In 1988, Tom Delay made the painful decision to have his father removed from life support after he was severely injured in a tragic accident. Yet in 2005, then House Majority Leader Tom Delay led the massive federal intervention to prevent Michael Schiavo from choosing the same act of mercy for his wife, Terri Schiavo. […]

Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed what at first blush seems like a very unusual lawsuit against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Her life jeopardized by the refusal of Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon, Michigan to perform or even inform her of the need for an abortion, the […]

Karl Marx famously said that historical events occur twice, first as tragedy and then as farce. So it would seem with the reaction of American conservatives to Evangelii Gaudium, the new 85-page apostolic exhortation issued by Pope Francis. Just days after Sarah Palin fretted that some of the Pope's statements "sound kind of liberal," Rush […]

The Republican National Committee's proclamation honoring Rosa Park's "role in ending racism" is continuing to receive the scorn and derision it richly deserves. As it turns out, the GOP's attempt to literally whitewash American history is hardly its first. Consider, for example, the RNC's response to President Obama's 2010 nomination of now Supreme Court Justice […]

Even without the occasional shotgun blast in the face, this Thanksgiving at the Cheney home could offer some real fireworks. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne declared themselves "pained" at the very public split between their daughters over the issue of marriage equality. But while Mary Cheney is helping Freedom Indiana fight […]

While Stephen Colbert was roasting Cardinal Timothy Dolan at Thursday's Al Smith Dinner in New York, the organization Dolan heads was quietly confessing that it got burned by the Republican Party's hostage-taking of the federal government and U.S. debt ceiling. In the opening paragraph its press release, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (UCCSB) "welcomed […]

During his short time in the Holy See, Pope Francis has had two clear messages for his faithful in the United States. Decrying those who "seek selfish profit," Francis in May pleaded with "those in public office to make every effort to give new impetus to employment." And just last month, the Bishop of Rome […]

If you ever wondered what a 21st century nullification crisis would look like, look no further than Missouri. One hundred and forty eight years after the end of the Civil War, the New York Times reports, "the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature is expected to enact a statute next month nullifying all federal gun laws in the […]

These are heady days for red state propagandists. After years of leading the nation in poverty, low incomes, poor working conditions, dismal educational performance, awful health care systems, shocking teen birth rates, sky-high divorce rates, bloody gun violence and just about every other measure of social dysfunction, Republican-dominated states finally have some good news to […]

The brutal murders this week of Australian student Christopher Lane and World War II hero Delbert Benton have rightly prompted national soul-searching and national shame. But as predictable as the sunset and the force of gravity, the horrors in Oklahoma and Washington also triggered right-wing lectures about race, crime and politics. Just as in the […]