bill that helps both Wall Street and Main Street, in reality it represents an appalling transfer of wealth upward.

The vote against the measure was 228 to 205 but the bill's supporters vow to try to bring the rescue package up for consideration again as soon as possible.

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September 29, 2008

Back to the Future

By Peter Rothberg

This Saturday, September 27, tens of thousands of people nationwide are joining together for a national day of action to let the candidates, and the country, know that they're ready to start transitioning to a green economy. Organized by Green for All, 1 Sky and the We Campaign, this day of action currently includes more than 600 events in all 50 states of the union and the list is growing. The events run the gamut -- from block parties, teach-ins, living room discussions, service and work projects, film screenings, lectures, town hall meetings, public programs with food, music, poetry......and much more.

Find an event.

Host an event.

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September 25, 2008

Protest the Bailout Today

By Peter Rothberg

There are more than 200 events planned coast to coast for today, September 25, protesting the Bush Administration's proposed bailout. There's a big rally scheduled for 4:00pm on Wall Street in New York City and similar activities nationwide. Find an event near you.

If you can't make it out to a protest, you can still contact your elected reps and implore them to reject Paulson's plunder and enact a plan that bails out Main Street as well as Wall Street and provides for investment in a new productive economy.

And check out this new Wired.com article about today's Wall Street action, and the nationwide protest movement sparked by New Yorkers over email.

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September 25, 2008

Bail Out People Before Bankers

By Peter Rothberg

Economists are widely panning Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's bailout package for lacking appropriate regulatory mechanisms to prevent another future crisis; for not providing homeowner relief; for richly rewarding corporate executives for their failure and for neglecting to provide meaningful oversight over how the aid is distributed.

This whole mess has given lie to the free market and called into question virtually the entire basis of late capitalist economic organization. The Feds are propping up stock prices, directing buyouts, nationalizing private industries and subsidizing crooks and swindlers who already made a killing off the mortgage bubble.

The Fed and Treasury are right to take steps to avert this disaster but the use of taxpayer money to exclusively prop up and reward the rich while the needs of everyone else are written off as too costly is both morally unacceptable and, to quote conservative economist Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago School of Business, "will undermine the fundamental workings of the capitalist system."

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September 23, 2008

What About Sarah?

By Peter Rothberg

Sarah Palin's credentials have been widely called into question since the 44-year old governor of Alaska was named by John McCain as his vice presidential running mate. The McCain camp's spirited defense of Palin has been alternately defensive, offensive, contradictory and amusing.

At a recent town hall meeting in Michigan, Palin was questioned about her foreign policy credentials. In typical Palin style, she dodged the question by answering, "I'll be ready. I have that confidence."

On reflection, the Sarah Palin Lies Debunked blog reports, the McCain camp must have realized how ridiculous that sounded and decided to supplement her response because the next day, campaign spokesperson Tracey Schmitt offered the following experiences that Palin would bring to the table on foreign policy:

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September 19, 2008

Green Jobs Now

By Peter Rothberg

You've probably heard of green-collar jobs. But what exactly are they? And what's the green economy being heralded by so many as the best route to a future of human prosperity absent ecological armageddon? This video produced by the Applied Research Center for Green For All -- a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy -- offers some tantalizing answers.

On September 27, the day after the first presidential debate, tens of thousands of people nationwide are joining together for a national day of action to let the candidates, and the country, know that they're ready for the green economy now. Organized by Green for All, 1 Sky and the We Campaign, this day of action currently includes 353 events in 45 of the states of the union and the list is growing. The events run the gamut -- from block parties, house parties, teach-ins, living room discussions, service and work projects, public programs with food, music, poetry......and much more.

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September 17, 2008

What's Your Obama Tax Cut?

By Peter Rothberg

According to a recent Gallup poll, fifty-three percent of Americans expect their federal income taxes to increase if Barack Obama is elected president.

The truth: The Democratic candidate's plan would cut taxes for roughly 95 percent of American families, reports the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. How much would Obama save you? Check out ObamaTaxCut.com, a project of AlchemyToday.com, to use a nifty new tool that lets you calculate exactly what the Obama tax-cut would be worth to you.

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September 10, 2008