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Hark, I Hear the Sound of Pigs Squealing
In a world gone mad, the latest offering in our series to heal the politically vulnerable.
Dear Polly:
Is it true that the guy who is Tom DeLay’s lawyer also defended the Waco Wacko, David Koresh? My aunt Mavis told me this, but she is getting up there in years, and she’d had a couple of martinis that night…. She also thinks the moon landing was fake, and that cats are going to be extinct by 2012. She still wears a mood ring, which is persistently a dark greenish black unless she is drinking martinis, in which case it turns bright yellow. Sometimes she frightens and confuses me. But I digress… what I really don’t get is where these guys keep finding these scumbag lawyers. I mean, Karl Rove has a lawyer, the President and Vice President have lawyers, Scooter Libby has a lawyer. It’s like there’s a lawyer factory somewhere funneling greasy people directly to Washington, D.C. Little guys never get high-powered attorneys to defend them, and they don’t get to change judges because they don’t like their personal political views. Seems to me the whole thing is getting out of control. Is there anything you can do?
Tense in Charleston.
Dear TIC:
Of course there’s something I can do. There’s always something I can do. That’s what I do. I do things. I voodoo things. My political power is an immense global web of agents disguised as middle-aged women. I have people working on the DeLay matter as we speak, and as far as the other trolls go, let’s just say that things are about to get very interesting for these people. Can’t really say more than that right now, but if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of tiny pigs squealing in the halls of power.
Mavis, on the other hand, I can’t do much about. But in her defense, she is correct about DeLay’s lawyer. He is in fact the same guy who defended David Koresh. This is quite appropriate when you think about it. The same power-mad king complex, the same deeply disturbing personal vision, the mindless, obsessive dedication to a twisted ideology. DeLay and Koresh: soul-twins.
But their time is running out, my friend. Trust me. I know these things. My healing mantra for you is this: Sit back, listen to the piglets and view with disdain the swirling in the bowl. As always, I will add White Zinfandel and a Doris Day movie to my prescription for your mental health.
This dark night is coming to a close, TIC, and our time is at hand. Hallelujah.
Your friend,
Polly
George Bush is the David Koresh of American Presidents.
I think its not too early to start a list of the "Top Ten Outrages of the Year". There are so many to choose from....
For those who haven't had a chance to see the movie, I obtained a review copy of Inside the Bubble and reviewed it at The Democratic Daily:
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=919
Also check out the comments as director Steven Rosenbaum responded to my review.
Ron, always good to see you here.
FYI for those interested in the Reform Ohio Now amendments via dailykos poster YellowDogSammy...
RON Chances Fading & I'm Mad As Hell About It!
by YellowDogSammy
Sat Oct 22, 2005 at 08:54:49 AM PDT
We're getting clobbered here in Ohio. Anti-RON ads are running everywhere, the only press coverage is negative, there aren't nearly enough yard signs or bumper stickers.
Where is the urgency? Where is the passion? Where the HELL is the NETROOTS SUPPORT? Reform Ohio Now needs a massive influx of donations during these critical last two weeks, or we're just going to get overwhelmed.
Kossacks, remember what this means! If RON fails here, do you think there will be any momentum for electoral reform elsewhere? What's the point of getting redistricting reform on the ballot in Florida if we can't muster support for it here? The story in the media won't be that Reform Ohio was underfunded, it will be that even Ohio's level of corruption has no impact on the voters, and that netroots support means nothing.
Help save Reform Ohio now! Donate, write LTEs, post diaries here and elsewhere! There's only two weeks left!
http://www.reformohionow.org/
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/22/115449/46
hehe
check it out I've been picked up in Canada
http://www.mwcnews.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1878
Posted by: Christy at October 22, 2005 03:13 PM
Beautiful writing Christy.
Ty Sparrow.
On my way to a wedding.
No not my own, I refuse to buy cows when I get steak for free.
**BIG STORY AND MUCH FOOTAGE ON CAMP CASEY IN CRAWFORD ON CNN PRESENTS: VOICES FROM HOME
NOW! ALOT OF FOOTAGE
Good job, Christy!
A relative of mine who is a Republican sent me a big bunch of propaganda about how well things are going in Iraq - from the Dept. of Defense website. I thought he'd gone back to the dark side, but he titled it "from the Karl Rove - Bush Spinmeisters" so I don't think so.
Another relative of mine in a very "red" place with a high number of kids going to war told me that the mother of a son killed a year ago was given over $200,000 by the government (hush money) and now has a gambling and drinking problem. Sad. (They don't want more Cindy Sheehans)
Here's the latest from Cindy Sheehan:
FOCUS | Cindy Sheehan: They Are Not Numbers
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102205X.shtml
Cindy Sheehan shares letters she's received, little vignettes of pain from family members of US soldiers recently killed in Iraq. On the day that marks the 2000th soldier dead, Sheehan will be outside the White House, reminding officials that our people are not just numbers.
Fine read, Christy!
Except one e-mail that we received and you were accused of treason for comforting the enemy,(dont ask me???) the rest was very positive.
This is the copy of e-mail
[Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution defines Treason:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.
That letter is Treason. It adheres "to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
You can disagree with the war all you want, but I wish you would stop short of "adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
RB]
A Small Victory
Helllllllll Yesssss at last, it is about time I would say, that someone took this sleeze bag to the courts for his criminal actions
Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture
By JUSTINE DAVIDSON
On Monday, October 17th Gail Davidson and Howard Rubin along with Jason Gratl and Micheal Vonn representing B.C. Civil Liberties stepped into courtroom 55 of the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver with the hopes of lifting the publication ban which, since December of 2004 August, has kept the case out of the public eye. After a relatively short session of 45 minutes they emerged successful. "I don't know that I would call it a victory quite yet," said Ms. Davidson, "but it is at least a step in the right direction. People deserve to know what is happening here."
What is happening is that Ms. Davidson and Lawyers Against the War have laid charges against George Bush Jr; accusing him of aiding, abetting, and counseling the commission of torture. This charge is based on the abuses of the prisoners held at the U.S. prisons in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and Abu-Ghraib, Iraq including Canadian minor Omar Khadr, who has been held in Cuba since 2001.
"Many Canadians don't realize that we have not only the right but the responsibility to pursue these charges, it is a responsibility that the Canadian government owes not only to the people of Canada, but to the people of the world. The 1987 Convention Against Torture [And Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment] binds us to this action." Canada ratified the UN Convention on Torture along with 139 other nations; promising to protect the inalienable right of all the world's citizens to live a life free of torture.
Torture is a unique crime in that it is an act of the state, carried out for the purpose of punishment, extracting information from or compelling the cooperation of its victims. It comes in many forms; starvation, degradation, and most horribly, extreme physical abuses, the likes of which most of us living in the safety of Canada cannot imagine.
Prisoners are regularly subjected to extreme temperatures without clothing or any other form of protection, they are chained by their wrists and ankles to a bolt in the floor for periods as long as 24 hours; they are routinely terrorized by armed guards and vicious dogs, threatened with humiliation, rape, and death. These are not outlandish or hysterical claims. They are facts supported by a terrible wealth of visual, audio and testimonial evidence. Ms. Davidson has compiled a presentation of photographs which is gut-wrenching to watch. "Most people can't sit through the whole thing," she reports, "it goes against our humanity to see these kinds of acts. Anyone with any sense of right and wrong knows immediately that this is wrong. Deeply and inexcusably wrong." Perhaps the most awful aspect of these images is the smiling U.S. soldiers who proudly pose atop piles of naked and battered prisoners. The victims are often forced into sexual and submissive positions to make for a "better" photo. The fact that these acts are sanctioned by the nation which claims to be the leader of the free world is almost unbelievable.
Ms. Davidson returns to court on the 25th of November, ironically she is arguing against Crown Counsel, legal representative of the very government which promised to oppose torture wherever and whenever it occurs. "It's frustrating," she says, "but I believe that the citizens of Canada and the world will support what we are trying to do, and will voice their outrage. We want people to know and participate in what we are doing."
Gag Order Lifted On Canadian Torture Charges
Against Bush
October 18th 2005 Vancouver B.C.
Lawyers Against the War (LAW) has achieved what it is calling a "very important victory" in its battle to have George W. Bush face criminal charges in Canada for torture.
The charges stem from the notorious cases of torture carried out by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, first exposed in a series of gruesome private photos that scandalized the world in early 2004. Torture charges were laid against Bush on the occasion of his controversial visit to Canada in November of that year.
The charges were laid under sections of the Canadian Criminal Code enacted pursuant to the United Nations Torture Convention, which requires extra-territorial jurisdiction to be exercised against officials, even Heads of State, who authorize or oversee torture.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia quashed an order banning publication of everything having to do with the case. In a secret hearing held December 6th 2004 in Provincial Court, the charges against Bush were rejected on the basis of arguments by the Attorney General of British Columbia that the visiting president was shielded from prosecution by diplomatic immunity. The ban on publication of anything to do with the proceedings was imposed at the same time.
The secrecy, the immunity claim and the ban were vigorously opposed by LAW, who appealed all aspects of the decision.
On Monday, Justice Deborah Satanove of the Supreme Court of British Columbia quashed the publication ban after government lawyers failed to come up with any argument to defend it. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association had intervened on the side of LAW against the ban.
"This is a very important victory", said Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson, who laid the charges for LAW, "because it ensures that the proceedings will be scrutinized by people in Canada and throughout the world, to make sure that the law is applied fairly and properly and, above all, to make sure that Bush doesn't get away with torture."
"The American legal system seems incapable of bringing him to justice and there are no international courts with jurisdiction. So it's up to Canada to enforce the law that everybody has signed on to but nobody else seems willing to apply."
The next hearing in the case will take place on November 25th 2005, at 10:00 a.m. at the B.C. Supreme Court, 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver, B.C., when government lawyers have said they will argue that the issue is now "moot" because the Attorney General of Canada has not yet consented to the prosecution. Toronto law professor Michael Mandel, co-chair of LAW, calls this argument "bogus": "It's irrelevant to the issues before the court. Anyway it's hard to see how the Attorney General can withhold his consent to simply let justice take its course. Irwin Cotler's credo is supposed to be "Justice, justice shall you pursue" not ingratiation with superpowers who practice torture. Bush is still guilty, he's still on the loose and we still have our obligations under the United Nations Convention to bring torturers to justice."
Lawyers Against the War is an international group of jurists based in Canada with members in fourteen countries.
Contacts:
Michael Mandel,
Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3. Tel: 416 736-5039, Fax: 416-736-5736,
Email: MMandel@osgoode.yorku.ca
Gail Davidson,
Tel: 604 738 0338; Fax: 604 736 1175,
Email: law@portal.ca