Commentary Inside the First Amendment By Gene Policinski First Amendment Center vice president/executive director Who is a journalist? Seems a simple question, really. But try to put the answer to paper or computer screen, and more pointedly, try to write that definition into law, and suddenly the effort gets more[Read More…]
Commentary
Revising History: What Happens In Texas Won’t Stay In Texas
Commentary Inside the First Amendment By Charles C. Haynes First Amendment Center senior scholar Battle lines are being drawn in Texas for a protracted fight over what gets taught in the state’s social studies classrooms. And since Texas has an outsized influence on what goes into textbooks nationwide, the winners[Read More…]
You Say It’s Your Birthday? Facebook has an App. for You
Commentary By Gary Kopycinski I get so, so tired of Facebook applications. So many silly things. No, I’m not interested in your Mafia Wars. I have no interest in "Picture Your Friends." And I don’t do fantasy football, baseball, golf, or anything else. On My Birthday, however, is pretty cool.[Read More…]
Kerry On Iran: Diplomacy, Backed By Pressure, Remains The Best Course
WASHINGTON, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–October 1, 2009. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) authored the following op-ed in today’s Financial Times titled “Time for Diplomacy to End the Stand-off With Iran.” The full text of the op-ed is below: Time for diplomacy to end the stand-off with Iran By John Kerry[Read More…]
Chairman Kerry: Testing Afghanistan Assumptions
Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–September 28, 2009. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) authored the following op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal titled “Testing Afghanistan Assumptions.” The full text of the op-ed is below: Testing Afghanistan Assumptions By John Kerry In the coming weeks, President Barack Obama will make the most[Read More…]
In the Culture Wars, Who Speaks for God?
Commentary Inside the First Amendment By Charles C. Haynes First Amendment Center senior scholar In the combative world of cable news, America’s culture wars are often characterized as pitched battles between ardent religionists on one side and diehard secularists on the other. Real life, of course, is far more complex.[Read More…]
Some ‘Unfunded Mandates’ are Bad, But Many Others are Okay
Commentary By John A. Ostenburg A common complaint among lots of municipal officials is that the state or federal government many times imposes mandates that the local officials then must implement. It becomes especially problematic when costs associated with putting the state or federal measures in place require local funding,[Read More…]
Indefinite Detention Should End With The Closure Of Guantánamo, Says ACLU
NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–September 25, 2009. According to a Washington Post and ProPublica report, it is unlikely the Obama administration will meet its January deadline for closing Guantánamo. The delay is reportedly due in part to the administration’s search for a place to indefinitely imprison 50 to 60 detainees. The American Civil[Read More…]
How Fox’s Chris Wallace Became Irrelevant
Commentary by Eric Boehlert You think the Obama White House hit a nerve over the weekend when it purposefully left Fox News Sunday off the president’s generous list of Sunday talk-show appearances? The subsequent whining and childish name-calling from Fox News Sunday‘s Chris Wallace became incessant and, of course, revealed[Read More…]
President Obama on Letterman: ‘I was actually black before the election.”
Commentary President Obama, in response to a question by David Letterman as to whether the vitriol at health care forums was motivated by racism, said, “I was actually black before the election.” Letterman responded, “Really? How long have you been a black man?” Letterman and President Obama spoke about the[Read More…]
