In case you haven't figured this administration's strategy out yet, here's a quick summary: If it resembles the American system of government as described in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of rights, promotes peace, health, prosperity or justice, disable or destroy it.
Case in point: a cabinet full of industry lobbyists who are actively undoing 30-odd years of regulation, resulting in renegade corporations and harsher conditions for the population.
Case in point: the nomination of John Bolton as our point-man for the U.N. This guy would be more suited to work as a Gitmo prison guard or Texas executioner.
Case in point: appointment of John Negroponte as Intelligence Director. After Honduras and Iraq, we should all be terrified that he is now operating here at home.
Case in point: tax-cuts for the rich and for the biggest corporations during a time of (a completely un-necessary) war.
Latest Case in Point: the nomination of a bunch of REALLY bad Supreme-court Justices, furthering the ongoing attack on the judicial branch of the government, which is our last defensive bastion against single-party rule. Find out more about these ludicrous nominations HERE.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
United States Debt over the years
Here's a good chart showing how far in debt we currently are compared to in the past: http://www.americanwisdom.org/charts/usdebt.html
Friday, April 22, 2005
Turn a [ditto] head
On Hitler's birthday, April 20th, Mike Malloy on Air America (www.airamericaradio.com) took calls from right-wing Bush-administration supporters only.
After a number of calls from guys who were cynical and misinformed, and from a couple of others who were obviously half-wits, and from still others who have simply been driven to frustrated dread over the past few years, finally one caller said it. He didn't sugar-coat the REAL reason a large number of people are backing the current power-structure in Washington and its policies.
He said he thought that America should grab the oil and get a military foothold in the middle east. I give him points for not denying it.
The "empire" strategy is the most anti-human, anti-planet-earth, armageddonist end-times idea imaginable. It nonetheless festers in the back of the mind of many who haven't rationally thought it out. At least this one radio-show caller was honest enough to admit this secret aspiration, which is held by many who just don't know better.
The idea: (Grab the Oil and secure a military jump-off point), is the dirty secret of a closet-nazi mentality. It resides in the minds of small men with weak character. It is insanity (something tried over and over with the same unsuccessful outcome). This is why:
Explore the logic. Do you really want to go the way Germany went in the 1940's, crippled, humiliated, starved, burned, flattened after over a decade of rule by a maniac bent on genocide and conquest? Do you really want to go to war with India, France, China and Russia?
Do you understand that a crucial portion of our industry (i.e. wartime manufacturing capability) has been outsourced/exported to China?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ALL OF THESE COUNTRIES HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT NUCLEAR WAR WOULD DO TO ALL OF US?
The corporate puppets currently occupying Washington D.C. have initiated an un-justified, illegal, pre-emptive attack on a sovereign country, ignoring the warnings of our own top military advisors and intelligence analysts, so ill-equipped and under-prepared that we have to date lost ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED NINETY TWO (1,492) of our American sons and daughters there so far, and ELEVEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY EIGHT (11,888) WOUNDED, many currently without support from the administration who sent them there. The people who live in that place are naturally desperately resisting this colonial invasion and occupation. The only people who are benefiting from this adventure are corporations dealing in military hardware and the energy industry, while we send the bodies and pay the highest gas-prices ever at the pump.
If you honestly believe that a continued policy of pre-emptive war and aggression will not find heated resistance from the rest of the world, you need to learn some things.
I suggest that you consider where Napoleon went wrong.
I suggest that you consider where Hitler went wrong.
I suggest that you consider that the Roman Civilization began to collapse when it transitioned from a republic (representative democracy) into an empire; and was ultimately a limping, crumbling wreck when it finally devolved into religious-fundamentalist rule (marking the beginning of the Dark Ages).
I suggest that you consider, that in the heart of the average American, the person who listens to music, who has a little road-dirt on the car, and who has to juggle the bills each month, who just wants to make a living; there is already a profound sense that someone is really giving us all a bad deal. There is already a profound sense, in many, of powerlessness in a situation that is beginning to spin out of control.
I suggest that you consider that a growing number of average Americans who don the uniform of our Armed Forces (often for lack of anything that pays as well in civilian life) are learning that they have been duped into committing war-crimes merely to satisfy the plundering design of a tiny, corporate ruling-class.
That is, those over there who are still alive and intact. Today.
Do the words "Common Defense", "General Welfare", and "Blessings of Liberty" sound familiar? How far and how fast are we moving away from those things? (They are cited in the Preamble of the Constitution).
I suggest that you print that document (available at www.AmericanWisdom.org), along with the Bill of Rights, and post those things where others can see them.
I suggest that you talk to someone: someone who is working hard but has been misled into supporting the people who have seized power in Washington.
There is a way out of this mess. We don't have to march blindly up the chute into the slaughterhouse... Into the Ovens. We don't have to see our country descend into domestic chaos and violence and misery.
We can communicate. Bypass the propaganda machinery. Start to wear clothing that shows where you stand. Put signs on your property, on your vehicles. Talk to people. Write to the newspapers and your legislators (tell the democrats to "grow a pair"). Call radio stations on both ends of the political spectrum. Create and distribute flyers.
Do it NOW.
And turn off the TV. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.
After a number of calls from guys who were cynical and misinformed, and from a couple of others who were obviously half-wits, and from still others who have simply been driven to frustrated dread over the past few years, finally one caller said it. He didn't sugar-coat the REAL reason a large number of people are backing the current power-structure in Washington and its policies.
He said he thought that America should grab the oil and get a military foothold in the middle east. I give him points for not denying it.
The "empire" strategy is the most anti-human, anti-planet-earth, armageddonist end-times idea imaginable. It nonetheless festers in the back of the mind of many who haven't rationally thought it out. At least this one radio-show caller was honest enough to admit this secret aspiration, which is held by many who just don't know better.
The idea: (Grab the Oil and secure a military jump-off point), is the dirty secret of a closet-nazi mentality. It resides in the minds of small men with weak character. It is insanity (something tried over and over with the same unsuccessful outcome). This is why:
Explore the logic. Do you really want to go the way Germany went in the 1940's, crippled, humiliated, starved, burned, flattened after over a decade of rule by a maniac bent on genocide and conquest? Do you really want to go to war with India, France, China and Russia?
Do you understand that a crucial portion of our industry (i.e. wartime manufacturing capability) has been outsourced/exported to China?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ALL OF THESE COUNTRIES HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT NUCLEAR WAR WOULD DO TO ALL OF US?
The corporate puppets currently occupying Washington D.C. have initiated an un-justified, illegal, pre-emptive attack on a sovereign country, ignoring the warnings of our own top military advisors and intelligence analysts, so ill-equipped and under-prepared that we have to date lost ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED NINETY TWO (1,492) of our American sons and daughters there so far, and ELEVEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY EIGHT (11,888) WOUNDED, many currently without support from the administration who sent them there. The people who live in that place are naturally desperately resisting this colonial invasion and occupation. The only people who are benefiting from this adventure are corporations dealing in military hardware and the energy industry, while we send the bodies and pay the highest gas-prices ever at the pump.
If you honestly believe that a continued policy of pre-emptive war and aggression will not find heated resistance from the rest of the world, you need to learn some things.
I suggest that you consider where Napoleon went wrong.
I suggest that you consider where Hitler went wrong.
I suggest that you consider that the Roman Civilization began to collapse when it transitioned from a republic (representative democracy) into an empire; and was ultimately a limping, crumbling wreck when it finally devolved into religious-fundamentalist rule (marking the beginning of the Dark Ages).
I suggest that you consider, that in the heart of the average American, the person who listens to music, who has a little road-dirt on the car, and who has to juggle the bills each month, who just wants to make a living; there is already a profound sense that someone is really giving us all a bad deal. There is already a profound sense, in many, of powerlessness in a situation that is beginning to spin out of control.
I suggest that you consider that a growing number of average Americans who don the uniform of our Armed Forces (often for lack of anything that pays as well in civilian life) are learning that they have been duped into committing war-crimes merely to satisfy the plundering design of a tiny, corporate ruling-class.
That is, those over there who are still alive and intact. Today.
Do the words "Common Defense", "General Welfare", and "Blessings of Liberty" sound familiar? How far and how fast are we moving away from those things? (They are cited in the Preamble of the Constitution).
I suggest that you print that document (available at www.AmericanWisdom.org), along with the Bill of Rights, and post those things where others can see them.
I suggest that you talk to someone: someone who is working hard but has been misled into supporting the people who have seized power in Washington.
There is a way out of this mess. We don't have to march blindly up the chute into the slaughterhouse... Into the Ovens. We don't have to see our country descend into domestic chaos and violence and misery.
We can communicate. Bypass the propaganda machinery. Start to wear clothing that shows where you stand. Put signs on your property, on your vehicles. Talk to people. Write to the newspapers and your legislators (tell the democrats to "grow a pair"). Call radio stations on both ends of the political spectrum. Create and distribute flyers.
Do it NOW.
And turn off the TV. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.
Attack on filibuster ("nuclear option") is an Attack on the time-tested system of government of the United States
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45149-2005Mar17.html
"
The GOP claim, asserted in speeches, articles and interviews, is that filibusters against judicial nominees are unprecedented.
...
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told his panel this month
...
filibuster being employed for the first time
...
Such claims, however, are at odds with the record of the successful 1968 GOP-led filibuster against President Lyndon B. Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas to be chief justice of the United States
...
The required number of votes to halt a filibuster then was 67; filibusters can be halted now by 60 of the Senate's 100 members.
...
Frist and others who now threaten to ban filibusters of judicial nominees
...
are trying to provoke a change that isn't defensible through history
"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45149-2005Mar17.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4575047
"
the use of the filibuster to delay or block legislation (or a nomination) "has a long history.
...
The term filibuster
...
became popular in the 1850s
...
In 1841, when the Democratic minority hoped to block a bank bill promoted by Henry Clay, Clay threatened to change Senate rules to allow the majority to close debate
...
The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4575047
ShalomReport@shalomctr.org wrote:Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:19:03 -0700 (PDT)
"
Why not let a bare "majority" of Senators confirm judges? These judges will sit for 20, 30, years.
So what could be temporary Hard Right Congressional/ Presidential power -- reversible in elections -- would instead be enshrined for two generations in the courts.
"
ShalomReport@shalomctr.org wrote:Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:19:03 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.npr.org/takingissue/20050324_takingissue_judicial.html
"
"The one place where minority voices are still heard is the Senate. It must be allowed to debate, to delay, and yes, even to obstruct."
Ross K. Baker is a professor of political science at Rutgers University and the author of several books on Congress.
"
http://www.npr.org/takingissue/20050324_takingissue_judicial.html
"
The GOP claim, asserted in speeches, articles and interviews, is that filibusters against judicial nominees are unprecedented.
...
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told his panel this month
...
filibuster being employed for the first time
...
Such claims, however, are at odds with the record of the successful 1968 GOP-led filibuster against President Lyndon B. Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas to be chief justice of the United States
...
The required number of votes to halt a filibuster then was 67; filibusters can be halted now by 60 of the Senate's 100 members.
...
Frist and others who now threaten to ban filibusters of judicial nominees
...
are trying to provoke a change that isn't defensible through history
"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45149-2005Mar17.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4575047
"
the use of the filibuster to delay or block legislation (or a nomination) "has a long history.
...
The term filibuster
...
became popular in the 1850s
...
In 1841, when the Democratic minority hoped to block a bank bill promoted by Henry Clay, Clay threatened to change Senate rules to allow the majority to close debate
...
The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4575047
ShalomReport@shalomctr.org wrote:Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:19:03 -0700 (PDT)
"
Why not let a bare "majority" of Senators confirm judges? These judges will sit for 20, 30, years.
So what could be temporary Hard Right Congressional/ Presidential power -- reversible in elections -- would instead be enshrined for two generations in the courts.
"
ShalomReport@shalomctr.org wrote:Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:19:03 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.npr.org/takingissue/20050324_takingissue_judicial.html
"
"The one place where minority voices are still heard is the Senate. It must be allowed to debate, to delay, and yes, even to obstruct."
Ross K. Baker is a professor of political science at Rutgers University and the author of several books on Congress.
"
http://www.npr.org/takingissue/20050324_takingissue_judicial.html
Saturday, April 16, 2005
A Picture of U.S. wealth distribution
Here's a look at who has the wealth in the United States:
http://www.americanwisdom.org/charts/Who_Has_Wealth.html
http://www.americanwisdom.org/charts/Who_Has_Wealth.html
American Dream = Social Mobility = A Thing of the Past
Countries the world over, for years, have looked to America as an example of an environment where someone can start with nothing, and work up to a position of abundance. For a long time this was the case. Things began to change in the latter part of the twentieth century, and now America finds herself in conditions of income disparity more akin to those found in Kenya or Costa Rica, and much worse than what is experienced in Japan, Germany, France, Canada or the U.K.
A list from best to worse is available at http://markfrankenberg.com/charts/GINI_index.html
Conditions of severe income disparity breed social unrest of all kinds, resulting in a dramatic waste of human potential, not to mention things like war and rampant domestic political corruption.
An example of political corruption can be found in the recent passage of the new Bankruptcy Bill, which is nothing more than the return of favors from bought-out politicians, to the banking and finance industry.
A weakened, disenfranchised working-class resulting from outsourcing of jobs, dumping of goods from foreign lands and usury will not remain domestically tranquil. Those who are engineering this class polarization in America are the TRUE threat to our national security.
A list from best to worse is available at http://markfrankenberg.com/charts/GINI_index.html
Conditions of severe income disparity breed social unrest of all kinds, resulting in a dramatic waste of human potential, not to mention things like war and rampant domestic political corruption.
An example of political corruption can be found in the recent passage of the new Bankruptcy Bill, which is nothing more than the return of favors from bought-out politicians, to the banking and finance industry.
A weakened, disenfranchised working-class resulting from outsourcing of jobs, dumping of goods from foreign lands and usury will not remain domestically tranquil. Those who are engineering this class polarization in America are the TRUE threat to our national security.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Protect yourself. Sunset the unconstitutional Patriot-Act provisions
The Patriot-Act contains provisions that are in violation of the Bill of Rights. Much of the Patriot Act was foisted on the Congress and thus We, the American People (it was modified in the middle of the night the day before it was passed) at a time when the Congress was hindered from operating normally, due to an anthrax-attack that utilized materials likely developed at the U.S. Army installation at Fort Detrick, Maryland. (The first target was a tabloid magazine).
Section 215 of the Patriot Act enables the government to look through your medical, library, purchasing and other business records with virtual rubber-stamp compulsory judicial review.
Section 213, the "Sneak and Peek" provision, enables the government to search and/or seize your property without even telling you for weeks or months afterward.
Section 505 enables "secret subpoena/gag-orders" without prior judicial review.
This stuff is Orwellian and the Bushies want to make it permanent. WHY??
Benjamin Franklin said, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
The above three provisions are due to expire this year (2005). Rest assured that those who wish to strip your constitutional rights to privacy and personal security will work to renew these provisions, quietly and behind the scenes, while the masses are entertained with bread and circuses on TV.
This is where YOU come in. YOU must talk about it. YOU must contact your congressman and senators. Call your radio station and write letters to the newspapers. Congress must know that we do not condone the unraveling of our constitutional rights based on the Reichsta....er...9/11 incidents.
This is the 4th Amendment of the Constitution: "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."
This is the 9th Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Additional resources:
www.aclu.org/patriot
www.aclu.org/safe
www.aclu.org/sunsets
www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31377.pdf
www.aclu.org/action
Section 215 of the Patriot Act enables the government to look through your medical, library, purchasing and other business records with virtual rubber-stamp compulsory judicial review.
Section 213, the "Sneak and Peek" provision, enables the government to search and/or seize your property without even telling you for weeks or months afterward.
Section 505 enables "secret subpoena/gag-orders" without prior judicial review.
This stuff is Orwellian and the Bushies want to make it permanent. WHY??
Benjamin Franklin said, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
The above three provisions are due to expire this year (2005). Rest assured that those who wish to strip your constitutional rights to privacy and personal security will work to renew these provisions, quietly and behind the scenes, while the masses are entertained with bread and circuses on TV.
This is where YOU come in. YOU must talk about it. YOU must contact your congressman and senators. Call your radio station and write letters to the newspapers. Congress must know that we do not condone the unraveling of our constitutional rights based on the Reichsta....er...9/11 incidents.
This is the 4th Amendment of the Constitution: "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."
This is the 9th Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Additional resources:
www.aclu.org/patriot
www.aclu.org/safe
www.aclu.org/sunsets
www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31377.pdf
www.aclu.org/action
Monday, April 11, 2005
An extended middle finger to Planet Earth
Putting John Bolton in the UN Ambassador slot seals our identity as a belligerent nation.
This is consistent with the rest of the Bush/Rove Branch. Put someone who opposes an entity, in charge of it, and thus neutralize it.
This is consistent with the rest of the Bush/Rove Branch. Put someone who opposes an entity, in charge of it, and thus neutralize it.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Speak out to save the filibuster
Those who wish to see the filibuster removed wish to further upset the carefully designed system of checks and balances built into our constitutional form of government.
These are the LAST folks we need to change the rules of the game.
I urge everyone to call your senators and your congressman at the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and let them know that you want them to Oppose the "Nuclear Option". We cannot afford to have our government dismantled by a bunch of partisan zealots.
These people don't represent us. They represent aggregated capital. They represent the corporate aristocracy. We, the people, do not want our system of government dismantled by a number: a corporate "person". Say what you want about consensus. I'll say that what you're seeing on television and the monopolized radio is manufactured consent.
Don't let artificial "persons" (corporations) dismantle the government of the people of the United States of America.
Don't let them remove the filibuster, which is a vital element of debate in our legislative branch.
Contact the newspapers! Here's a link for that:
http://www.democrats.org/action/200504070001.html?psc=reid
These are the LAST folks we need to change the rules of the game.
I urge everyone to call your senators and your congressman at the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and let them know that you want them to Oppose the "Nuclear Option". We cannot afford to have our government dismantled by a bunch of partisan zealots.
These people don't represent us. They represent aggregated capital. They represent the corporate aristocracy. We, the people, do not want our system of government dismantled by a number: a corporate "person". Say what you want about consensus. I'll say that what you're seeing on television and the monopolized radio is manufactured consent.
Don't let artificial "persons" (corporations) dismantle the government of the people of the United States of America.
Don't let them remove the filibuster, which is a vital element of debate in our legislative branch.
Contact the newspapers! Here's a link for that:
http://www.democrats.org/action/200504070001.html?psc=reid
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Poison your kids and get a FREE VIDEO CAMERA!!!
... And a FREE T-SHIRT.. and $970.00 !
(Affluent, White Upper Middle-Class families need not apply)
It's called Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS). It's the Bush EPA, which like all his other regulatory activities are simply the corporate lobbyists stifling regulation on their own industries.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm
Kinda sounds like the Tuskegee syphilis tests all over again.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/may97/tuskegee_5-16.html
Either way, it is proof positive that this government is working for corporations, and not for the people who live here.
We need to remove "person" status from all corporations, immediately. But for a clerical error in California over a century ago, they never would have had "personhood" to begin with.
Here's some additional information about "Corporate Personhood":
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/
(Affluent, White Upper Middle-Class families need not apply)
It's called Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS). It's the Bush EPA, which like all his other regulatory activities are simply the corporate lobbyists stifling regulation on their own industries.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm
Kinda sounds like the Tuskegee syphilis tests all over again.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/may97/tuskegee_5-16.html
Either way, it is proof positive that this government is working for corporations, and not for the people who live here.
We need to remove "person" status from all corporations, immediately. But for a clerical error in California over a century ago, they never would have had "personhood" to begin with.
Here's some additional information about "Corporate Personhood":
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/
Monday, April 04, 2005
Preserve the Integrity of the U.S. Senate
Please stand and be counted in protecting a key component of effective senatorial deliberation: the Filibuster. Those who wish to see it removed wish to further upset the carefully designed system of checks and balances built into our constitutional form of government. These are the LAST folks we need to change the rules of the game.
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=317178&en=bjLTI4MEJbKMKXPDJeIVL2NDJdKVLfMXJoISL1NIKlJ5LmJ
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=317178&en=bjLTI4MEJbKMKXPDJeIVL2NDJdKVLfMXJoISL1NIKlJ5LmJ
Friday, April 01, 2005
Urgent: speak out against nuclear option
Please call your senator at http://www.senate.gov/
and your congressman at http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and let them know that you want them to Oppose the Nuclear Option. We cannot afford to have our constitution dismantled by a bunch of partisan zealots.
and your congressman at http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and let them know that you want them to Oppose the Nuclear Option. We cannot afford to have our constitution dismantled by a bunch of partisan zealots.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
"Right to life": Stop the Wars
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5586
"
This past weekend was the two year anniversary of the beginning of ’shock and awe’ of the US Government’s aggression in Iraq. If all you did was watch CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC, you would never know.
There were protests all across our nation. CNN called the over 800 protest events ’barely a ripple’. I spoke at a protest in Fayetteville, North Carolina where there were right around 4000 people. 4000 people full of energy and committed to the task of peace and justice and reclaiming our country from the socio-pathic maniacs who are in power right now.
So what were the hypocrites in DC doing while much of the country was working for peace either at rallies, marches, or candlelight vigils? They were conducting an emergency smokescreen session in Congress to draft legislation for one woman: Terry Schiavo.
...
"
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5586
"
This past weekend was the two year anniversary of the beginning of ’shock and awe’ of the US Government’s aggression in Iraq. If all you did was watch CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC, you would never know.
There were protests all across our nation. CNN called the over 800 protest events ’barely a ripple’. I spoke at a protest in Fayetteville, North Carolina where there were right around 4000 people. 4000 people full of energy and committed to the task of peace and justice and reclaiming our country from the socio-pathic maniacs who are in power right now.
So what were the hypocrites in DC doing while much of the country was working for peace either at rallies, marches, or candlelight vigils? They were conducting an emergency smokescreen session in Congress to draft legislation for one woman: Terry Schiavo.
...
"
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5586
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Justice and Human Rights Go on Trial in Tampa
http://www.jesusprinceofpeace.org/
"
Judge in Al-Arian Trial Will Seat Jurors Who Have Contempt for Muslims and Palestinians
March 5, 2005, Tampa, Florida
During two days of hearings for the up-coming trial of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, et al, U.S. District Judge James Moody refused to disqualify potential jurors who made anti-Muslim and/or anti-Palestinian statements in a survey sent to them by the court. Hearings were held March 3rd and 4th at the Tampa Federal Courthouse. The trial has been re-scheduled for May 16th.
According to the Tampa Tribune one potential juror stated on the survey, "I have feelings of contempt against all three groups [Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs]." During discussion of this potential juror, Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Zitek claimed that there was not "a demonstration of bias in these answers." Judge Moody sided with Mr. Zitek and refused to disqualify that individual from sitting on the jury that is scheduled to hear a case involving defendants who are all Muslims, Arabs, and/or Palestinians.
Unlike many of the previous hearings in this case, Dr. Al-Arian was allowed to attend this hearing. He was dressed in orange prison overalls and he was kept in leg irons throughout the hearings. Two of the codefendants also attended the hearing.
Concerned citizens from several local churches were present to watch the proceedings and offer support to the families.
Reference:
Judge Postpones Al-Arian Trial Until May 16 by Elaine Silvestrini in the Tampa Tribune - March 5, 2005
"
http://www.jesusprinceofpeace.org/
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Petition to oppose "Nuclear Option" : Protect Your Rights. Support Our System of Checks and Balances
http://action.dscc.org/campaign/balance
"
Throughout our history, our federal courts have protected our fundamental constitutional rights and provided a level playing field where anyone could seek justice. Now, Senate Republicans want to upset that balance and do away with 200 years of checks and balances in one fell swoop.
Senate Democrats refuse to be merely a rubber stamp. Sign our petition to maintain our system of checks and balances today!
"
http://action.dscc.org/campaign/balance
"
Throughout our history, our federal courts have protected our fundamental constitutional rights and provided a level playing field where anyone could seek justice. Now, Senate Republicans want to upset that balance and do away with 200 years of checks and balances in one fell swoop.
Senate Democrats refuse to be merely a rubber stamp. Sign our petition to maintain our system of checks and balances today!
"
http://action.dscc.org/campaign/balance
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Radical corporatist theocrats use Schiavo Case to divert attention from Iraq Invasion Anniversary
Bush couldn't be bothered with repeated warnings of impending terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001. He didn't leave his vacation ranch when the tsunami hit. He jumped on the Schiavo case.
In addition to evidence provided by the leaked "Republican" memo to senators describing the Schiavo case as "a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives", there is also the "coincidence" that this political media circus is happening during the second anniversary of the Bush Administration's illegal invasion of the soveriegn nation of Iraq, that act of aggression having to date cost that country over one hundred thousand lives and the decimation of its infrastructure; and also having cost the people of the United States at least fifteen thousand lives, along with our own diplomatic and fiscal security.
This grandstanding over one poor lady in a hospital bed is a form of peddling influence to aristocratic and religious-fundamentalist campaign funding-sources; and as such is plain evidence that the executive and legislative branches are fully engaged in a campaign to disregard the first amendment and bring religious influence directly into the intentionally secular government of the United States.
You want to save lives? Stop the frigging war! Hypocrites!
It is also an attack on the judicial system of the government of the State of Florida, just like the 2000 election intervention was.
The phrase "Impeachment by referendum" comes to mind. Just think. We have LOTS of new voting machines. Now all we need are PRINTERS.
In addition to evidence provided by the leaked "Republican" memo to senators describing the Schiavo case as "a great political issue" that could pay dividends with Christian conservatives", there is also the "coincidence" that this political media circus is happening during the second anniversary of the Bush Administration's illegal invasion of the soveriegn nation of Iraq, that act of aggression having to date cost that country over one hundred thousand lives and the decimation of its infrastructure; and also having cost the people of the United States at least fifteen thousand lives, along with our own diplomatic and fiscal security.
This grandstanding over one poor lady in a hospital bed is a form of peddling influence to aristocratic and religious-fundamentalist campaign funding-sources; and as such is plain evidence that the executive and legislative branches are fully engaged in a campaign to disregard the first amendment and bring religious influence directly into the intentionally secular government of the United States.
You want to save lives? Stop the frigging war! Hypocrites!
It is also an attack on the judicial system of the government of the State of Florida, just like the 2000 election intervention was.
The phrase "Impeachment by referendum" comes to mind. Just think. We have LOTS of new voting machines. Now all we need are PRINTERS.
Big Money behind Schiavo Case
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/22/93155/7030
"
The Terri Schiavo Case: Following the Money
The Recorder
By Jon B. Eisenberg
March 4, 2005
Have you ever wondered who is bankrolling the seemingly endless courtroom effort to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube attached?
During the Watergate scandal, investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were famously advised to "follow the money." In the Schiavo case, the money leads to a consortium of conservative foundations, with $2 billion in total assets, that are funding a legal and public relations war of attrition intended to prolong Terri's life indefinitely in order to further their own faith-based cultural agendas.
For the past 12 years, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have been locked in a bitter dispute over whether to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Terri, whom the courts have determined is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Schindlers want the doctors to keep Terri alive; Michael does not. Late last year, in Bush v. Schiavo, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush violated the constitutional separation of powers when he attempted to overturn a court order to remove Terri's feeding tube. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
I filed an amicus curiae brief in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of 55 bioethicists and a disability rights organization opposing the governor's action. Two months later I participated in a public debate on the case at Florida State University. Among the participants supporting Gov. Bush's position were Pat Anderson, one of multiple attorneys who have represented the Schindlers, and Wesley Smith and Rita Marker, two activists whose specialty is opposing surrogate removal of life-support from comatose and persistent vegetative state patients. I found myself wondering: "I'm doing this pro bono; are they?"
I did some Internet research and learned that many of the attorneys, activists and organizations working to keep Schiavo on life support all these years have been funded by members of the Philanthropy Roundtable.
The Philanthropy Roundtable is a collection of foundations that have funded conservative causes ranging from abolition of Social Security to anti-tax crusades and United Nations conspiracy theories. The Roundtable members' founders include scions of America's wealthiest families, including Richard Mellon Scaife (heir to the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune), Harry Bradley (electronics), Joseph Coors (beer), and the Smith Richardson family (pharmaceutical products).
I found a Web site called mediatransparency.com which tracks funding for these foundations. Using just that Web site and the Schindlers' own site, terrisfight.org, I learned of a network of funding connections between some of the Philanthropy Roundtable's members and various organizations behind the Schindlers, their lawyers and supporters, and the lawyers who represented Gov. Bush in Bush v. Schiavo.
Here are a few examples:
Schindler lawyer Pat Anderson "was paid directly" by the anti-abortion Life Legal Defense Foundation, which "has already spent over $300,000 on this case," according to the foundation's Web site. Much of the support for Life Legal Defense Foundation, in turn, comes from the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay rights group which collected more than $15 million in private donations in 2002 and admits to having spent money on the Schiavo case "in the six figures," according to a recent article in the Palm Beach Post. Mediatransparency.org states that between 1994 and 2002, the Alliance Defense Fund received $142,000 from Philanthropy Roundtable members that include the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.
Wesley Smith and Rita Marker also work for organizations that get funding from Roundtable members. Smith is a paid senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that advocates the teaching of creationist "intelligent design" theory in public schools. Between 1993 and 1997, the Discovery Institute received $175,000 from the Bradley Foundation. Marker is executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia, which lobbies against physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Marker's organization received $110,390 from the Randolph Foundation, an affiliate of the Smith Richardson family.
Roundtable members also played a role in financing the Bush v. Schiavo litigation.
The Family Research Council, which uses its annual $10 million budget to lobby for prayer in public schools and against gay marriage, filed an amicus curiae brief in Bush v. Schiavo supporting Gov. Bush, at the same time its former president, attorney Kenneth Connor, was representing the governor in that litigation. Between 1992 and 2000, the council received $215,000 from the Bradley Foundation.
Another amicus brief backing Bush was filed by a coalition of disability rights organizations that included the National Organization on Disability and the World Institute on Disability. The former received $810,000 between 1991 and 2002 from the Scaife Family Foundations, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the JM Foundation; the latter received $20,000 in 1997 from the JM Foundation.
These connections may be just the tip of the iceberg. I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. I got this information using only the most rudimentary Google skills. I imagine that a thorough search by a seasoned investigator would yield quite a bit more.
With this kind of big bucks behind them, it's no wonder the Schindlers and their allies have been able to keep the legal fight over their daughter going for so long. And it's still not over. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene, the Schindlers' lawyers are now trying to prolong the litigation yet again through a series of post-judgment motions which, regardless of their merit, could yield stays that would continue to forestall the removal of Terri's feeding tube.
Maneuvers within the past few months have included requests for a new trial based on something the Pope said in a speech criticizing the removal of feeding tubes from persistent vegetative state patients, and on a newly minted claim that Terri was deprived of the right to independent court-appointed counsel. Those maneuvers achieved the desired delay but were ultimately unsuccessful. On Feb. 25, the trial judge, George Greer, ordered Terri's feeding tube to be removed March 18.
On Feb. 28, however, the Schindlers struck back by filing 15 written motions and requesting 48 hours of court hearing time. These motions run an extraordinary gamut, from a suggestion that Judge Greer should order Terri and Michael Schiavo be immediately divorced, to a request for "limited media access" to Terri, to a proposal for a 20-hour evidentiary hearing on Terri's "medical/psychiatric/rehabilitative status." The ploy is obvious: still more delay.
There is something wrong here. The Florida courts have ruled repeatedly -- based on her doctors' testimony and evidence of statements she previously made about her end-of-life wishes -- that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, would not want her life to be prolonged under such circumstances, and should be allowed to die as the courts have determined she would wish. But the conservative foundations, with their massive funding, have turned the Schiavo case into a war of attrition, where delay is victory.
They have met defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court. But they won't give up, and they have the cash it takes to out-gun Michael Schiavo on every front. It is going to take yet more judicial courage to ensure that the rule of law prevails over big money. That will require Judge Greer to reject the latest round of delaying motions, and the Florida Court of Appeal and Supreme Court to back him up.
"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/22/93155/7030
"
The Terri Schiavo Case: Following the Money
The Recorder
By Jon B. Eisenberg
March 4, 2005
Have you ever wondered who is bankrolling the seemingly endless courtroom effort to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube attached?
During the Watergate scandal, investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were famously advised to "follow the money." In the Schiavo case, the money leads to a consortium of conservative foundations, with $2 billion in total assets, that are funding a legal and public relations war of attrition intended to prolong Terri's life indefinitely in order to further their own faith-based cultural agendas.
For the past 12 years, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have been locked in a bitter dispute over whether to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Terri, whom the courts have determined is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Schindlers want the doctors to keep Terri alive; Michael does not. Late last year, in Bush v. Schiavo, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush violated the constitutional separation of powers when he attempted to overturn a court order to remove Terri's feeding tube. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
I filed an amicus curiae brief in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of 55 bioethicists and a disability rights organization opposing the governor's action. Two months later I participated in a public debate on the case at Florida State University. Among the participants supporting Gov. Bush's position were Pat Anderson, one of multiple attorneys who have represented the Schindlers, and Wesley Smith and Rita Marker, two activists whose specialty is opposing surrogate removal of life-support from comatose and persistent vegetative state patients. I found myself wondering: "I'm doing this pro bono; are they?"
I did some Internet research and learned that many of the attorneys, activists and organizations working to keep Schiavo on life support all these years have been funded by members of the Philanthropy Roundtable.
The Philanthropy Roundtable is a collection of foundations that have funded conservative causes ranging from abolition of Social Security to anti-tax crusades and United Nations conspiracy theories. The Roundtable members' founders include scions of America's wealthiest families, including Richard Mellon Scaife (heir to the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune), Harry Bradley (electronics), Joseph Coors (beer), and the Smith Richardson family (pharmaceutical products).
I found a Web site called mediatransparency.com which tracks funding for these foundations. Using just that Web site and the Schindlers' own site, terrisfight.org, I learned of a network of funding connections between some of the Philanthropy Roundtable's members and various organizations behind the Schindlers, their lawyers and supporters, and the lawyers who represented Gov. Bush in Bush v. Schiavo.
Here are a few examples:
Schindler lawyer Pat Anderson "was paid directly" by the anti-abortion Life Legal Defense Foundation, which "has already spent over $300,000 on this case," according to the foundation's Web site. Much of the support for Life Legal Defense Foundation, in turn, comes from the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay rights group which collected more than $15 million in private donations in 2002 and admits to having spent money on the Schiavo case "in the six figures," according to a recent article in the Palm Beach Post. Mediatransparency.org states that between 1994 and 2002, the Alliance Defense Fund received $142,000 from Philanthropy Roundtable members that include the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.
Wesley Smith and Rita Marker also work for organizations that get funding from Roundtable members. Smith is a paid senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that advocates the teaching of creationist "intelligent design" theory in public schools. Between 1993 and 1997, the Discovery Institute received $175,000 from the Bradley Foundation. Marker is executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia, which lobbies against physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Marker's organization received $110,390 from the Randolph Foundation, an affiliate of the Smith Richardson family.
Roundtable members also played a role in financing the Bush v. Schiavo litigation.
The Family Research Council, which uses its annual $10 million budget to lobby for prayer in public schools and against gay marriage, filed an amicus curiae brief in Bush v. Schiavo supporting Gov. Bush, at the same time its former president, attorney Kenneth Connor, was representing the governor in that litigation. Between 1992 and 2000, the council received $215,000 from the Bradley Foundation.
Another amicus brief backing Bush was filed by a coalition of disability rights organizations that included the National Organization on Disability and the World Institute on Disability. The former received $810,000 between 1991 and 2002 from the Scaife Family Foundations, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the JM Foundation; the latter received $20,000 in 1997 from the JM Foundation.
These connections may be just the tip of the iceberg. I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. I got this information using only the most rudimentary Google skills. I imagine that a thorough search by a seasoned investigator would yield quite a bit more.
With this kind of big bucks behind them, it's no wonder the Schindlers and their allies have been able to keep the legal fight over their daughter going for so long. And it's still not over. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene, the Schindlers' lawyers are now trying to prolong the litigation yet again through a series of post-judgment motions which, regardless of their merit, could yield stays that would continue to forestall the removal of Terri's feeding tube.
Maneuvers within the past few months have included requests for a new trial based on something the Pope said in a speech criticizing the removal of feeding tubes from persistent vegetative state patients, and on a newly minted claim that Terri was deprived of the right to independent court-appointed counsel. Those maneuvers achieved the desired delay but were ultimately unsuccessful. On Feb. 25, the trial judge, George Greer, ordered Terri's feeding tube to be removed March 18.
On Feb. 28, however, the Schindlers struck back by filing 15 written motions and requesting 48 hours of court hearing time. These motions run an extraordinary gamut, from a suggestion that Judge Greer should order Terri and Michael Schiavo be immediately divorced, to a request for "limited media access" to Terri, to a proposal for a 20-hour evidentiary hearing on Terri's "medical/psychiatric/rehabilitative status." The ploy is obvious: still more delay.
There is something wrong here. The Florida courts have ruled repeatedly -- based on her doctors' testimony and evidence of statements she previously made about her end-of-life wishes -- that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, would not want her life to be prolonged under such circumstances, and should be allowed to die as the courts have determined she would wish. But the conservative foundations, with their massive funding, have turned the Schiavo case into a war of attrition, where delay is victory.
They have met defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court. But they won't give up, and they have the cash it takes to out-gun Michael Schiavo on every front. It is going to take yet more judicial courage to ensure that the rule of law prevails over big money. That will require Judge Greer to reject the latest round of delaying motions, and the Florida Court of Appeal and Supreme Court to back him up.
"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/22/93155/7030
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