Diggapedia

  This was a big week for the debate regarding same sex marriage and civil rights.   While lawyers were arguing the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) at the Supreme Court, debates raged at dinner tables, on talk radio, from the desks of cable news shows, in boardrooms and bedrooms, and across social media.   While most debates were between those on opposite sides of the issue, the question of extending civil rights to the LGBT community created a different discourse even amongst those in support of repealing DOMA. Last week I mentioned he Loving vs. Virginia , the 1965 Supreme Court case that called laws barring interracial marriage unconstitutional.   My point was that sometimes it up to the courts to establish what is right and not leave it to the populace and state legislatures.   I was challenged by the usual conservatives, but also the religious left who claimed that Loving righted centuries of wr...

News and Digganalysis 1.        Big week at the Supreme Court for same sex marriage.   On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments challenging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and on Wednesday arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act will be heard.   In the meantime social conservatives like Ralph Reed will argue that the 58% of Americans, per recent polls, are wrong.   The time has come for conservatives to realize that same sex marriage and the commensurate benefits are not progressive ideals, but AMERICAN ideals.   I hope the old white men on the court also realize the same.   Civil rights for all IS American Exceptionalism. 2.        The story of the banking failure in Cyprus and the subsequent bailout from the troika of the IMF, EU, and ECB is a complex mélange of punishment, politics, and warning.    Warning #1: If your house-of-cards economy is based primarily o...

Sometimes I feel like Moe because every now and then Larry and Curly need to get smacked upside the head.   I watch the complete political dysfunction in Washington DC, and I come away with the following impressions: 1)       Our economy is growing IN SPITE of the federal government 2)       The only jobs politicians are interested are their own 3)       Courage comes not from proposing drastic social cuts (Republicans) or proposing no change to the Big Three (Democrats), but from giving up something near and dear to get something big done. 4)       Both sides are afraid being labeled a ‘loser’ by the media should a deal actually get done 5)       The political process is being held hostage by the extreme wings on both sides My criticism of the right has long been established and communicate, but my criticism of the left is growing and my ...

After three trips to Jerusalem over a 4 week period, the recent selection of Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to become Francis I, and the words of former senator and failed presidential candidate Rick Santorum at CPAC, I reckoned it was time for the annual Digganalysis of religion, faith, and spirituality.   These opinions are my own and you are welcome to disagree with them, kind of like religions. Firstly, my multiple trips to Jerusalem.   I don’t care if you are the most devoutly religious person or the biggest atheist, standing at the Mount of Olives and taking in the view of the old city is equal parts breathtaking, inspiring, humbling, and troubling.   To be able to see Holy Sepulcher, the Temple Mount consisting of the Golden Dome and Western Wall, as well as the other sites of the Garden of Gethsemane, Al-Aqsa mosque, The Church of Mary Magdalene, Church of the Dormition, and the Hurva Synagogue you quickly realize you in no other place like it i...

Is the fifteenth amendment any less important than the second amendment?   Should laws passed to reinforce it be any less robust than those passed to support any other amendment?   If a law was passed 50 years ago and survived a Supreme Court challenge should it not be considered the law of the land? The fifteenth amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, simply states: Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation Pretty straight forward coming after the end of the civil war, the right to vote would not be denied due to race, color, or whether you were a slave (sadly women would have to wait another 50 years for the nineteenth amendment) oh and the kicker: Congress shall have the power to enforce it.   Of course where ...

  Unite Blue, tcot, OWS, Tea Party, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, Conservatives, Progressives, Americans Elect, Independents, and so on and so on.   By the way, if you join the “No Labels” organization, isn’t that in itself a label?   The growing dissatisfaction with political parties has led to an increase in loosely affiliated grass roots organizations, AstroTurf created special interests groups, and the ubiquitous ‘unaffiliated’   Independent voter.    Between 2008 -2012, 2.5 million voters left political parties to become independents raising the number of independents to 40% of all registered voters, larger than both primary political parties.   Of course, assuming Independents are a monolithic bloc is naïve and all too convenient. So why the political diaspora?   Have people connected with an inner Groucho Marx: “I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.”   The recent debate...

  Been awhile so it’s time to clear the inbox: ·          I could take challenges to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act more seriously if Mississippi hadn’t just got around to approving the 13 th Amendment banning slavery or the recent increase in voter suppression tactics by Republican politicians targeting Democratic districts. ·          The sequester only proves that Congress is willing to take itself hostage, and then shoot the hostage ·          I am limiting my Sunday Talk Show viewing to Fareed Zakaria’s GPS.   It is educational, global, and free of political talking point bullshit which already dominates news coverage. ·          Dennis Rodman meets with Kim Jong-Un.   Dennis Rodman is on Celebrity Apprentice 2013.   What’s the bad hair equivalent for being a chubby chaser? · ...