Today is Worker's Memorial Day, our time to remember the 15 workers who die every day on the job, largely because of dangerous working conditions. The following post from Confined Space is long but worth the read. And as Mother... More...

Anti-war progressive activists are routinely denounced by the media, pundits, and others -- including Democratic leaders -- for taking a position that the U.S. should get out of Iraq.But a recent Gallup poll shows this may not be such a... More...

As we've noted before, these may be tough times for regular folks filling up at the pump -- but things couldn't be better for Big Oil. Here are the first quarter earnings announced by the leading energy oligopolies:Exxon/Mobile: Up 44%BP:... More...

Georgia’s Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who swept to office on a wave of white outrage over disrespect of the Confederate flag, today signed a bill that would finally repeal discriminatory laws left over from the fight against civil rights in... More...

The Memphis Flyer denounces the five Tennessee Democrats who voted for the bankruptcy “reform” bill (a “Christmas gift” to credit card companies, according to one opponent) as betrayers of their party’s New Deal heritage:As various judges and experts in bankruptcy... More...

The AP reports:About 300 Mexican women taking part in a worldwide relay march were stopped by U.S. border officials when they tried to cross to the U.S. side of an international bridge to meet their American counterparts Wednesday.Participants in the... More...

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) has slipped a provision into a military spending bill that would grant his state authority to sell or lease mineral rights in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, an offshore national park. The natural gas industry... More...

Last week, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed into law a measure requiring voters to show photo identification before voting. The move was part of a growing trend; lawmakers have introduced such legislation in 25 states, with the legislatures of... More...

A new study by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation reveals that lack of health insurance isn't just a growing problem for laid off or otherwise unemployed workers. More than 20 million working adults don't have coverage, and in eight states... More...

Rolling Stone magazine (home of Southern Exposure's former editor and ace investigative reporter, Eric Bates) has a story up about the administration's latest move in its war against government.Tucked in the spending proposal Bush submitted to Congress is a proposal... More...

Last month, Facing South commented on the rise of “wired communities” across the country, as communities set up free or reduced rate city-wide broadband services, including Wi-Fi. We also warned that the telecommunications industry wasn’t exactly pleased about the trend.... More...

For those of you scratching your heads at the gas pump, wondering why prices have shot through the roof with little relief in sight, David Sirota has unearthed an interesting story from Fortune magazine.It turns out that while the oil... More...

Facing South told you last week about South Carolina State Rep. John Graham Altman’s bizarre outburst at a reporter when she asked him why his committee had passed a bill making cockfighting a felony while tabling a bill that would... More...

The Texas House today passed a constitutional amendment banning both same-sex marriages and civil unions. The bill was approved by a 101 to 29 vote, barely exceeding the 100 votes necessary to amend the state constitution. The bill next goes... More...

Oh, this is rich. Swing State Project via MyDD has the goods on Sen. Johnny Isackson, the new Republican Senator from Georgia. Johnny, you see, is one of the GOP leaders who says he has been touched by God to... More...

The Justice Department has released its latest incarceration figures, revealing that the rush to lock up our nation's population continues at a brisk pace:Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation's prisons... More...

One would think that with the conservative right controlling the White House, Congress, and the Judiciary; holding 29 governorships; and having the ideological allegiance of most of corporate America, they would feel in pretty good shape.But alas, they don't feel... More...

In covering Earth Day activities today, the online magazine Grist makes a compelling point:Today, on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the House of Representatives is voting on, and widely expected to pass, a grossly... More...

"The number of US university students who hold traditional liberal views increased sharply over the past year, pushed by excitement over the 2004 election and dissatisfaction with George W. Bush's foreign policy."That's the conclusion of a national poll by Harvard... More...

Today's Associated Press reports that the Senate's "overwhelmingly approval" yesterday of $81 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, if approved by the House and President, "would push the total cost of combat and reconstruction past $300 billion."It's a staggering... More...

The Raleigh News & Observer follows up on our post yesterday about President Bush's Earth Day photo-op at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today:Spring wildflowers and dogwoods are just blooming in the Smokies. Yet nature guide Erik Plakanis already... More...

The White House has announced that President Bush will be celebrating Earth Day tomorrow with a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a location no doubt chosen for its perceived seclusion from environmental activists who may call into... More...

The Census Bureau is predicting that by 2035 or so the South will be the nation’s most populous region. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution lets fly with the clichés:Look out, y’all! Within three decades, nearly four in every 10 Americans will be... More...

Really not much to say about this latest news out of South Carolina:The State House took up two pieces of legislation this week aimed at protecting two different groups. Up for debate was cracking down on gamecock fighting and protecting... More...

The blogosphere quickly erupted over yesterday's news that the Vatican had tapped conservative German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, to be the next shepherd of the global Catholic flock.While right-wingers like those at The Corner started popping the... More...

Today's Progress Report tells the story:The Texas State House "tentatively approved legislation that would prohibit homosexuals and bisexuals from becoming foster parents." The measure, which passed by a vote of 81-58, was added on to a fuller bill intended to... More...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today that real average weekly earnings dropped 0.3 percent in March. This was the second month of decline -- real earnings dropped .3% in February as well -- putting the annual rate of decline... More...

Another one for the Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) files: according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, Tom DeLay and his family filed a $15 million defective product lawsuit in 1990 -- the very type of lawsuit he... More...

In case you're not on his email list, here's an excerpt of a message former Senator and VP candidate John Edwards sent me (and millions of others) yesterday via his new One America Committee, announcing his leadership in pushing the... More...

A Mexican woman in Lebanon, Tenn., could lose custody of her 11-year-old daughter permanently because she (the mother) doesn’t speak English. According to the AP, last October county juvenile court judge Barry Tatum warned Felipa Berrera, who speaks Mixtec, a... More...

The Florida state legislature is trying to limit access to abortion under the guise of making it safer. According to the St. Petersburg Times, legislators want to impose expensive, time-wasting bureaucratic requirements on clinics that perform second-trimester abortions (about half... More...

Our friend Naomi Klein has an excellent piece in the latest Nation magazine, about the administration's little-noticed move to create an Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. As Klein reports:Its mandate is to draw up elaborate "post-conflict" plans... More...

One of the sharpest political debates erupting in statehouses this year -- and a key battle between progressive and anti-immigrant forces nationwide -- is over proposals to give the children of undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.Based... More...

Yesterday was the third anniversary of Atrios (aka Duncan Black) over at the Eschaton blog. He was one of the trailblazers in the progressive blogosphere -- diligently posting day after day when it was, in the words of co-trailblazer DKos... More...

Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation has a post up today about the recent victory in the Maryland General Assembly, which passed legislation requiring companies with 10,000 or more employees to spend at least 8% of their payroll on health... More...

The Left Coaster provides an inventory of the 31 House Democrats who, over the last two days, voted to both repeal the Estate Tax and in support of the finance industry-sponsored Bankruptcy Bill.Sad to say, half (16) of them are... More...

For those despairing about the growing injustices in our tax code -- and threats of more on the way -- our friend Max Sawicky of the Economic Policy Institute has a good column up about what's right with the income... More...

Today's New York Times reports that "Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as 'against people of faith' for blocking President Bush's nominees.'"God's supposed displeasure with... More...

Ah, Tax Day, the moment that all of us stand back to reflect on what it means to have a government and invest in the public good -- or, for the slackers amongst us, the day we scurry to get... More...

Earlier this week, the 11th Circuit appeals court in Atlanta upheld Florida's law banning ex-felons from being able to vote. During the 2000 elections, for a post, you MUST DELETE IT! -->... More...

OK, sorry, no more lame puns. At least I don’t go in for exterminator jokes.Anyway, DeLay did apologize for his recent remarks threatening judges whose rulings in the Terri Schiavo case he didn’t like. Well, sort of. Okay, he didn’t... More...

In recent decades, most states have rejected electrocution, firing squads, hanging, and gas chambers as cruel and unusual, leaving lethal injection the most popular method of execution in this country. But researchers in Florida and Virginia have found that 4... More...

Think that the residents of Southern red states like North Carolina don't want the government to do more about poverty? Think again.A new state-wide poll from Elon University's Center for Public Opinion Polling conducted this February finds that North Carolinians... More...

In case you missed it, the St. Petersburg Times ran a great story last Sunday about the massive subsidies given to lure companies -- sometimes called "recruitment incentives," other times called "corporate welfare" -- and whether or not they've been... More...

Inside the Beltway via Political Wire reports on political scientist James Fowler's attempt to determine the "most connected" legislators in the 108th Congress. "Specifically, higher-ranked individuals tend to be much more successful at getting their own amendments passed on the... More...

As a complement to "Swine Still Doing Fine," today's Institute report from correspondant Sean Reilly about the rise of pork spending under our current Washington leadership, here are stats from today's issue of the Facing South newsletter:INSTITUTE INDEXPercent that state... More...

Republicans promised their reign would bring an era of “fiscal responsibility.” Then why is the federal budget still loaded with dubious pork spending? Sean Reilly, Washington correspondent for the Mobile Register, investigates in a special report prepared for Facing South... More...

West Virginia state legislators were surprised to discover that Senate Majority Whip Billy Wayne Bailey, a Democrat, had quietly slipped a provision reading, “English shall be the official language of the State of West Virginia,” into a mundane parks and... More...

Eric Rudolph, everyone’s favorite pot-growing white supremacist, will be pleading guilty tomorrow to several bombings, include a 1998 blast at a Birmingham women’s health clinic that killed a security guard and maimed a nurse.According to CBS News, “About the only... More...

Today is the birthday of Florence Reese, who wrote the legendary labor anthem "Which Side Are You On?" The following account by Deana Martin comes courtesy of the Progressive Review:Born April 12, 1900, in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, Florence Reece, a... More...

In a letter to the Financial Times, Ian Rutledge (author of Addicted to Oil) looks at spiraling oil prices and argues that no one should be surprised. He recounts a 2001 report by the Council on Foreign Relations warning of... More...

Our friend Pam Spaulding has a rundown on “The State of Bigoted Marriage Amendments” newly added to state constitutions. The South is, to no one’s surprise, solid on the issue.Five Southern states passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage just last... More...

A new study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition finds that home lenders target African Americans and Latino consumers for high-interest, predatory loans, as reported in today's Washington Post: About 29 percent of African Americans who bought or refinanced homes... More...

Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) Committee on Government Reform - Minority Office has released new findings about how Halliburton is using your taxpayer dollars.According to new audits, the amount that Halliburton has overcharged the U.S. government for five out of 10... More...

Emboldened by last month's Senate vote to start drilling the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, the Associated Press reports today that energy interests now have their sites on a new target: the nation's coasts.90% of America's coastline is now protected by a... More...

Like thousands of others, I'll be heading to the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival here in Durham, N.C. this weekend, widely regarded as the best documentary event in the country.The Festival has grown a lot since its days as the... More...

In today's Salon, Lou DuBose -- one of the best reporters on Texas politics around -- echoes my point Wednesday about how Tom DeLay has been able to stay in power despite years of scandal:The answer to that question involves... More...

Yesterday, Wal-Mart warned the state of Maryland (an honorary Southern state in our book) that "approval of a bill that would require it to boost health care spending in Maryland could endanger its plans for growth in the state," reports... More...

The St. Petersburg Times reports on how the Hillsborough County (Florida) commission has voted to ban three-time felons from an indigent health care program run by the county. The health plan has fallen into financial crisis, and the change was... More...

The Memphis Flyer on Howard Dean’s recent visit to Tennessee:What is new in the Howard Dean of 2005, or at least made more explicit, is his overt appeal to moral and even religious sanction. “We don’t ever have to be... More...

David Sirota has the goods, based on a scoop by the good folks at Halliburton Watch:Halliburton (Vice President Cheney's old company) is employing its Iraq workers through its Cayman Islands subsidiary (probably the same one that it used to evade... More...

Although much has been made of Wal-Mart's new PR offensive to fluff up its public image, relatively little attention has been given to Wal-Mart's new bid to be a political player. USA Today's "Money" section has the story today:[I]n a... More...

This hasn't been Rep. Tom DeLay's week. As scandals proliferate and the pile-on reaches critical mass, leading many to speculate that the White House itself is assisting in the bugman's fumigation, DeLay's days as the most powerful man in Congress... More...

Retail behemoth Wal-Mart may have just been annointed king of the Fortune 500 for the fourth year in a row, but not all is well in discount land.According to today's St. Petersburg Times, Wal-Mart is launching a new bare-knuckled counter-offensive... More...

While weekend news was dominated by coverage of John Paul’s death, another important personage slipped into the hereafter almost unnoticed -- Frank Perdue, CEO of Perdue Farms, who was his company’s public face for twenty years. “It takes a tough... More...

Dontcha love college basketball?Last night's nail-biter between Carolina and Illinois capped a great men's NCAA tournament, full of big upsets and overtime drama. It was great to see the home state boys (sorry Duke fans) win one for the long-suffering... More...

On April 4, 1968, a shot rang through a throng of striking garbage workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Who fired the gun is still being debated, but the result is not: Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed at the young age... More...

From the Birmingham News (reg req’d):A young mother in June Cleaver pearls and cardigan became Alabama's face of medical marijuana Thursday when she spoke out about how the illegal drug soothes her chronic pain. Laura Campbell, 32, of Cullman appeared... More...

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon says that “Southern women are already feminists, they just don’t know it yet.” Check out her post on Loretta Lynn and finding the heart of the South: There's a movement right now to get arrogant, misogynist... More...