Border Patrol Agent Fired For Supporting Drug Legalization Files Lawsuit

By Yashwanth Manjunath

In October 2009, Border Patrol agent Bryan Gonzalez was fired for expressing his views on drug legalization to fellow agent Shawn Montoya. Gonzalez told Montoya in April of 2009 that “legalization of drugs would end the drug war and related violence in Mexico,” adding that “the drug problems in America were due to American demand for drugs supplied by Mexico.” He is now suing Border Patrol with the help of the ACLU of New Mexico for his job back.

Gonzalez was unquestionably fired for his comments about the War on Drugs. While serving from October 2007 until …

Lancaster, PA Separating Students By Race And Gender

The Lancaster, PA school district believes keeping races separate in classrooms is a good idea.

In December, McCaskey East High School placed its junior class in different homerooms based on race and gender. Each class is led by a home room teacher of the same race and gender who serves as a role model.

The idea is based on research that shows students with strong mentors do better in school.…

Desperate GOP Goes Back To 1700′s To Try To Overturn Health Care Reform

Constitution-loving Republicans are invoking a document from the 1700′s that legal scholars say is unconstitutional in a desperate attempt to overturn health care reform.

They are introducing measures that hinge on “nullification,” Thomas Jefferson’s late 18th-century doctrine that purported to give states the ultimate say in constitutional matters.

GOP lawmakers introduced such a measure Wednesday in the Idaho House, and Alabama, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming are also talking about the idea.

Just like repeal, itself, it has no chance of working.

The efforts are completely unconstitutional in the eyes of most legal scholars because the …

Utah Lawmakers Want An Official State Gun

Some think having a state flower is silly, but a state gun? Republican state Rep. Carl Wimmer wants to honor the memory of Utah resident John Browning, who invented the semiautomatic pistol in 1911.

“He invented a firearm that has defended American values and the traditions of this country for 100 years,” Wimmer told the House Political Subdivisions Committee.

Utah has 24 state symbols recognizing the history, geography and culture of the state. They include a state cooking pot, a state tree, a state hymn and a state folk dance.

The committee approved the bill to add a state …

Obama SOTU Scores With Those Who Watched It

A CNN poll shows that most who saw President Obama’s State of the Union Address reacted positively.

…52 percent of speech watchers had a very positive reaction, with 32 percent saying they had a somewhat positive response and 15 percent with a negative response.

The 52 percent who indicated they had a very positive response is up four points from the 48 percent of speech watchers who felt the same way a year ago about the president’s January 27, 2010 State of the Union address.

The poll reflects those who actually watched the speech, and the sample is 39% Democratic and …

Rep. Paul Broun To Obama: “You Don’t Believe In The Constitution. You Believe In Socialism”

Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, who didn’t want to sit with any Democrats at the SOTU prom, gave  his response to the president’s address (via Political Wire).

Broun took to Twitter during the address, accusing the president of believing in socialism. Obama touched on several economic themes during his address, emphasizing the need for the U.S. to be competitive in the global marketplace.

“Mr. President, you don’t believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism,” the tweet reads.

So nice to see the civility the president and many Republicans have called for.…

Michele Bachmann’s False Statements In Her Tea Party Response To The SOTU

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gave inaccurate information, to be kind, during her response to the response to the State of the Union Address. She claimed that 16,500 IRS agents would be used to enforce the new health care law. According to factcheck.org, this is partisan hogwash.

Q: Will the IRS hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the health care law?

A: No. The law requires the IRS mostly to hand out tax credits, not collect penalties. The claim of 16,500 new agents stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.…

The State Of The Union

How did the president do?…

Advance SOTU Speech Excerpts: “Our Generation’s Sputnik Moment”

President Obama will say that this is “our generation’s sputnik moment” in his State of the Union Address tonight. He will use that metaphor to spur the country to a round of competitiveness.

“Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon,” Obama will say, according to excerpts released by the White House. “The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a …

On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

Live coverage of the State of the Union Address and the Republican Response, with guests including:

• Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele
• President Clinton’s chief speechwriter Michael Waldman, whose latest book is My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents, from George Washington to Barack Obama
• Former Gov. Gary Johnson (R-NM)…

Michele Bachmann Not Doing Republicans A Favor By Giving Tea Party SOTU Response

Besides the fact that she says crazy things and gets her facts wrong, having Michele Bachmann follow the Republican response with the Tea Party response to the State of the Union Address muddles the message. It’s fair to say that Paul Ryan, the Republican-appointed respondee, may look more centrist as a result, as Adam Serwer and Steve Benen point out. Benen adds:

I suppose it’s also possible that we’ll see one popular national leader reveling in the pageantry of a national address to a joint session, followed by two right-wing members of an unpopular party, struggling to explain why …