in the news obfuscations...

U.S. Says C.I.A. Destroyed 92 Tapes of Interrogations

in the New York Times

the quote:

The tapes were destroyed as Congress and the courts were intensifying their scrutiny of the agency’s detention and interrogation program.

**************************

Is Phyllis Schlafly the Most Dangerous Woman in America?

from wowowow.com

the quote:

“Feminists have a death grip on the top level of the Democratic party,” insisted Phyllis Schlafly during an interview last month. “The feminists are a disaster … It’s so unfortunate what they do to young women.” Funny, some say the same thing about Schlafly.

**************************

Steele to Rush: I'm sorry

from Politico.com

the quote:

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

**************************

Christian salt seller hopes to shake up market

from Examiner.com

the quote:

CRESAPTOWN, Md. (Map, News) - You've heard of kosher salt? Now there's a Christian variety. Retired barber Joe Godlewski says he was inspired by television chefs who repeatedly recommended kosher salt in recipes. "I said, 'What the heck's the matter with Christian salt?'" Godlewski said, sipping a beer in the living room of his home in unincorporated Cresaptown, a western Maryland mountain community.

**************************

Mormon Church Email Tells Illinois Followers to Fight Civil Unions Bill

from Querrty.com

the quote from the email:

This bill will legalize civil unions in the state of Illinois, and will treat such civil unions with the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections and benefits as are afforded within marriage. In other words, civil unions will be different in name only from marriage. As has already been seen in Massachusetts, this will empower the public schools to begin teaching this lifestyle to our young children regardless of parental requests otherwise. It will also create grounds for rewriting all social mores; the current push in Massachusetts is to recognize and legalize all transgender rights (An individual in Massachusetts can now change their drivers license to the gender they believe themselves to be, regardless of actual gender, which means that confused men and women are now legally entering one another’s bathrooms and locker rooms. What kind of a safety issue is this for our children?). Furthermore, while the bill legalizes civil unions, it will be used in the courts to show discrimination and will ultimately lead to court mandated same-sex marriages.

one day after - include your voice...

Freedom to Marry Week ended yesterday - on Valentine's Day.

As an awareness campaign there might not be any way to measure it's success. The polls, surveys and other subjective instruments show that there is growing support for equality in marriage. The most promising population is the young - those under 30 mainly. It has become more of a non-issue to them because they all know someone lgbtq and they measure people under different rules than there parents and older family members, for the most part.

There are many sites on the web who repeatedly say that it is only a matter of time before full equality in all areas, not just marriage, happens; and not just to lgbtq but other minorities who may have equality on the books but not in action and/or belief.

The catch phrase is "It will happen."

One of the things that is most important is to put faces to the imaginary assaults that the right-wingnuttery christianists use as their battle cries.

The Courage Campaign is an organization that is leading the charge in California because of the fiasco of Prop 8. It is also important that the message be spread to all parts of the country. Below is one of the videos they produced to make the point that there is more to the issue than sex. Actually, sex is probably least important to the main issue. People's lives are what are most important.



"Fidelity": Don't Divorce...
from Courage Campaign
on Vimeo.


add your name to their letter being sent to the California Supreme Court and help them give Ken Starr, who is taking the proverbial reins to the pro-Prop 8 people another setback in his nefarious career.

or go HERE to sign...

no comment...

the HELL i won't comment...

Obama Backs Off a Reversal on Secrets (New York Times, February 9, 2009)

in response to a case before the Ninth Circuit Court

...Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian native, and four other detainees filed suit against a subsidiary of Boeing for arranging flights for the Bush administration’s “extraordinary rendition” program, in which terrorism suspects were secretly taken to other countries, where they say they were tortured.

The new administration, who criticized the Bush administration for its handling of terrorism cases, invoked the exact same stance concerning states-secrets

When asked by the justices,

...a government lawyer, Douglas N. Letter, made the same state-secrets argument on Monday, startling several judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.

“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.

Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”

Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

The court was surprised and inquired again. The reponse:

“No, your honor,” he said once more. The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

That produced an angry response from Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case.

“This is not change,” he said in a statement. “This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama’s Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again.”

so, here is the first of what i fear will be a litany of my making this statement:

I TOLD YOU SO!

there will be no change, real change that is. Obama is first and foremost a politician. Nothing more; nothing less.

as another example, Obama has already indicated he is going to take more time to consider revoking DADT. As one blogger, and the New York Times, have already asked, "How many more studies do we have to have when all the research and surveys show this to no longer be a big issue with the brass even asking the same question.

again i say

I TOLD YOU SO!

DADT: justice and equality..

Andy Towle at Towleroad has a post up today entitled OBAMA: MORE ANALYSIS NEEDED BEFORE 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' REPEAL

While Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a Change.gov video that "Yes," the President would lift the ban on gays in the military, Obama is signaling that it will be months if not years before enough canvassing of military officials and congressional leadership can be done for him to be comfortable in moving forward....

it basically discusses how much research and looking into do we have to have.

there is a discussion after the post in the comments that seems to have a slant of hopelessness. i had to add to the discussion, and below is the comment i left:

i met two guys last week who are in the service and are together. talking with them was fascinating. they were really great guys. despite the fact that they are ingrained with the military command structure as part of their lives (they had the aura of military personnel) they were open about their history and relationship because where we were was a totally accepting and open environment at the time and they had nothing to fear. everyone else was lgbtq or friends there. [i realize i'm being a little evasive here, but i don't want to take any chance of compromising their jobs in any way.]

i was very proud to meet these two men. they are doing something they truly believe in by being in the military, yet the sense of how careful they knew they had to be and hiding who they really are has to be so much hard work, and they talked about the impact it has on their lives, both together and individually.

i felt a sense of sadness, and i told them this, because no matter what we've all gone through, they have to deal with something that has to be so constraining it has to be stifling at times.

i also feel safer because of them; they are helping to protect me and the country. their sense of dedication and duty was so obvious. they wouldn't want to be doing anything else. i applaud them wholeheartedly.

i don't see an end to DADT in the near future; i see Obama doing exactly what he did when he was here in Illinois as a state senator - placating everyone. i see him working for one thing and one thing only - reelection in four years!

anyone who was hoping he would make the changes he talked about is a dreamer. take for example his repeated statements during the campaigh that he was "not in favor of" same-sex marriage. for those of you who may not have heard, Chicago's "Windy City Times" has a taped interview with him when he was running for state office when he "explicitly" stated that he supports total marriage equality.

what do you think changed his mind...?

i also feel a sense of helplessness for the two guys i mention above. i don't know what i can do. i support Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) monetarily and spreading the word on doing away with DADT, but i don't feel it to be enough.

no one should be forced to live in fear of being who they are. if you're older, as i am, i have to tell you that we have only felt a tiny amount of the fear of being outed compared to them. if you are younger, i want to tell you how lucky you are because it has been so much easier for you. i also thank the gods, fate or whatever you believe or don't believe in that it is going to become easier - just not as fast as we want or it should.

i'm a dreamer. i live in a world inside my head that wants everyone to be treated equally.

i want the adage focused in Leviticus, by JC, and with the "Golden Rule" to be a reality.

i'm a child of the 60's, the Age of Aquarius.

i have a strong sense in the Hopi Native-American principle of When hope is gone life is over.

i refuse to give up that hope, but it gets harder every day when i see and hear the new ways man extends his inhumanity to others...

and so it begins...

The litany of crimes and blunders by the Bush Administration began with an interview on Keith Olbermann last night of NSA Analyst Russell Tice who said that private citizens, including journalists, were wiretapped and eavesdropped - all secretly and without permission from the courts. [see Buzzflash: NSA Spied on Journalists]

As i said in previous posts, the truth is going to start coming out. The one thing it's going to prove is how distressed the government actually became and how compromised.

Previous administrations may have weakened the Executive Branch with actions that were taken, but the Bushies has put the entire constitutional system at question and in jeopardy. They have taken the Declaration of Independence and put it on its head.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Powe

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Yes, these are lines taken directly from the Declaration of Independence. The he in the lines refers to another George - the III.

It is going to take a long time to reestablish the democracy we've enjoyed for more than two-hundred years, to put the separation of the three branches back into place so that they can provide checks and balances again, and to build the trust the people have in their government.

Mr. Obama has his work cut out for him. It will take some time, but the one thing history has proven, whether it be the Civil War, Teapot Dome, or Watergate, we've been able to step up and correct the abuses that knocked the march forward off its tracks.

I just hope that this time these abuses are not so earth-shattering that they can't be fixed. Being the cynic that I am, I'm not at all sure it can happen in my lifetime.

I do have one suggestion that I think will help - term limits in the House and Senate just as in the Presidency and eliminate life-tenure for justices and judges. Six consecutive two-year terms for Representatives and two for the Senate. Twelve years is long enough. Reevaluation of judges and justices on a set schedule by both/either legislative and citizen election procedures. If these men/women don't have to be politicking and running for reelection starting the day after an election, perhaps the focus will be on bringing about the true reasons for government - a contract between citizens for their own and future generations, justice for all people, equality for everyone and a sharing of the benefits equally.

and so it begins...

isn't this a bunch of Bush**...

Senate Republicans To Delay Holder Confirmation Over Torture Prosecutions

Senate Republicans hope to delay a vote on the confirmation of Eric Holder to become attorney general in order to pressure him to say whether he will prosecute intelligence agents for torture if they were following orders and acting within what they believed to be legal guidelines.

Holder told the Judiciary Committee last week that waterboarding is "torture" and therefore illegal. Susan J. Crawford, the top Bush administration official overseeing the trials of detainees, told the Washington Post that at least one individual held at the prison center at Guantanamo Bay was "tortured."

The question Republicans want answered before Holder is confirmed: Will you prosecute those who took part in that torture?
Ryan Grim, Huffington Post, January 21. 2009

He's not gone one day and the "rule of law" question is one of the first things to be questioned. Sen. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is blocking the

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), later in the day, said that it would be impossible for any prosecutor to say who should or should not be prosecuted before s/he gets the facts or even knows what actions were committed. Cormyn himself was a prosecutor in a former life; he knows better. Said Graham,

agreed with Sen. Leahy that Holder can't rule out prosecutions before he becomes the top prosecutor.

"What I believe we should do is not politicize this, the idea of prosecutions coming from the hard left. Making a commitment that we'll never prosecute someone is probably not the right way to proceed, either," he said. "I think President Obama's administration is going to have a forward look on this, unless there's something egregious out there I think they'll move on. But no I don't expect him to rule it in or rule it out."

"In individual cases, if there's allegations of mistreatment judges can handle that and you can determine what course to take," he said.

It is going to take a long time to re-institute the Constitution. I fear the damage to it may be much greater than anyone of us knows. This was an exceptionally dark period in American history and the history of democracy.



what's the old saying about power? maybe it's time for term limits in the U.S. Congress. the old farts like Cormyn. if you break the law, you break the law. since when could Congress, or any other legislative body, pass a law that says no one should be prosecuted for breaking the law - before the law's been broken?

also, given the fact that even Tsar George himself last week said that there was torture, anyone who did the waterboarding or any other act had to know what they were doing was illegal, no matter what they were told. at the very least they should have known it was immoral.

well, maybe that would be too much to ask...

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

Henry II referring to Thomas Becket who was once his closest adviser and became his greatest enemy when he took the side of the church. [that would be the Roman Catholic church.]

We are faced again with meddlesome priests who want to destroy people's rights, control people's lives, and threaten them with eternal damnation if they don't support the things they want them to.

Today, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Fransisco has compared the people who supported Prop 8 in California to abolitionists and civil rights marchers [Queerty: SF Catholic Archbishop Compares Prop. 8 Supporters to Abolitionists & Civil Rights Marchers. So, now they are the victims. They have the sole responsibility of deciding who is worthy of equal rights. This man was the person who brought the Mormans into the fight in California though only 2% of Californians are Morman, along with $20 million. Oh, would it also surprise you that Niederauer was the R.C. bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah before going to S.F. Don't say collusion to me...

Two days ago, December 3, 2008, the Vatican and its man in red decided to enter the fray in another way: The Pope's Christmas Gift: A Tough Line on Church Doctrine Times.com.

s, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, has announced that the Vatican will oppose a proposed U.N. declaration calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals.

Why? Because some religious are against LGBT and no one should interfere with their beliefs. Huh? That's real christian of them.

Oh, wait. On the same day Benedict, aka God's Rottweiler, the Panzercardinal, as he has been called in the past, also sent this little message to the United Nations: Holy See refused to sign a UN document on the rights of the disabled because it did not condemn abortion.

Following the Vatican's controversial opposition this week to a UN declaration calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican envoy to the UN, has confirmed that the Holy See also refused to sign a UN document last May on the rights of the disabled because it did not condemn abortion or assert the rights of foetuses with birth defects....

...the Vatican supported the rights of the disabled, but could not accept a clause in the UN declaration affirming a right to "sexual health and reproduction" because "in some countries such rights include the right to abortion".

you read that correctly.

It's all right to discriminate against all kinds of people if they don't agree with your isms. It's all right to allow at-risk people to suffer and hurt because some people do not agree with your dogma.

real christian, don't you think?

just asking...


again, though i in no way advocate violence of any kind, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

rather than priest, i would replace it with the word religion. i think religion has outlived its usefulness and the likes of Benedict, Dobson, Falwell, Bush and all the others know and fear just that. they will lose their power. they will lose their influence, and, most important, they will lose their money.

will they link this to Obama?

Chicago has had an on-going police scandal since the 1980's. It deals with members of the Chicago Police force using torture techniques as an interrogation technique and a few other spurious behaviours.

The latest barrage in the case has U.S. District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald [yes that Patrick Fitzgerald] filing charges of perjury against retired police Commander Jon Burge since the statute of limitations has run out on the alleged crime itself. Though it's BIG headlines for the Chicago papers, and even the New York Times has a story today, most people in greater Chicagoland just shrug our shoulders. We go through this a lot. We are pretty cynical about city politics, but we also live in the City that Works. I would have to say it does.

The case had a special result in that it force a former Republican governor, who by the way is in prison for corruption right now, to suspend all capital punishment making world-wide headlines and also had the effect in some convicted murderers actually being released not only from death row but from prison.

If you read the stories and look into the scenario, you will discover that it is a conservative's and right-winger's dream. Liberals at their worst; government run amok; a victory for the bleeding hearts; and democracy being attacked. Of course, there is also the unspoken angle that the vast majority of the prisoners released were African-American.

so, i'm just wondering how long it will take the Mcpains, the Limbaugh's, and other wingers to somehow connect this all to Senator Obama? you know, like they did Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright...

i'm just asking...

what is wrong with this picture?

“Where there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime, we vigorously prosecute,” he said. “But not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”

U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey,
August 12, 2008, New York Times.

His statement is in regards to the hiring scandal in his office under the previous AG, Alberto Gonzalez, where political affiliation and beliefs were the guiding principle to join the Department. He is not going to pursue any criminal charges against those who perpetrated it.

that whirring noise you are hearing loudly all across the United States is Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Oliver Wendall Holmes and many many other spinning in their graves.

Joseph Stalin would be proud though! This administration has successfully turned the entire country into a gulag... in reverse for some cases.

quick F.I.S.A. challenge

I predicted in my post F.I.S.A. bill passed..., on Wednesday that as I wrote the post someone was preparing to take it to court.

heads up...

ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Dragnet Wiretapping Law

You can read the entire post at the ACLU website by clicking above, but here are a couple of highlights.

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.

The main point:

Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."

hmmm, let's see...

This means that someone in some officious [notice i didn't say official] government office or Comcast Cable cubicle may be reading this right now and notating that I am writing something that they may determine is a threat to the country's security and forwarding this to who know what other officious office or cubicle.

Oh, and they also know that you are reading this right now; so, they have just sent your IP Address along with the report or opened another report/file all about you.

SURPRISE!!!

Well, you might say, "This is all for national security."

I ask. How are you or I a threat to national security? And, what about the officious person in that officious office or cubicle who now has information on us? Who will/can guarantee that they will not use anything that they determined to be information for spurious reasons of their or the government's design? This law eviscerates the 4th Amendment.

see...

be careful, if you are a Jehovah Witness, Black, American gueer you do have a lot to worry about whether you are going to Montenegro or staying in Chattanooga...

F.I.S.A. bill passed...

Anyone with any sense of the news was aware it would happen. What was surprising to me is the vote was 69 - 28 with 3 not voting: Sessions, Kennedy and McCain. (Maybe, I shouldn't have been so surprised.)

Living in Illinois, it was a split decision. Senator Durbin was one of the 28 voting Nay. Senator Obama was part of the 69 voting Yea. Since there is no such thing as a present vote in the U.S. Senate, he only had one other choice: the not voting one.

You can go to the U.S. Senate website to see how your Senators voted: On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6304)



you all don't know how difficult it has been for me over the last couple of weeks, listening to the parsing that has been happening in the Obama campaign, to bite my tongue and not say, "I told you so."

trust me, this is just the beginning...

one of the hopes regarding the F.I.S.A. bill is, as you read this, someone is already making the move to have it in court the minute the Tsar signs it into law. so far, even his own Republican federal judges have held against him on things like this.

we'll see...



i'm sorry, i forgot to mention that Hillary was also one of the 28 voting Nay, as was Majority Leader Sen. Reid!

why is there a cavernous gap between the American people and our elected representatives in Congress?

Deal Close on Wiretap Law, a Top Democrat Tells CNN

and it contains immunity for the telecoms.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee hinted Sunday that a battle over an expired eavesdropping law might be moving toward a conclusion that gave phone companies the retroactive legal protections long sought by President Bush.

New York Times, 3 March 2008

Is it because the telecoms have stopped making campaign contributions? or, at the least, may be threatening to do so?

just asking...

Impeach Cheney petition...

Wow! 50,000 names in less than 24 hours....

Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) posted the video below on his website yesterday calling for Vice-President Dick Cheney's impeachment and support from people. It was answered with those 50,000 signatures in less than 24 hours and now stands at over 70,000 names. It's growing quite quickly.

Though Wexler comes across as a bit vituperative, I have always agreed with this move. My stand comes not so much from the actions of the VP, though they are at face-value criminal, but because of the precedent it does not set, if impeachment proceedings are not begun. It's a dangerous precedent that undermines the checks and balances built into the Constitution. It also emboldens not just Bush/Cheney but any future administration.

You can add your name to the petition at Congressman Wexler's website here.



no one is above the law... no one!

wow, Bush/Cheney administration really cares about....

what?

The people of the United States? Our security? Our well-being? Our children? It's not quite a toss-up.

DailyKos has a post up today that lists the things that Bush/Cheney has NOT done for us: Bush veto death march: the saga continues . It includes a list of the 53 bills that the Tsar is threatening to veto in addition to the seven that he has done since January. Before that, he only vetoed one other bill in his six years in office. Check this list out:

1. Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act - H.R. 4, and the Medicare Fair Prescription Drug Price Act - S. 3
2. Employee Free Choice Act - H.R. 800
3. Improving America's Security Act - S. 4
4. Water Quality Financing Act - H.R. 720
5. Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 - H.R. 985
6. Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 - H.R. 1255
7. United States Policy in Iraq Resolution - S.J.Res. 9
8. U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act - H.R. 1591, S. 965, H.R. 2206
9. D.C. Voting Rights Act – H.R. 1433, S. 1257
10. Rail and Public Transportation Security Act - H.R. 1401
11. Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act - S. 5
12. Intelligence Authorization Act - S. 372, H.R. 2082
13. Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act - S. 1082
14. Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act – H.R. 1592
15. Redeployment of United States Armed Forces and defense contractors from Iraq - H.R. 2237
16. Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act - H.R. 1684
17. Agricultural Disaster Assistance and Western States Emergency Unfinished Business Appropriations Act - H.R. 2207
18. National Defense Authorization Act - H.R. 1585, S. 1547
19. No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act - H.R. 2264
20. Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act – H.R. 1252
21. Human Cloning Prohibition Act - H.R. 2560
22. Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act - H.R. 2638, S. 1644
23. Creating Long-term Energy Alternatives for the Nation (CLEAN) Act/Energy 25. Independence and Security Act - H.R. 6
24. State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act - H.R. 2764
25. Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act - H.R. 2643
26, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act - H.R. 2829
27. College Cost Reduction Act - H.R. 2669
28. Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act - H.R. 2956
29. Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act - H.R. 3074, S. 1789
30. Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act - H.R. 3093, S. 1745
31. Farm, Nutrition and Bioengery Act/Food and Energy Security Act - H.R. 2419
32. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - H.R. 2831
33. Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act(SCHIP)- S. 1893, H.R. 3162, H.R. 976, H.R. 3963
34. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act - H.R. 3161
35. Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act - H.R. 3159
36. Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act - H.R. 2776
37. New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act - H.R. 3221
38. Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act - H.R. 2761
39. FAA Reauthorization Act - H.R. 2881
40. Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act - H.R. 3121
41. Improving Government Accountability Act - H.R. 928
42. Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act - H.R. 3246
43. National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act - H.R. 2895
44. Tax Collection Responsibility Act - H.R. 3056
45. Free Flow of Information Act - H.R. 2102
46. Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective (RESTORE) Act - H.R. 3773
47. Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act - H.R. 505
48. Employment Non-Discrimination Act - H.R. 3685
49. Trade and Globalization Assistance Act - H.R. 3920
50. Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act - H.R. 2262
51. Homeowner's Defense Act - H.R. 3355
52. Temporary Tax Relief Act (AMT) - H.R. 3996
53. Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act - H.R. 4156

This list is unbelievable. It contains things that are absolutely necessary. Take #40 - Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act - H.R. 3121. I don't know to what the bill specifically pertains, but given the Bush/Cheney fiasco known as Hurricane Katrina, I sure I can guess what's behind the bill. Of course, the ones on Medicare, children's health insurance, job and housing protection, and affordable housing seem just by name to be concerning the welfare of the vast majority of Americans.

why exactly do we have a government, and why do we have the form of government established by the Constitution in 1789?

There is a part of the post at DailyKos that refers to the irony of all this:

Every Congress has to deal with the realities of the check against the legislature represented by the veto power. But recalling the president's, let's say "unconventional," use of his powers in the August FISA debate, there is a very real and very troubling prospect looming. A president willing to veto nearly everything the Congress produces and even to threaten to hold them in extended session until they produce what he dictates threatens the legislative branch's very reason for being.

The fears of Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots of the imperial presidency are very real, and I'm no longer certain, given both the GOP and Dem candidates running, that there is any real hope passed January 20, 2009.

i'm a natural cynic...

torture: it's not that we "done" it; it's that we got caught"...

Fox analyst: Americans not above torture, and shouldn't be

Americans aren't above resorting to torture to gain intelligence from suspected terrorists -- and it would be a mistake if they were, according to Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt....

"There are instances where it works. I've had it done to me in training," said Hunt. "It's torture. It is an extremely dangerous thing. Your system shuts down."

So, it's okay, if it works. Even the CIA whistleblower John C. Kiriakou says so:

...former CIA officer who participated in the capture and questioning of the first al-Qaeda terrorist suspect to be waterboarded said yesterday that the harsh technique provided an intelligence breakthrough that “probably saved lives,” but that he now regards the tactic as torture.

BUT, Col. Hunt had something really important to say to FOX -

Earlier in the segment, the colonel described the CIA's elimination of the interrogation tapes as a a mistake.

"Stupid. Idiotic," he said of the decision. "How about number one, we don't tape stuff? I thought we learned that lesson a long time ago. I think its a reaction to Abu Ghraib, but it's wrong, they shouldn't have done it."

what's wrong? the torture or the taping or the destruction of it?

Naomi Wolf's "Fascist America, In 10 Easy Steps"...

I've been making reference Naomi Wolf's article in the Guardian Unlimited entitled Fascist America, In 10 Easy Steps for the last several days. It was published on April 24, 2007. I thought maybe it would be a good idea if I listed all 10 for people. You can read the her entire article by clicking on the post title and article title above.

Here are the 10 steps:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

2. Create a gulag

3. Develop a thug caste

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

5. Harass citizens' groups

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

7. Target key individuals

8. Control the press

9. Dissent equals treason

10. Suspend the rule of law

I don't believe anyone who is even moderately aware of current events in this country needs an imagination to cite examples of every one of the 10 steps that have been used over the past couple of decades and specifically the last seven years. I've already given examples in previous posts here, here, and here.

how much do we not know?

just asking...

the Tsar's Star Chamber in action...

From today's NYT:

Witness Names to Be Withheld From Detainee
Defense lawyers preparing for the war crimes trial of a 21-year-old Guantánamo detainee have been ordered by a military judge not to tell their client — or anyone else — the identity of witnesses against him, newly released documents show.

The reason:

“It is conceivable, if not likely, that Al Qaeda members or sympathizers could attempt to target witnesses,” a prosecutor, Maj. Jeffrey D. Groharing of the Marines, wrote to the judge, Col. Peter E. Brownback III of the Army.

The defense reaction:

“Instead of a presumption of innocence and of a public trial,” Commander Kuebler said, “we start with a presumption of guilt and of a secret trial.”

The justification:

“It is so fundamental,” General Hartmann said, “that we’re in this global war on terror. We need to protect our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines and there’s nothing nefarious* about it.”

What does it mean?

#10. Suspend the rule of law.

from Naomi Wolf's Fascist America, in 10 easy steps.

Traditionally in the U.S., as in all countries based on common law, an accused person has the right to a speedy fair trial, the right of habeas corpus and the right to face his/her accusers in open court with complete transparency. The Bush/Cheney administration has successfully manipulated the "rule of law" to its own advantage and it may take a long time for it to return to its sense of fairness and equality, with no guarantee that it ever will.

No candidate on either the Republican or Democratic sides has made a clear statement what they would do to reverse the course of the slide into fascism and the imperial presidency. The are sticking to a cautious road of "it may be necessary...." Mr. Giuliani, of course, has even gone further than that in asserting his beliefs with an even fiercer support for all of Bush's actions.

At this point, there is a sense of hopelessness in the country. In the 1960's these were the types of things that made people "take to the streets" at the drop of a hat. Today, the Boomers, and I am one of them, sit comfortably in their self-made nests, tssking in disbelief, beginning to enjoy their pensions, nodding that there is nothing that they can do, and emphasizing that there are only 13 months left in the Bush/Cheney administration and the problems will then all go away.

I'm not so sure it will...

the state of the "process of government" in a single statement...

The quickest way to destroy the functionality of American government is to destroy the rule of law itself. Declare the Executive supreme and beholden to nothing, flood the Department of Justice and the federal courts with lickspittle political loyalists with no personal code of honor, upend the balanced counterweight of the separation of powers, terrify the populace into submission to avoid any hue and cry, roll out the grand distraction of war to get the flags waving and the newsrooms into line, and never obey any law or regulation imposed by anyone, ever. "Bad, Worse, Worst and Beyond" by William Rivers Pitt in Truthout

When you couple this statement with the article in Harper's I mentioned in a post yesterday, Resurrecting the Star Chamber, the situation has a focus that should no longer be blurry but the media, and even the cable networks, have been ignoring it. Keith Olbermann has come the closest but I'm not sure how serious anyone really takes the things he's saying.

I'm beyond angry. I'm more sad and scared. No, actually, I'm scared to death. There are 11 months left until the 2008 election and 13 months left until we actually have a new president. Anything can happen in that time, and if the wrong person becomes president, it will get even worse.

"What a fucking disgrace..."

...this man [Bush] and his journalistic lackeys are.

Excuse my language. But I can't take this any longer. We're at war; and he's still playing Rove's game.

Andrew Sullivan, The War Council, September 19, 2007

Yeah, there's a lot of us who have been saying this for a long, long time. Andrew has been slowly coming around to this view, actually much quicker for the last year or so, and his anger is coming out. Good for him.

My anger has been around for a long time. I've said in previous posts that I can't take it any longer. It's one of the reasons I really haven't been posting serious topics for a while unless they strike me as totally off the wall. I've only been doing jokes and ridiculous things that people do.

Today, the Busheviks made the Republican Senators toe the line by 1) using the filibuster threat against the bill reinstating habeaus corpus and 2) Senator Webb's bill that would have had the troops spend as much time at home as their last rotation to Iraq. I mean, these authoritarians are caving into the social dominators, Bush/Cheney, every time. What are they afraid of? Loosing Congress? They have already. Loosing the White House? It's almost a forgone conclusion. It's almost a given that in 2008 they're going to loose even more.

You know..., what's more important about these two votes, and the way they happened, has more to do with the process of government, democracy to be specific, than the outcomes. It smacks of dystopian autocratics - Mssrs. Bush and Cheney über alles.

The majority of the American people in poll after poll and in the November 2006 election let their wishes be known. The authoritarian Republicans have allowed the Bush/Cheney administration to say, "The American people don't know what's best for them. We do." That's a fascist plutocratic form of governing. It's not a democracy.

The republican process of our democratic government is not functioning. Instead of the long held fear of the majority over a minority [remember Majority rule and minority rights] we have minority rule and majority rights festered with minority tyranny.

People are blaming the Democrats for not making good on the promises they made. They can't make good on them. They are being blocked at every turn. Bush/Cheney have something to keep their minions in line. Some say it's the fear tactic. "The terrorists are going to come and get us. America has never lost a war. We have to support the troops. We can't let the rest of the world down." I think that's bullshit.

I think it is the pull of power. What's the old saying? "Absolute power corrupts absolutely!" We sure have seen the proof of that for the last seven years. Bush/Cheney grab more and more power and believe it is their right.

So, Andrew, keep getting fucking disgusted. A lot of us are. The one thing that the history of this country has shown is that when the American people get fucking mad, they always make the right decisions and moves and that began with the Revolutionary War.

The Busheviks are good at reminding everyone what they say the founding fathers had in mind and quoting them chapter and verse as their proof. What they keep forgetting is Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison, Jefferson etal got fucking mad and overthrew a legitimate government on this continent. That wasn't a conservative move. It was fucking radical.



Jeebus, Andrew certainly got my dander up. thanks, Andrew...

Comment: one good thing could happen with the Craig situation...

at least we can hope.

Sen. Craig is getting a taste of what we all have to go through, of what people think we are, of what people say and do to us because of who we are, and of how we are kept as second-class citizens being denied all the same rights of everyone else. The least response of all these beliefs is the fact that we are proven guilty before we are even accused.

Whether Sen. Craig is gay or not, as I have said in previous post, is no of concern to me. Personally, I don't think that he is gay. To be gay one has to embrace the LGBT community and all it is. Freely choose. Obviously, he does not choose.

LGBT is often referred to as the third sex. From things I've been reading lately and thinking myself, maybe there is a fourth sex - those either male or female who participate in same-sex actions just for its own sake and pleasure without identifying as anything. After all, from what has been reported lately, the majority of the men arrested and charged in the kind of escapade of which Sen. Craig is accused, are usually married with families.

Some LGBT activitists say that these men are merely denying that they are gay. They are conflicted. They are afraid. Maybe some are. What if, I say if, they do not see themselves as gay? Couldn't it be that they are only sexual and indiscriminate? They have sex with whomever is available just to have sex. It's possible.

Yes, they lead a lonely life when it comes to this aspect of it. They chose it. They live in constant fear of being discovered while engaging in public sex because it adds to the thrill along with the possibility of getting caught. Who knows.

I believe that people, like Sen. Craig, lend an evil and disparaging picture on those of us who embrace the LGBT moniker and are proud of it. They are not worth my time and, if the main stream media and right wingnuts want to waste their own energies in pointing loudly at them, let them. We will prevail because of our strength and courage.

I am proud that the majority of LGBT media and blogs have actually supported Sen. Craig this past couple of weeks. It would be hypocritical on our part if we were to attack him for who/what he is - gay or not. Just as the Christianists say, "Hate the sin, love the sinner," we should hate the despicable stands that men and women like Craig take to discriminate openly against others, but we must defend them for being who/what they are. Whatever that is.

The good thing that could happen with the Craig incident? I hope that Sen. Craig may understand how we actually have to go through the things we do and to change both his opinions and his actions because of it. He may begin to show some small glimmer of sympathy, to understand that we are not monsters as the wingnuts preach, to realize that we are some one's sons and daughters, and to stand and protect the rights of all citizens of the the United States no matter who they are, what they believe or what they do.

I said hope.

I believe in the Hopi adage that, "When hope is gone, life is over."

I refuse to give up hope...