There’s so much hot air coming out of Washington these days, many Americans have tuned out. But one speech on the Senate floor recently is worth watching in full.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a longtime champion of clean air. Last week, he told his Senate colleagues that no matter how you look at it, clean air is a great investment and it’s time to stop playing games with Americans’ health:

Rhode Island, a state dominated by liberal voters and a Democratic legislature, has committed an epic party foul by passing a voter ID bill. In most of the country, voter ID has been a strictly partisan issue, supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats.

Today’s Columbus Dispatch suggests that there are efforts to revive the strict photo ID bill in Ohio in a special legislation session next week. Some Republican leaders are trying to push fellow Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, who has been opposed to the photo ID legislation, and members of the Ohio Senate to accept [...]

Rhode Island’s Governor Lincoln Chafee signed the latest photo ID legislation into law on Saturday, adding Rhode Island to the onslaught of restrictive voting policies. Under the new law, poll workers will ask voters for identification beginning in 2012, but a number of non-photo documents such as a Social Security card, debit card, or birth [...]

Hackers have crippled al-Qaeda’s network, the Senate will have a shortened July 4th weekend, Britain is experiencing huge strikes over pensions, and more than 1,000 are hurt after Egyptian police clash with youth.  Also, a group of Senators have sent a letter urging the DOJ to review the validity of voter photo id laws: http://bit.ly/iVgUdb. [...]

The following post originally appeared at CampusProgress.org and Fair Elections Legal Network. The Good News North Carolina: Governor Bev Perdue (D) vetoed North Carolina’s strict photo ID bill last Thursday. Because several House Democrats would have to join Republicans to reach the vote necessary to overturn a veto, we’re hoping photo ID is finally off [...]

Some updates from the front lines in the war on voting. None of it very good. Wisconsin: As I write this, way too late on Tuesday in Seattle, the state Senate has gone into the early morning hours of Wednesday in Madison to consider Assembly Bill 7, which imposes a new and costly requirement that [...]

Two is better than one…
On Friday we had two Unified Theater shows in two different states - road trip!