Idaho abortion restrictions are unconstitutional: appeals court

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Robert A. Vella

An Idaho law that prohibits abortions of fetuses 20 or more weeks after fertilization is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, also struck down an Idaho law that required all second-trimester abortions to occur in a hospital.

Bans on abortion after 20 weeks have been passed in 12 U.S. states since 2010, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights advocacy group. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure this month that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and Democratic President Barack Obama opposes it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/29/us-usa-abortion-idUSKBN0OE25O20150529

After Baltimore: Soul Searching in Another America

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Robert A. Vella

Reblogged from The Secular Jurist:

By Richard Eskow

[…]

You won’t see structural violence on the television news, because it isn’t the stuff of headlines. Johan Galtung, the Norwegian sociologist and mathematician who invented the field of conflict resolution, explained why in a 1969 paper:

“Personal violence represents change and dynamism – not only ripples on waves, but waves on otherwise tranquil waters. Structural violence is silent, it does not show – it is essentially static, it is the tranquil waters.”

When he spoke of Baltimore the other day, President Obama predicted that “we’ll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities and the occasional riots in the streets. And everybody will feign concern until it goes away and then we go about our business as usual.”

He is almost certainly right. But the president did not offer a clear vision for ending the structural failures that have generated this cycle of conflict. That vision is urgently needed. The time for soul searching is now.

The curfew has been lifted in Baltimore. But the poverty remains, and so does the death and injury it brings. The waters are tranquil tonight. But across the many Americas, our common future is hidden in shadows.

http://ourfuture.org/20150504/baltimore-soul-searching-in-another-america

Pres. Obama Takes Big Step To Tackle Global Warming

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Tanya

Photo from thedrinkingbird.files.wordpress.com

From MoveOn.org,

President Obama just announced what the New York Times is calling “the strongest action taken by an American president to tackle climate change.”

This may be the best hope to tackle the climate crisis during the Obama presidency.

If the plan takes effect, this could be the single most important thing he does as president, the thing that our grandkids remember him for.

But that’s a big if- because giant polluters will do everything in their power to make Obama’s climate policy dead on arrival, with waves of misleading TV ads and bogus reports. So it’s incredibly important that we make our voices heard this week.

The EPA is now accepting public comments on the proposed plan. Let’s send a powerful statement of support for climate action. We’ll give reporters a running tally this week as thousands of people sign on, and we’ll share MoveOn members’ powerful personal appeals with them—so they know the President is not alone. We’ll deliver your comment, along with thousands of others, to the EPA headquarters in Washington next month.

Climate change is the challenge of our generation—and if we don’t meet it, it will become the nightmare of generations to come. Today’s announcement was a long overdue step in the right direction. But if we want to win, we’ve got to double our efforts. Today, the fight is on.