The Muppets take on the Constitutional Convention in a 1982 special created by Norman Lear for the People for the American Way.

Shirley Preiss was born in Kentucky in 1910 -- a full 10 years before American women gained the right to vote. She first voted in a presidential election in 1932, for FDR. She's voted in every presidential election since, but that's all about to change due to Arizona's draconian voter ID law.

http://www.peoplefortheamericanway.org

McCain, Explained — Pop-Up Style 

On the day of the Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina and Indiana, John McCain gave a speech about his views on judges at Wake Forest University. Here's what he said, explained -- in proper pop-up fashion.

Judicial Restraint:

What he said:

"I will look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint."

What he means:

"The judges I support will sit on their hands when it comes to any conservative laws, regulations, or precedents they come across, but will knock down any progressive law they find."

Legislating from the bench:

What he said:

"The moral authority of our judiciary depends on judicial self-restraint, but this authority quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it."

What he means:

"I support conservative nominees who as judges won't lift a finger to stand up for the rights of ordinary people or open the courthouse door to all Americans, but who will be quick to strike down massive portions of the Clean Water Act, school desegregation programs, consumer protections, or equal pay laws because they feel like it."

Supreme Court Justices:

What he said:

"Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito... would serve as the model for my own nominees."

What he means:

"George Bush gave you two ultra-conservative Justices with lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. And I supported him every step of the way." These justices wrote or supported rulings that:

* cut back on federal laws that protect our water from pollution
* denied equal pay to a factory worker who had been paid less than men doing the same job
* restricted women's ability to make their own reproductive health decisions
* allowed schools to restrict students' speech, even when they weren't on campus
* made it harder for school districts to promote racial diversity in their schools

The Founding Fathers:

What he said:

"Always hanging in the air over these tense confirmation battles is the suspicion that maybe, just maybe, a nominee for the Court will dare to be faithful to the clear intentions of the framers and to the actual meaning of the Constitution."

What he means:

"I support judges who'll do what the far right-wing of my party wants them to do."

Judicial Activism:

What he said:

"...these abuses by the courts fall under the heading of "judicial activism..."

What he means:
"I support judges who will bring their own conservative agenda to the courts, and impose it no matter what a fair reading of the Constitution and our laws require."

www.pfaw.org Sen. John McCain, at a 5/7/08 town hall event in Michigan, singled out a girl wearing a t-shirt critical of him and challenged her to ask him a question. She asked about the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have corrected the Supreme Court's destructive ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear: "I was wondering Senator McCain why you had the opportunity to vote to give equal rights to women equal pay [but] you didn't show up to vote and you said that if you did you wouldn't support it."

"This question should be on the minds of millions of working women who may face pay discrimination during their careers," said Kathryn Kolbert, president of People For the American Way. "Senator McCain had the perfect opportunity to embrace equal pay for equal work, but he instead parroted talking points fed to him by corporate lobbyists. It's pretty clear from his response that he's more concerned about the rights of big corporations than those of everyday Americans."

read more at www.pfaw.org