Recent small victories on behalf of the beleaguered have given to hope to people who had been weighted down with discouragement. BP's Gulf well is to be plugged with cement after it had been gushing oil for months at a disputed flow rate. As it turned out, the rate now accepted by the government's scientific panel was first proposed by BP some time ago. In an upbeat White House news conference on Wednesday it was learned that much of the spilled oil is now disappearing. With help in breaking a filibuster from the two Republicans from Maine, the Senate will pass a bill which will give financial assistance to states without enough to pay for their Medicaid or to avoid large numbers of teacher layoffs. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the House back into session to give final passage of the bill for $26 billion ($16 billion to help states pay for Medicaid and $10 billion for teacher and other public worker salaries). This good news is just in time for the start of the new school year. Thanks to the bipartisan partners, famous attorneys Ted Olsen and David Boies, California gays and lesbians won a court battle wherein the state's ban on gay marriage was struck down. The case will likely be appealed to a federal circuit court and eventually to the Supreme Court of the United States. Legal theorists believe that the SCOTUS could let states individually decide in larger numbers for years before taking up the case itself. New York City has now approved the relocation of a mosque to property near Ground Zero. The decision is hailed by those who saw no excuse for discriminating against American Muslims by disallowing the move. Following are additional news item links by David C. Morrison of "Behind the Lines" at Congressional Quarterly:
Today our optimism is on the rise. In the opinion of many progressives and Democrats, there has been too much recent news reporting on the victories of our opponents, who are on the wrong side of the issues. by Carol Gee
-- Post date: 8/5/10Author of:
Southwest Postings, a political blog
Edifice complex: The controversial Islamic center proposed for erection near Ground Zero won big yesterday when a Gotham board unanimously approved a historic demolition to make way for construction, ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Sarah Netter recount. “Mosque opponents came armed with their tried and true techniques,” Gothamist’s Briana Parker reports from the hearing — as Jihad Watch hears Rudy Giuliani decrying the center and mosque as a “desecration.” Osama bin Laden “wants a clash of civilizations; the opponents of the mosque project are giving him what he wants,” The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg jabs. “I want that mosque built [because] only near Ground Zero could a mosque stand as testimony to everything great about America,” FOX News commentator Keith Ablow adjures.
Today our optimism is on the rise. In the opinion of many progressives and Democrats, there has been too much recent news reporting on the victories of our opponents, who are on the wrong side of the issues. by Carol Gee
-- Post date: 8/5/10Author of:
Southwest Postings, a political blog
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