Genocide Continues in Darfur
As the murderers responsible for the
genocide in Rwanda are finally being brought to justice, the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan continues to escalate. Sec. of State Rice met with Kofi Annan yesterday and they reportedly
...agreed on the need to support the African Union's (AU) peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur, including providing military support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU).
There's a great collection of posts on the Darfur issue over on
Allthings2all. Keep up to date on the latest news at the
Coalition for Darfur, and now you can even purchase one of those trendy wristbands to raise money and awareness about the genocide from the faith-based
Save Darfur Coalition.
Violence Against Women & the Supreme Court on Restraining Orders
The Supreme Court today ruled that you cannot file a federal suit against the police or your town for failing to enforce a restraining order.
Some legal experts are saying this ruling just puts the responsibility of enforcing such orders back into the hands of the states and local police by keeping it out of the federal system. The specific case heard before the court was
Castle Rock v. Gonzales. Jessica Gonzales had filed an order of protection against her husband, whom she was in the midst of divorcing. He kidnapped their children and police failed to respond to her calls and enforce the order of protection, during which time Simon Gonzales killed their three daughters and was later killed during a shoot-out with police.
Will this ruling make the states responsible, or does it merely strip women and victims of violence of any feasible recourse in our legal system? The immediate implications of the decision aren't clear, the real test will be it's application as it's played out in courts throughout the country in the coming months. For further information on the ruling,
check out the SCOTUS blog. Mother Jones just put out a great compendium of violence and legal issues currently facing women in our country,
well worth the read.
There is always more to be done to stop the violence against women, join
Amnesty International's fight here, and don't forget to
contact you congressmen and women and urge them to renew and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act which will expire this year.
Good News for the Environment? Somebody pinch me...
The Republican controlled Senate actually made huge steps forward today by passing
an environmentally friendly energy bill. Absent from the bill are the house measures including drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and giveaways to the oil industry like exempting them from lawsuits for polluting local water supplies with the carcinogen MTBE. I think I must be dreaming!
Although not entirely an environmentalists dream bill, it goes a long way to support conservation, including tax breaks for energy efficient appliances and cars, and requiring utilities to produce at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable resources. But, before we get too excited, it will have to be reconciled with the corporate giveaway disguised as the house resolution. Good news on the environment is so seldom for this administration, this still feels like a major victory.
Dakota Fanning would have been a better choice...
Apparently, psychiatrists and psychologists are getting fed up with Mr. Cruise's antics - as is the rest of the world!
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) released a statement rebutting Cruise's "irresponsible" behavior. Personally, I find it funny that a guy who was a self-proclaimed functional illiterate with a high school education would tell a journalist on live tv that they don't know "the history of psychiatry - I do."
Please Mr. Spielberg, start sending Dakota Fanning out to promote your movie, she's a little more mature.
More bad news for the little guys
Long time no blog? I know, I've been out with a shoulder injury, but now I'm back and hope to be blogging a bit more regularly.
In a blow for the little guys, (a.k.a. the other 90% of America that holds 10% of the wealth) the US Supreme Court ruled to allow a town in Connecticut to bulldoze people's homes in order to build a hotel and an office building. Interestingly, the Justices dissenting were O'Conner, Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas. The conservative stallwarts against corporate giveaways and siding with O'Conner? Wonders never cease.
Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes - Yahoo! News
