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Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, forced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to abruptly resign this week, was a victim of a conservative activist. On his website BigGovernment.com, Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod, who is an African American, telling an NAACP gathering that 24 years ago she had considered not giving as much help to an impoverished farmer as she might have because he was white. Truth be told, the clip did not run Sherrod’s full speech in which she said she realized that she had been wrong, and that need, not race, was what mattered.
Colonial Williamsburg -- Flag Day, June 14, 2010, commemorates the adoption of the United States flag. For others, it also celebrates a new group of American citizens who will recite the Oath of Allegiance and formalize their status as naturalized citizens of the United States of America.
Welcome to the nearly 100 new American citizens who participated in the June 15, 2009 Naturalization Ceremony at Colonial Williamsburg. We'd like to know your thoughts about becoming a naturalized citizen. Respond here.
Noted American Civil War historian James McPherson says American citizens subscribe to values derived from American history. The Princeton University professor emeritus thinks freedom, equality and opportunity, and cultural pluralism are the hallmarks of American society. Watch the video and tell us you think.
By Tom Hubbard
News marches on, but one facet of the Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich affair deserves more attention: The Chicago Tribune risked losing a $100 million tax break by not firing one employee. Blagojevich threatened to withhold the tax break if they did not fire the guy.
(Some reports say it was several employees.) I call that integrity.
The Tribune values its editorial freedom so much it would risk $100 million to maintain it. The Tribune took the ethical stand while facing corporate bankruptcy.
The votes are counted and the Barack Obama is president-elect. What are your thoughts about the historic 2008 election? Start a dialogue here about the changes that Americans, and the world, now face.
The start of the presidential conventions means the race to the November election is heading into the final turn. Are voters more interested or less apathetic than in past contests for the White House? Why? How big a factor will the youth vote be in this election? Do rising gas prices, the falling dollar, and the stagnant economy make a difference in who you support for president? Will the war in Iraq help you decide who gets your vote this year? How big an issue is health care to you in this election? Is the two-party system still effective?
“So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times…We may make these times better if we bestir ourselves.”—Benjamin Franklin
“Revolutionize through the ballot-box, and restore the government once more to the affection and hearts of men, by making it express, as it was intended to do, the highest spirit of justice and liberty.”—Abraham Lincoln
Guest blogger Richard B. Stemmer, Jr.
While William Standring is obviously smarting from Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, I, on the other hand, am enjoying a guarded optimism about it.
Draft "Declaration of Citizenship in the 21st Century," in association with Dialogues in Democracy: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Presented for Debate in the House of Burgesses, Williamsburg, Va., November 11, 2007.
We, the delegates of Powell Group D, resolve to reclaim the ideal of a citizen with both rights and responsibilities. These include:
