Washington DC Mayor Gray and several other DC City Council members have been arrested protesting in the streets over the shabby treatment of the District and its women in the “budget compromise” passed last Friday night. If only other leaders in Washington DC had the guts to stand up for their citizens.

Hard to believe that a repeating loop pushed breathlessly by FoxNews turned out to be complete BS.

For all the caterwauling from the right and, stupifyingly, from the Obama Administration and Blue Dog left as well, here is the real reason the United States has the sizable deficit issues it does (well, in addition to the fact we will not tax even rich individuals appropriately either) – our biggest corporations pay no tax.

Obama in 2007: “And understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I’ll will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.”

Well, now it seems that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been attacked by one coyote and three “anarchists.” Quite the inspiring credentials for a presidential run, I’d say.

When I pointed out that the bankruptcy bill was going to exacerbate the financial crisis that was about to hit back in 2008, Sens. Chuck Schumer, Byron Dorgan, and Sherrod Brown all agreed the law was a problem. But, Schumer said, we couldn’t just fix the obvious problems with it in 2008 because (you guessed it) we needed a bigger majority. That was, of course, in 2008. That November, the Democrats would win solid majorities in both houses, as big a majority as you’re ever going to get. Yet the Democrats never found time to get around to fixing the Bankruptcy bill.

Serious question, though: when was the last time the Republican nominee refused to endorse anyone (including his veep pick) the next time around?

In 2008, the Roman Catholic church was instrumental in two major battles against marriage equality — Maine’s Prop 1 and California’s Prop 8. Leading the fight nationally for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops was Louisville’s Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz. Last month, Kurtz was elected Vice President of the USCCB, after giving a powerful address on the USCCB ad-hoc committee’s work to defend marriage (a committee he chairs).

By elevating Kurtz to the #2 position at the USCCB, the bishops signaled their determination not simply to stand against marriage equality, but to work just as hard against anything that might lead to it as they work against anything that might possibly lead to thinking about considering something that might be akin to abortion.

This past week, two Roman Catholics in Illinois — Governor Pat Quinn and state House Speaker Michael Madigan — worked hard to get a civil unions bill passed the Illinois Legislature, much to the chagrin of the local bishop.

Welcome to the opening round of the 2012 culture wars, featuring the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Despite five terms in the Senate, this is how historians will likely memorialize McCain: the last great civil-rights filibusterer, in the sorry, backwards tradition of Strom Thurmond and Richard Russell.

There’s an interesting detail in the IG Report on FBI’s investigations of peace groups that suggests FBI was asking OLC for an interpretation of the approval required before conducting a riot-related investigation.