Anti-choice license plate battle may end at Supreme Court

By GottaLaff

Can I have a license plate that says, "Muslims rock!" or "Abortion is legal"?

From the Guardian:

...That has prompted political and legal battles in states that are refusing to adopt them, as well as demands for plates in support of abortion rights in states that permit the Choose Life version. The arguments look increasingly likely to end up before the supreme court.

In North Carolina, anti-abortion supporters last month put a bill before the state legislature for the eighth time to add a Choose Life plate to the 130 specialised ones already on offer. (They include designs celebrating fox hunters, a police motorcycle club, and shag dancing, a regional form of the jitterbug.) Approximately 400,000 of the state's eight million registered vehicles carry specialist plates, which cost an extra $30 with a portion of the fee going to the cause on display.

The bill was introduced by a Republican member of North Carolina's legislature, Mitch Gillespie, who says he cannot see why anyone would object to a Choose Life plate. "We are not going to unveil a tag that would have something on there that is offensive to anybody, that would show a foetus or something like that," he said.

Oh, well then, so long as we don't see a plethora of plates emblazoned with, "I heart [graphic of fetus]"...

The problem, IMHO, is where the money goes via vehicle registration, not the message. But freedom of speech issues prevail:

In January, Arizona lost a suit filed after it denied a similar request for a pro-life license plate. The plate was ruled free speech, according to the San Francisco Chronicle [...]

Virginia became the most recent state to add a pro-life license plate design, joining 22 others which have adopted similar plates.

The group pushing "Choose Life" plates have been at this for quite a while, starting in Florida 12 years ago. It seems this little 501(c)(3), agree with 'em or not, has managed to be effective.

There's something unseemly about anti-choicers trying to push their message on the fronts/backs of a cars and trucks. Pushy, aren't they?

Summers Received Big Fees from TARP Recipients

By GottaLaff

In case you hadn't heard:

President Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year from firms that have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs," according to Huffington Post.

Among the biggest speaking fees: $67,500 from J.P. Morgan Chase, $45,000 from Citigroup, and $202,500 from Goldman Sachs.

"The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president. Already viewed as too favorably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry."

Sunday talkers will have a field day.