Father, forgive Rick Pitino, for he has sinned
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
We can now throw college coach Rick Pitino on the scrap heap of public figures undone by a sex scandal.
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POTUS and the Pope
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
While many US bishops would wish it wasn’t so, President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict are eager to dialogue and engage each other on the world stage. Read the rest of this entry »
The Mark Sanford files: Hiking up the skirt
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
He was supposedly hiking — getting away from it all, clearing his head. Read the rest of this entry »
Supreme Court to criminal defendants: No DNA testing rights for you!
Photo: State of Alaska ADF&G
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Thursday to deny convicts a constitutional right to DNA testing. It wasn’t a surprise. While acknowledging that DNA can provide powerful new evidence, the majority distinguished between those presumed innocent at the onset of a trial and those already convicted during a trial. In District Attorney’s Office for Third Judicial Dist. v. Osborne, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “A criminal defendant proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the same liberty interests as a free man.”
That may be true, but what if the verdict arrived at by the jury was wrong? Roberts argument is a non sequitur. The purpose of DNA is to provide more certain evidence as to the party’s guilt or innocence. If DNA was not utilized in the court of first instance, how certain is the jury’s verdict of guilty in the first place?
Like oil and water, politics and religion don’t mix
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
You can’t mix oil and water, and you sure can’t mix politics and religion. It’s not because one is more noble than the other. It’s because their goals are at odds with each other.
Barack Obama taps another Hispanic, this time as ambassador to the Vatican
Vatican Ambassador nominee Miguel Diaz
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
President Obama must’ve been in the mood for breaking new ground in Presidential appointments this week. First, he chooses a Latina, Sonia Sotomayor, for the Supreme Court, and then taps another Hispanic as his ambassador to the Vatican.
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor: she’s Sonia from the block, and she’ll be confirmed
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
Let’s hope for his sake Barack Obama’s vetting team asked Sonia Sotomayor if she has paid her taxes. Let’s hope they asked her if she’s ever hired, employed, otherwise used undocumented folks for laundry, housekeeping, garbage pickup, whatever. Also, she damn well have been kidding about the impact a judge’s ethnicity and sex have on the decision-making process. She better downplay her comment about a Latina woman (isn’t that redundant) making better decisions than a white male considering the folks asking her questions are predominantly white males, and old white males at that.
Now, for the hard part… Read the rest of this entry »
Are conservatives afraid of homosexuals?
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo Contributor
Actually, I could’ve titled this post “Are Republicans afraid of homosexuals?” But I’m going to pick on the conservatives for now. Read the rest of this entry »
Sonia Sotomayor is Barack Obama’s pick for Supreme Court
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
UPDATE 8:46 a.m.: Barack Obama will announce later this morning his selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Federal Appeals Court as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, The New York Times reports. If confirmed by the Senate she will be the third woman on the court and the first Hispanic justice.
The MSM will undoubtedly cast Obama’s first Supreme Court choice in terms of liberal vs. conservative. While the consequences of Barack Obama’s decision will have political overtones, the real debate centers around how the document in question (the U.S. Constitution) should be interpreted.
In the one camp, there’s Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
In the other, Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and John Paul Stevens are firmly situated.
And Obama could announce the next member of the high court as early as today.
Round One of Barack Obama vs. Catholic bishops goes to the president
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
Ed.’s note: Peter Schweitzer is marketing and public relations professional who has worked in politics and the law. This is his first guest blog for The Political Whore.
By all accounts, President Obama’s recent controversial Notre Dame commencement address was a hit. He was cool, eloquent, and not the least bit intimidated by the U.S. bishops who had all but called for his head on a platter the weeks prior to the address. Read the rest of this entry »
