JASON LINKINS TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads
- BIG NEWS:
- Prop 8
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- Iraq
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- LA Real Estate
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- Fox News
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- Afghanistan
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This week's news spotlight was captured by the judiciary, with the Senate's confirmation of Elena Kagan as the Supreme Court's 112th justice (and fourth woman), and federal judge Vaughn Walker's decision overturning California's ban on same-sex marriage. His 136-page ruling landed with the force of history being made. It felt less like a legal finding than another milestone on the road to a more perfect union -- another step in the long journey that has included the Emancipation Proclamation, the 19th amendment, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Those who continue to oppose same-sex marriage are not just standing against the right of gays and lesbians to marry -- they are standing against the inevitable. When the case makes its way to the Supreme Court, will John Roberts' court want to position itself as a roadblock in the way of historic inevitability?
To say America now acts as if we need a war may underrate the syndrome. We seem to require three wars at a given time: a war to be getting out of, a war we're in the middle of, and a war we aim to step into.
My concern for my family was my primary thought as I was urged to seek the presidency of Haiti. But then I came to realize that I have to make this decision for them, especially for my daughter, as much as for myself and my country.
The World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves if we said 'no' to a mosque in Lower Manhattan.
We are awash in crises right now -- crises that require smart and creative policy fixes. So why is Sarah Palin, who so rarely deals in policy fixes, so popular?
Since its beginnings, the Internet was a level playing field that allowed all content to move at the same speed, whether it's ABC News or your uncle's video blog. That's all about to change.
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrheal disease in children worldwide and is responsible for the deaths of more than 500,000 children each year. It doesn't have to be this way.
We are a pluralistic society and this means we welcome all religions. Islam did not attack the World Trade Center on 9/11, sick and twisted men did. They did not only hijack four airplanes, but also hijacked a religion.
Vaccines have saved the lives of millions of children around the world, and have the potential to save millions more as newer vaccines are developed and introduced. Yet we are at risk of losing many of these gains. Why is this?
The pro-life, pro-family Republicans are now pro-neonatal detention and deportation. It isn't enough to drive out the people not born here, now they want to drive out the ones that were.
"Soon after marrying, most men stop hitting on women and start shopping for furniture," the author of a news study said. "Scientifically speaking, how gay is that?"
There's taxpayer money going into the hands of the very people attacking U.S. troops and the contractors who risk their lives for a paycheck. 260 of those workers took that risk and lost over the last year, and their names will likely never be known.
Two Republican senators have released a third report critiquing 100 Recovery Act projects. And just like the last two, this one was an inaccurate and misleading attack on programs that are putting Americans to work.
We do not have an immediate deficit crisis. We have an immediate jobs crisis. We cannot hope to shrink the deficit if the economy fails to grow or create jobs -- or worse, if it falls back into a double-dip recession.
The press, government officials and BP pitchmen are insulting our intelligence by suggesting that the oil has vanished and there's nothing to worry about. They can whistle away the crisis as much as they want, but we'd all do well to stay on top of this.
There is a growing chorus across Africa calling for change. And at the top of their demands is the right for every child to an education. These are the voices of Africa's future.
The LGBT community has always marched towards equality in small, incremental steps. Today, though, bold gestures seem to be winning the struggle.
Hiroshima was our original sin, and we are still paying for it, even if most Americans don't know it. That's why I always urge everyone to study the history surrounding the decision to use the bomb and how the full story was covered up for decades.
Today, the sun is shining a little brighter on the Golden State because by overturning Prop 8, a federal judge has affirmed what a majority of Californians know to be true: love doesn't discriminate.
The sexism of the 2008 election will forever change the political landscape. Millions of women voters, be they registered Democrats or newly-minted Independents, no longer feel that they have a home in the Democratic Party.
Fox 'News' is different. Journalists who say that Fox and MSNBC are just mirror equivalents of each other are wrong. Let's decode Fox's parlor tricks in its relentless effort to create news and advance the conservative agenda.
Glenn Beck's recognition of the power and consequences of his words has not dampened his enthusiasm for injecting them with violence to hammer home his perspective.
Far from signaling a Christian approval of using marijuana, Christian advocacy for decriminalization signals disapproval of the retributive response to drug abuse.
I fear that we might all be like the "walking ghosts" of Hiroshima -- having survived the initial attack, we are alive only by virtue of a ghoulish time lag between the onset of the nuclear period and the full realization of its horrific consequences.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have convinced many of their billionaire brethren into promising to give away half their fortune. It's likely that this is one club Oprah Winfrey will not want to join.
During the 2008 campaign, it didn't seem that the Republican party could move further to the right on immigration. What it doesn't seem to understand is that the stakes on this issue are, politically, far greater than most.
