thursday reads

Burmese authorities again opened fire on anti-government protesters today after raiding monasteries and rounding up hundreds of monks overnight in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.


Ohio, Florida laws could dampen Democratic voting

Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008.

Backers of the new laws say they're aimed at curbing vote fraud. But the statutes also could facilitate a controversial Republican tactic known as ``vote caging,'' which the GOP attempted in Ohio and Florida in 2004 before public disclosures foiled the efforts, said Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief in the Bush administration who's now with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

Caging, used in the past to target poor minorities in heavily Democratic precincts, entails sending mass mailings to certain voters and then using the undelivered letters to compile lists of voters for eligibility challenges

Juan Cole: Transcript Reveals Impeachable Offenses by Bush Re: Iraq War


Iraq War: Love and Personal Loss [Photo Slideshow]


David Swanson: Observing Our Government Through Blackwater


It's no surprise that politicians are rarely conversant with the limits on their legislating found in the U.S. Constitution. But it is worth noting when federal judges have actually read the First Amendment and strike down a law accordingly.


The Chicago Tribune spotlights the Windy City Rollers as they prepare to take on the Texas Rollergirls this weekend at the 2007 Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championship Tournament.