Washington Post: "West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face GOP primary winner John Raese in a special election to fill the open Senate seat held for 51 years by Robert C. Byrd.  In the other state holding a primary Saturday, scandal-tainted Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) easily defeated former state Supreme … Continue reading Pro-life Democrats Win Senate Primaries

Salon: "Rape is a weapon. Most of us know this, having heard countless times that sexual violence is "a tool of war," but then occasionally we are actually confronted with the disturbing reality of that abstract idea, and reminded just how little we actually understand it. For example: News today that nearly 200 Congolese women … Continue reading Rape: Weapon of choice in Congo

Cherie Blair: "The sham trial of seven Bahá'í leaders is a violation of Iran's international human rights obligations and the country's own law."

Martin Luther King III: "The title of the 1963 demonstration, "The Great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," reflected his belief that the right to sit at a lunch counter would be hollow if African Americans could not afford the meal. The need for jobs and shared economic prosperity remains as urgent and compelling … Continue reading Still striving for MLK's dream in the 21st century

Washington Post: "Thousands upon thousands of girls and women raped as a tactic of war by the Burmese army; children press-ganged to serve as porters; 3,500 villages burned to the ground in recent years; millions of people forced from their homes -- these are some of the crimes against humanity sponsored by the generals who … Continue reading Why a U.N. probe of Burma is a crucial step

Christian Post: "Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) introduced the bipartisan legislation, titled the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” that, if passed, would ensure no tax dollars pay for abortions – with the exception of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother – under federal health programs."

Paul Krugman: "What’s really going on here? Conservatives hate Social Security for ideological reasons: its success undermines their claim that government is always the problem, never the solution. But they receive crucial support from Washington insiders, for whom a declared willingness to cut Social Security has long served as a badge of fiscal seriousness, never … Continue reading Attacking Social Security

NY Times: "The magnitude of Pakistan’s current tragedy is almost more than the mind can take in. A fifth of the country flooded by torrential monsoon rains. Fifteen million to 20 million people driven from their homes or otherwise affected. Six million in need of emergency assistance, such as food and clean water. Millions of … Continue reading Pakistan: An Urgent Call for Aid

Tim Kaine: “While we’ve always said these midterms are going to be tough — and we’ve got the underdog mentality about these midterms; we have from the very start — suddenly you’re seeing a lot of these races develop in ways where we’ve got paths to victory that folks didn’t think we had six months … Continue reading Tim Kaine: Democrats still have 'mojo'

Amnesty International: "These seven Baha'i leaders, some of whom are elderly, are prisoners of conscience jailed solely on account of their beliefs or peaceful activities on behalf of the persecuted Baha'i minority."