Women finally earned the right to vote 91 years ago today - after 72 years of largely unappreciated, back-breaking, work. It took another 66 years before we elected the first Democratic Senator in her own right - today Barbara Mikulski is the longest serving female Senator. And she shares the chamber with 11 other Democratic women.

I'm proud and lucky to be a part the community of campaign staffers who has worked to get women elected. The work that we have all been able to do is because of the women who paved the way for us and 91 years later, there have been over 100 pro-choice Democratic women elected to the halls of the U.S. Congress, and more than 500 women to state and local office.

And those are the women who are standing up for us fighting everyday - but there aren't enough. We've seen what happens when Republicans are in charge - since day one it's been an all-out war on women and families: they've tried to repeal health care reform, strip funding for family planning, eliminate collective bargaining, gut education, end Medicare, and destroy the economic safety net for many Americans.

If we stand together - just like we've done so many times already this year - we can stop the Republicans and elect people who will fight for us every day. I can tell you right now, 2012 will be game changer if women get to the polls. So on the 91st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I'm asking women across the country to stand up and pledge to vote in 2012.

The suffragists paved the way for our success - and now, it's up to us to continue their fight. We have the chance to change things in 2012 - by mobilizing our families and friends and getting women to the polls to help elect Democrats up and down the ticket.

With each race we win, each new staffer that is trained, each blog we write, we are working toward that victory, but we need everyone together. There is so much we can do and after 75 years of struggle for suffrage we must be united in standing for those who will always stand for women and families. I want to take this anniversary to thank all of those brave women who came before me, and all of those young women just joining the fight. The suffragists gave us the right to vote in 1920, and in 2012, I'm sure as heck going to use it.

Crossposted from EMILY's List Blog

Propose Constitutional Amendment Against "Thanksgiving Gay Parades"

A gay Spongebob eyes a new candidate for unnatural marriage.

"Only in New York," said Senator Rick Santorum, who alleged that, since the addition of Spongebob to the parade, he had seen the Sesemae Street Grover balloon in unnaturally close proximity to Scooby-Doo's tail.

The allegation that Spongebob Squarepants, a cartoon character who appears on the Nickelodeon TV Network, is homosexual, caused a great deal of controversy among fans. "Spongebob is not gay," said Anita Physic, a viewer from Oklahoma. "He's just a kid, really."

Republicans scoffed at the assertion. "Oh, please," said Santorum. "It's obvious. He lives in a pineapple under the sea."

The "Arnold Schwarznegger for President" push is on with this commercial!

Video

The ad is called "Amend for Arnold," which pushes for a constitutional amendment so foreign born citizens can run for president!

Yes, we can do some good here. I posted about Eddie Burke's cowardly act yesterday when he called the Alaska Women Reject Palin--maggots and exposed their personal information so they would be attacked.

Today I found out that he has been suspended:

Anchorage AM radio host Eddie Burke has been suspended after broadcasting the phone numbers of women involved in organizing a protest rally against Sarah Palin over the weekend, his station manager said Monday.

In a statement, KBYR-AM 700 station manager Justin McDonald said broadcasting the numbers last week was "breaking station policy." Burke will be suspended for one week without pay, he said.

"Though I do not agree with some of the comments he made, as a licensee, we attempt to respect everyone's First Amendment rights, including Eddie Burke's, our listeners' and our nonlisteners'," McDonald's statement said. "That does not mean I condone inciting violence or harm in any way to people wanting to voice their opinions with peaceful protest."

Acting like Michelle Malkin does have some consequences after all.

Senator David Vitter fell victim to a humiliating incident today. No, it wasn't the town hall meeting he held with LA residents discussing his hypocritical involvement in the "DC Madam" prostitution scandal. It was after the meeting when his driver backed into a parking sign while quickly fleeing the press.

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Fender-benders aside, Vitter finds himself in some hot water now that Deborah Palfrey is going to trial and he's been named as a potential witness. As News 9 reports, Vitter may even invoke his 5th amendment rights. We'll be sure to follow this one.

Mike Huckabee sure is lining up the choice endorsements on the campaign trail:

First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad. Then hard-rocking hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent jumped on the Huckabee bandwagon, citing the Republican's support for second amendment rights. Now, Huckabee is getting ready to rumble: wrestler Ric Flair, a.k.a. The Nature Boy, is supporting the former Arkansas governor in his bid for the White House.

In honor of the House's re-consideration next week of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) including an amendment on gender identity, we give you the Top 10 Moments for the right's very own ENDA poster child, Sen. Larry Craig:

PoliticsTV has more for your perusal here...

Via YoursDaily.com:

In Alabama, you can sell guns on any street corner but you can't sell sex toys.

That's right. Alabama is a vibrator-free state!

Well, technically you can go across state lines and buy sex toys in Georgia and Tennessee and carry them home. But the Alabama Legislature, in its infinite wisdom and in the spirit of protecting citizens from moral turpitude, a while back banned the sale of sex toys (or "marital aids" as some lawmakers coyly call them).

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court has shown a gleam of interest in this controversial state law, which has been challenged in Alabama courts by adult toy retailer Sherri Williams. She has been fighting the law for nearly 10 years.

Williams has been in district court three times on this issue and has won twice. But both times her victories were struck down by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. She filed a petition to the Supremes and has hired well-known First Amendment rights attorney Paul Cambria. Also joining in the appeal petition with Williams are the Free Speech Coalition and the First Amendment Lawyers Association. Read more...

(h/t the Alabama Yankee transplant Blue Gal who refused to write this post on the grounds that to do so may incriminate her. :) )

Hey everyone, I'm Bill Wolfrum from Williamkwolfrum.com, Shakesville.com, and WorldGolf.com, and other assorted sites. You might also remember me from such classic TV shows as "B.J. and the Bill Wolfrum" and "Hill Street Bill Wolfrum" or the improv show "Whose Bill Wolfrum is it, anyway?" Now, let's link.

Man in the Middle: Remember the Kuhns, who were hassled and arrested for displaying the U.S. flag upside down with protest signs on it in Asheville, N.C.? Well, turns out all charges were dropped. Pesky First Amendment got in the way, it seems.

Glenn Greenwald: Remember, a vast majority of the extreme right wing seriously believes that Muslims are coming to the U.S. to

overthrow the nation and enslave us all. And everything they do and say revolves around that irrational fear.

Memoirs of a Skepchick: The Secular Student Alliance could use a little love.

Incertus: Happy birthday, Jocelyn Elders.

Scott Horton: God help us.

Guest blogged by Bill Wolfrum. Send links to Bill at wkw (at)williamkwolfrum (dot) com.

John mentioned the Alito confirmation in his post earlier about the SCOTUS decision, I looked for a more big picture consideration of this court. Certainly, it is one of the most divisive courts in memory, with a huge percentage of the decisions handed down with a 5-4 majority and the dissenting justices all vociferously objecting to the majority opinion. The American Consititution Society held a conference today to discuss the Roberts Court:

[T]his term we saw the Court announce the first amendment applies to corporations, in the Wisconsin Right to Life case, but not to students, in the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case.  We saw the court announce that we should be deferential to state trial judges in criminal cases but not to democratically-elected local school boards in the schools cases.  So if this is the birth of a new constitutional era, all I say is what an ugly baby. 

As Tom Goldstein points out, in the eight years that Earl Warren presided as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, beginning in 1961, the Warren Court was responsible for the birth of the right to reproductive privacy, the beginning of meaningful school integration, the end of bans on interracial marriages, fundamental voting protections like "one person, one vote," and almost all of the rights which criminal defendants enjoy today.

If Earl Warren's Court could do so much in just eight years, the next decade could bring some very interesting times.