LIAR PARADOX

TRESPASSING -- A movie about nukes, a true censorship case to boot

2006-05-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

if you have not heard of Divine Strake, then you're not alone. I don't believe it's getting much media attention. Basically it's the first American nuclear test scheduled to take place since 1992 (some say 1993). Anyway, it's been over a decade the Southwestern United States has been free from nuclear testing, until now. see www.shundahai.org for more information about the nuclear test.

"Trespassing" is a film that has been MEGA-CENSORED by all the big film festivals and everything, except Phoenix, San Francisco, and Barcelona Spain.
It has been censored by Sundance, even by the Margaret Meade film festival!!

"Trespassing" is a documentary by a man who chronicles the nuclear situation in Nevada, the Mojave Desert of California, amongst other places. He worked on this documentary for a decade!

I hope if you're reading this that you can WORK YOUR LOCAL FILM HOUSE IN GETTING IT SHOWN IN YOUR TOWN.

Movie Home Page (very hard to find by Googling so you might want to bookmark it -- by hitting control D on your keyboard, to save it in your bookmarks file):

news stories on movie:
(the making of the movie)

(censorship article)

peace

No Nuclear Testing on Indian Land!

2006-05-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

THE PROTEST ON MAY 28 AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE IS STILL ON!!!

We have been hearing from activists and concerned people from as far
away as Oregon and New York who are planning on coming. There are
solidarity events being planned in Minnesota and Maine. We will shortly
be providing more information on actions that can be taken locally to
apply pressure to cancel this test.

We have updated the information on our Divine Strake page with a map and
directions, and will shortly update it with links to information on
Western Shoshone protocol. Because people are coming from so far away,
we have committed to providing camp logistics for this event, and we are
investigating the possibility of serving up to 3 simple meals at the
event. To do this we need your help. We are anticipating a large
turnout for this event. To properly prepare, we need some idea of how
many people are coming. Please email us at shundahai@shundahai.org to
let us know you will be attending. To cover the expenses of
transporting equipment, and possibly providing meals, we need your
financial support. If each of those planning on attending were to send
us $10, we could cover these costs.

Please be generous, and help us to fund this event, as well as our lean
daily operations. Please go to our website www.shundahai.org, and
click on the "Make a Donation" button to donate through PayPal, or
click on the "Support" link at the bottom of the left sidebar for other
ways to donate. We look forward to seeing you on May 28, or hearing
about your local solidarity protests.

Thank you

Shundahai Network
www.shundahai.org
P.O. Box 1115
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Phone- 801.533.0128
Fax- 801.533.0129
shundahai@shundahai.org

Tennessee: Vigil Opposing the Execution of Sedley Alley

2006-05-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Interfaith Service and Meditation followed by a Vigil

Opposing the Execution of Sedley Alley

Tuesday May 16^th, 2006 … 9 p.m. – 1 a.m.

Riverbend Maximum Security Institute, 7475 Cockrell
Bend Blvd.

Contact: Randy Tatel, 615-473-2950 or 615-463-0070

Opponents of the death penalty may arrive beginning at 8pm … An Interfaith service begins at 9 pm running through 10 pm (Reverend Ed Sanders will deliver the evenings reflection, other faith leaders will share appropriate prayers, music, and silence) ... the vigil ensues until either a firm stay or the execution.

Sedley Alley was convicted of the 1985 murder of Suzanne Marie Collins, but significant questions about the reliability of his conviction remain. While the state possesses physical evidence that could be tested for DNA, to ascertain definitively if Sedley Alley is guilty or innocent, the state and Governor Phil Bredeson have refused to release the evidence for testing. This is despite the fact that evidence, which was withheld from the defense at trial, shows that Alley was already under police surveillance at the time of the murder.

The service and vigil are open to all who oppose executions for either moral or pragmatic policy reasons.

TCASK as an organization expects any individuals or groups of individuals attending a vigil to conduct themselves in accordance with the general principles of non-violence.

The utmost respect for the victim’s family in both conduct and statements should be shown.

Anyone making personal statements to, about, or against a guard or other RMSI employee will

be asked to leave the premises.

The Shoshone Indian Nation -- The Most Bombed Nation on Earth

2006-05-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

THE PROTEST ON MAY 28 AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE IS STILL ON!!!

We have been hearing from activists and concerned people from as far
away as Oregon and New York who are planning on coming. There are
solidarity events being planned in Minnesota and Maine. We will shortly
be providing more information on actions that can be taken locally to
apply pressure to cancel this test.

We have updated the information on our Divine Strake page with a map and
directions, and will shortly update it with links to information on
Western Shoshone protocol. Because people are coming from so far away,
we have committed to providing camp logistics for this event, and we are
investigating the possibility of serving up to 3 simple meals at the
event. To do this we need your help. We are anticipating a large
turnout for this event. To properly prepare, we need some idea of how
many people are coming. Please email us at shundahai@shundahai.org to
let us know you will be attending. To cover the expenses of
transporting equipment, and possibly providing meals, we need your
financial support. If each of those planning on attending were to send
us $10, we could cover these costs.

Please be generous, and help us to fund this event, as well as our lean
daily operations. Please go to our website www.shundahai.org, and
click on the "Make a Donation" button to donate through PayPal, or
click on the "Support" link at the bottom of the left sidebar for other
ways to donate. We look forward to seeing you on May 28, or hearing
about your local solidarity protests.

Thank you

Shundahai Network
www.shundahai.org
P.O. Box 1115
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Phone- 801.533.0128
Fax- 801.533.0129
shundahai@shundahai.org

Green Party Going Strong in Tennessee

2006-05-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of y'all in Tennessee know this, but we have some excellent Green Party candidates in Tennessee: Howard Switzer for Governor, Katey Culver for House of Representatives 7th District, and Chris Lugo for Senate (running against Harold Ford Jr and that Bryant guy).

I encourage you to check out their websites, links can be found on the Green Party of Tennessee website, and see what they're fighting for. If you think Tennesseeans are being ripped off when it comes to health care, Howard Switzer is your man for Governor; if you think that Harold Ford Jr has pandered too much to big business, instead of standing by "Democratic" principles established by FDR, Chris Lugo is your man; if you live in the 7th District, Katey Culver is running against the most corrupt Marsha Blackburn.

The only way we are going to change things in this country is to put our votes where our mouths are. Voting for Democrats based on the "the lesser of two evils" mantra is just a slower, more painful death than voting for the Republicans who at least warn you that they're going to be real jerks. So vote for those who believe in the same thing as you. Vote Green Party!

REJECT THE FDA

2006-05-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

The FDA is out there rejecting echinacea, rejecting fish oil, rejecting green tea, saying that these things have no health benefits at all. Just look at all the stuff that the FDA has rejected!!

But for all of us out here, I have one thing to say. Reject the FDA!! Remember who it is that appointed the administrator!! It is the President of the United States!

If you can't trust George Bush, why would you trust the people he appoints to head these administrations, like the FDA, USDA, EPA, etc?

You shouldn't.

We all know who they work for. They are not working for our best interest, unless you mean "shareholder" when you say "our."

So when George Bush's FDA comes out with a finding rejecting some alternative health remedy, please, for your own sake, unless you want to be hooked on 15 different drugs made by Pfizer, ignore their findings.

NEIL YOUNG'S PROTEST ALBUM IS HERE

2006-04-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!! I was begging and pleading a month ago for some inspiration; some protest songs. It's a wonderful thing we still have NEIL YOUNG with us, since my generation of musicians are asleep at the wheel.

Click here to listen to Neil Young's album for free.

Stop the Genocide of the American Indian

2006-04-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking comments for its proposed nuclear waste dumping on the Goshute Indians in Utah. Your comments to the BLM are most important in putting a stop to this before the train starts rolling.

IT IS REQUIRED BY LAW UNDER THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT THAT THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT READ AND CONSIDER ALL COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO THEM, SO YOUR COMMENTS MOST DEFINITELY COUNT.

Click here to send a ready-made comment to the BLM.

COMMENTS ARE DUE NO LATER THAN MAY 8, 2006.

According to those directly involved, it's all about QUANTITY not Quality at this point. Feel free to copy and paste this post and forward to your lists and ask your friends and family to take 30 seconds out of their day to make a difference. Tell them to click on the link here to send comments.

We need to flood the BLM. For the Indians!!

It's a human rights violation to allow the U.S. Government to dump OUR nuclear waste on the original inhabitants of this land like this.

American Genocide

2006-04-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

THE TEARS OF THE TRAIL ARE STILL FALLING

I'm not claiming to be the only one who witnessed the death of the last Chickasaw Mississippians in their family. In fact, I do know that there are still full-blood links in my own family, because they would cross the Big River, of which we have been divided for so many years, to come to the funerals of my full-blood elders, it's just that they are in Oklahoma and Texas, and they are strangers to me. I can't tell you how overwhelmingly sad it is to witness what I have witnessed with the passing of my great-grandmom's generation over the past 20 years. It's all over now.

When it finally came time to talk to various Indian tribes, Jackson promised that no force would be used to compel them to consent to removal. The decision was theirs alone. He said he understood fully their feeling about leaving the land of their birth. He knew how painful it would be to bid goodbye forever to the graves of their ancestors. But survival necessitated this move. Annihilation was the alternative.

"Old men!" he called, addressing the ancient chiefs. "Arouse to energy and lead your children to a land of promise and of peace before the Great Spirit shall call you to die." Then turning to the younger warriors, the President renewed his plea. "Young chiefs! Forget the prejudices you feel for the soil of your birth, and go to a land where you can preserve your people as a nation." It was a powerful appeal. It deeply affected the Indians.

The "great father" closed with a warning, thinly disguised: "Reject the opportunity which is now offered to obtain comfortable homes, and the time may soon pass away when such advantages as are now within your reach may again be presented." If you reject this opportunity, "call not upon your great father hereafter to relieve you of your troubles. . . ." If you choose to stay be advised that you are subject to state laws and state regulations. In a few years, he further warned, "by becoming amalgamated with the whites, your national character will be lost ... you must disappear and be forgotten."

The Indians cried out their dismay when they heard these crushing words. The President paused to let his words sink in. After a moment he began again. This calamity can be avoided, he concluded. If you are willing to remove, say so and state your terms, and my friends Major Eaton and General Coffee, who are authorized to talk to you, will "act candidly, fairly and liberally towards you."

Thus spake the "great father." After hearing him out the Chickasaws withdrew to council among themselves. His words left them shaken and morose. They needed time to talk out their concerns and fears. They needed time for reflection. Four days later they returned with their answer. They met the President, Eaton, and Coffee at the Masonic Hall. The President seated himself in the center of a square formed by the chiefs. One of the chiefs, the secretary of the delegation, approached Eaton with a sheet of paper in his hand. The chief extended his free, right hand which Eaton took and shook. Then the Major was asked to read the paper to the President. He took the sheet, turned to his superior and began:

Franklin, August 27, 1830

To our great father the president. Your red children, the chiefs and head men of the Chickasaws, have had under consideration the talk of our father. ... On the decision we this day make and declare to you and the world, depends our fate as a nation and as a people.

Father, you say that you have traveled a long way to talk to your red children. We have listened-and your words have sunk deep into our hearts. As you are about to set out for Washington city-before we shake our father's hand, perhaps with many of us for the last time-we have requested this meeting to tell you, that after sleeping upon the talk you sent us, and the talk delivered to us by our brothers, major Eaton and General. Coffee, we are now ready to enter into any treaty based upon the principles communicated to us by major Eaton and General. Coffee. Your friends and brothers.

The "great father" smiled with satisfaction. He told the chiefs how much they had gladdened his heart and how good it was to have this "talk" with them. Many of the chiefs, he said, had known him a long time, a friendship that would never be interrupted. He would remember them always. He hoped -and as he spoke the next words his voice choked with emotion-the "Great Spirit above would take care of, bless, and preserve them." Jackson was so moved by the sight of these "gentle children" that he rose from his chair and bade them all an affectionate farewell. The Chickasaws were deeply touched by this unexpected and genuine show of emotion. Suddenly, one of the principal chiefs rushed forward and grasped the President with both hands. "God bless you, my great father," he exclaimed. Then, overcome by the intensity of his feeling, the chief turned away. The President and all the other chiefs stood perfectly still, too affected to say or do anything.

The emotional level of the scene reached an excruciating pitch. The father casting out his children. Each knew his role and what was happening. The Chickasaws loved their father as dutiful children, and yet he was saying goodbye to them forever. He was, said one reporter, "by them so much beloved," still he was telling them they must leave "the land of their youth, where the bones of their fathers reposed." They were all choked dumb by their feelings.

Jackson immediately submitted the treaty to Congress when it reconvened in December, 1830, but the actual removal of the Choctaw Nation violated every principle for which Jackson stood. From start to finish the operation was a fraud. Corruption, theft, mismanagement, inefficiency--all contributed to the destruction of a once-great people. The Choctaws asked to be guided to their new country by General George Gibson, a man they trusted and with whom they had scouted their new home. Even this was denied them. The bureaucracy dictated another choice. So they left the "land of their fathers" filled with fear and anxiety. To make matters worse the winter of 1831-1832 was "living hell." The elements conspired to add to their misery. The suffering was stupefying. Those who watched the horror never forgot it. Many wept. The Indians themselves showed not a single sign of their agony.

Jackson tried to prevent this calamity but he was too far away to exercise any real control, and the temptations and opportunities for graft and corruption were too great for some agents to resist. When he learned of the Choctaw experience and the suffering involved. Jackson was deeply offended. He did what he could to prevent its recurrence. He proposed a new set of guidelines for future removals. He hoped they would reform the system and erase mismanagement and the opportunity for theft.

The experience of removal is one of the horror stories of the modern era. Beginning with the Choctaws it decimated whole tribes. An entire race of people suffered. What it did to their lives, their culture, their language, their customs is a tragedy of truly staggering proportions. The irony is that removal was intended to prevent this calamity.

Would it have been worse had the Indians remained in the East? Jackson thought so. He said they would "disappear and be forgotten." One thing does seem certain: the Indians would have been forced to yield to state laws and white society. Indian Nations per sue would have been obliterated and possibly Indian civilization with them.

The removal of the Chickasaw and the Choctaw tribes was just the beginning. On March 24, 1832, the destruction of the Creek Nation was completed when the chiefs signed an agreement to remove rather than fight it out in the courts. The Seminoles accepted a provisional treaty on May 9, 1832, pending approval of the site for relocation. Thus, by the close of Jackson's first administration the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles had capitulated.

Bush and Illegal Immigration and Guest Worker Program

2006-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

The mantra is that illegals should be allowed to work here because they are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do. This mantra was put out there by the RepubliCorporates and the Right Wing politicians; that we should give "amnesty" to the 40 million illegals that are in the United States right now. If I had to guess I would say that about 60% of the illegal immigrants are fine, young, strapping men.

Bush is planning a land war in Iran. But Americans would burn Bush to pieces if he instituted the draft...see? Americans don't want to fight in wars for Exxon and Halliburton. These are just not the kinds of jobs that Americans want to do. Well under Bush's new and improved illegal immigration reform he's got over 20 million immigrants from Central America and Mexico that he can send over there.

How perfect is that for Bush's strategy!! See? We would all like to think that Bush is stupid, but he's really rather shrewd, isn't he?

Land war planning in Iran.

Washington Post defense analyst Bill Arkin: “The public needs to know that the train has left the station on bigger war planning, that a ground war — despite the Post claim yesterday that a land invasion ‘is not contemplated’ — is also being prepared. It is a real war plan; I’ve heard CONPLAN 1025.” 6:36 pm | Comment (28)

Republicans on Immigrant Workers

2006-03-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

"I say let the prisoners pick the fruits," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, one of more than a dozen Republicans who took turns condemning a Senate bill that offers an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants an opportunity for citizenship.

Well Ms. Rohrabacher of California (wow that last name of yours sure does sound American), if you say let the prisoners pick the fruits, then practice what you preach....get Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay out to the strawberry fields of California, then.

WHERE ARE THE PROTEST SINGERS

2006-03-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

When there was an unjust war 40 years ago (Vietnam) the airwaves were filled with protest songs. Everyone was questioning the authority of America invading a country for no justified reason, other than a feigned fear of "Communism."

Today we have invaded another country under the feigned fear of "terrorist Iraq." We are stuck in a quagmire. Bush took advantages of the thousands of young Americans who signed up for the military after 9-11, who thought they were signing up for Afghanistan, only to be sent to Iraq to blow up and kill innocent citizens whose country had NOTHING to do with 9-11.

Hell I even daydreamed about how nice it would be to point a gun in a misogynist Taliban member's face and say "ha! ha! justice for women around the world!" Thank God I didn't act on that feel-good daydream.

We should all be pissed off and angry. Instead when we turn on the radio we hear about "your body being a wonderland" and whatever else in the hell Clear Channel thinks is "suitable" for our ears.

Why aren't there protest singers? where in the hell are they? Could it be that the airwaves have been monopolized (under Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996) is why we hear no protest songs?

I suppose so. Wow man, what a sad time.

Iraq Ain't Nazi Germany

2006-03-19T07:30:00.000-08:00

The Republicans are trying to put a new spin on the war in Iraq, and are now comparing it to Nazi Germany.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld answered critics of the war in a guest column in Sunday's editions of The Washington Post, saying that turning away from Iraq would be "the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis."

"It would be as great a disgrace as if we had asked the liberated nations of Eastern Europe to return to Soviet domination because it was too hard or too tough or we didn't have the patience to work with them as they built free countries," he wrote.

What an insult to all the men and women who served their country during WWII!!

What an insult to the Iraqi people!!

This ain't Nazi Germany! This is not about helping save the world from a tyrant who was actively invading other countries and taking control!!

This is about the US corporations wanting to control the world's oil supplies, because they're too darned stingy to share in the profits.

If any country should be compared to Nazi German it's Corporate America.

It's why they have blacklisted Hugo Chavez, and it's why they're in Iraq.

Donald Rumself and all you Republicans who are comparing the war in Iraq to Nazi Germany shut up, on behalf of my grandmomma, and my dead grandfathers will ya?

Welcome to the Truth

2006-03-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

Finally!! The majority of Americans have come to their senses. A mere 34% of Americans support Bush. More than HALF of the Americans believe that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

As a person who has been against George Bush since November 2000, I accept your apology

for telling me to leave the United States when I was opposed to the war in Iraq.
for telling me that I'm anti-American for not supporting Bush.
for telling me that I don't support the troops because I'm against the war in Iraq
for feeling that you are superior to me because you have a "W" sticker on your car.

I know, most of those on the right will never apologize to me for accusing me of being anti-American....for accusing me of siding with the terrorists because I have been anti-war

Those who are just now coming to their senses about George Bush and the vast right wing conpsiracy to privatize the world for a mere 1% of the global population will never admit that they were WRONG to accuse me of these things.

I save you the pain of having to apologize and I say, You're Forgiven.

Forgiven for being ignorant, because it's not your fault. Most of you are extremely busy, working extremely long hours, taking care of kids, only having time to sit down in front of the television with a Big Mac for dinner, which makes you feel more sick and tired and lethargic to have to do it all again the next day.

I understand why you don't have the time or energy to take it upon yourself to go out there and find the truth, instead of being lied to by Bush Administration-manufactured news stories.

But now you see the light. With the whole United Arab Emirates ports deal, you might just see the truth.

that the Republican party, particularly the Bush-strain of the Republican virus, is very lethal to the American way. They only care about corporate profit for themselves. They know no borders. They don't care about you unless you have a billion dollars.

Bush is the true anti-American and he has hijacked the White House. Welcome to the truth. It's time Americans. Call for impeachment.

Nobody likes Bush. This is a non-partisan issue. YOu have the Republican Congressmen in the palms of your hands right now. Raise your voice....contact your Representatives in the House. Tell them to Call for Impeachment. And while they're at it, impeach that crooked mouthed Cheney too!

I know that you are dazed right now. But don't let those Big Macs keep you down. Get out there and research the truth. Get out there and talk to folks who are in the know. And you know who we are....where we are.

We welcome you to the truth. The real American way.

Happy Black History Month, From a Fly on the Wall

2006-02-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, as a white girl from the South, I am a fly on the wall when it comes to what the white man really thinks about discrimination, affirmative action, reparations, etc.

I hear it time and again that the blacks are taking all the goodies from the whites.
I'm so happy that we have Black History Month. And when I think of Black History, I am reminded that the "South" that these whiteys so belovedly romantacize, was built on the backs of the blacks.

Yes, it was the black folks that made the South so great and powerful. And they did it for FREE for hundreds of years.

And with that, I have to say, affirmative action and reparations have done little to compensate the descendants of the folks that put the South on the map.

True, white people today never owned slaves. But they still benefit tremendously from the hundreds of years of free labor of the blacks.....moreso than the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of slaves. We can see evidence of that from just who suffered from Katrina, and who is getting kicked out on the streets this week.

Dissecting Alberto Gonzales

2006-02-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

I spent 6 hours of my day today watching the entire Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of Alberto Gonzales and his “justification for warrantless wiretapping of American Citizens.”

I had scores of pages to read today in my law books, but considering the fact that two of the subjects I'm studying this semester (Criminal Procedure and Administrative Law) pertained to the Gonzalez-spying-on-Americans debacle, I decided to get a real life lesson in law, and tuned in to C-SPAN.

I can only imagine how difficult it would have been for me to comprehend what went on today, if I hadn’t been relegated to the boot camp of law school for the past 18 months.

First, Gonzalez was not required to testify under Oath. Unfortunately, this means that he can LIE without the fear of being impeached by Congress..... and LIE he did. Gonzalez made sure to insert little sound-bites to be carted off and carried away and broadcast to the masses via CNN and FOX News, when he said "we are in compliance with FISA."

Second, throughout the day, Gonzalez continuously harped on two justifications for spying on Americans without a warrant, while avoiding any questions relating to whether this “program” was being used to arbitrarily spy on Americans, the number of people who have been spied on, and whether our emails, or mail coming through the postal service are being read and examined without a warrant pursuant to “The Program.”

Third, Gonzales’s arguments for warrantless wiretapping were inherently weak.

(1) Gonzales attempted to demonstrate that the “exigency of the circumstances make it impossible for us to go to FISA and get warrants before tapping into people’s telephone conversations.”

No Gonzales. First off, there is no “exigency” in the circumstances that require you to tap into people’s telephone conversations.

The Rule of Law in this country is that there is a Strong Constitutional Preference for Warrants. There are exceptions to the Warrants requirement; but they are very narrowly tailored.

Some of those exceptions to needing a warrant to search or seize include: (a) law enforcement officer personally observes the individual committing a felony; (b) using deadly force (which constitutes a 4^th Amendment seizure) when the individual is shooting at or attempting to use deadly force against the officer; (c) and exigent circumstances.

What is considered by the Court to be an exigent circumstance is that there is evidence that will quickly be destroyed if not gathered by law enforcement right away; meaning, the suspect has drugs that he can flush down the toilet, or alcohol in a drunk driver’s bloodstream.

The Court has further held that it is a violation of the Constitution to pump a drug smuggler’s stomach, despite the fact that there is an “exigent circumstances” exception to the Warrants requirement, and the drugs in his stomach might not be recovered.

The only exigent circumstance that I can imagine for warrantless wiretaps would be that the U.S. has received information that the “suspect” is about to attack the United States. If these circumstances are such, we should be doing a heck of a lot more than eavesdropping into that person’s telephone conversations…. And pronto.

But what evidence would one expect to be lost requiring warrantless searches of telephone conversations for goodness sakes? It just doesn’t wash with the traditional notions of what justifies warrantless searches in American jurisprudence.

(2) Alberto: “The Supreme Court ruling in Hamdi should apply to warrantless wire-tapping of Americans, because the statute Authorizing Use of Military Force (AUMF) granted to the Executive Branch by Congress doesn’t explicitly say that we can detain the enemy captured on the battlefield, but the Supreme Court says we can do it, therefore we should be able to wiretap Americans without a warrant under the AUMF, even though the statute doesn’t explicitly say we can.”

The fact that the Chief Legal Officer of the United States, the Attorney General, would say such a thing scares the holy shit out of me.

Senator Dick Durbin definitely did his homework on this issue, because he smashed Alberto’s premise to pieces. Durbin went on to illustrate that in the Hamdi opinion, Justice O’Connor said that this ruling doesn’t constitute a “blank check” for the White House to run rampant and abuse rights of American citizens, the very rights which set us apart from the enemies of Democracy that we are fighting in Afghanistan.

Other Senators who were former prosecutors, instructed Alberto that Congress never intended to authorize the use of warrantless wiretapping of American citizens when they drafted the AUMF. In fact, these Senators who are former prosecutors proclaimed that as their experience as former prosecutors they are very familiar with what a wiretap statute looks like, and that the AUMF is NOT a wiretap statute.

One of the first things we learn in law school, is when interpreting a statute, such as the AUMF, where you’re trying to argue a certain point for your client, but the statute is not explicit as to the issue, you go to the Legislative History to determine what the Congress intended the statute to mean. In fact, in interpreting statues such as the AUMF, the Courts defer to the Legislative History to determine whether Congress intended for this issue to be included or excluded in the Statute.

Today, we learned that in drafting the AUMF, the statute upon which Alberto relies, regarding spying on us without a warrant, Congress DID NOT INTEND to allow the President or his Agencies (NSA) to wiretap us without warrants.

Alberto conceded when he made the argument that if this is so, that the Constitutional issue is “whether it is Constitutional for Congress to limit the authority of the war powers of the President, by limiting the President’s powers to conduct warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.”

I’m not kidding. He really did say this.

Third, the Executive Branch is writing laws, which it is forbidden by the Constitution from doing.

PROBABLE CAUSE TO SEARCH

Wiretapping constitutes a search and is therefore subject to the 4^th Amendment. Katz

4^TH Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Actually, the Executive Branch is not even writing the laws of what constitutes a “reasonable” warrantless wiretap. Instead, they are making them up as they go along!!

Or at least that’s what it sounded like coming from Gonzales!

Gonzales did at least concede today that his warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is subject to the 4^th Amendment of the Constitution. And in order to wiretap, with or without a warrant, the law enforcement officer must have probable cause.

Under the 4^th Amendment no search or seizure shall be conducted by any law enforcement officer except upon Probable Cause. But today, Gonzales “testified” that they don’t even need “probable cause” to conduct these warrantless wiretappings, but that they have a “standard” they follow in determining whether to conduct warrantless wiretaps of American citizens. This is an Egregious Unconstitutional slap in the face to all Americans.

Republican Senator DeWine of Ohio, picked Alberto’s brain today, trying to figure out just what the standard is that the NSA and the Justice Department are using when determining whether their warrantless wiretapping is “reasonable” as commanded by the 4^th Amendment.

ALBERTO INFERRED THAT THE FOLKS AT NSA ARE DUMB-DUMBS

Gonzales explained, “heck the people at NSA that are doing the wiretapping are not lawyers and can not comprehend the legal theory of ‘probable cause’” so our “STANDARD” is much looser and has less procedure than that at FISA.

Ridiculous. Alberto is trying to tell us that regular police officers who are required by law to abstain from searching and seizing except upon probable cause, are able to comprehend what probable cause is, but top secret people at the NSA can’t wrap their brains around the concept of probable cause?

Courts have repeatedly held that even when there are warrantless searches, the law enforcement officer must have probable cause to search. What Gonzales testified to today, is that they don’t even have to have probable cause to wiretap Americans!!

Also, Gonzales argued that the procedures for warrantless wiretaps of American citizens via the NSA, are much looser than the procedural requirements for a warranted wiretap under FISA.

There are so many Constitutional issues here that I could go on and on, but I will limit my analysis to two key points that I find the most important.

Congress should research the statute that created the NSA, and find out exactly what the powers are that were granted to the NSA by Congress.

I’m pretty sure that Congress would not have delegated to the NSA the authority to produce to the Attorney General any evidence that it discovered through wiretappings without probable cause, nor would it allow these “lax procedures” that Alberto spoke of today, regarding searching potentially hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Furthermore, it appeared to me that Alberto was making up the procedural requirements for getting warrantless wiretaps on the spot today. Certainly Congress has some role in what the procedural requirements are that the NSA must abide by. I’m not 100% certain, but it surely wouldn’t hurt for someone up there to check it out!!

Alberto said, certainly if the Supreme Court will allow us to detain American citizens found on the battlefields of Afghanistan they wouldn’t mind us invading the privacy of average American citizens while they’re in their homes by using this non-probable cause “standard” and lax procedural requirements!

I don’t think I have to explain just how outrageous this asinine assumption made by Alberto is.

Separation of Powers: Just as it would be unconstitutional for Congress to execute and enforce the laws that it creates, it is unconstitutional for the Executive Branch to write the laws that it enforces.

Alberto can not hide behind the NSA in writing “laws” that only he enforces and only he and “top secret NSA officials” know about.

I’m stopping here, but I hope that if anyone reads this, they get something out of it. It’s off the cuff, but it’s just my thoughts.

The thing that disturbed me the most about Alberto is when he tried to justify the warrantless searches because of the “exigency of the situation.” I just don’t understand how there is any “exigency” here, where the Attorney General has numerous federal law enforcement authorities at his disposal, and that he could use to keep an eye on potentially dangerous terrorists, until he can get a warrant to wiretap through FISA.

My belief is that Alberto is hiding something. Smoking out terrorists in America is a veil that he is hiding behind. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must, but I think that Alberto, as Bush’s agent, is leading this country one step closer toward fascism.

Evict the Bastards

2006-02-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

FREEDOM: Thought for the Day

2006-01-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

We can make millions of American Flags, there can only be ONE U.S. Constitution.

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

I'M GOING TO EXPLODE

2006-01-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

I have been so angry for so long, and the news in Iraq just gets worse and worse. People are dying left and right; terrorist groups are on the rise, I'm being unconstitutionally spied on by the Bush Administration; and then I'm stuck on the road behind some old man with a bumper sticker that says "Freedom: Brought to You by Brave American Soldiers."

I feel like getting my own bumpers sticker that says: "Freedom: What Freedom?"

The only solace I have is fine Cuban music to listen to. At least there is something Cuban I can enjoy, seeing how I'm so free and all.

Religious Doctrine is for Sunday School, NOT Public School

2005-12-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

Another thing: if "intelligent" design is so "scientific" how come no other country in the world recognizes it as a science?

I say we let Texas be its own country and stick every one of these right wingnuts who are trying to turn our "democracy" into a theocracy live there and let them have their way with themselves.... all the way down the backwards-thinking drain.

FOX News Takes CNN's Reject

2005-12-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

That's right folks. More facts showing that FOX takes those reporters that aren't worthy enough for CNN, and that ain't saying much

Fox news: The old bubble gum under a school-desk type of news. Perfect for the likes of Bob Novak.

We Are a Nation Full of Savages

2005-12-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

What? And this country wants to go around all self righteous pointing fingers at human rights abuses of other countries?

Disgusting! I live in a country filled with a bunch of ignorant idiots.

A trial by jury for a death penalty case can never be fair, because people who have hearts and brains that are opposed to the death penalty aren't allowed to serve on the jury.

The only people allowed on a jury are the savage Americans who support the death penalty, who support unjust wars, who proclaim "guilty!" before looking at the facts of the case. Who are quick to claim, "black man on trial! He Has to be guilty. Put him to death." The savages already have their minds made up before the first day of trial begins. The fact if you're faced with the death penalty in this country, you are screwed before the first utterance from the prosecutor in his opening argument....whether innocent or guilty.

The blood is on your hands. Petition your government, tell them that the death penalty is for savage nations, not for the country that is supposed to be the world leader of democracy!

VIVA CHAVEZ!!

2005-11-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

Too bad America doesn't get a chance to have a leader like this!

To Pull Out or Not?

2005-11-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

Besides the blatant lies about why we went to Iraq, another reason the Bush Administration gave us for going to Iraq was "to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people."

Well why not ask the Iraqi People what they want. Do they want us to stay or would they like us to leave?

Let them go to the ballot box to decide. After all, Bush and Co. say we've made "progress" there. I'm assuming he means in bringing Democracy to the Iraqi people. After all, that is the reason why people supported taking out Saddam, right?

So let the Iraqis vote at the polls on whether America should stay or leave, and let that be it.

COWARDS

2005-11-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

COWARDS think it's ok that soldiers will spend their holidays six feet under ground while name-calling the mothers of these dead soldiers who discover that their children DIED for Greedy Corporate Scumbags;

COWARDS think it's alright that soldiers come back with no arms or legs, Not for America's freedom but for Dick Cheney and his oil mongers;

COWARDS don't mind taking off their shoes at the airports;

COWARDS don't seem to find any problem with the Patriot Act;

COWARDS are people who hide behind the flag while desecrating the U.S. Constitution.

COWARDS proclaim, "If you're against the war you're against the troops. Support the Troops! Just please don't ask ME to go and fight!"

Heroes stand up in the FACE of these COWARDS and resist their oppression.

Just a Reminder

2005-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

A reminder of just WHO some of these people are that have been opposed to the War in Iraq sinced the beginning, and a reminder that Bush doesn't listen to reason. I don't know who this "God" is that told him to invade Iraq.

From: The National Council of Churches

September 12, 2002

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We, like all Americans, kneel in prayer and remembrance for the tragedy and violence that obliterated the lives of so many people one year ago. As American religious leaders, we have sought during this year to listen, to learn, and to grow in our faith and compassion both for persons in our congregations and also for those many outside of our churches. We applaud your leadership in bringing peoples of disparate faiths together to worship, to mourn, and to move on boldly with our lives – in a more caring fashion and with appreciation for the precious gifts of God given to all humankind. Today, however, we write out of concern that those same precious gifts may be damaged by actions being contemplated by our nation.

We, leaders of American churches and church-related organizations, are alarmed by recent statements by yourself and others in the Administration about pre-emptive military action against Iraq for the expressed purpose of toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein. Understanding that Mr. Hussein poses a threat to his neighbors and to his own people, we nevertheless believe it is wrong, as well as detrimental to U.S. interests, to take such action.

We oppose on moral grounds the United States taking further military action against Iraq now. The Iraqi people have already suffered enough through more than two decades of war and severe economic sanctions. Military action against the government of Saddam Hussein and its aftermath could result in a large number of civilians being killed or wounded, as well as increasing the suffering of multitudes of innocent people.

It is detrimental to U.S. interests to take unilateral military action when there continues to be strong multilateral support for a new weapons inspection regime and when most governments in Europe and the Middle East resist supporting military action. It is important for the U.S. to cooperate with international efforts to control Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, if possible, through a regional weapons-of-mass-destruction control initiative.

The pre-emptive use of military force by the United States to deal with proliferation problems, as serious as they may be, establishes a dangerous precedent, particularly for other nations that feel threatened by the weapons capabilities of their neighbors. Furthermore, unilaterally overthrowing enemy governments heightens concern in other countries about American respect for their integrity as nations, as well as for international law.

U.S. military action at this time has great potential to further destabilize the region. It is likely that international support for the war on terrorism will erode if the United States attacks Iraq without a United Nations mandate. Militants in Arab and Islamic majority countries would seize the opportunity to incite people against not only the United States but also against governments that cooperate with the U.S. An invasion of, or intensified military action against, Iraq will divert attention from the need to seek ways to reduce international terrorism and will retard efforts to restore stability in Afghanistan.

Rather than attacking Iraq, we urge that your priority in the Middle East be an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and peace settlement. As do many in the world, we look to the United States government to set an example for the international community. As Christian religious leaders responsible for millions of U.S. citizens we expect our government to reflect the morals and values we hold dear – pursuing peace, not war; working with the community of nations, not overthrowing governments by force; respecting international law and treaties while holding in high regard all human life.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar
General Secretary
National Council of Churches USA

Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel
Moderator, 214th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Marilyn Borst
Executive Director
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding

Rev. Dennis Cleary, MM
U.S. Regional Superior
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers

Rev. Canice Connors, OFM.Conv
Provincial, Immaculate Conception Province
Conventual Franciscans
President, Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Rev. John Doctor, OFM
Provincial, Sacred Heart Province
Franciscans

Fr. John Felice, OFM
Provincial Holy Name Province
Franciscans

Rev. Michael Guimon, OSM
Provincial
Order of Servites

Bishop Marshall Gilmore
Presiding Bishop of Eighth District (Dallas)
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General Secretary
Reformed Church in America

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church, USA

The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Hamm
General Minister and President of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
in the United States and Canada

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Stan Hastey
Executive Director
Alliance of Baptists

Rev. Michael Higgins, CP
Provincial, Western Province
Passionists

Elenie K. Huszagh, Esq.
President
National Council of Churches USA

Thomas H. Jeavons
General Secretary
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim
Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church
of Antioch for the Eastern USA

Rev. Ted Keating, SM
Executive Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Rev. Michael E. Livingston
Executive Director
International Council of Community Churches

Ronald J.R. Mathies
Executive Director
Mennonite Central Committee

Canon Patrick Mauney
Chairman, Board of Directors
Church World Service

Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director
Church World Service

Mary Ellen McNish
General Secretary
American Friends Service Committee

Rev. Mark Miller, CPPS
Provincial
Society of the Precious Blood

Joseph Nangle, OFM
Co-Director, Franciscan Mission Service
Franciscan Brothers and Fathers

Jose Ortiz
Executive Director
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.

Lindsay Penn-Matheson
President of the Board of Directors
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

Sr. Constance Phelps, SCL
Vice President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

The Most Rev. Metropolitan PHILIP
Primate
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Sr. Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP
Past President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Rev. Judy Mill Reimer
General Secretary
Church of the Brethren General Board

Leonard Rodgers
President/Founder
Venture International

Rev. Dr. Roy Sano
Bishop (Retired)
United Methodist Church

James F. Schrag
Executive Director
Executive Board, Mennonite Church USA

Dr. William J. Shaw
President
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

Sr. Carol Shinnick, SSND
Executive Director
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Ronald J. Sider
President
Evangelicals for Social Action

Rev. William Sinkford
President
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

John Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

Kathy Thornton, RSM
National Coordinator
NETWORK
A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Lydia Veliko
Ecumenical Officer
United Church of Christ

Joe Volk
Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National
Legislation

Rev. Austin Walsh, ST
General Custodian
Missionary Servants of the Holy Trinity

Dr. Robert K. Welsh
President, Council on Christian Unity
Ecumenical Officer
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the US and Canada

Corinne Whitlatch
Director
Churches for Middle East Peace

The Rev. David L. Wickmann
President
Moravian Church, Northern Province

Jim Winkler
General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Church

Rev. Ronald Witherup, SS
Provincial, Sulpicians
President-Elect
Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Sr. Mary Ann Zollman, BVM
President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Outrageous Racist Double Standard

2005-11-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

A Ku Klux Klan member was sentenced to a mere 14 years in prison yesterday in Chattanooga, for making and selling pipe bombs to be used against Haitian and Mexicam immigrants.

During his sentencing, the judge said, "The court is not going to take into account at all your involvement with the Ku Klux Klan. That is your right."

Excuse me, but why does this legal system seem to treat Muslim terrorist groups like animals, but white boy terrorist groups as a "right"?

Disgusting. Outrageous. Racist.

George Bush is Anti-American

2005-11-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

There, I said it. Even though It's as plain as the nose on the Statue of Liberty's face.

By not firing Karl Rove, by cutting taxes during a war, resulting in more than half of our country's treasury bonds being sold to China! for God's sakes!, by working for corporate and Saudi interests rather than for individual American interests, he has taken this country to hell.

George Bush has done more damage to this country than Kim Jong Il, Iran, Osama Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein could have done combined.

By not firing Karl Rove and Scooter Libby (earlier), George Bush shat on America. He spit in our face.

Our ambassadors throughout the world, and other Americans who work across the globe to protect us from GENUINE threats, have been harmed by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby and the Bush-Administration's conspiracy to exact revenge on anyone who exposed their lies to go to war in Iraq by leaking the name of a covert CIA operative to the press.

THIS IS WHAT ENEMIES OF THE UNITED STATES DO!!

But this time, it was employees of the Bush Administration that did it.

Now wives of Ambassadors are being followed by others, their lives are in danger, for what? Karl Rove's manipulation games.

George Bush, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, ALL OF YOU ARE ANTI-AMERICAN ASSHOLES AND YOU CAN ALL GET FUCKED! That goes for all these Republicans who support them.
All of you can go to hell and kiss my hot-blooded American ass!

Today is a Sad Day?!?

2005-10-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

I don't understand how Mr. Wilson can claim that today is a sad day, because I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the Chief of Staff of the Vice President of the United States was indicted for obstruction of justice, not to mention perjury.

You want to talk about some sad days in recent American History, Mr. Wilson? I'll give you a few!

November 2000, that was a sad month for America.

The days of "shock and awe" in Iraq were sad days.

The day that George Bush preyed on the fears of and lied to the American people in his State of the Union address with those infamous sixteen words, was a sad day.

9-11 was a sad day.

When Katrina flooded one of America's most exotic cities, New Orleans, THAT was a sad day.

The day(s) that the Patriot Act was enacted, and re-enacted again, were sad days for America.

But today is a day of victory for the American people who were lied to. Today is a happy day for those of us who have sat here feeling alone and alienated that the country our predecessors have fought for was dying. Today was a day of fresh air for us. Some of the stench has been aired out.

But it's only the beginning. Karl Rove, you're next.

song of the day: The Dixie Chicks Truth No. 2
The lyrics are so very true to today's events. Click "Dixie Chicks" above for sample of song

I'm so very happy that I feel like waving the flag today. Thank you sister justice!!

Iraqi Anti-War Protestor in Nashville Sentenced to Prison

2005-10-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

This guy who was an anti-war activist in nashville, but just so happened to not be an American; however, he is someone who understands what kind of asshole Saddam Hussein is better than any of us Americans, was arrested last year, by the John Ashcroft machine, about a month before the presidential elections.

I believe in my heart that he was a sacrificial lamb for the Republican cause. Yes, he was a little angry, but who wouldn't be? I think his anger was more frustration and stress, seeing how his family lives in Nasiriyah, where all hell's been breaking loose for too long.

Ahmed used to drive a van around that was painted with peace messages for Israel and Palestine. He also marched with us against the war in Iraq.

Well the feds kept bothering him because he refused to back down from their threats to not be involved with the peace movement (it's bad PR when you got Iraqis who defected to the United States to get away from the tyrant Saddam, protesting against your war, you know?)

Well, Ashcroft and Bush got their revenge.

I had been thinking about Ahmed alot today. A LOT. I couldn't get him out of my mind, so i decided to Google him and found out that he WAS SENTENCED TODAY to five years with a possibility of deportation upon completion of serving his time.

Neeedless to say; that was some wild synchronicity for me.

Click here for their "story"

Click here for story about Ahmed protesting the torture of Iraq is in 2004

Bush is a Flip Flop

2005-10-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

According to Larry Johnson of the CIA: "The president has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone in the White House implicated in a leak."

Poor flip flops. What have they ever done to be compared with an arse like Bush? Perhaps after it's all over with, we like the Iraqis in 2003, can take off our flip flops and slap the Elephants with them.

(The Elephant is the symbol for Republicans, for those who read this and might not know).

DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOURSELF

2005-10-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Golisten to Joni Mitchell's "Amelia." Be sure it's from her Hejira album. Other productions of the song will not do. It's a song about Amelia Earhardt. Amelia....what a beautiful name; and Joni did a most excellent job writing a song for her.

This is my favorite song right now. The music is great. It's almost Grateful Dead [Mars Hotel] sounding; and the words, you can just be right there where Joni is....can see the desert, the clouds, the ground below, it's squares and trees from up in the sky.

Forget i-tunes. I checked out their version and it's crap.

Fond Memories of a Cubicle World

2005-10-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

My greatest feat while chained up in a cubicle for $7.00 an hour, enslaved by a bank:

Creating a most colorful psychedelic image on Microsoft Paint and sharing it with all my co-prisoners. It took me several work days to complete. Everyone thought it was beautiful and many made it their "wallpaper" on their desktop screens.

I wish I had a file of it, I would post it here.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

2005-10-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Those "Fundamentalist Christians" out there that claim that our country was founded on their "religion." They're WRONG.

Fundamentalist Christianity is not the same type of Christianity practiced by our founding parents of America. Fundamentalist Christianity is a new, virulent strain of Christianity with a warped view of Jesus and what the meaning of Christ is all about. I don't want to get into a theocratic talk, I'm not 100% expert in this area; but I do understand from HISTORY what different people believed religion wise; and the founders of this Country were not the types of Christians that the fundamentalists are today.

Actually, the Fundamentalist Chrisitan movement is one of the youngest forms of Christianity out there, second to the Mormon Church.

This virulent strain of Christianity infiltrated the Scottish and Irish immigrants of the Southeastern United States only in the early 1800s!

They didn't get my Scottish/Irish people until the mid1900s; in fact, my great-grandfather V.R. McMillen died a proud heathen in 1995!

Unfortunately this most deadly strain of Christianity has been spreading like wildfire ever since. I don't have time to research this, but maybe if you're reading this and you care enough to take our country back from these mentally defective religious freaks, you can do some research.

Here is one excerpt of the origin of this most dangerous social disease known as Fundamental Christianity:

In the early 19th century, a remarkable religious revival began in the backwoods of Kentucky. Known as the Great Revival, it spread outward from its hearth in central Kentucky and blazed across Mississippi as it swept the frontier. The revival brought thousands of converts into the evangelical fold and fueled the rapid expansion of evangelical sects, especially the Baptists and Methodists. Presbyterian churches, however, mostly attracted townspeople and never sought to enroll the masses. The typical evangelical church was a biracial one, and the African-American converts greatly influenced evangelical ritual and practice. In these biracial churches a remarkable process of cultural exchange between blacks and whites took place.

Source:

JUDICIAL ACTIVIST HARANGUE ONCE AGAIN

2005-10-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

"This is clearly a sign of an activist court system," said Orlando, Florida right-wing nut, Matthew Staver regarding the Kansas Supreme Court striking down a Kansas law targeting homosexuals with harsher punishment for statutory rape than heterosexuals.

The Kansas law provides that if a defendant under the age of 19 engages in heterosexual activity with someone under the age of 16, then his or her criminal punishment will not be as severe as a defendant over the age of 19. However, the Kansas law did not provide for the same kind of reduced punishment if the defendant is a lesbian or gay.

The 18 year old defendant in the Kansas case was sentenced to 17 years for engaging in homosexual acts with a 14 year old. Had this been a heterosexual case, the maximum sentence would have been 15 months. How is it judicial activism to require that the laws be the same for both gay and hetero sex?

The Kansas supreme court held that the law was invalid because there was no legitimate state purpose for assessing harsher penalties for homosexual acts but not heterosexual ones. The state argued that its "purpose" was based on "moral disapproval," and was therefore legitimate. Oh, I can just hear the rednecks in the South just 35 years ago, arguing "moral disapproval" of interracial marriage in Virginia. However, our Supreme Court of the U.S. has stated over and over again that "a bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest."

There is such a thing in our Constitution that requires equal protection of all under the laws. One can not punish a group more harshly than another group just because you don't like who they are. If we were allowed to do such a thing, you better believe that I would be lobbying my state legislature to impose harsher penalties on Republican SUV drivers who throw garbage out their windows than on regular car drivers, because I don't like Republicans and I believe it's immoral for people to drive gas wasting SUVs in times like these, where there are oil shortages and we are at war with a country as a result.

It's ridiculous to accuse the Kansas Supreme Court of judicial activism just because they are abiding by our Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States.

If you want harsher punishments for 18 year olds that have sex with 14 year olds, then you need to push for legislation that punishes heterosexual conduct just as harshly as homosexual conduct. But in this country of equality and freedom, you can't punish one more harshly than the other. To do otherwise is to contravene the spirit of our Constitution. And that, Mr. Staver, would be nothing but immoral, judicial activism.

Criminal Trials of Republicans or Saddam Hussein?

2005-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

I am anxious to see which gets more coverage in the mainstream media in the upcoming weeks.

The Rove-Plame scandal and the criminal trial of Tom Delay or Saddam Hussein?

I am sure it's no coincidence that the trial of Saddam Hussein is building up at the time that major Republican leaders are facing their own destinies with America's criminal justice system.

I personally hope that there is more coverage of the Republican criminals than of Saddam Hussein. What has Saddam Hussein ever done to affect me and all the rest of us Americans? Nothing.

However, the Republicans have done lots to affect me and the rest of us Americans:

1. They've compromised our civil liberties and privacy rights by exercising undue influence over us regarding their "Patriot" Act;

2. They've cost us hundreds of billions of dollars on the war in Iraq: a war created by their own criminal conspiracies;

3. They've made it harder for me to breathe the air and drink the water;

4. They've caused me anxiety, stress, and despair as I've witnessed our citizens in New Orleans suffer from the Bush Administration's gross dereliction of their duties to help us in times of emergency; and

5. Last but not least, they have killed what little bit of democracy we once had in the United States, causing us to be less democratic than many Eastern European countries who this time 20 years ago were dictatorships.

I could care less about Saddam Hussein's trial. Bring on the trials of the real threats to American Democracy, Environmentalism, and World Peace. Come on Corporate Media!! Give us the full attention of the criminal investiagations and trials of the real criminals: Tom DeLay; Karl Rove; Scooter Libby; John Bolton; Dick Cheney; and yes, George "Chimp Boy Dumbya" Bush!

I will not watch the trial of Saddam Hussein. I have determined that any time I hear Saddam Hussein's name on my television I will race to the remote and change the channel. Take that to the bank, corporate advertisers.

PERSPECTIVE

2005-10-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

The circumference of Earth's equator is roughly 24,000 miles.

That means that in one year, the average American drives around the planet.

Harriet Miers and Judicial Activism

2005-10-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

In response to the Conservatives who worry that Harriet Miers "might become part of the 'activist' group like Justice Souter has," I would like to say: get a life.

If anyone in the Supreme Court is a "judicial activist" it's Scalia. Scalia's judicial philosophy changes with the wind: Scalia's judicial opinions are motivated not by a philosophy of States' Rights, NOT by whether the Constitution is a fixed piece of paper or a living and breathing document; NOT by a philosphy of a strong federal government, but by Religious Conservativism.

Scalia is a Right Wing activist for Conservative Christians. He ruled against States rights recently in that California Medical Marijuana case, where the State law allowed people to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes; only to flip flop in favor of States' Rights when a State law is written to create obstacles for women getting abortions, or when a State law is written making it a law for gay men to have sex. Do you see a pattern here? If it's a law that the moral majority is opposed to, Scalia will argue against that law; but if it's a State law that the moral majority favors, then Scalia favors it too. Now if THAT ain't "Judicial Activism" I don't know what is.

It just so happens that Ginsberg and other liberal-leaning justices ruled against the California State law legalizing medical marijuana, based on the judicial philosophy that the federal government has the power to regulate Commerce when there are federal interests that are greater than the State interest which motivates the state legislature to enact such a law.

So all you conservatives out there that use the term "judicial activist" against anyone who doesn't legislate from the bench for Religious-Conservatism-control-freak-causes just shut your mouths.

I'm not knocking all of the Conservative Justices in the Supreme Court.

At least Clarence Thomas sticks with his States' Rights guns every time; he was in favor of the California State law allowing California's citizens to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes on a States Rights judicial philosophy. In his own opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court case that invalidated the law making it a crime for gay men to have sex, Justice Thomas in his strong States Rights philosphy said: "Although I think that this Texas law is the most ridiculous law, if I sat on the Texas state legislature I would overturn this law: but I do not. Therefore, this law should stand, because it is what the people of Texas want."

I don't agree with Clarence Thomas in dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), but I respect him. He is not motivated by Christian Conservatives ideals; instead, he's motivated by a States Rights judicial philosophy. Clarence Thomas doesn't legislate in the name of Jesus from the bench. Unlike Scalia.......the alpha judicial activist.

In summary, Conservatives, shut up about Judicial Activists! Unless you can lay off your hypocrisy for one moment and admit that the biggest Judicial Acvitist of All is Scalia!!

FORGET ABOUT OIL: WATER IS THE RESOURCE TO BE CONCERNED WITH FOR THE FUTURE

2005-10-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Corporation watch. Please check out this site, and educate yourself about what is going on today in the World regarding water shortages, and wars over water.

Bolivia leads the way in fighting off corporations that are trying to take control of our most precious natural resource on the planet...water.

Read this book as soon as you can, and boycott Evian, Naya, Dasani (Coca-Cola water), and Pepsi brand water.

Cheers!

BOYCOTT VACATIONS TO FLORIDA!

2005-10-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is posted and copied: original Source: http://www.itn.co.uk/news/63537.html

Florida gun law warning

4.37PM, Fri Sep 30 2005

Tourists travelling to Florida are being warned to avoid aggressive arguments with locals because they risk being shot.

A US gun control group is placing adverts in British newspapers this weekend to highlight new laws allowing gun owners to shoot anyone they feel is threatening their safety.

The Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence said foreign tourists may be at risk because they are more likely to be perceived as a threat by locals.

Sarah Brady, who heads the campaign, said: "We think people visiting Florida should be aware of this law, and act accordingly. Visitors should be very careful about getting into an aggressive argument with anyone during their stay."

Around 1.5 million British tourists travel to Florida every year, and from next week, they will be handed leaflets as they arrive at Miami and Orlando airports.

Before the law was passed, Floridians could carry concealed guns in public places but could only use them as a last resort when there was no other way to avoid injury.

The new law eliminates the need to avoid such threats by allowing the gun user to "shoot first".

Keith Betton, spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents, said he did not think the adverts would have any impact.

He said: "If they're trying to scare people I think they've just wasted an awful lot of money.

"This law is not going to put people off travelling to Florida. Tourists are generally aware of the comparative freedom by way of carrying guns and are highly unlikely to put themselves in situations of confrontation."

Jul 17: Anti-gun crime plea in song

NA-NEE NA-NEE BOO-BOO

2005-09-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

I guess "God don't like Confederates....eh Pat Robertson?"

This is a picture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' house, which sits on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina got a hold of it.

Jefferson Davis died in this house.

ABORTION THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

2005-09-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Constitution protects our Rights to an abortion, based not only on the Fundamental Constitutional Rights to privacy, but ALSO the Fundamental First Amendment Right to religious freedom. Seeing how those who are opposed to abortion are opposed to it on religious grounds, states that enact anti-abortion laws, are in effect, pandering to their religious voter base, which is an infringement on OUR First Amendment Rights to religious freedom.

How is a Right to choose abortion a Religious Freedom for pro-choice advocates? Laws against abortion are laws that abridge our Fundamental Rights to Privacy and to our Fundamental First Amendment Right to Religious Freedom. Laws that abridge these Fundamental Rights are subject to strict scrutiny by the courts, which means that the Court must inquire into the motivation behind the legislature. The motivation behind anti-abortion laws would be religiously based, and therefore, unconstitutional, because, although the Constitution does not explicitly state that there should be a separation of church and state, it does protect our Relgious Freedom, and that means for those who choose, Freedom FROM Religion. Therefore, the First Amendment forbids the church from controlling our states via lobbying legislature and petitioning them to enact laws that conform exclusively to their religious beliefs, thereby discriminating against us who do not subscribe to those religious beliefs; thereby infringing on OUR Religious Freedom Rights.

These arguments can also be applied to states that have enacted laws infringing on our rights to access to contraception and morning after pills, or in lawsuits against pharmacists motivated by their religious beliefs to refuse to sell contraception and morning after pills to the public.

Pinch Me!

2005-09-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Delay has been indicted for criminal conspiracy and has stepped down as majority leader! Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me!!

Ok one down, many more to go. Who is next? Bill Frist?

It Feels Like Fascism

2005-09-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

My husband and I took a trip up to the hills of North Caroline, my ancestral homeland. We decided that Asheville would be a nice place to hang out, and it's where my grandmomma grew up....lucky gal.

I loved Asheville and could have just stayed there forever...if only there weren't so many darned tourists.... from the nature loving destroyers of Nature...the mountain bikers in their SUVs, the Christians who want to see the miracles of God's creation firsthand, the bird watchers, the artists seeking inspiration...everyone was in Asheville, and it was such long a ride on the interstate...try five miles an hour for about 5 miles on the interstate.

Most people like to go to Asheville to see that Vanderbilt family mansion, known as the Biltmore Estate. I don't care how many parties you have...that house is just too damned big for one family, and I don't care to see it.

We instead cruised to downtown Asheville. A Southern hippie mecca. Now I don't mean to make fun of hippies or anything, but I have a problem with some of them restaurant owning lefties in Asheville. That's fine if you want to sell free range eggs and all that, but please don't be so condescending as to tout anti-poverty issues....because it really does seem elitist to those poor people you cheerlead for when they see that a plate of your "free range eggs" cost $10.00, and I won't even go into your organic coffee prices.

So we ate at the Waffle House. It was better anyway. As my husband says, this is where the real people are...where you can hear big brother Joe talking it up with another Baptist missionary on his own trip to Baptist mecca Asheville.

Asheville is a very interesting place in that regard. It appears that left wing political ideoligists, social justice activists, and artists have comfortably made Asheville their home; but it also seems that the Christians have made it their home too.

After we had enough of the left wing and the Christian missionaries of Asheville, we decided to head on out. On the way out we went to Mars Hill Baptist College, which is where my grandmomma went to school when she was a young girl. Back then, it was an all-girl college and most of the young ladies, including my grandmomma, were Cherokee. Can anyone say assimilation vis a vis Christian missionary work?

We got to Mars Hill, North Carolina... one of the most beautiful places I've ever been on earth...and a very very Baptist town. All that was there were some farms on the outskirts, the college and about 5 churches. Despite the church presence, I felt like I was in a dream. This place was so beautiful.

I was a little reticent about driving around there too much with my car, because of all the anti-war, anti-Bush stickers all over them. So I tried my best to hide my car from these people. That's when I realized that this is what Fascism feels like.

The people up front are really nice, but I'm afraid if they had seen the stickers on my car, they would have chased us out of that pretty little moutain town with blazing torches. Fascism.

Keep your Politics out of My Marriage

2005-09-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Unitd States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, on religious conservatives trying to control married people's contraceptive rights: "The association [of marriage] promotes a way of life, NOT CAUSES; a harmony of living, NOT POLITICAL FAITHS; a bilateral loyalty, NOT COMMERCIAL OR SOCIAL PROJECTS.......Marriage involves a RIGHT TO PRIVACY older than the Bill of Rights."

Griswold v. Connecticut , U.S. Supreme Court, 1965

Wonder how John Roberts feels about these words?

Finally

2005-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here soon, one gallon of gas will equal one hour of work for those on minimum wage. '

Yet they say that the economy is good? For who? Oh I know. Those who get tax cuts.

HOW TAX CUTS ARE AN UN-AMERICAN AGENDA

2005-09-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Refusal to pay taxes is one of the most unpatriotic things a person can stand for.

I know.... most people, when they think of refusing to pay taxes, they are doing it in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party.....dreaming of the days that refusing to pay taxes was the patriotic thing to do.

Yes, it was patriotic to not pay your taxes before the year 1776, but since then, to argue against paying taxes in the spirit of the original patriots of America...in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party.... is..... well..... showing your ignorance.

Our ancestors, prior to 1776 refused to pay taxes to the King of England. Recall from elementary American History the phrase, "No Taxation Without Representation!"

Well folks....today we don't have a King running the show.... Today we do have representation, and it is your DUTY as a represented citizen of America to pay your share of taxes....especially those of you sitting at the top of the hill.... the 1% of you that own and control most of the wealth.

Furthermore, you came to this country as an immigrant...we took you in.... tired, poor, and hungry and we gave you an opportunity to be the person that you are today. What do you do in return? You turn your back on U.S.

HOW DARE YOU sit back and support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and call liberals communists for supporting higher taxes, meanwhile, YOU are the ones that sit back and let China, a Communist Country buy up this country's Treasury Bonds to fund the war in Iraq, because YOU aren't "patriotic" enough to be willing to pay more in taxes for a war that YOU, not I, support!

How dare you not call your Congresspeople and tell them that you are willing to increase what you pay in taxes to help rebuild the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and New Orleans?

Think twice before you tell me that, as a liberal, I support communism and am un-American, while your refusal to pay taxes results in a communist country known for ill treatment toward its workers and citizens buying up America nickel by dime.

***note: this post does not apply to those of you refusing to pay your taxes because you believe that George Bush is not legally our president. You're probably not in the "richest Americans" tax bracket anyway.

China recycles trade surplus into US Treasury bonds
American companies may have forgotten what Henry Ford propounded when he first built his Model T: If you do not pay high enough wages to your workers, they can't afford to buy your product. One simple basis for that Bush boom is that China is recycling its US$100 billion-plus trade surplus with the US back into dollars, and especially into US Treasury bonds. Almost half of the US Treasury bonds are now owned in Asia. So China is financing Bush's bold economic experiment: running two or more wars simultaneously with a huge budget and trade deficit, and equally huge tax handouts for the richest Americans.
source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/FA23Dj01.html

Tracking the Roberts Confirmation Hearings

2005-09-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog is liveblogging the John Roberts Supreme Court Nomination hearing. Check out his coverage of DAY TWO. Coverage of DAY ONE is also available.

Goldstein & Howe, the firm which produces SCOTUSblog, also is maintaining a companion blog, The Supreme Court Nomination Blog.

SOURCE: Law Librarian Blog

Katrina and Mississippi: Neglected by Bush.....Neglected by the Media

2005-09-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a post that I found from the Clarion Ledger Forum regarding the crisis from Hurricane Katrina along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I suggested that perhaps these folks should contact some folks at the FSU film school to help them do a documentary on Mississippi...the damage...the deprivation of their rights...the lost...

You want to know how bad the coast of Mississippi is? OK listen to this. The whole town of Gulfport is in mostly shambles. Biloxi was hit with 30 storm tides, 6 feet about the record of Camille. Jackson County, Harrison County are in dire straits from storm surge, flooding, winds and worse of all FEMA. Moss Point has been ignored as of last I heard. My twin sister lost everything she had when her house was totally blown away as was almost all her neighbors. My sisters and brother in Gulfport are still unaccounted for and FEMA and Homeland Security won't let anybody in to go to shelters looking. My twin had her callto me on her cell phone, interrupted by someone and she had to hang up immediately. Her last words, it is bad really bad, everything is gone. That is when she was interrupted.

No it isn't probably as bad as New Orleans but make no mistake it is not far behind. Look for disease outbreak on the coast because almost nothing is working. It is so stupid how we can't find anyone, it is criminal how I can't even get my twin to fill me in on her losses and I didn't even have time to tell her I could find her housing. This is so sick and if you dumb no brain moronic right wing Bush supporters can't see he is a bumbling idiot then you are the dumbest stupidest morons in the world.

Let me tell you that I got an email from 2 people in Finland. One help to unload a plane full of relief supplies BushCo refused to let in. These 2 both said, "We wanted to help to return what America did for us in WW2. What is wrong with your people?" The people of Finland was hurt because they wanted to help and instead got kicked in the rear by our government, but they are not alone, 90 countries have offerd help including Sweden who had much needed water purification systems they were trying to semt.

Dang folks get your head out of your rear end and see what this bunch of maniac psychopaths are doing to us. Don't you care? Is it ok with you this group is now killing storm victims, not allowing supplies to people, taking to court a sheriff for directing 2 trucks of water to those in dire need around Brooklyn Ms.? Dang folks are you that d@mn cold heart you let Mississippians, and Louisianans die due to a system that was given to a man just as a political payback? What is wrong with you people? I wish you had suffered this storm, because YOU are as responsible oa this murdering bunch of traitors.

iPOD Nano

2005-09-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

Whatever. Fine. You want to bring out the Nano for those who subscribe to the tenet that "smaller is better."

What about those of us who are perfectly content with the Mini?

I'm very frustrated that Apple has totally removed the Mini from the market and replaced it with the Nano.

BRING BACK THE MINI!!

I wonder if there is some crusade to this effect out there that I could join?

JAMAICA IS BETTER THAN U.S.

2005-09-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

In 2002, Jamaica conducted a full-scale evacuation rehearsal in a low-lying suburb of coastal Kingston, and fine-tuned plans afterward. When Ivan's 20-foot surge destroyed hundreds of homes two years later, only eight people died. Ordinary Jamaicans also are taught search-and-rescue methods and towns at risk have trained flood-alert teams.
Like many around the world, Barbara Carby, Jamaica's disaster coordinator, watched in disbelief as the [ Katrina ] catastrophe unfolded on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
"We always have resource constraints," she said. "That's not a problem the U.S. has. But because they have the resources, they may not pay enough attention to preparedness and awareness, and to educating the public how to help themselves." FROM: Washington Monthly

Here is a picture of the flooding in Jamaica after Ivan. From my own personal experience, I was in Jamaica two months after a hurricane hit, and there were still flooded areas. Amazing, that a Third World country with limited financial resources sustains massive flooding from a hurricane and only eight people die, compared to America, who spends billions of dollars "protecting America" in the form of FEMA, Homeland Security, Corps of Engineers, etc. but thousands upon thousands of Americans die and one million Americans are left homeless.

For the mathematically challenged, one million Americans = 1 out of every 300 Americans.
1 out of 300 Americans left homeless as a result of hurricane Katrina, and people in this country still support the current Administration? There is no hope for those people.

Hurricane Katrina and Mexican Aid

2005-09-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Am I the only person that finds it funny that Mexico is offering drinking water to the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

From New Orleans Indymedia

2005-09-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Breaking News From New Orleans Indymedia: Sep 03 7:44PM CDT: Grassroots/Low-income/People of Color-led Relief Organizations: "Targeting donations for democratic rebuilding: relief efforts led by, and/or accountable to, low-income people, people of color and local people in NOLA and other affected areas." http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

Sep. 03, 2005 at 2:48 PM Blank Panther, Green Party veteran reports from New Orleans: Malik Rahim is in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, which isn't flooded. He welcomes help & gives way of contacting him at end of article... http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4209.php

Sep. 03, 2005 12:03 PM Halliburton hired for storm cleanup: The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to . . . remove debris . . . http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4174.php

Sep 03 7:09AM CDT: Troops Begin Combat Operations in New Orleans: "This place is going to look like Little Somalia” -- Brig. General http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4122.php

Sep 03 6:10AM CDT: Cuba Offers Medical Supplies and 1,100 Doctors to Katrina Victims http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4093_comment.php

Sep 03 6:00AM CDT: Ecuatorianos en necesidad http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4085.php

Sep 03 5:30AM CDT: foodnotbombs.net: Please help Food Not Bombs provide help for the victims of Katrina http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/4103.php

United States hasn't answered Cuba's offer for aid to victims of Katrina

2005-09-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

What an asshole George Bush and his administration is.

How dare they play politics at a time like this?

I'm referring to the fact that Fidel Castro offered to send 1,100 doctors to the United States to help care for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

George Bush hasn't accepted or rejected the offer.
That's really shitty.
There's one doctor at the Astrodome assigned to 10,000 people, and Bush wants to be a dick and play politics with people's health care by not accepting Castro's offer.

On the same note regarding offers to the United States for aid from other countries. If we're going to turn down anyone's offer it should be Japan's. selfish bastards.

What? They are only giving $200,000 to the Red Cross and promise not to give any more than $500,000? For goodness sakes! Afghanistan gave us $100,000, and JAPAN can only give $200,000?

Keep it, Japan. And by the way. Quit starving the whales by netting all the brine shrimp for dog food for your pets.

Hats off to you, Germany. Y'all seem to be the most generous of all the countries.

I appreciate the fact that all the countries willing to help out Katrina's victims can separate the politics of George Bush from the suffering of the poor who really bear the brunt of the Republicans' upper white middle class male agendae in this country.

Katrina and other national disasters: this photo says it all

2005-09-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

President responded quickly to Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

President responded quickly to Hurricane Katrina

Not President Bush. Cuban President Fidel Castro. Speaking on Cuban television tonight, Castro revealed that on Tuesday, while George Bush was still on vacation playing with his spiffy new guitar, and a day or two before the Secretary of State went shopping for shoes, Cuba contacted the State Department and offered no less than 1,100 doctors to assist in dealing with the crisis. Doctors who, unlike the hospital ship which has yet to leave its berth in Baltimore and isn't scheduled to be in New Orleans until next Saturday !, could have been on site by Wednesday if the Cuban offer had been accepted.

It wasn't.

I Don't Know Why They're Shooting at Me

2005-09-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

I spoke to a lady who is in the National Guard, and she has been to New Orleans and back several times, via C-5 Airplane. The National Guard in Memphis is taking four trips a day to New Orleans via airplane for the rescue mission.

She said that they hoped to be able to get folks loaded onto the C-5 plane and fly them to Memphis, but because of the floods, there is nowhere they can land the plane. She said that if they could load the evacuees onto the plane while still inside the bus, that they were going to do it.

She told me that she doesn't understand why the thugs shoot at her and the others in the National Guard.

I told her that the mayor of New Orleans says that those "thugs" that are carjacking, looting and terrorizing hospitals, are drug addicts going through severe withdrawal symptoms. She seemed to think that this made very good sense.

As she left school for her next trip to New Orleans, I wished her luck and hopes that the thugs will be out of ammo by the time she gets there again.

Katrina Relief: Don't let the fact that the Red Cross site is overloaded keep you from donating

2005-09-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Don't let the fact that the red cross site is overloaded keep you from donating to them.

On the left hand site of this Red Cross website, scroll down and you can enter your zip code to find a Red Cross near you. They will accept your checks or cash or money orders or whatever.

MEMPHIS WELCOMES HURRICANE REFUGEES: University Education with Room and Board, to Free Massages and Leisure and Entertainment

2005-09-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

From the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau

Free & Discounted Attraction Admissions:
We understand that the evacuation from your home may have caused financial and emotional hardship. In addition, you may have children who are anxious and restless. On this page, we are providing information about free activities (www.memphistravel.com/etc_freethings.asp) in our area and invite you to expend some restless energy.

Also, area attractions are offering discounts to evacuees.
Please provide proof of residence (valid driver's license).
• Ballet Memphis 901-737-7322. Free tickets to this weekend's performances of "Momentum 7." Shows are 8pm Friday, September 2 & Saturday, September 3 at First Congregational Church, 1000 S. Cooper.
• Botanic Garden - free admission
• Brooks Museum of Art - free admission
• Children's Museum of Memphis - $2 off per family. 901-458-2678
• Fire Museum of Memphis - One free with one paid regular admission. 901-320-5650
• Graceland - 20% off all adult and senior regular admissions. 901-332-3322
• Libertyland 901-274-1776. Free admission up to 6 people in a group.
• Lichterman Nature Center - free admission
• Memphis Pink Palace - free admission. 901-320-6320
• Memphis Public Library and Information Center. 19 Branches. 901-415-2700
• Memphis Redbirds - free game tickets through September 4.
• Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum - free admission through September
• Memphis Zoo - 50% off regular admission. 901-276-6500
• National Civil Rights Museum - free admission. 901-774-6380
• National Ornamental Metal Museum - free admission
• Peabody Place Museum - $3 admission price
• Putt Putt - 80 game tokens for $10. 901-386-2992
• Putt Putt - Buy 1 / Get 1 Mini Golf tickets. 901-386-2992
• Putt Putt - Laser tag for $8.25. 901-386-2992
• Race On Driving Experience - Call for discount
• Ride the Ducks of Memphis - $2 off regular ticket price. 901-521-3825
• Soulsville: Stax Museum of American Soul Music - free admission. 901-946-2535
• Sun Studio - free admission
• WONDERS: The Art of the Motorcycle - 50% off regular admission

Back to top

Offers from local businesses:
Please call ahead. Some offers are free and others are not. Please remember to provide proof of residency with a valid driver's license.

• Angela Hamblen, 901-767-6767, Ext. 578. Free grief counseling.
• Certified Sign Language Interpreter: Nena Stoddard, 901-385-4351. Free services.
• David Goodwin, 901-363-4841 offering new and used uniforms.
• Goodyear Tire, 6551 Winchester, 901-795-3811 - Will fix flats / tires free
• Local YMCA's are offering their facilities (shower, bathroom, pool, workout) free of charge with valid driver's license.
• Kaleidoscope Hair Studio, 2763 Colony Park Drive, 901-363-1275 offers free massages, mini-manicures and shampoos.
• Nash's Auto Repair and Body Shop, 1478 National, 901-301-0153 will do auto repairs for evacuees with valid driver's license.
• Raines Road Laundromat, 593 East Raines Road, 901-396-3116. Free detergent and free drying service.

Employment Opportunities:
• Beale Street Merchants Association will assist Louisiana (only) musicians and restaurant workers in finding employment. Come to their office at 154 Beale Street. Must provide valid ID. Lunch will also be provided on a daily basis from 12-1pm. You must go to their office to get a lunch voucher. Lunch will be served daily in Handy Park. For more information, call 901-529-0999.
• Bill Fisher - manual labor jobs. Call 901-794-5464
• Delta Medical Center, 3000 Getwell Road. Positions available for nurses for Telemetry, ICU, ED and Geriatric, Cardiology Tech, Med Tech, Phlebotomist, Mental Health Tech, Administrative Assistant, HIM Clerk and Collector. Call Karyn at 901-369-8529 or fax application from their web site at www.deltamedcenter.com.
• Individual has need for someone to help with some yard work, exterior house painting for 3-5 days. Call Whitney Taylor at 901-218-4286.
• Jason Hargrave. Manual work opportunities. 901-461-3487
• JobLINC, 901-415-2700
• Matthew White - small manufacturing company needs temporary help / general labor and metal workers. 901-272-7007
• Memphis Cement 901-774-3207. Call David Laders. Two positions available.
• Memphis Networks. Needed - optical engineer and implementation engineer. Call Dabney Wellford at 901-507-2103
• Memphis & Shelby County Music Commission, 154 Beale Street will assist musicians and restaurants workers with employment.
• Petra Cafe, 2170 Poplar Avenue West, #102, 901-853-3521 needs experienced restaurant help. Please call Lisa Douba.
• Papa John's Pizza is hiring delivery drivers, order takers and pizza makers. Stop by anyof the 13 locations to apply.
• Randy's Home Repair, 901-277-7310 or 901-387-0389. Positions available for home repair skills and lawn mowing.
• Super Shine, Inc. offering employment. Call Phil Tate at 901-406-9664.
• Wal-Mart offers temporary employment to evacuated Wal-Mart employees.
• Wm. C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks, 245 S. Front, 901-525-0567 needs experienced machinist, welders or general laborers. Please call H.C. Ellis.

Temporary Employment:
Contact the temporary agencies in town to inquire about job opportunities.
• Manpower: 901-761-3232
• Randstad: 901-274-8146
• Adecco: 901-624-6619
• Kelly: 901-683-2342
• STAFFMARK: 662-890-8691

Interpreter Services:
• Vietnamese Baptist Church 901-406-1537. Call Doug Kellum

Also from the University of Memphis:

The University of Memphis has unique opportunities to help victims of
Hurricane Katrina in the coming weeks. Members of the U of M
administration along with the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student
Government Association have worked to coordinate campus relief efforts.
In this communication, we share ways in which we can assist.

  * Enrollment.  Students who have attended or been accepted to
    accredited universities/colleges in the area of devastation are
    invited to resume their studies at the U o M. The criterion for
    their admission is previous acceptance at an accredited
    institution.  We are not requiring transcripts nor test scores for
    admission until such documents are available. Students will be
    given advisors who will help them plan schedules that will allow
    them to progress in their degree fields. Students can call
    1-800-669-2678, or locally 901-678-2111, for further information.
    If you receive calls from displaced students, please have them call
    one of the numbers listed above.  Additional information is also
    available on our home page at www.memphis.edu.
  * Fee Payment.  Students who have not paid their tuition at their
    home institutions will be allowed to enroll at the University of
    Memphis or at other State of Tennessee institutions at in-state
    tuition rates.  If their tuition expenses have been covered at
    their home schools, we are not requiring additional payments.
  * Housing.  The University of Memphis student housing is available
    for students from affected institutions who enroll at the
    University of Memphis.  Mayor Herenton’s taskforce is coordinating
    relief efforts to house other refugees.
    Integration of Students. Please welcome these students into the
    classes.  Recognize that class sizes may need to be adjusted to
    accommodate these students.  Consult with departmental chairs and
    college deans to coordinate additional classes if needed.
  * Communication with Faculty/Staff.  As you are able, get in touch
    with colleagues at universities/colleges in the area of devastation
    to determine what their needs are.  Contact your chair and/or dean
    to determine whether we can accommodate displaced colleagues.  We
    will do our best to help those who need to continue their research
    projects, etc.

We appreciate your willingness to help.  Contact Stephanie Beasley in
the President's Office at 901-678-2234 for more information.

Shirley C. Raines
President

Sheryl A. Maxwell
Faculty Senate President


Scott Beck
Staff Senate President

Omari White
SGA President

Racist Depiction of Certain Victims of Hurricane Katrina by the Media

2005-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

Extreme Unction demonstrates an excellent analysis of the racism perpetuated by the mainstream media as it tells its story of...not the "tragedy" of hurricane Katrina, but the "aftermath."

Another fine example of how the media roots itself in the problems of social unrest and racism that pervades the U.S.

One Million Tennesseeans Donating $10 = $10 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Folks.
I went out to eat this evening in downtown Memphis, and I saw so many people dressed in purple and gold, the color of Louisiana, dressed in some of the most colorful clothing that only New Orleans natives can pull off, young and old, black and white.

I especially felt heartbroken when I would see the faces of displaced elder Louisianans...they just looked so lost..confused, about what the future holds for them.

I thought about how Slidell is completely under water, the city with the best crawdaddy gumbo on earth.....gone, sunken...with the snap of a finger...just like that.

One million folks in and around New Orleans are homeless indefinitely.

20,000 Mississsippians without homes, and scores of Alabamans too.

This just may well be the worst natural disaster to strike America ever in modern history.

I have cried and cried today, thinking about these folks. Maybe it's because we share the same great big Mama Mississippi River that I feel such a connection and empathy for the people of New Orleans.

Maybe it's my French-born-on-the-bayou ancestral heritage that makes me so sad about what's happened this week.

Maybe it's that I find New Orleans one of the most beautiful cities in America, with its 500 year old Spanish architecture and the French Quarter...and oh man Cafe Du Monde.

Maybe it's all of this stuff combined.

Well whatever it is....I donated a meager $10 bucks to the Red Cross this evening. I'm hoping that millions of people like me, broke and living on student loans have done the same thing. If so, my meager $10 bucks becomes $10 millions.

On AM 680 today, our Air America affiliate in Memphis, one of our local radio hosts informed us that thousands of folks from Louisiana are in Memphis, and that they will be here for God only knows how long. I just want them to know that we welcome them here and that our hearts are with theirs in more ways than they know.

Money To Repair Breached Levees Was Diverted to Iraq War

2005-08-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for levees around Lake Pontchartrain. Those levees are now breached, and the city of New Orleans is inundated

Minimum Wage Rage

2005-08-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

Since 1997 gas prices have increased by 200%.

Since 1997, the federal minimum wage has remained the same: $5.15 an hour, before taxes.

Gas prices are expected to rise to $3.50 a gallon by Thursday.

Profits for oil and petro corporations have doubled and tripled. Saudia Arabian royalty has seen its wealth grow by the trillions since 9-11.

Who is it again that George Bush and the Republican controlled Congress are supposed to be working for?

What are George Bush and the Republican controlled Congress doing about minimum wage?

Does the Flood Have an Exit Strategy?

2005-08-31T05:06:00.000-07:00

Do the flood waters in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama have an exit strategy or is it a global warning and they're going to be here awhile?

One million people in and around New Orleans are homeless, thanks to the hurricane.

Some folks will probably say, "no....it's not a global warning of global warming, it's Jesus...he's come back to make sure that we get right." When the truth is as plain as the nose on your face, but you don't want to change your actions because of your addictions, be it to gasoline, alcohol, or nicotine, the best thing to do good little Christians is Deny..Deny..Deny.

There is no such thing as global warning because Rush Limbaugh and George Bush say so. Right good little fish people?

These people are the same ones who vote for presidential candidates that take from the poor to give to the rich, and then issue "fatwas" against leaders of countries that put their citizens before profit.

Yes, I'm talking about Pat Robertson soliciting the murder of democratically elected president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez again.

Oh Pat Robertson.....President Chavez is such an evil man that he came out yesterday and said that he wants to help poor Americans get access to cheap gas. Wow. That is the kind of leader that I want. Not one that takes from me and the poor people in this country, only to give it to subsidize the extremely wealthy around the planet.

Will Scalia Eat His Words?

2005-08-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

According to CNN, Scalia said he was saddened to see the Supreme Court deciding moral issues not addressed in the Constitution, such as abortion, gay rights and the death penalty. He said such questions should be settled by Congress or state legislatures beholden to the people.

SO DOES THIS MEAN THAT WHEN THE BIBLE THUMPERS' ATTORNEYS APPEAL AN ABORTION ISSUE TO THE SUPREME COURT THAT SCALIA WILL DECIDE NOT TO GRANT THE BIBLE THUMPERS AN APPEAL?

I'll be watching.

Source for Information About Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts

2005-08-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan has an excellent compilation of information on John Roberts, including his biography, his career as an attorney and employee of the Reagan and Bush I administrations, briefs he filed and oral arguments and all that good stuff, so that you can educate yourself as to what questions you would like your Senators to address at the hearings.

Senate confirmation hearings start next week....I think starting with the Judiciary Committee.

Ed Bryant Spoke at My School Today

2005-08-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Federalist Society of my law school hosted Senatorial candidate Ed Bryant today. The flyer for the event read:

"Corruption, Judicial Gridlock, and the Rule of Law" an address and Q & A from Ed Bryant.

I decided to go and check out the Senatorial Candidate for Tennessee.

He went on a diatribe about how the Democrats are all for judicial activists who believe that the Constitution is a living breathing document, and how Republicans go for a strict contruction of the Constitution.

Then he went on to argue that the federal judiciary is probably the most important source of power in America, and how the Republicans have just now caught on to this fact...something, he said, the Democrats have known all along. I guess he's referring to FDR's legacy of court packing.

He also informed us that he supports Clarence Thomas and Scalia and that he hopes that one of them will be Chief Justice of our Supreme Court some day. Bryant predicted that Roberts will be confirmed with 75% of the Senate confirming him and without a filibuster. He also predicted that Bush the Second will nominate two more people for Supreme Court justice.

Here is a candidate for Senate, who also discussed that it is judicial activism and too loose of an interpretation of our Constitution when the Supreme Court rules that children should not have to face the death penalty in this country.

He also argued that despite the FACT that our federal judiciary has powers, (something Republicans want to ignore and instead resort to name calling when judges do their jobs), perhaps they shouldn't.

Now Bryant didn't come out and say that we should tinker with our Constitution. In fact, he is of the camp that believes in a strict interpretation of the Constitution. But he did say that "maybe one day federal judges will have term limits."

Now how can you be a proponent of strict construction of our Constitution and then say "maybe one day we will change the Constitution and put term limits on federal judges?"

Before he wrapped up his presentation about the state of our judicial system, Mr. Bryant issued a warning to us eavesdropping liberals who are against right wing religious judicial activism when he said: "If the Democrats are going to politicize the courts, then we will too!"

Thanks Peter Jennings

2005-08-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

My head is killing me for days now, I have stress, fatigue, I cannot concentrate on this Tax Law crap that I'm supposed to be learning, I want to cry a lot, I feel like I"m on a roller coaster....... I want a goddamned cigarette. Nicotine withdrawal is killing me.

Upside: whoa, I forgot how so many things smell so good when you're out walking around. I feel like I have the nose of a bloodhound now.

F**K you American Spirit, RJ Reynolds, Phillip Morris......I would rather go crazy from nicotine withdrawals than give you crooked bastards another red cent for cigarette money.

CALL ABC THREATEN BOYCOTT TAKE PAT ROBERTSON OFF THE AIR

2005-08-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

IF YOU ARE OUTRAGED BY PAT ROBERTSON'S COMMENT CALLING FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF HUGO CHAVEZ, LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC VENEZUELA AND WANT THE 700 CLUB TAKEN OFF THE AIR, CONTACT ABC AT 212-456-1000.

Thanks to Tennessee Guerilla Women who had the link to ABC Family on their blog, I contacted ABC and told them that I am boycotting all ABC programs and channels until Pat Robertson and the 700 Club are removed from their programming schedule.

Christian Right the New Global Terrorist Threat?

2005-08-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

American terrorism is on the rise. Yesterday, Pat Robertson, one of the leaders of the Christian Right, an extremist group with a history of terrorist activity in the United States, called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, a democratic nation.

Pat Robertson has also publicly prayed on television for the deaths of U.S. Supreme Court justices. If a Muslim in America prayed on television for the deaths of U.S. Supreme Court justices, would he still be a free man in this country?

Robertson labeled Chavez a dictator which is far from the truth. Venezuela is a country that holds democratic elections.

President Jimmy Carter was in Venezuela to witness their 2004 last election. As noted on the Carter Center's website:

"Many low-income Venezuelans living in barrios (above) report the creation of medical clinics, literacy programs, and supermarkets with subsidized food under the Chavez government."

Does that sound like a horrible dictator to you?

Venezuela has not attacked nor has it threatened to attack the United States. Sounds like Pat Robertson and other Christian terrorists are jealous of Venezuela.

Experts speculate that Pat Robertson and other high ranking American officials hate Hugo Chavez and want him dead because of the large supply of oil that Venezuela has.

Beware Venezuelan supporters of Hugo Chavez! This man wants to kill you all!

Thanks to Tennessee Guerilla Women who had the link to ABC Family on their blog, I contacted ABC and told them that I am boycotting all ABC programs and channels until Pat Robertson and the 700 Club are removed from their programming schedule.

IF YOU ARE OUTRAGED BY PAT ROBERTSON'S COMMENT AND WANT THE 700 CLUB TAKEN OFF THE AIR, CONTACT ABC AT 212-456-1000.

TERRORISM IS ALL SUBJECTIVE, AIN'T IT MA?

2005-08-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Eric Rudolph's mother said that she doesn't think her abortion clinic bombing, night club bombing, Atlanta Olympics bombing son is a "monster."

Bet she thinks Mohammed Atta and those night club bombers in Bali are though.

Funny how one man's terrorist is another man's "hero" ain't it?

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

2005-08-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Question for the day:

How come America is the only country in the world giving Intelligent Design any credence?

IS SUPREME COURT NOMINEE JOHN ROBERTS A MISOGYNIST RACIST OR WHAT?

2005-08-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

As a lawyer in the Reagan White House, John Roberts scoffed at the notion of elevating Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to chief justice as a way to close a political gender gap, calling it a "crass political consideration."

On another topic, Roberts, who was nominated as a justice by President Bush last month, advised the White House to strike language from a description of a housing bill that referred to the "fundamental right to be free from discrimination." He said that "there of course is no such right."

More than 38,000 pages of documents released this week by the National Archives offer new details that portray Roberts as embracing the conservative philosophy of the Reagan administration.

I wonder if Roberts will undo all that was done to combat the divide of Americans regarding racism and discrimination, from Brown v. Board of Education to Shelley v Kraemer if they confirm him as Supreme Court Justice?

Roberts is not the type of justice we Americans need in the Supreme Court. He is a divider...not a uniter... and didn't Bush say after his "mandate" that he is a uniter and not a divider?

If this is the case, then why appoint someone who scoffs at feminism and says that anti-discrimination law is not a fundamental Constitutional right?

I know that Roberts is a smart lawyer..graduating top of his Harvard law school class, but this doesn't mean that he will give an accurate interpretation of the law... nor does it mean that we should not question his opinions on the law, and in this instance, Roberts... you misogynist racist... YOU ARE DEAD WRONG.

There is indeed a fundamental right to be free from discrimination in many instances... particularly if someone wants to defend his discriminatory conduct against you in our Courts..... from housing discrimination against same sex couples or people of color, to right wing religious control freak pharmacists refusing to sell birth control to women.

I GOT BEEF WITH THE ALL OR NOTHING LIBERALS OUT THERE

2005-08-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hey all you liberals out there that if you don't get EVERY SINGLE THING YOU WANT out of a politician, you go on the "I'm not voting for him/her" tirade.

Y'all are so spoiled. Get over it. So the Democratic politician shakes hands with the insurance bigwigs... or your pro-choice governor tries to balance the budget by removing people from the state-funded healthcare roles (when it's not really his fault that Congress and Dr. Right-Wing Senator-from Tennessee, whose family owns HCA cut spending on meds budgets for states and give more to the back pockets of private healthcare corporations that refuse to pay for your meds even when you are covered by these private health insurance companies).

Do you like the other option of an anti-abortion governor or a Senator that is complacent in corporate greed, deregulation of corporations, dumbing down America through its education system and cutting public television funding while giving tax breaks to "media" propagandists like CNN and FOX news?

The temper tantrums of over-demanding liberals is how we are losing more and more of our rights.

Even the extreme right wingers who want us all bowing down and praying to Jesus Christ before every meal we eat or in the classrooms or at the airport or whatever, are willing to put aside the differences they have with right wing politicians to support the one most favorable to them.

Liberals are trying to get left winged politicians to run first place marathons before they even get to the starting line!

Come on people!! quit being a bunch of All or Nothing Crybabies, and let's settle for what we can get, then browbeat our liberal politicians once they get into office.

The left's tactic of "boo hoo!! the liberal candidates are not doing every single thing i want them to do so I"M not going to VOTE for them" sure as hell ain't working.

ZERO ENERGY HOMES

2005-08-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I remember one day when I was in undergraduate school, me and some environmentalist friends went to a public hearing held by TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) to voice our concerns over TVA's nuclear energy programs.

I remember a little old lady who stood up before these TVA officials and said, "It will be a great day when we can bake cookies with solar powered ovens. Why doesn't TVA work on developing solar power for homes instead of spending billions of dollars on nuclear energy?"

This little old lady got me to daydreaming about the possibilities of solar energy.

The problem with solar energy for existing homeowners has always been the cost of converting your home from conventional energy to solar energy. But this didn't answer my question about all the new homes and subdivisions being built.

Why don't more real estate developers, when constructing homes, equip the homes with more solar power technology? I dreamed about how nice it would be if new home buyers had the opportunity to purchase a brand new home with solar technology.

Well in California, a real estate developer has done just that. Premier Gardens is a subdivision of zero energy homes that not only reduce energy consumption but actually produce the energy that is consumed by its residents. They are equipped with solar panels, tinted windows to prevent too much sun from coming in, and gas powered water heaters that only heat water when the tap is turned on. The homeowners use energy saving appliances and energy saving fluorescent light bulbs.

When the homes produce energy, the energy is harnessed by a local utility company and shared with the other residents. Your electricity bill is calculated by deducting the amount of energy your home produced from the amount of energy consumed. Some months you owe nothing!

Newsweek profiled a family that has been living at Premier Gardens for a year. Over 10 months this family, living in a 2,200 square foot three bedroom home, spent a grand total of $75 on electricity bills. For the past two months they haven't had to pay a dime to the utility company for electricity, because the home is producing more energy than the famliy is consuming.

Skeptics may argue that these energy producing homes equipped with energy saving technology are more costly to build than a conventional energy consuming home. They are not wrong. However, as evidenced by the Premier Gardens homeowners, the zero energy homes pay for themselves in the long run, and it takes 7-12 years to pay for the technology that enables you to produce your own energy. Furthermore, you get tax breaks and rebates.

In Lakeland, Florida, an experiment was conducted. Two identical homes were built, in such a way that they both receieved the same amount of sun from the same compass points. One home was a conventional energy consumption home, and the other was a zero energy home.

After a year, the zero energy home consumed 70% less energy than the conventional energy consumption home.

NUCLEAR ENERGY IS NOT THE ANSWER

The United States gets 20% of its electricity from nuclear energy. The energy companies want American taxpayers to foot the bills for even more nuclear power plants.

But if these zero energy homes are reducing average family home energy consumption by 70%, what is the necessity of more nuclear power plants? There is none.

More real estate developers need to follow the lead of the developers of Premier Gardens in California, and give more Americans the opportunity to buy new, energy producing homes. This is a realistic, environmentally friendly approach to reducing reliance on foreign energy resources and also in making the air and water cleaner for future generations to come.

See also: "On the Path to Zero Energy Homes" for a scientific governmental analysis of the Technology

I'M MAD AS HELL... AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE

2005-08-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

Sept. 11, 2001 Price of Oil = $23 a barrel

March, 2003 (beginning of war in Iraq): Price of oil = $32 a barrel.

Today: Cost of oil = $67 a barrel.

This is cut and dry evidence that Bush doesn't know what in the hell he is doing.

Source: History of Crude Oil Prices Chart

Profits for Saudi Arabia have skyrocketed while our national debt skyrockets.

Where is the debt going?

Go figure..

Here we have Bush using this country's reaction to 9-11 to line the Saudi Royal Family's pockets. The terrorists and their mastermind were Saudis, yet Bush has declared war on Iraq.... but none of the terrorists were from Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11!

Sounds like Bush ain't working for you and me, folks....instead.... he's working for the House of Saud.

it's time we take our country back from this lying traitor who is selling us out to the Saudi Royal Family.

IT'S TIME TO FIRE GEORGE W. BUSH!

DOMESTIC TERRORISM AND JOHN ROBERTS

2005-08-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Click here for video of the TERRORISTS that John Roberts supports.

I'm not saying that anyone should be denied the right to protest but when you block entrances to health care facilities you have stepped over the line from protesting to intimidating and terrorizing.

John Roberts supports this type of activity and he SHOULD NOT be allowed to sit in our most highest courts for this very reason.

We need justices sitting on our highest courts that will follow the U.S. Constitution and not legislate their religious beliefs from the bench.

Judges should protect us Americans from those that are advancing their religions onto us.

WHO WANTS TO LIVE IN A CHRISTIAN VERSION OF IRAN?

NOT ME!

CINDY SHEEHAN, the Universe and the Rest of the World IS on Your Side

2005-08-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Many Blessings to that friendly neighbor of Bush's down there in Crawford that is welcoming Sheehan and the others to camp out on their site.

Fort Bragg | A Film by Chris Hume
03.19.05

QuickTime
DSL | 56K
Windows Media
DSL | 56K

Shame on you Larry Northern from Wacko Texas, for your criminal act of plowing down 500 crosses of fallen soldiers along with desecrating 40 American flags, just because you don't support the U.S. Constitution and don't support that it's an American's right to exercise the First Amendment. Maybe you should take your own right wing advice and leave the country; for a REAL American wouldn't have done what you did to Cindy Sheehan.

I found Larry Northern's telephone number on Google. I wonder if he's been getting a lot of telephone calls lately?

VIOLENCE AT ABORTION CLINICS

2005-08-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

NARAL was attacked last week for its ad against Supreme Court Justice Nominee John Roberts and his history of working for pro-life terrorists, specifically in BRAY V ALEXANDRIA WOMEN'S HEALTH CLINIC.

For NARAL factsheet in PDF format, CLICK HERE.

Anti-abortion activists who find it necessary to harass and intimidate medical professionals and women seeking abortions should be policed by city and state law enforcement, because they have a history of violence against women and violence against medical professionals who provide birth control services to the women who need them.

Common Dreams posted an article on its website exposing the fact that John Roberts wrote in 1985 that "Memorials to Fetuses is a Good Way to Draw Attention to the Abortion Tragedy."

Click Here for a List of Anti-Abortion Terrorists from the Army of God website.

Why is it that NARAL is ostracized by the media, the scaredy-cat Democrats, and the far right for addressing its concerns of Roberts' anti-abortion ideology, and his history of supporting anti-abortion intimidators, one of whom subsequently bombed an abortion clinic, but they don't do the same when Bill O'Reilly and Karl Rove accuse liberals of being terrorist sympathizers when they work to promote civil rights, liberties, and other freedoms guaranteed to the people in the United States under the Bill of Rights, when the liberals oppose fascist right wing legislation, such as the Patriot Act, that takes away those rights?

The National Abortion Federation reports "Incidents of Violence and Disruption Against Abortion Providers" in the U.S. and Canada. Their data for the past 16 years is shown below. The number of incidents of picketing is not shown in the chart below, but does reach the tens of thousands. Not surprisingly, while arrests of dozens of picketers occurred in the past, there have been no arrests of picketers while George Dubya has been in office:

Notes:
1. Includes 554 Anthrax hoaxes.
2. Partial data for 2004, as of 2004-SEP-16.

NOW IF THIS DOESN'T SOUND LIKE TERRORISM, I DON'T KNOW WHAT DOES.
Statistics show that there is a problem of terrorism among certain factions of anti-abortion activists, even though most anti-abortion activists do not condone or commit terrorism.

I highly doubt that we would or should allow someone from becoming a Supreme Court Justice if they supported causes of which certain individuals within that movement committed acts of terrorism, and we shouldn't allow someone to become a Supreme Court justice who aligns himself with anti-abortion activists, some of which are known to commit acts of terror against medical professionals providing health services to women.

SHAME ON YOU JOHN ROBERTS FOR SUPPORTING TERRORISTS.

WHY NUKE POWER NO SOLUTION TO ECO PROBLEMS

2005-08-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

In response to the global warming crisis, more and more environmentalists are becoming more and more complacent to the advancement of nuclear power across the globe.

Many argue that nuclear power is the solution to the global warming crisis.

I do not agree. Instead, I find that the solution is reduction of energy consumption, education, and exercise. Because the problem lies with our culture of laziness and materialism, not with a necessary demand for more energy.

People across the planet are using more and more energy than their ancestors. From my own family's experience, I can attest that I grew up in a household that used THREE TIMES the energy that my grandparents used.

The Chinese demand for oil in industry and in automobiles is tripling, while Americans buy bigger televisions, vehicles, refrigerators, ovens; things that require twice as much energy consumption as more reasonably sized comparable goods.

As we are witnessing the war in Iraq, more and more Americans are coming to the realization that the war was not about "freeing the people of Iraq from tyranny," but instead is a war over natural resources, specifically oil.

As an American soldier who was in Iraq during the initial invasion (some may recall it as "shock and awe") stated on Alternet, his duty in Iraq was to "secure the oil fields."

Also we have the Europeans who are aware of the catastrophes that will be happening soon (within the next 50 years) as a result of global warming, who are desperate to get this thing turned around.
They are promoting nuclear energy. Even the environmentalists!!

But this is why nuclear energy is not the solution.

1. Uranium Mining

For those who live around uranium mines, they can attest to what uranium mining does to the water, causing birth defects, cancers, decay, destruction, and death. Just ask the Eastern Navajo Dine of the Southwestern United States.

2. Massive consumption of Water for the Cooling Towers

Nuclear power plants require billions of gallons of water for the cooling process, which is necessary in avoiding nuclear meltdowns, such as the one that occurred at Chernobyl.
Furthermore, just like oil, water is a finite resource!! It would be unwise to use billions upon billions upon billions of gallons water each day across the globe, on water for nuclear power plants.

3. Nuclear Waste

Last but not least...we do not have a nuclear waste plan anywhere in this world. American alone has tons upon tons of nuclear waste and we don't know what in the hell to do with it. Russia processes a lot of Europe's nuclear waste, and I'm sure that the inhabitants in the towns of Kazakstan and other places in Russia where nuclear waste is stored and processed can tell you.... "I wish we had enough money to get the fam-damily outta this joint! But the medical bills for all the cancer treatments have got us stuck here."

Furthermore, burying nuclear waste underground ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET is unwise when thinking about water. Things seep and move under the ground, and they will eventually get into the water table. Especially something as corrosive as nuclear waste.

CONCLUSION

Basically, when I think of finding solutions to the problems of global warming, I can't help but find similarities to addresssing the problems of obesity.

It's just plain common sense. As in addressing being a fatass, you know that the #1 solution is to eat less, and exercise more.

Well in addressing global warming, use less energy and .... ta da!! exercise more!

1. USE LESS ENERGY
Goddammit! Turn off the lights if you are not using them. Stop being such a goddammed sissy in the summer time and turn off the damned air conditioning!! Get you some wet towels or rags and wipe your face with them. When the heat gets extremely unbearable, go take a cool shower. It's absolutely orgasmic.

And for those of you with health conditions such as asthma. Just try it during the day. Cut your air conditioning use by at least half and turn on the air only at night. Try it!! It's not that bad!

2. QUIT DRIVING SO GODDAMMED MUCH, GET OUT THERE AND WALK!

I will admit it.. I have a car. A 1999 Honda Civic that I take excellent care of, and which I like to brag to SUV drivers.... gets 35 miles to the gallon!

I fill up my tank about once every six weeks, because guess what? I live close to where I work and attend school and I walk everywhere else!!

It's great! I love it. I see more stuff getting out there walking than I do driving, and I'm a lot less stressed out too!

3. GET SOME STUFF THAT SAVES ENERGY! LIKE THESE GREAT LIGHT BULBS HERE

4. QUIT BUYING SUCH HUGE ENERGY CONSUMING ITEMS!!

Why on earth would a family of two need to buy a five bedroom house? Ridiculous. When I see huge houses like that, I think "Man. I sure am glad I don't have to pay the utility bills for that joint."

Or why do people find the neeed to buy a friggin' refrigerator big enough for a commercial kitchen in a restaurant? What about that television that is as big as a friggin' movie screen?

Why do you need such big stuff that consumes a boat-load of electricity? Think about it, the next time you need to buy stuff that consumes energy.

Ask yourself.... is it worth it that my tax dollars will go to a war that creates global instability and environmental destruction if I buy this huge energy consuming thing?

Is it worth it that people fight wars over water so that I can have this big energy consuming thing?

Just think about it.

And I know how most people feel. They feel that they are just one person, and how can they, as one person do so much damage? Come on!! You know the answer to that! You see the vehicles on the streets just as I do... that for every five vehicles on the road, three of them are SUVs!! So you, collectively with all the others..... that's how the damage is being done.

IMPEACH BUSH

2005-07-31T20:12:00.000-07:00

Below is a letter I wrote to my congressman regarding impeaching Bush and his administration. Only the House of Representatives can impeach these guys, and it will only be done with pressure that we put on our representatives in the house.

I hope that you all find a way to contact your own Representatives and urge them to commence impeachment proceedings against these anti-american inhabitants of our White House.

To the Honorable Harold E. Ford Jr.:
As one of your constituents, I urge you to join with others in the House of Representatives that are moving for the impeachment of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.
As the investigation of the Plame leak unfolds, we citizens are finding that George Bush and his administration were involved in a sinister plot to declare war on Iraq based on lies.

It is no wonder why the Bush Administration did not sign up the United States of America to be a part of the World Criminal Court, because if it did, George Bush and his Administration would definitely be tried and convicted for war crimes.

We taxpayers have wasted over $180 Billion on the war in Iraq. Iraq is a mess, and terrorism has grown exponentially as a result, despite George Bush and his Adminstration's claims that we have declared a "war on terror."

In fact, I believe that George Bush wants and needs more terrorism in this world to accomplish his goals of invading sovereign nations, destroying the lives and the environment of people living in those countries, and all done on our dime.

The Republicans did not hesitate one bit to move for the impeachment of President Clinton over a frivolous issue that did not result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians or our troops. We the people of this country that witnessed the decimation of Democracy in November of 2000 deserve to see impeachment proceedings against Bush and his adminstration as liars, traitors, tyrants, and war criminals.

I understand that you are running for the U.S. Senate against Ed Bryant, and that it requires you to take a moderate stance on many issues so that you can have a chance of winning the votes of conservative and moderate Christians in East Tennessee, however, I do hope that you find a way to at least work in the background on the issue of impeaching the tyrant that is occupying our White House.

Thank you for your consideration regarding this matter.

Roberts v Consumer: Arbitration and Corporate America

2005-07-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Many consumers don't realize that when we enter into a contract with corporations for services, from cable television to credit card services, pest control services, telephone services and even hospitals, we have waived our right to trial when we have signed those contracts. Many big employers require their employees to sign contracts with mandatory arbitration clauses to protect those businesses from being sued by its employees for unfair labor practices! Law firms such as Hogan and Hartson, the one that Roberts worked at in D.C., lead the way in advising their corporate clients as to the benefits of arbitration under consumer protection law.

Most arbitrators get the bulk of their business from repeat customers, the corporations themselves, and therefore favor the corporate interests during the arbitration process. Therefore the arbitrators browbeat the consumers into relenting.

Guess what? You never have an opportunity to litigate your issue before the courts. And when you leave the arbitration proceeding unsatisfied, you will never have the opportunity to appeal your case to higher courts.

Arbitration advocates argue that this is a less costly way of settling disputes. They are half right. It is less costly to resolve the disputes in arbitration for the corporations, but arbitration can cost up to 5000 times what it would cost a consumer or working class American to seek relief before our courts!

Most arbitrators cost around $400 per litigant per hour for arbitration. The attorney representing you before the arbitrator could cost around $200 per hour. So if the arbitration proceeding takes four hours, you will have to pay $2,400 in arbitration and attorney fees. And you probably will leave the process with a sour taste in your mouth and with a feeling of betrayal.

On the other hand, to bring a matter before our courts, the litigant pays a filing fee, anwhere from $12 to $150, depending on the state, county and type of claim you are bringing, along with approximately $200 per hour for your attorney. But guess what? If the consumer or worker wins in court, he can likely be awarded statutory attorneys' fees and punitive damages (punitive meaning punishment of the corporation for wrongdoing), and the losing corporation will be stuck with paying the court cost, including that filing fee I mentioned above.

Now under arbitration, win or lose, both parties are stuck with paying $400 an hour to the arbitrator, and on top of that are stuck with paying an hourly fee to their attorney for attorney's fees, so you're looking at at least $600 an hour for abritator and attorney fees, and as I mentioned, the arbitrators are basically extensions of the corporations themselves, and more than likely will rule in their favor over the consumer.

I'm not saying that abritration is inherently bad. Arbitration does serve its purpose between two parties of equal bargaining power, but a consumer does not have the same power as the corporation, and arbitration does not fit in consumer rights matters. It leaves too much room for conflicts of interest between arbitrators and corporations and deprives future consumers and workers of their rights to be treated fairly by corporations during day to day business transactions.

Arbitration between corporations and consumers further encourages less oversight and regulation by legislators because they are being done under the radar, taking advantage of a class of Americans out there that do not understand that they would have a better opportunity to equal justice in our court systems rather than under the hegemonic gavel of the corporation's arbitrator.

It's a corrupt deprivation of our constitutional rights, it's been going on for some time now, and Roberts' attorney experience reveals that he favors the arbitration process over our constitutional rights to trial.

In his capacity as attorney, Roberts has worked hard for corporations and against us little guys as consumers, workers, and inhabitants of Planet Earth. In Bragg v. West Virginia Coal, Roberts worked as a Private Attorney when he argued on behalf of National Coal for mountain top removal of coal, an extremely environmentally destructive method of removing coal from the Appalachian mountains, which has resulted in severe pollution of waters in the region, and which has caused serious asthma problems, sickness and death of the inhabitants of the Southeastern United States.

He has worked hard to erode the Americans with Disabilities Act, Affirmative Action, and other labor issues, he has worked to reduce federal spending on abortion clinics, and as Deputy Solicitor General, he filed an amicus brief on behalf of us, the American people, for harassment by anti-abortion activists of women at abortion clinics (see: BRAY V ALEXANDRIA WOMEN'S HEALTH CLINIC) and other right wing issues before the Supreme Court!

Click here for podcast of Roberts arguing on behalf of the anti-abortion activists in the name of the "People of the United States!!" before the Supreme Court. In this podcast you hear Roberts argue that harassment by anti-abortion activists is not an attack consisting of invidious discriminatory deprivation of women's rights. Note: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roberts' violent mob of anti-abortion activists.

I just wonder if Roberts would file an amicus brief on behalf of anti-war activists who were thrown in jail for criminal trespass for merely trying to talk to their U.S. Senator about his stance on the war in Iraq?

One could easily argue that anti-abortion activists should be classified as terrorists, seeing how several of them have bombed clinics, Olympic events and nightclubs. So if you want to argue like Karl Rove, you could claim that Roberts is a judicial activist that supports terrorist groups, merely by his vigorous support of the anti-abortion activists and their interference of women to get abortions, the issue which is the subject of the Bray Supreme Court Case.

Quoted in Legal Times, Roberts says, "private litigants in the Supreme Court gain significant advantage when the United States supports their position as Amicus Curiae."

Yep, Roberts just has a face of innocence but underneath that innocent cute little baby face is the sinister workings of a cog in the big business/religious right's steamroll over Middle America.

***sidenote: I talked with a U of Illinois law professor about the arbitration fiasco and consumers rights and he told me what the consumers should do to prevent waiving their rights to trial: Before signing a contract that has an arbitration clause in it, scratch out the arbitration clause and write "I do not agree to waive my rights to trial via arbitration should a dispute arise." MAKE A COPY OF THAT CONTRACT AND KEEP IT FOR YOUR RECORDS.

Hopefully, in my lifetime, someone will argue the Constitutionality of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer and employment contracts before the Supreme Court. With justices like John Roberts, Jr. and Clarence Thomas, I just don't see how that Supreme Court will rule in our favor, on this, an issue which affects the very nature of American Constitutional rights to trial for redress of grievances.

For more information about arbitration clauses and consumer rights, please check out The National Consumer Law Center
And the American Constitution Society

See also: StopBMA.org

LETTER FROM INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS RE: PLAME LEAK

2005-07-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

From Talking Points Memo: "Today a group of 11 former intelligence officers delivered a letter to the Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate on the Plame case. See it here in PDF format."

See Related CNN story

DIVERSION TACTIC

2005-07-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess people didn't take the bait when on Sunday it was announced that the first charges were being brought against Saddam Hussein.

All you heard on Monday was Karl Rove...Karl Rove...Karl Rove.... and I praise the media for not taking the White House's diversion bait of Saddam Hussein. Finally the media and me are on the same page. It's a bigger issue to contend with our own war criminals (Bush, Rummy, Rove, Libby, Cheney, et al) than with someone else's.

So what does Bush do on Tuesday when the people didn't take his Saddam bait? He goes and announces his Supreme Court justice nominee, a man who has Hardly Any experience as a judge, who is not very seasoned, and who Bush evidently owes a favor; because John G. Roberts, Jr. advised the Bush campaign on the November 2000 elections.

Well, now we have to contend with two major issues at once:

1. Keeping in the spotlight Karl Rove, Lewis Libby and the other White House officials involved in the conspiracy of leaking Plame's identity as a covert CIA operative; and

2. Contending with finding out just who this guy is that George Bush threw in our face last night when he nominated Roberts as a Supreme Court justice. George couldn't have picked a better candidate to distract America from the Rove scandal, by picking such a young person whose legal philosphy is virtually unknwon. Now instead of focusing on the White House conspiracy of the Plame leak, the liberals, independents and conservatives will be occupying their time trying to figure out just who this mystery man is that Bush nominated for Supreme Court justice.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

I was reading Newsweek's articles about Karl Rove, and I learned something about Karl Rove: a psychologist would have a field day with this man.

Maybe when he is fired from his posh little White House job he can make money being a psychologist's guinea pig.

No really, here are some interesting facts about Karl Rove.

1. He is an illegitimate child: the man who he thought was his father turned out not to be, and Karl Rove doesn't know who his real father is.

2. When he was a teenager Karl Rove's "father" abandoned the family.

3. Eleven years after his "father" abandoned them, Karl Rove's mother committed suicide.

Now I'm starting to understand how and why Karl Rove is the antisocial asshole that he is. He's got some serious issues. And most of us would if this was the type of family that we grew up in.

As I continued to read Fineman's article on Karl Rove, I started thinking of all those dittoheads out there. Yes, the average right wing followers of the Right Wing's pied pipers. Just who are these people who absolutely refuse to admit that Karl Rove betrayed America when he leaked Valerie Plame's name?

Just WHO are these people who absolutely refuse to admit that the American public was lied to about Saddam's "terror" threat? Hell, even the Bush Administration apologized for the lies they told us about the Africa-Saddam uranium connection!

I'll tell you who these people are. These people are the children and grandchildren of those who resisted integration of public schools, who supported the Ku Klux Klan, who did nothing while black people were trying to get their voting rights in the 1960s, who preach "What Would Jesus Do" while advocating the fire-bombings of black churches in the 60s and the abortion clinics of today.

So we can't completely blame Karl Rove for the ills that have been wreaked on this country with the advent of the Bush Admin's agenda in November 2000.

Those right wing, Bible thumping wingnuts WANT to believe the lies that Karl Rove and George Bush tell. They resist the truth when it's slapping them in the face. They are to blame.

And that is a scary thing. We can oust Rove from office, but can we oust hate, ignorance, and prejudice from our country?

Folks have been trying for at least 50 years, but they are still here.
______________________________________________

WHICH SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ARE YOU?

My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, Supreme Court Justices, is Stephen Breyer: biographical information

NEO-CON, YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG

2005-07-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

"How many people have been in a position like Karl's?" said [Pie-In-the-Face] William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, a neoconservative magazine. The standard of proof, he said, is much higher than it would be for the average staffer, who could be dismissed just for bringing negative publicity to the administration. See: New York Times Article

No no, Kristol. You are wrong. All law students learn in their first year of law school that the more "official" your status, the higher the STANDARD of Conduct you are held to, and therefore, the LOWER THE STANDARD OF PROOF NEEDED to find that you stepped out of line.

Therefore, where an average staffer might have leaked Plame's name to the media, one would have a higher burden of proving that the average staffer had the pernicious intent to harm the CIA, whereas, Karl Rove could just leak the name in passing without even knowing that Plame's status was a covert CIA operative, and be found by the White House to have violated his nondisclosure agreement (click here to get to a PDF copy of it) and therefore should resign. Because of his high ranking status, he is held to a higher standard of conduct and therefore the burden of proving that he violated this standard is lower than if he was just an average staffer.

Why? What's the policy reason? There are many reasons. I'll give two of the most important reasons.

1. One policy reason for requiring those officials with a "higher status" to abide by a higher standard of conduct which requires a lower standard of proof, is because the higher your status the more of an EXAMPLE you are to set to those "beneath" you, in this case, "the average staffer." If Karl Rove is not found guilty of violating the law, particularly the Intelligence Identity Protection Act, then the precedent this sets is that it's ok to leak identities of covert CIA operatives, compromising our National Security.
Future violators of this statute will argue as a defense, "Hey! If Karl Rove can do it, I can do it!"

2. As has been shown, a high ranking White House official's conduct reflects poorly on the Bush Administration as a whole. Rove's poor judgment in leaking Plame's name to the press is a bad reflection on the Bush Administration and confirms what many on the left have been arguing for a long time: That George Bush should be impeached from office.

So Kristol, you have it backwards. There is a higher standard of proof for the average staffer and a lower standard of proof for Karl Rove. Rove knows what he did is wrong. In fact, Rove probably has an easier time keeping up with his ethical conduct than he does with his bad-faith, unethical conduct, seeing how in his career dating back to college, he so very rarely acts ethically.

I am sick and tired of these right wingers spewing to the media misinformation about legal analyses of this whole Rove scandal. What REALLY IRKS ME is that the media laps up whatever these right wingers say and takes it as gospel without questioning them one bit!

Haven't they learned yet that the right wing neocons are nothing but a bunch of scheming, devious LIARS!?!

They are WRONG about the Intelligence Identity Protection Act, when they say that Rove had to "know" that Plame was covert in order for Rove to be guilty of violating the Act; and Kristol is wrong about the standard of proof for Rove. I am guessing he is talking about the standard of proof to the public or the Bush Administration, because the only standard of proof for criminal trials is "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt."

RIDICULOUS NEO-CON QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Neo-con pioneer Irving Kristol, father of William Kristol: "The notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."

BUSH ADMIN'S PLAN THAT ROVE SCANDAL WILL BLOW OVER:

How convenient for the Bush Administration that Iraq has brought its first charges against Saddam Hussein today while Bush insiders are on the hot seat.

Well if they think that this is going to divert us from getting to the bottom of the Plame leak, they have another think coming.

I say, let the Iraqis worry about their own war criminals and we will worry about ours!

GUILTY OF MULTIPLE CHARGES?

2005-07-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Reading Talking Points Memo this morning got me to thinking about whether Karl Rove can be guilty of six different counts of violation of the Intelligence Identity Protection Act.

According to The Washington Post, Karl Rove leaked to six different journalists. (I speculate that they are Novak, Cooper, Miller, Russert, Pincus, and Kessler).

Does that mean that he can be charged with six counts of violation of the Intelligence Identity Protection Act? If so that could mean that his maximum punishment would be a $300,000 fine and 60 years in prison for violation of the Identities Protection Act Alone! Not to mention the punishment he would receive if charged with Conspiracy too!

Well I can't wait for the investigation to be over so that we can see how the indictment pans out.

Forget Rove-Gate, Get Ready for Cheney-Gate

2005-07-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this post from antiwar.com, and it is a really great anlalysis of just who leaked to the leakers.

It goes way over my head to even try to summarize it, so I will just highlight some of the article here that I find the most enlightening and you can read the whole thing if you click here.

In the article, Mr. Raimondo answers questions such as:

"Why did Novak's original column, which started all this brouhaha, identify Valerie Plame by her maiden name? After all, most married women – even in this era of Women's Liberation – defer to the tradition of taking their husband's name, but I have to admit that, even after wondering about it for a brief moment, I shrugged and moved on. As it turns out, however, this is an important detail, because now we have Rove's lawyer saying that he at no time gave out Valerie Plame's name: but if Rove identified her as Joe Wilson's wife, what the heck is the difference?"

"If Rove leaked to Novak, and half a dozen Washington reporters, then who leaked to the leakers?"

"You (Joseph Wilson) mention two other names: John Hannah, who works in the Office of the Vice President, and David Wurmser, who is a special assistant to John Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control and national security. Last Wednesday, their names both appeared on a chart that accompanied an article in the New York Times about the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans and the war cabal within the Bush administration. Did these people run an intelligence operation against you?"

"Who in the administration would've had access to the specific information regarding Plame-Wilson's role in a deep-cover CIA operation involving nuclear proliferation? "

"And then there is the question of the Niger uranium forgeries themselves: who forged the documents that fooled a president? "

"Forging "evidence" that helped get us into a war – what are the penalties for that?"

CONSPIRACY?

2005-07-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

With evidence like this popping up, it appears that the two White House officials that leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame should be indicted for conspiracy charges on top of violations of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act!

On Oct. 1, 2003, Mr. Novak wrote another column in which he described calling two officials who were his sources for the earlier column. The first source, whose identity has not been revealed, provided the outlines of the story and was described by Mr. Novak as "no partisan gunslinger." Mr. Novak wrote that when he called a second official for confirmation, the source said, "Oh, you know about it."

Many speculate that Lewis Libby is the first source and that Karl Rove is the second source.

Watergate's John Dean on the CIA leak probe

RELATED STORY

LEGAL ANALYSIS: KARL ROVE'S GUILTY

2005-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Right Wing is arguing that Rove did not know that Valerie Plame was a covert agent and is therefore not guilty. They are arguing that Rove does not have the requisite intent under the statute to be culpable for committing the crime of releasing the name of a covert agent, because he did not know that Plame was a covert agent.

But the plain meaning of the statute shows that this line of argument does not matter.

The statute does not require Rove to have known that Plame was a covert agent.
All that the statute requires is that Rove intended to reveal the identity of the person who happens to be covert.

It is to Rove's misfortune that the person he intentionally named happened to be a covert agent.
I Repeat: Nowhere in the statute does it require that Rove knew that Plame was covert.

The issue is not one about Rove's intent, he clearly intended to leak the name of a CIA employee when he told Matt Cooper that "it was Wilson's wife who works at the Agency."
The issue is instead whether Plame's employment status at the CIA was "covert."
Evidently it was.

Novak's initial column identified Plame as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." He has since claimed that he believed Plame was merely an analyst at the CIA, not a covert operative—the difference being that analysts are not undercover, so identifying them is not a crime. Critics contend that after decades as a Washington reporter Novak was well aware of the difference and would be unlikely to make such a mistake. Indeed, a search of the Nexis database for the terms 'CIA operative' and 'agency operative' shows Novak correctly used them to describe covert CIA employees every single time they appear in his articles. Including the Plame article.

Here is the language of the statute:

Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent’s intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

As you can see, the language of the statute says, "intentionally discloses any information identifying."
Nowhere in the statute does it require that Rove KNOW that the person he identified was covert.

Therefore, this statute is part specific intent and part strict liability.

It does require the specific intent of "intentional disclosure," and "knowledge that such disclosure identifies the covert agent," however, it does not specifically require that Rove know that the person he identifies is covert. The "knowledge" language in the statute is referring to knowledge of the disclosure of the identity of the agent, NOT knowledge of the status of the person whose identity was disclosed. And of course status meaning whether the person is a covert agent.

If the legislators that passed this law intended that the person know that the person he was revealing was a covert agent, then the statute would look like this, with the words in green being the different language which would satisfy the type of intent the right wing is arguing the statute says.

Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE COVERT STATUS OF THE AGENT intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent, to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and KNOWING that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent’s intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Therefore, if Plame was not a covert agent, then Rove would not be guilty under the statute.
Unfortunately for Rove, whether he knew that Plame was covert or not, it was to his misfortune that she was a covert agent. Rove and his right wing friends can argue all day long that Rove did not know that Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative. He is still guilty under the statute.

Take a statute for statutory rape for example. This is a classic Strict Liability statute that all law students study when they take criminal law.

"A person is guilty for statutory rape where he intends to have sex with a child under the age of 18."

This statute merely requires that the accused INTEND to have sex. It wouldn't matter whether the accused KNEW the victim was under 18. He can argue all day long that he did not know the victim was under 18. In every criminal court in the United States, this man would be guilty of statutory rape if the person he had sex with was under 18.

Just as the statutory rape statute does not require that the accused know that the victim was under 18, the Identities Protection statute does not require that Rove know that Plame was a covert agent.

Therefore, Rove is guilty!!

TAKE ACTION NOW

2005-07-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

As you know they're voting on Amendment 1222 to the Homeland Security Bill today, where the amendment wil require anyone leaking names of covert operatives have their security clearance removed.

I live in Tennessee and called Senator Frist's office today asking him to support the amendment.

Now Senator Alexander's office was a lot more receptive, and friendly. Frist is an ass.

It was a waste of my time but it was fun speaking to his aide just to remind them that the people are watching.

Everyone should call their senators right now because they are voting on the bill today and hope to have it passed by this evening.

here is a link to the senators website where you can get their numbers.

http://www.senate.gov/

Roll Call Votes

"Karl Rove and the RNC accusing Joe Wilson of playing politics is like Homer Simpson telling Lance Armstrong he's out of shape." Sen. Schumer, NY

Bill Frist, on the Senate Floor today, argued that those in support of Amendment 1222 are playing politics.

How is it politics to preserve the anonymity of our CIA agents? Even George Bush Sr. says that anyone revealing the name of our CIA agents is the most insidious of traitors.

WHY PLAME LEAK IS RELEVANT TO DOWNING STREET MEMO SCANDAL

2005-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

The investigation of the Valerie Plame leak and the lies that Plame's husband exposed regarding Saddam seeking uranium from Africa are relevant to Downing Street.

We all know that the Bush Administration had plans to go to war against Iraq before 9-11. The lies that Plame's husband revealed created serious wrinkles in the Bush Administration's plans to deceive the American public into going to war in Iraq.

Once the person(s) responsible for leaking Plame's name are brought to justice the people will realize that some of those Republican insiders do not work for the interests of the American people, but instead work for their own interests in controlling this country for their own selfish reasons (profits from oil, corporate tax breaks, etc.).

Once the person(s) responsible for the Plame leak are brought to justice, the credibility of the right wing will be further weakened. Once this happens, we on the left need to hammer Downing Street Memo and link the two issues together and see to it that the media does its job in making Downing Street an issue.

The whole WMD lie was the basis for Bush's justification for going to war, and is tied to Downing Street. It's what convinced 65% of America that war against Iraq was a necessity.

WHETHER VALERIE PLAME WAS COVERT AT THE TIME OF THE LEAK SHOULD NOT BE THE ISSUE

Wilson called Bush on his lies, and now his wife is out of a job and the work our CIA has done on protecting us from rogue nations with WMDs has been compromised.
Regardless of the right wing arguing that Valerie Plame was not "covert" at the time of the leak, the leakers broke the law by leaking her name.

Plame was a covert CIA operative at some point in her career. As a result of the leak of Plame's name, the work of the CIA on protecting the world from rogue nations with WMDs has been compromised, because those countries can go back and retrace Plame's steps, who she worked with, who she had meetings with, her telephone conversations, mail, etc.

And the Republicans aren't getting anywhere arguing about whether Cheney sent Joe Wilson to Africa. This is another diversion tactic by the right wing, sidestepping the issue that the work our CIA was doing to protect us from terrorists was compromised by Republican insiders. The fact is, Wilson went to Africa and found that none of the lies Bush told to us during his January 2003 State of the Union Address were true.

And there's no need in denying that the Democrats going after Rove is about politics. Of course it's about politics!! It became an issue of politics when George Bush decided to declare war on a country based on lies!

RAMBLIN' ROVE

2005-07-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

1. Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said Rove did not disclose Valerie Plame's name.

This argument is flawed. It does not matter that Rove did not specifically name Valerie Plame. How many wives are you allowed to have in America? One. So by Rove saying that it was Joe Wilson's wife, he broke the law by revealing the identity of a CIA agent.

``The fact that he didn't give her name, but identified the ambassador's wife ... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who that is,'' Sen. Joseph Biden said on CNN's ``Inside Politics.'' ``If that occurred, at a minimum, that was incredibly bad judgment, warranting him being asked to leave.''

Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman said Rove was the victim of partisan political attacks by Democrats.

Again, another weak argument. Who are the Republicans to whine about partisan political attacks? Excuse me, but which incident is more threatening to America's national security warranting investigations and partisan political attacks?

Having sexual relations with your mistress in the White House; OR
Revealing the name of a covert CIA operative whose job involved investigating whether countries pose a national security threat with their WMD programs?

3. Revealing Valerie Plame's name did not compromise national security; heck at the time her name was leaked, she had a desk job in Virginia!

It does compromise national security. Why do you think the CIA is so furious as a result of this? Every country she visited is now retracing her steps; what phone calls she made, the people she talked to, any meetings she had. Therefore, even though she only had a desk job at the time her cover was blown, it IS A GENUINE NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE. The fact that she was on the cover of Vanity Fair has nothing to do with the ripple effect that Karl Rove and Robert Novak feloniously and treasonously caused.

4. On the issue of Rove’s email to Cooper, the RNC chairman said Rove ``was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise.''

Whatever that means. Who are the Republicans to talk about false premises? We went to WAR based on false premises! George Bush spoke of Saddam Hussein's uranium connection with Niger. Valerie Plame's job at the CIA involved investigating WMD programs in other nations! Joe Wilson, her husband, a former Ambassador, was sent to Niger by the CIA to investigate Bush's claims. Is it Wilson's fault that he uncovered the truth on his trip to Niger?

****The Democrats aren’t arguing that this isn’t partisan politics, it is. But it goes deeper than that. This investigation into Rove’s criminal acts is significantly more relevant to the people of America than Bill Clinton’s blow jobs, isn’t it? Karl Rove betrayed the integrity of the CIA when he broke the law by revealing Plame’s name to Cooper, Novak and probably Judith Miller.

Finally, the Democrats didn’t ask for this investigation, the CIA asked for this investigation. But you don't see the Republicans crying about that issue!

A group of former CIA agents testified before a Senate Democratic Policy Committee on the outing of their colleague. The agents, Larry Johnson, Michael Grimaldi and Brent Cavan, all of whom are Republicans, pulled no punches in their shared statement:

"We also want to send a clear message to the political “operatives” responsible for “outing” Mrs. Wilson. Such action was treacherous, if not treasonous. ... Such action has allowed the less attractive aspects of politics to supersede the Government's responsibility to protect the citizens of this nation and the individuals who serve in difficult, dangerous covert capacities. This has set a sickening precedent. The “senior Administration officials” who did this have warned all U.S. intelligence officers and the intelligence community that any one individual may be compromised if providing information or factual analysis the White House does not like."

Bill O'Reilly on the Rove leak: "Obviously, if Karl Rove broke the law, or even violated the ethics of this very powerful position as deputy chief of staff to the president, he has to resign. Rove should also clear the air as soon as possible. He can say anything he wants while Fitzgerald's investigating."

Waging Bull
Will Karl Rove Be Caught With His Pants Down?

RECRUITING NON-CITIZENS TO FIGHT IN IRAQ

2005-07-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

I was reading this military recruitment flyer from the United States Immigration office. In this flyer, the government announces that it has made changes to American immigration law, granting citizenship posthumously to immigrants who fight for the U.S. military and die in its wars. It further states that it will give "special consideration" to the immigrant veterans and their families for citizenship, once they have served this country in times of war.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND RECRUITING NON-AMERICANS

But is recruitment of non-Americans a good idea? What are they fighting for? I'm not a xenophobe or anything, but has anyone asked those Americans fighting in the military how they feel fighting next to non-Americans that might not even be able to speak English very well? Furthermore, what is the country saying to gay Americans? That they would rather have non-Americans fight for this country than someone who grew up here? Doesn't this immigrant recruitment tactic open the doors to non-citizens who might only appear to be on our side in the "war on terror," only to take all that they learn during their experience in the military and use it against us some years down the line?

WHO ARE THESE NON-CITIZENS WILLING TO FIGHT FOR AMERICA?

If a country offered me, "special consideration" for citizenship for fighting in their war, a war based on lies, I wouldn't sign up. I mean, the government cannot even GUARANTEE citizenship to these immigrants willing to put their lives on the line for a country they don't belong to.

Is it really that bad in Mexico and other countries that you would risk exposure to depleted uranium, losing your limbs, suffering traumatic shock, birth defects to your children from exposure to depleted uranium, just to be given "special consideration" of becoming a full-fledged citizen by the US immigration office once you returned from war?

White House is Running Scared

2005-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling lazy today, so I'm just going to repost an interview between the media and Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

Notice how when it's his guys that are in the hot seat, McClellan doesn't want to answer any questions.

Press Batters McClellan on Rove/Plame Link

By E&P Staff

Published: July 11, 2005 3:30 PM ET
NEW YORK At numerous press briefings last week, not a single reporter asked White House Press Secretary about emerging allegations that top presidential aide Karl Rove was a source, or the source, for Time magazine's Matthew Cooper in the Valerie Plame case. On Sunday, Newsweek revealed a Cooper e-mail from July 2003 that showed that Rove indeed had talked to him about Plame and her CIA employment, although he apparently did not mention that she worked under cover.

This development apparently freed the journalists to hit McClellan hard at this afternoon's briefing. Here is a partial rush transcript.
***

Q: Scott, can I ask you this: Did Karl Rove commit a crime?

MCCLELLAN: Again, David, this is a question relating to a ongoing investigation, and you have my response related to the investigation. And I don't think you should read anything into it other than: We're going to continue not to comment on it while it's ongoing.

Q: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003, when you were asked specifically about Karl and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby, and you said, "I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me they are not involved in this"?

MCCLELLAN: And if you will recall, I said that, as part of helping the investigators move forward on the investigation, we're not going to get into commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well.

Q: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?

MCCLELLAN: I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation...

Q: (inaudible) when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?

MCCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish.

Q: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything.
You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?

MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it.

Q: Do you think people will accept that, what you're saying today?

MCCLELLAN: Again, I've responded to the question.

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the investigation began -- after the criminal investigation was under way -- you said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.

Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

MCCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization. And I think you are well aware of that.

We know each other very well. And it was after that period that the investigators had requested that we not get into commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation.

And we want to be helpful so that they can get to the bottom of this. Because no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States.

I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember well what was said previously. And at some point I look forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to do that.

Q: So you're now saying that after you cleared Rove and the others from that podium, then the prosecutors asked you not to speak anymore and since then you haven't.

MCCLELLAN: Again, you're continuing to ask questions relating to an ongoing criminal investigation and I'm just not going to respond to them.

Q: When did they ask you to stop commenting on it, Scott? Can you pin down a date?

MCCLELLAN: Back in that time period.

Q: Well, then the president commented on it nine months later. So was he not following the White House plan?

MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your questions. You can keep asking them, but you have my response.

Q: Well, we are going to keep asking them. When did the president learn that Karl Rove had had a conversation with a news reporter about the involvement of Joseph Wilson's wife in the decision to send him to Africa?

MCCLELLAN: I've responded to the questions.

Q: When did the president learn that Karl Rove had been...

MCCLELLAN: I've responded to your questions.

Q: After the investigation is completed, will you then be consistent with your word and the president's word that anybody who was involved will be let go?

MCCLELLAN: Again, after the investigation is complete, I will be glad to talk about it at that point.

Q: Can you walk us through why, given the fact that Rove's lawyer has spoken publicly about this, it is inconsistent with the investigation, that it compromises the investigation to talk about the involvement of Karl Rove, the deputy chief of staff, here?

MCCLELLAN: Well, those overseeing the investigation expressed a preference to us that we not get into commenting on the investigation while it's ongoing. And that was what they requested of the White House. And so I think in order to be helpful to that investigation, we are following their direction.

Q: Scott, there's a difference between commenting on an investigation and taking an action...

MCCLELLAN: (inaudible)...

Q: Does the president continue to have confidence in Mr. Rove?

MCCLELLAN: Again, these are all questions coming up in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation. And you've heard my response on this.

Q: So you're not going to respond as to whether or not the president has confidence in his deputy chief of staff?

MCCLELLAN: You're asking this question in the context of an ongoing investigation, and I would not read anything into it other then I'm simply going to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Q: Has there been any change, or is there a plan for Mr. Rove's portfolio to be altered in any way?

MCCLELLAN: Again, you have my response to these questions.

E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)

COMMENTARY ON MEDIA BACKLASH OF THE JUDITH MILLER DEBACLE

2005-07-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

THE WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE

Whoa man, I cannot believe that I don't agree on something with the folks at the World Socialist Website. They are calling on the entire left wing to rise up and demand the release of Judith Miller by stating, "....the persecution of Miller is aimed at silencing any critical media coverage of the government—whether it relates to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the practice of torture, kidnapping and illegal detention, the massive expansion of domestic spying, or official cover-ups of corporate criminality."

Surely they understand that it was Judith Miller's 'investigative reporting' that created Anthrax scares, WMD scares,ultimately convincing the average American out there that war in Iraq was a necessity... a kind of act of self-defense.

Now we realize that we were betrayed.

It appears that the WSWS has fallen into Karl Rove's and the right wing's trap. People need to realize that you cannot protect people whose sources are under criminal investigation. If a journalist reported that Osama Bin Laden's right hand man at Al-Qaeda telephoned her and told her where he was, do you think that it would be in the public's interest to protect the journalist and stand behind her if the court held her in contempt for not revealing her sources to the government?

Whoever revealed Valerie Plame's name to the media is an enemy of democracy, and is a cog in the wheel of the right wing conspiracy that got us into this Iraq mess.

CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

Now what is up with those folks up there at the Cleveland Plain Dealer? A couple of days ago, they published an article about how they have these sources who have given them all kinds of information that would be of super great interest to the American people, however, they are not going to publish the story(ies) because the documents were "illegally leaked" and the newspaper doesn't want to go to jail or breach its confidentiality with the sources that provided them with the illegally leaked documents.

I smell a rat. What perfrect timing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer to publish a story about how it has a story, but it refuses to tell us what it is. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is dong just what Karl Rove and the Right Wing conspirators want the media to do: punish the public for Judith Miller's jail sentence. Keep everyone quibbling over First Amendment issues, so that they won't focus on the real issue at hand: finding out who broke the law by revealing the name of a CIA agent specializing in national security and WMD investigations.

Without really knowing much more than the fact that the Plain Dealer has some "illegally leaked" documents, I cannot opine as to what the legal ramifications would be if they published this story.

If someone at the newspaper stole those documents then yes, they could be punished for publishing the story. But if someone gave them the documents, I don't see how they would be forced to reveal their source, unless the source the Plain Dealer is protecting stole the documents.

Either way, to publish the story in the manner that the Plain Dealer published it, is to slap democracy in the face.

I have not been a fan of the mainstream media for a very long time. Everyone knows that the mainstream media is owned by the major corporations that stand to profit from wars, exploitation of people, environmental destruction. The mainstream media does not often tell the truth. For the majority of the time, it lies to us...brainwashes us.

The mainstream media gets us to believe what they want us to believe so that it is easier for them to bomb innocent people or destroy our air and water, and to not demand that Bush do a damned thing about global warming. Judith Miller is guilty of printing stories about terrorism and WMDs that just weren't true. I wouldn't defend McDonald's for destroying rain forests and I can't defend journalists that work for the corporate machine's agenda. I am shocked that the WSWS does.

IT'S ALL A RIGHT WING BLUFF

2005-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I can understand how journalists like to stick together.

And although there is a strong argument that the jailing of Judy Miller might create a domino effect for jailing other journalists, I cannot stand by a person who will not reveal their sources on an issue that is the root of revenge against Valerie Plame by the right wing.

I see Judy MIller as a sacrificial lamb. It's dirty politics by Rove and the Right Wing, but whenever has the right wing not played dirty politics?

I will stand by journalists when they are on trial for revealing things that benefit the public, but just who is it that Judy Miller is protecting?

Many Americans distrust the American media, because it has become more of a propaganda machine for the right, and Judy Miller's track record does indicate that she is an instrument of the right wing propaganda machine.

This is a criminal investigation. The buzz is that Karl Rove might be one of those sources that the journalists are protecting.
America's laws, especially the Constitution, should be utilized for the public's benefit. Don't you think that revealing these sources proves a greater public benefit than protecting them?

The right wing exacted revenge on Wilson and Plame, when Wilson revealed Bush's lies about uranium in Africa. This issue is at the heart of the betrayal of America's trust and the people of Iraq.

Someone needs to be punished for these lies, and the best way to do that is to punish the Bush officials that revealed Plame's name to the media.
The First Amendment doesn't absolutely protect the press under all circumstances. In fact, if George Bush was subpoenaed by the grand jury regarding any information he might have about the Plame leak, he would have to answer. Why should a journalist be held to a greater privilege than the President?

This whole Judy Miller debacle is a right wing diversion tactic, to get everyone in the media paranoid, and to get all the left wing Americans to cry foul about First Amendment violations. We need to call them on their bluff and demand that Judy Miller answer the grand jury.

Everyone knows that Karl Rove is a very smart man, and he's so smart, that he has everyone crying foul right where he wants them.

WILL KARL ROVE BE CAUGHT WITH HIS PANTS DOWN?

2005-07-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Journalist Judith Miller broke the law when she refused to comply with a grand jury subpoena to reveal her confidential sources regarding exposing Valerie Plame's name to the public. Valerie Plame lost her job after senior White House officials revealed to right wing journalist, Robert Novak, that she was a CIA official whose husband went to Niger to investigate whether Saddam Hussein requested uranium for nuclear weapons manufacturing. Robert Novak, Republican insider reporter, claims that it was no secret that Valerie Plame was a CIA official. But does that mean that Robert Novak and the other White House officials, one of them allegedly Karl Rove, can disclose this information to the public?

Valerie Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, was instrumental in revealing the "Yellowcake Forgery" which was the basis for George Bush’s argument for war in Iraq.

George Bush was able to convince many Americans that war in Iraq was a must, when he announced in his January 2003 State of the Union Address “that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa....for nuclear weapons production.” This lie was a blatant betrayal to the Iraqi and the American people.

With this statement, many Americans decided that Saddam Hussein must be defeated and a war in Iraq would be necessary to achieve this end.

Then Valerie Plame's husband, Joseph C. Wilson, exposed George Bush’s lies about the forged documents from Niger regarding the uranium that Saddam Hussein never sought. At this point it was too late. Bush was given his green light to go to war, and there was no stopping him. But still, questions kept popping up in America and more and more people began wondering why in the hell we were in Iraq. No WMDs were found, and Bush had no answers.

Of course the right wing could not sit back and let this exposure of their lies happen without some sort of revenge. So the right wing conspirators revealed Valerie Plame’s name to the media.

Whoever revealed Valerie Plame's name must answer to the American people and to the world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't protect our press, but we should protect those sources that are in the higher echelons of intelligence like Deep Throat and Valerie Plame, too. And we have federal laws that require protecting their anonymity.

Whoever revealed Valerie Plame's name is in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, a felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The act applies itself to a person who, as a result of having "authorized access to classified information," learns the "identity of a covert agent and intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States." The statute also applies to persons who expose the identities of such agents "in the course of a pattern of activities intended to identify and expose covert agents and with reason to believe that such activities would impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States." source

What is deeply disconcerting is the fact that the journalist who is ultimately responsible for leaking Valerie Plame's name to the public, Robert Novak, is facing no heat whatsoever from this Justice Department Investigation. Robert Novak is a Republican insider. In fact, his son was the marketing director for "The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

Judith Miller does appear to be Novak's scapegoat, however, Judith Miller is not cooperating, but not for our benefit or for any viable purpose that deserves protection under the U.S. Constitution. Some argue that Judith Miller does not actually know who revealed Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak, but she should still reveal her own sources of investigation when subpoenaed by the government for a criminal investigation. If she knows the name of the person who revealed Valerie Plame's name and the grand jury subpoenas her to reveal that name, she must reveal it.

This is not a free press, 1^st Amendment issue. This is an issue of betraying the American people and invading a country based on a lie, and these right-wing journalists, along with the person that revealed Valerie Plame's name, are criminals for not cooperating with the investigation.

Some speculate that Karl Rove is the mastermind behind revealing Valerie Plame's name, which cost Plame her job. My only hope is that if we do find out Karl Rove was the source that Judith Miller so “gallantly” protects, that justice be served against him for covering up lies that formed the basis of Bush's war crimes.

GOTCHA!!!

2005-07-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Ha ha ha!!
Now we can ignore global warming, AIDS in Africa, Global Poverty.

yippeee!! Terrorism abounds from one end of the planet to the other. yipppee!!

See folks? I told you Iraq was behind 9-11.

No! Bin Laden's televised appearance all across America just before the November 2004 elections was just a coincidence!! I promise I didn't pay him to do that.

Oh, no! It's no coincidence that the Egyptian diplomat held hostage by insurgents in Iraq died on the same day as the London attacks!!

I told you that I don't lie!! I never lie!! I"m George Bin Laden! Ask my friend Tony Bliar! He will vouch for me!

Yahoo!! Now my approval rating will rise from its all-time low!!
Now people will again support my war in Iraq!!!

It's a great day for celebration of terror and fear in the hearts of freedom loving people. Ooops, I guess I'm so filled with glee that I have pissed myself!!

Well, gotta go!! Me and cousin Osama are going to run off to the Saudi bank together, I owe him some serious cheese from those bets we made last week. have I said too much?

heee heee hee heee.

Whoaa. Looks like Bush hijacked my Blog just like he hijacked my country. Anyway, here is an observation of the London bombings by my husband, a Brit.

Escapism and Goat Books

2005-07-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Another terrorist attack. This time in London. Al Qaeda has taken the blame. But I thought we were winning a war against terrorism in Iraq?

Wasn't it Saddam Hussein that was behind 9-11? That's what Bush said. Oh yea. When Bush tells you something with that look of conviction in his eyes, he's telling you the truth. Right... we're caught in another Liar Paradox.

No seriously, I bet that George will tell us that Iran is behind the attacks this time. That it's that new guy they elected that did it. Right, one week after Iranian elections they were able to attack London.

I just wonder what Bush will say about this? How will he SPIN this one. What web of a liar paradox will he trap the people into this time? I saw him on the news this morning, standing behind Tony Blair, and I could see what he was thinking.........."goshdarnit. Where is my Goat book? It always helps me so, to get through these terrorist attacks...if only I had my Goat book."

Whenever there's a terrorist attack and Al Qaeda is behind it, I recall what I read in the news right after 9-11 regarding Bin Laden. The one piece of news that has stuck with me for all this time since 9-11 was:

"Two weeks before 9-11 Vladimir Putin informed the United States that he knew Osama Bin Laden's exact location." GEORGE BUSH DID NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH. ZIP. I guess he was busy reading his little Goat Book.

SHOULD MUSLIMS APOLOGIZE FOR THE TERRORIST ATTACKS?

Many people feel that the Muslims should apologize for the acts of terrorists. How many of these people who are Christians apologize for the acts of Eric Rudolph? How many have even condemned Eric Rudolph for his terrorist attacks on Atlanta during the Olympics, on nightclubs and abortion clinics?

HOWEVER, I DON'T TRUST SAUDI ARABIA

I love how certain Saudi Arabians try to shift the blame from extreme Muslim terrorists to environmental activists. Here is a quote from the president and CEO of Saudi Public Relations Company (SPRC), Khaled al-Maeena.

"Whoever did it, whether al Qaeda or the animal liberation front, they are animals," said Khaled al-Maeena, editor of Saudi Arabia's English-language Arab News daily." Reuters Story

It's statements like this that enforce my reasons for buying gas from Citgo, a Venezuelan-owned company. F*** Saudi Arabia.