Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments about the Navy and whales duking it out off the coast of Southern California (the back story is here). Well, the Supreme Court handed down the official decision today, and the news isn’t good for environmentalists: they have removed restrictions on the Navy’s use of sonar off in training exercises. From The New York Times:

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Six justices agreed with the outcome, although Justice John Paul Stevens did not join the majority opinion. Justice Stephen Breyer would have allowed some restrictions to remain, while Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter said the prospect of harm to the whales was sufficient to justify limits on sonar use.

The article notes that the actual environmental harms being done aren’t addressed in the court decision, but “that federal courts abused their discretion by ordering the Navy to limit sonar use in some cases and to turn it off altogether in others.”

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by  William Lucas Walker

I’ve made a short video, urging Californians to Vote No on Prop 8. I made it for my children. I also made it with the aid of a number of friends who let me photograph their sons and daughters, as well as a voiceover by my pal Amy.   So thanks.

Kelly and I were married on June 17 2008, after nine happy years together. Next to the births of our children, it was the most joyful day of our lives. For our 7-year-old daughter Elizabeth, it was the high-point of our family’s life. She was bursting with pride all summer. Until she heard about Proposition 8.

Our most compelling reason for choosing marriage had less to do with romance than with the benefits marriage would provide our kids. Not just the many legal protections marriage automatically confers on children, but the more real, everyday benefit of knowing that their family is equal, not in some different, lesser legal category than all their friends’ families.

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by Lee Camp and StealBackYourVote

STEP 1:   DON’T DON’T DON’T mail in your ballot!! Absentee ballots are often not counted for the weakest of reasons. Furthermore, there are new rules in many states that you must photocopy your ID and send it with the ballot. However, they often don’t even tell you that. So HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of absentee votes will not be counted for this reason.

STEP 2:   VOTE EARLY …VERY EARLY! Many states are already allowing you to vote. Do it NOW. That way if you’re not listed on the voter roles, you have plenty of time to get your complaint heard.

STEP 3:   REGISTER AND THEN REGISTER AND THEN REGISTER! There is a TON of purging of voter rolls going on. It’s not enough to think you’re registered. Double check twelve times. You can check online at  www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp .  Once you’re done with that, go register. …Then go register.

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Sadly, the US Supreme Court this morning refused to consider the case of Troy Davis, the man sitting on Georgia’s Death Row for nearly 20 years. This was the last opportunity for a retrial to prevent his execution. Worldwide support for Davis comes from people such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Congressman John Lewis.

Help prevent a monumental injustice. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles still has the opportunity to stop his execution! takepart and call on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider its previous decision and grant clemency to Troy Davis.

The Supreme Court opened fire on gun control laws declaring that a sweeping ban on handguns in the nation’s capital violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In a 5-4 ruling, this landmark decision states that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to have a gun.

Wow. Is it just me or does this seem like an awful idea? Here are 10 films that make a strong case for gun control:

1) Bowling for Columbine

Michael Moore’s controversial documentary about the roots of America’s predilection for gun violence

2) Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story

Terrence Fisher, a teen living in a housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, had seven of his friends shot and killed by a gun. Terrence is not a gang member or a drug dealer he is just a normal teenager who likes making hip-hop with his friends. What could Terrence do to stop gun violence in Bed-Stuy before losing another friend, or his own life? Terrence and a fellow teen filmmaker, Daniel Howard, picked up a camera to tell the story about gun violence in Bed-Stuy.

3) A History of Viloence

A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core

4) Unforgiven

Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.

5) The Outsiders

When two poor greasers, Johnny, and Ponyboy are assaulted by a vicious gang, the socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.

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