Judge declares Illinois’ eavesdropping law unconstitutional. [ChicagoTribune.com] – A Cook County judge on Friday declared the state’s controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional, securing an important victory for activists who want to videotape the police in public but muddying the legal waters as the city gears up for potentially thousands of demonstrators for the NATO summit in May.
When is the U.S. Government Allowed to Legally Kill You?
When the US Government Can Kill You, Explained. [Mother Jones] – On Monday, the Obama administration explained when it’s allowed to kill you.
G-8 Moved From Chicago
G-8 summit to be held at Camp David, not Chicago. [ChicagoTribune.com] – President Obama is moving one of two major world summits from Chicago to the presidential retreat near Washington, with an aide saying the president has decided he wants a more “intimate” setting than his hometown for the May gathering.
The Group of Eight meeting will be moved to Camp David, according to the White House, but the gathering of NATO allies and the International Security Assistance Force will go on in Chicago as planned in mid-May.
Camp David will more closely approximate the remote settings in which the G8 leaders prefer to gather. Summits in large cities typically see clamorous protests, while those in the countryside are calmer and more sedate.
Sunday Morning Quote
Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.
– Dorothy Parker
Surprise: Keystone May Raise U.S. Gas Prices
Keystone Oil Pipeline May Raise U.S. Gas Prices. [Bloomberg] – TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project backers including Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum say will create cheaper U.S. gasoline, instead risks raising prices as much as 20 cents a gallon in the Midwest, Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
White House Approves Part of Keystone XL
Another reason I won’t be voting for Obama in 2012:
White House gives blessing to partial Keystone XL pipeline construction. [The Hill’s E2-Wire] – The White House backed TransCanada Corp.’s bid to build a major portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline Monday, a move that could shield President Obama from growing GOP attacks over the project.
Greek Hospital Workers Show The Way
Greek hospital now under workers’ control. [libcom.org] – Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.
JFK Speech to the Houston Ministers
On September 12th, 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy addressed a group of Protestant ministers at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas. Many Protestants in the United States (particularly in the South) had expressed concern that a Roman Catholic President would be a mere puppet of the Vatican. Senator Kennedy went into the lions’ den to address the issue directly.
Here is a short excerpt.
I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end – where all men and all churches are treated as equal – where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice – where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind – and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.
That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe – a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
This speech is getting some attention once again in the 2012 Presidential campaign, as Republican contender Rick Santorum (also a Catholic) has condemned the sentiment in some very strong terms.
Thank you, Rick, but I hold with JFK.
You can watch a video of the entire speech at the following link.
Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960. [John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum]
Scorsese: The 85 Films You Need To See
Martin Scorsese’s Film School: The 85 Films You Need To See To Know Anything About Film. [Rick Tetzeli | Fast Company] – As we head into Oscars weekend, here’s an A-Z list of the films that influenced the most influential – and Oscar-nominated – director in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese (in other words, the films you need to see to be the film expert you think you are).
Occupy Our Food Supply February 27 Day of Action
Occupy Our Food Supply. [Rainforest Action Network] – Occupy Our Food Supply on February 27, 2012 will be a major decentralized global day of food action and solidarity. Actions are planned in dozens of cities across North America, Europe, and the world.
