And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address (via rachelfershleiser)

(via rachelfershleiser)

thewordunheard: raptoravatar: theoreticalgirl: valerieagotlib: ryanoshea: Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, first Congressperson to officially describe her religion as “none,” is sworn in not on the Bible, but on the document she’s actually supposed to be protecting and upholding—the Constitution. [Fun fact: James Madison remains the only president to take his oath of office on a book of laws, rather than the Bible.] Love this.  Also, she is the first openly bisexual member of Congress! She’s also dispelling stereotypes about Creatively-Spelled Americans! This is so awesome. J’adore.
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thewordunheard:

raptoravatar:

theoreticalgirl:

valerieagotlib:

ryanoshea:

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, first Congressperson to officially describe her religion as “none,” is sworn in not on the Bible, but on the document she’s actually supposed to be protecting and upholding—the Constitution.

[Fun fact: James Madison remains the only president to take his oath of office on a book of laws, rather than the Bible.]

Love this. 

Also, she is the first openly bisexual member of Congress!

She’s also dispelling stereotypes about Creatively-Spelled Americans!

This is so awesome.

J’adore.

(via unforgettabledetritus)

Source: reddit.com

Ohio really did go to President Obama last night. And he really did win. And he really was born in Hawaii. And he really is, legitimately, President of the United States again. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not make up a fake unemployment rate last month. And the Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy. And the polls were not skewed to over-sample Democrats. And Nate Silver was not making up fake predictions about the election to make conservatives feel bad. Nate Silver was doing math. And climate change is real. And rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes. And evolution is a thing … And nobody’s taking away anyone’s guns. And taxes have not gone up. And the deficit is dropping, actually. And Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. And the moon landing was real. And FEMA is not building concentration camps. And UN election observers are not taking over Texas. And moderate reforms of regulations on the insurance industry and the financial services industry are not the same thing as Communism.
Rachel Maddow, saying what every Democrat has been trying to tell every Republican. (via bowsic)

(via shorterexcerpts)

Source: bowsic

theatlantic:

A Canard That Will Not Die: ‘Legitimate Rape’ Doesn’t Cause Pregnancy

Here we go again. Trotting out the contemporary equivalent of the early American belief that only witches float, Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, told a local Missouri station in an interview that “legitimate rape” does not lead to pregnancy.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin said in an interview with KTVI-TV that caused a furor online Sunday afternoon after being posted on TPM. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” […]

Akin’s comments were hardly some kind never-before-heard gaffe. Arguments like his have cropped up again and again on the right over the past quarter century and the idea that trauma is a form of birth control continues to be promulgated by anti-abortion forces that seek to outlaw all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. The push for a no-exceptions anti-abortion policy has for decades gone hand in hand with efforts to downplay the frequency with which rape- or incest-related pregnancies occur, and even to deny that they happen, at all. In other words, it’s not just Akin singing this tune.

Read more.

This is unbelievably important, as is this separate post on medical indicators of how often rape leads to pregnancy.

I hear all this, you know, “Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever.”—No! There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea—God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

Eschaton: What She Said

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren on class warfare.

(via agreatnation)

Amen.

(via themoderatelyambitiousscientist)

I want to be Elizabeth Warren for Halloween. She’s my personal hero. Forever and ever.

(via likeproust)

Elizabeth Warren, I want to KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH.

(via likeproust-deactivated20111206-)

Source: eschatonblog.com

An idea I have (beware!)

likeproust:

sarasanshforthewin:

I think Congress should have a rule across the board about sex scandals. For example, if there is one, you are out. Or if there is one, you can stay as long as you don’t end up in jail. Either let the voters decide, or make the decision. But do it FAST.

Because look. I really liked Anthony Weiner. I really liked what he had to say, I liked that he had some fight in him, I still agree with what he did at his job on the floor. However. What he did was wrong, and while he was wondering what he should do his… incidents were discussed at length and it took away (surprise!) from real things that this country should focus on. And I don’t blame Weiner for this— everyone who took a journalism class had a loud opinion on his actions and the medium to voice this opinion did so. (Even we did!) The media placed a lot of attention on this scandal and didn’t bother to tell us what was being voted on or who the fuck is going to fix this country.

We simply don’t have the time to deal with this kind of bullshit. What you do on your own time is your own time. If you don’t keep it there… if you slip up and public gets wind of it, that’s it.

I’m certainly sorry to see Weiner go. And of course, I’m angry that there are plenty of other people in Congress who have done worse things in their life who still hold their jobs. I’m furious, actually. Because the rules should apply to everyone.

In short: I’ve had it with these motherfucking politicians in motherfucking Washington.

Emphasis mine for the best thing I’ve read all morning.

This: everything about this.

(via likeproust-deactivated20111206-)

I’m not in danger of transforming into a cat-eating monster, but rather a Politico-reading, blog-commenting, Sunday-show-watching lunatic. Stop me before I care again.

In the run-up to the elections of both 2004 and 2008, I was one of those people who woke up in the middle of the night to check primary data. I regularly had my day ruined/made by polls of states I’d never set foot in. I wrote checks and impassioned mass-emails. I could (and worse, did) explain the intricacies of the Texas two-step primary/caucus. I have no idea why or how political campaigns became my drug of choice, but now, in this brief window of daylight, I dread the coming darkness.

I Know The 2012 Election Will Destroy My Life | The Awl

I apologize in advance to everyone who follows me.

Source: The Awl

I want to just advise people watching at home playing that now popular drinking game of ‘you take a shot whenever Republicans say something that is not true’, PLEASE assign a designated driver, this is going to be a long afternoon!

Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

I want to clarify my stance on heated partisanship:

Generally I’m against it. But if it makes me laugh? Okay.

(via squashed)

I tried to guess the state this Congressman was from before I read to whom it was attributed.  I know my fellow New Yorkers very well, apparently.

(via aclassybroad)

Okay, bitches. Did we really repeal the health care bill…?

(via mymissus)

Anthoney Weiner is my homeboy.

(via mymissus)

Source: youtube.com

thedailywhat: Breaking News of the Day: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was killed this morning along with at least six others outside a Safeway in Tucson during a “Congress on Your Corner” event after being shot point blank in the head. Several others were wounded in the attack. Giffords, the youngest woman to be elected to the House (30), thus becomes the first female politician to be assassinated, and the first US rep to be killed in the line of duty since Leo Ryan (D-CA), who was shot by the Jonestown cult. Some are pointing out that Giffords was on Sarah Palin’s gun-sight “hit list” (above / source), but, though the gunman is reportedly in custody, their motives are not known at this time. RIP. [npr.] I feel physically ill. How many more, Sarah? Some news outlets are reporting that one of those killed was no more than ten years old.  What’s wrong with this country?
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thedailywhat:

Breaking News of the Day: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was killed this morning along with at least six others outside a Safeway in Tucson during a “Congress on Your Corner” event after being shot point blank in the head. Several others were wounded in the attack.

Giffords, the youngest woman to be elected to the House (30), thus becomes the first female politician to be assassinated, and the first US rep to be killed in the line of duty since Leo Ryan (D-CA), who was shot by the Jonestown cult.

Some are pointing out that Giffords was on Sarah Palin’s gun-sight “hit list” (above / source), but, though the gunman is reportedly in custody, their motives are not known at this time.

RIP.

[npr.]

I feel physically ill. How many more, Sarah? Some news outlets are reporting that one of those killed was no more than ten years old. 

What’s wrong with this country?

You are not supposed to worship your constitution. You are supposed to govern your government by it.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties who called Republicans’ scheduled “ritualistic reading” of the document on the House floor “total nonsense” and “propaganda.” (via washingtonpoststyle)

(via absurdlakefront)

Source: washingtonpoststyle