Word: generality
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...went to the polls--for the fifth time since the fall of Saddam Hussein--to choose a new parliament despite election-day violence that killed 38. U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Iraqis for voting "with enthusiasm and optimism." But running elections is one thing; running Iraq is another. The general election of 2005 empowered ethnic and sectarian leaders who proved incapable of compromise and took the country to the brink of civil war. The surge of U.S. troops in 2007 bought just enough security and time to give democracy one more shot. Superficially, Iraqi politicians appear to have learned...
After barely two months in office, Virginia’s attorney general seems to have determined that his state’s legal policies are not controversial enough. How else to explain his decision to send a letter to Virginia universities and colleges instructing them to ban protections on gay rights? In the document, Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II advised that, “The law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity...
Cuccinelli may indeed have had sound legal reasoning behind his move. According to him, the Virginia General Assembly has never given specific authorization for such discrimination protections, and in-state colleges and universities are overstepping their bounds by employing them. The attorney general cited the Virginia Human Rights Act, which singled out race, color, religion, national origin, and sex as affiliations deserving of special protections—but not sexual orientation. He also pointed out that the General Assembly has voted 25 times not to include “sexual orientation” in various nondiscrimination measures since...
...nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights.” This statute clearly allows for myriad protections against discrimination, and Virginia’s institutions of higher education have simply been upholding a similar standard of rights. It should be the focus of the attorney general to bring the specific texts of Virginia’s laws in line with such overarching legal principles...
Whether or not Virginia’s attorney general is pursuing ends other than the upholding of legal doctrine throughout the state, Virginia should pass laws to cover the protections he aims to take away. Steps are already being taken toward this end. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell has issued a directive banning state discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Virginia’s General Assembly and other legal bodies should follow his example and also uphold gay rights. The attorney general seems to be using this hot-button political issue to make a stand against important civil liberties protections...