Monday Open Thread [9.17.12]

Filed in Open Thread by on September 17, 2012

Today is Constitution Day, celebrating the 225th anniversary of this glorious document. Here are some items to prompt some thinking about the Constitution.

If you are in Philadelphia today, the National Constitution Center is open with free admission. Yesterday, a group of Afghani government ministers went to the Center to learn more about our founding documents. If you can be in Philadelphia tomorrow, the Philadelphia Historical Society is putting six of its original drafts and copies of the Constitution on display. Seriously, if you can go see these, do so. Looking at these documents in person is a surprisingly powerful experience.

The Politicization of the Constitution:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdSfYuRnmk[/youtube]

Republicans’ Voter ID Assault on Thomas Jefferson: Why Constitution Day Matters:

As we celebrate this Constitution Day, we must be educating our citizens instead of road blocking citizenship rights for which thousands have fought and died. We must be educating on pathways to citizenship, not restricting individuals from access to our democracy. Early voting, absentee ballots and in-language assistance are all key pillars of voting, and it is unfortunate that Democrats have to fight tooth and nail to retain them.

AMEN

EDIT: One more, this from Senator Chris Coons, who writes in today’s NJ Op-Ed page that Citizen’s United is a blot on Constitution, fair elections:

Despite my deep respect for the Supreme Court and its role in protecting and preserving our democracy, I simply do not agree with the majority of the justices’ conclusion in this case. They found that unregulated, unreported campaign donations from corporations are actually speech – meaning that corporations have the same right to spend money to influence elections as you and me. The problem, of course, is that corporations aren’t people. Corporations don’t have children or parents, they don’t have bad hair days and they can’t catch the flu.

Quite right, of course, and thanks to Senator Coons for speaking out on this.

What interests you today?

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm

Comments (6)

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  1. cassandra_m says:
    September 17, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    This is nuts — Fox and Friends gets punk’d by a fake disheartened voter.

    This is how desperate the FOX people are to push their fake narrative — they would put on the air someone who wasn’t even well-screened for their purposes. But it also gives you a glimpse into what FOX Noise does — providing a vector into celebrity for folks who will parrot the party line.

  2. liberalgeek says:
    September 17, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    That was painful to watch. Is FoxNews always that hard to watch?

  3. cassandra_m says:
    September 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Added a link to Senator Chris Coons’ op-ed in today’s NJ talking about the blight that Citizen’s United is on the Constitution.

  4. Jpconnorjr says:
    September 17, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    Any update on the Fake sign stealing caper, Cass? Just wondering;).

  5. John young says:
    September 18, 2012 at 12:01 am

    funny NFL page: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1QZaAk/www.sportspickle.com/opinion/13887/honest-nflcom-headlines-week-2

  6. puck says:
    September 18, 2012 at 6:56 am

    Chief Wang – the Chinese Joe Arpaio.

    According to Zhou’s account in a Chinese newspaper, Wang had a flair for the dramatic. He would drive to crime scenes in a Mitsubishi jeep modified to carry a double rack of lights on its roof so the locals would know “Chief Wang” was on the case.

    On arrival, he would leap atop the car, draw his gun and fire shots in the air. On a night raid of hair salons thought to be fronts for prostitution, Wang rushed into one and threw a young man with dyed yellow hair to the ground.

    After a police search for evidence yielded nothing, he told them to take the youth to the police station, saying, “A man with hair like that can’t be any good.”

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