The past few weeks have seen a number of positive steps toward righting the wrongs of the Jim Crow era. The Senate formally apologized for rejecting decades of pleas to make lynching a federal crime. Justice was finally served to Edgar Ray Killen, who murdered three civil rights workers in 1964. And new evidence (revealed in Keith A. Beauchamp’s film The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till) has sparked a new investigation into the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till.

Still many are asking, “Why bother?” Some — including Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) — ask why we should apologize for the actions (or inactions) of senators long past. Others wonder why, after 50 years, the FBI has decided to reopen the Emmett Till case. Why not just leave the past — and the truth — buried?

The answer, I think, is found in the preamble of our Constitution, which contains the words “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our posterity.” The Founders were speaking for all Americans — past, present, and future. Surely no one alive today had any part in writing the Constitution or Declaration of Independence, but Americans proudly claim these documents as their own. But when the topics of slavery and crimes against Native Americans come up, no one wants to claim responsibility. President Kennedy was right: failure is an orphan.

America’s past failings belong to all Americans just as much as the Founders’ ideals and successes do. And so, rather than ask what the crimes of 50 years ago have to do with us, we should be asking our government to do more to right the wrongs. It’s time for us to confront our nation’s past of racial injustice head-on and do our best to make amends so we can more fully realize our Constitutional and democratic calling.

– Michael Thompson, CampusProgress

President Bush might continue to intimate that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the September 11th attacks but Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC), the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, is stating it explicitly. In an interview on CNN, Hayes insisted, “Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11.” When confronted with the findings of the 9/11 commission — who definitively concluded there was no evidence of a link between Saddam and 9/11 — Hayes retorted, “I’m sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places.” Hayes then defended his position by asserting that “legislators have access to evidence others do not.”

We’re not sure what kind of evidence Hayes has access to but apparently he has higher clearance than U.S. weapons inspectors, CIA directors, counterterrorism experts, Secretaries of State, and even the President…because all those people have accepted the fact that Saddam was not connected to 9/11.

Stopglobalwarming.org is organizing a virtual march to raise awareness on global warming and to urge our leaders to put the country on a path towards a renewable energy future. There could not be a more important time to join this effort. The Senate just moved on this issue. The G8 is moving on this issue. Tony Blair is moving on this issue. Only President Bush and Vice President Cheney are still sitting on their duffs.

We can all get off ours and sign up for the virtual march. Please join the effort.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to give themselves a cost-of-living raise. Congratulations, lawmakers! Next year you’ll be making $3,100 more than you did this year.

Unfortunately, Congress doesn’t want to share the wealth. This makes the eighth time Congress has voted to increase its own pay since 1997; they, however, have voted down every attempt to give minimum wage earners a cost of living raise since 1997. Today, the real value of the minimum wage is $3.50 below what it was in 1968. Working full time for minimum wage today will rake in a whopping $10,700 a year, or about $5,000 below the poverty level for a family of three

Hope your conscience doesn’t bother you so much that you can’t enjoy that extra $3,100, Congress.

President Bush invoked 9/11 five times last night. He refereneced Osama bin Laden twice.

It was a desperate attempt to imply a link between the increasingly deadly war in Iraq and the attacks on American soil in 2001. America knows that’s not true. Actually, so does President Bush.

In a press conference on 1/31/03, asked if he believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, President Bush admitted, “I can’t make that claim.”

References to “September 11″: 5

References to “weapons of mass destruction”: 0

References to “freedom”: 21

References to “exit strategy”: 0

References to “Saddam Hussein”: 2

References to “Osama Bin Laden”: 2

References to “a mistake”: 1 (setting a timetable for withdrawal)

References to “mission”: 11

References to “mission accomplished”: 0

Bush: “To further prepare Iraqi forces to fight the enemy on their own, we are taking three new steps: First, we are partnering Coalition units with Iraqi units Second, we are embedding Coalition ‘Transition Teams’ inside Iraqi units Third, we are working with the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense to improve their capabilities to coordinate anti-terrorist operations.”

Fact: This Is Not New; Bush Said We Would Work With Iraqi Units Last February.

Bush: “The game plan is to stand with the Iraqis, is to train them better, is to give them a chain of command, is to work with their junior officers, so that the Iraqi units — which did very well on election day — have got what it takes to defend their own country.” [Bush, 2/4/05]

Fact: Bush Said He Would Work With Iraqi Government Before.

Bush: “But I believe that the Iraqi government’s going to be plenty capable of dealing with them, and our job is to help train them so that they can.” [Bush, 5/31/05]

Bush: “This [Iraq] is a government that’s got the ministries in place, that spends the money. We’re willing to help — and we have helped. And I want to thank the Congress and the American people for their generosity in helping Iraq rebuild. And we’re spending money.” [Bush, 6/24/05]