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Who Cares About the Voting Rights Act?
Earlier this year, I wrote about the Voting Rights Act and the implications of violations of it. Now, the redistricting plan that gave the Republicans in congress a huge majority and was created by Delay has been found to be a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
According to the Washington Post,
"Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.
The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.
"The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo concluded."
Though I myself am not a lawyer, I believe the redistricting plan violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Barbara Arwine of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights explained Section 5 this way:
"Section 5 is extremely important. It requires certain districts that have a record of discrimination to get permission from the Justice Department before they may make any changes to their election procedures. This section has important value as you can see because this section safeguards the rights of Blacks, Hispanics, and the working poor who live in those regions."
Yet the Washington Post reported that the memo found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options!
Clearly, this is an ethical violation as well as a legal one! Once again, the basic concept of democracy is fair elections, and the basic ethics of right and wrong seem to have disappeared into a bag of dirty tricks. What does it mean when public officials knowingly implement laws that go against equal protection under the law? And do we allow the a crime to go unpunished after the deed is done? Seriously...what should we as a democratic society do, when our public officials knowingly break the law?
Furthermore, when the majority party in Congress has the majority in Congress because of these illegal acts, where does that leave the citizens of a democratic society?
Therefore, in order to maintain, and improve our democracy we must insist that the Voting Rights Act be enforced and that those who break the laws be punished.
Please share ideas about how we can collectively and locally ensure the rights of each and every voter below.
The Bush administration has gone far beyond the norm in suppressing viewpoints contrary to the official White House propaganda. See this story from Knight-Ridder about their impact in the State Department and the official face the US presents to the rest of the world.
State Department using ideological litmus tests to screen speakers
By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The State Department has been using political litmus tests to screen private American citizens before they can be sent overseas to represent the United States, weeding out critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to department officials and internal e-mails.
In one recent case, a leading expert on conflict resolution who's a former senior State Department adviser was scheduled to participate in a U.S. Embassy-sponsored videoconference in Jerusalem last month, but at the last minute he was told that his participation no longer was required.
State Department officials explained the cancellation as a scheduling matter. But internal department e-mails show that officials in Washington pressed to have other scholars replace the expert, David L. Phillips, who wrote a book, "Losing Iraq," that's critical of President Bush's handling of Iraqi reconstruction.
"I was told by a senior U.S. official that the State Department was conducting a screening process on intellectuals, and those who were against the Bush administration's Iraq policy were not welcomed to participate in U.S. government-sponsored programs," Phillips said.
"The ability of the United States to promote democracy effectively abroad is curtailed when we curtail free speech at home, which is essential to a free society," he said.
In another instance of apparent politicization, a request by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, to arrange a visit by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who lived in Indonesia when he was young, was delayed for seven months. The visit never occurred.
A prominent translator of Islamic poetry who toured Afghanistan to rave reviews last March fell out of favor when he later criticized the Iraq war in front of a department official, two U.S. officials said.
read the rest of the article here...
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13314542.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
For those who are following the story of the US government sponsoring fake news in Iraq, here's some excellent detective work on the Lincoln Group, the firm responsible for organizing and distributing the fake news.
The depth of tracking is impressive. Someone spent a lot of time on it. Hat-tip to Talking Points Memo for mentioning it.
http://www.govexec.com/features/1205-01/1205-01s1s2.htm
Isn't google wonderful?
You can learn so much...
Suz thanks so much for the post about the Voting Rights Act and Redistricting. I belive you know how important that issue is to me and our Texas bloggers, and there are many. Keeping Alito off of the US Supreme Ct(and defeating Tom Delay next Nov.), are critical components of overturning Tom DeLay's fraudulent Texas ReDistricting and restoring Martin Frost and the other 4 Texas Congresmen to Washington.
Hopefully when I return in ten days we can engage in a strategy, perhaps along with our friends from Princeton, to defeat Alito. Lets bring those folks back in the fold.
David Isenberg: It's Propaganda (Shock, Horror)!
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/120305Z.shtml
Powered by Pentagon dollars, Iraqi television and radio is propelled by US public relations firms and consultants hired to spin the coalition's propaganda to the Iraqi people.
Sometimes I like to think about the scariest news item of the day, and try to see if I can forget about it and enjoy my morning. No, I couldn't forget about this one:
US Lawmakers Mull Secret Vaccine Agency
Washington_ Some lawmakers want to create a federal agency shielded from public scrutiny, saying that could speed up the development and testing of new drugs and vaccines needed to respond to a bioterrorist attack or super flu pandemic.
The proposed Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, would be exempt from long-standing open records and meetings laws that apply to most government departments, according to legislation approved Oct. 18 by the Senate health committee.
Those exemptions would streamline the development process, safeguard national security, and protect the proprietary interests of drug companies, say Republican backers of the bill. The legislation also proposes giving manufacturers immunity from liability in exchange for their participation in the public-private effort.
The secrecy and immunity provisions of the legislation have alarmed patient rights and open government advocates. The agency would be exempt from the Freedom of Information and Federal Advisory Committee acts, both considered crucial for monitoring government accountability.
If you can read this stuff and enjoy your morning, let me know how you did it. I'm having a little problem with it myself. And I did so want to enjoy my Saturday.......
Posted by: Ira at December 3, 2005 10:44 AM
Ira,
When those people engaged in those acts, they knew the likelyhood of it being ruled unconstitutional would have little effect on the current Congress.
Therefore, it means that we have to fight extra hard to make sure this isn't going to happen in a different state each time.
We have to make sure judges aren't going to start changing Civil Rights laws.
from Bert:
The News Changed While I Was Watching it
On CNN, I saw kids in Pakistan holding on to pieces of what was announced to be pieces of a missile that killed some Al Qaeda operative. They said he was a big fish and that five people were killed in the attack.
An hour later, it was announced that he and the others died while working on a bomb.
Maybe the president of Pakistan doesn't want its citizens to believe that the US can fire missiles at its citizens within the borders of its country.
Will this be another single step forward and two backward?
December 3, 2005 latimes.com
FBI Is Taking Another Look at Forged Prewar Intelligence
By Peter Wallsten, Tom Hamburger and Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — The FBI has reopened an inquiry into one of the most intriguing aspects of the pre-Iraq war intelligence fiasco: how the Bush administration came to rely on forged documents linking Iraq to nuclear weapons materials as part of its justification for the invasion.
The documents inspired intense U.S. interest in the buildup to the war — and they led the CIA to send a former ambassador to the African nation of Niger to investigate whether Iraq had sought the materials there. The ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson IV, found little evidence to support such a claim, and the documents were later deemed to have been forged.
But President Bush referred to the claim in his 2003 State of the Union address in making the case for the invasion. Bush's speech, Wilson's trip and the role Wilson's wife played in sending him have created a political storm that still envelops the White House.
The documents in question included letters on Niger government letterhead and purported contracts showing sales of uranium to Iraq. They were provided in 2002 to an Italian magazine, which turned them over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome.
The FBI's decision to reopen the investigation reverses the agency's announcement last month that it had finished a two-year inquiry and concluded that the forgeries were part of a moneymaking scheme — and not an effort to manipulate U.S. foreign policy.
Those findings concerned some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee after published reports that the FBI had not interviewed a former Italian spy named Rocco Martino, who was identified as the original source of the documents. The committee had requested the initial investigation.
"This is such a high-profile issue for a lot of reasons, and we think it's important to make sure there aren't lingering questions," said an aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. "There's always a chance that you do a little more investigating and you uncover something you hadn't seen before or you hadn't realized."
A senior federal law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, confirmed late Friday that the bureau had reopened the inquiry.
more... http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-niger3dec03,0,4700538.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Linda Enterkin
That is a little scary when Rumsfeld has stock in bird flu vaccine & no one will listen to parents who suspect a link between vaccine schedules and increase in autism & when Bush wants to use the Texas model for finding and treating "mental illness" in children and teachers.
DiAnne- and we all know, not to sound paranoid, that the government tested drugs on soldiers, prisoners, and even civil service employees back in the late 40's and early 50's without their knowledge.
BTW- has Bush's Texas model been so successful as to eradicate mental illness in Texas?????
I hadn't heard that,and there's scant evidence to support it.
Apologies to my DCP buddies from Texas. I just couldn't hold myself back :-)
And go 'Horns. (Because I want to see your guys bring the Trojans down at New Years.)
Democracy manipulated at home & abroad...
U.S. propaganda effort described
Stories are bought in Iraqi media
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051203/NEWS07/512030326/1009&template=printart
WASHINGTON -- Military officials in Baghdad for the first time described a Pentagon program that pays to plant stories in the Iraqi news media, a method the top U.S. military commander said Friday was part of an effort to "get the truth out."
The U.S. officials in Iraq said articles had been offered and published in Iraqi newspapers "as a function of buying advertising and opinion/editorial space, as is customary in Iraq."
The idea has been criticized in the United States, and U.S. Sen. John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, went to the Pentagon on Friday for an explanation.
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said that third parties -- including the Washington-based Lincoln Group -- were used to market the stories to reduce risk to the publishers.
He defended the program as critical to the war effort, and issued a statement, saying: "The information battle space in Iraq is contested at all times and is filled with misinformation and propaganda by an enemy intent on discrediting the Iraqi government and the coalition, and who are taking every opportunity to instill fear and intimidate the Iraqi people."
The Lincoln Group has at least two contracts with the military to provide media and public relations services.
One contract, for $6 million, is for public relations and advertising work in Iraq and involves planting favorable stories in the Iraqi media, Defense Department records show.
The other contract is worth $100 million and calls for media operations with video, print and Web-based products for the Special Operations Command.
Upon leaving a Pentagon meeting with Defense Department officials in Washington, Warner, of Virginia, said the program was a serious problem. But he offered a rationale: that the program may serve a broader military goal.
"The disinformation that's going on in that country is really affecting the effectiveness of what we're achieving, and we have no recourse but to try and do some rebuttal information," he said.
The propaganda program came to light as President George W. Bush released what has been called his strategy for victory in Iraq on Wednesday, including a reference to support a "free, independent and responsible Iraqi media."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president requested "more information from the Pentagon" regarding the media campaign.
U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., characterized the program as a scheme that "speaks volumes about the president's credibility gap."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military was gathering information about the program, including the multimillion-dollar contracts to pay Iraqi newspapers and journalists to plant favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort.
He said it was not clear whether the program violated any law or Pentagon policy.
@ 12:34 PM
Leading by example?
Not to mention our tax dollars at work...
Probably already posted...
_________
Most Americans doubt Bush has victory plan
60% oppose early Iraq pullout, poll finds
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20051202.BUSH02/BNPrint/theglobeandmail/Africa
WASHINGTON -- A majority of Americans doubt George W. Bush has a strategy for Iraq that will achieve victory, according to a new poll released after the U.S. President laid out his Iraq policy.
The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 55 per cent do not believe the President has a plan that will achieve victory for the United States in Iraq, while 41 per cent think he does.
The survey was conducted by telephone among 606 Americans after Mr. Bush's televised speech at the U.S. Naval Academy early Wednesday, although CNN noted that only 10 per cent had seen it live and two-thirds had not heard or read news coverage about it.
It showed, however, that six in 10 Americans believe U.S. troops should not be withdrawn from Iraq until certain goals are achieved, while 35 per cent said they want a timetable.
In his speech, Mr. Bush, whose approval ratings are at a record low, sought to overcome mounting worries about his Iraq war strategy. But he refused to set a date for a pullout and warned victory would take "time and patience."
Some partisan squabbling was heard the day after Mr. Bush laid out his "plan for victory," although Democrats were not as uniformly dismissive of him as they had been.
Yesterday, the White House called irresponsible those Democrats who said Mr. Bush lacks a strategy on Iraq, as Senator John Kerry said a policy shift is needed to reflect realities on the ground.
"Those Democratic congressional leaders who try to suggest that we don't have a plan are deeply irresponsible," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who reiterated it is possible to bring some troops home next year.
The poll showed 54 per cent of Americans deem Mr. Bush's handling of the war as poor, while 44 per cent said he is doing a good job. Fifty-four per cent said it is unlikely that Iraqi forces can ensure security without U.S. help, while 44 per cent think otherwise.
Americans who were polled were divided over whether they think a democratic government can be established in Iraq that won't be overthrown: 47 per cent said it is likely, 49 per cent said it is not.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.
Mr. Kerry, who lost the presidential race to Mr. Bush a year ago, said Democrats "are all in agreement that there has to be a profound shift of admitting the reality on the ground and beginning to establish a schedule that we can understand on behalf of the American people about transfer of authority."
The Massachusetts senator described a scaled-down role for U.S. troops, to help guard oil pipelines and guard people working on construction projects. "You don't need 160,000 people to be doing what we're doing in Iraq today -- this is not World War II, this is not Korea, this is not Vietnam."
Modified version of attack on Democrats-- you yourselves voted "for war"...
___________________________
Rice to warn Europe to back off over detainees
snip
But Rice will shift to offense when she visits Europe next week, in a strategy that has emerged in recent days and been tested by her spokesman in public and in her private meetings with European visitors.
snip
On the trip, she will remind allies they themselves have been cooperating in U.S. operations and tell them to do more to win over their publics as a way to deflect criticism directed at the United States, diplomats and U.S. officials said.
"It's very clear they want European governments to stop pushing on this," said a European diplomat, who had contact with U.S. officials over the handling of the scandals. "They were stuck on the defensive for weeks, but suddenly the line has toughened up incredibly," the diplomat said.
snip
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-12-03T124848Z_01_YUE273500_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-EUROPE-RICE.xml&archived=False
American Civil Liberties Union to Sue CIA
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/120305Y.shtml
A US civil rights group says it is taking the CIA to court to stop the transportation of terror suspects to countries outside US legal authority.
Aimzz
I hope Rice remembers that quite a number of terror cells have been apprehended by French, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, German and Spanish intelligence. When I was in France I saw a two-hour documentary on how they survey and then catch them & it was serious business.
Rice should have focussed on terror pre-9/11, when she was still stuck on the threat of Communism post Cold War.
Recommended:
How the Fox News Team Saved Christmas
http://www.thismodernworld.com
Molly Ivins: Impersonating the Lord
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19956
Geov Parrish: The Unnatural Disaster
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19956
Drugging the American Mind
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0548/051130_news_psych.php
Ira,
Here's more information about the redistricting:
Little Surprise at Redistricting Document From Democrats Who Lost 2004 Race
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By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: December 3, 2005
HOUSTON, Dec. 2 - It was too late for him, "but it's never too late to have the truth come out," said Charles W. Stenholm, the former Democratic representative from West Texas whose 26-year career in the House fell to the Republican Congressional redistricting of 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/politics/03react.html
Posted by: aimzzz at December 3, 2005 12:46 PM
Do you get the "framing" the GOP is doing when they call Dems "irresponsible"?
It's that Orwellian thing again.
They accuse their opponents of the VERY THING they are guilty of.
Problem is, it works.
I wish our Dem leaders would meet these framed attacks back with their same words. I am serious, I think it would then stop them from using this tactic if it backfired on them.
Our Dem leaders should come back with: IRRESPONSIBLE? We are the RESPONSIBLE leaders. IRRESPONSIBILITY is: sending our men and women into war without credible cause. (Or: list your areas of irresponsiblity. There are so many to choose from.)
If we don't meet these accusations and attacks using their same words back at them, these words like "irresponsible" are going to stick in the psyche of Mr. and Mrs. Voting America, and they will "remember" it subconciously in '06 and '08.
My opinion is, we need to start fighting these thugs with their own weapons. Now.
Can someone tell me when John Kerry is going to be on television this weekend, and what network?
Truth Shall Prevail,
Rumor has it he's on Face the Nation tomorrow. I don't get real tv, so I have no clue.
Suz
I did hear Kerry is on Face the Nation tomorrow.
I might be able to pick that up if it's not cable but I don't watch that form of media normally either.
On the Voter Suppression Topic, a local story. Please join me in gloating as this perjurying woman's insulting case is discounted point by point. What she did was go to the 3 most Democratic districts and challenge people's addresses, ignoring the rest of the state.
"Cherry picking" - the fashionable form of unscientific data collection that is being modelled, up to the highest echelons.
Anyway, the story:
King County Republicans’ Attempt to Disenfranchise Voters Is Thwarted
On Monday November 28th, the King County Canvassing Board rejected 140 of the 198 voter registration challenges brought by King County Republicans Vice Chair Lori Sotelo.
Republican claims were invalidated on the basis of the following three simple criteria:
Personal knowledge
The law requires the challenger to have personal knowledge that the voter is not legally registered. Ms. Sotelo had no personal knowledge. She did not contact them to see if there was an explanation for the confusion. She did not even know very basic facts about the voter, such as if they were a United States citizens, under or over 18, or had ever been convicted of a felony.
Actual residential address
Ms. Sotelo’s charges were based on the claim that the voter does not live at the address where he or she is registered. However, Ms. Sotelo did not know where they actually lived. Ms. Sotelo made guesses about where voters lived based on Internet searches, which were performed after the challenge was filed.
Clear and convincing evidence
The law requires the challenger to provide clear and convincing evidence. This requirement is designed to protect people’s right to vote and prevent groups, like Ms. Sotelo’s, from denying people their rights without really knowing the facts. Without personal knowledge and without knowing the address where the voter lives, Ms. Sotelo made her claims based on assumptions and innuendo.
To make the law fit her deficient evidence, Sotelo altered the forms sent to challenged voters to give her challenge a false air of legitimacy.
Sotelo’s challenges often targeted the downtrodden, those who for an unknown reason do not have a stable address and must use a post office box. Ironically, many of the registrations that were successfully challenged were the registrations of voters who participated in the process by testifying in their own defense or returning their affadavits.
These voters supplied their residential addresses, providing the evidence that the Republicans lacked.
Many of the votes on the Canvassing Board were split down party lines, with Republican Dan Satterberg voting against the other two members. Satterberg works for Republican King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng. Satterberg voted to reject less than 10 percent of the challenges, despite the fact that Sotelo clearly lacked enough evidence to support her claims.
Washington State Democratic Party Chair Paul Berendt released the following statement:
“Throughout last year’s election contest, and with the initiation of this so-called Voter Registration Integrity Project, the King County Republicans were hurling claims of fraud at Ron Sims and King County Elections. With these challenges, it is the King County Republicans who are abusing our election system and making a mockery of our right to vote.
“Many of these challenges were the result of innocent mistakes by well-intentioned voters or misunderstandings about what they should have listed as their registered address. The Republicans chose to disenfranchise these people instead of helping the voter or King County Elections correct their mistake. By asking people to come and defend themselves, the Republicans made people feel like they did something wrong by voting.
“There is a high burden of proof with these challenges, because it is important to protect and cherish our right to vote. The Republicans have no real respect for that right. We must be vigilant and demand that they are held accountable for their actions, because the Republicans may use this as a precedent for future challenges, just as they used the governor’s election contest as a precedent for this challenge.
“This is a shameless assault on voters, the majority of whom were Democrats. These voters were not trying to defraud the public, and the Republicans served no public good with these challenges. The King County Republicans’ actions were a disservice to this community and illustrate that local Republicans are as much a part of the culture of corruption as their national counterparts.”
Truth Shall Prevail
We should make up our own terms - liars, inept, corrupt, immoral - then when we're called "angry," say "damn right!!" People can surely resonate with the "kick the bums out" idea and it is our tax money they're squandering, not the rich's.
It must be pathetic to have to be Bush and march around spouting propaganda -
"The economy is rosy"
"We're making progress in Iraq"
A cartoon is worth 1000 essays - The New Yorker one with Bush mincing around with a feather duster while Cheney kicks back in an office chair is priceless. Undermine Bush's cowboy image kind of in the manner of the Blair "poodle" mode.
DiAnne,
What blows my mind is that he does it!!!
I mean, come on now, EVERYBODY knows the economy isn't rosy, and Iraq is a disaster.
Doesn't HE know?
We have talked about the emperor with no clothes, but for heaven's sakes, you'd almost have to be brain dead not to know the reality of the economy and Iraq. They could not pay me enough money to go around saying those things when everyone knows they are false. EVER. (Doesn't he ever feel foolish? Guess not.)
Reminds me of "The Bourne Identity".
Aimzz
You are right with your parallel - they are saying Democrats agreed with the war, Europeans agreed with the war. It's a lie, if you get into any particulars at all. They're also suggesting the general populace in either US or Europe trust the government anymore, and recent polls attest to the fact that they do not. (opinion of Congress, etc) & not after the FEMA mess ..
The latest plume in their cap is the employment rebound - well it's post Katrina, post fuel bottleneck, seasonal holiday jobs, & failure to explain that service jobs are up but manufacturing jobs have gone east and aren't coming back. Also, real bright to trot this positive scenario out right when Greenspan is saying deficits could pull down the global economy, that retirement benefits should be cut, we should work longer into old age, and taxes should be raised! The stock market is up, but that's because when fuel prices went up, oil company profits did too.
Truth Shall Prevail
I think he knows, unless he is totally memorizing lines or using that box that we saw in his back during the debates. It's called propaganda & I think they look at what's going on and run it by Rove & co. I think they do the same thing in US that they do in Iraq - plant fake stories in the media. If W is indeed brainwashed and believes it, he probably is just kind of like an actor, like Reagan toward the end = am empty warhead.
Yes, we have enough ammo to really kick them in the slats right now. Maybe politicians are being cautious because they know there is still a year before the '06 elections, and perhaps "Osama" might surface, and we'll all be singing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" next summer.
These guys are capable of anything. By golly, now I think I am getting the jist of why he is saying everything is great! Because when they pull the troops out before '06 elections it will only be under the guise of a "win".
Don't anybody tell me Bush is a nice Christian man. Lies, lying, will lie.
Off topic - I have so little spare time these days and wanted to share this.
My husband and I have beem hmming and hawing over what to get our family members for Christmas this year. We've decided on donations in their names to the Wall of Tolerance. The Wall is part of the National Campaign for Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Names of supporters will be displayed digitally on a continuous loop on the wall. A sharp, contemporary and moving piece. You also get a named certificate that you can roll with a ribbon or stash in a stocking.
If you don't know about this excellent educational project, go to
www.splcenter.org/
You can click on Teaching Tolerance, or just take your time and read through all the many worthy projects of this remarkable group.
Now, more than ever, America needs to address the issue of tolerance. If Americans were more tolerant, EVERYTHING would be different. The staff of SPLC have created materials for schools and parents, etc, to use with children in the teaching of tolerance.
"We should have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from our own." I would add to that, "ideas".
Some groups on the far right are fighting this educational effort. I ask, What Would Jesus Do?
Please consider a gift to the National Campaign for Tolerance in the name of some of those on your Christmas list. And share this around. The time is long past on this shrinking planet to start teaching tolerance to our children. And to ourselves.
I can't find the New Yorker cover on-line that shows Bush in his new image with the feather duster, but here is Sy Hersh's article on the coming air war in Iraq. Looks like we could "stay the course" whether we technically leave, leaving mercenaries (aka contractors), drones, robots & "trained" Iraqis.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051205fa_fact
Thanks Amy
Tolerance - needed the world over, & a gift that keeps on giving
Posted by: Amy at December 3, 2005 04:03 PM
Thanks Amy.
Great idea!
George W. Bush...so bad they had to suppress the vote in multiple states and very probably STEAL the vote in 'swing' states.
Check this out:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucrr/20051203/cm_ucrr/isgeorgebushtheworstpresidentever
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IS GEORGE BUSH THE WORST PRESIDENT -- EVER? By Richard Reeves
Fri Dec 2, 8:13 PM ET
PARIS -- President John F. Kennedy was considered a historian because of his book "Profiles in Courage," so he received periodic requests to rate the presidents, those lists that usually begin "1. Lincoln, 2. Washington ..."
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But after he actually became president himself, he stopped filling them out.
"No one knows what it's like in this office," he said after being in the job. "Even with poor James Buchanan, you can't understand what he did and why without sitting in his place, looking at the papers that passed on his desk, knowing the people he talked with."
Poor James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered the worst president in history. Ironically, the Pennsylvania Democrat, elected in 1856, was one of the most qualified of the 43 men who have served in the highest office. A lawyer, a self-made man, Buchanan served with some distinction in the House, served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and secretary of state under President James K. Polk. He had a great deal to do with the United States becoming a continental nation -- "Manifest Destiny," war with Mexico, and all that. He was also ambassador to Great Britain and was offered a seat on the Supreme Court three separate times.
But he was a confused, indecisive president, who may have made the Civil War inevitable by trying to appease or negotiate with the South. His most recent biographer, Jean Clark, writing for the prestigious American Presidents Series, concluded this year that his actions probably constituted treason. It also did not help that his administration was as corrupt as any in history, and he was widely believed to be homosexual.
Whatever his sexual preferences, his real failures were in refusing to move after South Carolina announced secession from the Union and attacked Fort Sumter, and in supporting both the legality of the pro-slavery constitution of Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott class declaring that escaped slaves were not people but property.
He was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents.
There are some numbers. The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.
This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record:
He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;
He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;
He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;
He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;
He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign ( Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);
He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;
He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;
He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.
Quite an indictment. It is, of course, too early to evaluate a president. That, historically, takes decades, and views change over times as results and impact become more obvious. Besides, many of the historians note that however bad Bush seems, they have indeed since worse men around the White House. Some say Buchanan. Many say Vice President Dick Cheney.