Women in politics

The first female governor of Vermont blogs about the different standards male and female politicians are judged by. Do you agree with her? Do you think your experience at an all-girls high school will help with this at all? What do we need to do to ensure that we have women who are interested in running for office?

Kids and cops

The Oakland police slaying has led to a discussion and this op-ed about the relationship between people and police. Do you agree with the blogger's thesis? In light of what we were saying about the social contract in class today, why is respect for police important? 

Hey Maeve,

Was this what you were talking about?

The President's budget

The CBO's estimate and the President's.

The credit crisis explained

I think it does a good job, particularly with explaining why these people offered mortgages to people they knew couldn't afford them.

The Supreme Court and schools

We'll be looking at some precedent-setting cases later this month, but here's a link to an article about a current case. (Current = happened six years ago)

My friend is working on this case

Pennsylvania, my home state, is bizarre. Don't comment on this until you've looked up the word blasphemy!

Iraq vs. Afghanistan

Some interesting numbers here and the analysis to go along with them here. What do you think it will take to make Iraq and Afghanistan completely able to function without outside help? When will troops be able to leave safely?

The new fireside chat?

Obama did Leno last night.

What's going to happen to the Guantanamo detainees?

The Wall Street Journal speculates, with some help from Attorney General Holder.

AIG

Have you been following the bonus scandal? (AIG's getting a federal bailout and is spending something like $53 million on bonuses for its employees) Have you been wondering exactly why we keep bailing these businesses out, over and over?

Well here's an article about "How AIG became too big to fail"

Pictures from investigation of drug murders

No worries, it's not very graphic. But it certainly gives you an image of just how much money these people have.

What role can/should the US play in this?

The military-industrial complex

This is a video of Eisenhower's farewell address in which he warns America about the military-industrial complex.

Particularly for Maeve

An article about John Yoo.

Especially for Dania

The New York Times is hosting a forum on immigration issues in the US, and they're inviting you to comment!

Kids and homelessness

A new study was published saying that 1 in 50 kids was homeless between 2006 and 2007. How might homelessness affect a student's ability to complete her homework? Get check-ups? Eat regular meals? Attend college?

What do you see as being the solution to this awful problem?

Do you know who Warren Buffet is?

Take that into account when you watch this video, but he makes an interesting point--he sees the cap-and-trade system as a regressive tax.

You are all depressing me.

An article on your reading habits in the Washington Post today: check it out. Do you think that the fact that college students are reading trashy vampire books more than books about political activism or thought means that your generation won't be politically active?

Blowing up the Senate

cont'd. With a twist.

It's finally here!

The stem cell event you've been waiting for!

Obama's interpretation of signing statements

Apparently he's not convinced they're legally binding. More here.

Prop 8 hearing

You should be able to access this article.

New executive order

Lifting ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

It's looking good for Prop 8

The court seemed to indicate yesterday that Prop 8 will stand.

California courts deciding on Prop 8

There's a liveblog here--there are a few questions. Does prop 8 revise or amend the constitution? Was the vote okay? What happens to same-sex marriages that already exist?

Obama's FEMA nominee

From Florida!

Sandra Day O'Connor

Jon Stewart did an interview with her last night, and she was AWESOME. She explained how the Supreme Court works: "You do your best, and then you live with it." Skip ahead to the last long segment (after two commercials) for the interview.

Hillary Clinton's world tour

She was in Israel yesterday--take a look at this and see what she said and did.

Frances Perkins

Remember how Baby's real name in Dirty Dancing was Frances? Well she was named after this woman, the first woman in the Cabinet, and one of the major architects of the New Deal.

An increased bureaucracy?

Some people are estimating that the size of the federal bureaucracy could have to grow by tens of thousands to meet stimulus plan goals.

How the economic downturn happened

The story about the global pool of money I was telling you about is here; a shorter (and less good, in my opinion,) version is here.

Op-Ed about filibusters

Complete with a pretty decent, recent history.