Constitution Week: Compromise and Constitution
Author’s Note: This post is part of a series looking at resources for teaching children about the U.S. Constitution on Constitution Day (Sept. 17). Part 1 of this episode introduces us to the divisions...
View ArticleIf You Watch One Thing on Constitution Day, It Should Be This!
What is Constitution of the United States all about? It is about how to make laws. Really, that is it. It is rules about how laws are made and who has the power to make what laws. Anyone that adds...
View ArticleInequality for All
Robert Reich has been the moral voice within the Democratic Party on the issue of inequality since he left the Clinton administration in the late 1990s. He is currently behind the movie “Inequality for...
View ArticleLDS Church to Broadcast Priesthood Session: Some Brief Thoughts
Buried deep in the news release from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announcing the upcoming October General Conference of the Church is the following: As part of a continued effort to...
View ArticleAnnouncing Queer Pioneer Week
Today, is National Coming Out Day. No, I am not coming out. However, I want to announce what will be happening here at Approaching Justice. Starting tomorrow, and going through next Friday, Approaching...
View ArticleRemembering Matthew Shepard
I lived in Matthew Sheperd’s hometown of Casper, WY for three years. He had studied at political science Casper College where I once taught. I never knew him, but I remember his death. I think about...
View ArticleBob Bennett Warns Against the Tea Party and other “Slogan Screamers”
Last Thursday, former United States Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) spoke about the current political scene in the United State at a university forum at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho....
View ArticleStop Judging Libertarian Mormons
Gregg Collett is the father of 10 children and a Libertarian candidate for District 11, Position A of the Idaho House of Representatives. He relies upon Medicaid to pay for his children’s medical...
View ArticleNo, Sen. Coburn the correct term is “badass.”
Politico reports that Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) referred to the Senate Majority Leader an “absolute a—hole” during a fundraising gala in New York City on Monday. While apologizing for using the word,...
View ArticleObamacare, Student Loans, and the Future of the Republican Party
If you went to college, you probably have student loans. This year nearly 2/3 of all college graduates will graduate with debt. It has become a common reality for many young people to take out...
View ArticleA Year Later: Election Day 2012
November 6, 2012 was a great day. We fully expected to lose. It had been a hard campaign, but it had been a blast. We met lots of great people campaigning in all 23 counties of Wyoming during those 8...
View ArticleHarry Reid is Right about Mormons and Gay Rights and “That’s Good.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed Mormonism and gay rights recently in an interview with the Washington Blade, a prominent gay newspaper in Washington, DC. (UPDATE: In the original posting, I...
View ArticleFor Veteran’s Day: Aces High
The image of fighter planes taking to the sky to defend their homeland is haunting as I ponder what it must have been like living under the constant threat of falling bombs. I think Iron Maiden did an...
View ArticleLincoln and the Easter of Democracy: 150 Years Ago Today
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Few words are more well...
View ArticleLas Vegas Vs. Online Gambling
Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson is organizing (and funding) a large-scale lobbying push against online gambling. Adelson, the head of Las Vegas Sands which owns high end Las Vegas Strip properties...
View ArticleNothing Romantic About It: A History of the Filibuster
The United States Senate is grossly undemocratic…even without the filibuster. Today, the Senate moved to limit the use of the filibuster when it comes to certain presidential appointments. The...
View ArticlePresident Kennedy from Temple Square: September 26, 1963
Less than two months before he was assassinated, President John F. Kennedy spoke in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Salt Lake Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was September...
View ArticlePut The First Thanksgiving on Your Christmas List
I loved reading The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History. It is an attempt to tell the real story of Thanksgiving in a way that draws on the...
View ArticleVideo: The Life of Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)
I have been looking for a brief video that might serve as a good introduction to the life and times of Nelson Mandela. In particular, I was looking for something that I might share with my own kids and...
View ArticleBreaking: Judge Rules Utah’s Anti-Polygamy Law Unconstitutional in Sister...
Federal District Court Judge Clark Waddoup ruled today that Utah’s anti-polygamy laws violate the free exercise clause of the first amendment. The case is a particularly high profile because the...
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