Politics
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Your Take: Our Ability to Vote Is in Peril
Today Americans are going to the polls to vote in state and local elections. But one year from now, millions of black Americans could find themselves shut out of that essential democratic right. Larry Butler, a longtime voter, may be one of those denied. Butler was born in 1926 in South Carolina. He remembers well the…
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Fourth Herman Cain Accuser Speaks Out
A fourth woman stepped forward today to say that Republican presidential contender Herman Cain sexually harassed her when he was the chief executive of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Sharon Bialek, accompanied by her attorney, Gloria Allred, detailed the allegations about Cain’s conduct in a news conference this afternoon. According to a transcript…
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Dear Camp Cain: Stop Calling It a Lynching
The Negro was unsexed and made to eat a portion of his anatomy which had been cut away. Another portion was sent by parcel post to Governor Dorsey, whom the people of this section hate bitterly. —lynching of “Negro” Williams, Moultrie, Ga., Washington Eagle, July 16, 1921 Four young women from the crowd pushed their…
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Is Herman Cain Done?
How many more cases of alleged sexual harassment have to surface before Herman Cain becomes known as the Tiger Woods of the Tea Party? To quote the soon-to-be-former presidential candidate’s reprise of one of his father’s favorite quips, “I does not care.” Cain never was and never will be more than a minstrel act in…
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Is Rural Broadband Really So Urgent?
Last week, when the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve a $4.5 billion fund for extending high-speed Internet service to millions of Americans who lack broadband access, it seemed like a victory for disadvantaged communities. “We are taking a momentous step today … to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable and advanced communications…
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Cain Likens Abortion to Genocide
This week, news of the sexual harassment allegations against GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain has overshadowed comments he made on Sunday’s Face the Nation that some might find even more disturbing, since they reflect not what he might have done in the past but what he admits he believes now. In an exchange with host…
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Herman Cain's Scandal Boosts Obama's Chances?
Patricia Zengerle of Reuters is reporting that there may be an upside to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain’s downward spiral amid reports of a sexual harassment settlement 12 years ago. Zengerle writes, “The longer the Republican presidential hopefuls battle over sexual harassment claims against Herman Cain, the better things look for President Barack Obama as…
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GOP Blocks Obama's Infrastructure Plan
The Associated Press is reporting that Republicans in the Senate Thursday dealt President Barack Obama the third in a string of defeats on his stimulus-style jobs agenda, blocking a $60 billion measure for building and repairing infrastructure like roads and rail lines. Supporters of the failed measure said it would have created tens of thousands…
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Wait, Isn't the Right Supposed to Be Racist?
As sexual harassment allegations against black Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain surfaced this week, conservative supporters rallied to his defense. Rush Limbaugh, who’s famous for nothing if not his racist radio rants, has taken up for the gospel-singing, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO who’s leading in the GOP polls. Conservatives who would normally balk at any…
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The High Cost of Being an EPA Whistleblower
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo vividly recalls a meeting during her early days at the Environmental Protection Agency. It was 1992, and the MIT-trained African-development expert was one of two black employees in the mostly white, mostly male senior ranks. “Come on in, Marsha,” her supervisor beckoned as she arrived at the conference room. “We’ll make you an…