I wonder when the Republicans will realize that the Strom Thurmond wannabees among them don't particularly like those folks whose skin color is darker than Barack Obama's--lessen' of course when they's female 'n' nekkid.

The linked article does not indicate whether the remedy sought is monetary damages. If so, a prosecuting attorney ordinarily has absolute immunity from suit in determining which cases to prosecute and in presenting the government's case. If the charge has already been brought, injunctive relief would probably be barred by the doctrine of abstention under Younger v. Harris.

I wonder, though. Did the prosecutor make false statements to the news media regarding these girls, a la Mike Nifong? If so, he may not be immune from suit.

I have not researched the topic, but I don't know of any staute or governmental regulation in this country that prohibits the advertising of abortion services. As a general proposition, the First Amendment protects commercial advertising which is truthful and not misleading, where the product or service advertised is lawful and the advertising does not promote an unlawful transaction.

I suspect that the absence of abortion advertising from the airwaves stems from the reluctance of providers to call attention to themselves--they are, after all, in a dangerous business--and from media outlets' reluctance to accept advertising which a significant portion of the audience would find objectionable. (The First Amendment also protects the media's right to refuse to run particular advertisements.) As with other commercial transactions, the sale of advertising requires a willing seller as well as a willing buyer.

My preference would be to let information about abortion services air fully and freely. That having been said, those who wish to stigmatize abortion should be given the same access to the airwaves as those who wish to promote it.

Abortion is a morally serious decision. Why is it a bad thing for a procedure that ends life or potential life to carry the kind of stigma that promotes careful reflection?

It is not too late to impeach George W. Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Ashcroft or the rest of the Bush Administration clowns.

Paragraph 7 of Article I, § 3 of the Constitution states:

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

The expiration of the president's term does not make impeachment moot; the House can still investigate and vote articles of impeachment, with the Senate to determine disqualification from holding federal office in the future.

This is not a mere academic question. After serving as president, John Quincy Adams served in the House of Representatives and William Howard Taft served as Chief Justice of the United States. After serving as vice-president, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush served as president and Hubert Humphrey served as a U. S. Senator. Walter Mondale served as Ambassador to Japan and was nominated to run for the Senate from Minnesota when Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash.

How many of you have read the decision? Do you have any idea what "disparate impact" means?

Dear Dickie, dear Dickie, you have no complaint

You are what you are, and you ain't what you ain't

So listen up, Buster, and listen up good

Stop wishin' for bad luck and knockin' on wood

God bless Jimmy Carter.

A question for the religiously oriented right wing Republicans: if you were pleading at the bar of Eternal Justice, and had a choice of representing Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush as your client, whose case would you prefer to present?

An elective abortion would seem to be something against which any prudent woman can easily self-insure. The cost of a first trimester abortion is what? About $300 to $500? The cost of a box of condoms is what? $7.99 for a dozen?

Moreover, the arithmetic of abortion and child support gives putative fathers a strong incentive to make a contribution to defray the cost.

Of course, the operative word above is "prudent".

Do the authors on this blog really want to talk about what does or doesn't smell like fish?

Here in Nashville there is building--a former location of a Red Lobster restaurant--that for a while housed a lesbian bar. Someone had a sense of humor there.

Of course the decision of what name to use to celebrate one's marriage (or not) is personal and is best left to the spouses involved. My ex-wife kept her birth name after marrying. That was not emasculating, but it was damn sure hurtful! I felt as if she were hedging her bet on, or less than fully committed to, the marriage.

If (and only if) my wonderful, independent and opinionated, young adult daughter were to ask my opinion as to what I believe she should do, I would inquire as to, if a gentleman's name is not worth taking, why would she regard that gentleman as worth marrying?

with regard to University of Tennessee football. Coach Fulmer, who had coached a national championship team at his alma mater and whose career winning percentage was .750, was fired when the 104,000+ seat stadium no longer was a sellout for every home game.

If the UCLA game was any indication, the team is not yet ready to compete for the SEC east title.

If a service member is so lily-livered as to get the heebie jeebies just from serving along with a gay person who is known to be gay, but brave as all get out while serving along with a closeted gay person, is that the measure of faux "courage" we want in our armed forces?

Regarding your 11:21 a.m. comment, I seriously doubt that Ms. Hunter "deliberately got herself pregnant". Well, it may have been deliberate.

As Paddy Chayefsky said, television is democracy with a vengeance. Of course, Mr. Chayefsky wrote the Howard Beale shtick decades before Glenn Beck aped it.